The Prodigy Slave, Book Three: The Ultimate Grand Finale (Revised Edition 2020)

by Londyn Skye

  “I’m just waitin’ on the apples to fall, ma-ma,” Lily replied, standing up and grabbing her basket.

  Maya looked around beneath all the trees and noticed how bare the ground was. She then suddenly got the feeling she was being watched. She turned toward the main house and saw Emily on the porch, her eyes pasted on her. Wearing her typical devilish expression, Emily’s arms were folded across her chest as she glared at Maya and Lily. Maya watched as Emily then turned to look at Levi and caught the hateful glare the pair exchanged. When Levi turned back to look at Maya, she gave him a telling glance. He lowered his head as if to acknowledge the fact that she was right about Emily affecting his actions.

  Maya suddenly took the basket from Lily’s hand and placed it back near the base of the tree, where it originally was when Levi had given it to her. The sight made Levi’s heart sink. “I don’t think it’s gonna be any more apples or oranges, baby,” Maya explained to Lily.

  “But perhaps I just have to wait a little longa’,” Lily surmised.

  “I don’t think waitin’s gonna help, Lily.”

  “But why not?”

  “It just ain’t,” Maya stated firmly.

  “But everybody’s gonna be so disappointed,” Lily replied, her eyes suddenly flooding with tears.

  “I know, but they’ll have to get their own fruit now.” Maya picked Lily up, guided her away from the orchard, and put an end to Levi’s secret tradition.

  Levi’s heart remained lodged in the pit of his stomach as he watched Maya carry away a tearful Lily. He then turned and glared with pure hatred at his smirking wife, praying that the grim reaper would make room on his current daily schedule to pay her a visit. He figured Emily would feel right at home spending an eternity in hell snuggled up next to the devil. Levi then ducked into the barn and distracted himself with chores before his rage-driven urges compelled him to do the grim reaper’s dirty work on his behalf.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Halloween

  October 31, 1864

  “ROSE!” James shrieked, waking up in a panic. Panting and sweating, he quickly sat up in his cot, looking confused as to where he was. He slung his legs over the edge of his rickety army cot and rested his face in his hands after realizing he had just had another one of his recurring dreams about Rose. Through the years, Rose had grown in James’s dreams. She now looked to be four years old, as he playfully chased her toward her towering treehouse. In every dream, James still froze before he could catch her. And not once had Rose ever turned around or reacted to the sound of his voice as he called to her. James’s inability to hug, or to even see Rose’s face, still frustrated him every time he awakened from the bizarre dream.

  James’s frustrations were evident to the soldiers lying nearby; they were constantly subjected to his ear-piercing screams in the middle of the night. His shrill had roused a few soldiers on this occasion, but they were used to the random names of flowers flying from their lieutenant’s mouth from time to time. They now thought nothing of his night terrors. After being rocked from their sleep, many of them just groaned and rolled back over. However, there was a new soldier amongst them who was especially annoyed by the screaming on this occasion. “Who the hell is Rose? Anotha’ low-life slave you fuckin’?” the soldier asked.

  With panther-like reflexes, James pounced on Elijah and began pounding away at his face, grunting with every punch he landed. Elijah was so caught off guard, he could do nothing but take it at first. After several blows, Elijah was finally able to wrap his hands around James’s throat. He squeezed tight, but even cutting off his air supply was not enough to stop James from pelting him in the face. Elijah resorted to using his legs to launch James off him. He landed hard in between two cots. As soon as he hit the ground, Elijah hopped on top of him and reciprocated with several blows to his mouth. The savage grunting, and the force of their violent blows, easily proved they were unleashing years of pent-up rage and hatred for one another. That was further evident by the fact that it took the brute strength of six soldiers to pull the pair apart. Once untangled, the damage they had inflicted on one another was clear to see. Elijah had a swollen right eye and a gash over the other, blood pouring from it. James had a split lip, and a nose dripping with blood as well. However, their boiling rage seemed to make them completely oblivious to their throbbing faces. Both savages were still desperate to fight to the death, each thrashing wildly to break free of the soldiers holding them.

