Nevermor (27 page)

This
golden-haired girl had been a clever one.  She’d found her way here even though
Whisper had tried very hard to shake her when they’d been flying over the sea. 
The pixie always tried to avoid drawing girls to the island, but this one had
been persistent, and had found her way here on her own.

It was true that
Whisper’s emotions were based on what Rifter could experience, but she hadn’t
known she could have so much pure hatred within herself until she had seen
Rifter talking to this girl.  Since he was not going to be strong enough to
turn away, the wisp had decided to take matters into her own hands.

She had sought
out the girl where she lived at the orphanage.  Rifter had instructed her to
locate the dreamer in the other world so that he might observe her for himself
before bringing her here.  Wisp had pretended not to find her in the beginning,
but Rifter had seen through that.  The fairy had followed this
Wren
around for a whole day, waiting for an
accident
to present itself, and
yet even that had been thwarted.  If only the girl had fallen into that
machine, Rifter would never have even thought about her again!  The girl had
some kind of dumb luck.  Now the worst had happened, and Rifter had insisted on
bringing her here.

The silly boy. 
He just didn’t know what was good for him.  But Whisper did, and now she had to
fix his mistake.  Even her attempt at getting Nix to kill the girl had failed,
but her new plan would not.

Whisper’s tiny
lip curled as she looked down at Wren.  Human girls weren’t much to look at, in
the wisp’s opinion.  She couldn’t imagine why Rifter might have been impressed
with her, but that wouldn’t matter for long.

Whisper’s sneer
turned to a smile when she imagined Rifter finding the girl dead in the
morning.  Yes, he would be upset and angry, but he would eventually forget her
– like the others – and then Wren would be gone and Whisper would remain,
constant and eternal at his side.

This thought
rested well within her mischievous little heart, but she knew it could not
happen this way.  She couldn’t kill the girl outright.  She had to distance
herself from the crime.

It had been
something the boys had said that had given her the idea.  How convenient it was
that the girl had the same name as a nightmare monster that they had not been
able to kill.  It seemed like fate.  All the wisp had to do now was bring the
two together.

Whisper settled
beside Wren’s head and said a blessing over her so that she wouldn’t wake up. 
Having done that, the fairy withdrew a knife shard and leaned in closer to the
girl’s ear.

“
I’m going to
kill you, you terrible bitch
,” Whisper said to her clandestinely.  Even if
Wren had been awake to hear it, she would have never been able to understand. 
It had been said in the forbidden fairy language.

Dipping down,
Whisper took up a portion of Wren’s curls and cut them off with the little
knife.  Wisp hoped that it was not such an amount that the girl would notice,
because she could not afford to slip up in her plan, but Wren was far more
likely to notice the next thing she did.

Using the knife,
the fairy made a short scratch across the back of Wren’s neck, just to draw a
little blood.  She wiped the red line with the hair to get a bit on the
strands, enough for a keen nose to smell.  Whisper liked the sight of the
girl’s blood, but she had to restrain herself from drawing more.  These few
drops were enough for what she had to do.

When that was
done, Whisper zipped out of the tunnel like a bolt of lightning, leaving a
streak of motion behind her.  She was still weakened from the poison pit of the
monster’s stomach, but she would push herself for this.  The fairy flew as fast
as she could, which was quite a bit faster than even Rifter could manage,
flashing across the forest and beyond to the frozen tundra, past where the boys
kept their secrets from Rifter.  She moved to a place where there was a hollow
in the rocks, leading into a dark cave.  There, she finally slowed and dimmed
her light.

The wind
spiraled out from the opening in an echoing howl.  Fast as she was, even she
was cautious here.  She knew the danger of what she was dealing with.

From the
entrance of the cave, Whisper could hear the thing growling as it slept.  She
didn’t wish to go closer, but she knew that what she had to do was important. 
Steadying her nerves, Whisper dashed in and placed the lock of hair just below
the creature’s snout before rushing back out again.

The devious
pixie waited outside the cave entrance, listening as the monster inhaled in its
sleep, catching the scent of the hair and blood which belonged to the girl
Whisper hated.  When she heard a low growl and was sure it had awoken, she
smiled wickedly.

There was no
knowing when death would find that hideous girl, but death, indeed, was coming.

The deed done,
Whisper hurried back home so that Rifter would not notice that she was gone. 
She would put herself back in her grotto to rest and feign illness for a bit
longer.  None of them would be the wiser.

The fairy flew
over the land, singing gleefully to herself.

Goodbye, Wren
, she thought. 
Goodbye.

1

Wren was a like
a child on Christmas morning.  She woke up early, and couldn’t wait for the
moment that Rifter would rise as well so that he would set out to get her
brothers.  The sooner they were here with her, the sooner things would be right
with the world.

She set herself
to a few chores, eventually taking notice of a short scratch on the back of her
neck that kept itching, but she assumed that she had gotten it the day before. 
Any tree branch could have done it.  She gave it no further thought.

The twins had
gone out to do some scavenging that morning, and she prepared food with what
they brought back – some greens, truffles, and some enormous eggs.  She didn’t
ask what kind of creature they had come from, certain that it was bound to
disturb her.  When Rifter finally came out of his room, dragging but awake, she
did not ask him about his promise, though she wouldn’t hesitate to remind him
if it seemed he had forgotten.

He didn’t
mention it for a while, talking to the others about weapon modifications and a
few new projects they were working on for the home.  Finn had been designing a
mechanism that would draw up a continuous stream of water from below.  Rifter
was interested in the idea, but got annoyed when Finn and the twins started
going on about the finer details of it.

