The Villain Keeper (9 page)

Tito scrunched up his face. “A nature trap?”

“An ensnaring magical clearing,” Caden explained.

“Right, the math teacher's evil and magic took Jane.” Tito shook his head. “Come on, bro. It's hopeless.”

“Magic brought me here at the same time she disappeared. The enemy of my people was her math teacher and now is mine. You don't find that significant?”

Tito's expression became defeated, his lopsided face more asymmetrical. “I don't really believe magic brought you here or that Mr. Rathis is evil.”

Caden peered out the window. It wasn't too far a climb to the ground. “You have no other leads,” he said, and opened the window. “I'm right and I can prove it.”

Maybe Caden's quest hadn't stalled the moment he found himself in Asheville. Maybe it was gaining meaning, gaining momentum.

They climbed out the window on the left of the room, the one with the sturdy-looking drainpipe near to it. The night was dark sky and bright half-moon. The drainpipe was cold in Caden's grasp and groaned under his and Tito's combined weights. Full water bottles hung at Caden's hip, poor Ashevillian “plastic” replacements for his sword.

“We should've snuck out through the house,” Tito whispered.

“No, this is more challenging.” Caden tapped the pipe. It dinged like a bell.

“Shhh!” Tito said. “If Rosa finds out about this, she'll
flip. I'm supposed to be helping you adjust, not feeding your delusions.”

“You risk banishment to save your friend,” Caden said. “That's honorable.”

Tito's huff fogged the air. “Or stupid,” he said. “I don't want to get sent away.” Then more quietly, “I like it here.”

Caden slid down the pipe. Tito careened into him a second later. They tumbled into the grass, side by side, dirt and stray brown blades of grass stuck to their arms and faces. Again, the drainpipe groaned. Then there was a pop, pop, pop—like arrows hitting a wall. The pipe tipped like a downed tree and hit the earth between them with a muted squish.

Caden stared at the pipe. Tito stared at the pipe. Around them, the night was quiet.

“I never should have agreed to this,” Tito muttered.

Caden stood and reached across to help Tito to his feet. “I doubt we've been compromised. It didn't make much noise.”

Brown leaves nested in Tito's hair. He toed the pipe with his foot. “We get caught, you're taking the blame.”

Caden had no choice—not when Tito said it like that—but he cared not. He pulled a piece of wet brown grass from his cheek. “Follow me,” he said.

As they hiked up the dark trail, Caden pointed out the large hoofprints near where the forest began. “He runs with the winds. He'll return soon enough.” Caden then
explained about his horse, the quest his father had sent him on, and the mischief that had trapped him there.

“So you have to slay a dragon?” Tito said.

“Yes,” said Caden.

“There are no dragons, bro.”

Caden peered at the dark woods around him. “Not here, no.”

“Not
any
where.”

Caden had no time to argue the obvious. “There's another thing,” he said.

“There's more?”

It was a risk to trust Tito with this information, but they did share a common goal—to find out what had happened to Jane. And a room. The social workers had proclaimed them brothers, even. “Brynne cursed me. With compliance.”

Tito shone his flashlight at Caden's face. “Brynne. The magical girl who comes out of nowhere and can't be trusted. Right.”

Caden frowned. “For two days,” he explained, “I must follow any order given to me.”

Tito cocked his head. “Anything?”

“That's right,” Caden said.

“So if I ordered you to be my personal slave you'd do it?”

“Not if you want to survive once the curse breaks.”

Tito was far too quiet for a moment. “Bark like a dog.”

Caden was going to throttle him. He opened his mouth
to say as much and a deep-throated growl emerged, followed by a high-pitched “woof, woof” that echoed in the hills.

Tito laughed.

If forced to sound like a dog, Caden would attack like one. He bared his teeth and pounced. Tito dodged. He was quick for a peasant.

“Hey, man, you can't blame me for testing it out. Once you're medicated I doubt you'll be any fun. Now, meow like a cat.”

