by Megg Jensen
I grasped the edge of the trunk, and pulled myself up so I could see over the edge. A fine, velvet fabric lined the chest, its soft azure shimmered in the faint light. Where I had expected to see a pile of clothes, laid nothing more than a piece of parchment.
I reached for the parchment. The side facing me was blank, so I turned it over. Drawn in charcoal, was a picture of me. I held the parchment in one hand - not just in reality, but also in the picture. It was as if I was looking into a mirror.
Chapter Six
“You found it already?”
I whipped around, clutching the parchment in my hand. “What is this?” I asked. “Who drew this?”
Chase strolled into the cottage, as if nothing strange was happening. As if he didn’t have a picture of me hiding in his chest. “I did. Ten years ago when I was ten.”
I ripped my eyes away from Chase and looked at the picture again. It hadn’t changed, even though a small part of me thought it might reflect whatever I was doing when I looked at it. If Chase was able to draw it ten years ago, and have it be so accurate down to the positioning of my hair, then it didn’t seem out of line to assume it would change too.
My heart beat a million miles a minute. I looked up at him again, his eyes soft as he stared at me. He was as unreadable as a stone statue.
“I have more, if you want to see.” He pointed to a second trunk I hadn’t noticed, tucked under the bed. I reached for the handle and tugged it free. The trunk slid out. I looked at Chase. He nodded. “Go ahead and open it.”
I set the first picture on the floor next to the trunk. Grasping the handles, I lifted hard. I was surprised at how heavy it was, but that turned into sheer shock when I saw the stacks of folios, dark leather bound sheaves of parchment with ragged edges. A professional in a scriptorium obviously didn’t put these together.
I flipped through the top folio, my fingers shaking and breath held.
The entire trunk was filled with sketches of me.
Moments from my life were frozen in time. I saw myself as a child, cleaning up after my adoptive sister, Albree. I cried in a dark closet, the only place I could find to hide myself from her emotional torture. I grew taller, I ran, I fought, I pined for Kellan. Pictures of me in the grove, practicing my form, a picture of the day I first used my magic by lifting a rock, a picture of Bryden and me right before we almost made love. The desire in my eyes nearly flew out of the picture. I shivered and shuddered at the same time. Some of the most private moments in my life had been stolen and captured on parchment for anyone to see.
I felt like he’d ripped my soul out of my body. My eyebrows furrowed and I didn’t need the flame of my magic to stoke the fires inside me this time.
“Burn them.” I kicked the crate with both feet. It banged up against his toes, but he didn’t flinch. “How dare you do this? Does your magic allow you to be one of those seers? Have you been spying on me for my whole life? It’s sick and disgusting.”
Chase’s face fell. “You don’t like them?”
“Are you kidding?” I screamed. I jumped up and pushed his chest with my index finger. “I feel like I’ve been totally violated. How dare you invade my life like that?”
Chase grabbed my finger. I struggled to pull it back, but he wouldn’t let go. “I never asked for these visions. They came to me and I recorded them. I never once purposely looked into your life. Why would I? Seeing you with that first boy and then Bryden. I would never, voluntarily, want to see you loving anyone other than...”
His words trailed off and his grasp on my finger softened.
“Who?” I let out a stunned chortle. “You? You must be kidding. Your magic showed you visions of some girl you don’t even know and you claim her, I mean me, for your own?” I took two steps closer to the door.
“I wouldn’t ever want to claim you. If I had, I would have claimed you a couple years ago before your life went to hell. Before you gave your heart to him,” he pointed at a picture of Kellan, “and had it tromped on. Before you accidentally killed your adoptive sister. Before Bryden opened his heart and let you in. I’ve stood back and waited for you to come to me.”
My hands shook. “You’re just a creepy stalker.”
“I have never pursued you. Not once. You came into my forest.”
“Your forest? This isn’t your forest! You told me you weren’t born here. Did you come here to wait for me?”
