Authors: Mary Twomey
“Um, hold my hand? Sure.” Henry Mancini growled, but I shushed him again. He whined and circled three times before curling up on my bare toes to warm them.
The gold flecks floated around us as we listened to Uncle Rick tell the same story he’d told us last night. Jens was next to Uncle Rick, leaning back in his chair casually, but I could tell that he was on high alert, glancing over at me every few seconds.
Once Uncle Rick caught everyone up, he continued on to new information. “I fear we may run into the same problem we did with the Tomten, that they will not want their portal closed and we will not get our chance. That’s why I’ve decided to move in stealth. It’ll take much time for word to spread to this region that a portal has fallen. King Johannes’s pride runs deep, and he’s got a grudge against King Hallamar of Elvage he’s quite attached to. Letting loose a disgrace like this would be quite uncharacteristic of the Tonttu king. So we have a little time to plan our attack.” This brought about a few noises of appreciation. “To close the portals, you must tear them down using Pesta’s rake, which thanks to Lucy and Jens, we have.” He nodded to me, as if I’d done something impressive. “For those of you not in the know, each land’s portal can only be destroyed or accessed by its people. So elves cannot use the Nøkken portal to the Land of Be, and so forth. I will be the one using the rake on the portal for Elvage.”
I felt Mace stiffen around my hand. His hawk-like angular face was very focused on every detail of the plan.
I kinda wanted to flick his tail.
“When it comes time for each of you to destroy your portal, you must take the rake in your hand and knock down the bone frame
without
passing through. If you pass through it, your arm and soul are forfeit to her, and she’ll be in possession of the only weapon we have to destroy the portals, so do not attempt it.” Uncle Rick took a sip of his tea, as if he had not spoken of amputations. “We must limit her access to new souls.”
I raised my free hand and waited patiently to be called on.
Uncle Rick had a gleam of happiness in his eye when he saw my other hand sandwiched between Mace’s. “Yes, Lucy?”
“Is Charles coming with us?”
“Astute question, dear. Yes. Charles is my charge, and he’s decided to help us.”
I wasn’t terribly fond of Charles being referred to as a charge and not his son. It felt distant, and I couldn’t imagine the hurt I would feel if my dad called me that.
Tor grumbled, “What use can a halfy be?”
Uncle Rick continued on as if Tor had not spoken. He started with the order of nations we would travel to, and various obstacles we might face. Mace was watching me, which I tried to be cool with.
“One key problem we’ll have after we destroy the next portal is the increase in security around the others. I specifically chose each of you because so few are opposed to the Land of Be. Each of you is irreplaceable. We must have one from each land destroy their own portal. So work as a team and leave no one behind.”
Henry Mancini licked my ankle, so I stroked him with my other foot. He could feel my discomfort surrounding the plan.
So could Mace. He stroked my knuckles with his thumb and wrapped his nearest arm around my shoulders. I know it was a sweet thing for him to do, but it felt strange. Linus and I were thick as thieves, but he didn’t hold my hand and put his arm around my shoulders when we sat around watching TV together. I tried to relax into the nonthreatening touch, determined to fit in here with my new… brother.
“Lucy, Jamie and Jens will meet with King Hallamar this evening. I trust you all slept well?” Heads nodded in response. Uncle Rick continued. “They will keep him and a few of the more important names in Elvage distracted while we do our deed at the portal. We rendezvous at Drucken Tavern under the name Holden.”
I turned to Jens, asking him with my eyes if he knew where that was. He nodded, but his mouth was taut with tension and displeasure.
Tor spoke up. His wiry red hair was shoved in a netting of some kind. It looked like a bird’s nest made of red dreadlocks. I kinda wanted to shove pencils in it. “Ya haven’t told us why we’ve got a halfy in on the plan. I thought ya just needed one from each race. But now we got three Toms and a halfy.”
“And two females,” Foss added. “One the size of a rat.”
