Wraithsong (37 page)

“
No, she won’t. If that was
her intent, she would have done that last night.”

“
She could
have…”

Out from the bushes
Maureen, Layla and seven other Darkálfars emerge. The Darkálfars’
skin is as black as coal, but their hair is scintillating
silver.

“
Thank you for leading us
here, Sonia. Seize them!” Maureen commands.

The Darkálfars storm toward
us at once, grabbing our arms and aiming their machine guns at our
backs. My arms hurt; they’re squeezing my wounds, but I clench my
mouth shut. I will not let out a cry.

Doesn’t Maureen remember
that Anthony will turn into a giant beast once his feet hit the
shore? I’m not about to remind her. Layla is the one who has her
machine gun pointed into Anthony’s back. Maybe I still have time to
try and convince Layla that she’s fighting on the wrong
side.

“
Layla, Maureen isn’t who
you think she is! She’s trying to steal my gift and…Anthony’s your
brother!” It’s a desperate attempt, but it is one.

Layla’s eyes remain as cold
as steel. “Nice try, Sonia. Even I wouldn’t fall for a stupid lie
like that.”

“
Why else would she be
imprisoning Anthony and me? We’re no threat to her. We’re just
trying to get my mom back. Why else do you think Maureen is so
interested in having me here on the island, and why am I not
allowed to leave?” Before I’m able to tell Maureen that Olaf tried
to steal my fifth Huldra gift, I feel a hard knock on the back of
my head and blackness steals my consciousness away.

Chapter 39

I come back to myself in a
cold, damp and pitch-black room. I wince from the pain in my body
as I move, and then I feel a warm gentle hand stroking my
brow.

“
Shh—try not to move,”
Anthony says. “They hit your head hard.”

I touch my head and find a
huge, tender bump. “Where are we?” I ask, not able to see anything
other than a few glimmers of light that shine through the gap
between the door and the floor.

“
In a cell below the
castle,” he says.

“
My mom?” My stomach
contorts. I want this all to be over, to be back at home with my
mom, so I can tell her how much I love and appreciate her. This
nightmare of a life I’ve been living lately seems only to get worse
and worse and has now become completely unbearable.

“
Still missing in action,”
he says, caressing my hair.

“
Wait, how is it that
you’re not a beast?” I ask, now realizing he’s just
himself.

“
Maureen…she forced
something down my throat.”

“
Maybe an antidote of some
sort?”

“
Maybe.” Anthony
huffs.

“
Are you hurt?”

“
I’ll be fine.”

My head starts pounding
violently, and I’m grateful it’s dark. Sitting up, I search for
Anthony’s hands. “Hold me,” I say, needing to be comforted by
him.

He wraps his arms around me
and we sit still for a while.

“
How are we going to get
out of here?” I ask.

Anthony chuckles. “You are
wonderful, do you know that? We’re in the most hopeless situation
of our lives and you don’t complain, you don’t despair, but you ask
how we can get out of here. That’s why I like you so
much.”

I strain a smile in the
darkness. “I’m just glad I have you here, or I’d be totally
depressed.”

“
I’m glad I’m here with you
too, even though the setting doesn’t quite fit my liking.” He
pauses and shifts a little where he sits. “I told Skuld that if I
didn’t return by 10:00 a.m. something has gone wrong and they need
to come for us. They’ll come looking for me, and for you, so all
isn’t lost.”

“
When I roamed the castle
at night, I never found the entrance to this place. Do you think
they will find us?”

“
I hope so, but I’m more
worried about what Maureen has up her sleeve. She knows about the
Lightálfars and may even be planning an attack on them.”

“
I didn’t realize there
were that many Darkálfars,” I say. “Did you?”

“
There may even be more
than what we saw.” Anthony sounds very worried.

“
That would be
bad.”

“
Yes, but I’d rather die
here with you than fight on Maureen’s side.” He pauses as if
thinking about something. “She stole my gift, you know.”

