The Forest's Son (13 page)

28: Neglect

Jakub wakes before Donovan, and his first instinct is to stay right where he is. He's on his back, and she’s curled around him, her head on his chest with just the tiniest amount of drool having slipped from her mouth to dampen his t-shirt. One of her hands has crept up to rest against his neck, and her fingers are curled in his hair. Her thigh is draped over him as well, and when she shifts, it leaves him uncomfortably hard.

He stifles a groan.

How long has he been shoving this need for her down? How could erasing even his memory eliminate this all-encompassing desire? He wants nothing more than to forget the forest and the
Dziwozony
and where they are. If things were different, he’d wake her with his hands and his mouth and lose himself in her. He’s waited for so long.

But there’s a sane part of him that needs to keep her safe more than he needs make her his, and that part registers that the hotel suite is completely silent. If his mother were here, even asleep, he'd hear her breathing, at the very least.

He's torn between sinking into the warmth of Donovan or searching for his mother. Donovan, at least, is safe here, asleep in the bed. His mother may already be in danger, as close to the forest as the hotel is.

It tears at him to leave her, but he places a soft kiss on Donovan’s hair as he slides himself free of her warm embrace. He pulls clothes on and watches her clutch at the empty spot in the bed where he'd just been in her arms. Jakub takes the seconds to grab a pillow and place it in the bed where she’s reaching for him, a pale substitute, but at least her arms aren't empty when he leaves the alcove where their beds are.

It takes no more than a minute to see he was right; his mother is nowhere in the suite. He leaves a quick note on the desk for Donovan before he races out of the room, hoping his mother hasn't done something completely idiotic like going into the forest herself to confront her sisters on his behalf.

Once outside the castle, it's as easy as opening his mind to find her; the trees are already carrying her message. He crosses the grounds, following what’s probably her exact path, and he comes up behind her. She’s just inside the edges of the forest, her eyes closed and her face turned up to the tops of the trees. He can feel her effort and knows exactly what she's trying to do for him.

“It's not necessary, you know,
”
he says. “I can do it myself.”

She’s so intent on what she'd been doing that she hasn't heard him come up behind her. Grace startles when he speaks.

“Where's Donovan?
”
she asks, obviously stalling him to keep him from asking questions she doesn’t want to answer.

“Still asleep back in the room. Why did you come out here by yourself?”

She keeps her back to him when she answers.

“I couldn't stay inside anymore. I felt like I was in prison. The forest was so close. I needed to be out here, to see it for myself. I’ve missed it so much.”

Jakub hums in response. He feels the pull of the forest for himself, and imagines it's exactly the same for her. The trees have begun to murmur the message she's asked them to bring to her sisters, and he adds his own. He wants the sisters to know that he's coming. That he means no harm, but that he will defend his mother. That he wants her safe.

He tries to keep Donovan out of his thoughts, to keep her presence here a secret, but he's fairly certain it will do him no good. She invades every cell of his being; how will they not know? As much as he loves his mother and wants her safe, he knows Donovan is his weakest point. What his mother doesn’t understand is that Donovan is also his strength.

“Do you want to stay here?
”
he asks his mother. “If they would allow you, would you stay
?
”

She wraps her arms around herself, looking smaller somehow. He wants to offer her some type of comfort, but he isn't sure what she would accept from him.

“I no longer belong here,
”
she says. “I am without a home. I thought I was out of place where we were because I belonged here, but I am no more at home here than I was there.

“These are no longer my trees, and this is no longer my forest.”

He reaches for her and turns her so she’s facing him.

“You will always have a home with me. Where I am, you are home,
”
he says.

She shakes her head. “You, my Jakub — you are the one who belongs everywhere. If I did nothing else right, it is that. If we get through this, you can live here, or you can return and live there. You can bridge the worlds. But I no longer have a place. I know my fate. I have known it since the moment I ran with you.”

The desire to shake her is nearly overwhelming. She’s given up before they’ve even begun. If she won't fight for her own life, how can he help her?

“You need to stop thinking that way. You need to fight. I can't help you if you refuse to help yourself.”

She smiles at him.

“You'll hardly miss me, Jakub. You'll see. I am resigned. I will fight for you, and for Donovan, but I know how this plays out. The pull is no longer here for me. The forest no longer speaks to me in the same way. I am here for one reason, and that is hopefully to see you through to the other side of this, whatever that may be.”

It's not the same as fighting for her own life, and they both know it. Frustrated, he looks away from her again, toward the forest. His ears and his mind are closed now. He doesn't want to hear anything: not his mother's thoughts, not the trees, not even Donovan right now. His mother refuses to bend to his will on this, and he can’t imagine going forward without her guidance.

29: Taken

It's the slamming of the door that wakes her. Whoever is coming into the suite is angry, and Donovan guesses it must be Jakub. She knows instantly that he's not here with her in the bed, and if he's not with her, he has to be with his mother.

It must be strange for Grace to be back here, so close to being returned to where she's from, yet so far from actually being there. The threat of being killed by her own sisters isn't the kind of homecoming anyone would want.

