Trap

by Mary E. Twomey

  I grinned. “Sure. I’ll wear a white dress, if you want. Justice of the Peace on a Tuesday, and that’s that. Then we’re Mr. and Mrs. Vandershot.” My eyes widened as soon as the words escaped my lips. “Whoa. That was way serious.”

  “First time it dawned on you we’re actually doing this?”

  “I didn’t realize I was changing my name until I said it just now. October Grace Vandershot.” I shivered. “That’s freaky.”

  “So you don’t want a big circus, and we can get married just us and our families?”

  “Unless you hate the idea, yeah.”

  “If I wasn’t about to pass out from exhaustion, I’d tear your clothes off and make love to you right now. Perfect woman, you are. Deal. Let me break it to Mum, though. She had her heart set on a grand affair.”

  Von had teased the inside of my thigh too much for his own good. I had chills and desires and all kinds of too much swirling through my body. My hips started to move of their own accord as I bit down on my lower lip. “Let’s get married sooner rather than later. I want to be your wife already.”

  Ten.

  Kings and Grave Robbers

  “Oh, thank goodness. They waited to start the meeting until you arrived. Let me take your sweater, dear,” Lynna offered, ushering us inside the mansion. I stepped off the welcome mat and found myself scooped in her arms. It was then that I realized Lynna had been crying.

  My heart sank. I knew the bliss of our little four-day hiatus had been too much. Von and me being happy upset the equilibrium, so something terrible had to go down. “What is it? What happened?”

  She squeezed me tighter as she shook her head. The desire to run from the affection tapped me on the shoulder, but my feet remained in place. “Run along to the conference room, kids.” She leaned up and kissed Von’s cheek before sending us on our way.

  “Nothing ominous about that,” Von lied. He leaned in as we walked through the foyer, passing the topiary that never changed, though everyone else in the massive house had. “I don’t want to stay here long. Let’s listen to whatever the council has to say about the battle and go back home. Anastasia was being a handful for Mum when we left, and she hasn’t had to deal with a newborn in a couple decades. I don’t want to desert them.”

  “Of course. And you know, in a month or two, we’ll be able to bring Ana here for meetings, no big deal.”

  Von frowned, his hand on the small of my back as we neared the conference room. “Perhaps three or four months, just to be safe. I don’t fancy tempting fate by putting her in a room with two Matruculans. We don’t have the best of luck with these things.”

  “The best of luck with shapeshifting monsters? Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I greeted Alton, who stood outside the door to the conference room as a sentry. “You coming inside?” I asked, catching the door with my foot and holding it open for him to follow us in.

  Alton pushed his gold wire-rimmed glasses up on his nose and worked up a wan smile. “I’m Duwende. We don’t have representation on the council. I’m out here in case Ezra needs pulling. He’s... It’s been rough. I’ve taken it upon myself to be his constant shadow when I’m not helping Danny.”

  My shoulders drooped at the reality of just how much brokenness surrounded us. “Okay. Thanks for helping out so much. I’ll see if Boston or Graham can come over and give you a hand with them.”

  Alton offered me a smile and closed us in the room, shutting himself out of the cool kids’ club. I was wearing nice jeans that hugged my hips and a green and purple t-shirt/tank top combo. Most of my other shirts had spit-up on them. “Gentlemen,” I greeted the room, nodding my head at the men, who stood at my entry. “Good to see you all.” My eyes fell on a couple new bodies seated at the heavy polished wood oval table. Carter stood next to his brother, who motioned for Von and me to sit with him.

  Finn wasn’t there. I looked around, but he was nowhere in the room. In his place was the seventy-plus man I knew to be the interim King of Dagat, having just met him briefly at the funeral. Mathias of the Green Lakes, or something like that. He scratched at the gills framing his throat and then ran his hand through his thick gray hair that had a sizeable coif to it.

