by Megg Jensen
“I’ve lived here my whole life. Momma says I was born here. Sometimes babies are. Not a whole lot though. It’s hard to keep babies quiet at the right times. Momma says I was a good and quiet baby. She also says I’m making up for that now.”
Her grin grew until it seemed to cover her face. One tooth was missing on the side, making her look like the carved pumpkins we put out during the harvest festivals to scare away demons. Except her smile was so precious, I couldn’t imagine it would ever scare anyone away. Then her face fell, a frown erasing the smile.
“That baby Trevin had better be quiet or they’ll feed him to the kalli.” She shivered and held two fingers over her mouth. I knew that symbol well. Superstitious people believed it kept something evil from overhearing their words.
I laughed, despite the fear in her eyes. “You don’t really believe in the kalli, do you? They’re just a myth.”
“You don’t?” Her face turned to stone. She backed away from me. “Anyone who lives in the forest knows the kalli are real. I’ve seen them. They’re cruel, Lianne. You can’t imagine what they’ve done to us.”
“Real?” I had heard the tales, of course. That was the reason I was initially hesitant to go deeper into the forest. But stories told to children in the nursery weren’t real. Little green imps did not roam the forest, looking for children’s flesh to eat. Ridiculous.
The girl nodded her head, solemn as if she was standing before a statue at worship. I couldn’t help but wonder what sorts of tricks her parents had pulled on her to make her so fearful of these mythical beings. My logical mind immediately told me it was to keep her from wandering too close to the edge. With enough fear instilled in her, she probably saw a bird, or small animal, in the trees and mistook it for a kalli.
I patted her on the head. “Thanks. I’ll make sure to watch out for them. I’ll help keep Trevin quiet, okay?”
She continued to stare at me, wide-eyed. If she’d been an adult and heard what Mags said to me earlier, she knew I probably didn’t have a chance in hell to get anywhere near him from now on. Mags would see to that.
“I promise.” I said it with conviction, sure that she wouldn’t leave until she believed that I believed. Kids were funny like that.
The smile quickly returned as she let out a deep breath. Good thing I agreed with her quickly. I hadn’t even noticed she’d been holding her breath. “I hope you enjoy your lunch.”
I looked back at those steaming potatoes, my appetite quickly overriding any other feeling I was having. “I will. Thank you so much for bringing it to me.”
She smiled and ducked out of the tiny cottage, pulling the door shut behind her. I brought my attention back to my lunch. Potatoes, leeks, and carrots dotted the plate. They weren’t arranged in any particularly pleasing way, but it didn’t matter. I was starving. I hadn’t eaten since I’d left the castle early in the morning. Even then I hadn’t been able to find much. We’d left before the kitchens opened, and all I’d been able to scrounge up was a leftover loaf of bread, some cheese, and an apple.
While I ate the potatoes, I glanced around at the single-room cottage. Dark wooden walls, planked vertically to the roof, were capped off by a thatch layer so thick not one beam of light shot through. Only the small windows near the top gave any light to the room, and then not enough to illuminate too many details. Placing the windows so high didn’t seem practical for light purposes, but since anyone in the tree house village could walk around any platform, I could see how they were great for privacy, allowing in air without giving anyone the chance to peek in on the inhabitants.
The bed Chase had laid me on rested up against the wall. Next to it sat the table I was eating at. In the corner, a small chest stood alone. Dark blue with rusted, brass hinges, its studded metal edges didn’t interest me as much as what might be lying inside. I took one final bite of the potatoes, which were already beginning to cool, wiped my hands on the napkin the girl, whose name I’d forgotten to ask, had brought with the food, took one more swig of the glorious spring water, and crept over to the chest.
My heart pounded. I knew I shouldn’t snoop through other people’s property, but Chase brought me to this place, spouted off about secrets I wasn’t privy to, and then left me alone in his cottage. There wasn’t one good reason not to go through his personal belongings. I had to protect myself from his weird mood changes. One minute he was angry, the next happy, and then the next secretive. I wanted to ignore his brief amorous moments. Those were the only ones I had no interest in understanding.
