Just like Mama and Papa wanted.
Mila scrambled to her feet and went to run from the room but froze in the doorway.
Nanny had told her not to move.
Hands in fists, teeth clenched in frustration Mila hopped in the doorway, trying to catch someone’s attention. Papa dashed past the doorway in the kitchen, carrying something he gave to Mama who along with Nanny had her head down, focused on packing small things into a second rucksack.
Trying harder Mila jumped and waved her arms. ‘Heeyy!’
Mama’s head snapped up. ‘Mila-’
CRACK!
Wood splintered, falling to the floor. Mama’s eyes stared beyond Mila her expression of terror resonating deep in Mila’s mind. Slowly, Mama turned away, looking toward where Papa stood in the short foyer.
‘Hello Mestarns! What a welcome!’
From where she stood in the bedroom doorway, Mila could see Uncle Vidna grinning through a large hole in the front door.
Mama screamed.
Chapter Eleven
The air around Mila felt thick, crackling with electricity. She stood in the bedroom doorway and opened her mouth in a high pitched wail as her plait of hair lifted into the air, her nightshirt undulating around her knees.
Papa grabbed Mama, Nanny grabbed the bags. The three of them raced from the kitchen. Papa twisted to fling something back that resounded with a piercing shriek and CRACK of energy.
Mila dropped to a crouch, hands in fists to her ears. ‘NO NO NO!’ she cried out in fear.
‘Come, Lea,’ Papa said, letting Mama go ahead into the bedroom. He bent to scoop Mila up.
Whatever Papa did made the thickness to the air vanish, but it didn’t stop those at the door. Arms clinging tight to Papa as he lifted her, Mila watched as their front door exploded. Splinters of wood hurtled toward them, Mila buried her head against Papa’s neck, arms squeezing tight.
Small thuds of wood against wood made her peek.
The thousands of splintered pieces of door lay scattered in the corridor before the bedroom. Mila turned her head, seeing Mama standing behind them with her eyes closed and arms loose at her sides. The hum of Mama’s shield left Mila’s mind as Mama pulled it back, opening her eyes to stare at Papa.
A sound at the entrance made everyone turn.
Uncle Vidna, the other DeNaga uncle and another still stepped through the broken doorjamb. The three men glowed. Mila gasped, hugging her papa tighter.
‘It’s young Mila!’ Uncle Vidna said jovially. ‘How lovely. Thank you for gathering together so conveniently.’
‘Vidna!’ Mama said it loud and pleading. ‘Why are you doing this?’
She pushed past Papa, placing herself in front of them all. Out the corner of her mouth she whispered to Papa, so quiet even Mila could barely hear her. ‘Didn’t find the key. I’ll stall, you need to open trapdoor!’
‘We have decided to terminate our great family’s relationship with the Mestarns. No longer will Vo’Arum be held back by dissention.’
Mama interrupting Uncle Vidna’s echoing speech, making his eyes narrow. Mila shivered.
‘What dissention, Vidna? What dissention has there ever been?’
Papa backed into the bedroom, bending to the ground to let Mila down and turned to the door.
‘Vo’Arum will be ruled by DeNagas! We will not suffer the humiliation of bowing to another’s demands on authority. We ARE the authority!’ Uncle Vidna shouted the words.
Papa stared at the open trapdoor in astonishment, he turned to Nanny. ‘You found the key?’
‘No!’ Nanny whispered, staring down at the door. ‘We couldn’t find it anywhere!’
‘You mean you seek supreme power over this realm,’ Mama didn’t shout, she spoke in an even voice with rising strength. ‘You want to answer to no one for any crimes you may commit. How many have died at your hands, Vidna? What monsters have you created against our joint creed? How long have you been a traitor to this beautiful realm you long to possess?’
‘It IS my realm!’ The shout pitched into a furious scream.
Mila gaped at the angry energy pulsating around Uncle Vidna. Mama’s calm expression didn’t change instead she relaxed her arms at her sides and closed her eyes.
‘Mama!’ Mila shrieked, when Uncle Vidna threw his arms wide releasing a crackling cloud of dark energy. The cloud contorted and jerked, stretching the width of the room, pouring out the doorway into the corridor weaving toward them. Flashes of lightning snapped out, hitting the door jamb around Mama. One snapped a jagged line directly for her.
