With a grunt, Oskar rolled off the bed to sleep on the floor. Even the carpet felt softer than his bed back in Bear Hollow, but at least it wasn’t as soft as the bed. Oskar’s stomach growled, but he ignored it. He refused to eat any of the food they’d set out for him, so he closed his eyes tightly instead, and tried to think happy thoughts about Bear Hollow.
But when he closed his eyes, Zora’s face floated in front of his mind’s eye. No matter how hard he tried to shake the image, he couldn’t escape the feeling that there was more to this beautiful woman than met the eye.
Chapter Five
Oskar awoke the next morning to the sound of laughter. He opened his eyes, confused for a few brief moments about where he was. He looked at the soft, cream-colored carpet beneath his hands, then up at the golden-purple drapes, and it all came rushing back to him. He suppressed a groan, and covered his face with his hands, willing all of this to go away. He wanted it all to be a bad nightmare that he woke up from.
But the room was real, and the laughter was real, too. Oskar peeked out from behind his hands to see where the giggles were coming from, and he spied two young girls, probably not much older than fifteen, who were removing the food trays from the night before and replacing them with new ones.
“Can you believe it?” one of them said in a loud whisper that Oskar could easily hear. “They even sleep like animals—on the floor.”
“So weird,” the other one agreed as she set down a huge pitcher of what looked like orange juice.
Oskar groaned and sat up, giving the two girls quite a fright. One of them yelped and nearly dropped the tray of food she was holding. They both looked at Oskar with fear in their eyes, as though they expected him to shift into a bear and attack them at any moment. After that, they worked quickly, leaving the food they’d brought and scurrying out the door.
They had opened the drapes, and bright sunlight streamed in through the windows. Oskar went to look outside, happy to see that the light dusting of snow from yesterday afternoon had been melted away completely. The longer it was before the snow came, the more time the shifters would have to store up food before hunting and foraging were no longer possible.
In the light of day, the grounds of the Severson estate looked even larger than they had the night before. Oskar guessed that he was about seven stories high, and he had a view of what might be considered the “backyard.” It stretched on for ages, populated by lush gardens and shimmering fountains. Oskar turned away. He didn’t need another reminder of the wealth that his captor possessed.
And yet, reminders were everywhere. In front of him, the spread of food once again looked to him like enough for an entire family to eat for a month. Breads, cheeses, and cold cuts of meat were accompanied by fresh fruit and an assortment of jellies. In addition to the orange juice, a pitcher of water filled with fresh lemon slices awaited him. Oskar’s stomach growled, but he turned away. He would not eat this food. Looking at it was an insult to his people back in Bear Hollow.
Luckily, a sharp rap sounded at the door, and a tall man dressed in one of the most ornate suits Oskar had ever seen strode into the room.
“Good morning, Mr. Warden,” the man said. “I’m Jim, the tailor who will be assisting you with getting fitted for clothes.”
Jim glanced at the untouched food on the table in the middle of the room. “Shall I come back once you’ve had time for breakfast?”
“I’m not eating,” Oskar said sourly, crossing his arms.
If he expected Jim to be shocked by this, he was disappointed. Jim sighed as though this wasn’t the first time he’d seen a shifter on a hunger strike. “Very well. Let’s get on with the fitting then, shall we?”
Jim moved quickly, his expert hands taking Oskar’s measurement. Oskar could have protested, but he decided that letting Jim finish as quickly as possible was the best course of action. No doubt, Loki was ready to come in and make threats about Whisper if Oskar gave anyone a hard time. After Jim finished, Oskar sat down at the desk, tapping his fingers and wondering what to do. Zora had told him today would be busy, but so far it seemed like things were getting off to a slow start.
