I shifted smoothly in the dark for the first time without a full moon. Jack all but leaped to the ceiling, girlish squealing and all. I growled a deep, guttural rumble that I hoped would scare the intruder away. Jack had dropped the lamp in his leap to safety but had managed to get his hands on a metal nail file and wielded it heroically behind me—way, way behind me.
“Easy, there. There’s no need to get your knickers in a twist, Sierra.”
Mystery man emerged from the shadows, the moonlight illuminating his face enough for me to see him clearly. He had dark blonde hair that was swept neatly to one side, strange clothing for the time period, and he stood relaxed in my presence. I didn’t scare him in the least.
“Easy, I mean you no harm. This, however, does serve to prove my point. We should never have allowed the merry band of jokesters to handle this task.”
His accent was familiar. It was buried somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind, but I couldn’t bring the name forward. I did not care. I growled again and lowered my head, prepared to go in for the kill if he didn’t own his identity soon.
My bedroom door flew open, and Ely stepped between me and whoever the intruder was.
“It’s okay, Sierra,” Ely said, panting after running up the stairs and into my apartment. Even with his statement that all was well, I was still too afraid to shift back. That, and I didn’t want to be naked in front of Jack, Ely, and some guy I didn’t know.
“Wil, when you woke me up and told me to meet you here, I thought you meant in the parking lot, you jerk,” Ely snarled. “When I heard Jack scream like a giant baby, I thought Ella was here! I was already cranky after being woken in the middle of the night, then I drove all the way here to find this mess!”
“Well, you should have taken greater measures to ensure their safety, Prince Eliot. What if I had been Cinderella? This boy would have attempted to bludgeon her with a lamp, and how do you think that would have gone? Incidentally, though, fear causes Sierra to shift at will, so you’re welcome. Step one done and done.”
Ely groaned, frustrated by the man named Wil... wait... Wil as in Wilhelm Grimm!
Even in wolf form, I tried to say my thoughts aloud, but my growling did get the attention of the three men in the room. Ely and Wil glanced at me while Jack remained steadfast with his nail file behind me.
“What do you want, Wil?” Ely asked.
“What is all the racket in here? Can’t a girl get some sleep with—” Dannie froze at my door, her eyes locked on me. I had forgotten I was a wolf momentarily and tried to speak again. Growling at her only freaked her out more, and my dear friend screamed and ran.
“Now look what you’ve done, you moron! Didn’t you learn a thing last time?” Ely scolded Wil who only shrugged and brushed him off.
“I have important information King Marcellus requested I deliver to you in person,” Wil said.
“You could have called with the information, or emailed, texted, anything but this,” Ely complained.
“You know, a horse and rider are a far more secure means of transporting critical information than this ridiculous thing you call the internet,” Wil argued.
“Yeah, and it took three months to get a message. My point is, you didn’t have to break in and scare my... my... um...”
“Girlfriend?” Jack offered, never allowing his grip to lessen on the nail file. I noticed his choice of bedtime attire—flannel superhero pajamas. If I could have, I would have laughed at him standing there in superhero garb with a nail file hiding behind his best friend.
“Sure, girlfriend, whatever,” Ely said, but he kept getting interrupted.
“Can someone tell me why Dannie is screaming about a wolf in the... Oh! Sierra!” Cecily gasped. “What did you do? How did you... wait, who are you?”
All eyes were on the intruder, the man who decided it was totally fine to break into my apartment and hide in the shadows like a creepy stalker—a super-hot stalker—but still creepy.
“This is Wil, probably the Grimm guy who is Heidi’s brother. He’s come with important information and horses... or riders... horse riders in knickers... I don’t know, he’s here with a message instead of the ridiculous internet. Try to keep up, Cecily,” Jack said nervously.
Ely bit his lip to keep from chuckling. Wil arched an eyebrow at Jack, and it seemed they’d all forgotten about two things—the wolf, and the freaked-out roommate down the hall. I glanced at Jack who, oddly, seemed to know what to do.