A shower of sparks along with an ear-splitting shriek like metal dragged over metal filled the air.
Mila and Nanny clamped their hands over their ears. Papa stood, hands in fists at his sides.
‘Dan’iss, get back!’
Mama turned her head but kept her hands where they were. ‘The door?’
‘Open. I don’t know how.’
Mama frowned, ignoring the bolts they kept pitching at her, creating more of those awful brain rattling shrieks. Mila crawled to Nanny’s side, pressing her head against the woman’s stomach, arms around her waist. ‘Make it stop!’
A hum rang out, Papa spread his energy out, taking Mama’s place.
‘Fight back, Mestarn!’ Uncle Vidna shouted over the din of the shield. ‘Challenge me!’
Mila peeked with one eye staring at the man she’d called Uncle, watching his face bulge and darken, his skin shimmer and shift until the face left was that of several creatures mashed together. The nose stuck out longer than it should, the jaw grew wider, long teeth glinting in the flashes of lightning. Worst of all were the eyes. Once normal but white, now they looked as large as Mila’s hands, triangular shaped.
Uncle Vidna was a monster.
‘Vidna!’ Papa said in a voice of despairing horror. ‘What have you done?!’
Mama stared too and snapped into action, leaving Papa to shield them.
Mila kept a tight hold on Nanny’s waist, wondering how the other two uncles even dared to stand beside the hideous creature. They weren’t scared, their teeth bared in grins of delight at Uncle Vidna’s change, it didn’t make any sense to Mila.
‘Did it just open?’ Mama hung into the open trapdoor, peering around before pulling her head up to meet Nanny’s gaze.
Nanny shrugged arms around Mila. ‘I don’t know!’
Mama looked sharply at Mila. ‘Mila?’
Mila found she couldn’t say a thing, words incapable right at that moment.
Mama dismissed it with a shake of her head then bent to check again. ‘Doesn’t look like anyone’s been down there,’ she said it under her breath. ‘Must have been a setting. ZAYCK! Come on!’
Papa glanced over his shoulder, sweat glistening on his forehead. He gritted his teeth and backed up, moving with care.
Mama dropped the bags down the opening and turned to Mila. ‘Mila-’
Her voice vanished.
Mila blinked.
Everything around her sparkled, the room empty; no beds, no parents, no Nanny.
An empty room all in soft pink, sparkling like the crystals Mama wore to special dinners.
A sound of awe echoed in her mind, a pure pretty note that felt wonderful after all the hard sharp sounds.
‘Mila,’ said a voice.
Turning looking for the voice, Mila’s eyes widened and a smile of sheer delight spread. ‘Uncle Jeran!’ she shrieked his name. The soft pink seemed to absorb the sound like water. Mila shook her head and squealed, dancing on the spot at the sight of her Uncle.
Uncle Jeran laughed and bent to his knees, arms open to Mila. ‘Come little Lea.’
Mila threw herself into a run, struggling against a sensation that clung around her waist.
‘NO MILA!’
Mila’s eyes opened to chaos.
Papa held her by the waist, lifting her off her feet as Mama shrieked her name. Sound, so much sound! Blasts of energy hummed and exploded around them.
>
‘Get in!’ Papa roared at Mama and Nanny.
Mila stared over her papa’s shoulder in terror at the three men approaching Uncle Vidna snarled, his massive eyes connecting with hers.
‘Come, Mila.’ Uncle Jeran’s voice sounded in her mind, so close, so real.
Papa stumbled, Mila clutched at him as his arms tightened around her. They fell hard to the floor.
A loud CRACK rang out.
Papa jerked his head up, Mila twisting at the same time.
Nanny hurled herself in front of the broiling cloud that bore down on them.
The dark energy sucked the woman in.
An awful scream resounded through the room. The cloud twisted tighter, spinning, bulging here and there, a figure within struggling against it. A rippling crackle of lightning energy lit the edges of the cloud before flashing through it, illuminating the room, showcasing a skeleton figure in contorted agony. The bright flash seared the image on Mila’s eyelids. ‘NANNY!’