I settled my knees on the hard floor in front of the chest. My hands reached out for the half-moon shaped clasp. I ran my fingers over its finely worked metal. This wasn’t just pounded out with a blacksmith’s hammer. The craftsmanship spoke of something far beyond a tradesman’s skills.
Lifting up the clasp, I glanced once more back at the door. It was still firmly shut and I didn’t hear anyone around outside the cottage. Occasional footsteps dotted the quiet afternoon, but none of them had lingered. I took a deep breath and lifted the lid.
I grasped the edge of the trunk, and pulled myself up so I could see over the edge. A fine, velvet fabric lined the chest, its soft azure shimmered in the faint light. Where I had expected to see a pile of clothes, laid nothing more than a piece of parchment.
I reached for the parchment. The side facing me was blank, so I turned it over. Drawn in charcoal, was a picture of me. I held the parchment in one hand - not just in reality, but also in the picture. It was as if I was looking into a mirror.
Chapter Six
“You found it already?”
I whipped around, clutching the parchment in my hand. “What is this?” I asked. “Who drew this?”
Chase strolled into the cottage, as if nothing strange was happening. As if he didn’t have a picture of me hiding in his chest. “I did. Ten years ago when I was ten.”
I ripped my eyes away from Chase and looked at the picture again. It hadn’t changed, even though a small part of me thought it might reflect whatever I was doing when I looked at it. If Chase was able to draw it ten years ago, and have it be so accurate down to the positioning of my hair, then it didn’t seem out of line to assume it would change too.
My heart beat a million miles a minute. I looked up at him again, his eyes soft as he stared at me. He was as unreadable as a stone statue.
“I have more, if you want to see.” He pointed to a second trunk I hadn’t noticed, tucked under the bed. I reached for the handle and tugged it free. The trunk slid out. I looked at Chase. He nodded. “Go ahead and open it.”
I set the first picture on the floor next to the trunk. Grasping the handles, I lifted hard. I was surprised at how heavy it was, but that turned into sheer shock when I saw the stacks of folios, dark leather bound sheaves of parchment with ragged edges. A professional in a scriptorium obviously didn’t put these together.
I flipped through the top folio, my fingers shaking and breath held.
The entire trunk was filled with sketches of me.
Moments from my life were frozen in time. I saw myself as a child, cleaning up after my adoptive sister, Albree. I cried in a dark closet, the only place I could find to hide myself from her emotional torture. I grew taller, I ran, I fought, I pined for Kellan. Pictures of me in the grove, practicing my form, a picture of the day I first used my magic by lifting a rock, a picture of Bryden and me right before we almost made love. The desire in my eyes nearly flew out of the picture. I shivered and shuddered at the same time. Some of the most private moments in my life had been stolen and captured on parchment for anyone to see.
I felt like he’d ripped my soul out of my body. My eyebrows furrowed and I didn’t need the flame of my magic to stoke the fires inside me this time.
“Burn them.” I kicked the crate with both feet. It banged up against his toes, but he didn’t flinch. “How dare you do this? Does your magic allow you to be one of those seers? Have you been spying on me for my whole life? It’s
sick and disgusting.”
Chase’s face fell. “You don’t like them?”
“Are you kidding?” I screamed. I jumped up and pushed his chest with my index finger. “I feel like I’ve been totally violated. How dare you invade my life like that?”
Chase grabbed my finger. I struggled to pull it back, but he wouldn’t let go. “I never asked for these visions. They came to me and I recorded them. I never once purposely looked into your life. Why would I? Seeing you with that first boy and then Bryden. I would never, voluntarily, want to see you loving anyone other than...”
His words trailed off and his grasp on my finger softened.
“Who?” I let out a stunned chortle. “You? You must be kidding. Your magic showed you visions of some girl you don’t even know and you claim her, I mean me, for your own?” I took two steps closer to the door.
