Chapter 24
At 3:00 o’clock in the morning, Anthony wakes me up. His hand feels like a whisper on my cheek. “I got the text and Maureen wants us to come immediately.”
“What, right now?” I rub my eyes, trying to fully wake up.
“Yes, let’s pack and get going,” he says.
This all seems very strange and it feels like I’m dreaming. Thinking about being transported through the Portal of Blufire frightens me. Anthony leaves the room and I force myself out of bed and take a quick shower. As soon as I’m dressed, Anthony returns with a tray of bagels and fruit.
“I don’t know how long it will be until we’ll have food again,” he says.
“So how are we supposed to win the battle against Maureen and Olaf with just the two of us? Are the Lightálfars meeting us there?”
“I don’t know,” he says, spreading some jam on a bagel. He hands it to me.
I’m not really that hungry—I’m too nervous to eat, but I take it anyway. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
Anthony gets that ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ look in his eyes. “We’ll have to develop a plan as we go.”
“Okay, time out,” I say. “Can we at least talk about this? I mean, all of our lives are at stake. We can’t just jump into this blindly.”
“I have a loose plan figured out,” Anthony says defensively.
“Will you share it with me, please?” I ask.
He sits down onto his bed. “The plan is, when we get there, we pretend as if we’re following Maureen’s plan. So whatever she wants, we’ll go along with that for a while.”
“That’s a ridiculous plan,” I say. “Please tell me you have a better one.”
His eyes lower to the floor and for a moment, I see a young man who has weaknesses and doesn’t always have the answers. I sit beside him and place my hand on top of his.
“You don’t have to do it all alone. Let’s figure a plan out together, you and me.”
He glances at me from the corner of his eye and sighs.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I’ve always had to figure everything out on my own, so surely, I can manage this time too.”
“I can help, you know. I’m not completely useless.”
“I know you’re not useless, Sonia. That’s not what I said at all. It’s just—it has always been that way, and—”
Of course he’s always had to figure things out on his own—Maureen is his mother. From the couple of conversations between them that I’ve witnessed, I get the feeling that Anthony is more of a burden and a mere tool to be used than a son to be cherished. Maybe he thinks he’s weak if he doesn’t figure it out all by himself.
“You’re just as strong, if not stronger, if you work with someone,” I say.
His eyebrows furrow and his face has become tough. “Not having the answers makes me feel—” He doesn’t finish his sentence.
“Weak?”
He doesn’t nod, but instead closes his eyes and presses his lips into a line.
“You’re not weak, Anthony, not in my eyes. I think you’re amazing.”
He huffs, as if my statement is ridiculous. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew who I really was.”
I tighten my grip around his hand. “I know who you really are, and anything else that I don’t know doesn’t matter.”
A faint smile appears on his lips, and he nods toward me. “You and me, huh?”
“You and me,” I say, finding strength in his eyes. “So, is there any way we can delay our trip to give us more time to plan with the Lightálfars?”
“What about your mom?” he says.
The mention of my mom nearly brings me to tears, but I manage to swallow the tears away. “Would Maureen—kill her between now and when we show up?”
“Not likely. She’s using your mother as leverage to get your fifth Huldra gift. As long as Maureen still believes I’m on her side, following her plan, she won’t deviate from her strategy.”
“Makes sense.”
“I can tell her that I want you and your mom for myself. I’m convinced she’ll let me have you after you’ve given your gift to her,” Anthony says.
“So you think I should just give her my gift?”
“That’s not what I meant.” He frowns. “As long as Maureen believes she’ll receive your gift, she might not be thinking about or care what happens to you after you have given her your gift. But of course you’re not going to give it to her. We’ll just say so to buy more time.”
There has to be something we can do instead of just wait around for Maureen to give us orders. I think for a while. “We shouldn’t be on the defensive here—we should attack. Are you certain my mom is being held prisoner on Wraithsong Island?”
“I’m almost one hundred percent positive.”
“What about the weapons? We’re bringing some of those, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Anthony says.
“Can we delay our trip just a few days and get the Lightálfars here to Sarasota?”
Anthony puffs. “Maureen is highly suspicious and she’ll know I’m stalling.”
“Then we need a good reason to delay. What would a good enough reason be?” I ask.
“Only death, I think,” Anthony says dryly.
“Okay, a realistic reason,” I say. “An emergency of some sort—a big one—one that’s believable. Would there be any reason you can think of that would prevent us from transporting through the Portal of Blufire?”
“No. Well, if the house burned down, the portal would be destroyed,” Anthony says.
“Could we burn down the house? I mean, I’d hate to do it, but if it would give us a few more days…” I say.
“Or, what if we just tell Maureen that the house burned down, and then you can use your Huldra flair on a news anchor, so they’ll do a story on the news about the fire. We could spare the house,” Anthony says.
I’m not sure if he is being sarcastic or not because that suggestion might actually work, though it does sound a little extreme. “Wouldn’t Maureen see through that?”
Anthony stands up and starts pacing. “Maybe, but obtaining a few more days isn’t worth losing the Portal of Blufire. The portal could be very useful for us down the road.”
“True.” I sit and think for a while.
Anthony’s eyes light up. “You know, humans can’t actually transport through the Portal of Blufire because the fire will sear them to death,” he says. “Only Huldras or elves can. I’ll tell Maureen I’m worried about killing you if we transport you since you are technically half human. Actually…it might kill you because you are half human, now that I think about it.”
Well, that is new. “Well, since I turned eighteen, am I not solely a Huldra?” I ask.
“Well, theoretically, but even so, we don’t know for sure since no other half human has ever been transported through the portal and come out alive,” Anthony says.
“I think we just found ourselves another day or two,” I smile.
“We’d have to fly up, or drive, if we can’t get a flight.”
I think for a moment. “Convince her to let us drive. That way we’ll have a vehicle while we’re there. We could take my mom’s SUV and stash it full of weapons.”
“Now what would we have to say to make Maureen agree to that?” Anthony asks, pensively.
“Well, you could always say the flights are full, or make sure they are. I’ll be glad to book them all.” I grin.
“Good plan,” he says. “Let’s get going right away.”