“I was doing you a favor,” Loki replied evenly. “If I hadn’t been there, it would’ve been worse. ”
“I’m not having this discussion now. ” She glanced in my direction, then walked out of the room.
“Is that everything, then?” Loki asked us once she’d gone.
“Not even close. ” Matt had been sitting next to me but he got to his feet. “What do you want with us? You can’t just keep us here!”
“I’ll take that as a yes. ” Loki smiled emptily at me and turned to leave the room.
Matt tried to rush him, but Loki was already out the door before he got to him. He slammed the door and Matt flew into it. There was a loud clicking as bolts locked, and Matt sagged against the door.
“What is going on here?” Matt shouted and turned to look at me. “How come you’re not dying anymore?”
“Would you rather I be dying?” I pulled the sleeve of my sweater down and wiped the blood away from my face. “I could get Kyra in here to finish the job. ”
Page 7
“Don’t be ridiculous. ” Matt rubbed his forehead. “I want to know what’s happening. I feel like I’m in a bad dream. ”
“It gets easier,” I said and turned to Rhys. “What the hell was that hobgoblin thing that came in? Was that an actual troll?”
“I don’t know. ” Rhys shook his head, looking just as bewildered as I felt. “I’ve never seen one before, but everyone goes out of their way to make sure mänks don’t know anything. ”
“I didn’t think there were real trolls. ” I furrowed my brow, trying to remember what Finn had told me about trolls before. “I thought they were just myths. ”
“Really?” Matt asked. “After everything that’s happened? So you pick and choose what mythology you believe in?”
“I’m not picking and choosing anything. ” I got to my feet. I still felt sore all over, but it was light-years better than I’d felt when I woke up. “I believe what I can see. I hadn’t seen this before. That’s all. ”
“Are you okay?” Matt watched me as I hobbled around the room. “Maybe you should take it easy. ”
“No, I’m fine. ” I brushed him off. I wanted to get my bearings in the space, maybe see if there was a way that we could get out. “How did we get here anyway?”
“They broke into the house and attacked us. ” Matt gestured to the door, referring to Loki and the Vittra. “That guy knocked us out somehow, and we woke up here. We hadn’t been awake very long before you woke up. ”
“Lovely. ” I pressed my palms against the door, pushing on it as if I thought it would open. It didn’t, but I had to try.
“Hey, where’s Finn?” Rhys asked, echoing thoughts I was starting to have. “Why didn’t he stop this?”
“What does Finn have to do with this?” Matt asked with an edge to his voice.
“Nothing. He used to be my tracker. It’s sorta like a bodyguard. ” I took a step back, staring at the door and willing it to open. “He tried to protect me from all of this. ”
“That’s why you ran away with him?” Matt asked. “He was protecting you?”
I sighed. “Something like that. ”
“Where is he?” Rhys repeated. “I thought he was with you when the Vittra came. ”
Matt started yelling about Finn being in my room, but I ignored him. I didn’t have the energy to fight with Matt about propriety or his feelings for Finn.
“Finn left before they broke in,” I said, once Matt had finished his tirade. “I don’t know where he’s at. ”
I wouldn’t admit it, but I was surprised that Finn hadn’t protected me. Maybe he had really left. I thought it had all been a bluff, but if it was, Finn would’ve been there when we were attacked.
Unless something bad had happened to him. The Vittra could have gotten to him before they came after me. He cared too much for duty, even if he didn’t care enough for me. The only way he wouldn’t keep me safe was if he couldn’t.
“Wendy?” Rhys asked.
I think he’d been talking before that, but I hadn’t heard anything he’d said. I’d been too busy thinking of Finn and staring at the door.
“We have to get out of here,” I said and turned to Rhys and Matt.
Matt sighed. “Obviously. ”
“I have an idea. ” I bit my lip. “But it’s not a great one. When they come back, I can use my persuasion. I can convince them to let us go. ”
“Do you really think it’s strong enough?” Rhys voiced the concern I’d had myself.
So far, I’d only used persuasion on unsuspecting humans, like Matt and Rhys, and Finn had told me that without training, my abilities weren’t as strong as they could be. I hadn’t begun my training yet in Förening, so I had no clue how powerful or weak I might be.