  The leader of Lumipad had been Sylvia when I’d first come into this room. Then Serena had overthrown her and abducted me. When Sama killed Serena to avenge me, I didn’t know what would come of Lumipad. I expected another woman, but a fair-haired man with a bird-like shape to his face shook my hand. I’d met him for a millisecond at the funeral, but hadn’t put it together that an Ekek could rule Lumipad. I’d just assumed only a Manas could. My shoulders sank as I realized I was now the only woman in the room. Mariang had taken herself off the council a long time ago because she’d been so sick, and didn’t feel like putting up with their constant bickering. Then Sylvia bit it. Now it was just me, and that weighed heavy on my shoulders.

  Finn wasn’t there. I didn’t know what to make of that, but pushed it out of my mind when Von’s arm slung around the back of my chair. Mason’s hand found mine, and he brought it over to rest on his thigh so he could pull a little and take some of the burden off of Von.

  Ezra was in black slacks, a white dress shirt and a subdued navy tie. There was a soulless sleeplessness to his eyes that had bags beneath them. His hair was combed in front, but was sticking up in the back. For some reason, that little detail made my heart break for him all over again. He would never have permitted his hair to misbehave before his daughter was taken from him.

  Ezra remained standing after everyone found their seats, garnering the attention of the powerful rulers. “As most of you know, Sama is the force behind the attack that took place at my daughter’s funeral. We believe he was targeting the members of the council, so when you’re in Terraway, I would urge all of you to increase your security and exercise caution. We can’t be sure who’s for us, and who’s in Sama’s pocket. Aranya revealed himself to be against us when he raised his knife to King Kabayo.”

  I gasped, along with Mathias, Von, Mason and Carter. My head whipped to Kabayo, who sat with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug expression on his horse face. “He’s been dealt with in the same way all traitors to Terraway are handled. I ran him through with my sword, and now he’s not a problem. Prince Langgam will be taking over his brother’s throne within the week. There was an uproar from the people of Sakuna when Luna tried to take the crown.” He dipped his head to Lang, who returned the gesture respectfully.

  My jaw was on the floor at all the changes that had taken place in a mere four days. I wanted to make sure Kabayo hadn’t been wounded in his fight, to confirm that all of them were okay. I wanted to throw my arms around Lang and have a giant party to celebrate that his kingdom finally had a chance. I kept my words stuffed in my mouth though, since it seemed like Ezra was barely hanging on, and still had more to get through. “King Langgam, let me be the first to welcome you, and acknowledge your new title.”

  Lang offered up a polite smile, though I knew he had to be beaming inside. “Thank you, King Ezra. I’m sure I’ll be coming to the council for advice and wisdom once I’m instated at the formal crowning in Sakuna.” He cast me a furtive glance that didn’t match the congratulations I assumed he would be beaming from. He looked worried for me or something. My eyes shot to Kabayo again and saw his smugness melt into the same look of concern, like I might implode at any second.

  I wondered how much crap I looked like. Perhaps I was getting to the point where a few nights of sleep wouldn’t right all the wrongs.

  Ezra pressed his hands on the table, his head hanging so his eyes stared only at the wood. It was like he couldn’t bring himself to face anyone in the room. “King Kabayo and King Langgam stayed after Sama’s army retreated after so short an attack. Upon examining Mariang’s coffin, they found the little finger on her right hand missing.” This garnered a few exclamations of surprise, but Ezra pushed through. “I was convinced Sama had come for more than my daughter’s finger. He’s shown no int
erest in her before. I joined them in Silo as soon as I could make the journey. We went through everything, every possibility, but it wasn’t until we checked behind the castle toward the back of the royal property that we found what Sama was looking for.” Everyone was sitting at attention now, no one daring to breathe too loudly. “Kabayo’s crypt at the back of his property was robbed. The bones of his ancestors are safe, so we needn’t worry about King Dakila or the great kings of the past being used in Sama’s games.”

  Kabayo kept his eyes on the table, as did Lang and Ezra – all three afraid to look at me. A thrumming started in my ears like a slowly crashing wave. It pushed out the connections my brain was trying to make before Ezra led me there. Ezra’s voice quivered when he finally brought himself to speak. “The only body that went missing was September Serendipity Reese – Lady October and her Puller Von’s daughter. We can only assume that Sama sent his army to steal her body from us, which explains why the battle was so short-lived.” Ezra finally looked up into my eyes across the table, and I saw timeless torment that would never relent for him. “I’m so sorry, darling.”