Mace swallowed, but took no obvious affront to Tor’s slight on his ancestry.
Britta had been attentive and silent the entire time, but somehow the fact that she was a woman trumped all potential usefulness in Foss’s black eyes.
At this, I snapped. “Tor, I’m a halfy, too, so if you can’t handle Charles on the journey, you don’t get me. Good luck tearing down the human portal without a human who has ties to Undra! And Foss? Shut your smackhole about me and Britta. I’ve had enough of it, and she doesn’t deserve that. You heard Uncle Rick. We do this as a team. Get onboard, you jag.” I glared at Foss, who leaned forward and leveled an intimidating stare at me, expecting, to his folly, that I would back down.
Foss growled, “Control your rat, Alrik.”
Uncle Rick’s voice was kind, as it always was, but his eyes had a note of scolding in them. “Foss? Lucy? I trust you can overcome your differences with grace. And Torsten the Mighty, I perceived you to be of the highest intellect, athleticism and judgment of your kind, which is part of why I chose you to join us. Yet you seem to be under the impression that half-breeds are inferior to the purebloods.”
“Aye, sir. They are. They don’t have the full access ta their kind’s magic.”
Uncle Rick motioned to Mace, who stood, taking my hand with him as he moved to Uncle Rick’s side. I could tell he wanted me to vouch for him, and I wanted to, but really? I just met the guy yesterday. When standing next to him and letting him hold my hand was all that was required, I relaxed a little.
“Lucy just learned that Charles Mace is her brother. Charles is one quarter human, one quarter elfish and one half Huldra, same as Lucy. This gives him the ability to destroy not one, but two portals.” I could see light bulbs flashing over their heads at this reasoning. “Even if portals were not our mission, I would still call on Charles as one of my most useful assets.”
The others sized up Mace uncertainly. “You wish me to be elfish?” Charles questioned, his lanky posture adding to his borderline unbalanced menace.
“I do. They seem to need further proof. And I admit, I rather enjoy the sight of a speechless dwarf. A true rarity in nature.” Uncle Rick encouraged his surrogate son with a wave of his hand.
Mace dropped my grip. “My birth father was a wind elf, but I was raised by Alrik, a water elf, so I’m schooled in both arts.” Charles mimed opening the window like a grand magician or something. Like a child at a magic show, I was fascinated when the window started shaking against the pane ominously.
The shutters banged open against the outside of the house as if his hand had actually touched them. The curtains blew out of the room as alien wind was introduced. The mid-morning sun struck me with its brilliance. Normally, I would have just shut my eyes, but I had been looking right at the window when it opened. The shock of the light made me stumble back. I heard a chair scrape the floor, and before I hit the ground, I felt Jens at my back. He steadied me, so I hid my face in his shirt. Henry Mancini yapped around me, but I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see anything.
“You know she can’t handle our sun!” Jens yelled. “Jamie, shut the windows!”
I heard more banging and assumed Jamie was obeying. Jens palmed the back of my head to keep my face buried in his black shirt.
Jens was arguing with Mace, but the sun was so overwhelming that I was still trying to get the flashbulbs of light to calm down inside my eyelids, and didn’t hear much of their fight.
Foss’s gruff cadence could be heard above the ruckus. “There’s no way we can travel with her! Useless female!”
Uncle Rick let out an attention-arresting whistle, quieting the riotous mules. “We need Lucy to come with us, and I’m working on a solution to her aversion to our sun. Patience, everyone.” He produced the key I’d given him and moved toward Charles.
Jens and Nik both let out shouts of protest. “No, Alrik!” and “You don’t know what he’ll do!” reached my ears.
I heard a click and a whimper from Mace. Uncle Rick’s voice was dripping with emotion. “It’s done, son. You’re free.”
I heard Mace’s choked cry and knew the two were embracing. “Thank you, Alrik. You can trust me.”
“I know, son. I know. Now go help your sister.”