“I really don’t know,” I admitted.
“Persuasion?” Matt raised an eyebrow and looked at Rhys. “Is that the thing you were telling me about? That mind thing she can supposedly do?” Rhys nodded, and Matt rolled his eyes.
“It’s not supposedly. ” I bristled at his skepticism. “I can do it. I’ve done it to you before. ”
“When?” Matt asked dubiously.
“How do you think I got you to take me to see Kim?” I asked, referring to when he’d taken me to see his mother, my “host” mother, in the institution.
He hated her and didn’t want me to have anything to do with her. I’d used persuasion on him, even though I’d felt guilty about it, but it was the only way I could talk to her.
“You did that?” The shock and hurt in his eyes was instantly replaced by anger. He looked like he’d been slapped in the face. I lowered my eyes and turned away. “You tricked me? How could you do that, Wendy? You always say you never lie to me, then you go and do something like that!”
“It wasn’t a lie,” I said sheepishly.
“No, it’s worse!” Matt shook his head and stepped away from me, as if he couldn’t stand to be near me. “I can’t believe you did that. How often did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “For a long time, I didn’t know I was doing it. But once I figured it out, I tried not to do it at all. I don’t like doing it, especially to you. It’s not fair, and I know it. ”
“Damn right it’s not fair!” Matt snapped. “It’s cruel and manipulative!”
“I’m really sorry. ” I met his eyes, and the hurt in them stung painfully. “I promise I won’t ever do it again, not to you. ”
“I hate to break up this moment, but we need to figure a way out of here,” Rhys interrupted. “So what is the plan?”
“We call someone,” I said, happy for the reprieve from thinking about how much Matt must hate me.
“What do you mean, ‘call someone’? Do you have your cell phone?” Rhys asked excitedly.
“No, I mean, summon someone. The way Matt did before. ” I pointed to the door behind me. “Knock on the door, say we’re hungry or cold or dead or whatever. When they come, I can use my persuasion on them to get them to let us out. ”
“You think that will really work?” Matt asked, but the disbelief had dropped from his voice. He was only asking my opinion now.
“Maybe. ” I looked at Rhys. “But I have a favor to ask. Can I practice on you?”
Page 8
“Sure. ” Rhys shrugged, trusting me immediately.
“What do you mean, ‘practice’?” Matt asked with a concerned edge.
He moved a bit closer to Rhys, and I realized with some surprise that he finally believed Rhys was his brother. He wanted to protect Rhys from me. I felt some relief and happiness knowing that he’d started accepting him, but it hurt a little—okay, a lot—to know that Matt thought of me as a threat.
“I haven’t done it very much. ” I didn’t like the way Matt scrutinized me with his gaze, so I paced the room, as if that could deflect his attention somehow. “And it’s been a while since I’ve done it at
all. ”
That last part wasn’t entirely true, since I’d just used it on Rhys the day before, but I didn’t want him reacting the way Matt had. This whole process would go a lot easier the less people hated me.
“So what do you want to do?” Matt asked.
“I don’t know yet. ” I shrugged. “But I just need to practice. It’s the only way I can get stronger. ”
Despite Matt’s obvious reservations, Rhys went along with it. It felt very odd to have someone witnessing persuasion, especially someone clearly against it, but I had no choice. It wasn’t like I could send Matt into the next room or something.
I could see Matt watching me intently out of the corner of my eye. It was distracting, but that was probably better practice for me. I doubted I could get any of the Vittra to step aside to a quiet place while I tried to use a bit of mind control on the guard.
I decided to start simple. Rhys and I were standing, facing each other, so I started repeating in my head, Sit down. I want you to sit down.
His blue eyes met mine evenly at first, then a fog passed over them. His face seemed to slacken, and his expression went completely blank. Without a word, he sat down on the floor.
“Is he okay?” Matt asked nervously.
“Yeah, I’m fine. ” Rhys sounded like he’d just woken up. He looked up at me, his eyes dazed. “So, are you gonna do it or what?”
“I already did it. ” I had never talked to anybody about it after using persuasion on them, and it felt strange to be open about it.
“What are you talking about?” Rhys’s brow furrowed, and he looked back and forth between Matt and me, trying to understand.
