Of Enemies and Endings (18 page)

She'd started sharing theories on my maybe-cursed sword. “We can't know
when
the curse will kick in,” Lena said. “You probably have a few more years, considering how slowly the Fey age. It was probably just supposed to prevent squires from depending on the magic too much. They were supposed to learn the techniques, not just depend on the enchanted sword.”

No matter what she said, I still felt betrayed by one of my first allies.

I couldn't sit still like Lena. I didn't even think I could practice any drills like the triplets. The ice shard in my chest had been joined by three or four more, and I couldn't stop craning my neck around a tiny little blue house, trying to check the orange door that led to the Canon members' apartments.

“Another day,” Daisy said, tossing one of her arrows in the air, watching it flip end over end, and catching it by the wooden shaft. At first, it had been impressive. Now it was only annoying. “Another evening, waiting for Chase.”

“That was different and you know it,” I said, more sharply than I meant to. “Besides, he was waiting with us just a little while ago.”

I wasn't sure what had shocked us the most: the fact that he showed up or the fact that he brought the Fey with him. He'd spent most of the afternoon demonstrating how the Itari moves worked while flying. It had been nice to watch while it lasted. The Fey knights picked up the maneuvers even faster than I did. They had the potential to be great Itari warriors before the summer ended, but only if they started focusing on their lessons instead of plotting against their teacher.

“That was two hours ago,” Daisy shot back, and I couldn't argue. She was right.

When the Fey
finally
showed signs of tiring, Chase had sent them back to wherever the Director had set them up. Soaked with sweat, he'd walked over to make sure we hadn't scheduled a departure time, and then he'd looked at the triplets, at
me
. “Just let me go get my armor,” he'd said.

Then he'd disappeared beyond the door, and hadn't returned.

“It's dinnertime in New York,” said Kevin irritably.

“Almost past dinnertime,” added Conner, squinting at the sun, which was now touching the wall at the end of the courtyard. His voice was tinged with hope, like Chase might finish up and come back in time to join us.

“We never talk about Adelaide,” said Tina thoughtfully. “Have you ever noticed that? But she's gone as much as Chase is.”

“Chase is our best fighter,” Kevin said. “Adelaide's a good shot, but she's no Rory.”

That was a compliment, kind of, but mostly I felt like a poor substitute for Chase.

He wasn't just our best fighter. He was . . .
Chase
. He could joke his way through any pre-mission stress. If he were here, he would have asked the triplets if there were any embarrassing items they wanted to tell us about
before
we reached their ranch. Or maybe he would have told stories about growing up in the Unseelie Court—something to keep us all entertained.

Hansel poked his head out of the hunter green door to Texas. He'd crossed over hours ago, trying to hurry Mr. Zipes along. “It's time,” Hansel said wearily. “Turnleaf isn't here?” he asked me, like
I
was supposed to know. I shrugged, careful not to meet his eyes. If I did, he would be able to tell how ticked off I was.

Lena was already tucking Melodie into a bag and pulling the straps over her shoulders.

Sighing, our sword instructor opened the Door Trek door wider. “Well, we've wasted too much time already. He'll know where to find us.” Great. Even Hansel didn't expect much from Chase anymore.

I followed first, tight-lipped, and led the others down a corridor with worn wooden walls and old-fashioned lanterns. I hated that I'd thought anything had changed.

“They're both getting on my nerves,” said Vicky.

“I wrote Adelaide off a long time ago,” added Tina. “I expected better from Chase, though.”

I shot them a dark look. “We're here for the triplets. Let's just concentrate on the mission for now.”

Hansel didn't have much patience for it either. “If you're too distracted, I can send you back and request the tenth grade archers in your place.”

He would do it, no matter how long we'd been waiting. He was that strict.

The stepsisters immediately straightened up, and the whole grade's mood went from pretty irritated to mildly concerned.

“Hansel, are you threatening to take away our mission and give it to the grade above us again?” I said, determined to break the tension. “I thought those days were behind us.”

