Natalia bit her lip. “You said you had a theory about why I’m just now learning about my powers.”
“It’s only a theory. I can’t be certain it’s the truth.”
Natalia nodded, waiting.
Via took a breath. “Magic can be unpredictable. Sometimes even the most well-crafted spells backfire or have side effects.” Her eyes bore into Natalia’s. “I think whoever placed the protection spell on you also sealed away your powers, putting them to sleep until it wore off.”
Natalia leaned back, putting her weight into her palms. “My father was Charmed. He placed the spell upon my sister and me a few days before he died. He never really looked whole after that.” In her head, her father stared at her from the prison of her memories, all ashen skin and gray, lifeless eyes. Even his fiery hair, the same shade as Rose’s, had lost its luster.
“Protection spells are very draining on the user. He must have loved you very much,” Via said quietly, sounding a little sad.
Angry tears pricked Natalia’s eyes and she looked away. “Yet he loved her more.”
“Who?”
“My stepmother.”
“Oh.”
Quiet stretched between them.
“What other things can you do?” Natalia asked, looking back at Via. “Besides walk through walls and turn into animals.”
For a moment, Via looked embarrassed. “It’s not natural, I know, but I’ve always been able to do it, from the moment I was little. I scared my mother to death one day by turning our cat into a mouse, and then I changed into our kitty. I always felt so afraid for the little mice he chased. I thought I’d teach him what it was like to be so scared! My aim was never to hurt him. I just wanted to chase him around a little. Mother shrieked at me until I changed us back, but poor Cinnamon was never the same afterward. I didn’t know it would traumatize him that much.”
Natalia chuckled. It felt good to laugh; it had been so long she had nearly forgotten how. “I wouldn’t worry about it. You meant well.”
Via smiled. It was wistful yet sad. “I think the stress was too much for our poor kitty. When Cinnamon died, I cried and cried. That’s when I discovered…”
Natalia waited. “Discovered what?”
“… That I could bring back the dead.”
Natalia couldn’t help it – she gasped.
“That scared my mother the most, I think,” Via said quietly. “She grounded me for a week, piling twice as many chores on me. I think she thought if I was always busy, I would have no time to practice magic.”
Natalia gazed at her. The other girl no longer disconcerted her so much, though the fact she could resurrect the dead made her a bit wary. Even then, it was strangely comforting being in the company of a girl who looked like she felt as lonely as Natalia did sometimes.
“You’re very talented,” Natalia said gently.
Via smiled, ducking her head and tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear. “Thank you.” Her eyes dropped to Natalia’s throat, frowning. “Where is your necklace?”
Storm clouds formed in Natalia’s eyes. “That man in the woods took it.”
“Oh. Him.”
Natalia looked at Via sharply, not liking the suggestive flirt in her tone. “He may be handsome, but he’s a crook.”
Natalia looked at her, suddenly remembering why she had gone with her to the pond in the first place. “Via, do you think you could break –”
The door flew open and a disheveled Wormwart barged in.
“What are yeh doing sitting there?” He sounded winded. “And get that damn bird out of here!”
Natalia blinked. “What?”
Soft cooing drifted up from the floor. The dove was ruffling its feathers. It looked right at Natalia before taking flight and sailing out the window.
Natalia stared after it, half-afraid Via was too weak to fly and would drop right out of the sky. The sun broke the horizon, casting bright beams of golden light on the dove and lighting it up like a star. It flew farther away until it was a speck and then nothing.
Chapter Twelve
Not As They Seem
Rough, calloused fingers grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her up.
“Ow!” Natalia said, pulling her arm free. “Do you have no sense of your own strength?”
“Yeh weren’t responding to my words,” Wormwart said. “So I had to get yer attention somehow.”
Natalia pulled her gaze from the window long enough to cast him an even glare. An awful ruckus was coming from downstairs, and she went to the door. “What is that?”
“Why I came up here. I need yeh to subdue the boy.”
“The boy? Why?” She grinned. “Is he giving you a hard time?”
“No!” Wormwart glowered at her. “But he’s not ordinary.”
“What are you talking about?”
The boy cried out, sounding strained and in pain.
Natalia immediately bolted out the door and took the stairs two at a time, nearly rolling her ankle. She tore into the dining room. The dwarves were scattered about the room, acting in strange ways. One was sweeping the floor with an imaginary broom, while others were clucking and barking like animals. The only one who didn’t look completely insane was Slither. He stood in front of the boy, who was backed into a corner. Several knives were embedded in the wall around the boy’s body, trapping him. A gash at his temple dripped blood down the side of his face, making his wild eyes look more feral.
“I’ll teach you to play mind games with me!” Slither brought his hand up, preparing to throw another knife.
“No!” Natalia shrieked but too late. The blade soared through the air, right for the boy’s head. He ducked, and the knife grazed the top of his scalp. When he looked back up, he immediately found Slither’s gaze. The boy’s eyes were glowing with a strange green light.
Slither cried out, gritting his teeth. “Get out of my head!” He lunged at the boy and elbowed him in the jaw. Dazed, the boy went down, and Slither climbed on top of him, sticking his heel on the boy’s throat and pulling a knife from his boot.