“I wouldn’t ever want to claim you. If I had, I would have claimed you a couple years ago before your life went to hell. Before you gave your heart to him,” he pointed at a picture of Kellan, “and had it tromped on. Before you accidentally killed your adoptive sister. Before Bryden opened his heart and let you in. I’ve stood back and waited for you to come to me.”
My hands shook. “You’re just a creepy stalker.”
“I have never pursued you. Not once. You came into my forest.”
“Your forest? This isn’t your forest! You told me you weren’t born here. Did you come here to wait for me?”
“No. I had other reasons for coming here. My life doesn’t exactly revolve around you.”
I pointed at the chest. “Oh, really? Then why bring all of these with you?”
“I didn’t want them to fall into the wrong hands. You’re thinking on such a small scale, Lianne. The world doesn’t revolve around you or this little skirmish here between the Fithians and the Dalagans. You’ve been sheltered your whole life. Hidden, even. Your people did it without realizing it. Did they tell you that they were attacked not long before they moved on Fithia? How much have they shared with you?”
After the grand announcement in the hall the night they’d taken possession of the Fithian stronghold, I’d been told nothing. Few people spoke to me in the days leading up to my escape.
“Yes, they’d been planning on taking Fithia after your birthday and you became aware of your magic. But that’s not the reason they came when they did. They are fleeing a much greater enemy.”
“Oh, and I suppose this enemy is the reason you’re here. It’s not because you’re obsessed with me?”
“They’re tied together. The bigger enemy is looking for you. They know you’re Dalagan and they will stop at nothing to find you. You should be grateful I found you first.”
All the anger building up inside me burst forth. I thrust my hands toward Chase’s chest and pushed him down on the bed. He grabbed my hand, flinging out his arm faster than I could retract mine, and yanked me down on top of him.
He circled his arms around my waist, holding me against him. His lips were only inches from my mouth and his breath mingled with mine in a warm dance. Well, maybe a dance on his end, but more like a fight on mine. Whereas his was soft and steady, my breaths came in short bursts as I struggled to get out of his grip. I could beat nearly any opponent in a fight as long as they didn’t get a hold of my arms. Once they did, brute strength won out. In this position, I couldn’t even knee him in the crotch.
“I won’t ever make you do anything you don’t want to do. I won’t ever pursue you if you don’t want to be pursued. I won’t take anything from you that you aren’t willing to give to me. I pledge this to you, Lianne. You’ll see that I’m a man of my word. Just give it time.”
I glared at him. “You brought me up here and are refusing to let me leave. You’re holding me like a prisoner against my will. And I do not want you to kiss me, so get your lips away from mine.”
“I won’t ever kiss you unless you ask me to.” He still didn’t move or let me go.
I struggled harder, looking for any weaknesses, but there were none to be found. Every inch of him held steady. He didn’t flinch. “I don’t think we ever have to worry about that happening.”
“I’m protecting you from the Malborn.”
“I’ve never heard of them and there’s no reason they would have ever heard of me.”
“Yes, they do know about you. They know that you’re their downfall and they want to kill you before you have a chance to fully develop your magic.”
Chase still didn’t loosen his grip on me, even though I gave up struggling. My arms laid slack at my sides.
“I call bullshit,” I said. Then I reared back and cracked my forehead down on his nose, hopefully breaking it.
His grasp on me loosened. I rolled off him, avoiding the blood gushing from his nose. It was the least I could do since he’d stalked me since I was a child.
Chase cupped his hand under his nose and pinched the bridge with his other hand. The blood slowed to a minor drip into his palm. “You’re tougher than I thought.”
“Good. There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” I gestured toward the two trunks. “Those are just moments in time. You don’t know anything about me.”
Chase surprised me by laughing. “I’m looking forward to learning more. You stay here while I go find our healer.”
“Stay here? You have to be kidding me. I’m finding a way out of here the second you leave.”
His eyes darkened. “Just be careful who you trust.”