Caden lunged for him, fists clenched, hissing low and mad. “Meow, meow. Meow!”

“Stop.”

Caden stopped, his fist mere inches from Tito's smiling, moonlit face. “This will wear off in a few days—you should consider that,” he said. Suddenly, Caden had an idea. “You could order me not to go to school tomorrow.”

“Rosa's gonna make you go.”

“Order me not to.”

Tito sighed, and his breath fogged the dark air. “Um. Okay. I order you not to go to school tomorrow. Feel better?”

“I still feel like I'm going to go.”

“Sorry, man. I tried.”

Understanding the rules of his curse meant Caden could better handle it. “Her order was first,” he mused, “so it must stand.”

“Yeah,” Tito said. “And she's in charge, too.”

They continued up the mountain. It was good to talk to Tito, even if Tito lacked faith in Caden's sanity. Since embarking on his quest, most of Caden's conversations had been with Sir Horace or Brynne.

While Sir Horace was a great steed, his replies mainly involved neighing, stomping, and, on one notable occasion, wriggling on his back in a field of magical happy flowers.

Conversations with Brynne tended to end in curses. There was something to be said for two-way conversations without the threats of tails, wings, horns, or, most recently, compliance.

Truth be told, he preferred a disbelieving ally to one who cursed him. Brynne, though, was much easier on the eyes.

D
espite the earlier rain, the strange sand of the clearing remained bright under the half-moon; the firs, pines, and bare oaks were a dark fortress around it. Magic was always easier to see under moonlight, easier to avoid. Jane had disappeared when the moon was brighter and fuller. If she'd encountered the sand trap, she'd likely have noticed something was strange. Although being Ashevillian, perhaps she didn't understand the danger.

“It's weird here,” Tito said, and pulled his arms to his chest. “I'll give you that.”

Brynne was nowhere in sight. “Be on guard. Brynne will be here soon,” Caden said.

Caden squatted at the trap's edge, noted the lack of hoofprints, and sighed in relief. Sir Horace was too wily for such a trap. He reached out and ran his hand through the
dry sand. It stuck to his skin like crumbled brick.

He held his arm up for Tito. “I have only the smallest of magical talent, and it does this to me.”

“It's sand. Strange glowing sand, but sand.”

“Dry magic sand,” Caden said.

“Dry normal sand,” Tito said, and stepped into the clearing. “Watch. No magic quicksand. No nothing.”

Caden watched like he'd been told, crossed his arms. “You're sinking,” he said.

Tito was buried halfway to his calves. He sank faster than Caden had. Caden felt his mouth twitch in quick irritation. Even in a mostly magicless land, everyone had more magic than him.

Tito finally seemed to notice he was being pulled into the earth. “What the—” He struggled like he was stuck in the web of a Mandan death spider and dropped to knee-deep. Perhaps Tito would believe now.

Caden considered the trap. When he had found Brynne stuck, no drop of moisture seemed to penetrate the magical clearing, and the sand had dissipated as they'd stepped into the rain. Even now, in the cold crisp night, the air inside the clearing was dryer than that around it. No doubt the trap had a barrier to protect it that deflected water. He looked at the bottled water he'd brought. As the water within them was contained by dry bottles, he should be able to bring them past the barrier. He was right about that, wasn't he?

“Hey!” Tito said. “You gonna leave me in the weird
mountain quicksand or what?”

Caden snapped from his thoughts and tossed him a water bottle. “Pour it around yourself.”

Tito scrunched up his nose and uncapped the bottle. “Water's gonna save me from the weird sand?”

“I'm almost certain,” Caden said.

“Almost?” Tito grumbled, but he dumped the water around him. For a fleeting moment, it sat damply atop the sand. Then, with a soft glow, the water and sand disintegrated into golden smoke.

Caden threw another bottle to Tito. “Keep pouring.”

