A Girl Called Dust

by V. B. Marlowe

  Fletcher had saved me the night before, but I decided it would be best not to mention it. “Sorry,” I muttered.

  “This is the problem with latecomers. You haven’t been raised to know the ways of your kind. You’re silly and immature. You have ridiculous romantic thoughts. You are not ready for what it takes to live this life.”

  That was just one insult too many. Who did this guy think he was? “You don’t even know me! You don’t know anything about me! The fact that you’ve been watching me on your stalkery cameras means nothing.”

  Mr. Mason stared at me for a long time before speaking again. “I know your father made a mistake with you. I know he should have never let you be raised among Humans. They waited too long to tell you, and now you can’t handle it.”

  I sank lower into my seat. Every word Mr. Mason spoke made me feel worse. “Leave my father out of this.”

  “I spoke with him the other day.”

  “You talked to my father?” I could only imagine how that conversation had gone. Dad probably didn’t like Mr. Mason either.

  “Yes. I’ve told him that it would be in your best interest to move down here immediately. You need every bit of training you can get, but your mother won’t hear of it. She’s still holding on to the hope that you’ll turn out to be a Human, but we all know that’s impossible because you aren’t Human. And technically those people aren’t your parents, so I think I’m being generous by indulging them.”

  “They are my parents.”

  Mr. Mason rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what part Claire doesn’t understand. There is no possible way a Wendigo and Banshee would produce a Human. It’s ludicrous to keep hoping for it.”

  My legs were bouncing, so I held them still. “Don’t talk about my mother like she’s some idiot. She just wants what’s best for me. She just wants me to be normal.”

  Mr. Mason cleared his throat loudly as if telling me to shut up. “Anyway, as much as I hate to admit it, you’re special to us. You are important to our world, and the fact that you belong to us is a huge deal. We will protect you by any means. Normally we wouldn’t take the life of one of our own, but this is different. The Hag has broken all of her vows and almost caused our world to go to war. The girl will be taken care of.”

  The phone rang from where it sat on the edge of his desk. “Mason,” he said into the receiver. His eyebrows rose as he listened to whoever was on the other end. “I don’t know why I bother. That boy can’t do anything the way he’s supposed to. I’ll deal with him later.” I was sure he was talking about Hollis, and I wondered what he had done wrong. Mr. Mason hung the phone up and focused his attention back on me. “Where were we?”

  “You said Lacey would be taken care of.” I felt slightly relieved. “When?”

  “Tonight. My idiot son is setting things up as we speak.”

  I wanted to tell him what a horrible thing that was to say about his son, but I figured it would have been better for me to mind my own business. I felt sorry for Hollis. I knew what it felt like to try your hardest to please your parent, yet nothing was good enough.

  Mr. Mason opened the book and returned to what he had been doing before. “You may go.”

  I stood and faced the door, waiting for it to open and finally let me out. As soon as I walked through, it slammed shut behind me. I prayed I would never have to go into his office again.

  On the upper level, I found Hollis sharpening what looked like a sword in his bedroom, which held nothing more than a king-sized bed and a dresser. I hovered in the doorway before speaking. “I like your room. Very minimalistic. Is that for tonight?”

  Hollis looked up, surprised, and then shook his head. “Nah. Weapons are for the weak.” He held his arms up in the strong-man motion. “These are all I need.”

  “Your father told me about tonight.”

  Hollis went back to sharpening his sword. “Yeah. Everything’s being handled. All you need to do is be here at nine o’clock. Can’t tell you anything more than that.”

  “Um, okay. See you then.”

  He nodded, focused intently on the sword, so I slipped out of the room.

  On my way to the exit, I passed a room with an open door. The lime-green walls and paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling drew me in. Out of curiosity, I poked my head inside. A tiny girl with a puff of purple hair that looked like cotton candy sat at a table playing checkers by herself.

  “Hey?” I asked. “What’s this place?”

  She looked up from the checker board. “Our game room.”

