by Mia McKimmy
Vind broke into a roar of laughter. “Promises, promises, brother. You make promises you cannot keep. Your little dreams have always amused me.” When they were children, if Cy had a bad dream, Vind would make him tell all the details before he’d let him sleep in his bed. Even then, Vind wasn’t afraid of anything, and fed off Cy’s fears. This phone call should not have come as a surprise.
“As fun as this is, Cy, I do have to go. After all, I have a wedding and honeymoon to plan.” Vind released a wicked laugh.
Before Cy could respond, the phone went dead. Cy bent at the waist, placed his hands on his knees and took long, deep breaths. Anger and fear warred for dominance. He had to control his emotions and concentrate on finding Riana and Lily.
After Cy called Oz , he went back inside the infirmary to check on his mother.
“She’s beginning to show signs of responsiveness.” Doc Regan peered into the queen’s eyes with a small light. “She was heavily sedated with amytal sodium, a barbiturate used to voluntarily induce a coma in the hospitalized human population. Although it takes more to sedate our species, it will render us unresponsive for a while. Since the dose was intended for you, and the queen’s weight is much less, it brought her closer to a comatose state. I gave her something to reverse its effects. She will regain consciousness soon, but I’d like to keep her here tonight for observation.”
Cy’s legs wobbled and he sagged against the stretcher.
“Are you all right, son?”
“I’ll not be all right until Riana and Lily are safe at home.” Cy gently gripped his mother’s pale hand. “I’m relieved she’s okay. Vind could have killed her today.” Cy’s voice shook with emotion. “I can take him trying to kill me…just not everyone I love.”
Doc Regan put his hand on Cy’s shoulder and walked him to the door. “Vind has caused our people and this world enough pain. Your mother is going to be fine. I will make sure of it. Now you go find those precious girls and bring them home.”
Chapter 27
Three Days Later
Lily sat on the ground beneath a large maple tree at the edge of Vind’s garden. As she rocked back and forth, tears rolled down her cheeks. Her small arms wrapped around her stomach from the worsening pain. It had hurt for the last two days but never this bad. Riana had slept a lot since they’d been there, so Lily went to the garden. Something about being there made her feel better.
Lily stilled and lifted her head. A quiet, soft voice began singing. She stood and searched the hedges, but found no one. Before long she began humming along to a tune she’d never heard before, forgetting about the pain in her stomach.
“Where are you?” she whispered. “You can come out. I promise not to hurt you.”
The singing stopped. Lily squealed and jumped back as a boy swung from a tree limb above her and dropped to the ground.
“You see, that’s why I never come out. I have frightened you, have I not?” he asked, with an exaggerated accent.
“No, no, you didn’t. I didn’t expect someone to come from…up there,” Lily pointed toward the tree. “I like your song. You have a pretty voice.”
“Thank you.” His fair cheeks flushed to the color of her favorite fuchsia blanket. “I sang for you because you were in pain. Did it make you feel better?”
Lily placed her hand on her stomach. Her eyes widened and a smile spread her lips. “Oh yes, it’s much better, thank you. But how did your song make it stop?”
“It’s just one of my little tricks,” he said, and then winked.
“Who are you?” Lily asked.
“I’m Iggy. My name’s Ignasha, but everyone calls me Iggy.”
“My name’s Lily Magnolia. You can call me Lily.”
“Ooh!” Iggy’s face lit up. “That’s one of my most favorite trees in the forest. The pink blooms are so sweet.”
Lily’s nose crinkled. “Yuck! You eat magnolia blooms?”
“Oh yes, you should try them some time.”
Lily shook her head. “No thanks, I’ll take your word for it. My father loved that tree, too. That’s why he named me after them. He said the one growing outside my bedroom window bloomed the day I was born. And, it was the only thing he’d ever seen that was as pretty as me.”
“Is your father the dark-haired man who lives in the castle?”
