Tab Bennett and the Inbetween (32 page)

“Where is Alex?” His eyes were wild, panicked; they’d turned a disturbing shade gray, the color of sickness and rot.

“He’s sleeping.”

 “Go get him. Both of you get dressed and then come back here. I’ll get Francis and the others.”

“What is in that box George?” He shook his head but didn’t answer. “You’re freaking me out.” He held the box tight against his chest even though I could tell it repulsed him to do so. “George…?”

I didn’t need him to say anything. I got my answer another way.

He turned paler still as a thought flashed through his head,
Does the finger inside this box mean that Bennett’s dead already or should we take it as a dare?

******

You may have noticed that in times of crisis, I have an unattractive tendency to say inappropriate things. I don’t mean to and I wish I could stop. I always thought I would outgrow it but I haven’t yet.

 “I keep wondering what Pop would want me to do if he was here. He taught me a lot of things over the years but none of them seem to fit this exact finger in a box situation, you know?”

Alex was holding my hand, leading me back to the kitchen where everyone was gathering. “It’s going to be okay.”

I thought of the box sitting on the counter downstairs and the grisly surprise it held. “Are you sure? Because I’ve just recently seen overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

“Don’t be glib.”

“I can’t help it,” I answered honestly. “It’s kind of my defense mechanism,”

“Your mother used to do the same thing.”

Mother was just a word to me; it didn’t evoke images of her or memories. I grew up with a misty idea of her that was based on stories that turned out to be lies. I still found it odd that other people knew her and adventures with her. She just wasn’t real to me. Instead of a mother I had Pop. His finger was in a box.

Where’s the rest of him?

“Do you think he’s dead? Tell me honestly if you do.” We Bennetts had never had a disappearance with a happy ending; it seemed naïve to think that this would be the first.

Alex only looked worried for a split second before he smiled reassuringly. “Did you have a vision about Bennett’s death?”

“No, I haven’t seen anything.”

“Then he’s alive.”

“Or he might have died too quickly to send a vision – one second alive, the next gone, with no time to plan.”

“I’m telling you honestly that I think he’s alive.”

I wasn’t sure I believed him. The general policy had been to shield me from everything for so long that I doubted any of them could tell me an unpleasant truth on the first try.

Francis looked me over when we walked into the kitchen. He didn’t look pleased. “Are you okay? You look pale. Are you going to faint? Matt, get her a chair.” Then he hurried over to get a chair for me himself.

“I’m fine, Frannie.” I wasn’t fine at all but I tried to smile anyway. “Just a little shaken.”

 Robbin hovered on the edge of the scene with a disapproving look on his face. He wouldn’t meet my eyes but I knew he was studying Alex and me, the way we stood together, the way I leaned toward him. He was thinking that he wanted to come to me and pull me away but that he wasn’t going to come. He’d severed the tie between us when he disappeared and left me at the edge of the forest and it had to stay that way. I knew he wanted to kill Alex, literally kill him, just for holding my hand but that loyalty would stop him from acting on the desire, no matter how strong it was. I knew that he thought Bennett was dead and that the finger in the box was nothing more than the spring on some kind of trap.

“Robbin…” I began. He cut me off with a quick, cold look that made it clear he didn’t want to hear from me. The sting of it surprised me.

 “Let me see the note.” Alex looked at me from the corner of his eye as Francis handed it to him. He read it quickly, holding it out so I could read it too.

“All right?” he asked.

“Yes.” I kept my voice even. Remaining calm in times of crisis is such a queenish thing to do, isn’t it? I could tell that Alex was a little proud of me.

 “Your Lightness,” he said, addressing me formally. “I will take command of this situation on your behalf, if you wish.”

“That would be great. Thank you.”

He gave me a tender look then turned to the men. “Summon all the Generals to the Center.”

Matt stood, waiting for further instructions. His face was solemn but there was an undeniable edge of excitement in the way his eyes darted around the room. The muscles of his legs practically vibrated with anticipation, with the desire to run. His mind, which I could read as clear as a page in a book, was bent on revenge. Rivers was dead and someone was finally going to pay.

“It is essential that each of them is there. Make it clear that their future Queen commands them to gather and that dissention will not be tolerated.”

Matt bowed his head slightly, accepting his task.

Alex turned to Francis. “I think it best that you go to Estella yourself. Bring her and the Five Hundred to the Center however you can. She must be there. Once the army is assembled, begin preparations for an attack on the Underneath.”

“You think that’s where he is? Underneath?” There was a hint of something I couldn’t place in Francis’s voice and he looked vaguely nauseous.

Alex examined him with a raised eyebrow, “Can you think of somewhere else he might be?”

Francis looked shocked for a moment then he shook his head. “No. You’re right. Underneath, he’s probably Underneath.”

The two men stood looking at each other until Matt moved.

“Come on lover boy, let’s go get your girl,” Matt clapped Francis on the back as he walked passed me on his way to the door. Considering the circumstances, he seemed to be in remarkably high spirits. “Take care of yourself, little Queen.”

