“Is that a threat?”
“It’s the truth.”
“I’ll speak for you,” Alora said. The treeling seemed a lot taller, and now she was making dreamy tree eyes at Jake. He didn’t notice, but Keelie wasn’t surprised. It was a guy thing.
“I wish it would make a difference.” Jake looked at his feet.
Dad’s voice echoed from the trees. “Keelie?” He did not sound happy.
She sighed. “That’s my dad. When will I see you again?” When she turned around, Jake was gone.
eight
“Keelie, where have you been?” Dad asked.
“I’ve been—”
Alora cleared her throat. “She took me out for a ride.”
“Yeah, she wanted some fresh air.” Keelie wondered why the treeling was covering for her after having whined so much. Maybe it was because she and Jake seemed to have some kind of flirty connection. “I hope it’s okay that I took the cart.”
Dad arched an eyebrow. “You walked the tree?” He studied Alora as if seeing her for the first time in a long while. “You’ve grown a lot since this morning.” He bent to examine her leaves.
Keelie hoped he didn’t sense the presence of the amulet. She’d picked a lousy hiding place.
The tree preened, shifting her weight forward in the flowerpot and making the cart roll forward. “It’s the air here. It’s done wonders for me.”
“What about me?” Keelie asked.
“Oh yeah, you.” Alora twirled her trunk around so she faced Dad. “Keelie’s helped, too, even though she’s complained a lot.”
Keelie narrowed her eyes. “Next time there’s a thunderstorm I’m going to put you outside.”
Alora placed her branches on where her hips would be, if she had hips. “You wouldn’t dare. I’ll tell the aunties.”
“Time for dinner. We’re dining with your grandmother,” Dad said. “Would you join us Alora?”
“What do trees eat? Leafy green salad?” Keelie had been looking forward to ditching Alora for a little while, and she also had to find a new hiding place for the amulet before some internal elven-magic detector went off to alert them.
“I don’t have to eat anything. And it would be a nice change to enjoy some civil conversation,” Alora replied. She crossed her branches over the place her chest would be if she had one. She turned her face away from Keelie and sighed.
“Fine, don’t look at me. No big loss.”
Dad leaned forward as if to take the big pot. “Can I carry the princess for you, Keelie?”
She was about to say “you sure can,” but a cold tingle shot through her fingers. The amulet.
“I have it, Dad. I don’t want the princess thinking she can charm her way through life.”
Surprised, Dad cleared his throat. He’d used his elven charm on a certain city council woman back in the Wildewood. “Let’s not keep your grandmother waiting.”
At dinner, Dad sat at one end of a long dining table (oak from Sherwood Forest), which looked like it came from a castle’s great hall. Grandmother sat at the other end. Keelie was across from Alora, who played with her twinkles. Everyone ate in uncomfortable silence. Yep, they knew how to have a rip-roaring good time here in the Dread Forest. Keelie figured medieval monks vowed to silence would’ve been a jollier bunch than these somber elves.
Keelie thought about Jake. It wasn’t fair that he had to live as a vampire because he’d used dark magic to save the Dread. There had to be a cure for him. Elianard had tried to drain Einhorn’s magic but the elves hadn’t ostracized Elianard, unless Dad just hadn’t told her that he’d been punished somehow.
And if she could find a way to save the Dread, maybe the elves would finally accept her. Maybe even her Grandmother would approve of her, and Dad and she could be a happy family without all the tension.
“How did your lesson go with Niriel?” Grandmother asked.
“Fine.” Keelie answered. She didn’t want to talk about Niriel and the sword fighting. She did want to know more about the time the Dread disappeared.
Dad ate his food and gazed out the window behind Alora. Grandmother delicately cut her tomatoes with a silver knife etched with scrolling leaves and vines.
“Were you both here when the wizard put a spell on the forest and made the Dread disappear, back when the railroad tried to come through?”
Grandmother dropped her knife, and it made a loud clank on her plate.
Dad lowered his fork. “How did you know about that?”
Keelie had to think fast. “Elia and I were talking.”