  Unable to break free, Elijah verbally erupted instead. “THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” he yelled at James, his words insinuating an unjustified attack.

  Harrison, Austin, and another soldier tightened their grips on James when he suddenly tried to lunge. “Lieutenant calm down!” they yelled. They had a death grip on him, but James still managed to drag them all over the place as he thrashed.

  “What the hell’d you say to him?!” Harrison asked Elijah.

  “I didn’t say shit! This crazy fucker just woke up and pounced on me!”

  James finally wrestled himself free and stood a hair’s breadth away from Elijah’s face, his bloodshot eyes lowered into angry slits as he glared at his nemesis. His chest was visibly heaving as he breathed hard, forcing spit through his tightly clenched, blood-covered teeth. Standing there foaming at the mouth, James looked very much like an animal infected with rabies. Fearing he had truly gone mad, Harrison and Austin tried to grab James once more before he attacked Elijah again. But James shook them loose and stormed out of the tent before his rage resulted in the vicious death of one of his own new soldiers.

  Austin approached Elijah when James was gone. “I heard what you asked him, you lyin’ sack ‘a shit.”

  “So fuckin’ what,” Elijah replied, snatching his arms free and wiping the blood off his sliced eyebrow.

  “Rose is his daughta’ … his dead daughta’.” Austin scoffed and shook his head. “You deserved to get your fuckin’ ass whooped,” he said before walking away.

  Years ago, it had taken Elijah very little time to burn through the money that he had stolen from Lily. He had ended up with nothing to show for it except the clothes on his back. He had spent most of the cash traipsing from city to city, brothel to brothel, and drinking heavily, drunkenly bragging to bar patrons about the heinous crimes he had gotten away with. Despite the fact that murdering people became a joyous sport for him, he was initially angry over the fact that he had been drafted into the war. When given the choice between prison and serving his country, he chose to serve. He much preferred the option that allotted him the opportunity to legally take more lives, especially those of white people. He had no idea that years later, that choice would then lead him to the very white man who had ignited his passion for killing … a white man that he wanted to kill above all others.

  Weeks before Elijah’s arrival, James had learned through intel that a massive confederate troop was allegedly marching their way. It was he who had then written a letter requesting assistance from another brigade. He then assigned five of his men to deliver it to their allies and guide them back to their camp. James could never have known that his loyal soldiers had guided his nemesis right back into his life in the middle of the night, ironically delivering such a nightmare on Halloween.

  James’s dismay over being stuck with such a man was now clear to see on Elijah’s dismantled face. It was clear for the Iron Army’s general to see as well. As another soldier was guiding Elijah to the medical tent, General Blackshear grabbed Elijah by the arm and stopped him when he saw the extent of the damage to his face. “I just saw you last night when you got here, and I don’t rememba’ your goddamn face lookin’ like that! What the hell happened to you?!” he demanded to know.

  Neither Elijah nor the soldier beside him spoke. Elijah was far too angry that he had not been allotted the time to finish his fight.

  “One ‘a y’all betta’ get to goddamn talkin’!” General Blackshear erupted.

  “Lieutenant Adams just lost it on ‘em when he wok
e up this mornin’, sir,” the other soldier confessed.

  “Is that true?” General Blackshear asked, looking at Elijah.

  “Yessa’,” Elijah replied, trying to hide his aggravation.

  “You!” He pointed to the assisting soldier. “Go and find Lieutenant Adams!” He then pointed to Elijah. “You go and wait in my goddamn tent.”

  After quickly being found, James stepped inside the general’s tent and stood at attention. “General, you wanted to see me, sir,” he said, making the statement as if he was ignorant as to the nature of his request.

  “Don’t play like a dumbass in my presence, lieutenant! You know goddamn good ‘n well I was gonna wanna see you afta’ this shit!” he said, motioning his hand toward Elijah, who was also standing at attention, still bleeding badly from the gash above his eye.

  “Oh that,” James callously replied.