“I’m going to gut you like a pig!”
Natalia rushed through the room. Slither started to bring the knife down, and she caught him by his arm, pulling up for everything she was worth.
“Stop this!” she cried.
“Do not interfere, mortal!”
He tried shoving her off, but she clung to him like a leech.
“Gah!”
He punched her hard right in the gut, and she fell backward, clutching at her stomach.
Slither’s attention returned to the boy, who looked back at him, wide-eyed with fear and mouth open in a silent scream.
“No!”
She didn’t know how she knew to do it, but she flung both arms out, pushing the air toward Slither. An invisible mass hurtled toward him, exploding against him in a wave of red flames and sending him flying into the wall. He fell to the floor, groaning.
Natalia froze, her mouth hanging open.
Around her, the dwarves began returning to normal.
“What happened?” Leaf asked, shaking his head and blinking several times.
“That little imp bewitched us,” Goldentongue said, taking several dizzy steps.
They all turned to look at the boy, but his attention was locked on Natalia. They gazed at each other, neither daring to blink.
“You’re Charmed,” they both said at the same time.
“That was clever, boy,” Wormwart said, making his way through the room. “But that little trick will cost yeh dearly.”
The boy turned to Wormwart. He tried to catch his gaze, but the dwarf produced a scrap of black cloth and tied it over the boy’s eyes. He struggled and Wormwart said, “Well don’t just stand there! Hold him down!”
The other dwarves stumbled toward the kid. Leaf and Twix held him down, while Wormwart looped a length of rope around his scrawny wrists.
Natalia stood there shifting her weight and running through her options.
Even if she did manage to pull off the blindfold, the dwarves would slit her throat before she could cut the boy’s binds.
“Take him back to the cellar and tie him to something heavy,” Wormwart said. “I don’t want him writhing around like a worm.” He paused. “In fact, I don’t want him to be able to move at all.”
The others quickly lifted the boy and carried him away.
Goldentongue stood next to Wormwart, wiping his hands together as if to remove some invisible residue from touching the kid. “I hate Charmed ones, the whole lot of them. You can never trust one completely.”
Natalia looked in the direction of the cellar, vaguely feeling Goldentongue’s incinerating glare. “What are you going to do with the boy?” she asked.
“Kill him,” Wormwart growled.
Her head snapped around so quickly a tendon in her neck pinched. She reached up to rub it out. “But he’s a child, and he was only defending himself.”
“It makes no difference whether he’s a child or an adult; he’s Charmed, which makes him dangerous.” Wormwart’s eyes hardened. “Which is exactly why yeh’ll be joining him.”
“What?”
Before she could blink, Avalanche had forced her down. Her chin slammed into the floor, catching her lip between her teeth. The metallic tang of blood spilled into her mouth, and she glared up at Wormwart as Avalanche flipped her over and Twix tied her wrists together in front of her.
“You promised you wouldn’t hurt him,” she seethed. It did not even cross her mind what they would do to her; all she cared about was the boy’s safety.
“To hell with meh word. He crossed the line,” Wormwart said as Leaf and Goldentongue hauled her up. They started marching her toward the cellar.
She looked at Wormwart over her shoulder. “You’re just looking for a reason to spill blood. Admit it: You’ve had bloodlust since the fight last night.”
A wicked glint flashed through his eyes, setting her on edge. “I’ve had bloodlust since the night yeh stumbled into our net instead of the bear.”
Twix opened the cellar door, and someone shoved a bag into her hands. Through the opening, she could see nuts. Natalia looked up to see who had given it to her, catching Midnight’s worried expression. She gave him a small, grateful smile right before the others lifted her up and dropped her into the hole. The floor came up quick; she landed hard, feeling her shoulder pop, and gritted her teeth as she staggered to her feet. The cellar door slammed shut, and she looked around while her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. A tiny candle flickered on a shelf at the far end of the room, but for the most part, everything was too dark to see clearly.
“Who’s there?”
The outline of the boy was highlighted in soft yellow candlelight. She moved toward him and awkwardly untied the blindfold. “I brought you something,” she said, showing him the bag.
“I’m not hungry,” he said softly, refusing to look at her.
“Oh, of course you are,” she said, brightening her voice. “You haven’t eaten since you got here… and I suspect some time before that,” she added softly. Though her stomach felt like it was starting to eat itself because she was so hungry, she wanted to make sure the boy was fed first.
He looked at her then. Tears brimmed in his eyes. “I heard what they said. They’re going to kill me, aren’t they?”
She froze, caught off guard. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she finally managed.
Too late. A tear rolled down his cheek. “I never meant to hurt anyone. All I wanted was to escape and go home. I don’t want to die.”
“There,” she cooed, wiping his cheeks with her thumbs. “It’s going to be all right. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
This seemed to reassure him because his tears lessened somewhat.
Inside, she was very afraid. What if she had just made a promise she couldn’t keep?
Her face remained kind; her voice, strong as steel. “You have to promise me you won’t fall apart.”
The boy searched her eyes and then at last nodded, still sniffling.
She let go of him and took a deep breath. “All right then.” Sitting the bag down, she retrieved the dagger from her boot.