Oskar didn’t have to wonder for long, though. A few moments later, another rap sounded at the door, and none other than Zora herself walked in. Once again, her beauty made Oskar’s throat constrict and his heart pound wildly. Once again, he told himself to stop acting like a traitorous fool. But how could any man with two eyes look at her and not feel something? Today, her dark brown hair fell in long waves around her shoulders. Her clothes were simpler than they’d been the night before. She wore slim-fitting black pants and a billowy blouse in a champagne gold color. About a half dozen gold bangles of varying widths clanged on her wrists, and several golden necklaces hung from her neck as well.
“Good morning,” she said, raising an eyebrow at his still untouched breakfast. “The kitchen girls tell me you didn’t eat anything last night.”
Oskar shrugged. “What’s it to you?”
She crossed her arms and got a stubborn look in her eyes. Oskar almost had to laugh. He’d seen a similar look in Whisper’s eyes quite often, when she was determined to get her way.
“You’re not proving anything to anyone by not eating, you know? All you’re going to do with these games is irritate Loki. And that’s not going to make things easier for you or your sister.”
“So I should just roll over and accept everything you people throw at me? I bet that’s what you think we all do, huh? We’re not even people to you. We’re just animals.” Oskar could still hear the words of the kitchen girls echoing in his ears as they giggled and called him an animal.
“I don’t think you’re an animal,” Zora said softly.
Oskar didn’t know how to respond to that, so he only deepened the scowl on his face. “Why are you here again? Surely you didn’t come just to check whether I’d eaten my breakfast or not.”
Zora shook her head. “No. I asked if I could give you your orientation tour today. Every new shifter that arrives to live at our estate is given a tour of the entire premises, and then of the Arena. Usually, as the person who, um, convinced you to volunteer, Loki would give you the tour. But he has little interest in doing so, which is just as well. It gave me an excuse to jump in and do it for you. Which will give us time to talk.”
Oskar was more excited than he wanted to admit at the prospect of spending the day with Zora. He tried to push away the feelings of guilt that kept bubbling up within him. After all, if someone had to give him a tour it might as well be the one Gilt Hollow citizen who actually seemed at least a little bit nice. But he certainly wasn’t going to act like he was excited. No way would he let Zora know that her little kindness act was actually getting through to him a bit. He crossed his arms and shrugged. “Whatever. I can’t see why I’d want to talk to you.”
Zora sighed. “Of course you wouldn’t. If you’re really set on not eating anything for breakfast, we should get going. But you’ll need to change first. You can’t go out of this room in those clothes.”
Oskar frowned and looked down at his clothes. He wore a plain pair of brown pants and a simple beige colored shirt. He owned a few outfits just like this, as did most of the shifters in Bear Hollow. One of the women in town, a wolf shifter who had a knack for sewing, made most of the clothes for all the shifters in Bear Hollow. The clothes were plain, but durable and comfortable. Oskar had never in his life considered whether what he wore was fashionable. Fashion was something people who had time and money to waste thought about. People like the Gilt Hollow citizens. “What’s wrong with these?” he asked in a voice that dared her to tell him something was wrong with them. But she only looked his clothes up and down and gave him a sad smile.
“Nothing’s wrong with them. They look quite cozy, actually. But if you don’t wear some of the clothes Loki left for you, he’s going to consider your refusal to wear the clothes as an act of insolence. And if you act insolent he’s going to hurt Whisper.”
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Oskar wanted to scream. He knew that what Zora was telling him was true. But he hated feeling trapped like this. He had no leverage with which to protest. Every little protest he made would be a reason for Loki to hurt his sister, and if there was one thing that could convince Oskar to fall in line with the Gilt Hollow citizens’ wishes, it was fear of his sister getting hurt.
“Fine. I’ll wear the stupid clothes. But I don’t have to like it.”
“No, you don’t,” she said softly.
Oskar gave her a long, hard stare. He didn’t know what it was about Zora that made him feel comfortable making such snarky comments. For all he knew, she was spying on him for Loki, trying to catch him being insolent so she could report back to Loki with an excuse for hurting Whisper.
