“For how long?” Mysterie said. Her voice carried an edge like a well-sharpened blade, sharp and to the point. “You expect him to be a man, risk his life, fight in battle if need be, and yet you continue to treat him like a child. Where is your honor, Trog? When did you trade truth for lies?”
“Terie,” the king said, “you’re being unfair. You know the dangers if Eric learns the truth.”
Eric’s stomach pinched. What truth? He wiped the sweat from his palms and bit back the urge to barge into the room.
“Yes, I do,” the queen said, “but I also know how that boy will react when he discovers the truth. He must hear it from Trog. We all know how secrets have an ugly way of divulging themselves at the most inopportune time. Goodnight.”
Footsteps moved across the room, followed by the click of the door closing.
“Don’t let her get to you,” Gildore said. “You know how altruistic she can be.”
“She’s correct, though. If Eric finds out from anyone but me, he will never forgive me, no matter the reason.”
Eric’s shoulders stiffened. I don’t believe this! How dare he lecture me on the importance of honesty when he lies with such ease? Eric swallowed hard, his heart thudding in his chest like a caged wild beast, and moved away from the door.
What secret are they keeping?
A hurricane of scenarios swirled in his mind until his brain ached and he could think no more. He had to get out of there, out of his room, away from the walls brimming with lies and deceit.
There was only one place he could go, only one person he could talk to who wouldn’t lie to him.
Sestian.
Chapter 8
David woke and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He glanced at the clock. Two a.m. As if a slave to his growling stomach, he made his way to the dark kitchen and gulped two glasses of orange juice and inhaled a donut. Heading back to his room, he passed the library and remembered the thick book with the black leather cover. After verifying he was alone, he slipped inside and closed the door. He withdrew a flashlight from the bottom desk drawer and shone it on the shelves. Finding nothing on the first floor, he crept up the winding staircase to the second. His fingers brushed the colorful bindings as he passed by them—Dahl, Dante, Defoe, Dickens —he’d read them all. If only he could find the one that mattered.
Overhead, footsteps moved across the floor. His heart skipped a beat.
Lily!
He shut off the light and listened. The front door opened. A male voice resonated in the darkness. “Hello, Lysbeth.”
David’s heart snapped into this throat.
“Thank you for coming, Mangus,” Lily said, her voice low. “Please. This way.”
David’s heart plummeted. Mangus? Who the hell is Mangus?
The library doors opened. David pressed flat to the hardwood floor.
Lily stood in the middle of the room in a floor-length nightgown, a tall, clean-shaven man with plaited black hair beside her.
“I apologize for arriving so late,” he said, stripping off his gloves. “I was detained.”
David peered through the iron railing.
The man removed a full-length, black coat. His blood-red shirt shifted across his broad shoulders, accentuating a sheathed sword strapped to his hip.
David wrinkled his nose. What the hell? Who is the Renaissance Faire reject?
“I assumed as much,” Lily replied, fingering the lapis pendant around her neck. “I had hoped you wanted to see me because you had good news, but I can see by the look in your eyes that is not the case.”
He gestured toward an overstuffed chair. “Perhaps you wish to sit down?”
She shook her head.
Mangus perched on the edge of the desk. His leather boots squeaked as his ankles crossed. “I won’t waste your time. The situation is grim. Murders and ill deeds are on the rise. The latest victims are from Falcon’s Hollow and Brindle Greens. Seven little ones abducted in one night alone.”
“No!” Lily’s hand sprang to her lips. “Please tell me they were found!”
David knitted his brow. Falcon’s Hollow? Brindle Greens?
The man shook his head.
“I don’t understand,” Lily said. “How can this person, this thing, wander about and no one witness a thing?”
“The shime have dispatched more guards. They are increasing their patrols as we speak, but that is not why I’ve come.” Mangus hesitated for a moment, his arms splayed beside him on the desk. “I’m here to talk to you about the boy. He cannot remain here, Lysbeth.”
David gulped.
“And just where is he supposed to go?” Their gazes met. Lily’s mouth opened, and she shook her head. “No! I will not allow it!”
“It is out of your hands, my lady. The orders have been issued.”
“I don’t give a damn about your orders!” She cut the air with her hands. “He’s not going anywhere!”
Go, Lily! David smiled against the rising panic.
Mangus slid from the desk and took her elbow in his hand. “Lysbeth, he must. If what you have told us is true, his location has been discovered. His life is in danger if he stays.”
Lily jerked away. “His life will be in more danger if he goes back with you!” She shot him a vehement look as she walked past.
“I refuse to argue. I know you love him, but there is no time for hesitation.”
“Do not patronize me, Mangus!”
“I would never do such a thing, milady,” he replied in a measured voice.
“You have no idea what this will do!” she snapped. “There is far more at stake here than you know. The ramifications will be devastating.”
“It will be devastating if we do nothing. This enemy must be stopped. The boy’s time is nigh.”
David’s heart thumped against the floor.
Lily pulled her arms tight across her chest. “The boy has a name. It’s David, and I won’t allow you to put his life in further danger by using him as bait. My answer stands. He stays in Havendale.”
