Cogling (43 page)

“Where is he?” Ike growled.

Edna assumed he meant his father until Mother Sambucus laughed. A door in the back of the room swung open; the foul stench of bog water made Edna gag. Rachel pressed her hand over her mouth and Harrison wrinkled his nose.

An ogre in an indigo suit dragged a man across the room to throw him down beside Mother Sambucus. Matted hair hung over the man’s face, his torso clad in a torn black jacket. A ragged shirt peeked out from the jacket’s collar. His pants were stained, boots scuffed, and his hands were bound behind his back with purple rope. The splintery strands sparkled with enchantment.

Mother Sambucus caught the man’s hair in her fist and jerked his head back. Through dirt and grime, Edna recognized Charles. She stumbled backwards. “Charles is dead. Ike saw him mangled after the airship crashed.” Had Ike lied, as he’d done about his heritage? Edna pressed her hands over her trembling lips. Her inner debate over trusting Ike rose to the surface with a roar.

Hilda hissed breath through her teeth. “Release my brother.”

“You knew he was alive?” Edna squeaked.

Hilda narrowed her eyes. “Ike told me.”

“This whelp was sent to warn the King. I couldn’t stand for that.” Mother Sambucus shoved Charles toward the floor; his head rolled to the side, eyelids fluttering.

Edna whirled on Ike. “When the blimp crashed—”

Mother Sambucus twirled her hand overhead. “That dear dragon tore it down. Where is your little pet now?”

“Safe.” Harrison straightened despite his trembling. “We left him with the Nix.”

Edna grabbed Ike’s arm. “We were supposed to be partners, but you lied.” Trust wavered as her anger rose. “You let me believe he was dead.”

Ike caught her wrist. “After Charles dropped us off, he was going to take the blimp to the King anyway and give a warning. I wrote up a statement for my father so Charles would be admitted. After we crashed, Charles thought he should go on and I figured it was easier to say he was dead, in case anything happened with the hags. If they questioned you, you wouldn’t have to lie. You could tell them we were alone.”

“How is that
easier
?” she sputtered. “I suffered thinking Charles had died because of me.”

“Lies are how I survived on the streets,” Ike snapped.

“Did you lie about what the evil in me is, too?” The evil pushed the words out before she could snacth them.

Mother Sambucus slapped her cane into the floor. “Is that what you think it is? Oh, little girl, magic isn’t wholly evil. It’s engery. You make it what it is. You want it evil, then your heart must be as dark as mine.”

Edna pressed her fist against her mouth to keep from vomiting. “I’m not evil.”

“If you think hags are, then you must be too.” Mother Sambucus sliced her cane through the air. “Wretch. Your grandmother was a hag who ran off to wed a human male. You’re like dear Ike here, a mixture of blood.”

Edna gripped Ike’s arm to keep upright as an image coiled through her mind, the hag and the man aboard the blackened ship. Could that be her grandparents? “You’re lying.”

“She has to be saying something right,” Ike rasped. “Having hag blood is the only way you’d have that magic in you.”

“All this time I hated hags… when I was one?”

The back door opened again to four ogres. They staggered across the room waving thick, wooden clubs and wearing tangerine smocks. Ike pushed Edna behind him.

“If you resist, they have orders to kill you.” Mother Sambucus snapped her fingers.

The ogre with Charles heaved the man over his shoulder, chuckling. The hoarse, deep sounds crawled across Edna’s skin, forcing the hairs on her arms to rise. Another ogre tucked his club into his belt, grabbed Rachel with one hand and Harrison with his other, pulling them toward the door.

Harrison shrieked, writhing against the ogre’s grip. “I won’t go back!”

“Wait!” Edna reached for her brother before another ogre seized her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. Edna grunted as a broad shoulder shoved into her abdomen. Breath lurched from her lungs. The ogre’s leathery skin stank of swamp, making her gag. She punched his back and kicked at his stomach, but he tightened his grip against her thighs until she squeaked. Bile rose in her throat. The other two ogres seized Ike and Hilda by the arms. They stood straight, glaring at Mother Sambucus.

