Traitor (34 page)

“I thought you’d been here?”

I shook my head. “Not on this side. Rozz just showed me the castle place.”

“Yeah, I like it there, but this is just serene. It’s nice.”

There was no denying that. After everything that had gone on for almost the entire last year, Ash deserved some serenity, even if it was just stolen time.

We hopped in the boat and it began to drift along by itself. Ashlyn seemed completely unconcerned by this, so I didn’t say anything.

She leaned back in the aluminum boat, her hands resting on the sides behind her. Her eyes were skyward, so I followed suit. The sun peeked out from behind clouds that looked like cotton balls. The sky was blue and beautiful, and the sun warmed us even though it danced between clouds. “It’s nice out. It’s got to be like eighty degrees or so. Want to go swimming?”

Immediately my mind went to her in a pair of board shorts with a bikini top. She was such a tomboy, but could pull it off and still look sexy. I shook the image from my mind. No, not right now. This wasn’t the time to think about that stuff. I shrugged in a noncommittal way and motioned toward the castle. “Do they have bathing suits over there?”

“I would assume so. They have everything.”

I smiled. “Well, I guess we could if you want to. This is your twenty-four hours.”

She smiled and nodded, but said nothing more. We both watched the boat glide closer and closer to the ever-growing dock, until it gently knocked against the wood. It made a hollow ringing sound as the aluminum connected with the dock. Ash hopped out of the boat and smiled at me. “Let’s find our rooms, and I’ll meet you back here.”

As I tied the boat to the dock, I waved her away. “I bet you can have a head start and I’ll still be back here before you.”

Ash rolled her eyes, but took off toward the gate without another word. She was so competitive. That was part of the reason she was so amazing. It didn’t seem like too many girls got into sports and competition as much as she did. I chuckled to myself, finished the knot, and gave Ash a few more minutes’ head start by trying to busy myself with nothing. When I looked back toward the gate, she was gone.

Good enough. She’d had her head start.

I ran toward the gate. God, it was so cool how much faster I could run. If I didn’t think coach would have me tested for drugs, I’d totally use all my speed in a game. I bet my forty time was ridiculous now. Maybe I’d have Rozz time me just for fun.

My toes sunk in the soft sand as I ran across the beach. It felt good. It’d been a while since I’d been to a beach, and this place was gorgeous. Last time I was here, all I saw was the inside of the castle. Looking over the expanse of water and back to the mainland, I knew this place was as close to heaven as someone could possibly get without going to see the big guy for themselves.

When my feet hit grass, I turned and looked back toward the castle. It was a behemoth. Turrets jutted out of every corner and huge crenellated walls guarded what stones and shadows obscured inside. Still, it wasn’t a scary castle. Even with all the defensive structures in place, I felt a jolt of excitement and pride to know that this was technically my realm now. A massive gate loomed over and in front me. The iron was molded and designed into a beautiful fresco of a hillside. A tree sat at the top of the hill in the gate and a swing was tied to a lowlying branch. It seemed like at any time, a little iron person might come over the hill and take up residence on the swing. I smiled and reached for the handle to enter the castle premises.

That’s when I noticed an issue.

There was no handle, no doors, no hinges, no nothing.

How in the heck did you get into this place?

Suddenly people started emerging from over the hillside in the fresco just like I’d just imagined they might. What in the world? This place just kept getting crazier and crazier.

“Good Lord, this place is going to the dogs.”

My eyes must have gotten as big as half dollars. Ash would have laughed at how my voice cracked when I realized whose voice that was. “Memaw?”

The miniature replica of Memaw leaned on her bow and scratched her head with a bemused look. For being wrought iron, she was amazingly accurate. I wondered who had created this gate, and even more, I wondered how they had bewitched it to house lifelike counterparts to the Glaistig committee. “Of course it is, and why are you here?”

“I – I – I’m Protecting Ashlyn, you know that. How did you get in the gate?”

Iron Memaw laughed, then looked to her right. The guy named now Antony stood beside her in all his miniature iron glory, and leaned his arm on her shoulder. She nudged him. “Should we just let him wait out here until Ashlyn returns?”

