by Laurie McKay
“No need,” Rath Dunn said. “I called her this afternoon and told her I’d use detention to tutor you. You should thank me, son of Axel. I always go the extra mile for my students.” His eyes flickered to Tito. “I have some enrichment work for you as well, boy.”
Tito looked at the screen and frowned his lopsided frown. “Rosa texted and said Mr. Rathis will drive us home.”
Rath Dunn opened his arms wide. “See, that’s my way. Above and beyond.”
Caden and Tito exchanged a look. “We’re not going anywhere with you,” Caden said.
“Whatever,” Tito said. “I’m calling her. I’ll tell her you’re scaring me.”
Before Tito could punch a key, Rath Dunn snatched his phone and put it in his red blazer pocket. Caden’s fingers twitched. His phone was in his pocket.
Rath Dunn seemed to guess his thoughts. “Give me your phone, too, prince,” he said, “or I’ll break your hand.”
One thing about Rath Dunn, he was honest. He kept his deals and he made good on his threats. The pink stones on the case glittered as Caden handed it over. “What do you want?”
“Some hair, some blood, some perfume. Not much, really.” In a cruel voice, he added, “But I already got the tears I needed.” He went to his desk and sat. “That vial was particularly fun to fill. Took a while though.”
“What did you say?” Tito said.
Rath Dunn repeated his words, then held up his red marker. “Now it’s time to learn some math.” His gaze shifted to Tito. He tossed a paper his way. “There’s some enrichment for you.” Tito bent down to pick it up but he didn’t take his gaze off Rath Dunn or Caden. “You go sit in the back, Tito.”
Caden nodded at Tito to do as he was told. Tito sat one row back. His whole body looked tense.
Rath Dunn, on the other hand, looked delighted. He grabbed Jane’s desk and dragged it so that it was edge to edge with Caden’s. Jane had carved the elvish word for “mother” on top of hers. It looked like it had been crushed under Rath Dunn’s fist. The desk screeched against the tiles like it hurt.
Rath Dunn placed a problem sheet between them. “Now, sit, prince.” The sides of his eyes crinkled, but he didn’t fully smile. “I’ve made you a special worksheet, one even you can understand.” He picked it up and began to read. “One brother dies by the hand of another.” He held up his finger. “Now, listen carefully. For one month their father mourned, after two months he vowed justice, at three months he suspected, at six he—”
“This is fiction,” Caden said.
“It’s a math problem, a series. Answer the question.” With dramatic flair, he raised the paper once more. “How many months until the king dies?” He then waited, as if he were a patient tutor and not a terrible villain. His line of sight shifted over Caden’s shoulder. “I’m certain Tito knows.”
Yes, Tito was good at math. So was Brynne. Jane was decent at it. Caden swatted at the paper in front of him. He was capable enough with numbers. “What is your point?”
Some cruel glee returned to Rath Dunn’s expression. “Sometimes, I need some fun. One day, when I’m in control, you’ll see how bad that could really be for you.” He tapped the desk. “Now, what’s the answer, son of Axel?”
The day Rath Dunn gained control would be bad for all of them. Caden forced his shoulders square. It was important not to show fear. It was important not to play this game. “The answer is never.”
“Wrong.” He wrote a giant red X on the paper.
Rath Dunn snorted. “Next question. Ten Elite Paladins are impaled onto spikes. Fifteen are thrown into the fire. Twenty-five drown. Forty—”
“I’m not answering these questions,” Caden said.
Rath Dunn wrote another large X on the test. “But we’re just beginning. Question three.”
Two hours and many taunts later, Rath Dunn abruptly ended his lesson. “Time to go.” He got up, put Jane’s desk back in place, and opened the door. The hall looked deserted.
Slowly, Caden got to his feet. “We can walk home.”
“Yep,” Tito said.
“No need for that.” Rath Dunn grabbed Caden’s arm. Quick as wind, he grabbed Tito’s as well. “Like I said, I’ll drive you,” he said. “I have permission.”
Bad things were about to happen. Caden felt it deep in his gut. Bad things were about to happen, and the crimson-dressed despot in front of him was the reason.
Rath Dunn dragged them to the parking lot. There was only one car left. It gleamed red like an elfish ruby, and looked as fast as an Autumnlands firefox.
