Song of the Sword (7 page)

“No.”

“Ariane, how could you?” Aunt Phyllis’s voice, suffused with anger and disappointment, grated on Ariane’s nerves like fingernails on a blackboard. “You promised me you’d changed.”
Scrape...scrape...scrape
. “You promised me you wouldn’t get into trouble like you did at your other schools. Is this how you keep your promise? What would your mother say?”

Ariane’s relative calm, teeth-clenched though it was, vanished. She barely recognized her own voice as she yelled, “You leave Mom out of this! This has nothing to do with her.”

Pendragon, who had just started down the stairs to greet her, hissed.

Aunt Phyllis’s eyes blazed. “I will not. I’m your legal guardian. I wish to God your mother were still here, but she’s not. And I –”

“Don’t talk about her like she’s dead! She’s not dead!”

“Maybe not. But she might as well be. She’s not here, and she’s not coming back. And you have to face that fact. I’m sorry for you, I’m sorry you have to grow up so early, but that’s the way it is. I miss her as much as you do –”

“That’s a lie. She’s my mother. You can’t possibly miss her as much as –”

“The hell I can’t!” Aunt Phyllis’s voice began to tremble. “Emily was –
is
– my baby sister. I practically raised her after our mother died. I never thought I’d have to raise her daughter too. But she’s gone, and she left you to me to look after, and now I find out I’m apparently not doing a very good job. But you know what? That just means I’m going to have to try harder.” She drew herself up to her full height, still half a head shorter than Ariane. “You’re grounded, young lady. For a month.”

“A month? That’s not fair!”

“Fair or not, that’s the way it’s going to be.” Aunt Phyllis stepped aside. “Go to your room. We can talk about this in a more civilized fashion after you’ve had a chance to cool down.”

“‘Go to your room!’” Ariane mimicked savagely. “‘You’re grounded, young lady.’ You’re treating me like a child. I’m almost sixteen. Do you realize that?”

“I’m through arguing. Go to your room. Now!”

“Go to hell!” Ariane spun on her heel and crashed out through the front door into the gathering autumn twilight.

“Ariane!” she heard Aunt Phyllis shout, but she didn’t look back. She thought she might explode. She wanted to break something, crush something, punch someone. Instead, she ran down the front walk and up the street, brushing past some girl on the sidewalk who was turned away from her, talking into a phone. After a few more steps, Arian realized that she was heading for the same place she had sought refuge that morning – the lake.

Her kingdom, if the Lady could be believed. Though at that moment, she didn’t want a kingdom.

She wanted sanctuary.

~ • ~

Wally had never had a more unpleasant shock in his fourteen years than the one he received a few minutes after Ariane ran out.

He was in the utility room, getting ready to wash their lake-soaked clothes. He had just poured in the soap and closed the lid when he heard the front door open.
She came back
, he thought with great relief. “Ariane?” he shouted. “I’m in here.”

He turned around – and came face to face with his sister, whose glare was hot enough to melt lead. Her voice, on the other hand, could have frozen air. “What was
she
doing here?”

Wally’s first impulse, to play dumb,
was
dumb. Felicia had probably seen Ariane leaving the house. “She...had an accident. On the way to school. She...needed to clean up.”

“She was wearing my clothes!”

“Well, she had to wear something.” Wally cast a longing gaze at the door into the kitchen, thinking of escape...and saw Shania, leaning against the kitchen counter. Muffled voices from the living room revealed the presence of...Buffy? Heather? What
were
those girls’ names...?

“You let her into my room?” Felicia’s voice turned sharp as an icicle.

“My clothes are too small.”
Shut up, Wally
, he warned himself.
You’re not helping
.

“Shut up, Wally,” Felicia snapped. Apparently she agreed. She grabbed his arm, spun him around, pinned his wrist against his shoulder blades, and frog-marched him out of the utility room.

Shania didn’t even look away from the glitter she was brushing onto her fingernails. “So what’s up?”

“My little
brother
–” Felicia made him sound like something green and furry she’d found growing on leftovers – “let that foster brat into my room. He told her,” she yanked his wrist higher, making him gasp, “that she could wear my clothes.”

Shania held out her left hand and wriggled the fingers, admiring her handiwork. “What happened to hers?”

Felicia jerked her head at the utility room. “In the washing machine.”

Shania straightened up, and grinned – or, at least, showed her teeth. It made her look like a shark. “I’ll get them for her. We’ll want to return them, won’t we?”

“Yeah.” Felicia bared her teeth in turn. “We will.”

“Shouldn’t we all be getting to school?” Wally said hopefully.

“Shut up,” Felicia snapped, but Shania turned her shark-like smile toward him.

“Somebody set off a stink bomb in the chemistry lab before the first bell even rang. Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day.”

At least that explained why they were here, at home, where he’d thought he’d be safe.
If I ever find the guy who made that stink bomb...

Shania turned toward the living room. “Stephanie! Cassandra!”

Oh, yeah, Wally thought.
That’s it. Stephanie and Cassan –
“Ow!” he yelped as Felicia pushed him toward the stairs. She forced him up to the second floor while Shania started to issue orders downstairs.

“Get over to Ariane’s house. Wallace Street, remember? Both of you. Keep watch. All day if you have to – you can
spell each other off. The minute you see her, call me. If she’s going in, stay put and wait. If she’s coming out, follow her.”

“What are we going to do to her?” Stephanie – or was it Cassandra? – asked, but Wally didn’t have a chance to hear the answer. By then, Felicia was propelling him down the hallway toward her room.

So Wally repeated the question to his sister. “What are you going to do to Ariane?”

Instead of answering, she released him and shoved him hard against the wall. His head hit with a dull thud. “Ow!” Rubbing his skull, he turned just in time to see Felicia open the door to her room.

