Wraithsong

by E. J. Squires

  Chapter 36

  After Anthony is fully dressed, we sit on the shore with our feet still in the ocean so he won’t morph back into the beast. It’s so beautiful out here, as if we have entered another world.

  I lean my head onto his shoulder. “I have a question.” I hope it’s not inappropriate.

  “Yes?”

  “Why does Maureen keep changing her hair style and color?”

  Anthony thinks for a moment. “It’s nothing other than a twisted form of self-expressions that she considers a symbol of power.”

  “Power?” I ask.

  “A primitive creed states that owning hair from another's head gives one power over that individual. Maureen took it a step further and killed every person she appropriated virtues from, thinking that by wearing their hair she’d have their powers.”

  I squirm. “That’s…messed up.”

  Anthony stares into the distance and his countenance darkens. “I see it as a sign of her weakness and her inner instability. Her beauty is only skin-deep—only superficial and ever-changing. She can love no one because she’s always hunting for the next being she can manipulate and use for her purposes.”

  I get the feeling he’s talking about his own relationship with her. He has never felt loved by his mom, never felt unconditional love at all. Even his dad was evil, and though he left Anthony, Anthony still yearns after some form of affection. He must be a very strong soul to have turned away from his parents’ ways and choose to do what is right. I kiss him on the cheek.

  “What was that for?” he asks.

  “Because you’re amazing.”

  “You still believe that, even after you know who I am?”

  “I know that.” I take a deep breath and lean my head on his shoulder again and we sit in silence for some time. “I overheard Maureen and Olaf talking about my fifth Huldra gift.”

  “And?”

  “She called it the gift of Cherubo. Do you know what that means?”

  “No,” Anthony says.

  “She made it sound like it was something special.”

  “Then it probably is.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “If you decide to stay here, you need to try to create allies, and of course look for your mother at night,” Anthony says.

  Allies. I hadn’t thought about that, but it could come in handy down the road. “I need to stay. I’m convinced my mom’s somewhere inside the castle and I want to keep looking for her.” I think about his suggestion to create allies some more and then say, “I think I’ll try to make a friend out of Layla.”

  He takes my hand and kisses it.

  “How will I get the message to you if I find my mom?” I say.

  “I’ll come back and wait for you right here every night. If you don’t come, I’ll know that you haven’t found your mother,” he says.

  There needs to be an easier solution to our communication. “Can’t you just give me a cell phone or something?”

  “I’m afraid Maureen’s radar is linked to the advanced computer system at the castle and will pick up on our signals. When I was roaming around the island, I saw several towers. That’s how she knew I started working against her, remember? She intercepted our calls.”

  That reminds me of my tracking device. “Maureen told me she implanted a tracking device into my body, but I don’t know where.”

  “Oh.” Anthony sounds like he thinks it’s a very bad thing. “It would have been inserted through your nose. She does that to most of her prisoners.”

  I cringe. “No wonder I haven’t been able to find an incision.” Now that I think about it, I have felt rather congested since I got here, but I just assumed it was my body reacting to a change in the environment.

  “She probably headed here the second you crossed into the water. We need to make a plan before she comes.”

  I don’t want our time to be over so soon. I instinctively intertwine my arm with his.

  “Once you’ve located your mother, meet me at the shore at sunset,” Anthony says.

  “No good. Maureen has me studying until late at night and there’s no way she’ll let me out of it.”

  Anthony thinks for a second. “How about…at midnight?”

  “Or we could do sunrise, since Maureen doesn’t have me starting classes until nine o’clock in the morning. That way, if I find my mom during the night, I can notify you,” I say.

  “Good thinking.”

  I smile. It isn’t the best plan, but at least it is a plan for now. “What’s the strategy after that?”

  “We move in with all the Huldras and Lightálfars and attack,” Anthony says.

  “Good. Do any of the other Huldras…morph into monsters?” I ask.

  “I hope not because when turning into the beast, I can’t use weapons,” Anthony says.

  I gaze out onto the open sea. The azure sky is spotted with hundreds of fluffy clouds. “So how many Huldras showed up?”

  “All nine.” Anthony looks pleased, his eyes beaming. “The last one arrived just before I came today, and Ross is training them this very second. Let me tell you, these Huldras can handle their weapons! Most of them look like kids in a candy shop when they see the guns we have.”

  I laugh. “So thirteen Huldras, three Lightálfars and a mulatto against—?” I say.

  “Ha, ha, is the mulatto you, then?” Anthony says.

  I grin and a chuckle escapes my lips. “I guess we both fit under that category—mixed breeds.”

  Anthony is silent for a while. “We don’t know how many beings Maureen has, but there’s at least one less since this morning,” he says, referring to Olaf.

  I still feel a pang of guilt when I think about Olaf’s death. Anthony killed someone, and even though Olaf was a cruel Huldu, he shouldn’t have lost his life. What will I say to Layla and Maureen? I’ll just have to tell them the truth. At least Layla knows about the beast, since I told her about it last night. I wonder if she knows that the beast is Anthony and that’s the reason she said I shouldn’t mention it to Maureen.

  Anthony stands up abruptly and pulls me to a standing position. “Someone’s coming. I have to go. Will you be all right?”

  “Yes,” I say, feeling anything but.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, I hope,” he says. Then he kisses me deeply before diving back into the ocean.

  “Until tomorrow,” I say out loud. I love you.