Near the car, Rath Dunn released Tito but kept Caden gripped tightly and pulled out a key. Tito stepped back. The red car’s lights flashed, and the car door clicked and unlocked. “My Audi,” Rath Dunn said, and Caden could tell he liked the car. “Get in.”
Caden pulled against him. “We won’t get in that car with you.”
Tito stepped farther away. “Give us back our phones.”
The long spring shadows stretched between the school and the mountain and over the asphalt. Rath Dunn laughed and began to drag Caden toward the car. “You can stop fight—”
Caden punched him in the gut. Hard enough that he loosened his hold. Caden pulled free and kicked at Rath Dunn’s knee. The kick, Rath Dunn blocked. Mostly. He grimaced, though, and Caden jumped two strides back.
Rath Dunn straightened up. He motioned for them to come back. “Don’t make me run you boys down.”
Caden was fairly certain Rath Dunn could catch one of them. His skill in battle was great. Yet Caden would rather run than surrender. He nodded to Tito and they dashed in opposite directions.
Rath Dunn grabbed Caden before he’d run a stride. He whacked him in the temple, which made Caden a bit dizzy, and dragged him to the car. “Behave,” he said, and tossed him into the passenger seat. “I’m taking you home. That’s all.” He paused and turned back to the parking lot and spoke in a loud voice. “That is, I’ll take you home if Tito gets in the car. Otherwise, I’ll toss you down the rocky side of the mountain.”
“And if I get in, you won’t hurt us?” Tito sounded like he was halfway across the parking lot. “Why should I believe you?”
Rath Dunn sounded offended. “I don’t lie, boy.”
In some ways, it made Rath Dunn more treacherous. It gave people confidence when striking deals with him. Even Caden had once fallen prey to his honesty. It seemed now Tito had as well, as he was throwing his backpack in the backseat and slowly getting into the car. Honesty and honor, Caden was beginning to believe, weren’t always the same thing.
Before Caden fully regained his senses, Tito was in the backseat, the doors were locked, and Rath Dunn was zooming from the parking lot. Caden hurried to buckle his seat belt. Rosa insisted they always wear seat belts. He rubbed his temple. His arm throbbed. He felt a bit carsick from the twisting, turning road.
“You boys should be grateful,” Rath Dunn said in his pedantic teacher’s voice. “I’m teaching you a lesson today.”
Tito leaned forward. He, too, looked pale. “What lesson is that? How to be a maniac?”
Rath Dunn grinned. He took a sharp turn, and the force slammed Caden against the door and Tito back. “That when I decide to kill you, I can.” He shrugged. “And will.”
Caden felt his heart racing, his stomach turning. “That’s against Ms. Primrose’s rules.”
Rath Dunn turned to look at him. “For now,” he said. Truly, he should keep his eyes on the twisting road before them and not on Caden. “You’d be wise to be useful,” Rath Dunn added, “but it seems you’re too foolish for that.”
Caden rested back against the leather seat. Though not the appropriate reaction of an eighth-born prince nor a future Elite Paladin, he felt like he was going to throw up. The thought of how his father would crinkle his brow in disappointment if he did so helped him keep down his lunch. “You’d be wise to slow down,” he managed to say.
Rath Dunn growled at him in such a way that Caden worried he mi
ght change his mind and kill him in the passenger seat of the red Audi. “Next time I get you alone, son of Axel, you’ll suffer. Tell your brother that for me.”
Caden wouldn’t tell Jasan that. Tito, however, was also his brother. Mostly to irritate Rath Dunn, he turned and said, “I’ll suffer next time. Did you get that, Sir Tito?”
“Huh?” Tito said. “Oh yeah, sure.” He sounded distracted. With Caden’s life being threatened, he could pay a bit more attention. Also, “yeah, sure” was hardly an appropriate response to Caden’s future torture.
Rath Dunn took another sharp turn. His eyes flashed, and he glanced into his rearview mirror. “What are you doing back there?”
“I’m going to tell Rosa you threatened us.”
Rath Dunn returned his gaze to the road. His scar tugged at his mouth, and a slow grin spread across his face. What type of game was he playing to want Rosa’s fury? Surely, he wasn’t so foolish. “Go ahead.” He chuckled. “From what I’ve heard, Caden has already complained many times.”