Mangus pulled a rolled parchment from inside his coat. “Jared thought you would feel this way. He said to give you this. All the Council members signed it. I’m sorry.”
Lily stared at it, wide-eyed. Her voice fell to a whisper. “Put it away.”
She stood before the window, her slender body silhouetted by the moonlight. After several moments she said, “I don’t believe this is happening.” She turned to face him. “When must he leave?”
“In the next few hours—at sunrise.”
David pressed his back to the baseboard, his head spinning. What the—
“Will I be allowed to say goodbye?” Lily asked.
What? I thought you said you’d fight for me, Lily! You said I wasn’t going anywhere!
“Do you think it wise?”
“I don’t know.” She wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “All I know is I love him. How am I to let him go, knowing what faces him? I can’t bear the thought. It breaks my heart.”
David’s temper flared in his gut. This is how you love me, by betraying me? Lying to me?
Mangus took her in his arms. “If it is any consolation, he will be well protected.”
“That is little relief. How will he ever forgive me? He already knows I’ve lied to him about his parents’ deaths, and now I am to walk away without fighting for him?”
“Time has a way of healing all pains, and you are fighting for him, in ways not even you cannot fathom. Now, I must ask—is the book secure?”
“Yes. It’s in my room. I couldn’t risk David finding it.”
“Good. Keep it safe. I feel certain the enemy will come for it.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
Mangus glanced at his pocket watch. “I must go.” He pulled on his gloves and coat and opened the door. Lily escorted him from the room. Moments later, the front door closed and the house fell silent.
David lay stil
l, his breathing shallow. Fear merged with anger as he cast aside his first instinct to storm out of the room and confront Lily. Instead, he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and hurried out of the library’s secondary door. With utmost silence, he dashed his way through the house to the servants’ stairs in the kitchen. Back in his room, he shuffled around in the dark shoving clothes into his rucksack. I can’t believe she gave in! I can’t believe I have to run away from everything!
The hall light flicked on, its glow visible beneath the door.
Crap!
He dove into bed and shut his eyes. The door opened, and Lily’s nightgown rustled as she moved toward him. She set something on the nightstand and kissed his temple.
“I’m so sorry, honey. Please forgive me.” A tear dripped onto his skin. “I love you.”
Seconds later, she was gone.
David sat up and wiped her tear from his face as if it were poison. He glanced at the glass of ice water on the nightstand and guzzled it, his throat parched.
Instant dizziness crept into his brain. His mouth felt numb. Dry. His thoughts blurred.
You idiot! What were you thinking? What did she give me?
The glass clunked to the floor. He collapsed on his bed.
***
Charlotte’s voice filtered through the daze. “David! Get up!”
David turned over and groaned. His head ached as if pressed in a vise. “Wh-what are you doing here?”
“Why didn’t you answer your phone? I’ve been calling for the past half hour, ever since Lily hauled butt down the street in your car. I was worried out of my freaking mind.”
David struggled to sit up. “Lily left in my car?”
“Yeah, she was driving like a lunatic, too. Why isn’t she driving her car?”
“The heater isn’t working.” David combed his fingers through his hair. “What time is it?”
Charlotte propped some pillows behind him. “A little after seven.”
David hugged his knees, his head resting on them. “Ugh.”
“Seriously? What’s wrong with you? You’re usually up before the sun. Are you drunk?”
David shook his head. “I think Lily drugged me.”
Charlotte laughed. “Don’t be silly. Why would she do that?”
“So I wouldn’t leave before he got here?”
“Before who got here?”
David relayed everything that happened.
Charlotte’s jaw tightened. “This is twisted! How could she even think of sending you away? You’re not going to go, are you?”
“No. I was packing when—wait a minute. How did you get in the house?”
“The door was open.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Charlotte whirled around, her eyes wide. “What the heck was that?”
David sprang from the bed, his gut wrenched in a knot and crammed his feet into his shoes. “Stay here. I don’t want anything to happen to you, got it?”
“Seriously? I’m not a fragile little girl, David. I can look out for myself.”
David caressed her cheek, his fingers slipping through her hair. Out of all the insanity that had touched his life, she was his constant, and he loved her even more for it. “I know, but I would freak if anything happened to you. Promise me you’ll stay here.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Go!”
David kissed her forehead and headed downstairs. Lily’s favorite antique white vase, hand-painted with baby rosebuds, lay shattered on the parlor floor beside the credenza.
David grabbed the poker from beside the fireplace. The parlor doors slammed shut.
Freaking A!
He glanced around, his chest rising and falling. “Where are you? Come out so I can see you.”
A stout man, no more than three feet tall and dressed in a tweed suit sauntered from the doorway between the parlor and music room, a long-handled pipe in his hand. His ginger hair spilled over his collar while watchful, topaz-blue eyes took in all of David, appraising him as if he’d discovered a new species.
David swallowed. “W-what are you doing in my house? What do you want?”
The little man tapped his pipe into an empty candy dish and stowed it in his breast pocket. Despite his strange, gnomish appearance, he held himself with an air of importance.