A hand from behind me went over my face and palmed my eyes while I stood in the arms of an angry Jens. “You should’ve told us, Rick! We deserve to have a say in you unleashing a Huldra!”
Tor held up his hands. “The men can’t control us with their whistle. Only the women carry that magic.”
Jens stared down Alrik with a sneer. “I know you, Rick. You wouldn’t have kept Charles so hush-hush if he didn’t have something up his sleeve. He’s the son of Hilda the Powerful! They collared him for a reason.”
Charles gripped my face and tried to remove me from Jens, who only held me tighter.
Henry Mancini was going nuts, barking at the two men I was sandwiched in between. Britta was yelling at Jens to let me go. Tor started shouting, “Get the halfy! He’ll rip off the human’s head!”
Mace’s voice was laden with emotion as he pressed his body against my back. “I’m Huldra, Jens, not a monster. I can fix her! If you trust Alrik, then trust me.”
“Get your hands off her!”
Anxiety flooded me, and then it happened.
Mace let out a beautiful melodious whistle in my ear that, I swear, had three different notes flying out simultaneously throughout the entire tune. I had never heard a whistle like that. I knew the sound was loud, and delivered right into my ear, but it was not intrusive. Instead I found myself leaning into it. I pulled away from Jens so that only Mace was clutching me. He held my waist with one arm, and gently stroked my cheek with the other. The whistle was so magnetic that I found myself leaning up on my toes and pressing my ear to his lips to absorb every note. I’d never understood the Pied Piper of Hamlin before, but now I knew he must have been Huldra.
When the tune ended, I was released from the spell. I slumped against Mace despite myself and shook sense back into my brain. My eyelids opened slowly, and for the first time, I saw Charles Mace clearly. Lots of baggage. No real home. His collar was gone, and for once, he looked like he was allowed to be himself.
Charles moved to the window Jamie had shut and pulled back the lace curtains. He pushed out the shutters, letting the luminous sunlight into the room. Protests ensued, but the sun was not repellant this time.
I walked toward the window and shoved my hand in the golden glow, relishing the heat I’d been missing.
Mace addressed the room. “That was three different commands. One modified her sight. The second calmed her down. The third healed the blast to her eyes from when she looked at the sun before. I can do anything a full Huldra can do, but I can also work two kinds of elf magic: water and wind.”
“Three in one,” Uncle Rick added, beaming with pride at his protégé. “So now you know he won’t be a handicap on the group. In fact, he’s made Lucy more useful, since she can now walk around in daylight. Lucy? Do you have any objections?”
I turned from my spot in the glittering sun and smiled. “Can he kill spiders?”
Mace nodded slowly with a look of confusion at this inferior talent I insisted upon. His collar was gone, and he looked a new man, radiant with the joy of freedom.
“I’m fine with it. Put it to a vote?” I suggested, unwilling to let myself have the final say in anything in a world where I couldn’t see without help.
Uncle Rick took the floor back. “All those in favor of Mace joining the group?”
All hands went up, except Tor’s. He crossed his arms petulantly and stared Uncle Rick down. “I won’t vote fer it, but I accept yer choice. If ya say he’s good fer it, I won’t stand in tha boy’s way.”
“That settles it. Lucy, you’re set to meet King Hallamar shortly. Can you be ready to leave soon? Send your bags with Britta, and she can bring them to the tavern.”
“Sure thing.” Bags. That’s funny. All my crap is inside Jens’s Mary Poppins backpack. I stared out the window in amazement at the nature I could finally get a good look at while Uncle Rick carried on talking to the others about traveling to the tavern.
Twenty-Four
Awakening the Bear
The trees were so tall and thick; I could scarcely understand how houses were built around them. And such grand homes, too. Some were three stories tall and narrower than I would have thought could be architecturally sound. The gold dust was everywhere, not just in the house. I wanted to dance in it and roll around in the moss-like grass.