Without a word, Francis hugged me and followed Matt outside. I watched the two of them disappear in a ball of light as soon as they’d cleared the circle.

Alex had turned his attention to George who’d been sitting in a nearly catatonic state since we came downstairs. I guess the shock of finding Bennett’s finger in a gift box was a little too much for him to take. I couldn’t blame him; it was the worst surprise I’d ever gotten too.

“George?” Alex and I said together, though in very different tones of voice. His head snapped up at the sound of his name but his eyes still looked glossy and gray and far away.

“Pull yourself together.” Alex commanded. “You are the voice of the Queen until Bennett returns. She needs you to do your job.”

George stood up and squared his shoulders. He took a deep, steadying breath. “I’m sorry.” His eyes still didn’t look quite right to me and his color was a little off but I could see that he was making an effort. “What do you need me to do?”

“Control the Generals as Bennett would until I arrive.”

“Of course,” George said. He glanced quickly at the two men standing behind me. He took my hand.

Will you be ok here if I go?
he thought, looking hard into my eyes as he did.

I nodded. I wasn’t entirely sure that was true.
This could be a disaster
, he thought. I shrugged.
Probably it will be.

 “What if this is some kind of trap?” George asked. “What if the point of all this is to separate us and lessen the guard around her?”

Alex and Robbin exchanged a brief, meaningful look. I waited for one of them to chime in with the reassurances. After a long pause, Robbin said, “I’ve been looking after Tab a long time, right? No one’s even gotten close. Nothing is going to happen to her. I won’t let it.”

Alex’s voice was tight when he added; “One of us will be with her at all times. She’ll be safe.”

I tried to look comforted by the promise of their round the clock attention. George gave me a questioning look and shook his head. ‘
Disaster
,’ he thought again.

“Yeah, probably it will be. But you should go anyway,” I said, softly so only he could hear. He was obviously conflicted, torn between his duty to me and his loyalty to Bennett. “Just go,” I said again.

He gave me a tight, hard hug. “Take care of yourself. And please be careful.” I couldn’t tell if he was more concerned about the threat of They coming for me in the night or the idea of me and Alex and Robbin all together in the house without a referee. I had some concerns of my own about that, but I put on a brave face. It seemed like a secondary concern.

I stood between Robbin and Alex on the back porch and watched George. When he reached the boundary he turned, waved, and then disappeared into a ball of light.

When the yard went dark again, Robbin turned to Alex. “What now?” he asked. “We just sit here?”

“Have you read this note?” Alex clapped him on the back. “I don’t think we’ll be waiting long.”

Robbin nodded. “Pretty rough stuff, right?”

 “To say the least,” Alex said, “and I don’t think They wrote it.”

In the weeks since Rivers’ death, I’d sort of gotten used to the idea that there was an entire group of Elves that wanted me dead, who sang songs about suffocating me, who were lurking just beneath the grass waiting to pull me in. Given enough time, I guess you can make your peace with almost anything. Dark elves, murder plots, kidnapping, sure. Got it. Moving on. But I found myself really disturbed by the idea that They weren’t the only ones that hated me.

“Who do you think it was then?” I could hear the doubt, the outrage, in Robbin’s voice. “You don’t think it was one of us? No one of the Light would do this.” He gestured to the counter, where the box had been but wasn’t anymore. I didn’t really want to know where it had gone. “Maim Bennett? Threaten the princess? I don’t believe it.”

Gently, Alex pulled the note from my hand. The more I read it, the more things were starting to stick out to me. Questions were boiling up inside my head. I heard him think ‘
keep this away from Tab
,’ which I couldn’t help but agree was a good idea.

“I don’t blame you for what has happened,” Alex read aloud. He looked at me quickly from the corner of his eye. I gave a slight nod to let him know it was all right to go on. I had been cast in the role of tough cookie. I was determined to play it through until the end.

He continued, “Bennett is to blame. He is the one who insisted, who demanded, your rights as queen. Nevertheless, my innocent monster, you have no such right. Your mother herself would deny you if she lived to have the chance. You are an abomination. A blight. You cannot rule the Inbetween; while I yet draw breath you never will. Renounce your crown now or face the consequences.”

The room was quiet as the meaning of that sunk in around us. Alex was right. Once I calmed down and thought about it, really listened to the words and thought them over, it was obvious They had not written that note. Those words could only have come from one of my own people, someone who thought they were defending their home, protecting the Inbetween.

Crap
, and other, less family-friendly words shot around inside Robbin’s head as he pictured himself fighting amongst his own to save me.

 “I’m certain it’s one of We,” Alex said, looking from Robbin to me. “But who? And why?”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t want me dead?”

“They don’t want you dead, Babe,” Robbin said in something very close to the sweet, soft voice I was used to. It startled me. I could almost hear Alex’s backbone snap straight.

“I meant Tab. They don’t want you dead Tab. They just want you to relinquish the throne.”

“Whoever is doing this is willing to kidnap and torture Bennett to reach that goal,” Alex said. “I think we have to assume they are willing to kill her if it comes to that.”