Switched

by Аманда Хокинг

  Somehow, the fifteen or so Vittra had the upper hand in the room.

  Other than Tove, Willa, and Elora, none of the Trylle really seemed to have abilities, or at least they weren’t using them. The room was total pandemonium, and then I realized that there were even more Vittra streaming in through the ceiling. There was no way we could beat them. I don’t even know why I said

  “we.” I had done nothing but scream in the corner. When I had become so useless?

  “This is why you need to work on your persuasion,” Tove pointed out.

  “Watch out!” I yelled as another Vittra came towards his back.

  Tove turned, throwing his hand back and tossing the would-be-attacker across the room. Kyra was trying to get to my mother, and someone on the other side of the room had started using fire. I looked around to grab a weapon that I could use when I felt Jen’s arms around my waist again. I yelped and flailed mercilessly in his arms. Tove turned his attention back to me, but there were two other Vittra chasing after him, so he only had a moment to send Jen flying back into the wall again. It was even harder this time, and it jostled me painfully, but Jen let go.

  “You’ve got to be more careful, Tove!” Someone was shouting. My head throbbed dully from hitting the wall, and I blinked to clear it. A hand was taking mine, helping me to my feet, and I wasn’t even sure if I should be accepting it, but I did anyway.

  “I was just trying to get her free!” Tove snapped, and another Vittra yelled as he sent them flying into a table across the room. “And I’m busy here!”

  I turned back to see who had helped me and all the air went out of my lungs. Wearing a black hoodie under a black jacket, Finn was surveying the mess around me. He had never looked more attractive to me than he did then.

  He was actually standing right next to me, holding my hand, and I couldn’t think or move. It seemed totally unreal. I must’ve hit my head too hard.

  “Finn!” I gasped, and he finally looked at me, his dark eyes a mixture of relief and panic.

  “This is fucking Bedlam!” Tove growled angrily. A turned over table was between him and us, and he easily sent it sailing into a couple Vittra attacking the Chancellor, and then he walked over. All the Vittra were otherwise engaged so he had a moment to catch his breath.

  “It’s worse than I thought,” Finn pursed his lips.

  “We’ve gotta protect the Princess,” Tove insisted emphatically, looking at Finn intensely. I squeezed Finn’s hand and watched the two of them, trying to understand what they were talking about. Jen started to get up, so Tove slammed him back into the wall.

  “I’ll get her out of here,” Finn nodded. “Can you handle it down here?”

  “I don’t have a choice.” Tove barely had time to answer when Willa started screaming bloody murder across the room. I couldn’t see her, and that scared me all the more.

  “Willa!” I yelled and tried to run to see what was happening. Finn wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back, and Tove took a step in the direction of Willa screaming.

  “Get her out of here!” Tove commanded, and then dove into the fray.

  Finn started dragging me out of the ballroom while I strained to see what was going on. Tove had disappeared, and I couldn’t see Elora or Willa. As he was pulling me, my feet hit Rhys’ leg, and I suddenly remembered that he was laying unconscious, bleeding on the ground. I struggled against Finn’s arms, trying to reach Rhys.

  “He’s fine! They won’t touch him!” Finn tried to reassure me. He still had one arm around my waist, and he was much stronger than me, so I didn’t really stand a chance fighting against him. “You’ve got to get out of here!”

  “But Rhys!” I pleaded.

  “He’d want you to be safe!” Finn insisted and finally managed to drag me to the ballroom doors.

  I paused, looking up from Rhys to see the chaos of the room. All the chandeliers suddenly crashed to the ground, and the only light was coming from someone who controlled a fire ability and the things they had lit on fire. People were screaming and yelling, and it was echoing off of everything.

  “Wendy!” Finn shouted, trying to move me into action.

  He let go of my waist and took my hand, yanking me out of the room.

  Using my free hand, I tried to pull up my dress to keep from tripping on it as we raced down the hallway. I could still hear the carnage from the ballroom, and I had no idea where he planned on taking me. I didn’t have time to question him, though, or even really to feel thankful that I was with him again.