“No!” Lily blurted. “That’s Vind. He’s really mean. And I hate him. He took Riana and me from the compound and won’t let us leave. He’s going to make Riana marry him, but she’s supposed to marry Cy. I just want to go home and see my sister. I miss her,”
“What about your parents? Don’t you want to see them?”
Lily stared at the ground. Talking about her dad made her miss him bad. “I wish I could, but they’re dead. There’s only me and Kyra now.”
“I understand. My parents are dead too. And I can never go back to my home again.”
Lily’s eyes widened. “Why? Don’t you have a brother or sister to take care of you?”
Iggy’s chest puffed out. “I can take care of myself. They couldn’t help me anyway. I was banished from my home.”
“You need someone, Iggy. You’re just a kid, like me.”
“I am not a kid,” he said adamantly. “I’m a hundred and three years old. I’m almost grown.”
Lily looked at his face and curly, blond hair that shone like gold where the sunlight hit it. He couldn’t be over twelve or thirteen. “What are you? You’re not human, or Sivadian. And you’re certainly not a feeder. You’re much too nice to be one of them.”
“I’m just me. My great, great, great grandfather is Loki, the Norse god of Mischief. When he turned evil, the rest of my family did too. My uncle Thor, he’s the god of Thunder; he threw Loki in prison a long time ago. I never met my grandfather. From what I’ve heard about him, I’m glad.” Iggy sat down and leaned against the tree, then patted the ground for Lily to sit beside him.
“Everyone in my family is like Loki. I love a good trick as well as anyone. But they hated me because I refused to be mean and do malicious trickery. They did horrible things to people, still do. They don’t care how many lives are lost because of their trickery. It’s all fun and games to them. They’ve turned families against each other, caused mothers and fathers to go crazy and kill each another, or their children. I’m ashamed of my family. They are some of the most evil beings there are. Trust me, Lily. There are some really evil things out there.”
“I know!” Lily exclaimed. “Feeders are evil, and Vind is the most evil one of all. Even though I’m a kid, I know what evil is.”
“I know you do. I can sense that you’re surrounded by it now. How long has he kept you here?”
“We’ve been here for three days. I know my sister and Cy are looking for us, but I sure wish they would hurry.”
“You need my help. That’s why I decided to show myself to you. I’m not like the rest of my family. It’s one of the reasons they banished me to this realm. I was always different, but the trouble started when I became old enough to participate in trickery. I tried to go along with them, told myself I was born to be a trickster. But when I did, it’d made me sick. I’d even break out in hives.”
“They made you leave anyway?”
Poor, Iggy. He has no one. Not even a home.
“Yep. When I refused to join them, they called me a freak, said I was something…unnatural. After they ordered me to leave, I went back to look for someone and they threw me in prison. I’d still be there today if my brother hadn’t broken me out. When they found out he helped me, they banished him too. So we came to this realm to hide.”
“Where is your brother now?”
Iggy’s shoulders sagged. A mixture of sorrow and shame covered his face like a mask. “He’s dead. The bald feeder that lives in the small house behind the castle killed him. One day we were hungry, so we shifted into ferrets and snuck inside his house.”
Lily held her hand out. “Wait. You shifted into ferrets?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you that part. I’m a shape-shifter.”
Iggy didn’t give her a chance to ask more questions. He just started talking again…like really fast too. “We’d been sneaking inside his house during the daylight while he slept. At the castle, servants are awake during the day. We thought his house would be safest. We went through a small opening inside the pantry. He was waiting and ambushed us. My brother went through first, and the bald guy slammed an iron skillet down on him. Then he kicked a heavy box over the opening and I couldn’t get inside to save him. I shifted into a bug and squeezed my way through. By the time I reached the other side, he had thrown my brother into the fireplace. I changed back to my true form to get him out of the fire. This guy’s really big, and he threw me against the wall, over and over. I kept changing forms, trying to find something stronger than him, but it was no use. When it was too late for me to save anything other than my brother’s ashes, he laughed and called me names that aren’t nice enough for you to hear. He would’ve killed me too, if he could’ve caught me. If it’s the last thing I ever do, I’m going to kill that guy. That’s why I’m still here. I have a plan and I’m waiting for the right time to attack.”