Antony looked me over once, then smiled. “I think so, Emily.”

Without another word, Antony turned and walked back over the hill. Memaw stood there for a moment and continued to lean leisurely against her bow. Even at rest, the young Memaw looked like she could beat the snot out of me with her pinky. I’d never tell her that, of course, be it an animated gate version or the real thing.

Her smile told me she probably already knew. She lifted her bow and put it over her shoulder. “Ashlyn should return soon enough. You’ll be fine.”

“Wait a second…”

She laughed. “You cause me enough trouble in the real world. Let me cause some grief now and again. You’re on my turf now, young man.”

Before I could say any more, she turned and jogged out of sight. That woman. I could only hope Ashlyn wasn’t as crazy as she was. Maybe it’d skip a couple generations.

I leaned against the marble stone on either side of the gate. Might as well get comfortable. Who knew when Ash was going to come back?

T
HE SKY TURNED
shades of red, orange, and purple as I sat against the gate, which followed the time of day in its fresco. As the real sun set, so did the iron one that had been high and near the top of the gate when I first encountered Memaw and Antony there. Now the sun in the gate was just a sliver that barely poked over the central hill. It was an awesome piece of magic.

While the sky at home seemed pretty sometimes, this sunset was plain amazing. The clouds took on the colorful glow of oranges, reds, and pinks the further the sun sank in the sky, and fireflies began to dance around the beach.

I heard the gate begin to creak and groan. As I turned, Ashlyn emerged with her typical black, pink, and purple board shorts on. She wore a plain white t-shirt over what I imagined was a matching bikini top. She looked flushed. “Sorry, it took so long. I got caught up explaining everything to Rebecca.”

My mouth wasn’t working, because my mind was too busy wanting to know what color bikini top was underneath that shirt. She looked at me with a little concern. “Um, dude, are you okay?”

I snapped out of my funk, and shook my head clear of dumb stuff that would never happen. “Yeah, of course. I just got bleacher butt sitting here in the grass, waiting on you.”

She laughed. “I wondered where you were. Why didn’t you come in?”

“Your grandmother thought it’d be funny to lock me out. Did you know she’s like the gatekeeper incarnate here?”

Ashlyn laughed and extended a hand to help me up. “You could say that.” She tossed me a pair of orange and white trunks with those Hawaiian flowers all over them. “Here, put these on. They’re Antony’s.”

“Oh great,” I muttered. “Just what I want to put on. How’d you end up having your own clothes here?”

She smiled. “Looks like Rozz outfitted me with some of my favorites for when I’m here, too. She left a note in a drawer.”

“That punk. I’m her protégé and she’s out getting you hooked up. No wonder my training is lacking.”

“No amount of training could help you. You’re a lost cause.”

“And you running into Neamar at every turn isn’t, right?” I teased.

Ashlyn dropped her head. Bad move on my part. I hadn’t meant it to be mean, but it looked like Ash took it that way. She began to walk toward the water.

I jogged toward her to catch up. “Come on, Ash, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just kidding.”

She whipped around, anger flashing in her now red eyes. “Well, it’s not something I really want to kid about!”

“Your eyes…”

“Yeah, I know, I know. They’re probably some random color.”

“Well, yeah, but I thought Rozz and Memaw taught you how to control it?”

Ashlyn shrugged. “They did, it’s just sometimes when I’m really mad or whatever, they still change. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know. I’m sorry I mentioned Neamar,” I said dully, before my gazing eyes and brain got the best of me. “Ash, why do you wear board shorts? You know you’d be fine in a bikini, right?”

The color in Ashlyn’s cheeks flushed a brilliant crimson; something I wasn’t used to seeing too often. She didn’t look at me when she replied. “Wearing a bikini is like running around in underwear. It’s just weird and awkward for me.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be weird and awkward for me, and I think it’d be a great gift to humanity in general if you tried it.”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes and made some kind of sound that I guessed was supposed to be disgust. “You’re so gross, Reese.”

I smiled. “I try. But seriously, do us all a favor and try it out sometime.”

