“Thank you.” When I started dialing the phone, my hands were shaking, and I felt sick. This was going to be the hardest conversation of my life and I was not looking forward to it. I held the phone to my ear, listening to it ring, and I tried to slow my breathing.
“Hello?” Matt answered the phone groggily. He hadn’t woken up yet, and he didn’t know I was gone. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Hello?”
“Matt?” I said, afraid he would hang up if I didn’t say something soon.
“Wendy?” Matt instantly woke up, panic thick in his voice. “Where are you? What’s going on? Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” My cheek still hurt, but I was fine. Even if I wasn’t, I couldn’t tell him that. “Um, I’m calling because… I’m leaving, and I wanted you to know that I was safe.”
“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Matt was up moving around. I could hear him open his door, and then the bang as he threw open my bedroom door. “Where are you, Wendy? You need to come home right now!”
“I can’t, Matt!” I rubbed my forehead and let out shaky breath.
“Why? Does somebody have you? Did Finn take you?” Matt demanded. In the background, I could hear Maggie asking questions. He’d woken her up with his commotion of looking for me. “I’ll fucking kill that little bastard if he lays one hand on you.”
“Yeah, I’m with Finn, but it’s not like you think,” I said thickly. “I wish I could explain everything to you, but I can’t. He’s taking care of me though.
He’s making sure I’m safe.”
“Safe from what?” Matt snapped. “I take care of you! Why are you doing this?” He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “If we’re doing something wrong, we can change it, Wendy. You just need to come home, right now.” His voice was cracking, and it broke my heart. “Please, Wendy.”
“You’re not doing anything wrong.” Silent tears started sliding down my face, and I tried swallow down the lump in my throat. “You didn’t do anything. This isn’t about you or Maggie, honest. I love you guys, and I would take you with me if I could. But I can’t.”
“Why do you keep saying ‘can’t?’ Is he forcing you?” Matt growled.
“I’ll call the police! We’ll come get you!”
“No, he’s not forcing me!” I sighed and wondered if this phone call had been a bad idea. Maybe I’m just making it worse for him. “Please don’t try and find me. You won’t be able to, and I don’t want you to. I just wanted you to know that I was safe and that I love you and you never did anything wrong.
Okay? I just want you to be happy.”
“Wendy, why are you talking like that?” Matt sounded more afraid than I had ever heard him before, and I couldn’t be certain, but I think he’d started to cry. “You sound like your never coming back.” He swallowed hard. “You can’t leave forever. There’s no reason to. You… Whatever is going on, I can take care of it. I’ll do whatever I have to do. Just come back, Wendy.”
“I’m so sorry, Matt, but I can’t.” I wiped at my eyes and shook my head. “I’ll call you again if I can. But if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry.
I’m okay.”
“Wendy! Stop talking like that!” Matt shouted. “You need to come back here! Wendy!”
“Goodbye, Matt.” I hung up to the sound of him yelling my name.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that this was the only thing I could do. It was the only way that I could keep them safe, and it was the safest thing for me, which is exactly what Matt would want. If he knew what was going on, he would agree with this completely. It didn’t change the fact that it had absolutely killed to say goodbye to him like that. Hearing his pain and frustration so evidently over the phone….
“Hey, Wendy. You did the right thing,” Finn assured me, but I just sniffled.
He reached over and took my hand, squeezing it lightly. Ordinarily, I would’ve been delighted by that, but right now I was doing everything I could to keep from sobbing or throwing up. I had just promised Matt that I would never do anything like this again. I wiped at my tears, but I couldn’t seem to stop crying. Finn let go of my hand so he could flip back the armrest, getting it out of the way.
“Come here,” Finn said gently. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. I rested my head against his shoulder, and he held me tightly to him. Eventually, I stopped crying, but I don’t know when that it was because it wasn’t until after I had fallen asleep.
14
We arrived at Elora’s manor in the early afternoon, and the bright sunlight gleamed off it, making it look even more majestic and imposing than it had before. Finn didn’t knock on the door this time. He just punched the key code in the alarm and let me in. I had woken up about a minute before we pulled up to the house, so my eyes were puffy from sleep and crying. He had still had his arm around me and I was nestled in close to him. When he saw that I was awake, he had taken his arm back, and I felt a familiar disappointment. When we walked into the house, he made a point of not touching me, once again reminding me that anything I thought happened between us was just my imagination.
As we made our way down the long hall towards the drawing room, I passed a mirror and stopped to investigate. I had left the house wearing light green pajama pants and a green top, and they were both stained with dirt and grass stains from falling from the tree and getting slapped around by that guy.
My face was red and swollen where I had been slapped, and my temple was turning purplish. My hair was a total and complete disaster. Twigs and grass were stuck in it. Red rimmed and bleary, my eyes looked like I had spent the night on a heavy bender, and honestly, I felt like I had. I was sore all over.
Finn had stopped to wait for me, and he prompted me when I had spent too long hating my reflection. He knocked on the heavy wooden door to the drawing room. I didn’t hear anything, but a moment later, he opened the door, as if she had summoned us in.