All the sand vanished. Tito was left standing in a waist-deep, dry pit, which was strange. Caden was certain the trap had pulled Brynne deeper than that. Tito climbed up the side and sat on the edge. The golden smoke hung over them. The wind blew, the trees around them rustled, and the smoke furled down the mountain.

“Whoa,” said Tito, catching his breath.

“Ritual magic.” Caden sat beside Tito and pointed his empty bottle at the trap. “It's always attached to a place.”

Shadows of branches crisscrossed Tito's shirt. His brow was furrowed; his mouth was turned down. “Okay, that was weird. But magic?”

“Your disbelief is simply denial.”

Tito looked like he was beginning to doubt his own resolve. “I dunno . . . ,” he said, peering into the dark grove.

It seemed odd that there was no one—no animal or
person—freed from the trap along with Tito. Few animals were as clever as Sir Horace. Certainly, some creatures should have been snared by the trap. The missing remained missing. Caden scanned the hole. There were faded marks at the bottom, scratches left in the dirt. It was possible they'd been symbols at one time. He felt his frown deepen.

Ritual magic was a magic of sacrifice and exchanges. It was the darkest of the magics. Only masters of the magic used it to much avail, but with the proper ingredients and symbols, and a lack of morals, any fool could attempt it. This trap, however, seemed to have been created by someone with skill.

In the books that towered on the blue and gold shelves of the Winter Castle's great library, there was no record of Rath Dunn ever doing ritual magic. He certainly seemed patient enough, conniving enough. But he wasn't one to dig holes and scratch symbols in the dirt. He was one who manipulated others into doing such things. Caden toed the dirt. “This seems unlike Rath Dunn.”

“You think? Well, your craziness, maybe that's because Mr. Rathis isn't—”

“He's evil.”

Tito shrugged and kicked at the remaining normal, nonmagical dirt. “Speaking of evil,” he grumbled. “You waited long enough to help me; I'm starting to think you deserved to be cursed.”

“He's a royal pain,” Brynne said.

Caden took a deep breath. Again, she had caught him off guard. She stood over them. Her skin glowed with the moonlight. Her hair moved with the cold northern wind.

Beside him, Tito gaped. His mouth hung open; his eyes were big. Quickly, he recovered. “I'm Tito,” he said, and stood. “Wow.”

Caden didn't bother with introductions. He stood and glowered. “Remove the curse you placed on me,” he said. “Now.”

“I don't know,” she said. “It doesn't seem you've learned your lesson yet.”

Caden had learned plenty. He grabbed her by her shoulders. “There's no time for these games. Our lives are at stake.”

She looked down at his hands. “Remove them,” she said, “or lose them.”

It was close enough to an order that Caden was compelled to obey. He took a deep breath and released her. “Rath Dunn is in Asheville.”

She drew her brows together. “What?” she said. “That can't be.”

“Yet, it is.”

“You're making that up,” she said.

“I don't make things up.”

That she knew to be true. Her silvery eyes widened and she bit her lower lip. “He's supposed to be dead.”

The fear in her voice made the danger feel closer, more
sinister. “He doesn't know about you,” Caden said. “He doesn't even know you were born, and he doesn't know your parents were paid to fight against him.”

Beside them, Tito tensed. His gaze was fixed in the hole. Before either Brynne or Caden could stop him, he jumped back into it. “It's Jane's necklace,” he said, climbing out with something clenched in his hand.

Brynne looked at Tito's fist, and her interest was clearly piqued. “That belonged to the missing girl? Are you sure?”

“I'd know it anywhere. She made it.”

“Let me see,” Brynne demanded.

Tito hesitated.

“Jane is his friend,” Caden said. He opened his mouth to say more, to tell her not to steal it, but she cut him off.

“Sit,” she said. “Keep quiet.”

Caden sat back down. He kept quiet.

Brynne cast him an amused look before turning back to Tito. “Let me see the trinket,” she said, and held out her hand.