by Jes Young
“You make a lasting impression.”
He laughed then; it was a high-pitched, unpleasant sound and I began to pray that it wouldn’t be the last thing I ever heard.
“Your little army seems to have dissipated.”
“Has it?” I shrugged and tried to look sly and knowing. “They’ll be back.”
I could tell he found me amusing – which is not the same thing as funny. I was a joke; the fear he saw on my face was a joke.
“Let’s see if your screaming doesn’t bring them running.”
I looked to the door and he looked too. I was calculating the distance between my chair and the possibility of safety if I made it to the hall. It was a big if.
“You won’t make it,” he cooed. He leaned back and closed his eyes the way people do when they’re basking in the sun. He seemed extremely languid for a man with murder on his evening’s agenda.
I shrugged again. I’d seen him run – actually what I saw was the blur he left behind him when he ran. I would never make it to the door. He’d kill me before I made it half that far, long before anyone had a chance to come and to save me. I was really banking on someone – anyone – coming home.
“I wasn’t thinking of running,” I lied. “I don’t need to run anymore.”
“Really? And why not?”
I waited for the power I’d felt after reading Rivers’ postcards to come to me, even a hint of that fury and magic. But the air was still.
“How did you get in here?” I asked, hoping to change the subject until my Gifts realized they were needed and came to me. “The house is protected by so many enchantments. You shouldn’t have been able to touch the doorknob, let alone turn it.”
Nicholas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He looked from side to side as if he was checking to make sure we were alone. “Can you keep a secret? I have a friend on the inside that broke the enchantments for me,” he whispered conspiratorially. “I just walked in. I didn’t expect your whole guard to up and leave you though. That was an unexpected bonus. They’ve always been so careful with you; even at the expense of the other girls. For them to leave you now…” He shook his head at the wonder of it.
“How convenient for you,” I said, keeping my voice neutral.
I told myself he was lying. He had to be. No one had been in the house since the day of Rivers’ funeral. It was just my family, Alex, Robbin, Nina, and Trudy. I knew none them could be one of They. That left Allison.
Too obvious, Nicholas thought.
My head snapped up and he laughed when my eyes met his.
“I can do it too,” he said. “It’s very rare. Special. King Daniel was thrilled to hear that you and I have that particular ability in common.”
“Super,” I said sarcastically, which made him laugh again.
“My Gifts are a bit more developed than yours of course; they come when they’re called. But if you had time to practice and learn….” He let the sentence drift off which was just well since the only part of it I really heard anyway was ‘if you had time.’
The moon was bright enough to cast shadows in the backyard. I looked out towards the place outside the ring of enchantments where I’d seen everyone Appear and Disappear and prayed I’d see the light opening there now, that Alex would step out of it into the snow. At the very least I wanted the chance to thank him for not letting me die a virgin.
And where was Robbin? It was one thing to be angry with me, the argument could be made that he had a right to be a tiny bit pissed off, but it was quite another thing to hold a grudge so long I ended up dead. Would he even bother to come if I screamed? I knew that wasn’t fair. To be honest, I knew he would come, mad at me or not, but I wondered if he’d make it in time. How long would it take Nicholas to strangle me? Five minutes? Less maybe. Snapping my neck would probably be faster. Yep, I thought looking him over as he stared at his reflection in the window, he looks like a neck snapper.
“Relax,” he said. “I’m not going to kill you.”
“No?” I said, raising my eyebrow.
“Not yet anyway.” He laughed his nails-on-the-chalkboard laugh again.
“Then what do you want?”
Nicholas came back and sat across from me, perching again on the edge of the fountain. He stared at me, forcing me to meet his eyes. “King Daniel would like me to tell you the truth about who you are.”
“So tell me,” I said. “Let’s get this over with.”
My reaction caught him off guard. I could tell by his face that he had been looking forward to telling me the terrible story of my mother’s rape, to twisting the knife a little before he killed me with it. Well, too bad for him.
He looked disappointed. “Could it be that Bennett finally realized his plan to keep you in the dark wasn’t working? And they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” He began pacing back and forth in front of me, getting angrier with each step. “They told you that you’re Daniel’s daughter?” he asked, his red eyes sparkled with a flair of hope so genuine, I almost felt bad to take it from him.
I nodded. “They told me he would think that, yes.”
He shrugged his shoulders dramatically. “Then there’s nothing left to say.”
“I suppose not,” I said, realizing too late that I should have let him tell the story like he wanted to. He would have taken his time; someone might have come.
“Would like a chance to scream now before I take you to meet your father?” he asked in a perfectly cordial voice. “Maybe someone will come after all. There’s still a chance.”
“Do you mind?” Robbin couldn’t be far. He’d hear me. He had to.