  Tons of board games were stacked against a wall. There was also a hand-hockey table, beanbag chairs, and a television that sat on a TV stand in one corner. Some kind of game system was connected to it.

  “This is cool.”

  The girl blushed and then went back to her game. She was small and thin, with an angular face. Her purple hair and bright-blue eyes made her seem way too colorful to be in a place like the lair. The girl looked more like a Disney character. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen. She took a black piece and jumped two red pieces.

  “Why are you playing by yourself?”

  “Nobody ever wants to play checkers. If it doesn’t light up or make noises, they’re not interested.”

  I took a seat at the end of the table. “What are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” The girl could pass for Human—a strange-looking one, but she could still pass.

  “A Sylph,” she muttered.

  I didn’t remember reading anything about those. “Oh, that’s cool. What’s a Sylph?”

  She blushed and looked down at her hands. “I control clouds. I can make them move and form shapes and stuff.”

  “Clouds, huh?” I wondered how that made her a Taker. What was the purpose of her ability?

  “You can say it. I know I’m the lamest creature ever. I can’t do cool things like everyone else.”

  “I don’t think that’s lame at all.” But I kind of did. “What’s your name?”

  Her shoulders drooped, and she lowered her voice. “They call me Cuddle Bug.”

  “Cuddle Bug? Why do they call you that?”

  “Because I’m so gentle and mild and cute,” she said with the edge of irritation on her voice. “So not like everyone else here. Not like you. You’re a Banshee. You have the coolest gift ever.”

  I didn’t think I’d ever call what Banshees did cool. “What’s your real name?”

  “Violet.”

  “Violet’s beautiful. I like it better than Cuddle Bug.”

  She shrugged. “Me too, I guess.”

  “Then that’s what you should go by.”

  Violet began moving pieces on the board again. “That’s not really up to me. Once you have a nickname, it’s yours.”

  “Not if you don’t want it to be.” I remembered the words Fletcher had told me not too long ago. “You don’t have to answer to it. You can tell them not to call you that.”

  “That’s easier said than done,” she said, echoing my thoughts. Why was I giving her advice I didn’t follow myself? It was easier to tell someone else to do it.

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I could try though.” Violet looked up, holding my gaze with her sky-blue eyes. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll stand up for my name if you’ll stand up for yours. Arden is a pretty name too.”

  She knew. It hadn’t occurred to me that Takers other than Cadence, Wes, and Hollis knew things about me. Maybe they all watched the cameras.

  I gave her a smile as I stood. “Deal.” I had no idea if standing up for myself would work, but she was right. We could at least try.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  That night I climbed through the janitor’s closet and let myself into the lair, not knowing what to expect. Wes was waiting for me in the hallway with one foot propped up against the wall. “It’s about time. We’ve been waiting forever.”

  I glanced at the time on my cell phone. “It’s two minutes after nine.”

 
“Right. We said to be here at nine o’clock sharp. Mr. Mason hates tardiness.”

  I was sure he hated a lot of things, but I followed Wes down to Mr. Mason’s office without another sound.

  Wes paused at the office door and stared at me with a frightening intensity. “Brace yourself. This is not going to be easy.”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said although I felt completely unprepared for whatever was going to happen.

  Cadence sat in a chair in front of Mr. Mason’s desk, while Mr. Mason and Hollis stood on either side of a chair. Lacey sat in that chair, struggling to release herself from the straps that tied her wrists to the arms of the chair.

  Her eyes widened when she saw me. “Dus—uh, Arden. Thank God. What is this place? What’s happening? Did they kidnap you too?” It was strange to see fear on the face of someone who was always so confident and in control.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Mr. Mason folded his arms across his chest. “You need to start practicing. If you’re going to become an effective Banshee, we need to hone your skills. Since you are the last Banshee in existence, you’re going to have to be self-taught, but of course, we’re here to help you.”

  I hadn’t pictured this. Destroying a Hag was one thing, but looking at Lacey as normal Lacey, I couldn’t do it.

