Maid of Ice

by Shona Husk

  “What is wrong with you?” This was something they had in common. As much as she didn’t want her mother running her life, she didn’t want this distance either.

  “You don’t know what your grandfather is like.” Her mother’s voice was too loud for the room.

  For a moment she was sure the walls had quivered.

  “He has to be stopped. I’ve watched him for years. I should’ve done something before Mother was killed. But my brother was always hanging around and he was following in Dad’s footsteps. Eager to learn everything he could.”

  “And now? Where are all your siblings?”

  “My brother is now in Canada. One sister is dead, killed by Guardians. Another still lives with my father.”

  “That’s why we never moved too far away. You were watching them. What were you planning on doing?” Had her mother really thought about killing her own father? She didn’t know her mother at all.

  “It doesn’t matter now. It’s too late. We can deal with the Keeper and get away.”

  “No. I’m not going anywhere.” She was not going to run away and hide from what she was or the Albah.

  “You’re siding with people you don’t know. With magic you don’t understand.”

  Alina shook her head. “Everything you told me was a lie.” Nothing had ever been real, from the reason they kept moving to her medals. “Now I know who I am and what I can do.”

  “Are you sure you want to throw in with them? Strangers who would use you for their own purposes? I’m your family. Please.” He mother smiled as though Alina was a child having a tantrum who could be easily soothed with the right words.

  “So is Walter.” Her family couldn’t be trusted when it came to magic, that much was clear. But Walter was still Finley’s best chance. “He’s going to help Finley.”

  “Really, are you sure about that? He’ll be looking for ways to prove he was right and that magic should be made public. And now he has the king begging a favor. This will weaken them. It’s not a good time to get involved with the Albah.”

  “I don’t trust Walter.” She didn’t trust her mother either. “But I’m not running. You’ve led us in circles, always watching your father but never doing anything. You claim to hate magic, but you are obsessed with what others do with it.”

  “Someone had to watch him.”

  “Why not make contact and report him?” Stop him before he could make vampires, if that was what her mother was worried about.

  “Because he’s my father. If the king knew, then I have no doubt that Dad would now be dead.”

  Then Finley would most certainly die. Would Finley’s father have really arranged a hit because someone might know how to make a vampire? She didn’t know. Her mother was right. She didn’t know who she was siding with. Not really. All she knew was what Finley had told her. This was all too complex. In that heartbeat she was tempted to run and hide the way her mother wanted.

  “Where are you going to go?” Her life without magic had been easy, but she’d always known something was missing. It would be impossible to go back.

  “First to the Keeper and then I’ll head inland. You said you were tired of skating. I’ll stop watching my father. I’ll tell the Guardians and they can deal with it. We can have a new adventure.” Her mother nodded, her smile fixed in place as though it was all going to be okay if only Alina would agree.

  She wanted to believe, but couldn’t. Her mother had controlled her life for too long. “No.”

  This was it. She was going to take her next few steps alone. Something she should’ve done years ago, but hadn’t because she’d believed it was just them against the world the way her mother had always told her.

  “The Albah will get you killed.” Her mother walked out and closed the door. The walls reverberated and there was a click as though a lock had closed. Her door didn’t have a lock. For several heartbeats, she sat there, not sure what to do. Then she texted Finley because he needed to know her mother’s plan.

  Mom knows where the Keeper is. She plans to get there first and kill it.

  She paused and wondered what to say next. I hope you didn’t get too much worse overnight.

  That would do. She needed to get up and get moving. Although to do what exactly, she didn’t know. She needed a plan, but she didn’t know if Finley even wanted her help anymore. She also needed to pee and shower. She didn’t have time for a bath. Her stomach grumbled. She added breakfast and coffee to that list. Coffee would help her plan.

  She put her hand on the door handle. The metal was warm. When she tried to turn it, it was stuck fast. Her mother was earth. Guess that meant metal too. She jiggled the handle harder. “Mom. Let me out. This is ridiculous.”

  No answer.

  She’d seen people get out of locked rooms on TV, but there was no lock to pick. Her mother had done something to the handle. The door opened inward so she wouldn’t be able to ram into it. It was, however, a cheap hollow door, so in theory she should be able to break it down, which would probably cost them the rental deposit, not that her mother seemed concerned about that right now.

  A car pulled out of the driveway.

  She was on her own.

  And stuck in her room.

  Now she really needed to pee.

  Chapter 21

  Finley opened the door for his mother. He’d managed to pull on the track pants and T-shirt that Alina had put in the bathroom for him last night. It had taken all of his energy reserves as well as leaving him raw on the inside. He wasn’t used to hurting when he broke up with girlfriends.

  He didn’t like it.

  The woman in the corridor was almost a stranger. He knew who she was, but he’d been so young when she’d left, he had no real memories of her ever being his mother. His stepmum had been the one to clean wounds and take him to football practice. She was the mother he remembered reading him stories. He’d put his head on her stomach to feel his half brothers’ kick. He was sure he must have missed Archie when she’d left him with Dad, but he didn’t remember. He remembered the pain when his stepmum had died—been killed. He couldn’t pretend otherwise anymore.

