by Ellie Margot
“They love you,” said Zekariah from behind her.
Part of her was relieved there wasn’t something more sinister lurking, but she didn’t know Zeke’s intentions, so she couldn’t be overjoyed.
“It’s mutual,” she said, going with something true.
“Strange choice for pets.”
“Goldfish didn’t suit me,” said Riette. She thought of a book her grandmother had read to her as a child. She had always been fascinated by the sea because she had never seen it. Sure, she had heard stories, but a large pool as far as eyes could see, filled with creatures as big as the trees in Vitan and as small as the goldfish in her storybooks, was almost unimaginable.
Zeke laughed again. It was a small laugh. He stood a ways from her at the edge of the clearing where the others had gone through.
“Are they friendly?” he asked.
“Did you see Barry tear out that man’s throat?”
Zeke smiled. “They seem nice now.”
“Just don’t offer them the chance to give you a close shave.”
Zeke smiled again, looking down. It changed his face, but at her stare, he stilled it. It disappeared, and the guarded expression she knew was his default found his face again.
“The others noticed you weren’t with us,” he said.
“And you volunteered to fetch me?”
“You could say that.”
“Why would that be?” asked Riette. Standing, she brushed her hands against the pants she had worn for too many days, wiping off the blue fur that had clumped on them.
“I like to know my captors,” Zeke said stoically.
Riette walked closer to him and the clearing. “We’re all your captors, remember?”
She walked past him, checking once to make sure Bark and Barry were at her heels.
“I know the leader when I spot her.”
“Well, at least I can’t call you stupid,” Riette said, forcing the smile from her face.
They caught up with the others quickly. From the look of them when Riette made it back, they had wondered if she would be returning at all.
She wondered why they would let Zeke come for her if they were afraid.
“Samantha said he wouldn’t kill you,” Mekhi said.
Riette shook her head. “I didn’t ask—”
“Your face did.”
Riette rolled her eyes.
“Not my style,” said Zeke. “Not that I’m above it, but it takes being crossed to earn death by my hands.”
“How heroic,” said Samantha, and to Riette’s ears, it sounded like she meant it. She wondered how deep that hero worship went.
“It’s not far from here,” said Samantha. “We need to hurry before nightfall.”
“What happens at nightfall?” asked Corin.
Samantha cut her a look. “It gets harder to see the people plotting against it.”
“How do we know they are?” asked Trinity.
“Because they’re like me.”
“Now, let’s not insult them,” said Mekhi, earning a snicker from Corin.
Samantha rolled her eyes, and there was an unfamiliar pink tinge to her cheeks when she looked at Zeke.
Riette felt bad at watching Samantha shamed. Whatever they were, she didn’t like seeing someone be embarrassed. She had never had to worry about that with Samantha before, though. Usually, she was dealing out more insults than everyone else combined.
They traveled a short distance through more and more woods. There were the soft sounds of cracking twigs, but Damian circled around them as he looked for danger. He hadn’t reported any trouble. Riette had been training her ears to hear some but had heard nothing.
Their destination was a small thatch-roofed home in a clearing barely big enough for it. It seemed to blend in with the nature around it. The only life visible inside was the soft flicker of candlelight coming from some of the windows.
“Whose house is this?” Riette asked, moving close to Guy. He was the only one with a working knowledge of who Samantha was, even if he hadn’t shared it.
Guy looked hard ahead, and creases formed at the corners of his eyes as if he were squinting to check to see that the house really was in front of them.
He let out a breath. “That house belongs to Samantha’s mother.”
Chapter 31
It was strange for Riette to think of how Samantha must have been as a child. She had an energy to her that wasn’t unlike a child’s, but there was such an anger there, a wildness, that Riette couldn’t picture her little and innocent.
Samantha was still. Damian came out of the woods, barreling through all of them to get to Samantha at the front of the group. He didn’t say anything to her.
Riette hadn’t heard him say anything else since he had talked with Zeke. She guessed it was because that was his normal mode.
Trinity moved to stand by Riette, who was still next to Guy. Bark and Barry lingered behind the group and played in the woods next to them. They were quiet, but it was still making Riette nervous to have them not immediately by her side.
“Weird, huh?” Trinity whispered.
“Her house, apparently.”
“I thought so,” said Trinity. “Strange thinking of her actually having a home. She seemed more the eternal roamer to me.”
“I had thought the same thing,” said Riette.
“I didn’t think she’d ever return here,” said Guy. He still watched Samantha where she stood.
“You made it sound like she wasn’t allowed to,” said Riette.
“That too,” said Guy, but he didn’t volunteer anymore.
“You can’t leave it like that,” said Trinity.
“Why can’t I?”
Trinity looked at Riette, but Riette looked back in question. “It’s a rule.” Neither said anything. “If you bring something up, you have to explain it. Not doing that makes you some kind of...” She held up her hands, looking for the word.
“Tease?” offered Guy.
“Yes!” Trinity said assuredly. “Tease. You’re not a tease.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Guy, finally sounding more like himself. “I’m known around some parts for my teasing.”
