Wraithsong (15 page)

“
My mother is the Almighty
Huldra and is responsible for their disappearances. She tells Olaf
what to do and he does it. I know where he took them and I know
what my mother wants to take from you.”

I am taken aback.
“
Take
from me?” I
think about my dream where Olaf said that they wanted to educate
me, but he hadn’t mentioned that they wanted to take anything from
me. I have something they want, but what is it?

“
Yes, she sent me to get to
know you, but I hadn’t anticipated that I would…actually…” His eyes
soften and then blink faster.

“
Don’t bother.” I pull off
my stiletto heels because they hurt my feet. “Don’t you dare say
that you’ve fallen for me, I don’t want to hear it, and I should
have known that it was all too good to be true.”

“
Sonia…” He touches my hair
softly.

“
Don’t touch me.” I hit him
in the chest as hard as I can and keep walking barefoot on the
cracked asphalt road.

He follows me. “I’m really
sorry. Honestly. I want to help you. Please let me…?”

“
Am I supposed to believe
that you’d fight against your own mother?” I hiss.

He nods. “Yes. I know she’s
in the wrong, and I don’t want to become like her.”

“
Why should I even consider
your offer when all you have been to me is a liar and a jerk? You
can’t possibly expect me to trust you!” I have stopped again.
Should I consider his offer? No. Yes. No.

“
Because I know where your
mother is, and I know how we can get her and the others
back.”

I pause and step onto the
grass as the hot asphalt is starting to burn my bare
feet.

“
Let me take you to my
place,” Anthony says.

“
Oh, no, do you think I’m
that stupid, that I’d willingly enter the lion’s den?” I say. “Your
crazy mom is there.”

“
She’s not there. She’s on
Wraithsong Island and she won’t return until…” Anthony stops
talking and looks me in the eyes.

“
Until…?”

“
Until she either has what
she wants from you, or they’re all dead,” he says.

All my strength leaves me.
My mom—dead? My dad’s death tore a hole out of my heart, and that
hole is still there—raw and bleeding—nearly as empty as it was
eighteen months ago. I can’t go through losing another parent; the
loss would kill me.

“
I know you don’t trust me
right now, but I can help you. I want to help you,” Anthony
says.

I hunch down, clench my
knees in my arms and bury my face in my knees. Is this a nightmare?
I hope so, because then I’ll wake up and it will all be
over.

“
Why does it have to be
you?” I lament. “Of all the people who can help me, it has to be
the guy who’s lied to me, who just a moment ago was on the enemy
side, and who…” I don’t say it out loud, but I think, the first guy
I’ve ever fallen for. I clench my teeth. He must never find out. He
will never find out.

“
Sonia, I know my words
probably don’t mean much to you at the moment, but I promise you
that I’ll never let you down again.”

“
You’re exactly right, but
I’m forced to depend on you, aren’t I?” I stand up and head back to
his car, crying all the way. Back in the car, I take a deep breath
and call Ashley back.

“
Hey, what happened?”
Ashley says when she answers.

I have to lie. “Sorry, just
bad reception.”

“
Okay, so your mom’s car is
in the driveway, and the lights are on. I don’t see her inside
though, but she could be sleeping or watching TV. Have you heard
back from her yet?” Ashley says.

“
Yes.” I hate lying to my
best friend, but I don’t have a choice. “It was nothing really, she
had accidentally set off the alarm and forgotten the
code.”

“
She mentioned
Olaf?”

I have to come up with a
story—quick. “Yeah, he’s a distant relative that she thought might
be coming to visit or something and she hates him.”

“
Oh, so everything’s good
then?” Ashley sounds half relieved, half annoyed.

I peer over at Anthony,
who has just gotten into the car, my eyes seething with fury.
“Yeah, and the date was awesome! You’re going to love Anthony once
you
really
get to
know him.” I find it hard not to let sarcasm inundate my voice.
“The emergency is taken care of, anyway. You know how my mom can be
a little melodramatic sometimes.”

“
Yeah, that’s true. Okay,
well, I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow then,” Ashley
says.

“
Yes, have a good night and
thanks for checking on my mom.”

“
Anytime.” Ashley hangs up
the phone.

I drop my hands into my lap
and look at them because I don’t want to look Anthony in the eyes.
“What am I supposed to do? The prom’s on Friday, Graduation’s on
Saturday, my birthday’s on Sunday, and I’m supposed to go to
Kensington next week.”

“
We just have to wait until
we hear from—Maureen,” Anthony says.

“
Are you trying to distance
yourself from your mom by calling her by her first name and not
‘Mother?’ That’s stupid.”

“
You know, you could be a
little bit more sensitive to me. This isn’t exactly easy for me
either,” he says.

I feel a small tinge of
guilt, but not enough to wipe away even a millionth of the pain he
has caused me.

“
It’s not as though you
were exactly honest with me either,” Anthony says. “I could tell
that you were trying to use your Huldra vibes on me so that you
could control me.”

“
They’re
called Huldra
flairs
, Anthony. Didn’t your
mother
teach you
anything? And what I did to you is nothing compared to what you’ve
done to me. I was trying to get you to confess so we could be open
about it, but you were leading me on and….”

“
This isn’t going
anywhere.” Anthony’s hand hits his temple. “Do you want to work on
this together or not?”

“
Yes, but only because I’m
forced to,” I sulk.

“
Okay, but can we act a
little more civilized toward each other, please?” he says
softly.

I don’t want to, but I know
that we don’t need the distraction of our relationship gone bad
while I’m trying to save my mom’s life. “Sure. I’ll try,” I
say.

“
That was convincing,” he
says sarcastically.