“You got all spaced out, then you sat on the floor,” Matt said.
“Why did you sit down?” I asked.
“I…” His face scrunched up in concentration. “I don’t know. I just … I sat down. ” He shook his head and looked up at me. “You did that?”
“Yeah. You didn’t feel anything or sense anything?” I asked.
I had never known if what I did hurt people. They never complained of pain or anything, but maybe they couldn’t because they didn’t understand what was happening.
“No. I didn’t even…” He shook his head again, unable to articulate what he meant. “I expected there to be a blackout or something. But … I knew that I was sitting. It was more like a reflex. Like, I breathe all the time, but I don’t think about it. This was the same. ”
“Hmm. ” I looked at him thoughtfully. “Stand up. ”
“What?” Rhys asked.
“Stand up,” I repeated. He stared up at me for a second, then looked around. His eyes hardened and his eyebrows pinched up.
“What’s going on?” Matt asked, moving closer to us.
“I … I can’t stand up. ”
“Do you need me to help you up?” Matt offered.
“No. It’s not like that. ” Rhys shook his head. “I mean, you could pull me up. You’re stronger than me, and I’m not physically pinned to the floor. I just … forgot how?”
“Weird. ” I watched him with fascination.
Once before, I had made Matt get out of my room, and it’d been a while before he’d been able to go in there again. Which meant my persuasion had lingering effects, but it did eventually wear off.
“‘Weird’?” Matt scoffed. “Wendy, fix him!”
“He’s not broken,” I said defensively, but Matt glared at me in a way that made me want to crawl under a rock. I crouched down in front of Rhys. “Rhys, look at me. ”
“Okay?” He met my eyes uncertainly.
I wasn’t even sure if I could reverse the process. I had never tried to undo persuasion before, but I didn’t think it’d be that hard. And if I couldn’t, then he’d just have to sit down for a week or two. Maybe.
Instead of worrying about the possible repercussions, I focused all my energy on him. I just said, Stand up, in my head over and over again. It took longer than it did last time, but eventually his face started to fog over. He blinked at me a few times and got to his feet.
“I am so glad that worked. ” I let out a sigh of relief.
“Are you sure it worked?” Matt asked me, but his eyes were on Rhys. Rhys stared blankly at the floor, looking more out of it than he had last time. “Rhys? Are you okay?”
“What?” Rhys lifted his head. He blinked at us, as if he’d just noticed we were there. “What? Did something happen?”
“You’re standing up. ” I pointed to his legs, and he looked down.
“Oh. ” He lifted one of his legs, making sure it still worked, and didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he looked up at me. “I’m sorry. Were we talking about something?”
“You couldn’t stand up. Remember?” I asked, but my stomach twisted. I might really have broken Rhys.
“Oh. Yeah. ” He shook his head. “Yeah, I remember. But I can stand now. Did you do that?”
“Wendy, I don’t like you playing with him like this,” Matt said quietly.
Matt faced Rhys, but he gave me a sidelong glance. He tried to keep his face hard, but his eyes betrayed his fear.
I had scared Matt, and not in the same way as when I’d run away. Then he’d been scared for me, but now he seemed scared of me, and it created a painful knot in my chest.
“I’m done now. ” I stepped away from Rhys.
My dark hair hung around my face. I had a tie around my wrist, so I pulled my hair up into a loose bun.
“What?” Rhys asked, sounding alert.
He had fully come out of the trance I’d had him under, but I didn’t want to look at him. Matt made me feel ashamed about using persuasion, even if Rhys was aware of what I had done.
Page 9
“Sit down,” Matt suggested.
“Why? I don’t wanna sit down. ”
“Sit down anyway,” Matt said, more firmly this time. When Rhys didn’t respond, Matt repeated his command. “Rhys, sit down. ”
“I don’t get why it’s so important to you that I sit down. ” Rhys grew more agitated as Matt pressed him, which was strange, since I’d never really heard him sound irritated with anyone. “I’m fine standing up. ”
“You can’t sit down. ” Matt sighed, looking over at me. “You broke him a different way, Wendy. ”
“Wendy did this?” Rhys furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand. What did you do? You told me not to sit?”