  “Oh that?” General Blackshear mocked. “He ain’t been here six hours and you’re already fightin’ like two goddamn little pussies on a schoolyard!” he yelled. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but we have a war to fight! We’re short enough on men as it is, and here you are tryna kill the very men we requested help from! I expect more out of a lieutenant! This ain’t the kind ‘a damn example I need you settin’ for the rest ‘a my men!”

  “Yessa’, my apologies. It won’t happen again,” James lied. “Are we finished here, sa’?” he asked, eager to get away from Elijah.

  “Did I say we were finished?!” General Blackshear growled.

  James quietly exhaled to settle his annoyance.

  “Now, I want you two to spend some brotherly quality time with each otha’, until you can learn to play nice togetha’ on the playground,” General Blackshear said, smiling devilishly. He pointed at James. “You go on and stitch ’em up, doctor. I want you to put his face back just as pretty as you found it! Make an accidental slip-up on ‘em, and you’ll be stitchin’ up the second hole I put in y’ur ass!”

  “Yessa,” James replied.

  “Now both of ya’ get outta my sight!” the general barked.

  James much preferred the extra hole in his ass over helping heal a man that he hated nearly as much as his father and brothers, but he saluted his general and went to do as he was told.

  Elijah saluted as well and then followed behind James with a smirk on his face. He lay back on the cot in the medic tent with his hands behind his head, enjoying the fact that the white man he hated had no choice but to serve him like a slave. “Put me back togetha’ just like the general said … doc. I wanna be nice and pretty again … just the way Lily liked me,” he provoked.

  James had his back turned collecting the supplies he needed when Elijah made his statement. His inner beast was still very much awake, thirsty for more blood. But James quietly exhaled and swallowed hard to find the strength to maintain control over his rabid inner monster. Instead, he forced the doctorly side of himself to emerge. He was then able to start diligently cleaning the gash over Elijah’s eye without so much as a grimace on his face.

  “So, you think Rose was your daughter, huh?” Elijah snickered, taking the free moment to try to rile James up again.

  Silence. James set his towel down and picked up his needle and thread.

  “I guess Lily neva’ told you the true extent of our relationship while we had free time afta’ all of her rehearsals, did she?”

  Silence. James initiated the first stitch above Elijah’s eye.

  “Let’s just say, that dead little girl might very well have been mine,” Elijah continued to torment.

  Silence. James knew Lily. He did not believe a word Elijah was saying.

  “Heard you was havin’ a hard time findin’ your sweet little Lily years ago,” Elijah continued.

  Silence. James continued to concentrate on sewing the gash above Elijah’s eye.

  “Well, I saw ’er in the back ‘a that wagon with that old man you left ’er with,” he suddenly confessed.

  James instantly froze. The words rang too true for him to dismiss Elijah this time.

  Finally garnering a reaction from James, Elijah smirked. “Maybe if you stayed by Lily’s side to get ’er to safety like a real man, you wouldn’t be wonderin’ where the hell she’s at right now. That’s what I would ‘a done. But you,” he scoffed. “You passed ’er off into the hands of some decrepit old man to do your dirty work like the pussy you are,” he taunted.

  James clenched his fists and locked his jaw to keep his raging inner beast from attacking again. “You betta’ tell me if you know where she is!” he demanded.

  “You’re here fightin’ this war in Lily’s honor, ain’t ya’? You wanna feel all proud and patriotic while you’re fuckin’ ’er as a free woman,” he snickered again. “Well, I got news for ya’, doc. You’re wastin’ your fuckin’ time tryna free her …” He sat up and got close to James’s face. “’Cause that fuckin’ whore is dead,” he said smugly.

  “You’re a liar!” James screamed, his blood now boiling. “Tell me where she is!”

  “Don’t know. Might wanna ask the wolves and coyotes. I’m sure they enjoyed pickin’ apart her dead body.”

  “WHERE THE FUCK SHE IS?!” James yelled, grabbing Elijah by the neck. He then began repeatedly slamming his head against the metal rail of the cot as he asked that question over and over again. The back of Elijah’s head was split by the time Austin and two other soldiers were able to drag James off him.

  The two soldiers wrestled James outside. Austin stayed behind and glared at Elijah with hateful eyes, convinced that he had enticed James into another fight somehow. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Austin asked, as he loomed over him.

