by Anita Oh
"I know you didn't want to stay in my room but if you like, I will just sit over here while you get some sleep. You can pretend I'm not here but I'll watch the door and keep you safe."
His words were like a sleeping potion. My brain immediately stopped chasing itself around and curled up like a sleepy puppy to rest. My heart felt as if it was growing too big for my chest and I wanted to tell Sam how much it meant to me, for him to know exactly how I felt and what I needed, but I was asleep before the words made it out of my mouth.
I woke up to see him curled in a ball at the foot of my chair, a big furry wolf, fast asleep with his head on a cushion. I wasn't mad that he'd fallen asleep when he said he'd watch the door. It wasn't really about watching the door, even I knew that much. It was about feeling like someone had my back, feeling as if I wasn't alone, that there was someone to share the weight of responsibility.
I had zero energy to go to class. Being tiny really took it out of you, but we had to track down Astor and get this whole mess sorted out. If I didn't get biggened soon, the school administration would notice, for one thing. I'd lose my scholarship if I had too many absences recorded.
"We're doing this as a pack," Tennyson Wilde said as the five of us headed up to the school after dinner. "We don't know what weapons he has at his disposal, magical or not. We will approach him cautiously, isolate him and try to reason with him. Do not engage in any physical altercation with him unless he attacks first. Do not reveal your powers to him. Be mindful of your surroundings and anything that seems out of place. Remember, our objective is to find the person behind the magic."
"We know," Althea said, rolling her eyes.
Sam carried me safely in the front pocket of his bag. Watching the four of them together like this, striding up to the school like a team of superheroes heading out for a mission, it struck me how different Sam was to the others. They carried themselves with an air of absolute confidence. Whether it was because they'd been born as wolves or born rich or what, there was absolutely no hesitation in anything they did. Sam, on the other hand, he was all stooped posture and second guesses.
He seemed twitchy as he followed the others, and I wondered if he was okay, if this kind of thing would be too much for him, but I figured they wouldn't bring him along if he couldn't handle it. Probably, it was only me that freaked him out and evil polo wizards were okay. He'd never been great with confrontation so he was probably just twitchy about that.
As we approached the aquatic complex, they discussed their plan of approach in hushed voices.
"Sam, you should hang back with Lucy," Althea said, and the others nodded agreement.
"Nikolai has the sharpest senses, so he should locate the target and then fall back with Althea to form a line of defense. Survey the perimeter for any sign of the magic user. I'll approach Astor directly and begin negotiations."
I wasn't sure if Tennyson Wilde was planning a military operation or a sporting tactic but I hoped he knew what he was talking about. In my experience, guys like Astor had no idea about their actions having consequences, because they'd never had to deal with any consequences before, and so they thought they could do whatever they liked and get away with it. That made them dangerous and unpredictable.
He was in the main pool area, not swimming, just sitting by the pool, watching the water. He was still fully dressed and looked as if he were waiting for something. When Tennyson entered, Astor looked up and smiled. It seemed obvious that he'd been waiting for us.
"I knew you would come," he said. "You think you're so smart. So much smarter than everyone else, so much better."
I rolled my eyes. Poor little rich kid.
"You think you can make a fool out of me and get away with it? You think that stupid commoner can get away with it? I don't care who you are, who your family is, nobody makes a fool out of Remington Astor and gets away with it." He stood up to yell his words at Tennyson, his face red and vein on his thick neck pulsing.
Tennyson Wilde didn't react, just stood silently, watching him. To be honest, I knew how infuriating it could be to get into an argument with Tennyson Wilde, but Astor wasn't doing himself any favors.
"Your little girlfriend has been missing for days and nobody even cares. She could vanish from the world forever and nobody would notice. And what will you do then?"
"We know what you did," Tennyson Wilde said. "And we know how you did it."
"Ooooh," Astor said, waving his arms around. "Look who knows so much. Do you know how to break the spell too? Of course you don't, that's why you're here."
