Authors: Amanda Hocking
She stopped on the steps when she saw Tilda and me rushing toward her. “What are you
doing here?”
“We came to give you a lift home and to make sure you’re all right,” I told her. “Are
you okay?”
“I’ll live.” Ember smiled at us, then turned and gestured to a mousy girl standing
just behind her, holding a massive Louis Vuitton suitcase. “This is Charlotte. She’s
my charge.”
“Here, let me help you with that.” Tilda ran up the steps to take the bag from Charlotte
before it tipped her over.
“Thank you,” Charlotte mumbled, but she seemed reluctant to let the bag go. Her eyes
were wide and terrified, and her frizzy brown hair stuck out from underneath her knit
cap.
“These are my friends Tilda and Bryn,” Ember explained to her. “You can trust them.
They’re good guys.”
“I’m sure you’ve both had a long couple of days. Why don’t we get going?” I suggested.
I gingerly took Ember’s good arm and led her down the steps. Even with salt and gravel
on the ground, the ice still made it slick in a few places, and it would be awful
for Ember to take a tumble and hurt herself worse.
“What about my Land Rover?” Ember asked as we walked past the one she’d driven in
to where I’d parked mine rather crookedly in my haste.
“We’ll get it another day. Come on,” I said. “Let’s just get home.”
On the ride back to Doldastam, it was hard not to ask Ember a million questions about
her fight with Konstantin, but I didn’t want to freak out Charlotte any more than
she already appeared to be. Tilda sat with her in the backseat, speaking in soft comforting
tones about the landscape and her family and how wonderful everything would be for
her after she arrived.
Since Ember was injured, Tilda offered to take Charlotte to her parents and help her
get settled in. Ember could return to her usual tracker duties once she was patched
up, but for now, Tilda would work just fine.
“So what happened?” I asked Ember the instant Tilda and Charlotte had gotten out of
the SUV.
“I was staking out Charlotte, like I’m supposed to, and then I had this sense of being
watched,” Ember said, recalling a scene that sounded familiar.
“I wasn’t sure if it was just paranoia, but I decided that I’d better do something,
just to be on the safe side,” she went on, as I drove through town toward Ember’s
house. “I was on my way to Charlotte’s house, trying to figure out what I’d say to
her to get her to leave with me, but I was still scoping everything out, watching
every car that went by and scanning for any signs of trouble.
“Then out of nowhere—and I mean like
nowhere
—Bent Stum jumped me.”
“He jumped you?” I looked over at her, slumped down in the front seat, her eyes closed
and her mouth turned down into an annoyed scowl.
“Yeah. That Bent is strong, but he’s pretty dumb. He snapped my arm”—Ember grimaced
and touched her broken arm gently—“but I managed to slide out of his grasp. He chased
after me, but I managed to lose him when I cut through a backyard and down an alley.”
“What happened? How’d you get Charlotte?”
“I got to her house, and Konstantin was already there.” Ember paused to let out a
pained sigh. “I don’t know what his plan was, but when he saw me, he apparently decided
that he needed to just go for it. He broke into her bedroom window and just snatched
her.”
“You mean he kidnapped her?” I asked, a little dumbfounded.
With Linus, back in Chicago, they had been staking him out, like they were planning
a careful, quiet extraction. But with Charlotte, it sounded like a clumsy snatch-and-grab.
Konstantin and Bent were getting more reckless, which meant that they were probably
getting more desperate. That was a dangerous combination.
“Yeah, she was kicking and screaming at first, but he put his hand over her mouth
to muffle it,” Ember explained. “But it was enough to draw attention. Her parents
weren’t home, but one of her neighbors came outside and yelled that they were calling
the cops.”
“Wow.” My jaw dropped. Discretion was the number one name of the game. I couldn’t
believe how risky Konstantin’s behavior had gotten.
“Dragging Charlotte around really slowed Konstantin down, and I caught up to them
easily and kicked out his legs. He got back up like he meant to fight me, but then
we heard the sirens of the approaching cops. And he…” She glanced over at me for a
moment, then shifted in her seat. “He took off.”