Mace stood behind me, watching me watch the world he was accustomed to.
I motioned for him to stand next to me. “What’s that?” I asked, pointing to an oddly-shaped tree with golden leaves.
“Those are
knut trad
. Thousands of years old.” He touched his neck where the collar had been and smiled at me, relief still washing over him in waves. “Thank you. Alrik said it was you that stole the key from Kristoffer. I can’t believe you did that for me.”
I didn’t look over at him because I could tell he was still staring at me. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I hadn’t known what the key was for, and that I was just doing what Uncle Rick told me to. I shrugged. “Well, thanks for using your Jiu-jitsu to Kung-Fu me new eyeballs. I really hate being cooped up.”
“You also hate when people have to do things for you. I can tell. This way you won’t be so dependent on Jens.”
“You caught that, did you?”
“Hard to miss. What’s Jiu-jitsu? And what’s Kung-Fu?”
I tried to explain it, but I think I only confused him more. I turned around and saw everyone grouped up in deep discussions about provisions and the trek. I knew nothing about any of it, so no one asked my opinion. “Feel like a jailbreak?” I asked conspiratorially.
Delight flooded Mace, who nodded. “The back entrance. No one’s there this time of day.”
“Keep it casual,” I warned. I was so tired of being followed and cooped up and told what to do. I had been living and operating as a full-fledged adult before this. Now I had a short leash, and did not care for it.
Mace and I strolled toward the hallway with Henry Mancini tagging along at my heels. As soon as we cleared the observatory, I broke out into a run. Mace grinned as we raced for the win and burst out the back door.
I welcomed the sunlight that greeted me and bathed me in its beauty. I dared it to be too much for me this time, now that I had Mace in my artillery. I ran with my elfin-Huldra-human brother through the trees with trunks so thick, I swear a car could have passed through if it was hollowed. Mace led the way to a creek with water so blue, it looked like someone dumped a bucket of dye in it to get it that explosive cerulean color. I stuck my toe in to see if it would dye my skin, but it did not.
Once one toe was refreshed, both feet wanted in. “Come on!” I waved to Mace, who shook his head with the most natural smile I’d ever seen on the man. “Oh, but it’s so cool. The water’s perfect.”
“I believe you.”
I looked down and saw opaque rocks catching rainbows from the sunlight in their hard surfaces. I bent down to pick one up, frowning at how wet my dress was getting. “Yikes. You think Uncle Rick’ll be pissed I’m ruining my dress?”
“Pissed?”
“Yeah. You know. Be so mad, he pisses himself?”
Mace laughed at my crude terminology. “No. He bought you a few dresses. I imagine he won’t piss himself, if I understand what that means.”
“I’m sure you can figure it out.” I watched his easy smile and the shoulders that had once been hunched relax. “You’re happy,” I observed. “That’s good. I’ve only ever seen you with that intense face you do.” I mimicked his penetrating stare.
Mace started collecting a few opaque stones. “I was nervous to meet you. I thought you might hate me. I’ve known about you a lot longer than you’ve known about me. More time to obsess about why my parents left me, and what made you worth sticking around for.”
“Oh.” I dropped the hem of my dress in the creek. When he put it all in such blunt terms, I realized my selfishness in all of it. I only thought on how my parents’ previous life affected me. I smacked my inner teenager in the forehead. “Jeez. I don’t know what to say to that.”
“I don’t assume you have the answers to questions meant for them.”
“I don’t hate you. I can’t imagine they did, either.” I ran my big toe over a smooth stone, marveling at the glassy texture. “You were a kid. Sounds like they were when it all went south, too.” I gave him a good look, now that he was standing up straight and not lurking. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-five.”
“I’m twenty.”
“I know.”