“
Your fifth
gift?”

“
Yes.”

He doesn’t say what it was,
and I don’t ask; he’ll tell me when he’s ready. I wonder if Maureen
conceived Anthony just so she could get his gift. There aren’t that
many Huldras or Huldus in the world, so each fifth gift must be of
extreme value. I don’t mention it because I don’t want to hurt
him.

I have to get my mind off
our miserable situation before it drowns me completely. I try to
think of how life was back home in Sarasota. “You know the first
thing I’m going to do when I get out of here?” I say. Or if we get
out of here.

“
What?” Anthony
says.

“
I’m going to call Ashley.
She’s probably thoroughly freaked out by now that I’ve dropped off
the face of the planet.”

Anthony chuckles. “You know
what I’m going to do?”

“
What?”

“
Take you on a proper
date.”

I would normally have
laughed, but I’m too stressed right now. “I’d like that very much.”
So much has changed over just the past few days. The seriousness of
our situation starts to weigh me down again, and I can’t, no matter
how hard I try and resist, stop the tears from coming.

“
We can get through this,
Sonia—together,” he says. “But seriously, will you go on a date
with me?”

“
I’d love to go on a date
with you. Where would you take me?” I say, my voice thick, as I
struggle to get the words out.

“
To Hawaii,” he says. “That
seems like a relaxing enough place, don’t you think?”

I smile a little now. “Very
relaxing.”

He kisses my cheek and I
turn my head to the side. Our lips find each other in the dark. The
only thing right in my life is Anthony—my Darkálfar.

“
My fifth gift was the gift
of dimensional slicing, meaning the bearer of the gift can
transport from one realm or dimension to another, from anywhere,”
Anthony says.

That would have been an
amazing ability to have, and I feel so horrible that Anthony never
received that gift. “Thank you for sharing.”

A key rattles on the other
side of the door, and the rusty metal door opens. Bright lights
blare from the outside, and for a split second, I think I see Olaf
standing in the doorway.

Chapter 40

“
Get the girl,” Olaf says
to the two Darkálfars standing behind him. The Darkálfars both have
piercings all the way up their ears and several more in their
faces. They’re grotesquely muscular and their faces are etched with
hatred and they wear black suits that look like modern Nazi
uniforms. A gold dragon-faced logo with a wreath around it is
attached to the left shoulder sleeve of their uniforms. It looks
like the same beast Anthony and Maureen morph into.

“
Leave her alone, Olaf!”
Anthony stands up and takes a swing at him, but Olaf fires the
pistol in his hand, shooting Anthony in the shoulder. Anthony
screams and falls to the floor, blood saturating his
shirt.

I hear the pain in his cry.
“Anthony!” I yell. But I can’t go to him; the Darkálfars have
grabbed hold of me. I kick and scream, thrashing my arms and legs
wildly. “You don’t have to kill us because I’ve already decided to
give you my fifth Huldra gift. Just let my mom go free and Anthony
and me, and it’s all yours.”

“
Sonia, don’t you dare give
him your gift,” Anthony groans, holding onto his
shoulder.

“
Shut up, Anthony! If we’re
not alive, there’s no benefit to me keeping my gift anyway!” I
haven’t really decided to give my gift away yet, but I just want my
presentation to be believable enough so I can buy time. With more
time, I have a better chance to find other ways to
escape.

Olaf smiles and says slyly,
“The young Huldra does have a point, Anthony.”

“
I saw you die, Olaf. What,
you had to come back from the dead to plague us some more?” I can’t
believe I actually felt bad that Anthony killed him.

He nods and then sighs.
“Well, I guess Maureen skipped the part in the Book of Huldras that
explains how a Huldra can appropriate lives, or maybe you just did
not have the ability to stay focused enough on the lesson to learn
that part,” Olaf retorts.