“What are you doing?” the boy asked as she sat beside him.
“Getting us out of here.”
Flipping the blade up, she awkwardly began sawing at her binds. Luckily, she had plenty of practice at this sort of thing back in the castle. Little by little, the rope gave until it at last snapped, freeing her.
Flexing her wrists, she turned to the boy. “Hold still.” She began sawing away at the ropes around his chest.
“You seem quite powerful,” he remarked, sounding calmer now. “Why haven’t you used your powers to escape?”
“Because I didn’t know I had powers before tonight.”
Snap!
The rope fell to the floor, and the boy leaned forward, stretching his back. His arms were still tied behind him, and his feet were bound at the ankles. She decided to work on those next.
“Really? You had no idea at all?” he asked.
“Not even an inkling.” The rope they used to bind his ankles was different – thinner – and it only took her a minute or two of sawing to cut through it.
She eyed the rope at his wrists. His skin was starting to blister from where he had struggled to free himself. “Bite onto your lip,” she said.
The boy’s teeth dug into his bottom lip, and she delicately grabbed his hands and plunged the blade into the rope. The boy winced, biting onto his lip harder as she worked. His facial features twisted with pain as the rope scraped against the blisters, and he grunted.
“Don’t make a sound!” she hissed.
He bit harder, drawing blood, but was silent. At last, the rope burst and she tugged the remnants away. She placed the knife back in her boot. “There,” she said. “Let me see your wrists.”
Licking away the blood on his lip, the boy held his wrists out before her. She frowned. Angry red welts speckled his skin, which was red and swollen around his wrist bones.
“That’s going to be mighty sore in the morning,” she said. “Rope burns are especially nasty.”
“How would you know?”
“I just do. Can you stand?”
“I think so. My legs are tingling like mad.”
“I bet they fell asleep from the rope being tied so tight. Come on. I’ll help you.”
He gripped her hand and she hauled him up. He stood for about three seconds before his knees buckled and he tumbled to the side. She caught him before he could hit the floor.
“Stretch your legs,” she said, holding onto him and being careful not to touch his blistering wrists. “That’ll help get the blood flowing.”
They waited until his legs came back to life, at which he stood on his own and stretched. “Damn, this feels better.”
“Watch your language,” she said with a warning in her tone.
She expected some remark about how “you’re not my mother” or “I’m a grown man,” but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he blushed.
“I’m Tristan,” he said.
She smiled at him. “Snow,” she said, nodding.
“That’s a weird name.”
“So I’m told.”
Something thumped against the floor above, followed by Leaf’s indignant groan. “You cheated! You didn’t count to ten.”
Slither snickered.
She listened, but those were the only two voices she heard. “They must be our guards,” she said thoughtfully. “Perhaps the others went to the mines. Dwarves’ greed is legendary, after all.”
Tristan’s expression twisted with worry. “How are we going to get past them?”
The idea that popped into her head was wild, but it was their only hope at escaping. A mischievous grin spread on her face. “With a little help from you, my friend.”
He gave her an odd look, but she bent over, whispering her idea in his ear. His face lit up with a mad
grin.
“Think you can handle it?” she asked, looking him in the eyes.
“I took seven on one earlier, remember?”
“Actually, it was only six, but that’s beside the point.”
She retrieved the bag, pulled out a handful of nuts, and then picked up a small sword from a pile of weapons. Unsheathing it quietly, she ran her eyes over the blade, feeling it lightly with her fingertip. It was still blessedly sharp, and she sheathed it, satisfied. The sword tucked easily inside her belt. Walking back to the ladder, she looked up at the opening and took a quick, deep breath. “Ready?” she asked.
Tristan nodded.
Motioning for him to follow, she quietly climbed the ladder. Carefully, she lifted the door a sliver and peered out.
Slither and Leaf were arm wrestling at the kitchen table. Slither appeared to be enjoying himself more, with a lead over Leaf, who was sweating and staring at their clasped hands as if to set Slither’s on fire with the intensity of his stare. Natalia noted the crossbow strapped against Leaf’s back; she never saw him without it.
She placed a nut between her fingers and tossed it toward the dwarves. It tumbled across the floor, bouncing along with tiny sounds.
Leaf’s head turned. “What was that?”
Slither took the opportunity to slam his brother’s fist onto the table. “Ha ha!” he cried. “I win! That’s two days you have to mine my area too.”
Leaf stood, peering in the cellar’s direction. “I heard something. Did you?”
Slither shrugged. “Probably another mouse. You know our meat room is famous to vermin for miles around.” He leaned back and propped his feet up on the table, crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. “This is a joke. I don’t know what Wormwart’s so worried for. He’s just a boy and a runt, at that. And that wench doesn’t know what she’s doing. They’re pathetic. It ain’t like we have a troll or a giant down there. Now those are nasty creatures.”
“Be quiet!” Leaf hissed.
Slither snorted but didn’t open his eyes.
Leaf cautiously approached the meat room, eyes scanning the darkness. The nut made a soft crackling sound when he stepped on it. He lifted his foot, bending over and picking up the bits of shell. He examined them between his fingers, one brow quirked.
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