He tapped his heart as he faced me, expressing things we wouldn’t say aloud. “I’ll be here when you come home.”
His use of the word “home” tugged at my heart. I had no place to rest my head, but he was offering me his. Not just me, but a place for my brother and Jens, the man who managed to edge out the hold Foss had on me. He loved me in the way a man should love his wife – enough to do what was best for me, even if it hurt him.
I touched my heart and then butted the crown of my head to his sternum. “Go be happy.”
His fingers shifted through my curls, and I felt his nose bury itself in my hair. Foss inhaled deeply, and my heart hurt for the tenderness I could not return. He released me and picked up my hand, pressing his lips to the center of my palm with his eyes closed. When he dropped my hand, I felt my heart banging in my chest. “This is me walking away,” he said, his voice gravelly. He traced his thumb across my lips, and a million emotions swirled up in me like too much dirty laundry shoved into an already overburdened machine. His lips brushed mine in a closed-mouth farewell that jerked me around with its beauty and finality. When he whispered against my lips, I could feel our hearts breaking in unison. “And this is you letting me. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye, lovely wife.”
“Goodbye, darling husband.” I meant to say the words, but my heart could only commit to a whisper, for fear of my voice cracking under the pressure we put on each other to be more than either of us could handle.
When I turned around, Jens was waiting at the plexiglass window where I’d first met Mattie. That’s the thing about a man you don’t deserve, but wish you did. He doesn’t complain when you make him wait.
I trotted over to the group, the light purple heels of my Chucks dragging on the asphalt. My hands were shoved in my pockets, and I’m sure I looked as low as I felt. Jens enveloped me in his warm sugar cookie smell, and instantly, I was home. My travelling home that never left for good, and was always there for me to return to when I wandered. “You alright?” he asked.
I nodded into his black t-shirt. “You’re too good for me. I’m sorry for putting you through all that. It’s over now, but you didn’t deserve any of it.”
He invisibled us so he could kiss me. It was a simple, tender blessing that communicated more than what needed to be said. When we reappeared to the group, our hands were linked, and would remain that way. Jens bumped my hip with his. “Let’s go, Mox.”
Thirty-Two.
Mattie’s Warning
Mattie was not there this time around. Jens frowned at the change. Instead of the graying pudgy woman who loved to flirt with Jens, there was an official-looking man who looked like he had a yardstick up his shirt to make him sit so straight. Jens flashed his gold badge, and the man signed us in for what felt like half an hour. Then he finally waved us through the turnstile.
“I don’t like that,” Jens commented under his breath, reaching for his knife out of habit when anything made him uneasy. “Mattie’s never not here on a Tuesday.”
I shrugged. “She’s not allowed to take a sick day?”
“Something feels off. Stay close.”
The slow and broken organ music piped through the loudspeakers, adding more unease to the group as we walked quietly through the empty park.
Tucker wore a frown uncharacteristic of his jovial nature. “I haven’t been home in decades. Is it always this tense? What’s wrong, Jens?” He touched his left suspender in anticipation of a fight.
Jens glanced over his shoulder toward the entrance, where the man who checked us in was murmuring into a walkie-talkie. There was no one else around, so I couldn’t imagine who he might be communicating with.
Something’s wrong. You and Britt should go invisible, just to be safe. I voiced my fears to Jamie, and not three seconds after they disappeared, Jens turned invisible and grabbed onto Tucker and me. I looped my fingers onto the waist of Jens’s jeans.
Tucker’s arm wrapped around my shoulders like a human shield. Or actually, like an elf shield, if you want to get technical. He pulled me tight to his side as we moved slowly forward. Protecting me was every bit as effective as protecting Jamie, so I could only protest his close proximity in my head. He tugged on my hair, tilting my ear toward his mouth. “If I say so, I want you to run back through the gate. Get out of the park and phone your husband, käresta.”
I frowned. “I won’t leave you guys.”