  Hollis looked from his father to me. “Arden, Banshees can cause death just by thinking about it. We need you to try it on her. Think about her dying, however you want it to happen. We’ll stay here until you get it.”

  I stepped back toward the door. Reading and talking about my supposed abilities were one thing, but actually having to show them was a totally different story. I couldn’t cause someone’s death. Not even if that person was Lacey. I couldn’t be a Banshee.

  Wes stepped closer to me. “Go ahead and try.”

  They all watched me expectantly. They had wanted me to be their great secret weapon, and I was going to have to let them down. On the other hand, Lacey was a Hag. She had threatened me and killed innocent people. She needed to die.

  I cleared my throat and tried not to sound afraid. “I think it would be easier for me if she were in Hag form.”

  “Oh, about that,” Hollis said. “This girl’s no Hag. She’s not a creature at all.”

  Cadence wagged her beak at me. “You really need to work on your sense of smell. She reeks of Human.”

  That couldn’t be right. I moved closer to Lacey. “You attacked me in the bathroom at the ball last night. I saw you with my own eyes. We had a conversation.” I looked to the others. “You guys are wrong. She’s a Hag. She knows how to mask her smell.”

  Mr. Mason shook his head. “No. Creatures who mask their smell have no scent. Cadence is right. You can smell her Humanity a mile away.”

  I focused my attention back on Lacey. “She’s doing this. Somehow she’s making herself smell Human. I’m telling you. I know what happened. I was there.”

  Lacey looked into my eyes, pleading. “Arden, I swear, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything to you in the bathroom last night. I didn’t even see you at the dance.”

  Wes knelt in front of her. “Arden, if she was in Hag form, how do you know it was her?”

  I shrugged. “Easy. She told me who she was.”

  The others sighed. Cadence stood up from her seat so fast that it almost tipped over. “Are you kidding me? A Hag, a wicked, evil Hag, told you she was this girl and you believed her? That’s all you have to go on?”

  As much as I wanted to slap Cadence, she was right. The Hag really could have been anyone.

  “Nevertheless,” Mr. Mason said, “she is the girl who gives you a hard time. She’s a bully. That’s a good enough reason for you to want to get rid of her.”

  “Arden, please,” Lacey pleaded. My real name sounded strange coming out of her mouth. Tears ran down her cheeks. She couldn’t use her hands to wipe them away. “Please. I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I don’t know what this is or what these . . . things are. I just want to go home.”

  Wes stood and whispered in my ear. He was so close to me that I shivered. “This is the girl who makes your life hell. She gave you that horrible name. She is going to torture and taunt you for as long as you know her. Not just you, other kids too. You’ll be doing lots of people a favor by getting rid of her.”

  Cadence plopped back down in her seat as if she were bored, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. “Arden, she’s a Human, and they’re expendable, especially Humans like her. I mean, there’s billions of them in this world. What’s one less? Let’s get this show on the road.”

  I glanced at each of them. “I can’t think of Humans like you do,” I shouted. “My mother and sisters are Human, and they’re not expendable.”

  Mr. Mason sighed impatiently. “You don’t have a mother or sisters. The sooner you accept that those people are not your family, the easier this transition will be for you.”

  Lacey was groveling now, and it wasn’t as satisfying as I might have expected. “Arden, I’m sorry. I really, really am. I’ll never call you Dust again. I’ll never say another mean thing to you or anyone. I’m sorry about what I said about Bailey. I didn’t mean any of it.”

  I had no idea if I was even capable of doing what they expected of me, but I had no intentions of finding out. Without thinking, I imagined how my life would be without Lacey. Maybe people would stop calling me Dust. Maybe Bailey would go back to the way she used to be before they became friends. One thought overpowered all of that. No matter what Lacey had done, she didn’t deserve this.

  I moved toward the door, but Wes stopped me, squeezing my arm with his strong grip. I tried to yank away from him, but he held on to me easily.