  My only consolation was that if they got me tonight, I had at least spent the last few minutes of my life with Finn.

  We rounded the corner towards the entryway, but Finn stopped sharply. Three Vittra were coming in the front doors of the palace, but they didn’t seem to have seen us yet. Finn changed direction, darting across the hall into one of the sitting rooms, pulling me by the hand with him. The room was completely dark, and he ran to a corner between a bookcase and the glass wall.

  He pulled me tightly to him, shielding me with his body. The door to the room was shut, but we could hear the Vittra outside. I held my breath, pressing my face into Finn’s chest and praying they didn’t come in the room.

  When they finally walked past, Finn still didn’t loosen his grip on me, but I could hear his heartbeat slow ever so slightly. Somewhere beneath all my panic and fear, I became aware of the fact that Finn was holding me tightly in his arms. I looked up at him, barely able to make out his features in the moonlight that streamed in through the windows next to us.

  “Why are we hiding?” I whispered.

  “I don’t think I can protect you from all of them.” Finn swallowed hard, and very gently, pushed back stray curls from my face. His hand lingered on my cheek as he looked down at me. “They can’t get to you, and this is the best way I have for protecting you.”

  “Why’d you come back?” I asked softly.

  “Wendy…” The corner of his mouth turned up subtly. “I never really left. I was just down the hill, and I never stopped tracking you. I knew what was happening as soon as you did, and I raced back here.”

  “Are we gonna be okay?” I asked plaintively.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you,” Finn promised.

  I looked up at him, searching his eyes in the dim light, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. As ridiculous as it sounds after everything that had happened, I just wanted to stay in his arms forever. He licked his lips, and I was certain that he felt the exact same way.

  The door creaked open, and Finn tensed up instantly. He pushed me back harder against the wall, wrapping his arms around me to hide me. I held my breath and tried to stop my heartbeat. We heard nothing for a second, and then the light flicked on.

  “Well, well, if the prodigal stork hasn’t returned,” Jen said acidly.

  “You won’t get her,” Finn insisted firmly.

  He pulled away from me just enough so he could face Jen. I peered around him, watching Jen walk in a slow semi-circle towards us. He walked in an oddly familiar way that, like something I had seen on Animal Planet. Jen was stalking his prey.

  “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” Jen allowed. “But getting you out of my way would probably make it easier, if not for me than for somebody else.

  Because they won’t stop coming for her.”

  “We won’t stop protecting her,” Finn countered.

  “You’re willing to die to protect her?” Jen asked skeptically.

  “You’re willing to die to get her?” Finn challenged evenly.

  I had my fingers clenched onto the back of Finn’s jacket, and I watched the two of them stare each other down. I didn’t understand what was so damn important about me that so many Vittra were willing to kill, and according to Finn, so many Trylle were willing to die. In the ballroom, Tove had kept insisting that they had to protect me, and I hadn’t thought that Tove had cared for me all that much. Was it just that I was a Princess? Had Elora endured similar thin
gs when she first came home?

  “Neither one of you have to die!” I interjected. I tried to slip around Finn’s arm, but he pushed me back firmly. “I’ll go, okay? I don’t want anybody else to get hurt over this!”

  “Why don’t you listen to the girl?” Jen suggested, wagging his eyebrows.

  “Not this time,” Finn replied quietly.

  “Suit yourself.” Jen had apparently tired of talking and dove at Finn.

  Finn was wrenched from fingertips, and I screamed his name. They both went flying through the glass out onto the balcony, sending shards flying everywhere. I was barefoot, and I tried to follow carefully behind them. Jen managed to land a few good blows on Finn, but Finn was much quicker and seemed to be stronger. When Finn hit him, he staggered back several feet.

  “You’ve been working out,” Jen smirked, wiping fresh blood from his chin.

  “You could give up now, and I wouldn’t think any less of you,” Finn suggested.

  “Nice try.” Jen lunged forward, kicking Finn in the stomach, but somehow, Finn held his own.