“How’d you get Charlotte to come back with you?” I asked.
“She was in shock, so I used persuasion on her,” Ember said, referring to her ability.
Persuasion was a psychokinetic ability with which she could make people do what she
wanted by using her mind. Trackers were trained to use persuasion only when they had
absolutely no other choice, since mind control eventually wore off and wouldn’t make
the changelings trust us more in the long run.
“I told her that she needed to trust me and come with me,” Ember explained. “And she
did, so I hurried to steal a car before the cops got there.”
“You stole a car?” I asked, surprised, though not too much.
In our training to become trackers, we’d been taught how to steal cars, but I’d never
actually done it in real life. Breaking human laws was discouraged, but we also knew
that at times it was necessary. In order to get the changelings away from their family,
we needed to avoid the police as much as possible, so we didn’t end up in jail or
have humans snooping around our business as trolls.
That’s why we tried not to break laws, so we wouldn’t attract unwanted attention from
authorities. But sometimes, like in Ember’s case, the only way to keep the changeling
safe was to break the law.
“My options were pretty limited at that point,” Ember said. “I had to get Charlotte
out of there. I drove for, like, eight hours, then I stopped to get my arm in a sling
and clean myself up, and then Charlotte insisted that we buy luggage and new clothes,
which I obliged because I did whatever I could to get her here. Then we caught the
train two towns over. I don’t know if Konstantin followed us, but I doubt it.”
“If he didn’t go after you on the train, I’d say you got away safe. He has no reason
to follow you here, because he knows where Doldastam is and that the Högdragen are
waiting for him here,” I said, thinking about what I would do to Konstantin if he
set foot behind these walls again.
“I hope so.” Ember sat in silence for a moment, then she turned to look at me. “I’m
sorry I let Konstantin get away.”
“No, there’s no reason for you to be sorry.” I smiled at her. “You got Charlotte out
of there safe and sound, and you kept yourself alive. That’s what really matters.”
As I pulled up in front of Ember’s cottage, she smiled wanly back at me. I got out
of the Land Rover and then went around to help her. The goats were bleating loudly
in the pasture next to the house, and I looked over to see Ember’s mother, Annali,
coming out of the pen. The bottom of her long dress was dark from melting snow and
mud, and a few pieces of straw were stuck to her dark hair.
“Ember?” Annali asked, her words tight with panic, and she rushed over to us. “What
happened? Has the medic seen you yet?” She touched her daughter’s injured cheek, causing
Ember to flinch a little.
The few medics in Doldastam weren’t the same as you’d find in human society. They
had medical training, so they could set bones, stitch up wounds, and even perform
surgeries. But they’d been recruited from the Trylle tribe for a very specific reason—they
were healers. Thanks to the Trylle’s psychokinetic abilities, with a simple touch
of their hands they could heal many minor biological ailments.
“I just got back. I haven’t called yet,” Ember said.
“Come in the house.” Annali motioned frantically toward the house. “I’ll call the
medic.”
She tried to help Ember into the house, but in her fear and frustration, she didn’t
seem to realize how rough she was being, so I told her to call the medic while I helped
get Ember inside. As I got Ember settled on the worn sofa, her mother talked on the
phone in the other room, speaking in irritated, clipped tones.
“You can head out if you want,” Ember told me in a hushed voice after I draped a blanket
over her.
“Nah, I can stay.” I glanced over toward the kitchen, where Annali was continuing
to swear at the poor person on the other end of the line. “I’d feel kinda bad leaving
you alone with her.”
“She means well, and she’ll calm down.” Ember moved the pillow behind her head. “I
should probably get some rest anyway.”
“I understand.” I touched her leg. “Take care of yourself, and let me know if you
need anything.”
Ember nodded.
I went through the kitchen quietly, not wanting Annali to direct any of her anger
at me, and I’d almost made it to the door when Ember stopped me. “Wait. Bryn.”
“Yeah?” I turned to her, and she motioned for me to come closer. I went back to the
couch, and sat down at the end, next to her feet.