“You’re number one on my list of people not to trust.”
“Please, Lianne. Stop making everything so hard.” Chase turned around and left.
I watched him walk along the platform and take a staircase to an upper level. Tentatively, I stepped out of the cottage. As long as I kept my eyes closed and my hands on the wooden cottage, the vertigo didn’t feel too bad. The feeling of falling only bothered me if I opened my eyes...or moved.
Defeated, I leaned my back against the cedar siding and slid down on my bottom. It was useless. Correction, I was useless. With this feeling I couldn’t go anywhere in the tree house village. I was trapped. Not by Chase, but in his cottage. Unless someone else would take pity on me and carry me around like a baby.
My lip curled at the thought of being so helpless. I hated it. One thing I’d always done was take care of myself. All those years with my adoptive mother and sister, who didn’t love me, could have defeated me. But it didn’t because I wouldn’t allow it. I fought in my mind and once I was old enough, I learned to fight with my body.
I’d gotten myself out of worse than this using my smarts and my sparring skills. Except now I was trapped by a ridiculous, irrational fear. I opened my eyes. The canopy didn’t sway now, but if I stood up, the world would only begin to spin again.
The leaves shifted in the breeze, dancing back and forth without a care in the world. I envied them. At this moment, I wanted nothing more than to lie in Bryden’s arms. Goosebumps spread down my arms as I thought of the last time we’d kissed. A smile played on my face and a sigh escaped my lips. That was all I wanted, but instead I was stuck high up in the trees and told to be fearful not only of my own people, but of some other mythical group that was supposedly hunting me.
The leaves didn’t care, and no one else in the village seemed to either. Other than that girl, no one came near me. No one smiled or waved. No one even seemed to care that I was there.
I looked back at the canopy again. Something seemed to jump on top of the leaves. It was small and green with little tiny horns on the top of its head.
“It’sssssss her,” it hissed, its beady black eyes trained on me. One small, taloned finger reached out toward me. I tried scooting back, forgetting that the wall to the cottage wouldn’t let me budge an inch. “It’sssssss time.”
Then it laughed and scampered off into the forest.
Chapter Seven
“Tell me one more time what it looked like,” Chase said.
I had crawle
d back into the cottage and wrapped myself in a fetal position on his bed. Maybe something in the air was giving me hallucinations. Whatever it was, I knew I couldn’t run away, so I took refuge in the only place I knew.
“Kalli,” I muttered from under the blanket I’d wrapped around my head. “It was a kalli and it talked to me. Very similar to the mythology - horned, green, scaly skin, taloned hands. It had a little loincloth wrapped around its private parts.” I groaned. “Assuming it has private parts. I don’t even know.”
I expected Chase to laugh at me, but he hadn’t once. Maybe his nose hurt too much. I hadn’t even tried taking the blanket off of my head to see how bad the damage was. My head still throbbed where I’d hit him, but he had to be much worse off than I was.
The blanket pulled away. I clung to it tighter. “Come on, Lianne. Take off the blanket. Nothing’s going to get to you in here. I promise.”
I let go. Chase tugged the blanket off, bit by bit, slowly exposing my head to the world. My eyebrows raised at the sight of his nose. It was completely healed. That was some healer he had squirreled away here. I was sure I’d broken it.
“Look around,” he said. “There’s nothing in here that will hurt you.”
I stared at him, not looking anywhere else in his little home. He wasn’t smiling, his eyes were narrow with concern, but I wondered if he would hurt me. So many people had when I didn’t give them what they wanted. Was it true? Was there really nothing, or no one, in here that would hurt me?
“I was probably just hallucinating,” I said. “Is that part of vertigo?”
Chase shook his head. “Not that I know of.” He sat on the bed, down by my feet. He didn’t try to touch me, which was good or I might have kicked him. “The kalli don’t usually talk, especially not to adults. They’re known for stealing babies.”
I snorted. “You believe in them? They aren’t even real!”