Lily sensed anger, pain and guilt radiating from Iggy. Mostly what she sensed was goodness, and his need to help others. “Iggy,” she whispered. “I’m sorry your brother died.”
Iggy looked up, one corner of his mouth raised in a sad smile. “Thanks, Lily.”
“I’ll help you kill the bald feeder, if you help me stop Vind from hurting Riana.”
Iggy’s eyes widened with an exaggerated look of alarm. “No, Lily! It’s too dangerous, and I’ve never met anyone that strong. He might hurt you, the way he did my brother.”
Lily put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Well, I’m going to stop Vind anyway. I just thought we could help each other. When Cy and my sister find us, they will kill them both. If they don’t hurry though, I’m coming up with a plan of my own.”
“I’ll help you and Riana. But I can’t let you near that bald headed ba—.” Iggy stopped mid-sentence—“bag of poop.”
Lily snickered. That wasn’t what Iggy was about to say. He was getting so worked up; he bounced from one foot to the other. “What all can you shift into? I didn’t know someone could shift into a ferret or a bug.”
“You name it. I can shift into whatever I want…unless I’m hurt. If I want someone to play with, I shift into a horse and run in the fields with the colts. In the spring, I change to a hummingbird. That way I can have something sweet to eat and someone to fight with at the same time.” Iggy smiled, showing his dimples. “Hummingbirds love to fight for the sweetest blooms in the forest. I wasn’t kidding when I told you I loved to eat lily magnolia blooms. They are sooo sweet.”
Lily laughed for the first time since leaving the compound. And her stomach had quit hurting for the first time in two days. “Iggy, how did you stop my stomach from hurting?”
Iggy shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve always been able to lessen pain, and heal some types of wounds.”
“Would you change into a ferret for me? I’ve never petted one.”
“Sure I will. Just let me go behind the tree and take off my clothes.”
Iggy disappeared behind a large tree. A few seconds later, a small brown and tan ferret came out and hopped over to where Lily sat on the grass. She stretched her legs out in front of her. “Hi boy,” she said softly, holding her hand out to him. Lily jumped when Iggy’s voice sounded inside her head.
“My name is Iggy, not boy.”
“Iggy! I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you that part.”
“Can you read my thoughts?”
“Only when I shift. In my natural state, I just sense what people are feeling. No one else in my family could do the things I told you about. All they could do was shape-shift. It’s the reason they called me a freak.”
“I can’t read your mind either. When I get grown, I’ll be able to read humans, but they’re the only ones we can read.”
Iggy nudged Lily’s hand with his small, pointy ferret nose.
“You’re so cute,” she said, patting her leg for him to climb onto her lap.
Lily laughed while Iggy showed her all of his ferret tricks.
Riana called Lily’s name. “I’m over here.”
Iggy ran behind the tree. “Don’t tell her about me, Lily,” he said telepathically.
“Riana’s nice. She won’t hurt you. I promise.”
“I’ll reveal myself to her soon, just not now.”
“Okay Iggy, I won’t. When will I see you again?”
“Tonight, I’ll find you inside the castle.”
“Great. I’ll sneak you some food from evening meal.”
Iggy laughed, “Oh Lily, I’ve rubbed off on you already. You would make a sneaky, clever ferret.”
Riana came down the garden path with a bag in her hand. “Who were you talking to?
“I made friends with a ferret. His name is Iggy, but he got scared when you came and ran off.”
“You named a ferret, Iggy?”
Lily closed her mouth and wondered what to say without breaking her promise. “Yeah, that’s his name.”
“Sweetheart, from now on wake me up before you venture off alone. It’s too dangerous here.”
“Okay, I will.”
“I brought us some sandwiches from the kitchen. It’s warm out today. I thought we could eat them here in the garden.”
“Good,” Lily said. “I hate it inside that old castle.”