“Jakub?
”
she calls.

He doesn't answer, which isn't a good sign. If he's so angry after whatever’s happened with his mother that he won't speak to her, she's not sure what she can say to make it any better. Mostly, she's wondering if they have any kind of a plan. What are they going to do? How do they think they’ll confront the sisters?

She combs her fingers through her hair, hoping she isn't too much of a mess. Her pajamas are wrinkled, and she spots a damp patch on her arm just as she reaches the doorway. Shoving the sleeve up to her elbow to hide it, she's too distracted to notice it's not Jakub — or even his mother — who’s entered the room at all. She gasps when someone grabs her arm roughly.

“Where is he?”

Donovan looks up to see three very tall women in the room, none of them looking like Grace, though they’re at least as tall as she is.

Oh, god.
Dziwozony
. Here.

“I — I don't know,” she stammers.

“You lie,
”
says the one holding her arm. “Where is he? And where is his witch of a mother?”

“I don't know,” Donovan says again. “I woke up and they were both gone. I haven't seen them since I went to sleep.”

Donovan hopes Jakub and Grace don't come back now, wherever they've gone. They'll be ambushed if they do. Think, Donovan, think. What can you do to get these crazy women out of here before they come back? She looks around the room and sees the paper sitting on the desk, Jakub's scrawl prominent.

A note. He left her a note.

“I think — I think he left me a note?”

She points to the paper.

One of the women grabs it and scans the paper. “The human tells the truth,
”
she says. “Grażyna was missing when he woke, and he left the castle to find her. The fool left the human unprotected.”

The woman holding Donovan laughs. “It's almost a shame this will be so easy. Here Edyta promised this was going to be difficult, but it's as easy as walking in and walking out again. They won't enter the forest on their own, but this way we can get them to come in with no effort at all.”

Donovan closes her eyes. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Every time Jakub and his mother had talked about the
Dziwozony
, they’d assumed they’d have to lure them out of the forest and into the open. They wanted to avoid having to go in after them.

They’d assumed the sisters would be reluctant to go anywhere near humans, and would never enter the castle of their own volition. Yet here they are. They apparently have no problem at all going near humans, and as it turns out, Donovan is the perfect one to take in order to get Jakub and Grace to come to them.

They don't even let her put shoes on. Donovan is yanked along the hall and has to jog in order to keep from being dragged along the floor. It doesn't take long for her to realize they’ve probably been preparing for this all along; they know their way through the castle, following hallways and moving through doorways without running into a single person.

They've known
, she thinks.
They knew we would come and what we would do. They’re ten steps ahead of anything Grace and Jakub might have planned.

Then they’re outside and the ground is cold and hard under her bare feet. The castle grounds are beautiful, but it isn't as if they’re manicured like a golf course would be. Small stones cut her feet as they make their way to the edge of the forest, and she's sure it will only get worse once they move past the tree line.

There's a choice to be made here: scream for Jakub or follow along? If she screams, he'll know immediately what's happening and run to her. If she doesn't …

If she follows along willingly she has to trust, he'll figure it out eventually. He told her he can hear things — that the trees talk to him. It sounded creepy at the time, but now, as she stares at trees that are beginning to surround her as the women drag her into the forest, she hopes he was telling the truth. If the trees can talk to him, they can tell him what they see happening to her right now.

If she keeps her mouth shut, if she does whatever these women tell her to do, it will give him time to change his plan. He can listen to the trees, and hopefully they'll tell him where the
Dziwozony
have taken her; they'll lead him right to her. All she has to do is stay silent, do what they tell her, and stay alive.

It's the last part that may be trickier than she anticipates. The women obviously have a plan, but they must not have ever been around humans enough to know how slowly they move. The longer they run, the more she falls, and the one dragging her is quickly losing patience.

“What is wrong with it?
”
she asks the others.

“My legs are shorter than yours,
”
Donovan answers, lifting herself off the ground for what feels like the hundredth time.

“Then you should move them faster,
”
the woman says, and begins dragging her again.

When they stop, Donovan is exhausted and so thirsty she’s ready to beg them for something to drink. She assumes since they want her alive to use as bait, they’ll have brought her to some sort of village, but when she looks around, it isn't even a clearing. There's no water, no shelter, no nothing.

“Here?
”
asks the one who's been dragging her.

“Yes, do as you were instructed. We'll let Edyta know.”

Donovan begins to panic. This doesn’t make sense if the plan is to use her as bait. It’s looking like she was wrong; they do plan to kill her. The woman ignores her trembling and shoves her roughly to the ground, binding her to the tree with some type of vine or rope; she can't tell by feel.

“We are not far from where we live, if you have ideas,
”
she says to Donovan as she binds Donovan. “Some of our houses at the outermost reaches of our village, I think your word would be, are just a little way behind you. My sisters already know you are here. However, we do not want you too close to where we sleep.”

Donovan should be too frightened to speak, but her curiosity wins out over her fear.

“Why is that?”

“Well, because the animals might make some noise when they come for you.”