“Elora,” Finn stepped into the room and gave a small bow.
Elora was sitting in the corner of the room on a stool. A large canvas was set on the easel before her. It was only partially finished, but it appeared to be some kind of fire, with dark smoke filtering over broken chandeliers. She continued painting for several minutes while we stood there. I glanced over at Finn, but he just shook his head, trying to quiet me before I voiced a complaint.
His hands were clasped behind his back, and he stood rigidly straight, reminding me of a soldier.
“I see you decided to grace us with your presence.” Elora still had her back to us, but I assumed she was talking to me. Her long hair fell down her back, shimmering when she leaned forward to paint.
“I didn’t have a choice,” I replied.
“You always have a choice.” Elora sounded irritated, then she finally turned back to look at me. Her eyes widened with surprise, but her expression lacked anything resembling concern. “What happened?”
“Vittra,” Finn answered with the same contempt he had before.
“Oh?” Elora raised an eyebrow. “Which ones?”
“Jen and Kyra,” Finn said.
“I see.” Elora stared off for a minute, then started setting aside her paint supplies carefully. She got off the stool and turned to face us, smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles in her dress. Sighing tiredly, she sat on one of the sofas in the room and gestured to the one across from her. I took a seat, but Finn remained standing. Placing her delicate fingers on her chin, she looked over at Finn. “You’re sure it was just Jen and Kyra?”
“I believe so,” Finn said, thinking hard. “I didn’t see any signs of others, and they would’ve called for back up, had there been any to call. They were quite insistent on taking Wendy. Jen got violent with her.”
“I can see that,” Elora nodded at my face. “They know who she is, then?”
“They called me by my full name,” I interjected helpfully, but Elora had t
urned her attention back to Finn. She stared at him for a minute, and he nodded.
“Hmm.” Elora settled back on the sofa. “I suppose that this will be a lesson to you. Running away in the middle of the night like that.” Her eyes were heavy with disdain. “You must have better sense than that. If you truly wanted to leave, all you had to do was ask. That was childish and irresponsible.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I just missed my family.”
“They are not your family!” She rolled her eyes and waved the idea away. “No matter. You won’t be able to see them anymore. With the Vittra after you, this is the only place you’ll be safe.”
“What are the Vittra? I don’t understand who they are or what they wanted with me.” I glanced over at Finn, but he just kept staring at Elora.
“Förening is populated with Trylle.” Elora gestured widely around, referencing the whole town. “The term Trylle is a distinction similar to a tribe.
We are trolls, and over the years the troll population has been dwindling. Our numbers used to be great, but there are less than a million of us in the entire planet.
“We are one of the largest tribes left, but we are not the only one,” Elora continued. “The Vittra are a warring faction, and they have been going down even faster. They are forever looking to pick off some of us. Either by turning them to their side, or simply by getting rid of them.”
“So the Vittra want me to live with them?” I wrinkled my nose. “Why?
What I do for them?”
“You are the Princess,” Elora explained with a condescending smile.
“You will one day be Queen, and being the leader of Trylle carries great weight.”
“But if I’m not here, won’t you just find another replacement? I mean, there’s going to be a Queen here even if I’m not,” I pointed out.
“There is more to it than that. We are not all created equal,” Elora went on, and cast an odd look at Finn. “We are far more gifted than the others.
You have already tapped into persuasion, and you have the potential for much more. Vittra are lucky to have any abilities. Adding you to their ranks would greatly change their power to influence.”
“You’re saying I’m powerful?” I raised a sardonic eyebrow. There was nothing powerful about me.
“You will be,” Elora amended. “That is why you need to live here, to learn our ways so you can take your rightful place.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and ran my hand along my pajama pants.
None of this seemed real or made sense. The idea of myself as a Queen was completely absurd. I barely managed to pass for an awkward teenager.
“Finn will be staying to watch over you,” Elora nodded again to Finn.
“Since they’re looking for you, added protection would be prudent.” Her eyes were locked on Finn for a moment, then she turned back to me. “You look a mess. Why don’t you get yourself cleaned up?”
“Um, yeah, okay,” I nodded unsurely and stood up. “Thanks. I guess.”
“Thank you,” Finn did a small bow to her, and then we left the room.
After walking away from her, there was always this sudden sense of being able to breathe again. I didn’t really feel it when I was with her, but it was as if she took all the oxygen from the room. As soon as I left, I could suddenly feel the shift. Breathing deeply, I ran my hand up and down my arm to stifle the chill that ran over me. Everything she had said would’ve freaked me out if I had believed it, so I pushed it from my thoughts.
“Are you holding up alright?” Finn looked at me carefully.
“Yeah, I’m great.” I tucked some of my curls behind my ears, but mostly, I was just happy that I was still walking. “So… what’s going on with you and Elora?”
“What do you mean?” Finn looked at me from the corner of his eye.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, afraid that I had been imagining things. “It just seems like she looks at you intently a lot, and like you understand exactly what she means.” As soon as it came out of my mouth, it dawned on me.