“Why were you talking to her?” Dad stared at her as if she’d started speaking French.
Grandmother hummed with approval. “I think it’s wonderful Keelie has made friends with Elia; she’ll be a good influence on Keelie.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Mother. Be careful around her, Keelie. What did you two talk about?” Dad asked,
“Sean.”
A surprised look crossed Grandmother’s face.
“Oh.” Dad looked puzzled.
Keelie decided to drop her question. Dinner continued in uncomfortable silence.
Knot sauntered into the room with his tail held high, strutted past Dad, and sashayed over to where Grandmother was sitting. Loud purring emanated from underneath the table.
Grandmother’s back stiffened. “Zeke, your beast is rubbing his head against my leg.”
The purring became louder.
Keelie bit down on her lip so she wouldn’t smile. Or laugh.
“Mother, he likes you.”
The purring became even louder.
“Zeke!” Grandmother backed up in her chair, looking ready to jump backward.
Waves of purring vibrated the table.
“Knot. Stop it.” Dad said in a firm, I mean it tone. Keelie had been on the receiving end of that, many times.
Alora’s eyes widened.
Knot exited from underneath the table. His orange fur puffed out like a manic hairball. Keelie knew if she were to pet him she’d receive a static electricity charge. His eyes were totally dilated, black rimmed in green. Okay, something was weird about this.
“Zeke, don’t you have something to say to Keelie about a certain situation?” Grandmother suggested.
“Mother, I don’t want to discuss it now. Let me choose the time.”
“Zekeliel. Now is the perfect time. I can’t take another minute of his meddling, and if he’s not around, then they won’t know what is going on. It’s time you were able to raise your daughter as an elf and not a human.” Grandmother motioned with her hand. “And a whatever.”
Keelie wanted to know who was meddling with what. Why didn’t Grandmother want to keep this secret? She wondered if Grandmother and Dad might know something about Jake. Had Jake told her everything?
Keelie looked from Dad to Grandmother and back to Dad. A thick wall of tension formed between them as they glared at one another.
“I’m tired, Zeke, and you promised me you’d talk to Keelie about this. And now she’s asking about the railroad—what if she discovers …”
Hating that they were speaking about her as if she weren’t at the table with them, Keelie was about to shout when Alora shook her head. Keelie stared at the treeling. Frost had formed on the flowerpot, and the treeling was growing right now—at that moment—right there at the table in front of Grandmother and Dad. Dirt crumbled around the base of her trunk as she widened and rose. If they discovered the amulet, it was going to be bad news for Keelie. Fortunately, Grandmother and Dad were having a stare down.
“Fine. Have it your way, Mother.” Dad sounded frustrated, and worry lines formed around his mouth like he’d swallowed something distasteful. He templed his fingers and leaned his forehead against his hands as if he was gathering his thoughts before he spoke. He lifted his face toward her. “Keelie.”
“Yes?” She kept her gaze focused on him. She suddenly felt sorry for Dad—he seemed so serious. He’d had a lot of r
esponsibility dumped on him since he’d arrived. She missed him. It was like there were two different versions: Faire Dad and Dread Dad. She’d take the Faire Dad any day of the week. He smiled at her, and then for a brief moment, he was back. But then like a shimmering mirage in the desert, the friendly, relaxed Dad dissipated and the serious elven father replaced him.
“Keelie, your grandmother—” Dad glanced over at Grandmother Keliatiel as if confirming this was something she wanted to do.
She nodded. “You agreed, too, after all the trouble he’s gotten Keelie into.”
“Keelie, your grandmother and I have been discussing Knot. We don’t think he should be your guardian anymore.”
“What?” Shock riveted through her and her chin felt like it had dropped to the floor.
“You heard your father. We don’t think this…” she pointed at Knot “… creature should be your guardian.”
“I can’t believe you said that,” Keelie said.
“You heard me.”
“Yes, I heard you, but I’m not believing what I’m hearing.” Keelie’s shock ebbed into surprise.
