by Apryl Baker
The loud knocking startles us both, and I rush over to make sure there’s no danger. Ella’s dad is standing on the porch. I let him begrudgingly. No one is happy with him right now.
He goes right to his wife and daughter. “I thought you said she’s awake.” He glances worriedly at the sleeping girl.
“We had to get her out of there, Henry. The soldiers hadn’t left the hospital since she and Eli arrived. It wasn’t safe.”
He sighs and runs a hand through the short cropped red hair his daughter inherited. “I don’t think they believed Eli’s story.”
“Disprove it.” I fall into one of the armchairs and glare at the man who I dislike immensely.
“I need you tell me the truth.” His green eyes study me in a way that’s meant to intimidate, but not even my father could intimidate me. And he was a professional intimidator.
“I did.”
“Eli…”
“Major Banks, I’d appreciate you not calling my grandson a liar when he saved Ella’s life. Had he not carried her out of there, she’d have bled to death.”
The major growls in frustration. “I need to know…”
“You know what you need to know.” Gramps is downright hostile. “You are no longer welcome in my home.”
Major Banks blinks.
“The gargoyle shifter who went missing is an old friend of mine. His wife is beside herself.”
The major’s face shuts down.
“Ella, Cecily, and your wife will remain here until the vampire is dealt with. You can stay on the base where I’m sure you have protections against the predator. Ella will sleep through the night, so say your goodbyes and kindly get off my property. Do not come back unless you’re invited.”
I love that old man.
“Do her injuries have anything to do with the vampire?”
“No.”
That, at least, is the truth. It was freaky little monsters. I watched a movie once with Caleb called Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark where little monsters lived in the bowels of the house. These things reminded me of those, though some were way bigger than the ones in the movie. I don’t think I’ll ever look at kids’ playhouses the same ever again. My kids, if I ever have any, will never have a playhouse like that. Too many unknowns can inhabit them.
“Molly…”
“Henry, I think you should leave.” Mrs. B moves from the couch to take her husband’s arm and steer him toward the door. “Marco has been good to our girls, and you need to respect his wishes.”
“Why don’t you and the girls come stay at the base?”
Her eyes narrow. “Did your boss suggest that?”
He looks away, and she drops his hand like a hot potato. “Henry, you know what they’d do to Ella…unless they know about her. Did you tell them something?”
“Of course not!”
Everything I am rebels at the thought of harm coming to Shortcake, and the Guardian Angel in me flares to life. “Did you tell them about her?”
Major Banks looks to me and stumbles back. “What…what are you?”
“Something that will protect Ella Grace from everyone and everything, including you. Did you tell them about her?”
“Do you honestly think I’d ever betray my own daughter?”
“You’re being shifty. I don’t like shifty.”
“Look, it was suggested that my family might want to come to the base until this is over. It’s not a bad suggestion.”
I laugh, and the darkness in me bubbles up. “You honestly think they don’t want Ella there for up close and personal observation? You think they’d let you take her out of there once she was inside the base?”
He tries to say something, but I slam my hand against the wall. “You will never take her anywhere near that base, and if you can’t promise me that, she won’t go home with you when she does wake up.”
“Now, look here, she’s my daughter.”
“She is, but she’s my charge to protect, and that includes from her own father. I won’t let you hurt her.”
“Henry, you should go.” Mrs. B opens the door and all but pushes her husband out. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Ella’s asleep right now, anyway. Come back then.” She closes the door in his face.
I start pacing. They know something is up. Deep in my bones, the truth haunts me. She’ll never come out of that base if she goes in. I don’t care what anyone says. I’ll take her and run if I have to, but not one is hurting her.
No one.
“Calm down, boy.” Gramps places a hand on my shoulder. “We’re not going to let anyone hurt our girl.”
I shake him off, my anger hot.
“Eli, get yourself under control. All that rage will only hurt her. You need to be thinking clearly.”
Gramps’ words penetrate the fog of anger. He’s right. I can’t help her if I go off halfcocked. I need to be thinking clearly.
He throws a pillow and blanket at me. “Don’t stay up late. We need to find a way to get her out of here tomorrow.”
I take it and settle down on the floor beneath her. It’ll be a long time before I get to sleep, but at least she’s here, and she’s safe for the minute.
Chapter Seventeen
Ella
Day 6
I hate the dark. Especially when I can’t move or see even a shadow. All I hear are whispers and things slithering around. Fingers, cold and bony, trail along my skin. And it’s cold here. I used to love the cold and the snow. Then I got lost in the snow once upon a time. I almost froze to death before I was found. The winter scares me now.
And I’m trapped in what feels like an endless winter.
“Hello?” I call, but only silence remains my constant companion. I’m alone here in the dark where all the scary things are. No one can find me. Not my daddy and not Eli.
Hissing rises, and I shrink back. Every time I call out, the hissing gets worse. They’re angry with me for disturbing the quiet.
Why am I here? What happened?
I can’t remember.
