Wraithsong (30 page)

He shakes his head and wags
his finger, as if to make a point. “Maureen has all the gifts she
needs, and if she should need any more, she only has to appropriate
some new gifts from humans. She would never dream of stealing your
gift; she wants you to become strong.”

“
Anthony told me that
Huldra gifts are even more precious than life itself, is that
true?” I say.

“
They
are, but beware, for Anthony mixes truth with lies. I do not know
how much of what he has told you is true and how much is a lie. If
I were you, I would regard
all
the
information
he
has
given
you
as falsehoods. He is the smoothest of all criminals, Sonia, and not
even his saintly mother could stand to be around him anymore. She
had to run away to this invisible island to get away from him, and
even here, poor Maureen cannot find peace.”

“
Well why
is Maureen keeping
me
here then?”

“
I suppose she is upset
that her son managed to manipulate you as well, and she wants to
help you get your mother back. As you will see, righteous people
always do the right thing.” He drinks some more coffee. “You would
be a fool not to accept her generous offer.”

My gut tells me something
is wrong, and for once, I try not to think about my situation, but
rather feel the situation out. My body feels unbalanced, as if
something isn’t quite right. Then a thought springs into my mind:
Can Olaf read my feelings?

“
No, I only read thoughts,”
he says. “But the two are very closely connected, so if you think
of something, I can probably guess how you are feeling based on
your thoughts.” He smiles.

I smile back and try to
empty my brain from all my thoughts. It’s like trying to pick up a
million feathers that have been scattered in a tornado.

“
Ah, you are getting
better. It is hard, is it not? To control one’s thoughts?” He takes
a bite of his bagel and washes it down with some more
coffee.

“
Well, I wanted to see the
rest of the castle, if you don’t mind,” I say, eager to get
away.

“
Absolutely. Maureen lives
on the third and top floor, so please respect her
privacy.”

“
I’ll keep that in mind,” I
say, standing up. “Olaf, good to see you again.”

Olaf stands up and takes my
hand, and then kisses it lightly. “I will be seeing you soon,
Sonia.”

I pull my hand back and
leave the room, wondering on my way out the door how far away I
have to be before Olaf can’t read my thoughts any more.

Out in the hallway I
continue into the grand foyer. A red oriental rug rests on top of
the stone floor and a chandelier of titanic proportions hangs high
above. The double door exit is to the left, and a wooden stairwell
to the right. The stairwell splits into two directions that lead to
each side of the house. In the foyer there are two stained-glass
doors, one on either side.

One of the rooms is a
library with a black baby grand piano and the other an office
decorated with Egyptian art. I close the door to the office quietly
and head into the other hallway. Dozens of pictures, all in frames
of different colors and sizes, plaster the walls on either side. I
don’t see Maureen’s or Anthony’s pictures anywhere, but then again,
this isn’t really Maureen’s place, so of course, their pictures
wouldn’t be here. If Maureen were smart, she would have known I
would notice that. I don’t recognize any of the other people in the
pictures either, though, wait, is that Gandhi? There is also a
picture of a woman with someone who looks like President Clinton
and wait, Abraham Lincoln and my mom?

“
We’ll be starting in ten
minutes. Let me show you where we’ll be training you.” Layla zooms
past me and takes a left at the end of the hallway.

I follow her into a room
that’s set up just like a classroom. A chalkboard hangs to the
right, six desks stand in the center of the room, and maps, number
charts, drawing boards, and graphs hang on the walls. White wooden
blinds cover the windows, and the walls are a sterile
white.

“
Do you need anything
before we start?” Layla sets a hefty stack of books down onto the
desk at the front of the room.

“
The ladies room?” I
say.

“
Down the hall, first door
to your left.” I leave and come back at exactly one minute to
ten.

“
We’ll be starting at nine
a.m. every morning.” Layla points at the clock. It ticks so loudly
that I wonder if I’ll be able to focus at all during our lessons.
“You’ll have a thirty minute lunch at noon and then we’ll continue
on until five p.m. After that, you’ll eat dinner, and then we’ll
resume our studies in the library until ten p.m.”

I sit down at the desk
front and center, dreading such a long day.

“
I’ll be your history
teacher, Maureen will be your flair technique teacher, and Olaf,
your combat and artillery instructor,” Layla says.

I nod. I just hope they’ll
teach me at least something that lines up with what the good
Huldras do.

Chapter 32

After the first day of
education, I’m so exhausted that even my eyelashes hurt. I still
feel unusually congested; I must be allergic to some of the plants
on this island.

Layla has taught me about
how the Huldras came to be—which I already knew—and of the history
of the Huldra all the way up until the Viking age in Northern
Europe. People used to believe that Huldras had hollow,
bark-covered backs and tails that resembled those of a fox or a
cow. It was all a fabrication, of course. The
bark-covered-back-and-animal-tail-story was started by a woman
whose husband had been unfaithful to her with a Huldra. The wife
had been so angry and jealous of the beautiful Huldra that she
started this rumor to make the Huldra sound more ugly than she was
and to try and keep men away from the, in her words, “devilish
creatures.” There was no mention of Huldus in these stories and I
wonder if it could be because women were better at hiding their
affairs with a Huldu from their husbands.

