Finders Keepers (26 page)

But she didn’t hang.
 
No broken neck.
 
She could still breathe.
 
Ellie opened her eyes, having instinctually squeezed them shut.
 
Her hands flew to her neck where the noose still bound her to the scaffold.
 
She looked down.
 
The third councilmember had caught her and now held her in his arms.
 
He shook the red hood off of his head revealing tousled brown hair.
 
“Hello, angel.”

Producing a knife from under his robes, he sawed the rope that held Ellie until she was free, and then lowered her to the ground.
 
Quickly he removed the noose from around her neck.
 
No sooner had he tossed it aside than she threw her arms around his neck.
 
He picked her up off her feet and returned the fierce embrace.
 
“Like I told Council Member
Gadsbik
, I prefer my girlfriends alive and in one piece.”

“You came back.”
 

At first she wasn't sure if he heard her in the midst of the chaos, but then he squeezed her tighter and pressed his lips close to her ear.
 
"Ellie Brown, you are my heart.
 
I will always come for you."

Bounding up onto the stage and interrupting the moment, Sky came, followed by Zak and then Lola.
 
Gibbs released her but pulled her next to him and slightly back so that he was in front of her.
 
Sky’s eyes narrowed at the nearness between Ellie and Gibbs, but he gave his brother the guy nod and Gibbs returned it.
 
Then he looked at Ellie again and he folded his arms.
 
Gibbs cocked his head and pulled his arm tighter around her.
 
Ellie shook her head.
 
Boys
.
 
She shrugged Gibbs arm off and moved so she was equidistant between the two.
 
This wasn’t the place.

The approach of a red robe quickly undid her previous shift.
 
She practically dove behind Gibbs.
 
Lola’s father ignored her.
 
Waving a fist at Gibbs he said, “Look at the mess you’ve made you little mongrel!”

Gibbs’ body went stiff and his eyes flashed dangerously.
 
“I saved my brother’s life, and if I hadn’t made this little mess, we never would have figured out it was
Xaneth
who was collecting the Shifters.”

Everyone started talking at once, some in the goblin language that sounded like crunching metal, and she backed up even further while resisting the impulse to cover her ears with her hands.
 
Her hand was throbbing again and she thought to look down at it.
 
Momentarily distracted by the ugly torn bandage, she didn’t see the wrinkled brown arm reach up over the platform.
 
Twig fingers wrapped around her ankle.
 
A familiar voice rasped, “Mine!” and yanked.

Her hands flew out in front of her but did little to cushion her fall.
 
Like a belly flop on land she smacked onto her front, smashing her elbows and bumping her chin in the process.
 
Another twiggy hand latched onto her other leg and it dragged her across the platform.
 
“Gabriel!”
 
His head jerked up just in time to see her disappear over the side and into the crowd.

15

           
"I can't wait any longer for Granddad to figure out the best way to kill you so that he leaves the fewest marks.
 
Always worried about that stupid collection of his.”

           
“This is crazy, Sarah!
 
I thought you and I were friends.
 
You had Thanksgiving with my family!”

           
Sarah lowered her knife slightly.
 
“Your parents are nice, but that doesn’t change anything.
 
I tried to warn Gibbs about you.
 
He just thought I wanted you dead, but he didn’t know that I was trying to avoid exactly this situation.”
 
Her knife was out in front of her again.
 

           
Ellie backed up against the wall of the small cave where she’d been imprisoned.
 
“Why are you doing this?”

           
“Because I have to.
 
Xaneth
is all I have.
 
I don’t have nice parents like you.”

           
“You said yourself that it’s murder to kill your own kind, but you’re going to take Sky’s life and claim it’s for history or science or whatever?
 
What will you tell your children?
 
He once was my friend but now he’s just a stuffed crow?”
 
Ellie strained her voice to stay level when all it wanted to do was rise in pitch.
   

           
Sarah’s stance wavered slightly.
 
“I never wanted to kill Sky.
 
Why do you think the bomb only malfunctioned instead of completely blowing him to pieces?”
 