  Cadence moved from her chair to three inches from my face. She was a lot scarier up close with that fierce look in her eyes. “Listen, Arden, you may look Human, but you’re not. You never were and you never will be. Life has given you two choices—which is more than the rest of us got. You will be either a Banshee or a Wendigo. There’s no escaping it.” Her beak brushed against my nose. “If you don’t want to become a Wendigo, you better start embracing your Banshee side. Start doing what Banshees are supposed to do.”

  Lacey’s shoulders bobbed up and down as she sobbed uncontrollably. “What are you things? Some kind of freak alien monsters?”

  “Lacey, shut up!” I shouted. This was hard enough without her making things worse.

  Mr. Mason pulled Cadence away from me and stood in between us. “What Cadence means is that one side of you will become stronger than the other. Once you eat flesh, the Wendigo side will take over. Once you exhibit your Banshee skills, that’s what you will become. If you choose to become a Wendigo, we have no use for you, and to the sixth tunnel you go.”

  I didn’t want to become a Wendigo, but I wouldn’t avoid it at the cost of a person’s life. I would find another way. There had to be another way.

  I shoved Wes. “Get off me!”

  Mr. Mason nodded, and Wes stepped away.

  Mr. Mason stood behind me, placing his cold hands on my shoulders. His touch made my skin crawl. He squeezed my shoulders. “Clear your mind and think. Think about how you would want her to die. She could choke on her own saliva. Something can fall on her. She could be stabbed by a sharp object. So many possibilities. Just think.”

  I shrugged his hands away, afraid I would do what he was asking involuntarily. I never knew when death thoughts were going to pop into my head, and the wrong thought could cost Lacey her life.

  I glared at Hollis. “Let her go. Let us both go right now. I’m going home. I don’t want to be here anymore. You said you’d never force me to stay. I don’t want anything to do with any of you.”

  Cadence chuckled. “You say that like you have a choice.”

  “I always have a choice.”

  Mr. Mason rolled his eyes at Lacey, who was screaming bloody murder. “Neither of you will leave until we�
�ve accomplished what we’ve brought her here for.”

  I had to get out of this. I had to find a way to get both me and Lacey out of this. I turned to Mr. Mason. “I haven’t told you the whole truth about me. I’ve killed someone with my thoughts before. I imagined them dying, and seconds later they did.”

  Mr. Mason stared at me with a stony silence, and I wondered if he could smell my lie.

  I didn’t think he could, so I kept going. “If you don’t let us go, I’ll do it again, right now, but to you.”

  Mr. Mason looked at his son, who looked as if he didn’t know what to think, so I kept talking. “Lacey, won’t say a word to anyone about what happened today, right, Lacey?”

  She only stared at me. Say yes, stupid.

  Finally, she nodded. “No, no. I won’t tell anyone anything. I promise.”

  Hollis moved closer to me, and I hated the way they had me surrounded. “That’s not an issue. Wes can erase her memories. The issue is you siding with a Human over your own and threatening us. You have no idea what you’re doing.”

  I stared at him as menacingly as possible. “Let us go now. Let us out and don’t come after me again. Whatever happens to me happens, but I’m done with this place.”

  “But—” Hollis began.

  “I mean it, Hollis. I’ll send this ceiling crashing down on all of you. Let us go!”

  The four creatures exchanged glances, trying to decide whether or not to believe me but not really wanting to take the chance. Finally, Mr. Mason nodded. “Get them out of here.” He shoved his finger into my face. “You’re on your own now, but you’ll be back, and we’ll remember this treachery. Get them out of my sight.”

  Hollis unstrapped Lacey and threw her over his shoulder. “Let’s go,” he ordered.

  I followed Hollis carrying a screaming Lacey, with Wes trailing behind us. He brought us to the exit of the lair and then turned to me. “You have no idea what you’re doing. You’re making the biggest mistake of your life.”

  He was right. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I couldn’t kill anyone. “According to you, I have two options, and they’re both horrible. They both end with people dying.”