Knot’s eyes narrowed into slits and his tail swished like an angry cobra, ready to strike. His claws extended from his paws and he glowered at Grandmother, who glared back at him. He hissed.
For a moment, Keelie could’ve sworn she heard Knot say in a human voice. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Dad and Grandmother stared at him.
Knot meowed.
Grandmother quickly overcame her surprise and stubbed her index finger on the table. “See, they’re interfering with Keelie. They have their own agenda.”
Dad turned away from Knot and back to Keelie. “You have to listen to me because I can’t have you running into dangerous situations like you did with the Red Cap and with the unicorn. There are dangers in the Dread Forest.”
“I’m fine in the forest. Knot accompanies me everywhere I go. If I run into trouble, he’ll be there to pee on anything or anyone who is a problem. I’m learning that being a tree shepherd has unusual complications, but Knot has been there for me.”
Dad remained somber and stiff, looking more and more like Grandmother Keliatiel. “He has a conflict of interest when it comes to your interests.”
Duh! Keelie could’ve told him that within the first five minutes she met Knot. However, the sadistic hairball had been there for her, and no way was she going to have another guardian. Knot had been her mother’s guardian and he was going to remain Keelie’s. A fierce loyalty for the feline rose within her.
“Knot will stay my guardian,” she said flatly.
“Do not talk to your elders like that, young lady. Just because you’re half human doesn’t excuse disrespectful behavior,” Grandmother said.
Keelie pushed her chair back and stood up, not even looking at her grandmother. She stared at Dad. “I don’t care what Grandmother Keliatiel says about Knot. I don’t care she doesn’t like him. He stays with me.”
The sound of tapping against glass filled the room. Keelie looked up and saw the twiggy faces of the bhata pressed against every window in the house. Somehow they’d heard her, and had responded.
“Zeke, what is going on?” Grandmother sounded nervous.
“I think they’re sending us a message.”
Knot hopped onto the table, walked over to Dad, and swatted him on the cheek. A red scratch mark formed on Dad’s face. Unmoving, he narrowed his eyes at the cat, and Knot stared right back.
Then the windows opened as if by invisible hands, and about a hundred small bhata riding on squirrels streamed into the dining area. The wooden floor was a moving mass of fur and sticks. The only thing missing was Snow White. Keelie should’ve been freaked out by the squirrels, but she wasn’t.
Grandmother Keliatiel placed her hand over her mouth to suppress a scream. You would’ve thought living in the forest she wouldn’t have any heebie-jeebies about squirrels. From Grandmother’s reaction to the woodland animals, Keelie concluded this wasn’t an everyday occurrence in the Dread Forest.
A squirrel skimmed over Keelie’s foot. The animal’s fur was creepy and woolly against her skin. She jumped back. Okay, that was a little too close for comfort.
A bhata with holly leaves for hair climbed up Alora’s flowerpot and began digging into the soil. Alora shrieked at the bhata and pounded it with her branches. “Make it stop, Keelie.”
She raced around the table, grabbed the bhata by its stick feet, and held it upside down, pointing her finger at it. “Stop.”
The bhata blinked at Keelie with round brown eyes the soft color of ground nuts. She turned it right side up and placed it on the table.
“Go!” Keelie pointed toward the open window. It bowed its head and climbed down onto the ground, leaving a trail of holly berries in its wake. At least she hoped it was holly berries.
The squirrels and the bhata surrounded Dad. Knot’s eyes remained dilated, making him look like a possessed kitty from a horror movie.
Dad bowed his head to the cat. He said, “I understand. All will be well with Keelie.”
Dad turned to Keelie. “Knot will remain your guardian.”
“I knew it. I knew it. We’re too late. This all started with Katharine, and her mother before her. Of all the mundanes, Zeke, you had to pick the one with…” Grandmother looked at Keelie and her voice faded away.
“What started with my mother and Grandmother Josephine?” Keelie asked.
Grandmother Keliatiel shook her head. “Nothing you need to know about. The damage has been done.”
“Mother, enough,” Dad said in a deep voice.