She checked over her shoulder self-consciously.
 
“I gave Sky enough chances to disappear.”
 
Upon seeing Ellie’s befuddlement, Sarah suddenly laughed.
 
“I know, you’re confused because
I
am the one who told Lola about you who told her father, and then Zak, our informant, told Gibbs, and
I
twisted the information so that Gibbs thought you were some psycho who was keeping Sky like a caged pet.
 
Why would I do that if I didn’t want him dead?
 
Because I wanted Sky gone, not five minutes away in suburbia where anyone could find him!
 
He needed to be as good as dead if not actually dead.
 
I didn’t want anyone looking for him.
 
Not Grandfather and especially not Gibbs.”
 

“If you aren’t as much of a crackpot as… I mean
Xaneth’s
pawn as you say, then why are you waving a knife at me?
 
Why kill me?
 
What is your motivation for all of this?
 
Is it inheriting your grandfather’s junk?
 
Is it whatever he promised you?”

Sarah shook her head as if it just wasn’t that simple.
 
“You think you know enough about us to pass judgment, but you really know nothing about us.
 
For example, you don’t know how the last 100 years of monarchy rule left our kings fat and happy while the people starved.
 
Or, how one of them believed in goblin sacrifice and he slaughtered men, women, and children for his own twisted demonic beliefs.
 
My grandfather’s father was the chief advisor to the last king.
 
He watched as he enslaved the people and sold his own kind to circuses and carnival acts.
 
My great grandfather and my granddad have only protected our race’s freedom.
 
Until eight years ago when Lola’s father won the council seat, his actions are what maintained the peace.”

“That’s when the electricity failed.”

“If you mean that
Jalx
cut the power, then yes, it failed.”

“Then why are you going after Sky?
 
Lola’s father is the problem.”

“Don’t you see?
 
As long as Sky is alive to inherit, he wins.
 
His daughter will be queen, and Sky his pawn.
 
Or if Sky refuses to roll over like a lap dog, then you can be sure that he will only live long enough for the power to be transferred over to Lola or their heir.”
 

Everything Sarah said sent conflicting emotions tearing through her.
 
What if this were her fight?
 
Where would she stand?
 
Heck, her father was military and a proud American.
 
There was no question.
 
We don’t do kings.

“So what, you’re going to follow in
Xaneth’s
footsteps and continue to murder all the future kings and stuff them and keep them for pets in that vault?”

 
“Crap, no!”
 
Sarah looked horrified.
 
“I didn’t know he kept them until you told me what was in there.
 
He’s never let me see.
 
I wouldn’t have done any of this unless I knew it was my only ticket to freedom.
 
Grandad
promised me that I could take Gibbs and pass.”

The revelation of what Sarah was saying took only a second to sink in.
 
Of course.
 
A child who could turn into a bird at will wasn’t going to have human-like blood.
 
Flora had been talking about Gibbs the entire time.
 
She’d only told Ellie it was Sky so that Ellie wouldn’t suspect Sky’s secret.
 
Gibbs, himself, probably hadn't known until he'd been stabbed on the streets.
 
And that's what changed everything for him.
 
So much responsibility rested on him—as his brother’s protector, as the true hope of their people’s survival.
 
His mother’s hope.
   

Sarah nodded as if she could hear Ellie’s thoughts.
 
“That’s right.
 
Gibbs is as close to human as we get down here.
 
Sure, we all have a little human in us.
 
You can blame that on goblins having a weakness for a pretty face.
 
But Gibbs’s genes, though goblin through and through, resemble his human ancestors more than his goblin.
 
It’s like being a redhead in a family of brunettes.
 
He’s my ticket to the world above…malls, shopping, driving, more shopping, sunshine, golden tans!
 
As long as he’s with me, I can use him to fake my way through anything.”
 
Her eyes narrowed to slits.
 
“And that’s where you’ve ruined the plan again.
 
He’s more than besotted with you.
 
It’s amazing, really, that you’ve won not one, but two goblin hearts.
 