In the beginning, Huldras
and Huldus mainly lived on invisible islands like Wraithsong
Island. These were scattered across the Norwegian and Swedish
coasts. A few of them lived in caves around northern Europe, but
many of them were hunted and killed. Huldras would frequently
wander the forests surrounding villages and help hunters who
pleasured them. If a man pleased the Huldra to her satisfaction,
she would blow on the man’s bow or rifle, causing it to never miss
a shot. There were no stories of what Huldus would ask men or women
to do. I’ll have to ask Anthony when I see him again.

When Maureen enters, her
hair is yet another color. This time it’s shoulder-length, straight
and brown. I wonder why she keeps changing her hair color and
style, but I get the feeling it’s a taboo subject. First Maureen
teaches me how to use my flair, and though I’m very excited about
it, I don’t want to let her know that it’s something I’ve dreamed
of learning all my life.

“
It’s quite simple,”
Maureen says. “If you desire a man to fall madly in love with you
then you need to kiss him passionately. If you only want him to
submit to your will then all you need to do is ensure your saliva
comes in contact with his skin.”

I learn a little goes a
long way when it comes to my flair.

“
The amount of flair you
use has a direct correlation to how much power and control you will
have over the prospect,” Maureen says. She sounds so
business-like.

“
How will I know how much
of my flair to use?”

“
That
, you will only learn through
practice. If you use too much, well, you’ll have a slave for
life.”

“
But then I’ll just tell
him to stay away,” I say, remembering that I did that with Savannah
and that it had worked out so nicely.

“
That’s not how it works.
They will stay away for a while, but soon, they will be unable to
resist you and begin stalking you. You become an obsession to them,
and the obsession will eventually grow dangerous unless you know
how to manage it.”

I cringe inwardly, but keep
a pleasant expression pasted on my face. Savannah will definitely
be a dangerous stalker if what Maureen is saying is true—I can see
it now. I’m glad to be so far away from her, but fear what will
happen once I return to Sarasota. I’ll have to cross that bridge
when I get there.

“
If you use too little of
your flair, the prospect won’t be willing to concede his power to
you.”

It sounds a little tricky.
“So do my looks or anything else make a difference on
the…uh…prospect?” I ask.

“
Yes, of course, but not
like you think, darling. Only through your mind can you completely
seduce a human. It has little to do with your looks or your
sensuality, though those things too will naturally play an
important part—more so in the beginning,” Maureen says. “Your flair
and your mind are the two most important aspects you possess as a
Huldra. Most men think your attractiveness is your looks, but it’s
not.”

“
And what about my fifth
Huldra gift?” I have to ask.

“
That’s not in today’s
lesson. Now focus!” Maureen says impatiently.

Of course that’s what she’d
say.

Finally, Olaf takes me out
to a field just outside the castle and teaches me how to shoot a
bow and arrow, how to blend in with the environment and how to
track someone. When we go outside, I see the entire castle and am
surprised to see that it’s huge and is built into the surrounding
mountain. That must be how they have the cave. The Gothic castle
has a circular, gray stone tower situated on each of the four
corners, an oak front door with steps leading up to it, and tons of
stained-glass lancet windows. It looks haunted, not because the
castle hasn’t been maintained, but because it’s so dark and gloomy,
especially now in the afternoon when the building sits in the shade
of the mountain behind it.

The long day finally ends,
and I massage my shoulders, trying to relax. I take a shower in the
attached bath and sink into bed. I study the Eleven Charges a
Huldra must abide by. Maureen is going to test me on them in the
morning.

The Eleven
Charges

I promise as a
Huldra…

1. To abide by the laws of the land
   and to bear with integrity and valor the rulings of my
   leaders.
   

2. To remain honest and faithful in
   love and devoted to the tried and true friend.
   

3. To never make false
   oaths.
   

4. To deal gently with the humble and
   lowly.
   

5. To respect my elders and honor my
   ancestors.
   

6. To stand up against evil when I
   see it and to fight against the enemies of Faith, Humanity and
   Family.
   

7. To comfort the friendless and
   fatherless.
   

8. To not let myself become entangled
   in matters that are unimportant.
   

9. To never set my own needs in front of another.
   

10. To never reveal the Huldra Dynasty
    or the existence of our kind to humanity.
    

11. To never take more than I need and
    never to the detriment of another.
    

I think Maureen needs to
abide a little better by the last charge. She’s taking more than
she needs and definitely to the detriment of others. After about an
hour of studying, I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and I drift off
to sleep.

Chapter 33

I wake up in the middle of
the night with the unsettling feeling that someone is watching me.
When I open my eyes, I see Olaf sitting at the end of my bed,
glaring at me, his eyes shining like gold suns in the dark. I
snatch the covers, pulling them over my chest, up to my chin and
sit up.

“
What are you doing here?”
I remember locking my door, so how did he get inside my
room?

“
I am sorry, did I startle
you?” Olaf says.

“
Please leave,” I say as
firmly as I can.

Olaf’s eyes look hungry,
like he wants something from me. “I have to admit; Maureen was
right about you.”

“
If you want to talk,
you’ll have to wait until our lesson tomorrow.” I try not to think
about how his presence makes me feel completely violated. My
fearful thoughts aren’t something I want Olaf to hear.

“
You intrigue me, Sonia,
being so beautiful and honest, and I love listening to your
thoughts and entering your dreams,” he says.

“
I’d prefer you didn’t,” I
say. I don’t want to anger him, for if I do, I get the sense that
he’ll harm me. He’s calm on the outside, but I sense a raging storm
below the surface of his demeanor.

“
You know, usually my
students enjoy my interest in them. They show gratitude and
appreciation for all the extra time and effort I put into their
training.”