by Jes Young
“And in the box?” Matt asked, nodding toward me and the desk.
“An ear,” George said.
The little box was right next to me, only an inch or two from my hand. I jumped up and away from it, crossing the room to stand by Alex.
I turned my head to look at Francis. He was still and pale across from me. His eyes were huge and terrified; Bambi in the headlights eyes. No! Estella. No.
“He’s not Underneath,” Allison said, drawing my eyes away from Francis. “I searched; there’s no trace of him Below.”
“She’s right,” Robbin added.
“So where is he then?” Matt asked.
I looked at Francis, giving him the chance to reveal what he was thinking. I would do it if I had to but I thought it should come from him – if it could.
“Estella,” he said. “Estella must have him.”
George gasped in horror like an old woman, which would have been really funny under any other circumstances.
“Her behavior was even more erratic than usual but I never thought… I mean I never thought….” He paused for a second before continuing, “She asked about Tab; she wanted to know if I thought she was kind. And she said she had ‘the ear of the Princess’ advisor’ which I thought meant she felt her opinion was influential with Bennett.”
“Turns out she meant literally,” I said.
Francis didn’t respond. He stood stone still until I took his hand and sort of shoved him down onto the couch.
He looked up, whispering, “I’m sorry,” as softly as he could.
“Do you want some tea?” I didn’t know what else to do. Besides, there’s nothing like a hot beverage when your fiancé turns out to be a homicidal lunatic with delusions of grandeur. “I should make you some tea.”
“Please stay,” Francis said in a shaky voice. “You should be here while we decide what to do.”
This was a change; usually he wanted me to out of the way during strategy sessions. My first victory and I couldn’t even enjoy it.
“He’s right, Tab. You should be here,” Alex said. “But Francis, if you want to leave, we will all understand.”
“I’ll stay,” Francis said indignantly. “If you still want me.” The last part was said directly to me.
“Stay,” was my only response. His wasn’t the first girlfriend who was trying to kill me. She wasn’t even the first one that day. I was already over it.
Allison surprised me by stepping forward. She looked at Alex and he nodded, giving her permission to continue. She winked at me before dropping to one knee. “I am loyal to the Princess,” she said. “I will fight with her and for her, whatever battle comes.”
I was about to laugh when George appeared beside me. “That’s the official oath. She’s waiting for you to accept; she won’t stand up until you do. Just say thank you.”
Her declaration caught me off guard. She took a knife to the chest for me, if that didn’t prove her loyalty nothing would.
“Thank you?” I said uncertainly. “I accept.”
“It’s my honor, your Lightness.” As she stood up I noticed her eyes were more gold than mouse brown.
Matt went next; kneeling before me he gave the same oath.
“Is this really necessary?” I asked, looking to Alex for help. He shushed me. This was an important moment and I was missing it. George and Francis followed Matt. I accepted each oath quickly just so they’d stand up. When Robbin came forward I almost ran from the room.
With his warm chocolate eyes locked on mine he dropped to his knee in front of me. Unlike the others, he didn’t lower his head. “I am loyal to the Princess,” his voice so soft and so quiet I was sure only I could hear it. “I will fight with her and for her, whatever battle comes.” But he was thinking I love you. I miss you. I want you. He knew there was a chance I could read those thoughts. I knew he hoped I would.
I answered with a shaky “thanks.”
He stayed on his knee, just staring at me and thinking I love you. I miss you. I want you again and again until Alex cleared his throat. It didn’t take a mind reader to know there was a subtext in that exchange between Robbin and me; he wasn’t pleased.
Finally Robbin dropped his head and stood up.
“Bennett is being mailed to us piece by piece. What do we do?” Alex asked the group, roughly calling everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand.
“I have an idea,” I offered cautiously, “but you’re not going to like it.”
Their expressions ranged from cautious to suspicious to mild outrage as I laid out the details of my plan.
“You’re right,” Alex said in a tone so dry it made my throat hurt, “I don’t like it.”
*******
While I waited for the teapot to whistle I washed a few dishes that were in the kitchen sink. Then I organized the spices alphabetically. Then I started cleaning out the fridge. I was sniffing a container of questionable yogurt when Alex came in to say goodbye.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I looked at the smiling cow on the side of the yogurt container and then back at him. “I’m panicking, I guess.”
“Why?”
The absolute certainty of success I felt when I was pitching my rescue plan to a room full of people who were rabidly opposed to it became a sort of moderate expectation things could possibly work out once I got them to agree. And here’s why: the responsibility for the success or failure of the rescue, for Pop coming home or Pop being tortured until he died, for anyone who might get hurt or die while carrying out their part of the plan, was mine.