  I knew that there was a very good chance that things wouldn’t end well, so I grabbed a giant shard of glass from off the balcony. I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but in this kind of scenario, I always thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

  Somehow, Jen managed to get Finn on the ground. He pounced on top of him and started hitting him in the face. This didn’t sit well with me, so I charged at him. Using all my might, I stabbed the glass into his back. I managed to slice open a finger, but I figured that it was worth if it I could save Finn and possibly kill Jen.

  “Ow!” Jen shouted, but he sounded more irritated than wounded.

  I stood right behind him, panting. That was not the reaction I had expected and I didn’t know what to do. Jen did, though. He turned quickly, smacking me so hard across the face that I went flying to edge of the balcony. I only had a moment to notice the dizzying drop below as my head hung over the edge, and then I was scrambling to my feet and gripping onto the railing.

  Finn had already jumped up and knocked Jen back down. Kicking him as hard as he could, Finn growled through gritted teeth, “Don’t. Ever. Touch.

  Her. Again.”

  When Finn went to kick him again, Jen grabbed his foot and yanked him back to the ground. I heard the sound of Finn’s head cracking against the heavy concrete of the balcony, and I yelled his name. It didn’t really hurt him, but it stunned him long enough where Jen could bend over and wrapped his hand around Finn’s throat. He lifted him up off the ground by his neck, and I raced to his aid. I jumped on Jen’s back, which wasn’t as smart as it sounded because Jen had a giant shard of glass sticking out of his back. Fortunately, I just cut through my dress and my side without actually impaling myself on it. It was enough to bleed and hurt, but not enough to kill.

  “Get down!” Jen growled, then jerked his arm back, elbowing me hard in the stomach and knocking me off his back. I hurried to my feet but Jen already had Finn pressed back over the railing. The top half of his body was dangling over the edge, and if Jen let go, Finn would plummet to his death hundreds of feet below.

  “Stop! Stop!” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. “I’ll go with you! Please! Just let go of him! Please!”

  “I hate to break it to you, Princess, but you’re going with me anyway!”

  Jen laughed.

  “Not if I can help…” Finn barely managed to speak through Jen’s hand clamped on his throat.

  Finn kicked his leg up, planting it squarely between Jen’s legs, and Jen groaned, but didn’t loosen his grip on his Finn. Keeping his leg there, Finn started tilting backwards. Jen realized what he was doing, but Finn had reached forward and grabbed onto Jen’s jacket. He had changed the weight ratio, and in a moment that felt oddly slow motion, Finn went backwards over the railing, pulling Jen with him.

  “No!” I screamed and lunged towards them, grabbing at thin air.

  21

  As soon as I reached the railing, Finn suddenly floated up to the top, coughing hoarsely. I gaped at him, too shocked to even believe he was real. He came over the top of the railing, then dropped heavily onto the ground. Lying on his back, he coughed again, and I rushed to his side, kneeling next to him. I touched his face, checking to make sure he was real, and his skin felt soft and warm under my hands.

  “That was quite the gamble,” Tove remarked from behind me, and I turned to look at him.

  Somewhere along the line, Tove had discarded his blazer, and his white shirt looked slightly burned and bloody. Other than that, he didn’t look that bad as he took a step towards us. It finally dawned on me what had happened.

  When Finn had gone over the balcony, Tove had used his power to catch him and lift him back up, setting him down safely.

  “Nah, you always come through,” Finn said.

  I went back to staring down at him, unable to completely believe that he was alive and here with me again. My hand was on his chest, above his heart, so I could feel it pounding. He placed his hand over mine, holding it gently, but he looked past me at Tove.

  “What’s going on in there?” Finn asked Tove and nodded to the house.

  “They’re retreating,” Tove explained, standing over us. “We finally managed to get the upper hand. A lot of people were hurt, but Aurora is working on them. For the most part, I think everyone will be okay.”

  “Good.” Finn sighed in relief and looked back over at me. “What happened? Are you alright?” His hand went to my side, where I was bleeding all over my dress. I winced under his touch but shook my head.