  I heard nothing after that for several minutes. No one spoke, and no one dared to move out of respect for our searing pain. My heartbreak felt like it must be painted all over the walls in spurts of red and streaks of the darkest black, as my insides were shattered and splattered for everyone to see. I was utterly and completely lost in my own personal abyss.

  Mason was the first to stand, moving behind Von and me and placing a hand on both our shoulders. His body framed us in his strength as he started up a slow pull that was a drop in the bucket of what we actually needed. Von hung his head to give the tears that dripped down his cheeks a little privacy to invite all their friends to the awful party. No one spoke; they merely watched our pain respectfully. Kabayo studied my furrowed eyebrows and firmly closed mouth. The design that branded the two of us on our forearm lit up on him, glowing blue to alert him that I was either in danger, pain or severely internally compromised. I felt compromised, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. Nothing but white noise filled me from the inside, letting me know that whatever mess consumed me, I wasn’t capable of processing it yet.

  Von’s fist pounded the table, making me jump. “Why?!” he yelled, demanding an answer from his surrogate father. “Why was her tomb not sealed? Why was there not a guard posted to keep watch?”

  Kabayo took Von’s accusations in stride, answering for Ezra. “Her tomb was sealed. Lady September was given the same honor a queen would have been given. I did have a guard posted there, but he was killed in Sama’s quest to get into the crypt. Your anger’s understandable though, and I won’t rob you of it.”

  Von stood, shrugging Mason’s hand off of his shoulder. “You understand my anger? You understand everything we’ve given up for Terraway? How many children have you lost? How many times has Sama tried to rape your wife in her mind when there’s nothing you can do to stop it? You’ve lost a brother you helped raise? I packed Bishop’s lunch every morning before school. I made sure he did his homework. I took care of every foul git he came across. I did everything I could to give my brothers a good life, but I can’t work hard enough to keep them alive, much less happy. But you in your infinite wisdom understand my anger?”

  Mason was ready for Von’s clenched fists, which we both knew was a precursor to him launching one of them into someone’s face. He wrapped Von in a hug from behind seconds before he lunged, and all but dragged him from the room, whispering words of solidarity in his ears all the while.

  I wanted to go to him, to help Von in some way that would be a permanent balm to his torn soul. I wanted to, but I sat frozen in the chair, unable to move or speak. I heard Alton shouting for Von to calm down, and I closed my eyes when it dawned on me that Mason and Alton were no doubt using excessive pulling to subdue him.

  I wanted to rescue Von.

  I wanted to rescue myself, but I was sinking. I guess that’s how you know you’re not at rock bottom. There’s that ability to fall even lower. I truly hoped I’d hit the dregs of the sludge of life by now. I shuddered to think at what could possibly bring me lower than this.

  People were talking to me, but I didn’t have the brain for conversation. It seemed my brain, like the rest of me, preferred a hiatus.

  Eleven.

  Danny’s Kiss

  I awoke in my pea green bedroom at the mansion, not completely remembering laying down in the first place. As I sat up and rubbed my eyes, bits of the end of the council meeting came back to me. Lang had carried me to bed, which I now had the sense to feel humiliated by. I didn’t want to fall apart, but some things couldn’t always be helped.

  Low mumbling caught my attention, and I realized that was what had woken me up. I swung my feet off the bed and tapped them on the carpet, softening when I saw that Lang had taken the time to remove my shoes. It was the little things that felt like sweetness, reminding me that though I felt very much afraid, I had family here who cared about the big things without forgetting the little things.

  I tiptoed out of my bedroom and followed the mumbling through the empty, unlit hallway to Danny’s room. My fist lightly rapped on the door, and I heard a “Go! Go!” whispered before he opened his door. I was just glad he was talking to someone. His eyes were focused and his face sane when he poked his head out. “Hey, kid.”