“I was debating on telling you this, but…” Ember said so softly I could hardly hear
her above her mother, “I think I should.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“When I was trying to get Charlotte, I knocked Konstantin to the ground. He got up
slowly, and then we heard the sirens.” Ember licked her lips. “He didn’t leave right
away, though. He said something to me, and then he took off.”
“What did he say?”
She took a fortifying breath. “He said, ‘Run along home, and tell that white rabbit
to watch out.’”
“White rabbit?” I echoed. My blood was already pounding so hard in my ears I could
barely hear my own voice, but I already knew exactly who Konstantin was talking about.
Ember’s eyes were so dark and so solemn, they seemed to pull in all the light around
them, like tiny black holes. “He means you, Bryn.”
The number of people crammed into such a small space left it feeling stifling and
humid, and everyone’s voices blended together in one low, uncomfortable grumble. It
was the same meeting room I had been in a couple days before, when I’d been having
brunch with my distant Skojare relatives, but now all the tables had been pushed out
and replaced with rows and rows of chairs.
I’d arrived ten minutes before the meeting was set to start, and it was already at
standing room only. Somehow Tilda had managed to get a seat in the second row, and
she offered me an apologetic smile when I came in, since she’d been unable to save
me a seat.
Kasper Abbott stood at the side of the room, along with several members of the Högdragen.
I wasn’t sure if he’d gotten here too late to sit with his girlfriend, or if he’d
just chosen to stand with the guards instead. But every tracker in Doldastam, including
some of the senior class that hadn’t graduated yet, was here, along with about a quarter
of the Högdragen. Aside from Ember, who was still at home recuperating.
Ridley was already here, standing in the front of the room talking to a few trackers.
He glanced up at me as I found a place in the back of the room, and I gave him a small
smile, which he returned briefly before going back to his conversation. I hadn’t talked
to him since I’d kicked him out this morning, but we were both professionals, so I
was determined to act normally around him. At least in situations like this.
I leaned against the wall while I waited for the meeting to get under way. It wasn’t
that much longer before my dad came in the side door. His head was down as he flipped
through a huge stack of papers, so he bumped into a few people as he made his way
to the front of the room.
“Ahem.” Dad cleared his throat, still not looking up from his papers, and everybody
kept on whispering and muttering, ignoring him. His normally clean-shaven chin was
covered in salt-and-pepper stubble that he rubbed absently when he looked up at the
room. “Excuse me.”
With my arms folded over my chest, I glanced around the room, but not a single person
had stopped talking. I tried to give my dad a look, encouraging him to speak louder,
but he wasn’t looking at me.
“If I could, uh, have your attention,” Dad said, and I could barely even hear him
at the back of the room.
“Hey!” Ridley shouted and clapped his hands together. He grabbed a chair, stealing
it from a tracker in the front row, and then he climbed up on it. “Everyone. Shut
up. The Chancellor needs to speak to you.”
The room finally fell silent, and my dad gave him a smile. “Thank you.”
Ridley hopped down off the chair, then offered the chair to my dad. “The floor is
yours, sir.”
“Thank you,” Dad repeated, and with some trepidation, he climbed up onto the chair.
“I want to thank you all for coming out for this. I know it was short notice.” He
smiled grimly. “We’ve got a lot of great trackers here, and even some of the Högdragen.
So thank you.
“Let’s get right into it, then.” Dad held his papers at his waist and surveyed the
room. “We have reason to believe that our changelings are under attack. Last week,
Konstantin Black and an Omte associate of his, Bent Stum, went after Linus Berling.”
Murmurs filled the room, and I could hear Konstantin’s name in the air. Dad held up
his hand to silence them, and reluctantly they complied.
“As most of you know, Konstantin Black is considered a traitor for crimes against
the King and Queen, and, um, the Chancellor, specifically.” He lowered his eyes for
a moment, but quickly composed himself. “He’s been on the run for the past four years,
and we’re not exactly sure what he wants with the changelings, but this no longer
appears to be an isolated incident.
“Yesterday, Konstantin Black and Bent Stum attempted to take another one of our changelings,”
Dad went on. “He assaulted a tracker, but thankfully, both she and the changeling
weren’t seriously injured and made it back to Doldastam.”