I was with Eli, and we were going somewhere, but then it gets hazy. There’s something about a tea party, but that doesn’t make sense. Eli wouldn’t have had a tea party with me. Or maybe he would have. He can be really silly. But I doubt it.
I strain against the bonds that hold me down, but all it does is wear me out. I’m tired. It feels like one of those heavy weighted blankets is on top of me. They’re supposed to help with stress and to make you sleep. This one has the opposite effect. I’m scared, and sleep eludes me.
“Why do I always find you here?”
That voice…I know that voice. Don’t I?
“You keep putting yourself in situations you are not equipped to deal with. You’re not like me, Ella Grace Banks. You’re very much human with a distinct ability. One of these days you’re going to die before I hear you.”
“Who are you?”
The hissing gets louder, and she makes a humming sound. “I hate this place. It reminds me too much of places I’ve been locked in before.”
“Someone locked you in the dark? Why?”
“To teach me a lesson. I still have the scars from the rat bites. Trust me, it’s a lesson I will always remember.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No worries, little reaper. Tell me, why should I help you if you’re going to keep putting yourself in situations that will kill you?”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen. We were trying to find out more about…about…” It’s right there on the tip of my memory, but I can’t see it.
“The mind is a curious thing, isn’t it? It protects you when it thinks whatever memory you have might hurt you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t.” She sounds super snarky. “Eli should know better than to let you do this stuff. He knows how fragile the human body is. Those creatures almost consumed you, Ella Grace.”
“Creatures?”
The girl sighs and snaps her fingers. The dark g
oes away, and instead we are standing along a creek bank where there are about a dozen tiny log cabins the size of a child’s playhouse. They’re falling apart, and the weeds have overtaken many of the dilapidated shacks.
“Where are we?”
“Where you almost died.”
I turn my head to see the girl standing next to me. She’s short like me. Long brown hair is pulled back in some kind of intricate braid, and her hazel eyes all but glow with a golden sheen.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Emma.” She gestures toward the houses, and I turn my attention back to them. “The creatures that live here are older than the light that shines on the land. They were created in the dark before the light was made. They feed on your body and your soul. They were feeding on you when Eli saved you. Your body can heal, but your soul…that’s a little harder. They took a good chunk out of you. I can heal you, but I’m not sure I should. It might be better for everyone if you died.”
“What? No! I don’t want to die.”
“Then why put yourself in these situations?”
“I didn’t know I was! I was trying to help.”
She snorts. “I know all about trying to help. All it does is land you in hot water. It’s better to just take care of yourself and not worry about anyone else.”
She sounds so bitter, but I can hear the hurt in her voice. Whatever happened to this girl, it devastated her. Don’t ask me how I know; I just do.
“If I save you now, at least The Reaping Season is almost over.”
“Over? It lasts for two weeks. It’s only been four days.”
“We’re on day six now, and I doubt it will go for fourteen full days. The pact that was made was for fourteen deaths, not fourteen days. Usually, the creature only feeds on one person per night, but your father is going to give it a feast.”
“My dad? I don’t understand.”
“He has men out there looking for the creature. Men who have no protection against this thing. It’s ancient. Dead man’s blood won’t stop it from feeding, only from getting in its victims’ heads. When it decides to go after one of your father’s hunting parties, then that will be that, and it’ll go back into hiding.”
“But…”
“Ella, it’s one of the first creatures ever made. It knows you. Trust me when I say you’d rather die now than fall into its hands. This death will be kinder.”
“No, I don’t want to die.”
“Unless I choose to save you, Ella, you will die, and I think this is the kinder death. Here, you’ll feel no pain. You’ll just drift away into the darkness until a reaper comes to escort you on to the next plane.”
“No.”
Emma sighs. “You’re difficult, you know that?”
“Because I don’t want to die?”
She shakes her head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Her palm presses against my forehead, and a warmth suffuses me. Sweat trickles down my spine, and I shiver. The heat spreads everywhere.
“You won’t remember me, little reaper, but you will remember my warning. Stay away from dangerous situations because I might not hear you next time.”
The creek disappears, and I’m falling through the darkness, cradled in a blanket of warmth.
Chapter Eighteen
Eli
Day 6
4:11 a.m.
Home
I slept off and on, but the floor is not as comfortable as my bed. I checked on Ella all through the night. She remained still as death, her breathing even, but her color seems to have gotten worse.
Worry worms its way into my stomach. The reaper said she needed a healer. The doctor said she needed a healer. And we haven’t provided that for her yet. How am I going to get her to the wolves’ compound when I know the Army is watching us?
My head hurts.
Why can nothing in my life just be simple? I’m a fun-loving guy. I’m the guy who’s always joking around and is generally happy. And yet the last two months, I feel like none of that is me anymore. I want that back.
There’s so much I want back. I feel empty. Ella is really the only thing that keeps me from being numb. Her smile fills me with the happiness I’m missing, but that’s only when she’s around. I don’t want to think about why that is. Neither of us needs that complication. I learned my lesson on that already.