“That’s one of her abilities, isn’t it? Kind of like what I can do, but less manipulative. Cause she’s not controlling you, is she? She’s just telling you what to do.”
“Not even telling me what to do. She’s just talking,” Finn corrected me.
“Why doesn’t she talk to me like that?” I asked.
“She wasn’t sure if you’d be receptive. If you’re not accustomed to it, hearing another person’s voice in your head can be unsettling,” Finn explained.
“And she didn’t really need to.”
“But she needed to with you?” I slowed down, and he slowed to match my pace. “She was talking to you private about me, wasn’t she?” Finn paused, and I could see that he was considering lying to me.
“Some of it, yes,” Finn admitted.
“Can she read minds?” I felt slightly horrified at that thought.
“No. Very few can.” When he looked over at me, he smiled crookedly.
“Your secrets are safe, Wendy.”
Finn walked me the rest of the way to my room, although I fell silent after that. My mind spun from everything that happened, and I looked forward to getting cleaned up and pulling the twigs from my hair. He paused at my door, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to invite him in or something. Then he just smiled, nodded, and told me he’d be down the hall if I needed anything.
When I came out of my shower, wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, I was surprised to find Rhys sitting on my bed. He had my iPod, the one that had come with the room, and he was scrolling through it. I ran a finger through my wet tangles of hair and cleared my throat loudly, since he apparently hadn’t heard me exit the bathroom.
“Oh, hey!” Rhys set aside the iPod and got to his feet, grinning at me in a way that made his eyes sparkle. Then he remembered something, and he attempted a scowl. “You stole my bike.”
“Oh, yeah I’m really sorry about that,” I admitted sheepishly. “Did Finn get it back for you? My aunt took it to the impound lot.”
“No, he told me about it, but I guess you guys didn’t have time cause you left in a hurry.” His expression got more serious as he leaned in towards me, and it took me a minute to realize he was admiring the bruise I had growing on the side of my face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I brushed off his concern and walked around to the other side of the bed. It suddenly seemed like a good idea to put some distance between us. When he looked at me like that, it made me acutely aware of the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything underneath my fluffy robe.
“Good,” Rhys smiled. “But you know, I would’ve let you take it anyway. My motorcycle, I mean. If you had just asked, I wouldn’t have stopped you.” His eyes got uncharacteristically somber when he glanced around my room. “I know what its like to want to escape.”
“You aren’t happy here?” I blurted out before I could think about how rude that sounded. His eyes met mine, just for a second, revealing something more than that, but then he quickly dropped them.
“Why wouldn’t I be happy?” Rhys asked wryly. He was standing directly on the other side of the bed as me and he ran his fingers along my silk sheets, staring at the bedspread intently. “I have everything a kid could want.
Video games, cars, toys, money, clothes, servants…” He trailed off, but then a slow smile returned to his face and he looked up at me. “And now I have a Princess living across the hall from me. I’m ecstatic.”
“I’m not really a Princess,” I shook my head and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Not in the real sense of the word. I mean… I just got here.”
“You look like a Princess to me.” The way he smiled at me made me want to blush, so I stared down at my bedspread, unsure of what else to do.
“So what about you?” I kept my head down, but I raised my eyes up to meet his. The smile playing on my lips felt oddly flirtatious, but I didn’t mind it.
“Are you some kind of Princ
e?”
“Hardly,” Rhys laughed. He ran a hand through his sandy hair, looking rather sheepish. “I should probably let you finish getting dressed. The chef is on tonight, and supper is served promptly at six. So be there or… eat cold leftovers.”
Once he left, I took a deep breath and flopped back on my bed.
Everything felt way too big in this house. There was all this vast space between everything, and it felt like I was trapped on an island. I had thought that’s what I had wanted. To be my very own island, but here I was, and I felt nothing but isolated and confused.
I was pretty sure that people weren’t telling me things. Every time I asked something, there were only half-answers and vague responses before they quickly changed the subject. For being set to inherit a kingdom of sorts, I was pretty low on the information rung.
I had expected supper to be some kind of grand ordeal, but it wasn’t at all. The dining room was empty, so I followed the voices into the kitchen. A man in all white was working the stove, his long graying hair pulled back in a ponytail. Rhys had a stool pulled up to the island, munching on a bread roll and laughing loudly at something. A girl looking a little bit older than me stood on the other side of the island, a Mountain Dew bottle in her hand. Her hair was a shiny red, her eyes sparkled green, and she had a nervous smile. Finn had his back to me when I came in the kitchen, but he glanced over his shoulder at the sound of my footsteps.
“I was just coming to see if you’d like to join us,” Finn turned around and greeted me.
“Yeah, we were having dinner and a show,” Rhys smirked, looking at the girl. “Rhiannon was just about to burp the alphabet!”
“Oh my gosh, Rhys, I was not!” The girl protested, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I just drank the Mountain Dew too fast and I said excuse me!” Rhys laughed again and tossed a piece of bread in his mouth. She looked apologetically at me. “I’m sorry. Rhys can be such an idiot sometimes. I wanted to make a better first impression than this.”
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