Wisp stayed
close to Rifter all morning, perching on his shoulder and looking distressed. 
Wren wondered if the fairy was still weak from being injured the day before,
but she certainly did seem to feel sorry for herself.  She was practically
throwing herself in the way of Rifter’s attention, but he did not pet her too
much, which made Wren feel a bit happier, even though she was sure the fairy
would accompany him to get her brothers.

But that will be
alright.  She has no reason to be jealous of them.  She won’t try to hurt them.

Wren remained
patient, busying herself with cleaning up after them for a bit, but the matter
of what was to be done about her brothers never left her mind.  She found
herself getting more frustrated the longer that Rifter’s promise went ignored.

Just when she
was growing too anxious, thinking that she would have to remind him, he
announced that he would be leaving soon.

“I’m going out,”
Rifter said, rising.

“Oh?  Do we get
to come?” Finn asked, looking after him hopefully.

“Not today.  You
get to work on that thing you were talking about for the water.  I’ll be back
later.”

“Where are you
going?”  Finn wanted to know then, and the rest of them looked on at that. 
Apparently Rifter had not told them about his intention to retrieve her
brothers.  Wren knew that at least one of them was going to be angry about
that.

“Don’t be so
nosy,” Rifter scolded him, adjusting his coat.

“I’m not nosy;
I’m inquisitive,” Finn informed him smartly.

Rifter did not
seem impressed.  “Where the hell did you pick up a big word like that?”

“I’m not as dumb
as I look,” Finn assured him.

“Oh yeah?  Well,
go
inquisit
somewhere else, would you?” Rifter said dismissively.

“When will you
be back?” Sly asked, clearly amused by the idea of Finn trying to be
intelligent.

“Tonight,” was
all Rifter said.

He pulled up his
hood, trying to shut them down as he turned to go, but Wren wanted to have a
few words with him first.  She followed him before the others could catch up,
wanting to speak with him quietly.

“Rifter, please
be careful with Max,” she said lowly as she followed him down the tunnel. 
“He’s very young.  Try not to scare him.”

“Yes, alright,”
he agreed flatly, but she wondered if it had gone in one ear and out the other.

“And I have to
warn you that Henry is a bit irritable sometimes.”

“I can deal with
him,” Rifter assured her.  Yes, she remembered how he had dealt with Nix when
he had stood against him.  Rifter had nearly cut off his ear.  She didn’t want
that to happen to Henry.

“Really, Rifter;
he’s unpredictable, but he’s my brother.  Say you won’t hurt him.”

He turned to her
and sighed, looking up at the roof of the tunnel in exasperation.

“Will you stop
nagging me?” he asked teasingly.  “Do you want me to go or not?”

“Yes of course I
do, but—”

He touched her
chin lightly, his fingers under her jaw, and she halted.  She looked at him, entranced,
and he smiled to see the power he had over her.

“Then let me
go.  We’ll be back before you know it and everything will be fine.  Okay?”

She nodded,
swallowing her words of concern back into the pit of worry from whence they’d
come.  Maybe she shouldn’t nag him like that, but there were times when boys
needed
to be reminded of what they should do, and she didn’t consider Rifter to be an
exception.  Nevertheless, she let it go for now and prayed that he brought her
brothers here in one piece.

On the way out,
they met Nix returning from checking his traps.  He was holding two rabbits by
the feet, but stopped when he noticed that Rifter was coming out.  He gave Wren
a sour look, but he didn’t say anything to her.

“Where are you
headed off to?” he asked.

“Mind your own
business, won’t you, Nix?” Rifter said, stepping past him.  It wasn’t very
nice, but there was an air of jesting to it.

“I would if I
had any,” he promised.

“Then make it
your business to keep everyone in line today.”

“Don’t I
always?” Nix answered.  Wren couldn’t tell whether or not he was happy about
this assignment.

They all came
outside to see Rifter off, though he made no big fuss over it.  He took off and
was gone past the branches with Whisper – who was suddenly well it seemed – tagging
along after him.  Wren was left to marvel once again at how glorious it must be
to fly like that.  He would take her sometime.  She was sure that he would.

She watched him,
entranced by that thought, oblivious to what was going on behind her until she
heard a voice.

“Is he gone,
Sly?” Nix asked.

Wren turned to
see all of them looking up after Rifter, but Sly had his scope directed toward
the heavens, peering into the far distance.

“Yes, I can’t
see him anymore,” he said after a moment.

“Good,” Nix said. 
“Get ready to go then.”

The twins
cheered, yipping like coyotes, but Wren just watched them, confused.  They all
seemed to know what this meant except her.

“Where are you
going?” she asked, following them as they moved back to the underground.  They
kept running off and leaving her.  Was she to spend all of her time alone
here?  She didn’t think she could bear to just sit around and wait.

“Don’t worry,
Wren,” Toss said with a warm smile.  “You’re coming too.”

“I am?”  After
being told that, she was now very skeptical about where they were taking her,
but she tried to shake that away.  They were offering to let her come along
with them and be part of the group.  She should have been grateful for that.

She had only
just begun to smile when she was met by Nix’s hard stare.

“Wait a minute,”
he said firmly.  He stepped up to her, looking down into her face.  Wren stared
at him wide-eyed, confused, though she could only guess that he did not want
her to go with them.

“I want to
come,” she said quickly before he could continue on, trying to show that she
was resolute.  Nix studied her carefully.

“First, if you
want to be involved with us, you have to promise something,” he said severely. 
“We all have loyalty to Rifter, but we have a separate loyalty to each other. 
We need to know you have that toward us as well.  You’re not one of us yet, but
if you want to be, you cannot, under any circumstances, tell Rifter about
anything we show you or repeat anything that we tell you.  It’s not an option. 
If you go back on that, you
will
regret it.  Understand?”