“We’ve got to do something,” William said. “We can’t just leave her.”
“We also can’t kidnap her,” Jack said.
I nodded my agreement on that one. If she didn’t want to go, we couldn’t make her. We’d be no better than her mother if we did. And maybe she really was happy there. It sounded like a pretty easy life, even if it wasn’t exactly a good one. But the girl never had to work, and it sounded like she had the necessities covered. She wasn’t being beaten or starved, which was more than could be said for a lot of the kids in our valley.
And besides, did we really want to mess with a witch? It was none of our business. Why should we interfere?
My brothers didn’t want to leave her trapped, though, and I couldn’t just let them go and get their asses kicked by a witch. In the end, we decided to go talk to her the next day. If she was happy in her tower, we’d leave her there. If she wasn’t, we’d get her down and hide her somewhere safe where her mother wouldn’t find her—or us. I knew just the place.
Our king was on the outs with his nephew, who had taken his place while he’d been gone for ten years. When King Owen came back, he’d reclaimed his place, pushing his nephew aside. The guy was chomping at the bit to get his position back, though I didn’t really know why. It didn’t seem that desirable a role. The king didn’t have more than anyone else, and he got blamed for all the ills that befell our people.
I wasn’t born of royal blood, so I obviously didn’t understand. I did understand enough about politics to know that if Owen was in the witch’s good graces, I couldn’t hide the girl there. Since Owen and his nephew were feuding, he’d be all too happy to accept the witch’s daughter. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do for a start.
“There’s one more thing,” Jack said. “And this one’s kinda strange.”
“Stranger than what you already told us?” Daniel asked with a grin, obviously not taking our brothers seriously. I’d been wary myself when William had come back with his story, but Jack’s was too outrageous to be a lie. Jack might have been a trickster on occasion, but he wasn’t that inventive. William, maybe, but not Jack.
“She said she’s a shifter,” Jack said.
“She’s gotta be a witch,” William said. “Her mom’s a witch.”
“What if she’s both?” I asked.
They all turned to stare at me, the wheels turning as they put it together. Her mother was tight with King Owen and had been for a long time. It wasn’t inconceivable. He had two legitimate daughters, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a few illegitimate ones, too. Her mother was obviously batshit crazy, but maybe she hid her away out of shame because she was Owen’s mistress. Or maybe she didn’t want Owen’s wolf wife to get wind of the affair and retaliate.
“That actually makes sense,” Jack said slowly. “She said something about waiting for the wolves’ Alpha to marry her. If her father once married wolf royalty, maybe he’s got plans for her to do the same.”
“Then we’ve definitely got to get her out of there,” Jack said.
“Somebody’s got a crush,” Daniel said, slugging Jack’s shoulder.
“I don’t have a crush,” Jack said. “But she has no idea what any of that means. She’s like a small child. If they marry her off to some wolf guy who doesn’t even know her…”
“Then it’s none of our business,” Daniel said. “Unless you want her.”
William held his beer aloft. “I want her,” he said. “I’ll admit it. She’s hot as hell with a voice from heaven.”
We all laughed, and Daniel started shoving our little brother around playfully. But I didn’t miss the scowl Jack aimed his way, or the brooding expression on his face the rest of the evening.
Chapter Ten
Astrid
This time, I didn’t tell Mother Dear about my visitor. Part of me didn’t want her to know. I didn’t know what she’d do to me or to Jack if I told her what had happened. It wasn’t just that I felt an inexplicable desire to protect the boy who most definitely had not come to kill me. Some part of me relished this secret, treasured it like I treasured the silky scrap of paper I’d read until the words faded to almost nothing. I thought of what Jack had said, and a smile found my lips as I bent over my sewing.
That’s what sixteen-year-old girls do.
I only knew about one sixteen-year-old girl, and she’d never deceived or disobeyed her mother before—at least not in such a devious way. Maybe it was time to start.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Oh,” I said, startled out of my thoughts. “Nothing, Mother Dear. Just that I’m happy this quilt is coming along so well. Maybe you can bring it to Father in the winter.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, and my heart began to pound. I bent my head, hiding my face as I slipped the needle through the fabric in the tiny stitches I’d perfected over the years, as precise as the machine stitching on the clothes Mother Dear brought home for me.
I had a new shirt now, one that she hadn’t brought home. When she wasn’t around, I took it out and buried my face in it, inhaling his heady scent until I grew dizzy, and my whole body tingled, and the smile refused to leave my face. It had only been three days, but I couldn’t wait to see them again. Every day I sat on the windowsill combing out my hair and hoping they would return.
On the fourth day, the morning after Mother Dear had visited, I heard a call from below that sent my heart racing like the wind. I ran to the window, my bare feet barely touching the floor. Leaning out, I spotted all four of the boys, and my heart filled so full of joy that I nearly exploded.
“I brought all my brothers this time,” William yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth.
“Can you haul us up?” Jack yelled.