“
Olaf, you’re not as
appreciated or needed here as you might think. Layla was excited
when she saw that you had died, and even said you had it coming,” I
spew.

“
I doubt that she said
anything of the sort. A low blow will not get you anywhere here,”
Olaf says.

“
Whose life did you have to
steal anyway? Maureen’s? Layla’s?”

“
Your father’s,” Olaf
says.

It feels like a million
bricks are thrown at me at once. Surely, what Olaf said can’t be
true. “My dad died over a year ago,” I say. “You’re
lying.”

“
I am telling the truth. I
took your father’s pathetic life, swallowed it right up, after the
car accident,” Olaf says. “Now, the life-force he gave up, lives in
me.”

I detest the tears that
emerge from my eyes, as they might look like signs of weakness to
Olaf. If I had the chance to kill Olaf again, knowing he’d die for
good, I’d gladly be the one to do it. I’m surprised by the hatred I
have toward him, but he shot Anthony, and he claims to have taken
my father’s life. How did Olaf know how and when my dad died? Did
he know my father? Had they been friends?

“
That is none of your
concern,” Olaf says.

In my rage, and surprise to
see that Olaf was alive, I forgot that he can read my mind. I
forget too easily. “My family is my concern!” I’m so mad that I
know I’d kill him given the chance.

Olaf laughs mockingly.
“There is still time to become the Huldra you were meant to become.
Join us, and we will overlook this one indiscretion of
yours.”

He thinks he’s so clever,
throwing my comment to him when he broke into my room back in my
face. “Never!” I’d rather die.

“
Dear
Sonia—sweet little Huldra—you are such a disappointment. Maureen
had such high hopes for you.
I
had such high hopes for you.” I
cry when he grabs the raw flesh of my arm and pulls me with him
through the dark dungeon hallway.

“
At least when you feel
pain, you know that you are still alive.” He shoves me into a room
with a metal bed identical to the one I woke up on when I arrived
here. The room is square and looks like a makeshift surgery room
with massive rectangular light bulbs hanging from each of the four
corners. There are three small tables with scalpels, tweezers, and
other shiny scary-looking instruments neatly placed on top of
them.

“
Strap
her up so she cannot move,” Olaf says to the two Darkálfars. He
flings me toward the table and the
Darkálfars
grab my arms.

“
I want to talk to
Maureen,” I say, still struggling to pull away from the
Darkálfars.

“
Do you really think,
mulatto girl, that Maureen will be any kinder to you? You should be
glad I am here as I am far more merciful than she.”

I don’t care what he says.
“I demand to see her immediately.” The Darkálfars wrestle me onto
the table and secure me with four white straps. I give them hell,
determined to fight until the bitter end.

“
Oh, yes, you always were a
feisty one. Unruly, undisciplined, unappreciative…it is a very
common problem among youths today. Millennia ago, children were
well-behaved and were so much more respectful of their elders,”
Olaf says.

“
And you were always a liar
and a greedy, blood-sucking leech.”

Olaf comes over and pulls
my hair back so hard that my eyes burn. “I will get Maureen for
you,” he says, licking his lips.

“
Good,” I say and smile as
I gasp. I’m afraid, but I’m also strong.

Olaf releases my hair. “Do
you know that I hate mixed breeds like you? Maureen hates mixed
breeds too and that is another reason she cannot stand Anthony. He
is just a pathetic Huldu-Darkálfar mix.”

“
How can she hold that
against him? He’s her son!”

Olaf ignores my question
and turns on the blinding lights, one at a time, as he paces around
the metal bed. “Half breeds are so difficult to deal with. What the
Helheim
are
you?
Half something, half something else? Not really anything at all?”
He stops walking. “Purity used to be important in the Huldra
Dynasty, but because of your mom, the governesses changed the rules
and allowed Huldras to marry humans and Lightálfars. Purity is
being bred out. The bloodline of the pure Huldra is vanishing, and
they are doing nothing to stop it!”