“Not at all.” Nicholas sat down on the edge of the fountain.
I stood up and took a deep breath. I didn’t decide to do anything. It was nothing as formal as that. I thought, It’s now or never. And then I acted. One minute I was filling my lungs with oxygen, preparing to scream as loud and as long as I could, and the next I was shoving against Nicholas’ chest with all my strength. Caught off guard, he tumbled back into the dry fountain.
And I ran.
For the second time that day I thought of George telling me to run upstairs to the attic. But running into a more confined space with fewer exits just didn’t make sense; my terrified body completely rejected the idea. I hesitated for half a second at the bottom of the stairs before panic carried me forward to the front door and the freedom and safety waiting on the other side. That was my first mistake. Or, depending on who you ask, it was just another in a long and shocking series of mistakes I’d made that day.
I should have gone upstairs. I see that now. What’s that thing people say about hindsight? Yeah, that.
Instead, I yanked the front door wide open, relishing the burst of freezing cold air that filled my lungs. I was already starting to celebrate my escape when I was launched forward by hard shove from behind. I rolled down the snow-covered stairs hitting my head on every one. Before I could sit up and access my injuries Nicholas was on top of me. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently before slamming my head back against the stone sidewalk. He didn’t yell or talk; he hit me instead, without wasting any energy on conversation. His silent efficiency was way scarier than screaming and name-calling would have been. He meant to kill me, not hurt my feelings.
I laid there sprawled in the snow at the bottom of the stairs obediently being beaten to death, hoping I would die quickly or be rescued soon. Then slowly, one by one, from all directions, the starlings began to gather.
Nicholas looked at me for a second, like something had shaken him awake. He didn’t seem to recognize me. He swore softly and pressed his fingers lightly against my swollen eye.
“Let’s go,” he said, dragging me to my feet.
The starlings followed us across the lawn, flying ahead and back, searching the sky behind.
Nicholas forced me up over the stone wall without letting go of his iron grip on my arm. The starlings were frenzied, as frightened as I wa
s, flying around us in a swirl so tight it turned thousands of them into one thing. He dragged me into the deep forest.
“Where are we going?” I asked. But I knew. He was taking me to the Tree of Stairs.
He began mumbling quietly in a language I didn’t know. It was familiar in a distant way. The chant was hypnotizing. The words flowed together. For a fraction of a second Nicholas looked as scared as I was. Then he saw the Tree of Stairs and I felt relief flood through his mind.
He looked at me again, his red eyes wide.
“Stop that,” he yelled, “stay out of my head.” He went back to mumbling, saying the words that would open the ground to swallow us both.
I started thrashing and kicking like my life depended on, which of course it did. Any moment the ground below us was going to open up and I would disappear into the earth like all the other Bennett girls before me. I ripped at whatever I could get my hands on – his hair, his ears, his eyes. I was blinded by tears and fear and blood but twice I managed to get away and stumble-run a few steps before he grabbed my ankle and pulled me back down. I kept fighting. I remember thinking how proud of me Alex would be if I lived to tell him about it.
I could feel the ground beneath us changing, softening. Nicholas looked triumphant. The Tree of Stairs groaned and swayed, revealing a staircase that would take me all the way down but only half way up. I wondered how long it would take me to die. Would it be quick or would I linger?
I took a deep breath and waited to feel the world give way beneath me. But then instead of falling I was flying. I landed a few feet from where I’d been struggling for my life without any idea how I ended up there. I scrambled up, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.
I heard Robbin’s voice telling me to run. I turned towards the sound but my eyes refused to focus.
“Robbin?” I yelled, rubbing my eyes in spite of the pain. “Where are you?”
I found him just in time to watch him disappear into the ground with Nicholas. The hole was closed before I made it to the edge.
*******
I got to the manor – mostly thanks to adrenaline, I guess. I was at the bottom of the front stairs, contemplating the climb to the top, when I saw him.
“Alex,” I said. “Oh thank God.”
He was at my side in a second. “What happened, love? Tell me what happened.” His fingers were gentle as he touched my face.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” He picked me up and carried me gingerly into the den. “Nicholas has Robbin,” I said as he set me carefully on the sofa. “You have to go get him.”
Alex nodded but he was distracted by the sight of the wreckage of my face. “How badly are you hurt? Does anything feel broken?”
“But Robbin….”
Alex jumped to his feet in one smooth movement and disappeared into the hall. He was back a second later with an ice pack. He held it to my eyes. He moved it to my cheek for a second before he pressed it lightly to my lip. My whole face was a bruise but wherever the cold bundle touched felt better.
“Now tell me,” he said.