“Yes,” I yelled back, already snatching the bag and tossing it out the window. My heart rose like a bluebird, soaring and singing and wheeling inside my chest. They had come to see me. I had visitors—friends. At long last.
I ran to the wall and took down the gown I’d brought up for just this occasion. I settled it onto the floor and climbed in through the top, pulling it up and buttoning it as I ran to the window. In my excitement, I hauled the basket up as fast as I could, not bothering to be careful of giving a smooth ride. I felt him bang against the wall a few times, but before long, Jack’s disheveled head appeared over the sill. He grabbed hold and hopped out of the basket like he had the last time, so buoyant compared to Mother Dear, like he was made of vibrancy and sunshine.
“That must take some serious arm muscles,” he said, squeezing my bicep and letting out a low whistle. “Damn, girl. Remind me never to piss you off.”
I nodded, my face aching from smiling so hard.
“How are you?” Jack asked, taking my hands and turning them over like he expected it to be written there instead of on my face.
“Good,” I said. “I got dressed this time.”
“I can see that,” he said. “Can’t say I don’t miss seeing you in my T-shirt.”
“I can put it on if you want.”
“Nah,” he said, squeezing my arm. “Keep it.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I like the way it smells. I keep it under my pillow and smell it before I go to sleep.”
He licked his lip, a funny look coming over his face like he was trying to stop smiling but it just kept getting bigger instead. “Do you now?”
I nodded hard.
“You have no idea how hot that is,” he said.
“It’s not as hot as this dress,” I said. “But Mother Dear says a—a lady should greet her visitors looking her best. I did my hair, too.”
“You sure did,” he said, admiring the braid wrapped around and around and piled on top of my head.
“Should we bring up your brothers?”
“If we have to,” he said with an easy grin.
I took the rope, but he plucked it out of my hands. “Show me how this works, and I’ll do it.”
“I can do it.”
> “I know you can,” he said. “I felt those guns. But you’re used to hauling up one person, and I brought four. I’m not going to make you do the extra work.”
It felt strange to stand back and let him work while I only offered a couple pointers, but he seemed happy enough to haul the next two up. William introduced the other blond boy, a thin one with a lopsided grin and shaggy hair who called himself Daniel and kissed my hand before taking the rope from Jack and hauling up the last boy.
When he arrived, he climbed out carefully instead of hopping out like the other three. His eyes did a quick scan of my room before landing on me. His face was strong and solid, with a square jaw and a broad, serious mouth. He was taller than his brothers, at least as tall as Father Dear, and muscular like Jack. But while Jack was all sunshine, he was like moonlight. He had luminous dark bronze hair and eyes like the deer I’d seen through my binoculars—big and round, with a soft wisdom in their depths.
My room suddenly felt very small. I’d never noticed how much space people took up until my tower was full of them. I couldn’t decide who to look at. They were all different, and I wanted to study them all. Jack looked comfortable and easy, with his quick smile and crinkling blue eyes aimed at me even as he gestured to his newly-arrived brother.
“This is Evan,” he said. “He doesn’t talk much.”
“Hi,” I said, biting at my lip.
“We’re here to rescue you,” Daniel said with a bow.
“If you want us to,” William said. He might have been the plainest of the brothers, but my fascination was no less than for the others. In fact, it made me like him more. He was easy to look at without getting overwhelmed by all the newness. He was not much bigger than me, so he seemed more familiar and less intimidating, and he had a kind, open face that I instantly trusted despite all Mother Dear had told me about boys.
“How are you going to do that?” I asked. “Mother Dear will know if I leave.”
“What if we bring you back?” Jack asked. “You can come out and experience the world and go back before she comes home. Then if you decide you’d rather stay here, you don’t have to come out again. And if you want to go out there, we can find some way to make it happen.”
I looked at him doubtfully. “How will we get back up here? Someone has to be here to pull up the basket.”
They all looked at each other.
William scratched the back of his neck. “We should have brought another rope,” he said. “We could have made a pulley system.”
“I might be able to fly out,” Jack said, turning to Evan. “Or maybe you could?”
Evan gave him a look that I knew well. It meant, “Shut up if you know what’s good for you.” But I was still stuck on Jack’s words.
A feeling stirred inside me, this small betrayal enough to cast doubt over all of them, over everything they said. “I thought you were a stag,” I said.
Jack turned to me, then drew back when he saw my expression, his eyebrows drawing down. “I am,” he said. “That’s my natural form. But we’re shifters. We can turn into other things with some effort and practice. Flying is one of the hardest things for a land animal shifter, though.”
I shook my head, backing away slowly. “No. If you shift into another animal, you’ll get stuck that way for the rest of your life. You must never, ever shift into anything but a turtle.”
They stared at me as my voice rose.
Evan cocked an eyebrow at me.
“What?” I asked, my breath coming fast from my outburst.
“You’re a turtle?” William asked.
“Not what I would have guessed,” Daniel said.
“You can shift into anything,” Jack said, his brow furrowing as I shook my head harder.
“Don’t,” I said. “You’ll get stuck like that forever.”