Keelie and Alora stared at one another. Grandmother Keliatiel sat back down in her chair.
Keelie watched, dumbstruck, as the bhata and squirrels departed through the windows.
Knot’s fur glowed pumpkin orange, as if he were ready for Halloween. Walking across the table, he strolled over to Keelie and placed his neon paw on her hand. His footpads felt cold against her skin. She smiled at him.
He hissed.
“Don’t think this changes anything,” she said.
He purred.
He hopped off the kitchen table and walked down the hall to the bathroom. She heard him scratching in his litter box.
Alora shook her leaves. What a cat!
Grandmother looked disgusted.
Keelie didn’t know what the bhata had to do with Knot, or what her mother’s mother had to do with anything. She knew that Dad and Sir Davey could speak to the cat, although they’d never admitted it nor told her what he was. She must be asking all the wrong questions.
The next morning, Keelie went down to the village green to practice her new skills with the broadsword. She swung it around in a high arc over her head, trying to ignore the sharp pain in her muscles. She was surprised at her arm strength today. Even though she didn’t want to learn from Niriel, Keelie liked the idea of using a sword to bash her enemies. It would be cathartic, even if her enemy was just a straw dummy. And the pain would fade as her skill increased.
She hoped the workout would release some of her anger against Grandmother and Dad. At breakfast she’d wanted to discuss what had happened last night, but Dad wouldn’t talk. As usual, he clammed up and expected her to understand everything by osmosis. Grandmother, on the other hand, was mad; she had lost the argument and Keelie had won.
Keelie thrust her sword forward. Knot would remain her guardian. He was observing her from the cart. She watched him, but pretended she wasn’t looking at him. He looked like a normal orange cat, except for his size.
He turned around and blinked at Keelie. He seemed to be saying, Caught you admiring me.
“As if.” She pointed the sword at him.
He purred. Psycho cat. Keelie lowered the sword.
Knot swished his tail back and forth, then lifted a paw and started washing it.
Keelie wished she had a lesson today. She was ready to do battle.
“Keelie.”
She froze at the sound of Sean’s voice. She placed the sword tip against the ground and held onto the pommel as if supporting herself. She didn’t want to talk to him. Not after his betrayal. Not after his betrothal to Risa. She didn’t want to turn around. She couldn’t look at Sean. Her heart hammered against her chest.
“Don’t ignore me, Keelie.”
She pivoted, facing him with the sword raised and pointing at his heart. It hurt to see him, knowing how she’d kissed him, how she’d pined for him in the Wildewood. A small part of her was still fond of him, and it hurt to think he’d discarded her feelings so easily.
Keelie pulled the sword away and dropped the tip. “I think the time for talking has passed.” Maybe she was more like Dad than she thought.
Sean stepped closer, and pain flared in his eyes. “I told you that it was my father’s idea to marry Risa. We have to breed true. I have to do what is best for my people.”
My people. Even Sean—the one person who had treated her as an equal—thought she was different.
Anger surged through her, and she pulled the sword from the ground. Green magic washed over her as she felt her magic flow through her body. She was so tired of hearing the same elven rhetoric over and over—Dad telling her she had to be more elven, her grandmother telling her what to do. Keelie knew in her heart she would never measure up to their expectations—because she would always be human. She gripped the pommel tightly in her hand.
“Go away, Sean.” She aimed the tip of the sword at him again.
Suddenly, a burst of green magic flashed from Keelie s hand and traveled up the sword blade. The steel sparked and sizzled, giving off the sharp, acrid-sweet smell of hot metal. As the magic moved quickly up the sword, the steel blade transformed into wood.
Sean stepped back, his mouth open in shock. “How.…. ?”
Keelie s hand opened and the sword fell to the ground, tip first. It stood, the hilt swaying. Smoke curled from the earth around the blade, and she felt the throb of green magic around her and, strangely, from below as well.
Sean stared at the sword as if he was trying to reason out what just happened. It was still, now, its metal hilt bright silver against the gray wood of the blade.
The Secret of the Dread Forest: The Faire Folk Trilogy Page 8