“I’ll, uh... just go talk to Dannie,” he said and climbed down from the bed with his nail file.
“Information about?” Ely asked, frustrated and wearing superhero pajamas. Funny, Jack and Ely had something in common. Boy, I’ll bet that annoys Ely. I shook my head, trying to focus on what was happening, but my mind often wandered when I was in wolf form—okay, it always wandered, but more when the wolf was out.
“About Jemma Simmons, the girl believed to be Clara’s daughter. We have reason to believe she may be...”
Clearly, the conversation would be long, and I was growing impatient. I growled, reminding them I was there, and I was annoyed my evening had been interrupted with nonsense that could have waited until morning.
“Oh, yes,” Wil said. “Please do return to your human state. I’ll wait.” He kept standing there as if I should just shift in front of him. I snapped at him, and he staggered backward. “Oh yes, my apologies, I forgot about the clothing issue. We’ll need to fix that for you, Miss Monroe. We’ll leave you to dress. Come, Ely, we have much to discuss.”
Everyone left the room but Cecily, her eyes wide and confused. I shifted and dressed quickly.
“How did you do that?” Cecily asked.
“I’m not sure exactly. I just got scared, and it happened.”
“Is that really Wil Grimm, the fairy tale author?”
“Ely called him Wil, so I guess he is. The jerk just snuck into our house like a creepy stalker and scared the crap out of Jack and me,” I said, then tied my hair up. “And now Dannie knows, so we’re screwed. Jack was right, this is a train wreck.”
“What are we going to do about Dannie? She saw you. We’re not exactly lying our way out of that one,” she reasoned.
“Better just face the music, I guess.” I sighed and followed her into the living room where Jack was trying very hard to convince Dannie she was not losing her mind. She was shaking and pale, ready to toss her cookies at any moment. When she saw me, she bolted off the sofa and ran to me.
“Sierra! I thought it killed you! Where is it? Did you lock it in your room? How did it get in? Who do we call, animal control?” Dannie usually kept it together under pressure, but I guessed seeing a wolf in her apartment was more than she could manage. She practically shook me right out of my skin, then hugged me tightly. I gently rubbed her back and prepared to tell her the truth. I didn’t like the idea of putting her in more danger, but there was no other way of explaining things at that point.
“Dannie, calm down and take a breath before you hyperventilate,” I said, leading her back to the sofa. “We need to talk.”
“What? There’s no time to talk! There’s a wolf in our apartment!” She continued to shake, and all I could think about was how to lie to her. I shook the thought from my head, reminding myself that the truth would be better—the wolf part, not everything. But of course, before I could calmly and rationally explain things to Dannie, someone else beat me to the chase.
“Yes, that was Sierra,” Wil said, and I suddenly understood why Ely wasn’t keen on him being there. He was annoyingly blunt and didn’t seem to care much about how his words affected others. Whoever this Calla person was, she must have saint-like patience to be married to him.
“Who are you?” Dannie asked, pointing to Wil. “And you... you were at the diner!” she shouted at Ely. “You were that weird guy that freaked Sierra out! What are you doing in our—are you stalking my best friend?” She was shouting, one step away from punching Ely right in the face. Ely star
ted to defend himself, but Wil interrupted before he got going.
“I’m Wilhelm Grimm, and you are?”
Dannie glanced at me, then back to Wil. She snickered, a defense mechanism she often used when stressed. “Wilhelm Grimm? Funny, who are you really,” she asked again, her stress mounting with each word. She was scared, and I didn’t blame her.
I sighed, thinking I’d be doing a lot more of that in my future. “Dannie, we really need to talk.”
“Yeah, I’d say so. Who are these people and why are they here in our apartment, and that other thing, you know, the wolf in your bedroom that you seem totally unfazed by!” she yelled, shaking me by my shoulders again.
I decided there were two ways I could explain the problem to her, and only one of them would be quick and efficient. I could spend hours convincing her I was the wolf she saw, or I could just show her. Seeing is believing, Sierra.