Tucker glanced down at me with a disapproving look. “Foss can bust us out if we’re in a jam. You won’t be leaving us. You’ll be getting us help.” He pressed his lips to my temple. “Jens is never paranoid. Be ready.”
My heart thudded as we moved toward the house of mirrors. The terrifying clowns painted on the walls of the attractions added to the goose bumps on the back of my neck. The hair on my arms stood at attention, which sealed the deal that we were walking into something dangerous. Jamie? Maybe this isn’t safe for Britta. If Jens is worried over nothing, we can always come back in a minute and get her. If we’re walking into a trap or something…
I heard Jamie whisper to his wife to go back with Foss. She had her phone on her and the ability to stay invisible, so she silently dropped behind and made her way back out the gate. I won’t let her be harmed. Tell me she’ll be safe with Foss. Tell me my baby will live.
Jamie, I’m sure everything’s fine.
No sooner had I uttered that thought did I hear Mattie’s pinched voice ring out through the park. “Run, Jens! It’s Johannes!” I turned my head toward the front gate and saw Mattie seemingly pop into view from out of nowhere as she broke free from a suddenly visible man’s grip. The Tomten pulled out his knife and dealt with his victim the only way Undraland knew how.
There was a scream, a slice, and a gurgling. Red poured from Mattie’s plump neck like poorly made paint that dripped when you smeared it on drywall. Her knitted orange cardigan began to mutate to a violent shade of maroon, her spectacles falling to the ground seconds before she did.
Tucker’s hand went over my mouth, but he didn’t need to muffle any sound. I couldn’t bring even a squeak through my throat, so choked was I at seeing the older woman brutally slaughtered because she cared for Jens.
The man who checked us in was yelling in our general direction, signaling for his men to snatch us. Out of the attractions that had seemed empty came Tomten soldiers with their swords drawn. We were invisible, which was our only advantage. Dozens of men closed ranks across the gate, moving as a wall of one toward us, and doing a slow sweep of the area so as not to miss their prey.
Over the loudspeaker boomed a man’s authoritative voice. I cringed as the sound mingled with the clunky clownish organ music. “Prince Jamie, your presence is requested in your father’s palace.”
Me? They want me and not Jens? Why would father send the guard to fetch me if I was already coming through the gate?
I answered Jamie’s unspoken question with the thing he didn’t want to say to himself. Jeneve tried to kill you and make it look like an accident. I don’t think your dad’s as concerned with appearances anymore. He wants you dead, Jamie. We have to get out of here.
How? We can’t go back the way we came. The only way out is forward, through Undraland.
Jens hesitated, seeming to think the same thing. He reached out and pulled Jamie closer, and without the need for words, Tucker moved from Jens to Jamie without being seen. Now we each had our guards, but we didn’t feel safer. Tucker kept one hand on me and one on Jamie, linking the four of us so we could see each other. His grip on my waist was tense, his calculating stare sizing up too many things for me to keep track of.
I was acutely aware that there were likely more guards that were invisible, following closer than I was comfortable with. We were being corralled to Undraland, though I couldn’t figure out why.
Through the door to the maze of mirrors.
Through the mirrors to the door in back.
Through the door with the razor-toothed clown painted on it.
>
Into Undraland, or more specifically, Elvage.
Smack in the middle of a battalion of Tonttu soldiers with their weapons at the ready. “Seize the prince!” the leader shouted.
I touched Linus around my neck, whispering a prayer for my brother to forgive me for coming so close, and yet still being so far.
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Don’t stop now!
Download Book Eight in the
Undraland Series, Lucy at Last.
Other books by Mary E. Twomey
The Saga of the Spheres
The Silence of Lir
Secrets
The Sword
Sacrifice
The Volumes of the Vemreaux
The Way
The Truth
The Lie
Jack and Yani Love Harry Potter
Undraland
Undraland
Nøkken
Fossegrim
Elvage
The Other Side
Undraland: Blood Novels
Lucy at Peace
Lucy at War
Lucy at Last
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