Papa made a growl and twisted. They dropped through the trapdoor.
‘Take her!’ Papa passed Mila to Mama then leapt up, yanking the trapdoor closed.
Sound, light, and chaos vanished.
Chapter Twelve
In the pitch black Mila clung to Mama, hands fisted tight in her long skirts. Seconds later a glowing sphere of light appeared.
‘Quick,’ Papa said, seizing Mila, lifting her up to sit on his hip
‘Nanny.’ Mila sobbed. ‘No Papa, need Nanny, can’t leave.’
They didn’t listen. Mama and Papa stretched out other glowing spheres of energy as they made their way along a narrow tunnel. It wasn’t low like the manhole tunnel, they stood with ease, the ceiling still a half a meter above their heads.
Mila couldn’t get the awful last moments out of her head. She cried and cried, Papa’s shirt getting wet beneath her cheek.
The sounds faded the further along they traveled, but they didn’t vanish.
When it sounded distant Mama stopped Papa and reached for Mila.
‘Ma-ma-na-nan-ey.’ Mila wasn’t able to get the words out, sobs hiccupping them through her chest.
‘Oh lovey.’ Mama hugged her close, rocking her.
Papa pressed close, muttering in Mama’s ear. ‘We have to go.’
‘A moment,’ she said softly. She made Mila look at her.
The tunnel made it hard to see Mama’s eyes, but Mila saw the tears running down her face.
‘Can’t-leave-her-there.’ Mila wheezed the words, sucking breaths between each.
Mama stroked Mila’s face. ‘I’m so sorry, lovey. We can’t go back. Nanny died protecting us. We can’t let her have died in vain.’
Mila shook her head hard, hands griping Mama’s dress tight. ‘Have to, Mama, HAVE to!’
Mama went back to rocking her. ‘Mila, Nanny loved you so much. She wanted you to live. We are going to make sure you do.’
Mila’s sobs slowed. She pressed against Mama. ‘We ARE going to live?’
‘We are,’ Papa said with a firm tone, his hands touched her back. ‘We need to go now.’
Mila turned, stretching up to put her arms around Papa’s neck. He picked her up, shifting her to his hip.
Mama brushed her hand over Mila’s head. ‘We need you to hang on tight, lovey. And do whatever we ask straight away. We don’t know why, but those men who were your uncles want to kill us. We’re leaving now and not coming back.’
‘Ever?’ Mila asked.
‘Never ever.’
Her parents walked down the narrow corridor. Mila hung on tight, mind disbelieving at it all.
Her uncles were no longer her uncles?
They were never EVER coming back?
But what about Addy?
The corridor had old bits of furniture along it, slowing their pace as Mama and Papa squeezed around them. Mila stared at an old painting as Papa set it aside and climbed over an upside down desk, helping Mama across it. The eyes of the woman in the painting were pale, almost white, like her DeNaga relatives. As Mila watched the woman smiled and ducked her head, flicking a fan up to hide her face. A moment later the image shifted back to its original pose.
The enchanted frames Mila loved in their apartment were still there. Or maybe burned up, like poor Nanny. Mila’s face crumpled, but she didn’t make a sound. Their enchanted frames were so pretty. One of new born kittens with their mama cat, all snuggled up. The littlest one would get pushed out and cry in the tiniest voice. Then the mama cat would pull it back in and clean it.
No one Mila knew of had an enchanted frame of animals. It had been one of Uncle Jeran’s special presents. Mama loved it so much. Their other enchanted frames were of family, Grandma and Grandpa after their wedding, in beautiful clothes. Mama and Papa after their wedding.
It hurt her head to try to make sense of never going back. Of never being woken by Nanny again, or hearing her tell stories of growing up in the village. What would happen to the village, Mila wondered, worried for those children she’d met. Would those uncles who weren’t uncles still look after them?
She rested her chin on Papa’s shoulder and turned her head to watch the pretty spheres of energy bouncing off things within the corridor ahead.
More furniture, chairs with broken legs or wobbly seats. A long section ahead of them was almost full with junk, making Mama and Papa work around it all, passing Mila between them.
