Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada) (6 page)

“I wish I was
,
Selena. I wish I’d never come here, but I had no choice.”

He was suddenly drawing her close, hugging her tightly as if she were a life preserver in the middle of a raging sea.

“I didn’t think it would be this hard. I didn’t think that I would come to like you, Selena.”

Foreboding gripped Selena and she stiffed in Titus’ arms. The warm and fuzzy feeling that had crept over her at his embrace was now gone and fear stiffened her spine. She jerked away from him, her heart hammering like a kick drum in her chest.

“You mentioned something about hunters
. You’re from this world—
you called it Fa
llada, right?—
you wouldn’t know anything about these hunters, would you?”

The second she’d asked the question, Selena already knew. As she took a second and then a third
step
away from Titus, he lowered his eyes and sighed, his shoulders and chest swelling as he inhaled.

“I’m sorry
,
Selena,” he whispered.

His eyelids lifted and his gaze met hers, but instead of the icy blue she’d
been so lost in, his eyes were a fiery, glowing red.
His lips opened to reveal
the sharp
canines, bathed in dripping saliva.
A growl vibrated through his chest as he leaned toward her, the dripping canines elongating before her eyes.

Just before she turned to run, Titus dropped to the ground, his body contorting and twisting as he snarled and groaned. As her feet carried across the open field, the figure of a four-legged beast sprinted
alongside her, its snowy white fur like a shot of lightning through the brown grass.

~*~

Chapter
Three

Selena increased her pace as her house came into sight, running so fast that her feet left the ground several times. Her lungs were on fire, but she couldn’t stop now, not when Zoe was walking up the driveway, oblivious to the danger lurking in the line of trees just across the street.

“Selena, what the hell?”
Zoe screeched as Selena crashed into her.

Selena grabbed Zoe by the arm and pulled, yanking her friend into the
house and sending the books and papers she’d been carrying flying across the driveway. Ignoring her friend’s protests, Selena pulled the flailing girl into the living room where
Rose
was watching a re-run of
Oprah
.
Freckles jumped down from his spot on the couch and darted into one of the bedrooms.

“Selena, what’s going on? Is everything all right?”

“You tell me, Gram!”

Selena was very aware that her voice was raised above the limits of normal conversation, but she couldn’t seem to control it. Her breathing was harsh and swift, her eyes wide as
Rose
shot to her feet, her eyebrows wrinkled with concern.

“Sweet pea, whatever is bothering you, we can work it out. Why don’t you sit down and we can talk about it.”

Rose
moved f
orward to grasp her hand and Selena
backed away.

“Maybe I
should leave you two alone to—”

“No!” Selena screamed as Zoe backed toward the door. Her voice stopped Zoe dead in her tracks. “No, don’t go out there, it’s not safe!”

Tears filled
Rose
’s eyes as she grasped Selena’s
other hand. She held both tightly and searched Selena’s
face.

“Selena, please.
Tell me what’s wrong?”

“
Everything
!
Why didn’t you tell me the truth about where I c
a
me f
rom?
The truth about my parents?
You’re not even my real grandmother, are you?”

“
Okay
, this seems like a family discussion,” Zoe said softly as she continued backing toward the door.

“No one is going anywhere,” Selena said, her voice low. “Answer me
,
Gram.”

Rose
’s chin trembled as she released Selena’s hands and fell back onto the couch. Her dark head streaked with gray lowered and she drew a heavy breath.

“Selena, I have wanted to tell you for so long but I thought it would only hurt you. You see, I don’t actually know who your parents are.”

“What?”

“I did have a daughter
;
her
and my son-in-law
did
die in a tragic car accid
ent. Their two year old daughter, Abigail, died with them
. They were all the family I had left and I thought I’d never be the same again. I was so a
lone and so miserable. But then
you came a
long
,
Selena, m
y little blessing.”

“How did you find me?”

“It’s ironic how much you hate the county fair, considering it’s also the anniversary of the night I found you.”

Zoe, now drawn in by the unfolding drama, drifted back toward the living room and stood beside Selena, her jaw slack as she looked from her to
Rose
and back again.

“I was walking home f
rom the fair that night, through that old field you like to walk
in
. It’s a
lmost like your subconscious kno
w
s
that something special happened in that place, the way you always seem drawn to it. Anyhow, I was walking and I heard a baby crying. I waded through the grass and found you a few feet away. I estimated your age to be about fifteen months. You were sitting in a large basket on a cushion, with your thumb in your mouth and tears in your eyes. You were such a beautiful little thing and so alone. Small as this town is, I couldn’t think of anyone off-hand that had had a baby less than two years prior, and I figured someone visiting had lost track of you. So I picked you up in the basket and brought you here. I couldn’t believe it, but you crawled right into my lap
,
stared up at me
.
and
smiled. I never th
ought I could feel
as
happy as I did
that day. It was like you knew me
,
chose me.”

Rose
paused and swiped at her watery eyes, took a deep breath, and continued.