“Seeing what?” Dannie asked—pesky habit.
“Just remember that I love you and would never, ever hurt you.”
“I know that, Si. It’s these loonies I’m worried about. Why hasn’t anyone called the police yet? This is... it’s nuts, that’s what it is. I’m just... you know what? I’ll call myself, that’s what I’ll do! And I’ll have you all carted away!” She started to get up, but I placed a hand on her arm.
“Dannie just... just trust me, okay? I need to show you something. It’ll be scary, but it’s just me, okay?”
She glanced around the room again then back to me. She nodded. “Okay, sure. I trust you.”
I stood and thought of the way I felt when Jack was in danger. I felt the tingle spread through my body again and let it take over. I shifted... and Dannie ran screaming into the night.
“Well,” Wil said, “all things considered, that went about as well as expected.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s how normal people are supposed to react,” Jack replied, then ran after her.
“Perhaps it is. I wouldn’t really know,” Wil commented with a shrug, then settled into my sofa for a long conversation.
Chapter Seven
Jack never found Dannie, and we didn’t see hide nor hair of her the rest of the night. I tried calling her a dozen times, texted and emailed—everything short of sniffing her out, which had crossed my mind. I didn’t really worry until she failed to show up for her shift the next morning. I decided she probably needed some time to wrap her mind around her best friend turning into a wolf, and she would come home soon.
I felt quite silly going to work as if everything were perfectly fine, but on the off chance I had lost my mind entirely and dreamed everything, I figured I should go to work just in case. The diner was bustling when I arrived, probably because they were a waitress short after Dannie flew the coup.
“Thank goodness you’re here!” Tanya said and threw an apron at me. “Table six needs service, then table ten if you don’t mind.”
“Sure,” I said as I scanned the little diner. Everyone was seated, so I hoped the worst of the rush was settled. The tips were great, but I was legitimately concerned I would catch someone on fire if my stress level rose too much, as it often did at work.
I sighed and told myself, queen or not, I must first fulfill my duties as a waitress. I tended to table six, a pair of overly stressed mothers with a half-dozen kids who all wanted plain milk. When I brought it, they decided they wanted chocolate milk with their plain pancakes instead. When I brought the chocolate milk, they decided they wanted chocolate chip pancakes.
If you’d asked me, they were one chocolate chip short of a three-ring circus, but I wasn’t the one taking them home, so I loaded them up on sugar without hesitation. The mothers sipped their coffee with shaky hands, apologized profusely for their children’s behavior, and promised a large tip for my patience. If they’d only known their children were the least stressful part of my day, they may not have promised such things.
Table ten was a patient woman who didn’t seem to mind the circus across from her. Tall and blonde with beautiful blue eyes and a pale, porcelain complexion, she was easily one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen in my life. She smiled when I approached and slid the menu toward me.
“I’ll just have coffee and a muffin, thank you, Saskia.”
“Absolutely, I’ll get that for you right—” I almost missed the name, the quiet whisper that slipped from her lips no one heard but me. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked, praying I heard incorrectly. Perhaps it was an auditory hallucination brought on by too little sleep and too much stress.
“Saskia, you’ve forgotten your Auntie Ella already? Such a shame, but you’ll soon remember.”
I opened my mouth, but all that came were squeaks and sputters.
“You always were a little unrefined. I came to issue a warning. Abort your silly plans, stay here and I won’t kill all of you. Continue, and you won’t like the consequences. Just ask your traitorous little sister what happens when you cross me. How is Corrina fairing these days?” she asked, her tone carefree and laid-back as if we were carrying on an enjoyable conversation with one another. “Oh, no, it’s Cecily this lifetime, isn’t it?”
“You leave my sister alone. Do you hear me? If you touch a hair on her head, so help me—”
“Why would I harm my favorite niece? Tell me, Saskia, do you really think I managed to trick all those people without a little help? Quite the informant, your little sister. No, if I were you, I’d be more concerned about what I’ll do to your friends if you don’t end this insane idea you can beat me.” I didn’t know which people she alluded to, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was Cecily.