“Such a problem,” said Riette. “Chronic.”
“See?” asked Guy. “She gets me.”
“Now that’s its own kind of scary,” said Riette.
But then none of them said anything because Samantha moved forward to the door. Damian stood next to Zeke, with Cassian close to Damian’s side.
Riette moved closer to Mekhi. “How worried should we be about Cassian, do you think?”
“You mean considering he’s all but abandoned his girlfriend in favor of a very small, very blonde, very taken psychopath?” asked Mekhi. He spoke quietly, which Riette was thankful about since Trinity was close by. “I’d say pretty fucking worried.”
Samantha made it to the door and knocked twice with her knuckles. It was a militant knock.
They all waited quietly, watching.
A small blonde woman about Samantha’s height opened the door. She looked younger at first glance, but then when you really stared at her, she was clearly older. There were wrinkles running through her face. Her back was hunched from what Riette guessed was manual labor, years of it, and her clothes, though they looked clean, were frayed around the edges.
She looked at Samantha, and her mouth opened. No words came out.
Not for one beat.
Not for two.
But then she reacted. Her face fell into a frown.
“Mother,” Samantha started, but the woman raised up her hand, her eyes closed for a second while she processed.
“No.”
“Mother—”
“You are not my little girl,” the woman said, opening her eyes. “You are not welcome here. You know that.” She took a step forward, and Samantha seemed to shrink. “We had a deal.”
For a second, Riette thought she was going to hit Samantha. Her expression was angry e
nough, and her stance spoke of it, but she didn’t. Samantha’s mother looked over Samantha’s shoulder, and her eyes landed on Zeke.
“Oh my heavens,” she said quickly, stepping back and bracing her hand on the door of her small house. “Zekariah.” She said his name like a prayer. She ran forward to where Zeke stood and threw herself at his feet. She shook.
“Whatever she had done, however she has displeased you, I beg you not to hurt us,” she said, her voice breaking, though Riette didn’t think she was crying. She shook from fear.
Fear of the man Riette and the others had released.
And it was in that moment that Riette realized something about the woman that she hadn’t noticed before.
Samantha’s mother was human.
That didn’t make any sense, but as soon as the thought found its way into Riette’s head, she knew it was true. How was Samantha a full mage with a human mother?
Riette had such limited understanding of humans. She had been around so few, but she knew this woman was a human all the same. It was in how small she looked, how frail, that she knew for sure.
Samantha watched her mother at Zeke’s feet. “We need a place to hide.”
The woman looked back, still crouched with her hands on Zeke’s shoes.
Samantha said it again. “Zeke needs a place to hide.”
The woman didn’t move. “Please,” Samantha added, her voice cracking as she stood at the entrance of the door with her hands in fists.
Her mother looked up at Zeke, who looked down at her saying nothing. He didn’t look uncomfortable with the reverie though, and Riette wondered again who she was dealing with.
The woman nodded at Zeke. “As you wish.”
They found themselves crammed in the small space.
Samantha’s mother didn’t live there alone. There was a small man, a mage, who lived with her, but Riette could see no resemblance between him and Samantha, and Samantha paid him no mind at all.
The man was so quiet, he seemed to barely exist at all, and at seeing Zeke, he hurried to the bedroom he shared with Samantha’s mother, muttering something about a headache.
Riette had started, not wanting a liability to be alone, but Samantha had stopped her, and out of respect for the woman’s house, Riette didn’t charge through it, though she kept her eye on that door.
There were five rooms outside of the main living area and kitchen. Samantha’s mother, a woman named Sheila, took leave shortly after seeing them settled and setting out a small plate of food. From what Riette could tell, it wasn’t much, but it was all that she had.
Riette thanked her, and they worked out a plan to have Damian and Samantha in one room. Riette couldn’t tell if it was her old one. She showed no affinity for anything in the house. Mekhi, Corin, Cassian, and Trinity were in one room, and that left Guy with Riette and Zeke alone, at Sheila’s insistence. She thought it was unconscionable to have it any other way. While Riette was somewhat used to the arrangement of being shacked up with Guy, she wasn’t happy about Zeke being alone.
They decided to try to sleep. There was little else that could be done. The day had worn on all of them. They showered in cold water, each in turn, and used the small provisions they had and the ones that were given.
But sleep didn’t find Riette. She made sure that Bark and Barry were settled. They slept side by side at the foot of her bed, while Guy took the floor voluntarily.
She wanted to speak to Zeke. She didn’t want him plotting alone, uninterrupted in his thoughts. It was dangerous, even reckless, and that was the only reason Riette had found her way to his room, knocking before she could stop herself.
He opened almost immediately, which surprised her. She thought he would be asleep or wouldn’t open the door, and she would be left with her own thoughts for the rest of the night. That was, if she wouldn’t have broken in to make sure he hadn’t escaped them as well.
Zeke didn’t say anything. He lifted a frustrating eyebrow at her again, and she patted herself on the back mentally for not hitting him.