  “Get the hell outta my face!” Elijah erupted, holding on to the back of his aching head.

  Austin turned to another medic. “Come and finish stitchin’ this fucker up!” He then stepped outside to find James incessantly pacing with his fists balled up.

  “He knows somethin’ about Lily, Austin!” James pointed toward the medic tent. “He knows! That piece ‘a shit fuckin’ knows!”

  “How do you know?”

  “Just trust me, he does!”

  “Okay, okay, calm down.”

  “Calm down?! That asshole knows information that he couldn’t possibly be privy to unless he actually saw Lily with his very own eyes, and you want me to calm down?!”

  “Well, we’re not gonna get any answa’s while y’ur in an uproar. So yes! You need to take a walk and calm down first. I’ll cova’ for you if General Blackshear starts askin’ questions.”

  “No! I want answa’s outta that fucker now!”

  “You’re just gonna end up in anotha’ fight! Just go on and get outta here for now! Go calm yourself down somehow before Blackshear bashes your head in too! I’ll try to talk to Elijah in the meantime.”

  Without another word, James angrily stormed off and made his way to the creek. He kicked and threw rocks into the water, trying desperately to diffuse his anger. His mind rushed back to the bullet wound that had taken Gideon’s life. He now wondered if Elijah knew who had shot him and why. As James continued to fire rocks into the water, a plethora of other questions suddenly bombarded his mind: Where was Samuel? Why wasn’t he at the first trade-off spot as planned? Why was Elijah there instead? James felt his knees begin to buckle under the extreme mental weight of those unanswered questions. He suddenly sat down against a tree with his elbows on his knees. “She’s not dead! She’s not dead! She’s not dead!” he ranted incessantly while literally trying to bang the thought out of his head with his fists. “FUCK HIM!” he suddenly erupted. He was beyond furious over the fact that he had allowed Elijah to make him spiral out of control. He exhaled, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. It was then that he recalled Ava’s words: Your Lily was alive when she left here, if that’s any consolation to you. James took comfort in that all over again. That’s what he continued to focus on: Lily alive and in his arms during a masquerade party on Halloween, exact
ly four years prior …

  Lily immediately made her way into James’s arms after the curtains closed to her show in Chicago. She was locked in his loving embrace when chants of “ENCORE!” began to ring out loudly in the theater. Lily pulled back and looked at James with a look of happy surprise. It was the first time any audience had done such a thing.

  “Seems they haven’t had enough of you yet, Miss Lily,” James replied, kissing her hand. “I certainly know the feelin’,” he smiled.

  Lily laughed and turned to look at William as he approached. “What should I do?” she asked, valuing her mentor’s opinion.

  “Well, that is certainly up to you m’lady, but I’ve always been in favor of giving an audience what they ask for.” He was silent for a moment to let the continued chants of encore take over.

  “I guess I have to give them what they want then, don’t I?”

  “Wise decision,” he smiled proudly.

  James, William, Austin, and the entire student orchestra all watched on as Lily made her way back out onto the stage. She walked with a confident stride and a sultry sway in her hips, feeling much like a queen in the red designer gown that Anna Mae had tailored to accentuate her curves. The sight of her returning to honor the crowd’s request brought them all to their feet again. Lily stopped near the front of the stage and curtsied, feeling her excitement rise along with the audience’s drawn out applause. Lily had no plans to play any of her old material the way the audience wanted, though. She suddenly asked if there were any pianists in the crowd. She lucked up on three who were brave enough to come up on stage. At Lily’s request, she had them play just the short chorus of their favorite piano songs. Lily thanked them for their contribution and had them take their seats again. James, William, Austin, and the orchestra all looked at each other curiously, perplexed as to what Lily was doing.

  Lily strolled toward her grand piano and turned to face the crowd. “And now … the encore will begin.” She sat down at the piano bench, draping her dress tastefully at her side. When she was seated as perfectly as a living sculpture, she glanced over into the wings. She was immediately warmed by the immense amount of pride she saw on James’s face as he gazed lovingly at her. Lily smiled at him and then closed her eyes.