  When he stood back to let me in, I was surprised to find there was no one in the room. I guessed he’d been talking on his cell, and had hung up for me. I don’t know why that made me feel guilty – my emotions were all over the place. I stood in the middle of Danny’s usually military-perfect room that was always in order and free of dust or clutter. Only now it, like Danny, was broken. There was crap everywhere, clothes on the floor, and Mariang’s things thrown clear off her desk and scattered about the room. It looked like moshers had come through and trashed the place.

  I knew he was expecting me to say something, but I still didn’t have the words, so I just stood there like a shell-shocked dummy, staring up at him so my eyes could do the talking. My daughter’s bones had been stolen. I knew Danny couldn’t have heard about Mariang’s finger going missing, because he looked like he’d showered recently. He was dressed, clean and looked more balanced than I’d seen him in a month. Mariang’s bedroom, on the other hand, was an utter disaster. I mean, her lamp was broken and in shattered pieces on the ground. Her dresser had been rifled through. The closet had piles of her never-been-worn clothes spilling out of it.

  I’d never seen Danny disorganized, and wasn’t sure what to make of it. He was grieving, so I guess cleaning his room hadn’t been at the top of his priority list.

  His caterpillar-like eyebrows pushed together as he frowned down at me. “You need something? I think Von’s downstairs with Ezra and Mason. He stopped yelling not too long ago, so I’m guessing they’ve finally knocked a bit of logic into him.”

  I blinked up at Danny, not sure why I was here or what I expected him to say to me that might help. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I shook my head and lowered my chin, banding my arms around my stomach to hold myself together.

  “I heard they told you about September. You still checked out?”

  I guess me looking up at him without speaking for so long answered that question.

  Danny’s shoulders drooped, and dang if he didn’t soften as he watched me not know what to do with myself. I hated that he was more together than I was. He moved his dirty clothes and dusty books with that same vellum paper Finn’s books had off the bed, and onto the chair at his desk. Danny was flustered, not sure what to do with himself at having a guest in the room he’d shared for so many years with Mariang.

  “Hold on, hold on. I wasn’t expecting anyone.” Danny quickly made the bed while I stood in the center of the chaotic room, unsure what to do with my hands. I scraped at the flesh once just out of habit, but the pain didn’t center me like it used to. I couldn’t feel anything. I dug my nails deepe
r, but still registered nothing.

  When Danny deemed his disaster of a room passable, he took my arm with his other hand wrapped around my back and slowly lowered me to sit on the side of his bed. The sheets smelled like man feet, which is to say, totally gross. “You should rest for a bit, yeah? It’s been a long time you’ve had too much happening. The council’s mostly gone, so you don’t have to worry about running into them. Lang’s still here, and I think Mason and Carter, but that’s all.”

  I said nothing to this, so Danny continued, swallowing hard as I blinked up at him. He ran his hand through his messy hair, just as befuddled as I was that he was the one I came to, mute as I was. He finally sat down next to me on the bed, hesitating, but then raising his hand to rub a circle into my back. He gave me a small pull I wasn’t expecting. I could tell by his exhale that he needed the job just as much as Mariang had needed him. “Oh, that’s better,” he murmured, as if I was the one pulling for him. He was like me – lost without a purpose to drive him forward. He cleared his throat. “Kabayo’s upset that he let something bad happen to your family. Left you a leather cuff to wear on your wrist.”

  My eyes conveyed that I couldn’t guess why Kabayo would leave me that, or what I was supposed to do with it.

  “I think it was supposed to cheer you up, to let you know that he understands he mucked up. Kabayo doesn’t know much about human women, so pretend the leather cuff is a vase of flowers or something.” When my hand mindlessly raked at my arm again just to see if now I could feel something, Danny stole my hand and linked his fingers through mine atop his knee. “Stop that. You know it drives me mad.” Danny played with my fingers, examining each one carefully. When he spoke again, his voice was gentler. “I never got to thank you for standing in front of me at the funeral. I mean, I knew what was coming, so I was prepared for it, but to have you throw yourself in front of me to save me from public humiliation? I don’t know how to thank you for that. I was barely hanging on that day. You saved me.”