But Oskar had always been pretty good at reading people, and Zora seemed genuine. As genuine as a Gilt Hollow citizen could be, at least. With a grunt, Oskar started stripping off his Bear Hollow clothes to replace them with the impossibly nice clothes that filled the dresser.
“Oh, uh, I’ll give you a minute,” Zora said, her cheeks reddening as she turned to leave the room in a hurry. Oskar laughed as she rushed out. For a shifter, being naked in front of other people was no big deal. It happened all the time after shifting. But Zora and the other Gilt Hollow citizens weren’t used to shifters, and probably didn’t parade around naked.
I guess it’s another reason to think of us as animals, Oskar thought with a roll of his eyes. He dressed quickly, pulling on the most ornate clothes he’d ever worn. Black, uniform type pants laced with golden threads, a ridiculous golden colored button down shirt, and black “work” boots that shimmered as though inlaid with diamond dust.
“I look like a circus clown,” he said as he stared at himself in the mirror. Sadly, his clothes looked mundane compared to what most of the Gilt Hollow citizens wore. With a resigned sigh, he opened the door to his room to find Zora. She stood in the hallway along with two bored-looking guards, and her face lit up when she saw him.
“You look great!” Her tone sounded so sincere that Oskar didn’t have the heart to make a snide comment about his outfit. He chided himself for caring about what a Gilt Hollow citizen thought, but Zora somehow felt different. If he had to be here in the city, in this prison of a palace, it wouldn’t hurt to have a human on his side, would it?
That’s what he told himself, anyway, as he followed Zora down the hallway for the start of his tour. She showed him the huge house surprisingly quickly, considering it was ten stories high and covered half a city block. The majority of the space on the upper floors consisted of bedrooms. There were quarters for guards, quarters for shifter “volunteers,” and quarters for guests. There were also quarters for low-level “guests,” which was where Oskar was staying right now. These rooms were supposedly not that nice, and were set aside for any “guests” the Seversons didn’t care about impressing. It boggled Oskar’s mind that his room was considered “plain” and “boring,” but he said nothing of this to Zora. He followed her in silence, taking in the rest of the house with what he hoped was an expression of disinterest. He didn’t want to act like any of this impressed him, but it was hard not to be in awe of just how large the Seversons’ house was. The family had a whole floor to themselves for their rooms, another floor was devoted to fitness equipment, with a gym, an indoor pool, a yoga room, and a sauna. On other floors there were ballrooms for dancing, a giant library, dining rooms that could seat up to two hundred guests, and on and on and on it went. None of it seemed real. It was too big. Too rich. Too extravagant.
Oskar felt a rush of relief when they finally went outside. The gardens were huge as well, but at least they were outside. The fresh air felt soothing to Oskar’s lungs after being inside for so long. He was a bear, after all. He needed outside air to thrive.
“So there you have it,” Zora said. “Next you’ll go see the training rooms and the Arena itself, but first we should have some lunch.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You haven’t eaten since you got here! And you’re a bear. Don’t tell me you’re not hungry!”
“And what do you know about bears?” Oskar’s eyes flashed with anger and he crossed his arms as he looked down at Zora. They were alone in a grove of apple trees, which had long since been stripped of the last apples of the season. The sun, which had been shining earlier today, had now gone into hiding behind a thick layer of clouds. A chilly breeze passed through the grove, and Zora visibly shivered. Oskar wasn’t sure if it was the cold making her shiver, or the anger in his eyes. Perhaps both.
For a moment, he fantasized about shifting into a bear and slashing his claws against Zora’s pretty face. He would be killed for it, he was sure. Whisper would probably be killed, too. But sometimes his anger grew so strong that he had no idea how he was supposed to contain it all. And how would anyone stop him out here, on the far ends of the Seversons property? By the time the guards made it out here, he could have killed Zora ten times over In the next moment, though, Oskar felt horrified that he’d even had that thought. He wasn’t a cold blooded killer, and Zora herself had done nothing to earn his rage. She’d been nicer to him than any other Gilt Hollow citizen had ever been. She almost seemed to actually care about him.
