Wraithsong

  Chapter 16

  Driving into the Founder’s Club, I can’t repress the flight response that takes over my body. My hands feel cold and clammy, my stomach ties into a knot and I become acutely aware of every little detail from the beat of my racing heart to the ducks flying above.

  Can I trust Anthony when he says that Maureen isn’t home? Maybe it’s a trap or maybe Maureen told him to bring me home so they can imprison me. I clench my phone in my hands, ready to dial 911 if I find he’s been lying about the whole thing.

  “What does your mom want from me anyway?” I ask.

  “Please, can you just call her Maureen from now on?” he says sternly.

  “Fine, what does Maureen want from me?” I enunciate every word. I know I’m acting like a brat, but I can’t help it. I’ve never felt this kind of fear or fury, fear for myself and for my mom’s safety, and fury toward Anthony and his mom. It surprises me how quickly I’ve gone from almost loving him to completely hating him.

  “Before a Huldra is induced into the Dynasty, she has the option to receive her fifth gift or to give it away to someone else.”

  “She’s after my gift?” I’m flabbergasted.

  “Yes.”

  ”What are the gifts?”

  “Each one is different, but some examples of these gifts are gifts of discernment, or the gift of coiling.

  I don’t know what they mean at all, but I’m too tired to ask about them. “If Maureen is so almighty, can’t she just get her own gift?”

  “No, she was denied her gift by the governesses because she was unable to abide by the law of obedience before she was eighteen and then failed again to abide by the Huldra codes between the ages of eighteen and nineteen.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “The law of obedience is this: Each Huldra or Huldu is told, without knowing the reason why, that they must not use their flair on anyone. It’s the first test to see if you’ll be obedient to the laws given you.”

  My mom’s words echo in my mind. In life, the test comes first, the lesson later. That must be what she meant by it. I exhale. “I guess I flopped that test.”

  “Don’t worry, everyone fails that test. There’s a second test after you’ve been to the Academy, and that test, well, I can’t tell you about that test.”

  “Of course,” I say dryly. So that’s why my mom refused to tell me anything about who I am.

  “Then there’s a one year testing period after your training. If you pass the tests, you’ll receive your fifth Huldra gift and be accepted into the Dynasty.”

  “Quick question—did you go to the Academy?”

  “Maureen and Olaf taught me.”

  I nod. “What happens if I don’t pass the tests?”

  “You’ll lose all your Huldra powers and become just like any other human.”

  “But if Maureen didn’t pass the test, how was she able to…”

  Anthony interrupts me. “She appropriated so many virtues from humans and from other Huldras and beings that her power continued to grow even though she was banned from the Dynasty.”

  “Did you pass your test?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was your fifth gift?”

  His expression becomes bothered and his eyes start blinking at a faster rate. “I’d rather not say.” The tone in his voice changes, becoming sad almost. He opens the garage door with the remote, parks the car, turns off the engine and slumps into his seat.

  I’m not nervous anymore; his openness has cooled my anger and my anxieties about being here—for now at least. Large cardboard boxes are stacked up against the garage walls, leaving no space for anything else. “Were you planning on moving?”

  “No. Those are Maureen’s…weapons.”

  “What kind of weapons?” My fear comes back again. This day feels like a never-ending rollercoaster ride to, well, not heaven, that’s for sure.

  “Well, there are assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, Dane axes, machetes, switchblades, swords…”

  I interrupt him. “I…I get the picture.” I’ve never in my life held a gun or any type of combat knife or sword. “What could she possibly need these for?”

  “I’m not sure. She didn’t tell me everything, but there are enough weapons here for a small army. Mostly she talked to me about capturing your fifth Huldra gift, but I think her plans are much grander than just that and I suspect she needs your gift for those plans.”

  His comment makes me feel like just another means to an end—to Maureen’s end. At this point, I couldn’t care less about my fifth Huldra gift or about Maureen’s plans. I just want my mom to live. “I don’t want my fifth Huldra gift. I’m going to give Maureen my gift so I can get my mom back.”

  “I wouldn’t be so quick to decide,” Anthony says.

  “I don’t care what my gift is because my mom’s life is more important.”

  “Some of these gifts are more precious than existence itself, Sonia. Don’t give it to her so hastily,” he says.

  “I’ve been able to live a fulfilling life up until this point without it, so how important could it be?” Not too important, I figure.

  “You’ll see. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. Take it from one who knows.”

  I roll my eyes. Trust? Him? Ha!