‘What is all this stuff?’ Mila whispered to Mama when she reached to pick her up.
‘Auntie Andra’s old things,’ Mama said. ‘She never throws anything away.’
‘Are we by her rooms?’
‘Yes, lovey. Keep your voice down, we don’t want anyone to hear us.’
Mila pressed her head against Mama’s shoulder, keeping her arms and legs tucked as close as possible. Ahead of them Papa shifted items aside to make room.
It looked like the tunnel might never end. The light spheres would hang about in the air, waiting as they worked through all the obstacles then bounce off along the corridor leading the way.
The tunnel led them straight for quite a while then veered a sharp right.
Mama and Papa paused at the corner.
‘Where are we now?’ Mama asked in a soft whisper.
‘This will take us through the back of the DeNaga wing.’
Mama stared at Papa. ‘Is there no other way?’
‘Not safely.’
The line between her brows showed deep in the dim light. ‘This isn’t safe.’
Papa shrugged, lifting Mila back to his hip. ‘Nothing is safe now. We have to get out.’
‘Not a word, Mila,’ Mama warned her. ‘We must be quiet as vesni.’
Mila nodded, pressing a hand across her mouth to show she would be quiet.
Mama went first.
This area of corridor wasn’t as cluttered as the last. The doors were no longer on the ceiling, but set into the walls like proper doors, only half the size. All of them hummed when Papa, Mama, and Mila went by.
The vibration of the hum caused Mila’s skin to prickle.
The need for silence made the corridor feel even longer. Mila kept her lips pressed against Papa’s shoulder, holding on tight. Papa and Mama spoke with their eyes, moving around the occasional thing left to gather dust.
Mila couldn’t see the corner behind them anymore it swallowed up by the darkness.
Another hum shivered across her skin when they passed a door. The doors were simpler than the trap-doors, they almost hid into the walls, only a small square of iron where the key fitted. Mila wondered if the locking mechanism was anything like the one in their trap-door. That gave her something almost nice to think about, pondering at the pretty circles and clever tricks. How many other sorts of things like that were there? What were they used for?
With those thoughts running through her mind, the awfulness of the night faded a little. There in the dark with Mama and Papa she felt safe. Mila found her eyes too heavy to hold open any more. She slu
mped against Papa’s shoulder, slipping into a half sleep.
‘Is she okay?’ Mama’s voice whispered in her mind.
‘Sleeping.’ Papa said.
‘Oh for the peace of a child.’ Mama said it like a joke, but sounded sad.
‘We’re going to survive this, Dan’iss.’
The rocking motion of Papa’s walk and the heat of his body made it easy to stay cocooned within that half sleep.
Nanny was there, stroking Mila’s hair as she lay across her lap while listening to her read a story.
‘The girl stood up to the bully. She wasn’t going to let him see how afraid she was. She was going to fight, fight until she won.’
‘But what if he hurts her, Nanny?’
‘What hurts most, lovey, is doing nothing. Later on you will never forgive yourself.’
‘Why Nanny?’
‘Because you, and you alone can make things different. Remember that, lovey. Even an ant can change the course of great events.’
It didn’t make sense, but Mila liked it anyway. She liked the idea of an ant girl, leading an army against the wetans that attacked their home.
‘Nanny,’ Mila mumbled, head rubbing against the pillow that seemed oddly hard.
‘Shush, Mila!’
Papa’s urgent whisper jerked her back from the sleep. Mila gripped Papa tight as her eyes made sense of the growing light on the side of the corridor.
Only meters ahead of them, someone was opening a door.
Papa’s hand cradled her head as he and Mama ran.
Chapter Thirteen
Head bouncing against Papa’s shoulder as he ran Mila gritted her teeth to stop from crying out. The glowing light got brighter as they got closer. It looked like they would dash past in a moment.
Blinding white flashed out, making Papa and Mama stagger to a stop.
‘Mestarns!’
Mila shook her head, blinking, trying to see anything through the light. She heard her mama gasp.
Clinging tight to Papa, Mila gave a cry of shock when he wrenched her loose then set her behind him. Mila grabbed at the first thing, eyes still squinting to see beyond the light, clinging to the backs of Papa’s pant legs.
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