“
Okay, I’ll do it,” I say
stronger. “But don’t expect anything other than civility from me.”
And barely even that.

“
Deal,” Anthony
says.

“
No, it’s not a deal. It’s
a compromise.” I need to be right.

“
Call it what you like, but
it’s a deal nonetheless.”

Why does he always have to
have the last word?

Chapter 16

Driving into the Founder’s
Club, I can’t repress the flight response that takes over my body.
My hands feel cold and clammy, my stomach ties into a knot and I
become acutely aware of every little detail from the beat of my
racing heart to the ducks flying above.

Can I trust Anthony when he
says that Maureen isn’t home? Maybe it’s a trap or maybe Maureen
told him to bring me home so they can imprison me. I clench my
phone in my hands, ready to dial 911 if I find he’s been lying
about the whole thing.

“
What does your mom want
from me anyway?” I ask.

“
Please, can you just call
her Maureen from now on?” he says sternly.

“
Fine, what does Maureen
want from me?” I enunciate every word. I know I’m acting like a
brat, but I can’t help it. I’ve never felt this kind of fear or
fury, fear for myself and for my mom’s safety, and fury toward
Anthony and his mom. It surprises me how quickly I’ve gone from
almost loving him to completely hating him.

“
Before a Huldra is induced
into the Dynasty, she has the option to receive her fifth gift or
to give it away to someone else.”

“
She’s after my gift?” I’m
flabbergasted.

“
Yes.”

”
What are the
gifts?”

“
Each one is different, but
some examples of these gifts are gifts of discernment, or the gift
of coiling.

I don’t know what they mean
at all, but I’m too tired to ask about them. “If Maureen is so
almighty, can’t she just get her own gift?”

“
No, she was denied her
gift by the governesses because she was unable to abide by the law
of obedience before she was eighteen and then failed again to abide
by the Huldra codes between the ages of eighteen and
nineteen.”

“
What do you mean?” I
ask.

“
The law of obedience is
this: Each Huldra or Huldu is told, without knowing the reason why,
that they must not use their flair on anyone. It’s the first test
to see if you’ll be obedient to the laws given you.”

My mom’s words echo in my
mind.
In life, the test comes first, the
lesson later.
That must be what she meant
by it. I exhale. “I guess I flopped that test.”

“
Don’t worry, everyone
fails that test. There’s a second test after you’ve been to the
Academy, and that test, well, I can’t tell you about that
test.”

“
Of course,” I say dryly.
So that’s why my mom refused to tell me anything about who I
am.

“
Then there’s a one year
testing period after your training. If you pass the tests, you’ll
receive your fifth Huldra gift and be accepted into the
Dynasty.”

“
Quick question—did you go
to the Academy?”

“
Maureen and Olaf taught
me.”

I nod. “What happens if I
don’t pass the tests?”

“
You’ll lose all your
Huldra powers and become just like any other human.”

“
But if Maureen didn’t pass
the test, how was she able to…”

Anthony interrupts me. “She
appropriated so many virtues from humans and from other Huldras and
beings that her power continued to grow even though she was banned
from the Dynasty.”

“
Did you pass your
test?”

“
Yes.”

“
What was your fifth
gift?”

His expression becomes
bothered and his eyes start blinking at a faster rate. “I’d rather
not say.” The tone in his voice changes, becoming sad almost. He
opens the garage door with the remote, parks the car, turns off the
engine and slumps into his seat.

I’m not nervous anymore;
his openness has cooled my anger and my anxieties about being
here—for now at least. Large cardboard boxes are stacked up against
the garage walls, leaving no space for anything else. “Were you
planning on moving?”

“
No. Those are
Maureen’s…weapons.”

“
What kind of weapons?” My
fear comes back again. This day feels like a never-ending
rollercoaster ride to, well, not heaven, that’s for
sure.

“
Well, there are assault
rifles, machine guns, pistols, Dane axes, machetes, switchblades,
swords…”

I interrupt him. “I…I get
the picture.” I’ve never in my life held a gun or any type of
combat knife or sword. “What could she possibly need these
for?”

“
I’m not sure. She didn’t
tell me everything, but there are enough weapons here for a small
army. Mostly she talked to me about capturing your fifth Huldra
gift, but I think her plans are much grander than just that and I
suspect she needs your gift for those plans.”

His comment makes me feel
like just another means to an end—to Maureen’s end. At this point,
I couldn’t care less about my fifth Huldra gift or about Maureen’s
plans. I just want my mom to live. “I don’t want my fifth Huldra
gift. I’m going to give Maureen my gift so I can get my mom
back.”

“
I wouldn’t be so quick to
decide,” Anthony says.

“
I don’t care what my gift
is because my mom’s life is more important.”

“
Some of these gifts are
more precious than existence itself, Sonia. Don’t give it to her so
hastily,” he says.

“
I’ve been able to live a
fulfilling life up until this point without it, so how important
could it be?” Not too important, I figure.

“
You’ll see. You’re just
going to have to trust me on this one. Take it from one who
knows.”

I roll my eyes. Trust? Him?
Ha!

* * *

Once inside the house, we
climb the stairs and enter Anthony’s room. He offers me one of his
soccer t-shirts and some way-too-big shorts to change into. After I
get changed, I head into the rotunda in his room and look out the
window. The lake mirrors the full moon and it hangs low and golden
in the black sky. It’s a spectacular view—so beautiful it nearly
takes my breath away. The blue light in the pool below moves with
the water and reflects onto the column pillars that uphold the
veranda. I notice that a swan has made its way into their white
gazebo on the deck. The poor swan is probably stuck.