Ambush

  “Thomas needs your shoes.”

  I handed Wane the shoes that Thomas had gotten me. They were already so shiny they reflected light like a mirror.

  “What time do you need to be at Kate’s?” Wane asked.

  “Six?” I said.

  “What time’s your reservation?”

  “Seven?” I said sounding even less sure of my answer.

  “Okay,” Wane said. “Hop in the shower and then get dressed. I’ll do your hair downstairs.”

  “I can do my own hair,” I complained.

  “Not tonight,” Wane insisted.

  “Can I shower alone, or does someone need to bathe me?” I asked.

  Wane turned around and left me to shower alone.

  I took a shower and changed into jeans and a white T-shirt. I put on clean socks and shoes, wishing I had just told them the truth. When I got downstairs and walked into the kitchen, they all looked disappointed.

  “Ahh,” Millie complained. “Why aren’t you in your tux?”

  I actually laughed. None of them laughed back.

  “Really?” I asked. “I’m just going to put it on when I get to Kate’s house.”

  “No, you’re not,” Millie insisted. “This is a special night, and I won’t have you showing up in leisure wear. Back to your room at once and put on the tux.”

  Thomas stood up and handed me two blinding lights. The black patent leather shoes were so polished they looked like small suns.

  “Do you need help dressing?” Thomas asked.

  This lie was going to kill me.

  I stormed out of the kitchen without even answering Thomas. When I got back to my room I threw open my closet door and pulled out the ugly tux. I put the blousy white dress shirt that Thomas had bought me on over my T-shirt. It was tailored at the waist and had humongous shoulder pads. It felt like a superhero Halloween costume. I almost gagged as I was sliding on the pants. The inside was satin, and the outside was paisley-printed velvet.

  “Seriously,” I said. “Who even makes these?”

  The pants had no belt, just a wooden toggle that fed through a loop of material like a latch. There was a zipper, but it was gold and actually made a clicking noise as I closed it. I put on the shoes, tied them, and then slipped on the jacket. I looked in the mirror. For a brief moment I felt like jumping out the window.

  “I am so glad I’m not really going,” I said to my reflection.

  I reluctantly walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Everyone oohhed and aahed as if I were a brand new puppy that could wink. Wane sprayed my hair with some water and combed it into some sort of style.

  All three of them then stepped back to take me in.

  “My goodness,” Millie almost wept. “Don’t you look fetching? Just like royalty.”

  “You are a very handsome young man,” Thomas added. “Very handsome indeed.”

  Wane fussed a bit and then told everyone to step back and give me some air. Millie handed me a flower in a plastic container.

  “Thanks,” I said, confused.

  “It’s for Kate,” she explained. “She’ll have one for you.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Does she know how to pin it on?” Millie asked.

  I nodded. I had no idea, but I also had no date, so nobody would have to pin anything on anyone.

  “One picture,” Thomas said, pulling out a huge camera and wooden tripod from behind one of the kitchen counters. The camera was massive and had an accordion-style lens and a large metal flash.

  “No pictures,” I insisted, not wanting the moment or outfit to be documented in any way.

  “Now, now,” Millie insisted. “Just one.”

  Thomas told me to smile. I didn’t. A large flash sparked from the top of the camera, and I could see nothing but a burning white light for a few moments.

  “Perfect,” Thomas said. “I’ll have it developed immediately.”

  “Can I go now?” I asked, just wanting the entire ruse to be over with.

  “Yes,” Millie said. “Thomas will take you.”

  “That’s okay,” I insisted. “I’ll just walk. The roads are dry.”

  “Absolutely not,” Millie said.

  I couldn’t have Thomas take me; I didn’t even have a real date. I was planning just to march down the drive, hike back behind the manor, and then slip through the east door and up to the fifth floor for the elevator.

  “I need to walk,” I said lamely.

  “Why?” Wane asked.

  “I’m just so nervous,” I said, sounding like an idiot.

  They all cooed as if I had just said something really adorable.

  “There’s no need for nerves,” Millie said almost proudly. “Thomas is happy to take you.”

  “The walk will help me focus,” I tried.

  “Nonsense,” Thomas insisted.

  I followed Thomas out to the car with Millie and Wane waving and cheering me on from behind. I got into the car and shut the door as fast as possible.

  Thomas wanted to drop me off right in front of Kate’s house, but I talked him into letting me out a quarter of a mile before.

  “I just think it will be more romantic if I arrive on foot,” I reasoned. “Like a knight.”

  “Knights rode horses,” Thomas said dryly.

  “Still,” I argued. “Kate’s really into people using cars as little as possible. Arriving on foot might score me some points.”

  “Enough said,” Thomas replied with a wink.