“What if this doesn’t work? What if someone gets hurt?”
Alex took the container of yogurt from my hand and put his arms around me. “Try not to worry about it.”
I nodded without lifting my head from his chest. “That should be easy. Sure, no problem.”
“It’s a good plan, love.” His fingers drifted through my hair, soothing me and exciting the butterflies in my stomach at the same time. “I was only reluctant because the plan puts you in danger – not because I don’t think it will work.”
“Really?” My voice sounded very small.
“You’re a brilliant strategist.” I caught his teasing tone and smacked his arm. He laughed, which made me laugh too. “I really think everything is going to work out. By this time tomorrow Bennett will be home where he belongs.”
“Thanks,” I said simply. He kissed me when I looked up at him, his mouth soft and warm against mine. There was a surprising amount of encouragement in that kiss. I felt pretty confident again when he gently pulled his mouth away from mine.
“I have to go,” he said, “but before I do, there’s something I would like to ask you. What’s that saying Humans have; it’s something about a full plate? I know you have a full plate right now but I have a request. It’s just a small thing but it will mean a lot to me if you agree.” He paused to check my reaction but something about the look on my face must have made him skittish because he quickly added, “Maybe now isn’t the right time?”
His hesitation had me curious. It looked cute on him, this hint of vulnerability.
“Ask. The worst thing I can do say is no.” I didn’t tell him this, but I couldn’t think of anything I would deny him.
“Isn’t that bad enough?” he replied nervously. Alex took a step back from me, very purposefully breaking the physical contact between us. His face was very serious as he began. “I love you, I told you that this morning. I think you know I meant it, that my desire to be king has nothing to do with my desire to be with you. Not anymore. I’d want you now even if you were just an Elvish farm girl or an ordinary human.
“You said you love me too,” he said quietly, “but I also know that you’re torn, that you are still sorting through feelings for Robbin and that those feelings keep you from being mine completely. I am hoping that in the end you will make the right decision for all of us.
“I know you chafe under the responsibility of bei
ng Queen. I know you don’t like being told what to do, that you think arranged marriages are barbaric, and that you had plans before I came here. I know you’re reluctant to give up your human life to save a place you’ve never been and people you’ve never seen. But I want you to consider that what’s best for the Inbetween may also be what’s best for you. I’m asking you to follow the plan laid out for us. Be with me, become my wife and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”
He got down on one knee and produced a small velvet box from the pocket of his jacket. When he looked up at me, his blue eyes were shining like sapphires, like the sun on the happiest day of your life.
“You’re asking me to marry you?”
He shrugged, a half smile pulling up one corner of his beautiful mouth. “You said you would consider it if I did.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The solarium wasn’t the same. It felt colder, dustier, and damper. The chair I was sitting in was lumpy. The air smelled vaguely of fish. Actually, that’s pretty much what it was always like in there. I felt different in there – and by different I mean bad. I couldn’t relax. Nicholas seemed to be everywhere I looked. He was the shadow lurking in the darkest part of the room. He was the flash I saw out of the corner of my eye. My sanctuary had been tainted by his presence, by the memory of what had nearly happened there. It was never going to be the same.
I told myself to snap out of it. If I started feeling uncomfortable everywhere someone tried to kill me, I’d have to leave Witchwood Manor forever.
“What time is it?” I shifted in my seat again, tucking my legs up beneath me.
Allison set the book she was pretending to read down on her lap and gave me a sweet smile. Without a word she took off her watch and held it out to me.
“You could have just told me the time.” I glared at her in what I hoped was an imperious manner before grabbing it out of her hand.
“I’ve already told you the time,” she said, still wearing that sweet smile. “More than once. This way is better.” I think she meant ‘this way I won’t be tempted to hit you,’ but she was too polite to say.
As I fastened the worn red leather band around my wrist I noticed that Mickey Mouse’s hands pointed to 8 and 4. The waiting was making me crazy but at least it was almost over. George and Matthew were due back from the Center any minute.
They’d gone to the Inbetween to try to find out which troops were loyal to Estella and to bring a small army of those loyal to me back to the Manor to fight with us in case Estella showed up with the entire 500 at her back. Alex said that Estella was most likely carrying out her plan with a small fringe group; he insisted that most of the 500 would prove loyal to me in the end.
Personally, I wasn’t in the mood to take chances on a hunch. I wanted my cousins to come home with lots of well-trained, angry looking warriors. Like, 455 out of 500 would’ve been enough
“How do you think George and Matt did?” I asked.
A pretty pink flush spread across her cheeks and her eyes widened at the mention of George’s name. Allison, as they say, had it bad. When she finally spoke, her voice was dreamy. “Oh, I’m sure he did fine. George is very charismatic; it was probably easy for him to win the troops to his side. I’m sure they are lining up to do as he asks.” She literally sighed, just like a lovesick schoolgirl. “Are you smirking at me?”