“No. I had other reasons for coming here. My life doesn’t exactly revolve around you.”
I pointed at the chest. “Oh, really? Then why bring all of these with you?”
“I didn’t want them to fall into the wrong hands. You’re thinking on such a small scale, Lianne. The world doesn’t revolve around you or this little skirmish here between the Fithians and the Dalagans. You’ve been sheltered your whole life. Hidden, even. Your people did it without realizing it. Did they tell you that they were attacked not long before they moved on Fithia? How much have they shared with you?”
After the grand announcement in the hall the night they’d taken possession of the Fithian stronghold, I’d been told nothing. Few people spoke to me in the days leading up to my escape.
“Yes, they’d been planning on taking Fithia after your birthday and you became aware of your magic. But that’s not the reason they came when they did. They are fleeing a much greater enemy.”
“Oh, and I suppose this enemy is the reason you’re here. It’s not because you’re obsessed with me?”
“They’re tied together. The bigger enemy is looking for you. They know you’re Dalagan and they will stop at nothing to find you. You should be grateful I found you first.”
All the anger building up inside me burst forth. I thrust my hands toward Chase’s chest and pushed him down on the bed. He grabbed my hand, flinging out his arm faster than I could retract mine, and yanked me down on top of him.
He circled his arms around my waist, holding me against him. His lips were only inches from my mouth and his breath mingled with mine in a warm dance. Well, maybe a dance on his end, but more like a fight on mine. Whereas his was soft and steady, my breaths came in short bursts as I struggled to get out of his grip. I could beat nearly any opponent in a fight as long as they didn’t get a hold of my arms. Once they did, brute strength won out. In this position, I couldn’t even knee him in the crotch.
“I won’t ever make you do anything you don’t want to do. I won’t ever pursue you if you don’t want to be pursued. I won’t take anything from you that you aren’t willing to give to me. I pledge this to you, Lianne. You’ll see that I’m a man of my word. Just give it time.”
I glared at him. “You brought me up here and are refusing to let me leave. You’re holding me like a prisoner against my will. And I do not want you to kiss me, so get your lips away from mine.”
“I won’t ever kiss you unless you ask me to.” He still didn’t move or let me go.
I struggled harder, looking for any weaknesses, but there were none to be found. Every inch of him held steady. He didn’t flinch. “I don’t think we ever have to worry about that happening.”
“I’m protecting you from the Malborn.”
“I’ve never heard of them and there’s no reason they would have ever heard of me.”
“Yes, they do know about you. They know that you’re their downfall and they want to kill you before you have a chance to fully develop your magic.”
Chase still didn’t loosen his grip on me, even though I gave up struggling. My arms laid slack at my sides.
“I call bullshit,” I said. Then I reared back and cracked my forehead down on his nose, hopefully breaking it.
His grasp on me loosened. I rolled off him, avoiding the blood gushing from his nose. It was the least I could do since he’d stalked me since I was a child.
Chase cupped his hand under his nose and pinched the bridge with his other hand. The blood slowed to a minor drip into his palm. “You’re tougher than I thought.”
“Good.
There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” I gestured toward the two trunks. “Those are just moments in time. You don’t know anything about me.”
Chase surprised me by laughing. “I’m looking forward to learning more. You stay here while I go find our healer.”
“Stay here? You have to be kidding me. I’m finding a way out of here the second you leave.”
His eyes darkened. “Just be careful who you trust.”
“You’re number one on my list of people not to trust.”
“Please, Lianne. Stop making everything so hard.” Chase turned around and left.
I watched him walk along the platform and take a staircase to an upper level. Tentatively, I stepped out of the cottage. As long as I kept my eyes closed and my hands on the wooden cottage, the vertigo didn’t feel too bad. The feeling of falling only bothered me if I opened my eyes...or moved.