“I was sleeping in the solarium and then I woke up and Nicholas was there and we fought. And then he dragged me through the forest to the Tree of Stairs. The starlings were everywhere and Nicholas was chanting and then the ground opened up. I flew across the yard and then he and Robbin disappeared.” The talking hurt my jaw but I managed to say, “He said he has someone on the inside,” before I couldn’t say another word.
His eyes were wild; half worry, half anger. “Who?”
Did he really think Nicholas gave me the identity of the mole? I shook my head.
“Where was Turnbough while all of this was happening? Tell me he was unconscious on the floor after a valiant fight to protect you.”
I shook my head.
“Not here?”
I nodded.
I watched anger and worry flit across his perfect face, a face I really thought I would never see again. My battered lips pulled up into a smile; I was so lucky.
“Now Nicholas has him?”
The smile slipped off my face as I nodded again.
“I should let him drown.” Alex’s mind was black with anger. “I should leave him there to rot.”
I shook my head violently. “Please,” I mumbled. “Bring him back.”
He sighed and smoothed his hand over my tangled hair. It took him a minute, but he pushed the anger away. When he spoke again his voice was even.
“You’re too good,” he whispered.
That wasn’t true. Not exactly. It was more complicated than that. I needed Robbin safe because I loved him, in the most complicated way, but I also wanted him home for other reasons. “I want to make him suffer, not They.”
Alex kissed the top of my head, which was mercifully not bruised. He laughed. Loud.
“Go,” I said.
He looked calm but inside his head the anger had been replaced by worry. Was I safe? Was Robbin alive? Was Pop? He wanted to go but also to stay.
“Is there anyone you can call to come sit with you?”
I thought of Trudy and Nina; what could either of them do if someone attacked me? Not much besides die. Trudy was a soccer mom. Unless she could flirt her way out of the situation, Nina wasn’t going to be much help either. I decided on Allison. If she wasn’t trying to kill me herself she might be just the thing. I had the sense that she could hold her own in a fight.
“Go,” I said again.
“Don’t worry about Robbin; he’s extremely difficult to kill. And besides, Nicholas will bring him to Daniel first. He may have lost you, but Robbin is a prize in his own right, one They won’t want to give up quickly.”
I couldn’t stand to think of Nicholas hurting him. About what would happen if Alex arrived too late.
“I’ll reset the enchantments on my way out of the house. Be careful while I’m gone and please go upstairs and not outside if anyone else comes looking for you.”
Anyone else? Seriously? I couldn’t take another beating. A light tap on the shoulder would probably have knocked me to the ground.
“Can you call someone?” he asked, stroking my hair.
“Allison,” I murmured in spite of the ache in my jaw.
He nodded and kissed the top of my head again and put his arms around me. “If I lost you…,” he whispered.
“You didn’t.” I laid my head against his chest. Now that I wasn’t dead, the whole event was starting to seem less terrifying. Violence was getting to be normal for me. Loved ones finger in a box? Seen it. Nearly beaten to death by a red-eyed intruder? Done it. I wasn’t fine but I was alive and that was close enough, right?
“I’m fine.”
“I like it when you pretend to be tough,” he said.
I listened to the laughter rumble up in his chest. It made me feel better just to hear it; all the bruises and would-be-bruises-in-the-morning stung a little less. I drew in a deep breath, delighting in his scent.
Homecoming.
Homecoming. The word flashed from his brain to mine, surprising us both.
“I love you,” I said.
I can’t really describe what happened next. It felt like being found after wandering alone for a long time. It felt like coming back from a trip and setting your bags down inside your own house, so relieved to be where you belonged at last. It felt like finding twenty dollars you’d forgotten all about in the bottom of a purse you haven’t used in a while. It felt like wonder and awe, like Fourth of July fireworks and Christmas morning. Suddenly, I recognized him for what he was to me, what he was meant to be.
All my indecision was gone; in that one instant I had no doubt that I belonged with him, to him, and that he belonged to me. I couldn’t believe such a simple truth had been so difficult to admit.
“Of course I love you.”
He held me away from him and looked at me with the most serious look I’d ever seen on his face. He seemed puzzled. “Earlier you said maybe.”
Do bruises blush?
I think mine did. “Not maybe. Definitely.”
He stood and clapped his hands together. “I’d better go rescue Turnbough then,” he said with a smile that took my breath away. “Be a shame to lose you now to a martyred ghost.”
*******
Once Alex was gone, and I was alone, really alone, the first floor seemed to have too many windows and not enough locks. There were noises; the kinds of noises Pop used to tell us were caused by the house settling but which Rivers and I knew to be monsters trying to get in. There were shadows I couldn’t explain on the lawn. There was a wind that wailed through the trees. Between my aches, bruises, and a severe case of the heebie jeebies, I couldn’t relax.
