Faerie Winter - Janni Lee Simner [61]
Elin fluttered from the quia tree to one of the oak’s branches. Mom and I circled each other, both trying for the higher ground, while Kyle sang on behind the quia tree, as if unaware of any of us. I couldn’t let Mom strike out with that blade, but I also couldn’t hurt her.
I could do whatever I had to, to see the Lady—Arianna—stopped. The knowledge settled, cold and hard, inside me. Karin couldn’t help now, but she had left me a weapon. It was up to me to use it. I couldn’t let the Lady destroy any more human towns.
I sheathed my knife with my right hand. As Mom’s eyes followed the movement, I grabbed her wrist with my left, bending it down and away. If I could get the knife from Mom, I still had a chance of protecting her.
She fought me. “I need the knife.”
“Why do you need it, Mom?”
“To cut out your heart.” She spoke as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. A smile twitched the Lady’s lips as she petted Matthew’s fur.
I unbent Mom’s fingers from around the hilt. The knife clattered off a rock, and I grabbed it before Mom could. “Arianna! Go away!”
The Lady took a single step away before Matthew growled and jumped at me, pushing me backward into the mud. Mom’s knife flew from my hand. I felt the wolf’s hot breath on my face as his teeth went for my throat.
I rolled us over, pinning him beneath me. “Matthew!” I looked right at him as I tried to call the boy out from the wolf. “Matthew!”
He twisted and sank his teeth through my coat. Pain shot through my left shoulder. My hold loosened, and the wolf wriggled out from under me. I leaped to my feet, backing away as I drew my own knife from its sheath. “Go away, Matthew. Go away!”
He snarled and stalked toward me. I looked into his gray eyes and saw no one I knew there.
“Matthew.” My throat was dry. He’d known his name in Clayburn.
He didn’t know it now. I backed uphill, clutching my knife, bracing myself to use it if he leaped again. My shoulder throbbed, but I couldn’t let that distract me.
“Go ’way, stupid wolf!” Kyle barreled out from behind the quia tree, fists raised.
Matthew whined as he stopped stalking. “Go away go away go away!” Kyle didn’t use his name. He didn’t have to. Matthew whirled from him and fled into the forest. Mom retrieved Father’s knife with her good hand. I gripped my own knife tightly. The Lady watched us all, silent and frowning, fireflies glimmering in her hair.
Tears streaked Kyle’s cheeks. “Matthew’s never mean.”
There was no time to offer comfort—or receive it. “Get out of here, Kyle.”
Kyle shook his head. “Help you.” He ran at the Lady, grabbing something from his pocket and throwing it at her. Ants—I caught the scent of burning fabric an instant before I saw them crawling over the skirt of her dress. Not carpenter ants, but small red fire ants, glowing with the heat they held. Kyle raced back toward the quia tree.
The Lady brushed at her dress as if the ants were but a passing annoyance, though I smelled burning skin. “Kyle,” she said. He froze just an arm’s length from the tree. “Come here, Kyle, and I shall tell you just how much I despise animal speakers.”
“Okay.” Kyle’s voice was very small. He turned and walked back toward her.
Something tapped the Lady’s shoulder. A shadow. She flinched and turned, but the shadow disappeared into the earth as she reached for it.
Johnny. Stupid, silent Johnny—even the Lady couldn’t see him coming. I grabbed Kyle with my free arm. My shoulder screamed with pain. Kyle’s eyes focused on mine. “Liza?” He sounded uncertain.
I wanted to give Kyle the leaf again—but I’d have no chance against the Lady if I did that. “Kyle, you need to run away now. You need to hide.”
“Help Johnny now.” Kyle fought my hold. “Run later.”
“Kyle.” I set my hand firmly on his shoulder. “Run away. Hide. Don’t come back until the Lady is gone. Run!”
“Don’t want to—” Kyle flashed me a betrayed look. Then he wrenched free and ran, past the quia and the oak with Elin