Defeated, I leaned my back against the cedar siding and slid down on my bottom. It was useless. Correction, I was useless. With this feeling I couldn’t go anywhere in the tree house village. I was trapped. Not by Chase, but in his cottage. Unless someone else would take pity on me and carry me around like a baby.
My lip curled at the thought of being so helpless. I hated it. One thing I’d always done was take care of myself. All those years with my adoptive mother and sister, who didn’t love me, could have defeated me. But it didn’t because I wouldn’t allow it. I fought in my mind and once I was old enough, I learned to fight with my body.
I’d gotten myself out of worse than this using my smarts and my sparring skills. Except now I was trapped by a ridiculous, irrational fear. I opened my eyes. The canopy didn’t sway now, but if I stood up, the world would only begin to spin again.
The leaves shifted in the breeze, dancing back and forth without a care in the world. I envied them. At this moment, I wanted nothing more than to lie in Bryden’s arms. Goosebumps spread down my arms as I thought of the last time we’d kissed. A smile played on my face and a sigh escaped my lips. That was all I wanted, but instead I was stuck high up in the trees and told to be fearful not only of my own people, but of some other mythical group that was supposedly hunting me.
The leaves didn’t care, and no one else in the village seemed to either. Other than that girl, no one came near me. No one smiled or waved. No one even seemed to care that I was there.
I looked back at the canopy again. Something seemed to jump on top of the leaves. It was small and green with little tiny horns on the top of its head.
“It’sssssss her,” it hissed, its beady black eyes trained on me. One small, taloned finger reached out toward me. I tried scooting back, forgetting that the wall to the cottage wouldn’t let me budge an inch. “It’sssssss time.”
Then it laughed and scampered off into the forest.
Chapter Seven
“Tell me one more time what it looked like,” Chase said.
I had crawled back into the cottage and wrapped myself in a fetal position on his bed. Maybe something in the air was giving me hallucinations. Whatever it was, I knew I couldn’t run away, so I took refuge in the only place I knew.
“Kalli,” I muttered from under the blanket I’d wrapped around my head. “It was a kalli and it talked to me. Very similar to the mythology - horned, green, scaly skin, taloned hands. It had a little loincloth wrapped around its private parts.” I groaned. “Assuming it has private parts. I don’t even know.”
I expected Chase to laugh at me, but he hadn’t once. Maybe his nose hurt too much. I hadn’t even tried taking the blanket off of my head to see how bad the damage was. My head still throbbed where I’d hit him, but he had to be much worse off than I was.
The blanket pulled away. I clung to it tighter. “Come on, Lianne. Take off the blanket. Nothing’s going to get to you in here. I promise.”
I let go. Chase tugged the blanket off, bit by bit, slowly exposing my head to the world. My eyebrows raised at the sight of his nose. It was completely healed. That was some healer he had squirreled away here. I was sure I’d broken it.
“Look around,” he said. “There’s nothing in here that will hurt you.”
I stared at him, not looking anywhere else in his little home. He wasn’t smiling, his eyes were narrow with concern, but I wondered if he would hurt me. So many people had when I didn’t give them what they wanted. Was it true? Was there really nothing, or no one, in here that would hurt me?
“I was probably just hallucinating,” I said. “Is that part of vertigo?”
Chase shook his head. “Not that I know of.” He sat on the bed, down by my feet. He didn’t try to touch me, which was good or I might have kicked him. “The kalli don’t usually talk, especially not to adults. They’re known for stealing babies.”
I snorted. “You believe in them? They aren’t even real!”
“Didn’t you just see one today?” he asked pointedly.
“I saw something. Or imagined something. I don’t know. It was just in the back of my mind. Something snapped.” I glanced up at the windows, the light fading with every passing second. The day had sped by and too much had happened. “I think I’m just tired. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks.”
It was true. After discovering I was filled with magic, my life had been an avalanche of chaos. For the first time in a long time, I had a bed, a quiet room, and no one to save.
“Can you show me where I’m staying? We can fight again in the morning. I just need a good night’s sleep.”