  Archie was the woman who’d given birth to him and who’d sent him presents for Christmas and birthdays. She was more of a distant aunt or something, but here she was when he was literally dying. Appropriate, yes. However, he didn’t know if she was here to save him or protect the Keeper.

  She gave him a quick assessment. “You look like hell.”

  “I look better than I feel.” That was true. He felt a hundred years and then some. He hadn’t aged a day, although he had half expected to see something terrifying in the mirror. “Come in.”

  He leaned against the wall and swung the door wider. He didn’t have the strength to resist even if he hadn’t wanted her to come in. He wasn’t sure he wanted her in his apartment, but his father trusted her and they were still friends. He had no idea how that worked.

  She walked in and took a very quick look around. “You’re alone? I thought you had someone with you.”

  Finley closed the door. “I told her to go.” He didn’t have time for lies, but apparently, he had time for regrets and major mistakes.

  “That was dangerous.” She put her backpack down. Her long braid swung as she stood. It was white now, not pale blond. He had a picture of him on her lap. He must have been all of two. It was one of the few photos he had of them together. They seemed happy, but he knew that one photo never told the whole story.

  He shrugged and tried to walk, not shuffle, to the sofa. He failed. His joints were aching like there were pins being driven into the bone, and he was tired. His muscles fatigued as though he’d done a tough workout when all he’d done was take ten steps. He wasn’t going to last another four days. He’d be unconscious before then. If Walter had given him something that sped up the process he was going to be pissed.
Not that he wanted to spend his last few days wallowing in futile anger.

  “Yeah. I see that now.” He wanted to make some quip about his mother coming to kiss it better the way she’d failed to do while he was growing up, but the look on her face stopped him. Her eyes were glassy with tears.

  “This isn’t what I saw for you.” She sat on the coffee table in front of him and reached for his hands. He almost pulled away, but couldn’t. Her warm hands closed over his.

  He hadn’t realized he was so cold. “What do you mean?”

  “You were supposed to live a long life. I did a reading for all you boys after the car accident. Quinn wanted me to.”

  “How many have you done since without me knowing?” It was unsettling to know that people could be peeking into his life without him being aware. He also knew it was one of those things that wasn’t supposed to be done and that it was more accurate if the person was there.

  “None. I watched you grow up from afar, and caught the occasional episode of your show. I don’t expect you to love me like a mother, but I hope we can be friends.”

  “I’d be happy with living.” He wasn’t sure she’d wake the Keeper when it had been her job for so long to make sure they were undisturbed.

  “We’ll go to the Keeper tomorrow. Kirin is already out there. He’s learning what needs to be done to look after them.” She paused and studied him. “We need to take a human with us, to wake the Keeper.”

  It took him a couple of moments to understand what she was saying. Someone needed to die so he could live. As much as he hated Will, feeding him to a vampire—no matter how fitting—wasn’t something he could live with.

  “There has to be another way. You know the Keepers better than anyone. Can we not just force Walter to help me? Or find another Albanex?” He needed a vampire or he was as good as dead. But how many vampires would know how to remove the iron from his body?

  “The Keepers have been restless for the last decade or so. It is something I have discussed with Quinn many times. I think waking one might be a good idea.”

  His mind seemed to be running extra slow. “The Keepers are still alive?”

  She nodded. “As much as an undead creature can be. Today we prepare and tomorrow we’ll hike out.”

  “I won’t be hiking anywhere.”

  His phone buzzed with a message and he pulled his hand free of his mother’s. The message was from Alina. A lump formed in his throat. “Oh shit.”

  Archie took the phone from him. “Alina is the girlfriend? And how does her mother know about Keepers?”

  “Walter used to make her go searching for them. Alina said her mother hates magic.” And now she’d do anything to stop her father getting his hands on any more. “Once the Keeper is woken is there a way to stop it—”

  “Him. The one sleeping in North America is a he.”

  “Do you know their names too?” She probably knew them better than she knew him.

  “No. I haven’t spoken to them. But I have been their mother, making sure they were protected. Kirin will take over as their father because I’m getting too old for it. It wasn’t you I left, but I had to go to them. They had no one when the previous caretaker retired.”

  “You managed to make a new family.” He was being petty.

  She put her hand on his knee, her fingers strong and her hand firm. She wasn’t delicate or motherly. Her blue eyes shimmered with silver and magic crackled around her. The hair on his arms stood on end. “I served my people. Am I not allowed to find any joy? Did you have such an awful life that you hold that against me even now? I loved you so much that I knew it would be no life for you, always on the road. Quinn couldn’t travel with me. He had his own responsibilities. And as much as we loved each other we knew that it would never be because of what we had to do. All we could have was you. And I let him keep you because I knew he’d do a better job than I could on my own.”