“You’re such a guy,” she said with a smile. “That’s something I’ll do only when no one is looking and hell has frozen over. I don’t run around in undergarments, even in my own room.”

“Guess I should take that nanny cam out of the stuffed bear I got you, then.”

Her eyes were as wide as half dollars. I doubled over in laughter. “Seriously, Ash? You think I’d do that?”

She shook her head, her face still the fire engine red it became when this topic came up. “You’re sick enough to do it.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Her smile told me she didn’t mean a word of what she’d said. “You do that.”

We had somehow ended up at the edge of the dock. No words were exchanged for a while; we simply stood there and watched the water lap against the boards that sunk into the water and mud below us. The scent of the lake was clean and reminded me of the fishing trips I used to take with my dad when I was littler. As I reminisced, a fish swam between the planks and its coloring surprised me. “Ash, did you see that?”

“See what?”

I pointed to the water below. “That fish! It was like glowing!”

She shook her head at me. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to look down? Have you not thrown me in enough pools over the years? I’m not that gullible.”

Another couple of fish flitted below, each glowing a different color. I took her face in my hands and gently turned it downward toward the water. “Ash, I’m so serious right now. Look!”

Perfect timing. It was as if the entire area lit up at once. Schools of green, blue, and red iridescent fish danced in the water below us and illuminated the water. Ashlyn sucked in a shocked breath and laughed in delight. “Oh my God! I thought you were making it up!”

I let go of her and brushed my hand against hers as I put my hands in my pocket. She caught my right hand before I could get it in my pocket and intertwined her fingers with mine. It shocked me to say the least, but I wasn’t going to complain about the development.

She laughed again as the red and blue fish sped between one another, causing the water to light up almost purple. The colors left a small trail behind the fish and the water held the purple hue for just long enough to make Ashlyn coo in amazement. “This is so amazing! This place has so many surprises.”

We stood in silence for a while before Ash spoke again. “Rozz told me our realm used to look like this when the Glaistig were there. Before they left.”

“Wish they’d come back,” I murmured.

“Me, too.”

“You know what, though?”

Ash pulled her eyes away from the schools of fish and looked at me. “What?”

I almost felt bad for what I was going to do. Almost. “You were right to think looking down was a bad idea.”

Before she could protest, I scooped her up and tossed her into the water. Her arms and legs flailed in midair, and her half-laugh, half-scream filled the air. Her back hit the water first and caused a huge smack, then water flew out from all sides of her. Fish darted in every direction, leaving almost a rainbow effect in their wake.

When she emerged, she spit out water. She tried her best to act mad, but I knew better. “Reese Williams,” she said between gasps of air, “you better apologize!”

I hung my head in mock shame. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry…for doing
this!
”

That’s when I cannonballed into the water beside her and caused a tidal wave to crash over her again.

Our bodies swirled under the water with the current I had created with my jump. A flurry of bubbles tickled our arms and legs as they whirled around us. It was great.

We broke the surface of the water together and gasped for air. Ashlyn scraped her long hair out of her face and laughed. “You’re a jerk!”

“At your service!”

She sent a wall of water toward me with her hand. I shook my head to clear the water from my eyes. When I looked up, she was nowhere to be found.

I turned in the water, treading in one place. I couldn’t even see where she’d gone, since we had made such a racket in the water.

My heart plummeted. What if something really did happen to her? I started to freak out. That was when a hand wrapped around my foot and pulled me under.

Ash’s swirl of auburn hair floated weightlessly around her. The schools of fish that cautiously swam a safe distance behind her illuminated the smile on her face. She shoved me in the chest, causing the air I’d been holding to slide out between my lips.

She stuck her tongue out and kicked her way to the surface. I followed suit and the moonlight danced along the ripples we caused in the water. It was an amazing sight.

Ash splashed me again. “You didn’t put your trunks on, dork.”

I looked down. In my haste to chuck her in, I’d just jumped in the water with my jeans and t-shirt on. I looked like a drowned rat, but struck a pose as best as I could while treading water. “Does this make me look like one of those models you stare at in the clothing stores now?”