Even from the back, I could tell from the set of Tennyson Wilde's shoulders that he was rolling his eyes.
"There's nobody else here," called Althea.
Astor laughed. "And nobody else coming."
"So what's the point of this?" Tennyson asked. "What do you want from us? Tell me your terms and if they are reasonable, we can negotiate."
Astor laughed meanly. "Terms? You think I want to make a deal with you? You think there's anything you could give me more satisfying that being rid of that stupid little bitch? Better than seeing the look on your smug face after I stamp her out? You gotta be kidding me, something that good doesn't even exist."
Tennyson took half a step forward and then stopped himself. "For your own safety, I suggest you reconsider."
Astor snorted. "You're threatening me now? What are you going to do, turn into a werewolf and rip my face off?"
As one, I felt the five of us suck in a sharp, shocked breath.
"Go on, do it. There are cameras filming this entire thing. You want the world to know what you are, that your whole family are filthy animals?" He laughed. "The only thing better than getting rid of your commoner whore would be taking you down with her."
So many things happened at once that it was impossible to keep track of what was going on. Sam let out a ferocious growl and lunged forward, sending me flying. There was a flurry of movement from the shadows, Nikolai and Althea, but I couldn't tell what they were doing as I flew through the air. Wow, I was up high. It was going to be a bitch when I hit the ground. The noises from below were awful, growls and tearing, ripping sounds, but I couldn't turn to see what they were from, whether Sam was okay, whether they were ripping Astor to pieces. I wasn't so sure if I cared if they were, considering he had every intention of ending me, but I did wonder if the spell could ever be broken if he was dead.
Before I could give it too much thought though, I landed. Splash, right in the middle of the pool.
Chapter 12
I was a strong swimmer. We lived near a river and my brothers were little troublemakers, so I made sure I was a good enough swimmer to pull someone to safety if they got in trouble. This was something new to me though. This was like being dropped right in the middle of the ocean, with nothing to cling onto for support. This was really, really scary.
I came to the surface spluttering, with my throat burning from chlorine and something else, a strange and bitter taste. The horrible noises still filled the air, distorted in that strange way that sounds always echoed at an indoor pool. I was too turned around to tell which direction they were coming from; which direction I should start swimming. I'd need somebody to fish me out, I couldn't climb up the ladder, and I really did not want that person to be Astor.
I floated on my back, trying to get my bearings. Astor had said a lot of things, all of them distressing, but one thing in particular stuck in my mind. He was sure that the rumors about me and Tennyson Wilde were true. Which a) just proved how stupid he was because who would believe that, and b) strongly hinted that he wasn't the cyberbully. I was fairly sure that the person posting all that stuff about me wouldn't post anything if they thought it was true. The truth can be defended, proven; lies can't. The links between the bullying and the spell were too strong to ignore, which meant that the bully must be the person behind all the magic, behind everything. If I could find them, I could stop the whole thing.
I started swimming. Thi
s was great. If it was finding somebody online, that was something I could do. That was something logical, something with practical steps that could be taken to achieve a concrete result. That was exactly my kind of thing. I just needed to get out of this pool and get started on it.
I swam and swam but didn't seem to be getting any closer to the edge of the pool. It was hard to tell if the sounds were dying down or if they were just muffled from the water in my ears, but I hoped they didn't vanish completely because it was too easy to lose my sense of direction when everything was just water. My limbs started feeling weak and I wasn't sure how long I could keep swimming before my body gave up. I wish I knew what was going on with the others. I didn't want to call out for help in case Astor found me, but I doubted they'd find me otherwise, I was just a speck of debris in a wide, bottomless ocean. I stopped to tread water for a moment, to rest my aching limbs and try to figure out what was happening.
It was hard to pick the different sounds apart, but it seemed like the werewolf noises had stopped. I couldn't hear any growling or roaring or any of that. There was some thumping, but everything echoed so badly I couldn't tell what it was or where it was coming from. Then I heard something that filled me with relief. Somebody calling my name. Somebody definitely not Astor.