Was that why he couldn’t quite stuff down the excited little shivers that ran through him whenever she smiled at him, or whenever her hand accidentally brushed his as they toured the Seversons’ palace?
This is crazy. I’m crazy. She’s the enemy.
“I’m trying to learn,” she was saying. Her voice brought him back to the present moment, away from his conflicting fantasies of either harming her or throwing her down on the ground of the apple grove and mating with her.
“Huh?” he said, sounding like an idiot but unable to make his brain work properly. He couldn’t focus on anything until he pushed the mental image of making love to her out of his mind. He was definitely going crazy.
“I’m trying to learn about bears. And wolves, and panthers, and all the other shifters.” She looked around, as though worried one of her father’s guards might suddenly jump out of the lines of trees and carry her off to answer to Nobleman Severson for daring to care about shifters. “I might seem like every other Gilt Hollow citizen, and I don’t blame you if you hate me. But I want to be different. I’ve seen the way your people are treated and…and it’s not right. I want to help you. I don’t know how to do that, exactly. But I’m trying to learn.”
Oskar just stared at her, not sure if he could trust what she was saying. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe that this beautiful woman in front of him could actually be on his side. But how could he ever know for sure?
She stared up at him with those shimmering black eyes, so full of hope that it made his heart hurt. He used to have hope, but the years and the reality of his situation had worn him down. He was nobody. And now, he was worse than nobody—he was somebody. He was a shifter “volunteer” who they would try to make into a hero, into someone that proved that the shifters could enjoy being part of the Gilt Hollow world.
Never. I will never be a willing part of their world.
“At least come eat something, please? If you don’t like our food here, I’ll try to get you something like you would eat back in Bear Hollow. You guys like potatoes, right?”
Oskar almost laughed. He actually hated potatoes. But his stomach was growling, and at the moment, a plate full of potatoes sounded like heaven.
“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “We eat a lot of potatoes.”
“Come on. I’ll have the chef make you some potatoes.”
She turned and started walking back toward the palace without another word. He followed her, not fully able to ignore the way her hips sashayed so temptingly beneath her billowy blouse. He could look, right? Even if she was a Gilt Hollow citizen, no one could deny that she was beautiful.
And she was nice. He got the feeling that the offer of potatoes had cost her something.
Not money, of course. The cost of a plate of potatoes was nothing to someone like her. But it had cost her admitting that his feelings mattered, and that the Gilt Hollow way might not be the best.
And that, more than anything, told Oskar that he might not be as alone in Gilt Hollow as he thought.
Chapter Six
Zora’s heart sank when she walked into the Arena to see her brother standing in the front row of seats. He was watching one of their father’s shifters, a fierce wolf, run through a series of exercises in the middle of the Arena. Zora recognized the shifter as Otto Thorne, one of the best shifters their father owned. Otto had been fighting in the Games since Zora was a young girl, when Otto himself hadn’t been much more than a boy. He frequently topped the winners’ charts, bringing the Severson family glory and extravagant cash prizes.
Zora knew the second she saw Loki that he was here on purpose, waiting for Zora to show up with Oskar. Loki loved to pit shifters against each other for “practice,” and she should have known that he’d be eager to show off Oskar.
Zora tried to back up before Loki saw them, quickly pushing a very confused Oskar back with her hands. But Loki had already heard them come in. He looked up and grinned, waving her over.
“Zora! I’ve been waiting for you guys. Come on over.”
Zora groaned. “Come on, Oskar. And my apologies in advance for what you’re about to go through.”
Oskar raised a questioning eyebrow, but said nothing as they walked down the long walkway of stairs toward the Arena floor. The Arena was one of the most modern buildings in Gilt Hollow, with bright, electric displays of light everywhere. No other building in Gilt Hollow, not even the Emperor’s palace itself, used more electricity. The Games were held sacred here.
The Misfit and the Bear Page 4