“I called the police and told them what I had found. They asked me if I wanted to keep you while they searched for
your
missing parents. None could be found and after a
while there was talk of placing you with a foster family. By then you and I were thick and thieves
and I knew I could never let them take you away. I kept you, promising myself every day that I wouldn’t become attached
,
but you stole my heart
,
Selena. It
felt like I had my little Abigail back after losing her not long before you came. When no one claimed you, I offered to adopt you and the papers were drawn up. I have presented myself to you as your grandmother all of these years because of my age, but the papers I have say that I am your mother. I have been since the day I found you and named you, Selena.”

Selena squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fist against her mouth, holding back tears and wild sobs. Zoe’s hand came up to her shoulder, but her friend was thankfully quiet. When Selena opened her eyes again,
Rose
was reaching up into the hallway storage closet. She pulled down the basket they’d used to transport muffins to bake sales
for
as long as Selena could remember.

“This is the basket I found you in,” she said, extending the basket to Selena. When Selena took it and glanced down into it,
Rose
reached up into the closet again, this time coming down with a small jewelry box.

“This was the only thing you had on you other than a little green dress which I still have
with your other baby things
.”

She opened the black box and held it out to Selena, her
wrinkled
hands trembling uncontrollably. Selena reached for the box and removed a gleaming
gold
necklace. Amazingly, the
metal had not been tarnished and
seemed as if it had been polished only yesterday. The chain was long, and hanging from it was a larg
e
, red
jewel—a ruby maybe—surrounded
by a
golden
cage of leaves and flowers. Selena held the necklace up to the light, stunned by the necklace’s beauty.

Zoe whistled. “
One thing’s for sure. Whoever your parents are, they’re loaded.”

Selena rolled her eyes at Zoe. “Yeah, ‘cause that’s what’s important right now.”

Zoe shrugged.
“Just saying.”

Selena looped the necklace around her neck. The stone settled against her chest heavily and Selena gripped it tightly as she turned back to
Rose
.

“It’s okay,” she said, noticing the anxiety in
Rose
’s eyes. “I understand why you had to hide this from me. You’re right, it does hurt, but not in the way you thi
nk. You see, today I found out—”

She was cut short by the sound of pounding at the door. It wasn’t exactly a knock. It was more like a boom
ing
followed by the rattle of the door in the frame, as if someone were trying to kick it down. Selena pictured the white wolf throwing its massive body up against the door, its eyes red,
its
teeth barred
in a feral snarl
.

Rose
exclaimed loudly as the banging started up again, this time with more force and intent.
Selena stood in front of her, pushing Zoe behind her as well. She wasn’t sure if she could hold her own against Titus—or that thing he had become—but she was darn sure going to try.
Hearing the commotion, Freckles came hissing from the back of the house, standing beside Selena with his hair standing up on his back.

“Selena, we should call the police!” Zoe screamed as the banging continued. The door splintered under the assault
,
and Selena knew that in minutes it would be broken down.

“TOPD can’t help us right now,” Selena said, holding
Rose
back with one arm and Zoe with the other.

Selena tremble
d as the door shook and cracked. T
he split wood folded inward and she could see Titus, Wolf Boy, on the other side, snarling with his red eyes glowing as he threw his body against the door.
She could hear the scrape of his claws against the wood and the deep, throaty barks that escaped his throat.
Freckles was
going ballistic by now, mewling and hissing as she barred her tiny, pointed teeth at the wolf. Selena
swallowed the vomit that rose up in her throat and tried to breathe. It was hard with
Rose
and Zoe screaming like banshees behind her.

In an instant, the door was torn from its hinges, broken in half by Titus’ bulky body.
He stood framed by the doorway, his fur standing on end in jagged, fury spikes.
Selena squeezed her eyes shut as Zoe’s fingernails dug into her arm.

“Oh shit, we’re going to die!” she screamed as she held on
to
Selena for dear life.

Selena couldn’t have said it better herself.

There was nowhere to run in the small living room
exce
p
t
the kitchen
,
and even there they’d be cornered.
Selena gritted her teeth and braced herself for the inevitable. She was going to
die
and all before she ever learned anything about where she really came from. She braced herself for the pain, praying that Titus wou
ld make it quick and leave her g
randmother and friend alone.

A splintering sound startled her and the house rumbled and shook forcibly. Selena fell to the floor, her grandmother and Zoe landing in a heap on top of her as chunks of roof fell in on them. Selena covered her head, unable to stop the screams that tore from her lips as the house
seemed to fall down around them.
She curled into a tight ball, sure that she was either going to be crushed by the roof or eaten alive by Titus.

Another jumb
le of sounds assaulted her ears
and Selena snapped to attention at the sound of a thud and a canine yelp.

Then,
silence.

Was this what death sounded like?

“Uh
,
Selena,” Zoe’s shaking voice
called
, telling Selena that she wasn’t quite dead yet
. She tapped Selena on the shoulder. “You need to see this.”