"Lucy, where are you?" called Althea.
"Here!" I said, waving my arms around and kicking like mad to stay afloat. "Over here in the water!"
She stepped up to the edge of the pool, appearing like a goddess on a mountaintop. She looked around blankly, obviously not seeing me, so I splashed the water as much as I could to be more noticeable.
Finally, she spotted me, but for some reason she didn't look pleased.
"Okay, just a second," she said. "Sam's chasing after Astor and Tennyson and Nikolai are trying to calm him down and stop him from hurting anyone. I'll get you out of there but Astor's pumped wolfsbane into the pool so I can't come in to get you."
It seemed like forever until she reappeared. I felt so weak, drained of all my energy. I hoped I could stay afloat long enough for her to do whatever it was she was doing.
"Okay," she said, reappearing with a long pole in her hand. "Grab onto this."
She leaned over as far as she could, stretching out with the pole for me to grab onto, but still I couldn't reach it.
"Hang on," I said, "let me swim in a bit more."
I swam and swam toward her, but before I could close enough, all my muscles seized up. Oh man, who knew a leg cramp could be so painful, it was like being stabbed by a thousand knives. I couldn't move, I had no control over my own body. I tried to kick out, to keep swimming, but my body rejected the idea and I began to sink. Stupid body.
As the water closed over my head, I heard Althea yell out. The last thing I was aware of was a mighty splash and a giant wave coming toward me.
When I woke up, I was dry, toasty warm and shocked about not being dead. I was like de ja vous from when Tennyson Wilde had first found me. I was snug on my chair and the others were gathered around the table, talking quietly. It only took me a moment to realize that it wasn't all of the others, only Tennyson and Nikolai, and I remembered what Althea had said about the wolfsbane.
"She'll be fine," said Nikolai, quietly. "We'd know if she wasn't."
"I don't know, everything feels confused." Tennyson Wilde was different than I'd ever seen him, pale and red-eyed.
"We should've let Sam kill him."
"That wouldn't help Althea," said Tennyson. "Besides, we shouldn't —"
The beeping of his phone cut off what he was going to say. He fumbled as he picked it up.
"She's okay," he said, expelling a long breath. "Mother says they were able to administer the antidote in time however Althea is still quite ill and won't return to school until she has regained her strength."
"It was lucky I returned when I did. You should've seen her, boiling alive with the commoner clutched in her hand. I should get a medal or something." Nikolai tried to sound flippant but the worry in his voice betrayed how much he cared.
I stayed perfectly still on my cushion as I listened. I didn't want them to know I was awake. Althea had jumped into the pool to save me and almost died. It was all my fault. Well, not all my fault. Let's be real, it was mostly Astor's fault. But still, a bit my fault, and I felt horrible. Althea was literally the only person at the whole school who had been consistently nice to me, had always believed in me, and it made me sick that she was hurt on my account. I totally understood Nikolai wanting to get revenge on Astor for it.
They sat in silence, lost in their thoughts, until Nikolai abruptly pushed back from the table. "I'm going to check on Sam. We need to get back to Astor with our response."
Tennyson hardly seemed to hear him. I wondered what they needed to talk to Astor about, he'd said that he didn't want anything from the Golden but he was clearly in a position to demand anything. He'd said he had cameras in the pool, so he most likely had concrete evidence of werewolf activity. I had no doubt the Wildes had enough money and influence to cover up any sort of wolf-related scandal, but it would probably be annoying and there would always be people who would believe any rumor, even if it was proved false. Plus, their mother sounded kind of strict, I bet she wouldn't be pleased if the boarding school shenanigans of her kids ended up exposing their entire world.
It made me wonder what Sam's life had been like since he went to live with the Wildes. Had he been welcomed like part of the family or treated like some sort of scientific anomaly? I felt like the more time I spent around these people, the more questions I had.
"You shouldn't blame yourself," Tennyson Wilde said quietly. "If that's what you're doing, you shouldn't."
