Wraithsong (14 page)

I don’t remember ever
telling Anthony my mom’s name, but I might be wrong, so I decide
not to ask him about it. Now that things are so good between us,
I’d rather not ruin the evening by interrogating him.

After we finish eating our
pan-roasted Atlantic salmon, we head for the Sarasota Performing
Arts Center. Small groups of formally dressed patrons scurry toward
the seashell-designed yellow and gold building. As the sun sets,
the sky turns red and gold.

Watching the ballet, I
remember how much I love dancing and promise myself that I’ll take
it up again as soon as I can. The red velvet curtain drops, and the
lights go up for the first of two intermissions. We head into the
foyer, and the first thing I do is check my phone. I have nine
missed calls, six text messages and three voicemails. A sinking
feeling floods my gut.

“
I’m just going to use the
ladies room,” I say to Anthony, my eyes still on my phone. Before
I’m even able to take a step, he grabs my arm. “Ouch.” I give him a
mean look because his grip is a little too strong for my
liking.

“
Sorry, I didn’t mean to
hurt you.” He lets go right away. “Is everything all right? You
look flushed.”

“
I do?” I pretend not to
notice. “It’s a little hot in here, that’s all.”

“
You sure?” His voice
sounds tense. “Because I want tonight to be perfect for
us.”

“
Yes,” I say and walk off.
He’s acting a little strange again. In the bathroom stall, I check
Ashley’s text messages first.

Text 1: Your mom called.
She says she needed to get a hold of you.

Text 2: Your mom called
again. She sounds nervous. Please call her.

Text 3: Ok, so she’s
freaking me out now. She says if she can’t get a hold of you she’ll
call the cops. Are you ok?

Text 4: Ok, now I’m
freaking out too. Please, please respond!

I hardly dare to read the
texts from my mom.

Text 1: I tried to call
you, but no answer, so I called Ashley instead. She says you are
shopping in a different store than her. You have to call me right
now. It’s an emergency.

I don’t recall my mother
ever using the word ‘emergency.’ Something must be very wrong, and
I don’t think it has anything to do with her finding out that I’m
out on a date with Anthony. If that were the case, she would have
texted something like, ‘you are in big trouble, young lady.’ Maybe
something else has happened to her family in Kensington.

Text 2: I’m calling the
police if you don’t reply by 8:30.

I look at the time. 8:31. I
don’t bother to check the three voice messages she left, but
instead, call my mom right away. No answer. I call her again. No
answer. I call a third time and leave a brief message, saying I am
okay and for her to call back ASAP. Then I call Ashley.

“
Sonia, thank heavens—I’ve
been worrying like mad!” Ashley says, her voice bordering on
hysteria.

“
Yes, I’m fine. I’m at the
ballet, like I told you,” I say.

“
Your mom is a basket case,
and she’s been calling me nonstop. She mentioned something about a
guy named Olaf. I’m so glad to hear your voice. Do you know what’s
going on? Please tell me you’ve already called your mom.
I…”

“
Please just let me speak!”
I’m glad I’m in the stall, or I would have a few angry old ladies
glaring at me for raising my voice and disturbing their pleasant
evening. “I tried to call my mom three times, but she didn’t pick
up. Can you drive over to my house and check on her? I’m worried
that something might have happened to her.”

Ashley huffs. “Sure. I’ll
call you in like five minutes or whenever I get there, but I’m not
going in, or she’ll know that I’m part of this deception.” She
hangs up.

I know I’ve stretched
Ashley’s limits by asking this of her. She’ll be upset at me for a
day or two, but she doesn’t hold grudges any longer than that. I
head out of the bathroom to talk to Anthony while I wait for
Ashley’s return call. “Hey,” I say, trying to act as calm and
normal as possible, but I can barely steady my trembling
hands.

“
Are you sure everything is
fine? You seem preoccupied,” Anthony says.

I try to smile, but I know
it won’t be possible for me to maintain this façade for the rest of
the evening. “My mom has been calling and texting me all night.” I
hear the anxiety in my voice.

“
Well, she probably found
out that you’re with me,” Anthony says and grins so all his teeth
show.

“
No, I’m serious. She left
a message saying she’ll call the police if she doesn’t hear from
me, but when I call her back, she doesn’t pick up.” This reminds me
that I haven’t listened to her voicemails yet. “Wait here.” I step
out through the glass doors. Going outside feels like taking a
bath, it’s so humid and hot. I call my voicemail.

Sonia, it’s Mom, please
call me as soon as you get this. This is an emergency, all right,
sweetie?

I save the first message
from my mom and move onto the next one.

Sonia, it’s me again. I
really, really need you to call me. I don’t want to alarm you too
much, but this is a matter of utmost importance. Call me right
away.

I save that one, too, and
move onto the last one.

Sonia, now I’m really
worried about you. This is a matter of life and death, and if you
don’t respond I’ll be calling the police. This is about the Huldra
governesses. Three of them have gone missing. I can only hope that
you are well. I love you.

I try to call my mom again,
no answer. I try again, and still no answer. “Come on, Mom, pick
up, pick up, pick up,” I say.

Anthony comes over and
rests his hand over my phone, preventing me from calling yet again.
“Let’s go home. It seems like you’re worried about your
mom.”

“
I need to get home right
away,” I say. “My mom says it’s important.” I don’t know where the
tears come from, but I can’t stop them.

“
Okay, let’s go.” Anthony
hands his ticket stub to the valet and tells him he’ll give him a
huge tip if he is back with the car in less than two minutes. The
valet returns quickly, zooming Anthony’s car into the overhang and
screeching the tires when he stops. Anthony flips him a
fifty-dollar bill, and we’re on our way.