“Fight for us,” Edna called to Ike.

“My hags.” Mother Sambucus pinched Hilda’s tense cheek. “I look forward to instilling my cause in your delicious mind.” She shrugged toward the door. “Dispose of the humans.”

“No coglings?” Harrison asked.

Edna twisted to see him. Mother Sambucus snorted. “You aren’t needed, and the authorities won’t care if you disappear forever.”

“Our parents will,” Edna called before the ogre carried her through the doorway into a hallway of stone walls. Ike turned to look at her and she thought his eyes glistened with tears. The unused cogling he’d stolen wouldn’t help them now.

The ogre turned a corner and she lost sight of her friend.

Sweat coated Edna’s skin, and the magic within her surged to the surface, but she had no idea how to release it without hurting Harrison. The ogre carried her down steps and rounded corners into new hallways. Torches burned in iron sconces on the walls. The ogre with Harrison and Rachel followed them. Rachel wept, but Harrison looked on with hollow eyes, the same look he’d had when Edna rescued him from the factory. Her heart broke to see her brother lose himself again. Her parents would want her to keep him strong.

“Harry-boy, it’ll be fine,” Edna called. The ogre pinched her thigh with his thick fingers. She jerked at the sharp pain.

“No talking,” the ogre grunted.

There had to be a way to escape amongst the endless stones and torches. A sob choked her. Mother Sambucus could be hurting Ike. They needed to stay together, to fight the hags.

The hallway ended in a row of doors. One of them had to lead to freedom. Her heartbeat sped up. She grinned at Harrison and Rachel, but Rachel wept and Harrison stared without emotion. When the ogre opened the first door and lumbered inside, the only light came from the torches in the hallway. The room was the size of Edna’s bedroom, but contained a large hole in the middle. An acidic stench rose in the air.

“Have fun,” The ogre snickered as he tossed her inside.

Air rushed by as she plummeted, brown curls tossed over her face. She screamed before she hit a soft floor, and the impact jolted her shoulder. Harrison and Rachel fell in beside her.

“Ouch,” Harrison grunted.

The ogres laughed as they left, slamming the door.

“It’s so dark,” Rachel whimpered. “Where are we?”

“Harrison?” Edna’s voice squeaked.

Rachel sniffled. “The ground’s moving.”

Edna crawled in the darkness, pawing for her brother. The floor did shift, as though it were made of thousands of constantly moving sticks. Scaly sticks.

One of the sticks crawled over her ankle and hissed.

“The floor is made of
snakes
,” Edna shrieked.

Rachel burst into wailing tears. “They’ll bite us!”

Edna’s hand brushed against her brother’s jacket and she yanked him against her. “No matter what ensues, I’ll keep you at my side. Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” he rasped.

Her mind conjured the dark scene around them: two girls and a boy trapped in a snake pit. “The reptiles have to be poisonous. What a perfect way to dispose of victims. Unless this is more of a torture chamber. Maybe the snakes aren’t poisonous.” She rubbed the cameo. “If I could see the snakes, perhaps I’d be able to avoid them.”

The profile on the cameo glowed, illuminating the pit as if it were daylight. The snakes, a mixture of sizes and colors, shrank away from the sun brooch to reveal a dirt floor. Stone walls circled the round pit.

“The magic works for this too?” Edna breathed. “We won’t die without struggling first.”

Rachel crawled toward Edna until she could hug her, her tears smearing into Edna’s hair. Edna clutched Harrison tighter.

The snakes crawled further away, hissing with skinny, forked tongues.

Edna shuddered at the sight of their sleek, colorful bodies. Orange triangles lay over crimson stripes. Some were as long as her arm, others twice as long as her body. “Is anyone bitten?”

“I’m fine,” Rachel snuffled.

“Ike will get us?” Harrison suggested in a soft voice.

Edna continued to rub the cameo and the light brightened. “We have to get out ourselves. We can do it. We just have to think.”

“The walls are smooth.” Rachel pointed at the stones of the pit. “We can’t climb out.”