“You can sleep here,” Chase said, pointing to his bed.
I shot up. “If you think I’m sleeping with you —”
Chase laughed. “No, I don’t think that. Not at all. You can stay here. I’ll sleep outside so I can protect you.”
“You’re going to sleep out there?” I pointed at the door. I imagined him rolling over and falling off the platform to his death. I wasn’t sure I liked him, but I didn’t want him to die because of me either.
“I’ll be fine.” He paused and cocked his head. His gaze bore into my eyes. “Are you worried about me?” A small smile pushed at the sides of his mouth.
“Hardly.” I looked down at the bed and picked off an imaginary piece of lint.
“I don’t mind. My dad told me he used to do this for my mom. The nobleman’s men were after her, so he slept outside her cottage every night to make sure she was safe.”
“That’s actually really sweet,” I said, in spite of myself. I couldn’t judge his father poorly. I’d never even met the man. “I’ll bet your mom thought that was great.”
A shadow flitted across Chase’s face. “She didn’t know at first, but yeah, I think once she realized how he felt about her, she was okay with it. She doesn’t talk about it much anymore.” He put his hand on the doorknob. “I’ll get out of here so you can sleep.”
“Chase?” I said. He paused and turned back to me. “I just need to say something. You have to know how much I appreciate you helping me reunite Trevin with Mags. I don’t understand a lot of what you’re telling me about these other group of people who are looking for me. I also don’t know what it’s like to grow up having visions of someone. I know you have these...these feelings for me. But you don’t really know me and I’m in love with someone else. What I can really use most right now is a friend.”
“I know that, Lianne, and that’s what you have in me. I told you I’d never do anything you didn’t want. If you want me as a friend, then that’s what you’ll get.” A cloud drifted across the sky and the light of the moon graced his face. He was smiling, but it was bittersweet. “You sleep well, okay? In the morning, I’ll give you some medicine the healer gave to me for your vertigo. Tomorrow I can show you more of the community.”
“Can I leave tomorrow?” I asked.
Chase looked away. “I don’t know. Probably not.”
Then he walked out of the cottage and shut the door.
The next morning, I woke to the smell of bacon cooking. I could almost feel
the fat dripping on my tongue and the sweet meat dissolving in my mouth. Without opening my eyes, I reached out for Bryden, wanting to wrap myself in his arms before facing the day, but I hit a wall instead. Cradling my throbbing fist to my chest, I opened my eyes and looked around.
I’d forgotten where I was. One look at the chest, still open with drawings of me scattered about. Chase. The tree house community. That kalli hallucination. I groaned, wishing it was all a bad dream.
A knock on the door reminded me that reality was all too real.
“It’s me. Can I come in?”
Chase. How did he know I’d just woken up? Was he spying on me with his magic or something?
“Yeah,” I said. It was his place, after all. I couldn’t really tell him no.
“How are you feeling this morning?” He walked in, balancing a tray in his hands. The smell of bacon filled the room. I jumped up, grabbed the tray from him, and sat down at the table. Then I noticed there were two plates and two cups.
“I’m okay. Are you joining me for breakfast?”
“Do you mind?”
“Do you already know what I’m going to say?” His little trick of seeing into the future unnerved me.
“It doesn’t work that way,” he said through a mouthful of oatmeal.
“Gross! Can you chew with your mouth closed?”
“You asked me a question. I was just answering it.”
“Fine. Tell me after you swallow.”
Chase smiled, the oatmeal forcing his cheeks to puff out. He looked like a squirrel holding a bunch of nuts in its cheeks. I stifled a laugh into my hand.
“Okay,” he said, his mouth finally clear of food, “I see pictures of things to come. They’re usually one scene, hence all the pictures I’ve drawn of you. It’s not like I sit in bed all day with my eyes closed, watching you. I also don’t choose what I see. It just comes to me.” He shoveled a slice of bacon into his mouth.