I tried not to scowl, but I knew my attitude was evident on my face. “Of course you do. You, Alrik, Jens, and the stinking tooth fairy. Everyone knows everything about me, and I know nothing about anything here. I couldn’t even see without help.” I tipped my head toward him. “Thanks for that, by the way. Cowering like a child in front of seasoned warriors sucks.” I clinked two of the stones together to test their strength. “I’m out of my element here, so you’re not getting a good picture of me.”
Mace squinted at me. “I think you look just fine from where I stand. Forget everyone else. You have to if you want to survive here.”
“Yeah. What’s all that nonsense about half-breeds? That kind of talk would not fly where I come from.”
“So you don’t mind that I’m not a pureblood?” he asked, his insecurity poking through as his tail rose behind him. His shoulders sagged, and though he was easily six and a half feet tall, he looked small in his shame.
“Your blood’s as pure as mine is.” I shrugged. “Most of your world’s things that matter have zip meaning to me. So, unless you’re a Dodger’s fan, we’re square.” I tried my hand at skipping the glass-looking rock, pleased when it made three whole jumps before sinking.
“I don’t know what you’re speaking of.”
I sighed. “I know. No one does.”
Boots stomping in the direction we came reached me, and Henry Mancini did not bother alerting me to the intruder. That’s how I knew it was Jens. I looked up and saw his grim expression. “Uh-oh. Garden gnome on the warpath. Hide your valuables.”
Mace greeted Jens with a nod of his head, which Jens ignored. “What do you think you’re doing out here?”
“Am I your prisoner?” I asked politely.
“No, but…”
“Did you tell me not to leave the house as long as I live?”
He snarled at my disinterest in his fit. “I’m about to.”
“I’m not in any danger. I took a chaperone,” I said, pointing to Mace. “And I can see the house from here.” I motioned to a chimney in the distance.
“No, you can’t. And that’s not even Alrik’s house! You have no idea where you are!”
“Oh. Whoops.” I put my hand on my hip. “You know, I lived without supervision before all this. I can come and go as I please.” I motioned to myself. “Grown woman, here.”
“Teenaged pain in my ass! Take this seriously!” He huffed at the edge of the creek. “And you’ve never lived without supervision. I was watching out for you every day for the past five years.”
I placed two fingers to my lips and spoke to him like I was the schoolteacher, and he was the child who needed things explained very slowly. “You were silent then. Let’s revisit that, shall we?”
“You make me crazy!” he raged. He took a step forward, and I backed up instinctively. “Don’t you dare run!”
“Get away!”
And then the water mutated. I’m sure there’s a more technical term for it, but that’s all I could think at the time. The water around me gathered up and rose in an instant, forming a wall between Jens and me. Jens growled, “Damned water elf!”
I let out an indelicate screech and fell backward into the water. Henry Mancini growled at the water wall and tried attacking it to save me.
I looked up and found Mace standing at my side. His expression was pure fury. He was glaring at Jens with his hand up, controlling the liquid divide between us. Then it dawned on me that by fighting with the pit bull, I’d unwittingly awoken the bear. “Mace! Mace, it’s alright. That’s just how we are.” I struggled to my feet and tugged on his sleeve. “Charles, calm down!” I gently pressed my hands to his chest to remind him I was in one piece, and that he was overreacting.
He tore his searing gaze away from Jens and looked down at me with those inhuman eyes. He wrapped one arm around my hips in a lax half-hug. “He should not speak to you like that.”
I waved my hand at Jens, as if it were all just a big joke. “Who, Jimmy here? That’s nothing. You should see when it’s my turn to yell at him. Cries like a baby, he does.” I worked up a semi-convincing smile. “That’s just how we are. Probably seems weird to you, but it’s normal where I come from. They don’t have that same iconic view of women you people do here.”
Mace’s expression twisted in confusion. “That’s how you do things? That’s normal for you? What kind of a place do you come from?”
I shrugged. “The real world. When people are mad at each other, they duke it out. That was just Jens telling me he cares about me.” I winked at Jens, adding fuel to his fire. “See how worried he got when he didn’t know where I was?”