The triplets gaped at me. I couldn't help but notice that it did sound like something that would come out of Chase's mouth.

Hansel pretended to consider it. “To tell the truth, the tenth graders could use the extra practice more than you lot.”

I opened the door at the end of the corridor. “But the triplets could use
us
as their bodyguards. We'll fight harder. We like them more.”

Hansel laughed. “Nice to see that old grade rivalries haven't completely disappeared. We'll fight harder. We like them more.”

The rest of the grade exchanged glances. I wasn't sure any of them had heard that sound come out of the sword master before. Then we stepped outside into Texas, hot and dry even in the twilight.

The ranch had a bunch of buildings, all charcoal gray in the dim light. Two barns, something that was shaped like a barn but was small enough to be a storage shed, and at least five
actual
storage sheds. Our Door Trek door was attached to the closest structure, a large white house with red shutters and a huge porch.

It was funny. I'd spent years fighting alongside the triplets, but I'd never imagined where they came from.

“Kyle, Conner, Kevin, we need to rendezvous with your parents,” Hansel said. He nodded at the man on the porch and the dark-haired woman beside him. The triplets broke off and followed him. “Search the buildings and sweep the perimeter for any threats. Then we're going to help them with their boxes.”

The rest of the grade turned to me, grumbling. They were clearly more interested in guarding than carrying stuff, but it took me a second to realize they were waiting for assignments. If you had told me a few months ago that I would miss Chase giving me orders, I wouldn't have believed you, but I did. Most of the archers wanted to see the animals, so I sent them to search the barns. The spearmen were interested in the heavy machinery—they went to check the storage sheds. Lena took another good runner, Tina, to sweep the perimeter on the opposite side of the compound. Then I jogged around our side with Paul and Vicky. They tried to hold hands as they ran, which instantly irritated me for no reason at all.

We didn't see any trolls or dragons. We didn't hear any wolves or ice griffins.

We didn't hear or see much of anything. Away from the buildings and their lights, the sky felt bigger. The stars were beginning to come out—brilliant bursts peeking through a growing darkness. I'd never seen so many stars in my life, not even when Mom had a film in Wyoming, and
that
town had seemed plenty small and isolated. We ran past some crooked shapes clustered up on the hill. We ran a little closer, weapons out, but the shapes just turned out to be low cypress trees.

Still, a creepy feeling crawled up my spine, like we were being watched.

“Stop procrastinating,” Hansel called from the main house. “If you don't see anything, come back and help the others.”

With heavy sighs, Paul and Vicky turned and started obediently jogging back. I paused, squinting hard at the next rise. Its shape blotted out the stars, too narrow and lumpy to be a hill, but somehow familiar too.

Probably just a rock column. Everything seemed creepier in the dark.

I put my hand on my sword hilt, so it wouldn't knock against my side as I ran. Then something did happen, something big.

The rock column shifted closer. It was roughly four stories tall.

I'd
known
the Snow Queen wouldn't let this be easy for us. “Giant!” I shouted.

The giant heard. It took another step, and its enormous foot fell with a bone-rattling thump. I couldn't let it get close enough to grab me.

“Regroup!” Hansel called.

I whipped around and sprinted back to the main house, unsheathing my blade on the way. I peeked over my shoulder, hoping I wouldn't see General Searcaster.

I didn't. It was her son.

On my very first quest, I'd overheard Jimmy Searcaster moaning about having to feed the Snow Queen's pet dragons. I'd heard him snoring. I'd read the love poems his wife had written him. He shouldn't have been terrifying, but he
was
. He'd become a pillar, one of the giant bodyguards who couldn't be killed except by another pillar.

Jimmy stepped into the light coming from the buildings, and then I could see his glinting teeth and green face. “Did I hear that you had a birthday yesterday, Rory Landon? I've been meaning to give you a present, since last time we met, you gave me something to remember you by.”

He raised his arms. Even in the dimness, the new scars were easy to spot—raised bumps and healed gashes that ran from his wrists to his elbows. Lena's exploding bats had really torn him up.