  I made a personal wish begging the universe to please help me live my life in such a way that I would never again have to witness Thomas winking again. It was the most awkward and creaky wink I had ever seen.

  Thomas dropped me off just before the turn in front of Kate’s house. I thanked him for the ride; he wished me well and then drove off.

  I pretended to march toward Kate’s house until I knew that Thomas’s car was no longer in sight. I then turned around and headed for home. I could see a car in the distance coming my way. I decided it would be best if I stayed off the road and hiked through the forest. It would take me longer, but nobody would be a witness to my deception or my wardrobe.

  I climbed down the side of the road and into the pine trees. I was careful to keep my eyes on all the trees just in case they were in the mood to pick on me again. I heard a twig snap and spun around thinking I’d have to fight a bush or something. Luckily it was just a deer running through the woods.

  I hid behind a big tree as the car coming up the road approached. I watched it get closer and then pass by.

  “Wyatt,” I cursed.

  It was Wyatt, driving his dad’s expensive car. I wanted to pretend that he was just out for a drive in the mountains, but when I saw the normal tux he was wearing and the direction he was heading, I knew full well that he was going to pick up Kate.

  I considered running up the road and confronting the two of them at Kate’s house, but when I remembered what I was wearing, I knew the joke would be on me.

  I stayed planted at the side of the forest like one of my fellow trees, waiting to witness them coming back this way. Each second I stood there I grew more and more angry. Kate hated Wyatt. She only talked to him because of me. Now she hated me and didn’t talk to me because she was too busy going to proms with him.

  “I bet she’s pinning a flower on him right this second,” I seethed.

  Finally I heard his car coming back this way. I was standing completely still, but that didn’t stop my heart from moving downward into the pit of my stomach. Kate and Wyatt passed by me as if I were nothing more than one of the million other trees in the world. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like Kate was smiling.

  I bent forward and put my hands on my knees. Something wasn’t right. The feelings inside of me were so cloudy and uncomfortable. I had given up everything for something that I couldn’t even share with the world. I loved Kate, she was perfect for me. She had been the first person I met in Kingsplot and the first girl
I had ever met who made me want to be a better person because of how happy it made her.

  Now she had tossed me aside.

  I marched with passion through the woods and back to the manor. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I would think more clearly with Jude around.

  When I finally got back home, I sneaked in the east door and made my way up to the elevator room without running into anyone. I stepped into the elevator with purpose and spun around. I was in pain, and the only thing I could think of that would help me feel better was Jude.

  I pressed the button just once.

  Chapter 27

  Blackbird

  Looking straight forward as the elevator settled, I could see all three dragons waiting for me. They had the appearance of huge deadly dogs that were simply awaiting the return of their master.

  That was me.

  I threw the metal gate up and walked directly toward Jude. He stood on his back legs and stretched his arms and wings as if I were about to experience one huge hug. He stomped his feet, and I seemed suddenly agitated. I looked into his orange eyes and could tell he saw the anxiety and anger I was feeling.

  Jude screamed and snorted, sending sparks from the sides of his closed jaw. Instantly Malcolm and Paul joined in, rocking back and forth while violently flapping their arms.

  “Easy,” I said, trying to calm them down.

  Jude smacked his tail against the glassy soil. The vibration made me tipsy. Malcolm and Paul stopped screaming and took some sort of kneeling position, as if waiting for Jude to instruct them.

  I looked at Jude. He stared me down with his orange eyes. I could see his thoughts—emotions he hadn’t yet dealt with as a dragon swept through his brain and made me feel for him. I could feel him trying to understand who Kate was and why I was so bothered by her. He opened his mouth and screeched so loud I thought the entire glass cavern was going to shatter on us.

  “Hey, Jude,” I reprimanded. “Easy!”

  Suddenly thoughts of Kate and the danger I could be putting her in by simply thinking about her in the same room as Jude filled my head. I tried to think of other things, but as Jude read my mind the darkness in my own head grew. I tried to think of some dumb song to clear my brain.

  “Thomas the tank engine . . . ,” I sang.

  It wasn’t working; my thoughts were still peppered with Kate. Jude screamed again, and Malcolm and Paul extended their claws and dug at the ground. I started thinking of anything cute and calming. I thought of playful kittens I had seen on YouTube and flowers and rainbows, but at the end of each of those thoughts my mind circled back to Kate and the hurt in my heart.

  Jude began to come closer to me as if wanting my permission to act out. I knew the dragons couldn’t leave the cavern, but I was scared for my own sake. They all flapped around the wood pole in the center of the room. All three of them still felt some pull toward that pole. Jude filled my mind with simple thoughts.

  Remove the pole and they’ll calm down.