Do you realize how unusual that is?
 
It’s hard enough for goblins to love other goblins.
 
We are too smart, too sneaky and incredibly lazy.
 
It makes for really cruddy relationships.”
 
She pointed her knife at Ellie’s heart.
 
“He won't leave if he thinks you are still alive.”
 

The knife nicked Ellie’s arm after she barely managed to dive to one side of Sarah’s thrust.
 
She yelped but didn’t stop moving.
 
On her hands and knees now she scrambled out of the way again.
 
The point of the knife grated across the rock wall.
 
Flipping like a spry ninja, Sarah landed in front of her.
 
The maneuver stunned Ellie so much that she stared dumbly at the little goblin for several seconds, giving Sarah the opportunity to leap at her again.
 
Ellie charged forward and plowed into Sarah’s knees.
 
Sarah howled as she was propelled over Ellie’s back.
 
She landed a few feet from Ellie, still screeching.
 
She’d successfully held onto the knife.
 
Jumping from her back into a crouch she pounced again.

Sarah caught the hem of Ellie’s sweatshirt and with surprising strength she yanked Ellie to the ground.
 
Ellie wrestled with her, rolled both of them onto their sides and then suddenly Sarah was ripped off of her.
 
Her perfectly manicured nails took skin off of Ellie’s face and neck.

           
 
But it wasn't her rescue.
 
Xaneth
held a squirming, hissing, spitting Sarah tightly in his arms.
 
"Her face!
 
Look what you've done to her face.
 
It will take days, a week, maybe six days to heal from that.
 
Impatient.
 
No patience.
 
Sarahaxia
, get out of my sight until you are useful again."
 
He swung her around and was just about to toss her out the door when Ellie saw her chance.
 

           
There was just a split second of an opening where the door stood unguarded and both her captors were tied up.
 
She didn’t hesitate.
 
She pushed off like a sprinter out of blocks and bounded for the door.
 
She barreled past
Xaneth
and Sarah, using her shoulder as a shield as she skidded past them and into the corridor.
 
Turning, she slammed the door shut and locked it from the outside, just as they’d done to her.
 
There was no light from any direction, giving her zero indication of a preferred path, so she fell right.
 
It only made sense to her adrenaline riddled brain.
 
She was right-handed, she preferred right turns, and right was right.
 
Right.
 
And didn’t you find your way out of mazes by always choosing the right?

           
Ellie ran, picking her feet up high to keep from tripping.
 
One.
 
Two.
 
Three… When she reached eleven, she heard the door screech open and two pairs of footsteps slapped the stone behind her.
 
They could see.
 
She couldn’t.
 
She dug in and ran faster.
 

           
Reaching out with her right arm (still sticking with the right theme), she brushed the wall with her fingertips.
 
It remained solid for seconds, and then minutes.
 
Her lead was miniscule and if anything she could hear them gaining on her.
 
The rough, dry rock turned damp under her hand.
 
Then wet.
 
And slick.
 
Her Nikes slipped and slid across the ground.
 
She reached out both arms to the wall to steady herself and that’s when she felt it, or rather didn’t.
 
The wall suddenly disappeared beneath her fingertips.
 

           
The crevice was just barely wider than her body if turned sideways.
 
She sucked in her breath and shimmied into the opening.
 
The crack narrowed as she moved through it and soon the stone scraped her shoulder blades and chest simultaneously.
 
Her breaths came as quick pants and she continued to wedge her way through.
 
And then the crack narrowed so much that she couldn’t go any further.
 
Goosebumps broke out all over her arms and legs.
 

           
She could hear nothing above the sound of her own breathing.
 
She waited.
 
Nothing.
 
Her heart slowed.
 
Still nothing.

           
A small pebble broke loose from the wall.
 
And then another.
 
And another.
 
Now there was a distinct scraping noise and it was quickly getting louder.
 
It could be within
arms length
at any moment.
 
Grunting she turned her head to the side and pushed herself as hard as she could into the crack.