I gulped and ducked into the open area between the house and the barn, where some of the others were clustered together.

I skidded to a stop beside Lena. Her hands fumbled inside her carryall.

“Did we call for help?” I asked.

Melodie had popped her head out of Lena's bag to see what was going on. When Lena looked too shaken to answer, the harp spoke up. “Hansel did.”

So, Solange's minions hadn't put a warding hex up. Maybe the ranch was too big for the spell to work.

Then Tina screamed and hid her face. She hadn't done that since the day we first met her, when a dragon she hadn't known existed had cornered her in a tennis court.

Kevin tripped over his own feet, trying to back away.

I turned to see what had freaked them out. It couldn't possibly be worse than one of the four pillars.

I was wrong.

Goblins. Ranks upon ranks of the creepily skinny creatures marched down the driveway. We had just enough light to spot batlike ears, bald heads, and sneers. At least a hundred and fifty of them.

Two desires ripped through me: One was to make a break for the Door Trek door that would take us back to EAS, to safety. The other was to sprint toward the goblins, sword raised, to throw myself at their ranks and take down as many as possible. I probably wouldn't survive, but I might distract the Snow Queen's forces long enough to let everyone
else
reach the Door Trek door. I wanted to do both things so badly I couldn't think of anything else. So I just froze.

Melodie rubbed Lena's arm soothingly. “Mistress, what is it? This isn't like you.”

It wasn't like
any
of us. We didn't lose our heads in battle. We'd
trained
for this.

“Something's wrong,” I said. “We shouldn't be this scared.”

“I'm going to protect my
family
,” I heard Mr. Zipes yell. And then suddenly he was running down the house steps, toward the goblins.

“Come back!” Mrs. Zipes rushed down the driveway, intent on stopping her husband.

It was like they had both become too emotional to think clearly.

“Mom! Dad!” Conner started after them, and Kyle and Kevin raised their spears, ready to follow.

“Wait.” Hansel had joined us. He must have been trying to stop Mr. Zipes, because even though our enemies hadn't reached us yet, he already looked like he'd been in a fight, torn clothes and a swollen lip. “The goblins are using their magic against us.”

Right. I had dealt with this before. Goblins have a special brand of magic: They can learn your deepest desires and turn those desires against you. They can manipulate you to feel the way they want you to feel—until you make the decision they want you to make.

That magic must have hit Mr. and Mrs. Zipes first, sending them both sprinting down the driveway, exactly where the goblins wanted them. A swarm broke away from the ranks and dashed forward, in full-on capture mode.

“Well,” Paul said drily, “they locked onto my desire to
not die
pretty strongly.”

“Take a second,” Hansel said. “Calm down. You're useless if the goblins are controlling you.”

Lena pulled out her retractable spear and dropped it, sobbing so hard she couldn't see where it landed. I'm not even sure she noticed her harp yanking on her sleeve.

“Mistress, these are just foot soldiers,” Melodie said. “They don't have the control the goblin priestesses have. They're exaggerating
all
your desires, not just the one where you want to save yourself.”

Melodie was right. We could still choose which feeling got amplified.

“Focus on saving them,” I told Conner, who looked like he might faint. I turned to the rest of the grade. “Focus on helping the triplets and their family.” That was what we all wanted. That was what we'd spent hours waiting to do in the first place.

Slowly, Lena stood tall. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and opened her retractable staff to its full length. The stepsisters' eyes cleared. The spearmen fell into line, and the triplets glanced at Hansel for orders.

“We need one team here, defending the Door Trek door. Our exit is useless if their forces cut us off,” Hansel said. “Another team will go rescue the Zipes before the goblins can get them back to whatever portal
they
came through. Rory and I will deal with the giants.”

Giants? As in
more than one
?

I whirled around.

Jimmy's wife, Matilda, stood in front of the garage. She tugged her chain-mail tunic into place and winced like it pinched her. It probably did. It was made of refrigerator doors and steel cables.