  I couldn’t tell if it was the voice of reason or not, but they seemed so agitated by the invisible tether the pole created that I decided that if I chopped it down they might settle a bit.

  I grabbed the ax and walked up to the pole. I whacked it at the base, and almost instantly they began to settle. I whacked it again, and both Malcolm and Paul lay down on the dirt. I whacked it a third time, and the base of the post split, causing the whole thing to fall to the ground.

  Jude sat and stared at me. I couldn’t be sure, but I think thoughts of gratitude were filling his head.

  “You’re welcome,” I said. “Now I’m going to go upstairs and change out of this outfit. I’ll be back.”

  A thought filled my head, What are you going to do about it?

  I could tell the thought was instigated by Jude, and it had nothing to do with my outfit. It scared me to even think about doing something to make sure that Kate and Wyatt understood how mad I was. I couldn’t tell anymore where my thoughts ended and Jude’s began. I felt justified in my anger like I never had before.

  Jude seemed happy with my thoughts.

  “No,” I said reluctantly, knowing that it would probably be a good idea for me to get upstairs for a bit.

  Jude wanted me to stay.

  “No,” I said again, heading toward the elevator.

  All three dragons began to follow me.

  “No,” I said once more. “I’ll be back.”

  Thoughts of Kate and revenge and getting even and proving my point and putting people in their place and taking the Pillage name where it should go and destroying things filled my head so rapidly I thought I was going to topple. I fought the thoughts and stumbled into the elevator. I pushed the button and turned around. The gate shut, and I could see all three dragons staring at me as if they pitied me.

  “Stop it!” I yelled as I ascended. My heart rate felt like a speeding train heading headlong toward the edge of a cliff. I ripped off my jacket as the elevator lifted. I was so hot. My elbows banged the walls as I struggled to take off the shirt. With the shirt and jacket off I felt a little less claustrophobic and could breathe deeply.

  “What’s happening?” I cried out.

  I was rising floor by floor, but I could still hear Jude’s chaotic thoughts. I started to pound on the walls of the elevator, begging it to hurry up. It suddenly seemed as if all the air in the world was miles above on the fifth floor. I pulled at the metal gate, pleading with the elevator to move faster. Just as I felt my lungs were going to stretch out and strangle my heart, the elevator began to slow.

  I yanked the metal gate up and jumped out. I closed the closet door behind me and walked around the tipped-over boiler. I grabbed one of the window curtains and shoved my face into it to scream.

  I felt a little better.

  The bathroom was much darker now. The sun had completely disappeared, and shades of gray colored the manor’s windows and walls.

  “I need help,” I said to myself, recognizing that my mind and my decisions were quickly becoming not my own. I thought of my dad and wondered if this was how it had begun for him.

  Kate.

  I spun around the bathroom as the single word filled me with worry and frustration. I had not thought it.

  I needed to lie down. I walked into the hallway, trying to be quiet so that nobody would realize that someone was up here.

  As I stepped into the hallway, I heard something behind me in the bathroom. My head turned around as far as it could. My body then spun to keep my neck from twisting off. I stepped back into the bathroom and grabbed one of the flashlights I had put in the bathtub. I flicked it on and pointed the beam toward the closet door. Everything looked still.

  “I’m going mad,” I said in all seriousness.

  I was about to turn the light off so that it wouldn’t appear from the outside as though anyone was on this floor, when the closet door shivered slightly.

  My legs did some shivering of their own.

  The closet door rattled even more. I reached out and pulled the doorknob to fling the door open. I was prepared to scream, but there was nothing there besides the empty elevator.

  Kate.

  My mind was frantically trying to tell me something as I watched the elevator box shake. Something was thrusting up from below it. The floor of the elevator began to shatter as Jude’s head pushed through like a manic weed bursting through asphalt.

  I was scared, but even more, I was thrilled.

  Jude ripped the bottom of the elevator with his arms and bit into the door frame with his powerful jaws. Wood cracked and split, spastically tearing the elevator box apart. The seams and structure of the box crumbled as part of it crashed out into the bathroom and other parts fell back down the shaft.

  I had never even thought about the possibility of the dragons climbing their way up the shaft. It was much larger than the elevator, and the only obstacle had just been obliterated by Jude. Then Jude threw his arms into the bathroom and pulled himself up out of th
e shaft. His body cracked the door frame and tore the wall apart. Malcolm and Paul were right behind him. They spilled up from the shaft and into the bathroom like super-sized scaly spiders.

  I didn’t know whether I should cheer or run, so I decided to just clap excitedly.

  Jude looked even larger here in the bathroom. He easily filled half the space. He looked at me, and I knew he was pleased. The weird thing was that I was pleased as well. This was what was supposed to happen.