Spoiler
Ok! For some reason, I still can't scroll down to put stuff in italics. Please bear with me.
I just realised that chappy 6 was way too long so I've divided it. Please enjoy!
I just realised that chappy 6 was way too long so I've divided it. Please enjoy!
Chapter 6
Soothing arms gathered around me and I knew without looking that they were my Mom’s. There was nothing better than a mother’s comfort when all you wanted to do was hide to avoid confronting life. “I know baby, I know. It’s a lot to take in, just breathe Shanna.”
I did, slowly and painfully, but finally I was able to draw deep steady breaths. I stood up to my full height, ashamed to have shown such emotion in front of so many strangers. My mom’s right hand slid down my arm and clutched my hand. A second later, my father was holding my right one. Together, we faced the crowd.
“Logan? Cassandra?”
The voice belonged to a short, plump woman who detached herself from the crowd. Her footsteps were hesitant as she approached and studied us with warm brown eyes. My mother gasped. “Grace?”
My mother squealed and surged forward, dragging me and my father in her wake. My parents finally released my hands as they both hugged the older woman with the grey-streaked dark brown hair. They laughed and chattered for a few moments while I stood back, watching them curiously. When I felt a presence to my left, I knew it was Riley. I looked up.
“I know this is difficult for you right now, but you will have your explanations.”
“I know. It’s just that I’m not exactly accustomed to seeing so much people and it’s making me nervous.”
Riley’s grin held all the warmth of the sun as he reached over and interlaced his fingers with mine. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so lonely anymore.
“Pr – Princess Shayna?”
My head snapped to the front. The woman, Grace, was standing there a few feet away with my parents on either side of her. She was fidgeting with her hands as she studied me from head to toe. When her eyes locked on mine, I noticed they were full of tears. For some unexplainable reason, I felt my own eyes well up. What was wrong with me? Was I having an emotional breakdown?
Grace took a step forward. “You don’t remember me, do you? I’m your grand-mother, on your father’s side.” She took two other steps forward and she cradled my face in her hands. If anyone else had tried to touch me, my natural reaction would have been to recoil. But not with her. Strangely, this felt right.
Grace clucked her tongue. “Oh, it is unbelievable how much you look like -”
A sharp intake of breath was heard and she held her tongue. Her eyes flicked to the left then back at me. Astonished, I looked up to find my parents as pale as death. Something else that was held from me?
“ . . . like your parents,” Grace finished. She withdrew then glanced at Riley and her warm smile returned. “Guardian Riley. Nineteen years have passed since they left but why am I not surprised to find you still at the Princess’s side?”
I knew my eyes had widened as I turned to stare at Riley but he didn’t seem to notice. He stepped forward and hugged Grace tightly. “It’s been too long, Grace.”
My mind was reeling. Riley and I knew each other from before? Why hadn’t he said anything? To be fair, he hadn’t had the time and I was sure he would correct that soon enough. But what about my parents? What else were they hiding? Who was it I looked like? I knew I had my mother’s hair and my father’s eyes. I had always been told I was a good mix of both, that I was undeniably their child. So what had Grace meant? And why didn’t I remember anything? Granted, I was two years old when we left, but surely something would be familiar to me? Anything?
“Logan! Cassandra!” A voice boomed over the increasing noise of the courtyard. I hadn’t noticed that the crowd had come closer, each trying hard to get a look at my parents and I. I tensed nervously. I definitely was not a crowd person. Riley, sensing my discomfort, asked the crowd to back up a few feet to give us some breathing space, then he positioned me between him and my father. I smiled up at him gratefully before turning my eyes to the man with the booming voice.
The man was at least six feet tall and looked nearly as wide. He had a wide smile, white hair and twinkly blue eyes. “Logan! Cassandra!” he called out again and I had to suppress the urge to look around at who ‘Logan’ might be. ‘Cassandra’ was easier for me to associate to my mother since I had always known her as ‘Cassie’. The whole situation would take some getting used to, I was starting to realise that.
The man pulled both my parents into a hug and his laughter was as booming as his voice. My father pulled back, a radiant smile on his face. “Father. I am very glad to see you well.”
“It’s been too long,” the man agreed. It was easy to see the resemblance between the two. My father obviously took after his own bear of a father. Were the men all huge in this realm?
“Gaspar, you remember our daughter?” My mother beckoned me over and I dragged Riley with me.
“Oh my, Shayna, how you have grown.” His smile was warm, paternal. “You really are a beautiful by-product of your parents, aren’t you?”
I held back an eye-roll thinking it wasn’t to be used in polite company. Instead, I smiled. Gaspar patted my cheek, then put an arm on each of my parents’ shoulders and led them to the castle. I raised an eyebrow and turned to Riley. He grinned, shrugged and followed them. I didn’t have much of a choice but to follow; he was still holding my hand. I didn’t mind, though. I didn’t really want him to let go.
In all that was strange and different in my world now, Riley was familiar. His presence was familiar, as a dog and now as a human. The eyes still held the same warmth as they had at night when he’d guarded me and my fingers still itched to touch him constantly. So really, who could blame me for anchoring myself with him?
We walked up the stone stairs leading to the open doors of the castle and I caught sight of a flower painted on the wooden doors. A bright yellow dandelion. I shook my head then turned my gaze inside to try to find my parents who had entered ahead of us. A scene was unfolding in front of us and for a moment, I froze, wondering if my lense-less eyes were playing tricks on me. “Riley!” I whispered urgently. He followed my gaze and quickly assessed the situation. When he began running, I knew I hadn’t imagined things.