The knock at the door startles me. I ease myself up and walk to the front door and peek through the curtains. Shock holds me captive. What are they doing here? I told her not to…
Wrenching the door open, I suck in air like my lungs are just coming back from an epic drowning. It can’t be.
“Hello, little brother.”
Dan Richards smiles at me in that big, wholesome way of his. He looks so much like Caleb it hurts, and I bend over, unable to handle the pain that wracks me.
“Why, Hilda? Why would you do this? They’ll kill him…”
Dan hauls me up in a bear hug so tight, I really can’t breathe. “They won’t touch me, Eli. I’m under Mattie and Rhea’s protection. They too scared of them to do anything to me.”
“Can we come inside?” Mattie smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. And that worries me.
Dan doesn’t release me, just drags me through the door, still hugging me for all he’s worth. Mattie comes in and closes the door.
“Shh,” she says and glances toward the stairs. “We have to be quiet unless you want to explain to the people asleep upstairs why your brother is here.”
Dan’s arms tighten ever so slightly, and I finally snap out of my shock. My arms go around him, and I hug him just as fiercely as he is me. I have no words for the emotions bombarding me. I thought I’d never see him again. Never get to tell him…
“I’m sorry,” I gasp out. “I’m so sorry for everything I did to you.”
“Shh,” he whispers. “I forgive you, Eli. You were just a kid responding to a situation he didn’t know how to handle. I told you this once before.”
“I know, but I want you to know I really mean it. I’m so sorry, Dan.”
“It’s okay, little brother.” He finally releases me and glances down at Ella. “How is she?”
“She needs a healer, and I can’t get her there. They’re watching us.”
“The Army?”
I nod at his question and notice Mattie is walking around, looking at photos Gramps has up of the two of us, of Ella and Cecily. Of all of us together. When she joins us, she still has that same oddly empty look in her eyes.
She’s not okay. The Guardian in me snakes out, and I pull her toward me, wrapping her in warmth and joy. It’s been a long time since I was her furnace.
“Mmm.” She hugs me back. “I missed my furnace.”
“What’s wrong, Hilda?”
“Don’t call me that,” she says crossly. “You know I hate it.”
I laugh. “Why do you think I do it?”
“Why are boys so stupid?” She gives me the stink eye but doesn’t protest when I sit down on the table and haul her into my lap. God, I missed her. She smells just like the orange juice she loves to drink. Dan coughs when I bury my face in her hair, but I ignore him. I love this woman, and having her here, in my arms? It’s a blessing and a curse all at once.
“Your little reaper is going to be fine. The healer will speed up the process of restoring her soul, though.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I healed her.”
I jerk back, shocked. “What?”
“She called for me when she was in the dark place. I hate it there. Reminds me of the time I was locked in the basement and rats ate at me. Do you know I still have the scars on my feet from their teeth?”
“You were locked in a basement?’
“One of my foster mothers did it to punish me when I was little.”
The things this woman suffered.
Dan plucks her out of my lap and wraps her in his arms. I want to shout, “No, she’s mine,” but I clamp my lips shut. She’s
not mine. She belongs to my brother.
“Sorry, little brother, but that’s enough fondling my wife.”
“Wife?” Shock ripples through my soul. They’re married?
“Yes. We went to city hall and got married. There’s a big wedding planned, and we both want you there.”
“I can’t…they said if my family found out, they’d kill them. I can’t risk that.”
Mattie smiles, and for the first time since she walked through the door it reaches her hazel eyes. “I can fix that. The day of the wedding, I’ll put a glamour on you. You won’t even sound like yourself. We both want you there, Eli. You saved my life. If you hadn’t done what you did, I’d be dead, and Kristoff would still be free, out there murdering and torturing.”
“I’m sorry I had to do that. You’re still not better.”
“No, but I’m getting there. I cut myself off, closed down my emotions, and ran away. It killed my family when I left, but I didn’t care. I was in the white place. Dan found me, though, and he saved me from myself. As hard as that was on all of them, if you hadn’t made me go there, I wouldn’t have survived.”
“I owe you, little brother. You saved my heart.”
And broke mine all over again. They’re married.
Mattie detangles herself from Dan and kneels in front of me. “I loved you too, Eli. I still do, but my heart belonged to Dan before I met you. He’s my beginning, my middle, and my end. Doesn’t mean I love you any less. You’re a part of my heart for now and always.”
“You’ll never love me the way I do you.”
“You’re my brother now, Eli. I’ll always love you.” Her gaze goes to Ella. “She needs you more than I do. She deserves your heart more than I ever did. She’ll love you as fiercely as I love Dan if you let her.”
“Are you having visions again?”
“I’m a Seer as well as a demon.” I cringe at the mention of her heritage. That’s what got me in trouble in the first place. I couldn’t see past her demon blood back then. My reaction drove her into my brother’s arms.