“Now, now, dear boy,” he said. “Is this the way you greet all your visitors? Appalling behavior, I must say.”
“You’re trespassing in my house. What do you expect?”
“A bit of propriety, young man. I was told you had impeccable manners, but it appears I was misled. Now please put down that iron. You look ridiculous.”
“Not until you tell me what you want.”
Toddler-man circled his finger in the air. The poker flew from David’s hand and somersaulted back to the stand.
David gaped. His bones rattled. “H-how did you do that?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, now close your mouth. It’s rude to gawk.”
“Who are you?”
The man stepped forward. “If you must know, my name is Twiller, and I am here to accompany you to safety.”
“You? But I thought—” David wrinkled his brow.
“Now is not the time to think, Master David. It is time to say good-bye to your friend as you will not see her for quite some time.”
The ceiling wavered and softened, melting away like warmed butter. Pink sneakers, followed by Charlotte’s entire body, oozed through the pudding plaster. She dangled in the air, held in place by a spinning spiral of green threads sizzling with energy. Her face wore a terror he’d never seen before.
“David?” Her voice shook. Her fear plowed through him.
Rage swelled in David’s soul. Twiller could do whatever he wanted with him, but Charlotte was an entirely different matter. He pinned his gaze on the little man.
“Put. Her. Down.”
“Say your fond farewell,” Twiller countered. “Arrivederci. Au revoir. Whatever word you wish, but hurry on with it.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you! Now put her down!”
Twiller shook his head. “I can’t do that. You either come with me, or I will be forced to do unspeakable things to your friend. What will it be?”
David lunged at the man and fell flat on his face.
“David, please,” Charlotte cried.
Twiller closed his eyes and chanted a string of peculiar words. Charlotte began to spin like a top.
“David, please! Get me down from here!” Her scream filled the room.
David rolled and swiped Twiller’s feet out from beneath him. “Let her go!”
Twiller hit the ground with an oomph.
Charlotte crashed to the floor, shattering the coffee table.
David scrambled to her side. “Are you okay?”
She winced and stood. “Yeah.”
A golden arc caught David on the forearm, launching him through the air. He crashed through the wall and landed in the entrance hall.
Twiller stood in the opening, a pearl of spittle crawling down his chin. Braided golden threads of light unraveled from his fingertips and spiraled toward David.
“No!” Charlotte yelled, throwing herself in front of David.
A loud boom filled the room. Charlotte vanished with a scream.
David’s heart fell into his gut. “Noooo! What did you do with her?”
Twiller clutched his side. “Stupid girl!” Another braid unraveled from his fingertips and hit David in the back.
Pain spiraled up his spine. Time and space distorted like ripples across the water. The air around him exploded as he sped through a tunnel of darkness, a bullet through the barrel of a gun. His body twisted, turned, pulled, and elongated before crashing to the ground in a tumbling mass. Acid rose in his throat. His head throbbed, his vision skewed by hundreds of flashing lights. Stomach lurching, he rolled to his hands and knees and v
omited.
Damn! What happened?
A lime-green creature no larger than a squirrel swooped down and landed beside his right hand. It stretched its long, sinuous neck and tilted its diamond-shaped, scaled head from side to side. Leathery bat-like wings folded at its sides while two talons gripped a broken branch on the ground. Its long, spiked tail swished back and forth.
David’s breath hitched. He scuttled backward, kicking up leaves and dirt, adrenaline pouring through his trembling limbs. “That’s—that’s a—dragon!”
The small creature cocked its head from side to side. A twinge caught low in David’s belly as he rubbed his palms over his face. “No. No. There’s no such thing as dragons.”
“Saying it won’t make it so,” Twiller said, straightening his jacket.
David stumbled to his feet. The small man walked toward him, his eyes on the darkening sky. The leafy canopy swayed in a brisk breeze tinged with rain.
David winced and clutched his hand to his chest. Fiery pain rippled from his tattoo, coursing down his right arm to the ring. The two objects pulsed in dull, but exasperating harmony. He counted to twenty and pushed the pain away. He’d dealt with worse in the last two days. He had to stay strong. The pain dissipated, and his thoughts trained on the only thing in the world that mattered. “What did you do to Charlotte?”
Twiller’s heavy brows beetled together as if trying to assess David’s condition. Apparently satisfied David wasn’t about to die, he huffed and started walking. “Your friend is safe, have no worries about that. As to where you are,” he glanced around the clearing, “Welcome to Fallhollow, Master David. Welcome home.”
Chapter 9
Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the walls of the castle. Screams cut through the air, dragging Eric from a deep sleep. Heat and the putrid smell of rotten eggs wafted through the open windows. He rubbed his eyes, his lethargic mind barely registering the flames engulfing the sky over the courtyard. He dashed out of bed and ran to the balcony. A great, black shadow swooped in from the south and slammed into the northern battlement. Hunks of stone exploded and rained onto Crafter’s Row. Sentries scurried along the southern battlement above Festival Hall shouting orders. The beast circled back around, this time plucking soldiers in its talons like apples from a tree, and snapping them in its gargantuan jaws.
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