  He couldn’t turn away even though he wanted to. It had never been about duty for her, it had been love. A love that couldn’t happen. She’d walked away so Quinn wouldn’t have to choose between her or being king. Yet somehow that had never gotten through to him, or he’d never wanted to hear it.

  She kissed his forehead. “You aren’t going to die. I will not allow it.”

  “And a vampire is the only way?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “That is really something that the Albah need to work on.” No one should ever have to suffer like this.

  “Or we lift that ban on making Albanex and closely vet who gets changed, the way we used to before the treaty with the Guardians.” She was up and helping herself to water in the kitchen. “If your girlfriend’s mother is on her way to the Keeper, we should get going.”

  “Today? I thought it was going to be tomorrow?” Though he imagined tomorrow he’d be weaker and in more pain. Those lovely little pills Walter had given him weren’t cutting through anymore and the needles in his bones were pushing on his skin. However he hadn’t woken up in the right frame of mind to wake a Keeper. Today wasn’t the right day to confront fate.

  “We need to move forward quicker than I had planned.” She glanced at his feet and then his clothing.

  He was so glad he’d gotten dressed instead of staying rolled in the blanket, even though it had been very tempting.

  “You’re going to have to hike for some of it.”

  “And if I can’t?” As much as he hated admitting how weak he was, he knew he’d never manage walking a few miles even if it was all downhill.

  “Your life depends on you making it. Call your girlfriend and tell her we’ll pick her up on the way. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a hitchhiker too. We’ll call Walter once we are up there.”

  He nodded along until his brain caught up with what she’d said. “What? You can’t take someone up there to die.” That wasn’t right. It was the reason the Guardians hunted the Albah, and humans feared vampires. He didn’t want to be the kind of person who fed a human to a vampire. It was wrong. But it would save his life.

  “The Keeper needs blood to wake,” his mother said calmly. Perfectly okay with what needed to happen.

  “And Walter?”

  “He doesn’t get to be there for the waking, he only asked that a Keeper was woken.” A faint smile curved her lips.

  “You’re gambling with my life.”

  She held his gaze. “I will not let you die, but I will not let Walter Silverman become best friends with the Keeper. The people who crave magic and power are usually the last people on Earth who should have it.”

  * * * *

  Alina was dressed and halfway out the window when her phone rang. She didn’t know where her mother had gone, but she needed to do something besides wait for rescue. She’d planned to catch a cab to Finley’s and bang on his door since he hadn’t answered her text. Glad that he was speaking to her again, she jumped to the ground before answering his call.

  “Hi.” She didn’t know what else to say. Was he calling because of what her mother was planning, or did he actually still like her enough to get turned into a vampire with her blood? That wasn’t a measure of love that she was really happy with, but it was all they had at the moment.

  “Hi.” His voice sounded strained. “I got your message. My mother has arrived. Why don’t we leave it to them and head to Hawaii?”

  A smile formed even though she knew it couldn’t happen. “Maybe after? I could use a holiday.” As happy as she was to hear from him, she really needed a couple of minutes to herself. She tried the back door but it was locked, which only left the garden bed. It would have to do.

  “Me too,” Finley said. A woman spoke in the background, then Finley continued. “Okay, we’re coming to pick you up and go to the location. I didn’t want to involve you but Archie is insisting.” Finley and his mother had another quiet conversation bef
ore he asked, “Do you know any humans with a death wish?”

  “Will.” He’d caused all this trouble in the first place. She squeezed her legs together and hoped that this call wouldn’t go for much longer.

  Finley was silent for a moment. “If he’s still trailing me then he’ll follow us anyway.” He didn’t sound happy about it. “He wants to expose the Albah. I don’t think letting him get closer is a good idea.”

  “If he’s following you then it isn’t your choice. Let him follow.” If the excuse for a human were dead, he wouldn’t be able to ruin any more lives or kill any more Albah.

  * * * *

  The drive to the mountains was uneventful. Finley lay on the back seat, paler and quieter than Alina had ever seen him. He hadn’t even gotten out of the car when they’d pulled up at her place. Archie had introduced herself and then hustled her into the car so they could get going.

  Her mother had the lead.

  After keeping an eye on the cars behind and around them, Alina didn’t think they were being followed. “I think Will has taken the day off.”

  The one day they actually needed him here, he was absent. That they wanted him to be here because the vampire would be hungry made her sick. They were going to wake an ancient vampire. It was no longer a possible solution. It was happening. Just the tiniest part of her thought that none of this was a good idea and that she should have taken her mother’s offer of running.

  She didn’t know Archie, and neither did Finley, and this wasn’t just fun bits of magic and a secret society. It was killing, and vampires, and things better suited to horror movies than her life.

  But now she was in the car it was too late to bail out. Finley looked like he was dying. They might all die.

  “It’s okay to be scared. No one has ever done what we’re about to do.” Archie didn’t take her eyes off the road.

  Which was more of a reason not to do it. Maybe the Keepers should stay asleep.

  “Call Will, tell him that I want to be a vampire and you’re going to die,” Finley said.