Gideon
Meanwhile, back at the manor…
Gideon hadn’t been sure what to expect when he left his post with the heroes to join The Villain’s team, but it definitely wasn’t sitting down to eat pastries with an ogre while discussing severed heads.
“How long do you keep them up there? Doesn’t anyone care about the smell?” he asked, a mix of disgust and curiosity in his voice.
Keeley tossed something at him, and he dodged, then picked it up—only to drop it with a cry of revulsion. “Did you just throw a finger at me?”
“A middle one,” she replied, tilting her long, elegant nose upward, revealing the loveliness of her profile. For someone who led brutal killers, she was surprisingly adorable. He supposed that’s what made her so dangerous.
“Can I see?” Lyssa rushed over to where he’d dropped it, but Gideon scooped her up before she could.
“Nope. Sorry, little sister.” He plopped her down next to Edwin, who reached over to ruffle her hair. Pixies flitted about, enjoying the tiny cookies Lyssa had just made—no bigger than a fingernail and perfect for the twinkling beings who playfully tugged at her hair in thanks. “I’m not a baby,” she objected, handing a cookie to a pixie with ice wings. The creature kissed her cheek, making her smile widely, but then she looked at the window in the corner and frowned. “When will Evie come back with Mama? I hate waiting.”
Gideon wandered over to the window, where something about the stained-glass design seemed oddly familiar. “I’ve seen this before,” he muttered to himself. The window depicted a book bathed in sunlight, and as he looked closer, he realized it bore a striking resemblance to… *Rennedawn’s Story.* “Huh. What are you doing here?” he wondered aloud.
Edwin chuckled, stirring the dark liquid in the cauldron. “Your sister talks to that window, too, like it’s alive.”
Lyssa skipped across the room and dropped a tiny cookie into Keeley’s waiting palm. “Evie talks to everything. She used to scold the front door when it wouldn’t latch! She called it all sorts of names.”
“I think you should keep those words to yourself,” Gideon said, turning just as Lyssa bumped into him, sending the cookies tumbling to the ground. “Shoot. I’m so sorry, Lyssa. Let me—” He paused as a silver key fell from her apron pocket. “What’s this for?” he asked, intrigued.
Lyssa’s brown eyes widened, and her face went pale. “It’s for our bedchamber,” she stammered, quickly snatching the key and shoving it back into her pocket before Gideon could inspect it further.
Amused, he folded his arms across his wrinkled cotton tunic. “If this is part of one of your schemes and you’re planning to lock someone in… just make sure you let them out eventually, okay?”
There was an odd glint in his sister’s dark eyes that made him uneasy. “Don’t worry. I will.” Her words were light, but they sent a shiver down his spine, as if his body was warning him.
“Lyssa… is everything all right?”
She didn’t meet his gaze, her eyes fixed instead on the window with its mysterious depiction of the book of prophecy. “It will be.”
He wanted to ask more questions, but just as he opened his mouth, Marv came barreling into the kitchen.
Keeley was already handing the panting man a glass of water. “Marv, I’ve told you to start using the lift.”
There’s a lift? Like the ones that move on belts? Why does everyone take the bloody stairs, then?
Marv huffed, clutching his stomach with one hand as he gulped down the water, then straightened with alarm. “The barrier…”
“Isn’t holding up well, we know,” Keeley said. “None of the cloaking spells we’ve tried have been sticking, but so far, it’s just been a window here, a doorway there—”
Suddenly, loud bells rang through the air, clanging so violently they shook the entire room. Lyssa and Edwin both covered their ears, wincing. “What is that?” Gideon shouted over the noise, wincing with every toll.
“The manor is completely exposed!” Marv yelled. He pulled his hand away from his middle, revealing a gaping, bloody wound as he collapsed to his knees. “The Valiant Guards have found us.”
Judging by the severity of Marv’s wound, they weren’t here for peace talks.
And without The Villain and his power, Gideon had a sinking feeling that this wouldn’t be a battle at all.
It would be a massacre.