More upsettingly, he was shirtless. Planes of muscle covered everything she could see, and despite being kept in the prison, his skin was tan. His dark hair fell over his face as she took him in. One of her more coherent thoughts was whether or not he cut his own hair in prison and with what? Or if he magic-ked it away.
“Can I come in?” she asked when he still didn’t offer anything.
He stepped aside, letting her enter the room.
She hadn’t seen Sheila’s room, but she had a feeling that this one was the largest in the house. Riette rolled her eyes at the thought.
“You’re not wearing a shirt,” Riette said, and she was glad the parts of her skin tone that took after her mother’s deep rich color helped hide some of the color she knew was on her cheek.
“I’m not,” he said. “Nothing fits me, and I can’t wear what I was wearing in the prison.”
“Too many hard memories?”
“Too shredded.”
“I could ask Damian if he has anything. You’re both roughly the size of houses.”
Zeke shot her a look. “We can’t all be skinny little Elf nothings.”
Riette looked down at herself and back at him. She may be tall, but she had always had curves. “I’m far from nothing.”
Zeke looked at her and let out a large breath before speaking. “It’s not a good idea to tease a guy fresh from prison.” He shook his head and closed his eyes before speaking again. “Get the book.”
Chapter 32
Riette didn’t know why he volunteered to do some of the book. Hell, when she left his room to get the book, she was just hoping that was what he planned to do with it.
Slipping back into the room was fairly tricky. She opened the door a crack, and the loudest creaking she had ever heard followed the motion.
“Walk of shame?” Guy asked. His eyes were still closed as he lay on the floor. There was a small pillow behind his head, and his blanket was tattered and almost worn through.
“I have never walked in shame,” said Riette, not getting it.
“It’s a saying.”
“Meaning what?”
“That you are leaving a lover and have been caught in the act.”
Riette’s cheeks warmed again. It was an awful habit she hoped would be less regular than it had been of late.
“I wasn’t.”
“Were you coming from Zeke’s room?” he asked, cracking open one eye.
“Yes.”
“Walk of shame.”
“I’m not with Zeke,” said Riette. She still whispered because Bark and Barry were sleeping.
“You don’t need to be ‘with’ someone to be with them,” said Guy.
“I’m not anything with Zeke.”
“Right.”
“I’m not.”
“Right, you’re just sneaking out of his room.”
“To get my grandmother’s book.” Riette looked at Guy. “That’s it.”
“Does Zeke have all of his clothes on?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“The answer is clearly no since you wouldn’t answer,” Guy said quickly. “Oh, my little girl is growing up.”
“You’re the worst,” Riette said, rolling her eyes. “And he didn’t have a shirt—”
“Keep some things a secret,” Guy said, holding up a finger. “Lesson number one.”
Riette grabbed the book and headed back to Zeke’s room. This time, he was wearing a shirt when he opened the door.
“You’re dressed,” she said, and mentally, she punched the part of herself that was disappointed in that fact in the face.
“Damian.”
“No one believes in sleep anymore,” she said softly.
“Too many demons.”
Riette looked up at his words, but he was moving to the bed. He sat on it, testing it for his weight before fully sitting down, and then he looked at her.
“May I?”
Riette h
eld the book in her hands. She had looked at it some over the travels. She had read the scant words her grandmother hadn’t fully hidden over and over until they blurred in her vision.
She touched it again before placing it in Zeke’s hands.
He ran his hand over the cover and closed his eyes. He didn’t look like he was breathing. Only candlelight was lighting the room, and Riette looked at his face. The demons he spoke of seemed to dance across his face.
It was minutes before he opened his eyes. “Powerful spell,” he said softly.
“You’re saying you can’t do it?” Riette asked. She wasn’t poking fun. She was terrified.
Zeke gave her a look. “I can do it. I just can’t do it wholesale. Only a few pages at a time.”
“Will they stay revealed?”
Zeke’s lips pushed together, considering. “They should.”
Riette started to feel better.
“There’s very little I can’t do if I try it,” he said. And again, he didn’t sound as cocky as his words suggested.
“Then why did you stay there?”
“In the prison?”
Riette nodded.
“There wasn’t anywhere else I needed to be,” he said with a frown. “Not then.” He looked back up at her. “Sometimes, you have to plan before you leap.”
“And sometimes, you just leap anyway,” she added.
Zeke nodded. “Sometimes, you do.”
Zeke turned his attention to the book, flipping it open, and Riette found that he was surprisingly gentle, despite his large size.
He didn’t read the already revealed page. He flipped to the many sheets of white. She saw his face pinch in concentration. He ran his hand over the pages. His mouth began to move as he touched the pages again. Over and over, his fingertips ran over the white pages as his lips moved silently.
Riette watched his hands as he worked. There was an energy in the air. She looked around the room as if she’d be able to see the energy shooting around the room like tendrils of lightning in the air.
But she didn’t see anything.
When Riette looked back at Zeke, she saw more words on the page. It was as if her grandmother were writing the words right in front of her eyes. He did two pages before stopping. His hand stayed hovering above the page.