The woman laughs, and a sharp stone appearsin her hand. She cut
s
—
Donovan’s arms, her legs. The blood begins a slow trickle to the forest floor and Donovan gets it now: once they leave her here alone, animals will probably be drawn to the scent of fresh blood.

She's too scared to cry. Passing out would be welcome, but she refuses to give in and be the stereotypical damsel in distress. All she can do is wait here and feel her blood trickle down her arms and legs until small puddles begin to form underneath her on the leaves and try to think of something — anything —to save herself. And Jakub and his mother along with her.

30: Faultline

Grace knows, not from the trees, but from her son's reaction, the moment that it happens. His head snaps back to the castle, and the loo
k
— and feeling
—
of anguish that he gives off nearly take her to her knees.

So this is how it begins
, she thinks.
With my mistake, compounded.

He takes off at a run, and she follows, even though she knows there is no need to run. By the time they get back to the room, her sisters will already have taken Donovan out of the castle. By the time Grażyna and Jakub figure out how they did it, Donovan will already be deep in the forest. They have failed before they have even begun.

Jakub is bellowing her name the moment they enter their suite's hallway, but Grace knows it is no use. It is grief — nothing more, nothing less. He pores over every inch of the room, but nothing shows any sign of a struggle: the door wasn't forced; the furniture isn't overturned. Every sign makes it look like Donovan went willingly, but why would she have done so?

Grażyna sits on her bed while he tears through their things, examining every item in Donovan’s suitcases.

“All her clothes are here, and all her shoes. She didn’t even change out of her pajamas. Why?”

She shrugs. As much time as she has spent with humans, she knows she will never understand them at all. Who knows why the girl would have left with them. Maybe they lied and said Jakub had gone with them. Maybe she was curious.

Grażyna makes the mistake of verbalizing her thoughts.

“Without shoes,
Matka
? Really? You think she would have gone sightseeing with the
Dziwozony
without shoes? In the forest? No. Whatever happened here, Donovan was frightened. You can still feel the shadow of how afraid she was here in the room. But she left willingly because she thought that was smarter than fighting them. Why?”

Alcove, desk, doorway. He follows the same path repeatedly as he paces. Grażyna sits on her bed, unmoving, her face in her hands. Her son will be destroyed if they kill Donovan, and it will be her fault. Why would the girl have left? Why would she have left willingly but without shoes?

Alcove, desk, doorway. The pacing isn't helping her think. No shoes. They left quickly. She didn't want to delay or argue. She didn't call out once they were all outside, or they would have heard her.

All put together, Donovan wanted to get out of the room quickly, without a struggle. Before Jakub came back. She wanted to get to the forest before they realized she was gone. She didn't want a confrontation here in the castle, or on the grounds.

“She wanted to give us time,” Grażyna says.

Jakub stops his pacing.

“What did you say?”

“I said she wanted to give us time. She did not struggle. She did not try to stall them. She left as quickly as they wanted her to, and she did not call out. That means she did not want us to know they were taking her. More than one of the sisters must have come.

“Jakub, she gave us time to plan. She was actually thinking.”

“Then she's insane.”

“No. She is smart. If there were two of them, we may have had a chance. Three? More? With us completely unprepared? No chance. Now, we think. We decide what to do and we go into the forest and we get her.”

“Maybe she's already dead. Have you thought of that?”

His heart is breaking. He promised to keep Donovan safe, and he has already let her down. Grażyna knows she should have anticipated how the sisters would think and plan and act, but instead, she is more impressed by the girl's quick thinking.

Donovan protected them. She thought on her feet. And she went into the forest knowing anything could happen, but trusting Grażyna and Jakub could get her out.

“You need to have more faith in her,” she says. “You also need to start acting more like her and less like a quivering little boy. She trusts you to have a plan. Can you trust her to stay alive until you can come up with one?”

He scrubs at his face in frustration. She can tell he's angry, and scared, and torn between tearing off into the forest to blindly search for the girl and curling up into a ball on the floor of the room here and mourning. But it is too early to mourn.

“Come, Jakub. We must plan. They will expect us to come the way the paths lead. I need you. You can hear them. You can find them. You can tell me what we are up against: who will always be against us and who may be willing to help us.

“I refuse to believe so much has changed that harming a human would be allowed now by my sisters. This cannot be a unanimous move. Help me here. You are the only one who can get her out.”

His hesitation is easy to see, and for a fraction of a moment, she thinks maybe it is all lost. Then resolve washes over him. He stands straighter and barely glances at her before he walks out of the room.

She exhales and follows him. Finally, he is ready. Her part in this is close to being over. He will get the girl. He will survive. She won't worry leaving him alone in this world. It's a relief to not have to make the decisions anymore. She puts her trust in her son now.

~

Bożena has to remind herself that the second most important law is not to kill another sister in an impulsive act. Without the full agreement of all the sisters. While Grażyna’s treason is obviously grounds for it, she finds Edyta’s far worse.

They have taken the girl. They have left her bleeding in the forest. Bożena could gladly snap Edyta’s neck right now and leave her for
Matka
to reclaim. How could she do this? Taking a human.