For a moment, I wasn't sure he was talking to me. He'd always been the first to blame me for anything that went wrong.
"You may be worried that we will give in to that person's arrogant demands to hand you over but I am not in the habit of submitting to my inferiors. Any mistakes that were made in this case were my own and I will not let anyone else suffer for them. I will find a way to bring him to justice."
"Are you feeling okay?" I asked him. "You didn't hit your head or something?"
He didn't answer me, just kept staring at his phone.
Sam was back to normal the next day, but the air of gloom still hung over everyone. It was clear that every one of us blamed ourselves for what had happened to Althea. Well, except Nikolai.
"We can't give in to that guy," he hissed across the breakfast table. Astor had just sent through a message containing a list of demands and the footage from the pool. It was pretty incriminating. "Let him do his worst. Look at this list, he wants us to wait on him hand and foot!"
"He wants access to our facilities only because he suspects we are harboring Lucy and he hopes to find her," said Tennyson.
"And who knows what else," said Sam, staring down at his untouched plate of sausages and eggs. "He probably wants to sneak around and find out even more of our secrets."
"I don't like it either but I'm not sure we have any other option." Tennyson Wilde pushed back from the table and stood, picking me up and taking me away from the delicious saucer of bacon I was nibbling at. "I will consider it but I don't think it's wise."
For once, I agreed with Tennyson Wilde. Having Astor creeping around the Golden House could only mean disaster. And more panty-sniffing probably. Some time during Biology, though, Tennyson must have changed his mind, because he found Astor at lunch and slapped a key card down on the table in front of him.
"This will give you access to our basic facilities," Tennyson said through gritted teeth. "If you abuse it, it will be taken away and you will be dealt with."
"I highly doubt that," Astor said, smirking up at him. "Is that the only thing you have for me?"
"Yes." Tennyson Wilde turned and walked away.
"That was a dumbass move," I told him.
He didn't disagree.
By the end of the day, it was clear exactly how d
umbass it was.
It was thankfully a day without polo practice, so we went straight back to the house after class, only to find Astor sprawled on the sofa, his filthy shoes up on the cushions and playing a game on his phone with the sound at full volume.
"Funny, isn't it," Astor said over the music of his game, "how a bunch of stuff around here seems to be fixed up for a tiny person."
Tennyson ignored him and sat down at the table, pulling a book toward himself and flicking it open. I couldn't see to read it from his pocket and I didn't dare climb up onto the table with Astor there. I stayed hunched in Tennyson's pocket, being as silent as possible.
"Have you noticed it yet?" Astor asked. "How she's getting smaller. I wanted her to vanish completely but the boss said this would be better. Funnier, you know?"
"Your boss sounds very astute. Are they hiring? I have been looking for a menial position for real world experience before I take over the company and being an evil minion is as good as anything."
I bit down on a laugh. Wow, who knew old T-son could bring the lolz.
"I know what you're trying to do. I'm not stupid. You think I'll give my boss up to you? You think I'll give you information? I'm not an idiot. Now shut up and go get me a drink."
I felt the growl more than heard it. Tennyson's growl was deeper than the others, darker, somehow. It made me wonder again what he would look like in his wolf form, how fearsome he'd be. I couldn't tell what he looked like from inside his pocket, but it was clearly enough to shut up Astor's stupid mouth, at least for a while.
Tennyson read in silence, the only noise in the room from Astor's game. I wondered were Sam and Nikolai were but then I remembered it was Thursday and Nikolai had C&C club. I was a bit disappointed he hadn't taken me with him, they always had the best snacks.
Sam probably had some sort of activity too, after all they were compulsory. I wondered what he was doing. Basketball, maybe? He'd always been good at sports. It kind of made me jealous in a way, that he could go and do normal things, normally, with normal people. With me all he could do was turn vicious and hate himself. If I was a stranger, if we just met now, we could be friends. We could be more than friends. It would just be something that happened without all the BS. Though, if we were just to meet now, would we even have anything to talk about?