“No, I told you to sit, and you couldn’t stand. Then I told you to stand, and you can’t sit. ” I sighed in frustration. “Now I don’t know what to say! I don’t really wanna say anything anymore. I might make it so you stop breathing or something. ”
“Can you do that?” Matt asked.
“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up. “I have no idea what I’m capable of. ”
“I can’t sit down for a while. ” Rhys shrugged. “Big deal. I don’t even wanna sit down. ”
“That’s probably a side effect of the persuasion,” I told him as I paced our cell.
“Whatever, I don’t care if it is,” Rhys said. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not in a situation that calls for sitting down, anyway. The important thing is that you know that you can do this. You can use this, we can get out of here, and somebody in Förening can fix me. Okay?”
I stopped pacing and looked uneasily at Matt and Rhys. Rhys was right. I needed to get us out of here. It wasn’t safe here, and Rhys’s inability to sit was a secondary concern. If anything, it just made me want to get us out of here quicker.
“Are you guys ready?”
“For what?” Matt asked.
“To run. I don’t know what’s on the other side of the door, or how long I can hold them off,” I said. “As soon as they open the door, you have to be ready to run as fast as you can, as far as you can. ”
“Aren’t you just gonna Star Wars them?” Rhys asked, completely unfazed by the idea. “When Obi-W
an’s like, ‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. ’”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how many guards there are, or how dangerous they might be. ” My thoughts flashed back to Finn and how he hadn’t been at my house during the attack. I shivered involuntarily and shook my head.
“Let’s just get out of here, okay? There’s no way to know what we’re up against, so let’s deal with it as it comes. Anything’s better than sitting around waiting for them to figure out what they want to do with us. Because when they do decide, I have a feeling it won’t be good. ”
Matt didn’t look convinced, but I doubted anything could’ve convinced him. This whole thing had turned into a giant horrible mess, all because I hadn’t wanted to stay in Förening and be a stupid Princess.
If I had, none of this would’ve happened. Matt and Rhys would be at their respective homes, safe and sound, and Finn would be … well, I didn’t know where he’d be, but it had to be better than where he was now.
With that thought burning in my mind, I pounded on the door, knocking as loudly as I could. My fist hurt from how hard I hit, but I didn’t care.
FIVE
hobgoblin
“What?” a deep, craggy voice asked, and a slot slid open in the middle of the door.
I bent over to peer through, and I saw the hobgoblin that had come in with Loki. His eyes were buried under bushy eyebrows, and I wasn’t sure if I had a good enough view to persuade him. Or if it even worked on actual trolls. They appeared to be an entirely different species.
“Ludlow, is it?” I asked, remembering the name Loki had shouted when sending for help.
“Don’t try to sweet-talk me, Princess. ” The hobgoblin coughed, retching up phlegm and spitting it on the ground. He wiped his face on the back of his sleeve before turning back to me. “I’ve turned down far prettier girls than you before. ”
“I need to go to the bathroom. ” I dropped any pretense of being friendly. I had a feeling that honesty and cynicism would go further with him.
“So go. You don’t have to ask me for permission. ” Ludlow laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound.
“There’s no bathroom in here. I’m not gonna squat on the ground,” I said, genuinely disgusted by the idea.
“Then hold it. ” Ludlow started to shut the slot, but I put my hand out, blocking it.
“Can’t you get a guard or something to take me to the bathroom?” I asked.
“I am the guard,” Ludlow snapped, sounding huffy.
“Oh, really?” I smirked at him, realizing this might be far easier than I thought.
“Don’t underestimate me, Princess,” Ludlow growled. “I eat girls like you for breakfast. ”
“So you’re a cannibal?” I wrinkled my nose.
“Ludlow, are you harassing the poor girl?” came a voice from behind Ludlow. He moved to the side, and through the slot I saw Loki swaggering toward us.
“She’s harassing me,” Ludlow complained.
“Yes, talking to a beautiful Princess—what a rough lot you have in life,” Loki said dryly, and Matt snorted behind me.
Ludlow muttered something, but Loki held up his hand, silencing him. Then he was too close to the door for me to see his face. The slot was at Ludlow’s eye level, which came up to Loki’s waist.
“What seems to be the problem?” Loki asked.