“Astrid, it’s okay,” he said. “I promise.”
“No,” I said. “Don’t do it. I’ll just stay up here, and you can tell me about the world down there.”
While his brothers were looking at me strangely, Jack took my hands in his, gripping my shaking fingers in a steadying hold. “I won’t leave you, Astrid.”
“Promise?” I asked, my eyes prickling with tears. Crap. That was bad. I couldn’t cry in front of them. They’d know my secret.
“Yeah, we’ve all done it before,” William said. “We play as lots of animals when we’re kids. Though not birds as often because frankly heights aren’t my thing, but I can do a couple other things easily enough. Only werewolves are incapable of using another form. Shifters have a natural form, but we’re not bound to one.”
“Here, I’ll show you,” Jack said.
“No,” I said, gripping his hands harder. Suddenly, I felt a tear beading on my eyelashes, threatening to fall, and I had to release his hands and lower my face, so he wouldn’t see me catch it as it fell.
“Hey,” Jack said, sliding an arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry to say this, but your mother was lying to you. I wouldn’t do it if it meant I couldn’t come back for you.”
I sniffed hard, sucking up all my tears and squeezing my hand closed around the teardrop. “What if Mother Dear put a spell on this place, so it’s true up here?” I asked. “What if you get stuck?”
“Shifters don’t get stuck,” Daniel said.
“They can,” I said. “I can make them.”
They all stared.
“What?” William asked at last.
I sniffed again, even louder this time. “I can bind a shifter into their form,” I said. “So, if they see me when they’re in animal form, they can’t turn back to human form and tell anyone.”
“Shit,” Daniel said. “That’s some serious paranoia.”
“It’s not paranoia,” I said. “It’s protection.”
“I’m surprised you know what that means,” William said.
“Encyclopedias,” I said, gesturing to the bookshelf.
Evan pushed off the windowsill where he’d been leaning and paced the room, frowning.
“Right,” Jack said. “Back to the matter at hand. Even if your mom put a spell on this place, she didn’t put one on us. As soon as we left, we’d be able to shift back.”
I thought about that, and the bird man who had come here. He’d shifted back and forth. But I was still scared for these boys who had come to help me when I didn’t even know I needed help. I hadn’t known them long, but I already adored every one of them. They weren’t just my friends. They were my boys.
Chapter Eleven
Astrid
With an impatient sigh, Evan peeled off his shirt, revealing a tanned expanse of muscle across his chest. He was taller and broader than Jack, but every bit as fascinating. He caught me staring and paused with his hand curled around the button of his jeans.
“He ain’t scared of your mother,” Daniel said.
“I don’t know about this,” William asked. “I mean, have you ever seen a guy naked?”
“I saw you,” I said.
Daniel hooted and pounded on William’s back. “You didn’t tell us that!”
“I was in the vines outside,” William said. “She didn’t see anything.”
“She’s never even seen a boy in the flesh before us,” Jack said. “Obviously she’s never seen one naked.”
“She did say she had books,” William said. “You never know what kind.”
“We’re just shifting,” Daniel said. “It’s not like we’re pervy guys flashing our junk at her.”
“What junk?” I asked.
They all exchanged a look, and I got the feeling I was missing out on something.
“What?” I asked. Mother Dear had always told me to wear clothes, scolding me when she came home to find me without. But I didn’t see why it mattered. I liked to be comfortable. But obviously it mattered a lot, because every time these boys talked about it, they got strange looks on their faces.
“So, like, do you know what sex is?” Daniel asked.
“Dude,�
� Jack said, shooting Daniel a warning look.
“No,” I said. “What is it?”
“Your mother couldn’t have given you the S encyclopedia,” William muttered.
“I never thought I’d be having this conversation before I hit twenty,” Jack said with a sigh.
“Even if you were a dad before twenty, you wouldn’t be having this conversation for a long time,” Daniel said.
“So, what is it?” I asked.
Jack rubbed his hair, messing up the curls. “It’s, like, when your bodies join together, and, uh…”
The other three were snorting with suppressed laughter.
“And what?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
Jack glared at his brothers. “Help me out here?”
Daniel cleared his throat. “When a man and a woman love each other very much…”
This time, they all started laughing.
I stamped my foot. “Why are you laughing at me? I can’t help it that I don’t know what goes on out there in your world. So, let’s have it.”
“Let’s have sex?” Daniel asked, and they all burst out laughing again.
“You better stop laughing right now,” I said, shaking a finger at them. “Or I’ll…I’ll…hang you out the window by your toes.”
That only made them laugh harder. I crossed my arms and turned my back to them. Maybe I should have dumped hot water on them like Mother Dear instructed.
“Sorry,” Jack said, coming up behind me and putting a hand on my shoulder. “It’s not you. It’s just kind of awkward, that’s all.”
“Are you going to tell me or laugh at me some more?”
“We’ll tell you,” William said.
Caged: A Twisted Fairytale Retelling Page 6