Her mouth fell open. “Oh...my...God!” Each word was two notes higher and ten decibels louder than the one before. Wally, feeling his head for a bump, peered around her, and gaped.

It looked like every piece of clothing Felicia owned had been pulled from its place in the dresser or closet and tossed on the floor. Wally felt an urge to laugh that could only be classified as insane – in the mood Felicia was in, she’d undoubtedly kill him.

“Sorry,” he managed to say, hoping he sounded believably contrite. “I didn’t know –”

“Shut up!” Felicia grabbed him and shoved him into her room. He fell again and slid, on a pile of panties, a metre across the carpet. “I want this room to look exactly the way it did when I left it this morning, or so help me –”

“Okay, okay,” Wally muttered. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You do that. And
we’ll
take care of Ariane!”

She slammed the door. Wally sighed and got to his feet.
This is not
, he thought as he picked up a purple sock and began casting around for its mate,
a propitious beginning to our quest.

He glanced out the window. Cassandra and Stephanie were just turning the corner of the block. It was too late to follow them to Ariane’s house, and unlike them, he didn’t know Ariane’s address. (He wondered how
they
did.
Maybe as head witch of the coven, Shania asked her good friend Satan for assistance
, he thought.) He didn’t even know Ariane’s aunt’s name. He had no way to warn her. All he could do was wait to find out what happened.

He heard voices downstairs. Felicia and Shania were still in the living room, and that meant the only safe place for him was...right here.

He spotted the second purple sock, hanging from the desk lamp. He grabbed it, folded it with its mate, then leaned over and picked up a frilly black bra.

At least he had plenty to keep him occupied.

~ • ~

By the time Ariane reached the empty parking lot by the lake it was almost dark, and much colder. She hugged herself tightly. Her anger still burned, but it didn’t provide much warmth, and it was beginning to be tempered by guilt.
I’ll go back soon
. She had to: she had nowhere else to go.

She walked to the boulder where she had been sitting when she first heard the water calling her. She sat down on it again and stared at the lake – a smooth, silver sheet that reflected the twilight sky. She heard a car pull into the parking lot. Lights swept over her, briefly illuminating the naked trees on Willow Island. Ariane hunched her shoulders and hoped whoever it was would leave her alone.

A car door slammed, then another. Now footsteps were crunching toward her – too many to be one person. Ariane still didn’t turn around. Wascana Lake, right in the heart of the city, was always popular with people out for a stroll, but why these annoying strollers had chosen this particular moment –

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Airy-Anne, out enjoying the fresh air.”

Ariane slowly turned her head. Four girls stood behind her.
Hail, hail, the gang’s all here
, she thought. She saw Shania, but Felicia seemed to be in charge for the moment. She was carrying a plastic shopping bag. “Those are my clothes you’re wearing, Airy-Anne.” She opened the bag and tossed the contents onto the ground in Ariane’s direction. “
These
are yours.”

The black shirt and jeans Ariane had been wearing that morning, still filthy and unwashed, landed with a sodden thump. So did her leather jacket. Someone had slashed the sleeves and lining beyond repair.

Anger surged in her again. Keeping her eyes on the gang, she rose to her feet. The four girls had her trapped between the parking lot and Wascana’s cold water. A red Toyota SUV idled behind them. Its exhaust puffed out into the chill, still air, glowing golden under the parking lot’s sodium-vapour lights. “It was very sweet of you to loan them to me,” she said.

“You mean it was very stupid of my brother,” Felicia growled. She crumpled up the shopping bag she’d brought Ariane’s clothes in and tossed it to one side.
At least I don’t have to worry about getting Wally in trouble
, Ariane thought.
He’s already in it.

“Your brother’s very nice,
Flish
.” She remembered that Wally had told her his sister hated that nickname. “Amazingly enough.”

“My brother,” Felicia snarled, “is a geek loser who should learn to keep his pimply nose out of my business – and out of my room.” She took a step closer. “I want my clothes back, Airy-Anne.”

“I’ll mail them to you.” She stepped off the boulder in
the direction of the parking lot – she needed room to ma
noeuvre.

Felicia grabbed her arm. “I want them
now
.”

Ariane jerked free, but someone else grabbed her from behind. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over her lips. A moment later, someone jammed a twisted scarf between her teeth and tied it around her head so tightly she thought her cheeks would split. She struggled, but the two girls holding her forced her down onto her back and pinned her arms to the ground. She kicked as hard as she could, just missing Felicia’s shin.

Felicia’s eyes glittered yellow in the sodium light. “Strip her.”

Ariane’s anger swelled to rage. A distant roaring began, and grew louder. There was something familiar about it.

The girls lifted her up and forced one arm out of the sweater sleeve, then the other, then peeled the sweater over her head. She kicked again, this time landing a solid blow on Felicia’s knee, but the girls threw her back to the ground. Felicia swore and limped backward. “The jeans!” she snapped.

“Felicia, are you sure...” Ariane recognized Shania’s voice, and knew her first instinct had been correct. Felicia was in charge this time – maybe from this time on. The other two girls didn’t pay any attention to Shania’s concerned query. One of them sat on Ariane’s legs to keep her from kicking, and tugged off first one shoe, then the other.

The roaring in Ariane’s mind crescendoed and grew more distinct, and at last she recognized it. Four years ago, when she was eleven, her mom had taken her to Toronto. While they were there they had driven down to Niagara Falls.
That
was where she had heard that sound before – it was the earthshaking thunder of countless tonnes of water hurtling over a cliff, falling, pounding against the rocks far below.

But this time, Ariane heard something new mingled with that thunder: a joyful chanting, solemn and powerful in its own way. It was the song of the water she had heard only hours before, the call of – or maybe
to
– the Lady of the Lake.