“No,” I replied innocently. But I was.
“You asked for my opinion,” she said.
She talked right over me when I said, “Yeah but not of George,” adding an indignant “And I gave it to you,” before she went back to her book.
The difference in her post-stabbing personality was striking. The mousy bank teller was gone. Allison the Guardian had replaced her. She was confident, self-possessed, funny, and strong. I still leaned in to listen when she spoke but it was because what she said was interesting not because her voice was a whisper.
And that wasn’t all; she was suddenly completely, ridiculously gorgeous. I swear when I tucked her in to bed that night she was a drab, little mouse of a thing. But sometime before the sun rose, she changed. When she came down for breakfast her hair was full and shiny, her eyes were a warm golden brown, and her features were the perfect combination of dainty and defined. I almost choked on my Cocoa Puffs. And don’t even get me started on her body. Let’s just say that before he left for a meeting with the Generals early that morning I caught Alex checking her out. I honestly couldn’t be mad at him for looking. I wanted to ask her about the transformation but I couldn’t quite figure out how to phrase the question. “You used to be so funny looking; what’s changed?” just didn’t seem right.
“I guess I’m a little stressed.”
“Understandably,” was the reply from the behind her book. “There’s a lot at risk for you today.”
I snorted, “That’s an understatement.”
Everybody I loved was at risk in one way or another. What were the chances we’d all make it through the day?
********
Francis poked his head into the Solarium.
“She said she’d come,” he said before he quickly turned away.
“Frannie?” I called after him.
His face, when he reappeared in the doorway, was pale and expressionless.
“Are you all right?” I hated that question. I knew he wasn’t. I don’t even know why I asked it in the first place. I regretted it as soon as it left my lips.
“Yep,” he said, and then he disappeared again before I could think of something else to say.
I stood up and started for the door.
“Where are you going?” Allison asked, standing too.
“I’m going to see if he’s OK.”
She shook her head. “You should stay here and do your job. He just told you he feels fine.”
“But he was lying,” I said, gesturing towards the place in the hall where he was no longer standing.
“How do you know that? He said what he said.”
“I know that because I know him. It’s just like Francis to pretend to be okay when he’s not. I made him do something pretty awful today; there’s no way that didn’t affect him.”
Allison shrugged. “Even so, your job is to stay here.”
“Yeah, I know. I just want to make sure….” I walked toward the door.
“Let him go,” Allison said, the warning clear in her tone.
I turned and shot her a dirty look. “You’re really bossy,” I said, shaking my finger at her.
“And you are incredibly stubborn. If your cousin wanted you, he would have asked for you. He asked to be alone. Sometimes, when someone tells you they want to be alone it’s because they want to be alone.”
We lapsed into what I would consider an uneasy silence. Who was she to talk to me that way? And what exactly did she mean by that comment? I concentrated as hard as I could, hoping to catch a few of her thoughts but I couldn’t get in. I had a sense that she was purposely keeping me out. She was definitely smirking.
My head was starting to hurt from all the directed thinking when a flash of bright, white light lit up morning. When it faded, Alex and Robbin were walking quickly across the yard.
“Allison,” I said, pointing at them.
“I see them.” She was already up and heading for the door. I hurried after her down the hall. They were coming up the back stairs, with George and Matt behind them, when we reached the kitchen.
“What happened?”
“Are you ready?” Alex asked. He was working very hard to stay calm. I could see that clearly. His body was tense and his hands were balled into fists at his sides.
“For what?” I turned to Robbin when Alex didn’t respond. “Robbin? Ready for what?”
Robbin snorted. “For whatever battles comes.”
*******
Alex was mad, crazy mad. Punch a hole in the wall mad. Start a fight just to have an excuse to hit someone mad. He couldn’t sit still. He paced back and forth behind R
obbin, eyeing me in a way that was both scary and exciting, while Robbin told us what had happened.
The meeting with the Generals went much better than we’d hoped. Alex told them about the attacks, about Allison’s timely appearance and about me saving myself in the end. Then he told them about the packages I’d received in the mail and about the letters that accompanied them.
“None of them looked surprised to hear that we thought Estella was behind it, right?” He looked to Alex for support but he didn’t add anything except a scowl. “Martine, the General of the 200, told us he’d been approached by her when she was trying to find a partner in this. He’s been debating about telling us since Bennett went missing.” Robbin gestured over his shoulder to Alex. “He wanted to kill Martine right there but I wouldn’t let him. That’s why he’s acting like such a cupcake right now.”