“But they aren’t that tall!” Edna hurried toward the side, leading them with her. The snakes scurried away to open a small space. “Rachel, climb on my shoulders. I’ll boost you up.” Edna crouched, cupping her hands. Harrison clung to her skirt.

Rachel dried her eyes on her sleeve before stepping onto Edna’s hands. She leaned against the wall and crawled upwards as Edna stood. The muscles in Edna’s shoulders and back burned, but she straightened, gritting her teeth against the pain in her arms.

“Can you reach?” Edna’s vision spun. She willed herself not to surrender to the pain or fear.

“Almost,” Rachel called down. “A few more inches.”

“Climb on my shoulders.” Edna gritted her teeth as Rachel obeyed. The heels of Rachel’s boots dug into Edna’s skin.

“Got it!” Rachel jumped, causing more pain to lash through Edna’s body. The weight lifted off and Rachel grunted. “I’m up.”

“Harrison, you’re next.” Edna cupped her hands. Her brother hesitated before stepping onto them, then onto Edna’s shoulders. She clutched his ankles to brace him. “Can you reach Rachel?”

“Got him,” Rachel called. Harrison’s weight lifted off Edna.

“How do we get you now, Eddie?”

She took a deep breath. As the older sister, she had to protect him, make him think the world was wonderful. Yet she couldn’t hide the truth from him. After fighting for his safety, she couldn’t tarnish their bond with a lie.

Edna stroked her prayer beads. “You don’t, Harry-boy.”

“What?” Harrison’s shout echoed in the room. The snakes hissed and thrashed.

“Go save Ike and Hilda,” Edna urged. “They’ll come get me. Have them bring rope.”

“We can’t leave you.” Harrison sobbed.

Edna nibbled her lower lip. “You can’t reach me.”

“I’ll come back down.” Harrison started to climb over the edge, but Rachel grabbed his arm.

“Don’t!” There had to be a way to convince them to go on without her. “This will protect me. Ike needs you.”

“He needs you too,” Harrison wailed.

“If only I could fly up to you.” Edna closed her eyes and rubbed the cameo harder. If it had worked before, maybe she could get it to lend her its magic again. “Please, take me up there.” She pictured Ike and Rachel, the dazed nobles locked in the cages. Harrison.

She held her breath as her skin tingled and the floor vanished from beneath her feet. She wanted to kick to find purchase, but forced herself to hold still.

Harrison gasped. “You’re flying!”

“Impossible,” Rachel whispered.

Edna kept her eyes closed. Her skin crawled as though fingernails dragged over her. The magic transformed into a burn, but she forced herself not to panic. She had to be at the top by now. The magic in her heart repeated:
Fly, fly, fly.

Rachel grabbed her waist to yank her over. Edna’s knees bumped the wall, and Harrison pulled her onto the floor where she rolled to her back and released the cameo, panting.

“We’ve got you.” Harrison rubbed her hand.

“You’re safe,” Rachel added.

Edna pulled Harrison closer and squeezed Rachel’s arm before she stood. Her legs trembled, so she clutched Harrison to steady herself. She’d really done it. Magic had helped again.

“Do we really have hag blood?” Harrison whispered.

Edna kissed the top of his head. “We’ll have to figure that out later. Now we go get Ike.” She staggered toward the door.

“Together.” Harrison clutched her hand.

Edna reached the door first and pushed on it, then pulled. “Odds bobs. It won’t budge.” Rachel slammed her fist against it. “Must be locked.”

Edna grinned. “No issue.” She rubbed the pad of her thumb over the cameo. “Unlock. Open.”

Something within the door clicked, and the door swung open.

Rachel lifted her eyebrows, eyes wide. Edna winked and sashayed into the hallway. To think she’d possessed such magic in the cameo all along. She’d rescued her brother from the hags and she possessed a cameo. If it could make light, suspend her weight, scare away snakes, and open locked doors; perhaps its powers were limitless.

If the magic had dwelt within her all along, she shouldn’t be scared of exploring its limits.