  “It’s nothing. I’m fine,” I insisted.

  “Have my mother look at it. She’ll patch you both up,” Tove said.

  When I gave him a confused look, reluctantly taking my eyes off Finn, he went on, “Aurora’s a healer. She can touch you and fix you. That’s her ability.”

  “Come on,” Finn forced a smile at me and slowly sat up.

  He tried to seem like he was perfectly fine, but he had taken quite a beating and there was a hesitation in his movements. Tove helped him to his feet, then took my hand and pulled me up. I refused to leave Finn’s side. I wrapped my arm around his waist, and Finn put his arm around my shoulders, reluctantly putting some of his weight on me. We walked carefully through the broken glass back into the house, and Tove gave more details about the attack.

  He had been essential to their defeat. Other than the trackers that had been guarding, most of the Trylle had played defenseless, myself included.

  The ballroom looked even worse than we left it. Someone had lit lanterns around the edge of the room so we could at least see better than before. Willa was still scraped and bruised, but she ran eagerly over to me when she saw me and threw her arms around me. She then launched into an excited tale about how she had blown a Vittra out of the ceiling, and I told her I was proud, but I was still too stunned by the destruction.

  When Elora saw us, she pulled Aurora from where she was helping a bleeding man. I noted with some grim happiness that the Chancellor had a nasty cut on his forehead, and I hoped that Aurora couldn’t make time to fix him. Elora didn’t look any worse for the wear at all. In fact, if I hadn’t known, I would’ve never thought she’d been here when the fight was going on. Aurora, on the other hand, looked beautiful and regal, but she showed signs of the battle. Her dress was torn, her hair was a mess, and there was blood all over her hands and arms, but I doubted most of it was hers.

  “Princess,” Elora looked genuinely relieved when was walked over to us, delicately stepping over broken tables and a Vittra corpse. “I’m glad to see you’re alright. I was very worried about you.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I mumbled. She reached out and touched my cheek, but there was nothing affectionate about it. It was the way I would touch a strange animal in the zoo that they assured me was safe, but I didn’t really believe it.

  “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened to you
.”

  She smiled wanly at me, then dropped her hand and looked at Finn. “I’m sure a thank you is in order for saving my daughter.”

  “No need,” Finn replied rather curtly, and Elora gazed him intently for a moment, saying something in his mind. Then she turned and walked away, going to deal with something far more pressing than her daughter.

  Aurora squeezed Tove’s arms and looked at him affectionately, making me feel a horrible pang at my own mother’s reaction. Aurora had seemed like an ice queen, too, but she could at least show signs of genuine happiness that her son hadn’t died. The moment passed quickly, and then she was moving on to me. She tore open the hole in my dress wider so she could put her hand on my wound, and I gritted my teeth at the pain. Finn’s tightened his arm reassuringly around my shoulders, and I instantly forgot the pain. He had this way of eclipsing everything else that I would be forever grateful for. A warm tingling sensation passed over my side, and moments later, the pain stopped.

  “Good as new,” Aurora smiled tiredly at me. She seemed to have aged since before she’d touched me, and I wondered how much all that healing took out of her. She started taking a step away, going back to helping other people, while Finn was leaning on me, clearly in pain.

  “What about Finn?” I asked, and she looked back at me, startled. I was the Princess, but apparently, I had asked something wrong, and she didn’t know how to react.

  “No, no, I’m fine,” Finn waved her off.

  “Nonsense,” Tove clapped him on the back. He nodded at his mother.

  “Finn saved the day. He deserves a little help. Aurora, wanna take care of him?”

  She looked uncertainly at her son, then nodded and walked over to Finn.

  “Of course,” Aurora murmured.

  She started looking over him for his wounds, trying to find out specifically what he needed fixing. I glanced away from them, and I happened to see Rhys sitting on the edge of a table. He was holding a bloody cloth to his forehead and staring down at the ground. The last time I had seen him, I thought he might have been killed trying to save my life.