“Yeah, but she thinks I’m sane,” Tito said.
“Does she now? You’re her foster kid, right? What does she really care?” Before Caden could challenge those words, Rath Dunn slammed the brakes.
Caden lurched forward, the seat belt pinching his neck. Tito cursed. Rath Dunn began to drive carefully. Slowly, he turned into Rosa’s drive. The door locks flipped up. Caden doubled over and promptly threw up on the red floor mat. He certainly wasn’t telling Jasan about any of this.
Tito scrambled out the back door.
Rath Dunn stared at the mat. He seemed unable to comprehend.
Perhaps Caden’s nervous stomach wasn’t so bad. Rath Dunn might kill him one day, and Caden’s fathers and brothers might be embarrassed by his mess on the mat, but the action had distracted his enemy. Caden used the moment to jump out.
Rath Dunn rolled down the window. He spoke near a whisper. “Who knows, though? Maybe your brother won’t care. Maybe he’ll want to kill you himself.”
“Jasan wouldn’t hurt me.”
Rath Dunn reached in his pocket and tossed Caden’s and Tito’s cell phones to them. “We’ll see who hurts who,” Rath Dunn said. He slowly pulled down the drive, turned, then sped down the road like a spray of red blood.
Caden stared after him partly in shock, partly still nauseous. He felt unnerved that the tyrant knew of Rosa and her house, worried he could hurt her as well as Tito, Brynne, and Jane. At least Caden had thrown up on his floor mat. It wasn’t the noblest of things, but it would require Rath Dunn to clean.
Suddenly, Caden couldn’t catch his breath.
Tito patted Caden’s back. “Bro, you okay?” He also sounded a bit shaky.
Caden wasn’t okay. Rath Dunn was going to kill him. Also Tito. The math problem about the brother replayed in his head, as did Ms. Primrose’s words: “Heroes aren’t sent here, dear.” The royal Winterbird had been stripped from Jasan’s uniform. How could he have been banished? How could anyone believe Jasan would hurt Chadwin? Unlike Jasan’s feelings for Caden, Jasan liked Chadwin. Certainly, the king knew that. He had to know that. How could their father let this happen?
A gentle hand on his shoulder startled him. It was Rosa. “Are you all right? How was the tutoring?”
“He drove like a madman,” Tito said. “Caden’s right. He’s crazy.”
She looked at Caden with something between concern and sorrow in her expression. “Go inside and get something to eat.”
Caden’s hands felt shaky so he put them in his pockets. “I’ve told you, Rath Dunn is my enemy, he’s the enemy of all good peoples.” Rosa looked skeptical, like usual. “He is also a danger to Brynne and Jane.”
Rosa crossed her arms. Her face was iron. “He’s not your enemy, Caden. He’s your math teacher.”
“He’s both,” Caden said. “You shouldn’t have given him permission to drive us home.”
She frowned at that. “I’m sorry, Caden. I didn’t realize it would upset you so much. Go inside and calm down.” Her voice was kind but stern. “We’ll discuss this later,” she said, and went to tinker with her metal flowers.
In the living room, the girls sat on the green couch. Jane was dressed in her pink training clothes. Brynne had a yellow towel around her neck. Her hair hung in long, dark strands past her shoulders.
Caden reached out and touched a strand. “Rosa has saved your magical locks.”
“For now,” Jane said.
Brynne’s face turned red. “For always. No one better touch my hair.”
Smartly, Caden let go of it. “He’ll try again,” he said. His head and stomach still felt as if they were spinning. “At least we know what he wants from you. We must plan to protect both you and your hair.”
Brynne started to braid her damp hair. “I’ll protect me,” she said. “He comes near my hair and I’ll fling him against the wall. I got rid of those assassins that way.” She looked at Caden. “Remember?”
Caden did remember. Telekinesis mind magic. Brynne rarely talked about that day when they were just children. But people had died. Caden’s guard Luna had fallen. If not for Brynne, Caden would likely have also.
However powerful Brynne was, though, Rath Dunn was a tyrant. He’d easily caught Caden. He was fast, and he was their math teacher. He had power over them. And Rosa, as protective as she was, didn’t see it. Even if Rosa wanted to keep them from school, Caden had a sinking feeling Ms. Primrose had ways of stopping her.