“I don’t understand,” Charles admitted. “But you’re okay with it?”
I rubbed his arm to calm him down. “Of course. Jens just worries too much.”
“And you don’t worry enough,” Jens growled. “It’s like you’re asking to get lost or abducted out here. You know nothing about this world, and yet you’re perfectly fine running off whenever you feel like it. We’re going home right now.”
“You gonna add a ‘young lady’ to that?”
“How about ‘childish brat’?” he snapped, pointing behind him. “March!”
“Say pretty please.” Henry Mancini licked Jens’s boot to calm him down.
Jens was livid. It was kinda funny. Not the whole Mace freaking out thing, but Jens thinking he had any sort of control over me.
Then he lunged forward and grabbed me around the waist, throwing me over his shoulder. That was not so funny.
Jens summoned Henry Mancini, and then exhaled deeply, tugging on his ear. By Mace’s confused exclamations, I deduced that Jens had turned us invisible.
I responded to being carried so degradingly by singing the Partridge Family theme song. His back muscles tensed, and I could tell he was finally trying to control his temper. I lifted up the hem of his shirt and gave the middle of his back a few little kisses to make up for worrying him.
“Knock it off, Loos. I’m still pissed.”
“No, you’re not. You were worried about me.”
“Sure. Without you, I’m out of a job.”
I smiled. Even in my upside-down state, my blonde curls dangling and bouncing with each step, I took comfort in the fact that anyone worried about me. It had been a while since anyone cared to ask where I was, when I’d be home, or expressed any interest that my well-being affected them. I hugged his ribs, kissing him all over. “Okay, okay. I forgive you,” I said, snuggling him as best I could.
He scoffed. “You forgive me? That’s rich.”
“I just can’t stay mad at you. You’re such a lovebug. A big, giant Care Bear.” I dragged my fingernails across his belly, enjoying the shudder that relaxed his nerves.
“Knock it off.” He tromped over a large stump, clicking his tongue so Henry Mancini could still find us. “You heard Alrik. You’re meeting the elfish king soon. You need to get ready, and then we have to go. I don’t have time to go around trying to find you in the woods with some guy.” He sneered in Mace’s direction, who could not see his disdain.
“Some guy? I was hanging out with my new brother!”
Mace walked beside us, thoroughly confused. “This is all normal talk, Lucy?”
“Yup. This is how Jens tells me he missed me. Now he’s taking me back to his cave for a throw down.”
“Shut it, Loos. He doesn’t understand your sense of humor.”
Mace took affront to this. “I’m not completely obtuse.”
Doesn’t understand my humor? We’ll see about that
. While my arms were around Jens’s torso, I gently began working off his belt, holding the metal buckle from clanking too loud with one hand, and holding up his pants with the other. I had to work hard to keep my giggling under wraps as he stepped over the threshold to my uncle’s home.
Jens marched us into the populated observatory, un-invisibled us and hiked me from over his shoulder to the floor, drawing the eye of my fellow adventurers. “I found her,” he declared. “You deal with her, Alrik. Make her understand that she can’t just go wandering off.”
Uncle Rick was about to address me in a kinder manner than Jens would have liked, but his eyes were drawn upwards. “Jens, what… what happened out there?”
Mace grinned and then looked at me with appreciation.
“What?” Jens demanded of the laughter and knowing looks popping up throughout the room. He took a step forward and heard the jangle of his belt. He looked down and found his pants undone and sagging slightly, exposing his boxer briefs to everyone. He turned red and hiked his pants back up, fastening his belt as he glared at me. “Real funny, Loos. Get upstairs.”
I obeyed, scampering up the steps and grinning at the outcome of my little prank. I sauntered into the room and was about to shut the door in his face so I could change, but he followed me inside. “I know you gave all the guys down there a free show, but I don’t do that sort of thing. Out you go. I have to change.”