“
This isn’t the way home!”
I say when he turns to head north on the trail.

“
It’s a shortcut.”
Anthony’s eyes are glued to the road.

“
No, it’s not, you’re going
the wrong way!” I’m suddenly angry, having clearly explained to him
that I need to get home right away.

“
Just let me drive!”
Anthony’s voice betrays his own anger.

“
Slow down! What’s your
problem exactly? I told you I need to get home to my mom—she said
it was an emergency.”

“
No, I need to get you away
from here, or Olaf will…”

I interrupt him. “What?”
Alarms ring in my head. “How do you know about Olaf?”

“
I’ve known about him for a
few years. He’s after you and your mother,” Anthony says, like it’s
nothing.

“
How do you know that, and
why is he after us, and who is he anyway and…?” The questions come
faster than I can speak them.

“
I haven’t been telling you
the whole truth about me.” Anthony swerves around a black
convertible so fast that the palm trees that line the trail pass by
in a blur.

“
Well, that’s obvious. Are
you finally going to tell me who you are?” I grab onto the
dashboard to steady myself.

“
I know who you are, Sonia.
You’re a Huldra, soon to be accepted into the Dynasty,” Anthony
says.

I can’t speak for a moment;
I’m so surprised that he finally admits knowing. “And you’re a
Huldu, admit it!” I scream so loud that my voice feels like it will
crack.

“
Yes, Sonia, I am. I’m a
Huldu, but that’s only a tiny amount of the truth you need to know.
You’re so hung up on this Huldra, Huldu thing that nothing else
matters to you at all.”

“
That’s not true!” I
yell.

“
You don’t have any idea
about anything, do you? You think you can break the Huldra codes
without any consequences; it’s all a game to you, but right now
there’s a lot more at stake than your freedom.”

“
My freedom?” I say. “What
do you mean?”

“
I know what you’re
thinking because I went through the same thing. You probably don’t
want to commit to the Dynasty, do you? You think that it will limit
you in some way and that you’ll have to conform to all their
ancient ways and that’s why you’re rebelling—so you can keep your
freedom. It happens to all of the new Huldras and Huldus at your
age.”

Of course he’s right about
me rebelling, but I won’t admit that to him. “Are there more
Huldras and Huldus?”

“
Only your clan. All the
others have been murdered by Olaf and…the Almighty
Huldra.”

“
Is Olaf responsible for
kidnapping my aunts?” I ask.

“
Yes, and now he probably
has your mother too.”

The blood drains from my
face and then a wail escapes my lips.

Chapter 15

Anthony is still speeding
down the road, but I don’t care as much about his reckless driving
as I do about my mom.

“
Do you know for a fact
that Olaf has my mom?”

His lips press together,
turning them white.

My phone rings again and I
see that it’s Ashley calling. I answer it, but before I manage to
say hello, Anthony hits the phone out of my hand so it bounces off
the inside of the windshield, slides across the dashboard over to
Anthony’s side and falls onto the floor.

All reason tells me that
I
should
be
afraid that Anthony will do something harmful to me, but the only
thing I feel is anger—that and extreme fear for my mom’s
safety.

“
Are you crazy? That was
Ashley calling me back to let me know how my mom is doing!” I
say.

“
If you sent Ashley over to
your house, trust me, that wasn’t her calling you back.” The light
in front of us turns yellow, and then red, but Anthony keeps
going.

I’m going to die. “She
wasn’t going to go inside the house, just check to see if my mom
was home,” I fume sarcastically.

Anthony pauses, his eyes
shifting, but he remains silent.

“
Why
wouldn’t that be
her
calling me from
her
phone anyway?”

Anthony takes a sharp right
into a small side-road and keeps speeding down the cracked asphalt
street. Shabby-looking pine trees and bushes zoom by in a flash.
“Because if Olaf’s people managed to get your mother, then they
might have captured Ashley, too.”

I wince. “How do you
supposedly know about all this? Are you one of his spies? Is that
why I dreamt of Olaf the night you visited?” I ask.

He ignores me.

“
Anthony, please just
answer the question,” I plead.

“
My mother and Olaf work
together, and…” He stops speaking and he presses his lips
together.

“
Curse you, Anthony, if you
keep any more secrets from me, I swear I’ll never talk to you for
as long as I live.”

He slams on the
breaks.

I stretch my arms out in
front of me to keep from skyrocketing forward. “You’re driving like
a maniac!” I reach across Anthony’s lap, grab my phone and jump out
of the car as quickly as I can. “I’ll hike home,” I yell, slamming
the car door shut.

Anthony comes after me,
slamming his car door shut behind him. “Listen to me, Sonia. If you
go home, I can guarantee you that you’ll be kidnapped and you’ll
never see your mother again.”

“
I don’t
believe any of your guarantees,” I say, not stopping, but sweeping
my hands across my face to catch the tears. “Why do you know about
these things Anthony, and why haven’t you told me about them
before?” I hate him for it. “I’ll
never
trust you again.” In all
honesty, I think I never will.

“
I know you think that now,
but please let me explain.”

“
As far as I’m concerned, I
think you’re a prick and a jerk and a moron and an immoral piece of
crap Huldu all rolled into one,” I say. It feels good to get that
off my chest.

“
I know that’s what you
must think of me right now, and I accept that. I should have told
you before, but you don’t know how complicated my life is, and how
much power my mother has.”

“
I don’t care that you have
a complicated life. Mine’s worse, way worse, and all I know is that
I need to help my mom. She says that her three sisters have gone
missing.” I stop and stare at Anthony. “What do you know about
that?”