Jane scooted over so Tito could sit beside her. “If Brynne can fling him against the wall, I’m in favor of that.” She smiled at Brynne. “Or just take out Ms. Jackson. She’s the master of ritual magic. Rath Dunn needs her to do the spell. The ingredients won’t matter without her.”
“If he had to, he could cast it himself,” Caden said. “He seems meticulous enough. And he’s conniving enough to have alternate options.”
“But it would make it more difficult, right?” Jane said.
“Ritual magic takes time, even after all the ingredients are collected,” Brynne said. “What might take a master weeks or months to set up could take a novice years or decades to do.”
“So it would be smart to get rid of her.”
Tito nudged Jane with his elbow. “You’ve got a bit of a dark streak, you know that,” he said, then glanced at Brynne. “No wonder you and Miss Destructive get along. You’re both beautiful and scary.”
Jane blushed, but this wasn’t the appropriate time for what Tito had explained to him was flirting.
“It would be foolish for us not to prepare for Rath Dunn’s next attack,” Caden said. “But flinging him against a wall would likely end in Ms. Primrose eating Brynne.” He glanced at Jane. “And ‘taking out’ Ms. Jackson would be just as difficult and yield a similar result.”
Tito looked over at the door as if checking for Rosa. Then he leaned farther over and peeked out the window.
Jane’s blush had faded, and she seemed to be thinking seriously. “We need to do something.”
Tito shrugged. “If you want to prepare, then we need to know why Rath Dunn wants Brynne’s hair and Caden’s brother’s blood.”
“Does evil need a reason?” Caden said.
“Usually,” Tito said. “It’s called motive.” He reached for his pack. “I found something interesting in his backseat. These mean something.” Tito handed a paper to Jane and one to Brynne. The third he kept. “Mr. Rathis had a box full of them. They slid from under the car seat when he took one of the curves.”
Caden held out his hand.
“You can’t read it, bro,” Tito said.
True, but Caden didn’t like feeling left out.
Brynne crinkled the paper in her hand. “It’s a complaint against the school. Signed, Anonymous.”
“Mine claims the buildings aren’t properly cleaned,” Jane said.
“This one says Ms. Primrose is too harsh on students,” Tito said. “It’s signed by Ms. Elise Hicks, esquire.”
; That name sounded familiar. Well, not the esquire. The Elise Hicks.
Tito handed Caden the paper. “That’s Derek’s mother. The scary lawyer.”
Caden scrunched up his brow. “What does Rath Dunn gain from that?”
“How would I know?”
There were steps on the porch. The door creaked. Caden turned and hid the paper behind his back. It rumpled behind him. Jane stuffed hers between the sofa cushions. Caden had no idea what Brynne had done with her letter, but it was hidden.
Rosa looked at them for a long moment. Finally, she said, “Time for dinner.”
The next day was Thursday. On Sunday, Caden would be cursed. On Tuesday, he and Jasan would be eaten if he failed his quest. As each day passed, Caden’s troubles increased.
The weather seemed unaware of their impending fate. The sky was bright, the sun warm. The air smelled of cut grass.
Caden rode in the front of Rosa’s pickup. He was royalty. Until he was dead, it was his proper place. He’d explained this many times to the three nonroyals in the backseat, and still they kicked the back of his seat. He turned around sharply.
Brynne, Tito, and Jane smiled at him.
“This isn’t the behavior of future Elite Paladins,” he informed them.
Brynne looked over at Jane and Tito. “No future Elite Paladin did that, prince.”
“It was you, then.”
“Maybe,” she said, and Tito and Jane laughed.
When they arrived at school, Rosa had them wait a moment. “Be good. Work hard. Bring home that spelling trophy.” She reached out to Tito, then Brynne. “I’d be there if I could, but the sculpture installation has been scheduled for months.”
“Yeah,” Tito said, and shrugged. “It’s okay.”
Brynne opened the rear door. “Don’t worry, Rosa. I’ll certainly win.”
“Dream on,” Tito said.
Caden unbuckled his seat belt. “If there were weapons involved, I’d be more impressed.” He had a quest to complete, a saboteur to unmask, and an Elderdragon to please. A sword would help with all those things. “When can I have my sword returned?”