To the right of the room was a woman with short white hair running to my parents on the left of the room. Her face was intent, focused. There was no welcoming smile on her face as she raced to my parents. But it wasn’t her face that had drawn my attention; it was the knife she held over her head in a death grip.
Two things happened at once. I called out, “Mom! Dad!” and the woman noticed Riley running to her.
My father reacted swiftly to the raw fear in my voice; he pulled my mom behind him and turned to face the oncoming danger. Only, he couldn’t see it because Gaspar pushed both my parents behind him and stood looming, large and dangerous. Riley tackled the woman but not before she threw her knife to my parents with deadly precision. In my mind’s eye, I could see the damage that blade would do to Gaspar and my parents. In my mind, the knife had a life of its own and wouldn’t be satisfied with only gutting Gaspar; he would then pull out and viciously attack my parents.
I felt panic rising inside of me and visions flashed before my eyes. I saw Eric, the night he went after me with the knife, I saw Riley with his teeth on Eric’s bare throat. I saw the pink castle and the flowers. The bright yellow dandelion painted on the door seemed to surge out of my memories, imposing itself in front of my eyes. My racing heart was the only noise my ears could hear.
The fear in the room was almost tangible; I could feel it and even smell the stench of it as my eyes sharpened, focused on the image of the knife hurtling toward the broad expanse of Gaspar’s chest. I pictured a dandelion on Gaspar’s heart, protecting him. I pictured Eric’s knife turning into a dandelion.
The panic was still rising within me but suddenly, it was tampered with something else. Another feeling was overwhelming me, threatening to drown me. I felt powerful, invincible. Like nothing could touch me. My eyes focused on tiny things, no longer the big picture; the naked fear in my mom’s eyes, the anguish in my father’s. The look of determination on Gaspar’s face, and then the knife, only inches from Gaspar’s heart.
As the power and panic overflowed, I cried out. It was a shrill, thin sound, one that would have made Riley’s dog ears cringe with pain.
I saw the transformation but I didn’t believe it; one second, a knife was inches from Gaspar’s heart. The next, it was a dandelion that hit him squarely, then rebounded and floated to the floor. I noticed that the whole knife hadn’t changed; only the blade had transformed, the wooden hilt was still there serving as a stem for the dandelion.
My parents and Gaspar released a sigh of relief, the fallen woman was shrieking while Riley held her down. I fell to my knees and released the contents of my stomach on the plush pink carpet.
I was shaking from head to toe and I was gasping for breath. In the back of my mind, I patted myself on the back for taking a moment to tie my long hair before arriving. If not, it would have made an already messy situation, much messier.
This time, when arms encircled me, they weren’t my mother’s; they were Grace’s. “Hush, darling, breathe in deeply. Deep, calming breaths.”
Her presence was calm and soothing and soon I was taking deep breaths. I refused to consider anything right now; I focused on her voice. While I listened to her, I could easily picture myself in the middle of the forest, sitting on a bed of leaves, my eyes closed. I could hear the chirping of birds, the chattering of squirrels. I could hear bees and flies but they did not bother me. The wind was a nice cool breeze to refresh me as the hot sun pounded on my head. I was warm and comfortable, surrounded by the noises I was accustomed to hearing. Suddenly, I was calm. I blinked and locked gazes with Grace. She smiled.
“I just . . .”
“Shanna!”
My parents ran to me, a look of concern and worry on their faces. Grace helped me stand when I stumbled and nearly landed in my puddle of puke. For such a short woman, she was surprisingly strong. My parents hugged me tightly and began talking but were interrupted by the white-haired woman’s screeching.
“You abandoned us! You left us here to rot and die!” Two guards had relieved Riley and they helped her up, tightly restraining her. She was kicking and screaming, “What is it? You couldn’t keep your own child safe so you couldn’t care less if someone else’s was killed?”
My mother gasped and pressed her hands to her stomach. Furious, my father turned to the woman, “Shut up Margery! You think we went willingly? You know we didn’t! We wanted to stay and fight! The council decided otherwise and we had to leave.”
The woman’s face was ravaged with pain and grief. In any other circumstance, I might have felt pity for her but she had just tried to kill my parents. I glanced at Riley who was tense and alert, ready to interfere if Margery tried anything to escape her guards. As the woman went limp, I realised she probably didn’t have any fight in her left. She looked much older than she probably was with her white hair and wrinkled face. Her body was thin and frail and she looked sick. I wasn’t sure the sickness was entirely physical, judging by what I had seen so far. Then again, I had never lost anyone I truly cared about. How would I react if I lost one of my parents in such a brutal fashion as murder?
I shivered. I didn’t want to picture myself without my parents, especially after such a close call. Granted, Gaspar would have been the one hit, but if he hadn’t reacted the way he had, by protecting them, and if I hadn’t . . . Hadn’t what? What had I done?
I shook my head. I wasn’t going to think about that right now. My whole body began shaking violently and my father was the only reason I was standing upright. I was dizzy and my legs felt weak. My father, sensing my trembling, scooped me up in his arms and turned to Gaspar. “Is there a free room where I could lay her down? I think she’s going into shock.”
Gaspar nodded and turned briskly. My mother followed, running to catch up to my father’s long-legged stride. I worried for about half a second that my father was carrying me around like an overgrown baby but I figured that if he felt he could pull it off, I could trust him. I tucked my head under his chin and closed my eyes.