“You listen to me, Cinderella, I don’t care how or why you did what you did, but I am telling you now,” I said, leaning over her with no fear whatsoever—okay, a lot of fear, but I swallowed it down, “if you touch my sister, I will kill you in front of a million people with no hesitation.”
“It’s Ella, and I don’t think you have the guts, my dear. You never have. You always sacrifice yourself to save your traitorous sister. It’s quite humorous, really. It gives me a good laugh every thirty years or so,” she said, stirring her glass of ice water with her straw, not a care in the world.
“My sister would never betray me, so take your—”
“Never?” she asked with a chuckle. “Oh, that’s rich. Try every lifetime, darling. She wanted what you had. The one man she loved more than life. A dreadfully boring creature if you ask me, but she loved him all the same.”
“She’s in love with someone else now,” I lied, sort of, “so I doubt your lies will come true this lifetime, Aunt. Now get out before I call the police,” I spat, shoving her water away from her.
They were lies, every word. They had to be. There was no way Cecily would ever betray me, not for any reason. Certainly not for a man neither of us wanted, whoever he was. She was trying to get into my head, to psych me out and throw me off my game. I didn’t actually know if I had any game, but I darn well knew my sister, and I would slaughter anyone who gave her so much as a paper cut on purpose.
“As you wish, but I will warn you once more. If you follow through with this idiotic idea you have to reclaim your throne, I will kill everyone you love. I have the means and the temperament to do just that, not to mention... well, let’s just say I’m closer to your friends than you think. Once I’ve killed them, just for laughs, I’ll make a trip to Schwartzwald and kill everyone your beloved Ely loves as well. I could use a nice vacation.” She stood abruptly, and I noticed then how much taller she was than me. However, I found a backbone, and I used it, standing straight and tall as she issued her final threat.
“If you see that worthless father of yours, tell him not to return to Goldene Stadt. If he does, I’ll throw him in the dungeon for the rest of eternity,” she spat then marched toward the door.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, surprising myself again. “I don’t understand. Why... what happened all those centuries ago?”
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Her wicked laughed gained the attention of a few customers, which annoyed her, so she scowled at them and took a few steps closer to me. She leaned in close, so close I could see the storm brewing in her eyes.
“The throne should have been mine. Your mother swooped in and stole your father right out from under me without a second thought. I simply took back what was to be mine, along with a massive amount of power. It’s intoxicating, Saskia. Care to join me?”
I was taken aback by her offer, but I soon realized it was merely a way for her to get into my head.
“I’d never help you. I don’t want what you have, Ella,” I said.
“Hmm... I see. Don’t say I never offered. Remember what I said, Saskia. Follow my instructions or the people you love will disappear forever.” She turned and exited, sucking all the oxygen from the room with her, or so it felt. After she left, my backbone turned to spaghetti, and I nearly passed out.
The first person I called was my sister, but she didn’t answer. I checked the time and assumed she was in class finishing out her semester just as Jack was. I tapped my fingers on the counter, debating my next move. She frazzled me, and I just knew I’d light something on fire if I didn’t find someone to help me. With Jack and Cecily indisposed and Dannie still unaccounted for, I had only one other option. I sent Ely a message, then shakily tallied up the bill for crazy kid table.
I was glad I was nice to them and didn’t get worked up when they changed their order a dozen times. The mothers held up their end of the bargain and left a hefty tip. They’d also done what they could to minimize the mess. I had a sudden concern that Ella would do something drastic to them just to scare me and ran to the front window of the diner. I saw both moms wrangling their respective children into two minivans in the lot, no sign of Ella anywhere.
I waited until they pulled away before finally breathing again. Surely, Ella wouldn’t attack innocent children, right? My hands trembled, so I put something in them that couldn’t ignite. Dirty dishes, smeared with chocolate and syrup, dripped along the floor as I carried them to the deep sink in the back of the diner.
Ashes to Ashes Page 10