“Me too, Lily, me too.”
Lily watched Riana. Each day she looked more sad, and had more dark circles beneath her eyes. Now that Lily had help from Iggy, she was determined to find a way for them to escape.
She ate half of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and wrapped the rest in a napkin, took it behind the tree and laid it on the ground. “Here Iggy, this is for you,” she whispered. She knew he was out there somewhere, watching and listening.
Chapter 28
Riana and Lily stayed in the garden until evening. Once the sun dropped behind the towering mountains, their light sweaters weren’t enough to block the chill. Riana pulled open the huge castle doors and they went inside.
Alpheus met them in the foyer. “Master Vind has returned. He requested your and Miss Lily’s presence at dinner tonight.”
Riana nodded, biting her tongue to keep from snapping at the butler. He was the only person in this god-forsaken place who had treated them half-way decent. It wasn’t his fault his prick of a boss had returned. Vind had been away since the second night they were there, and she and Lily had eaten together in her room.
Her mood plummeted at the thought of sitting across the table from Vind. Lily had been in a better frame of mind today in the garden. Her laughter eased a little of the pain in Riana’s heart that’d grown worse each day since she’d been away from Cy. The only relief she got was when she slept and dreamed. She was always happy and in Cy’s arms. It was one place Vind couldn’t tread and destroy everything. Lily was the only reason Riana got out of bed. She had to watch her better, make sure no harm came to that sweet child.
They went upstairs and dressed for dinner. Alpheus returned and escorted them to the dining room. Lily skipped along beside them humming a song.
As they entered, Vind sat at the table sipping a cup of tea. The sight of him made Riana’s stomach lurch. She reminded herself, again, to be strong for Lily. She’d put herself in this situation to save Cy and her father’s lives. As long as both of them and Lily were safe, Riana could withstand whatever Vind threw at her.
After Alpheus served their food, Riana noticed Lily slipping pieces of shrimp onto a napkin in her lap.
What on Earth is she doing that for?
“Lily,” Vind said. “You seem to be in good spirits tonight. Are you beginning to like it here?”
Lily stilled and her eyes narrowed on Vin
d. “No! I do not like it here. I miss my sister and want to go home. Oh yeah, in case I haven’t told you. I hate you!”
Vind’s eyes went ice-cold and his features expressionless. “I have not given you a reason to hate me yet, little girl.” He emphasized the last two words like an insult. “Trust me. I will change that if you continue to speak to me in this manner.” Vind sat back and glared at Lily for a moment. “You will go to your room and remain there until you decide to be respectful. If you plan to keep this up, I have a nice, dark cell in the basement.
Riana’s heart pounded in her ears. She’d told Lily not to antagonize Vind…although she hadn’t set much of an example for Lily to go by. Riana glanced at Vind’s red face and the protruding vein on his forehead. She had to do something to diffuse the situation.
“Vind,” Riana said softly, drawing his attention back to her. “I’ll take Lily to her room, and then come back to join you for an after dinner drink…if you have time before your nightly meeting.”
He stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. Her offering to spend time with him was the last thing he’d expected to come from her mouth. As the tension in the room began to dissipate, Riana released the breath trapped in her lungs. If Vind attacked Lily the way he had her that first night, Lily might not survive.
Vind’s black eyes turned back to Lily. “If you speak to me in that manner again, I will lock you away and you will never get out. Do you understand?”
Lily kept her eyes down and nodded. Riana saw her folding her napkin around the food on her lap and then tuck it into the pocket of her dress.
Alpheus,” Vind said, as the butler came back into the dining room. “Take Lily to her room. I will decide when she’s allowed out.”
Alpheus’ forehead wrinkled and his brows pitched together. “Yes, master.”
Riana could tell he was fond of Lily and didn’t want to see her harmed. Alpheus didn’t drink human blood. He wasn’t cruel and without compassion like everyone else she’d met here. Since he seemed loyal to Vind, Riana wasn’t sure how much to trust him.