Chapter 21
Friday morning, all graduating seniors are to meet in the auditorium at 8:00 a.m. and then head to the football field for graduation dress rehearsal. Ashley looks happy to finally be graduating. She will be heading to the University of Florida in the fall, and I know I will miss her dearly.
I didn't apply to a university this year. Before all this madness started, my mom insisted that I take a year off before continuing my education. I thought at the time that it was an odd request from a mom, but conceded to it anyway.
"To find your place in life," my mom said at the beginning of the school year. Only now do I understand partially what she meant. The transition to becoming a Huldra is proving to be turbulent.
Anthony took a taxi at 3:00 a.m., to catch the 5:00 a.m. flight from Tampa to Phoenix. He didn't wake me up when he left, but left a handwritten note instead, which read:
Sonia,
I'll try to be back by five o'clock for dinner. Roast with potatoes are my favorite.
Have a great day ~A
I laughed when I read it. I have never prepared a roast with potatoes in my life, and I'm not going to try to do it now. All day at school, I wait for Anthony's call, which finally comes at lunchtime.
"Hello?" I answer my phone in record time, getting up from my lunch tray where I sit next to Ashley. It is difficult to hear him in the loud lunchroom so I walk into the hallway.
"Hey, it's good to hear your voice again," Anthony says.
I smile. It is good to hear his voice too, almost too good, I lament. "So, anything?"
"I want to talk to you about this in person, but yes. There's lots," Anthony says. "Lots more than what I anticipated."
"When will you be back home?" I ask, feeling like a lonely housewife all of a sudden.
"Depends on when dinner's ready," he says.
"Five p.m. sharp." I chuckle. "The best meat and potatoes you'll ever have."
He laughs. "I hope you know that I was just joking."
"Oh, thank goodness," I mock, "I was so worried because I don't really cook."
"I will be home around five if the flight is on time. All I'll say is that there are many fewer Lightálfars than I thought, but they will absolutely join us."
"How many?"
"Three," he says, sullenly.
"That's it?" My heart sinks as if to the bottom of an endless ocean. "Well, maybe that means that there aren't too many Darkálfars, either." Yeah, right, a little voice says inside my head.
"I hope that that's the case."
"That's wonderful, great work, Anthony!" I say, trying to be encouraging.
"Hey, is that a compliment I hear?" he says.
I let my guard down for just a moment. "Yes," I say firmly. I feel so vulnerable—why? It was only a compliment, right? "You did great."
"Well, while we're praising each other, can I say that...I think you are the most stunning person I've ever met?" Anthony says.
"Wow, that's a little over the top," I say. Why is it so hard for me to be nice to this guy and accept his compliment? "I'm sorry, I meant to say thank you." Was that too honest?
"Well, it's true. So I hope you take it."
I can't speak, only smile.
"I'll see you at home around five then?" Anthony says.
"Yes, have a safe trip," I say.
He hangs up the phone. Am I actually really falling for this guy? I thought I just had a crush, but maybe I am starting to develop strong feelings for him. I tell myself that I mustn't focus on him, but on saving my mom. I feel so selfish and it feels so wrong that I should develop feelings for Anthony, especially when my mom's life is on the line, and especially since my mom has specifically forbidden it. "What's wrong with me?" I say out loud.
"Nothing, you're just like you're supposed to be," Ashley says, coming up behind me. "Is everything all right?"
I breathe. I can share part of my story, I figure. "I think I'm falling for Anthony, but my mom won't allow it."
"Well, on Sunday you'll be considered an adult, and can't you just do what you want to then?" Ashley smirks playfully, her right eyebrow rising.
"I suppose," I say, knowing that having a meaningful conversation with Ashley on the subject can never happen. It tears me apart because Ashley is such a good friend, and I am unable to return the favor.
* * *
Anthony arrives home at a quarter to five, and I surprise him with a roast and potatoes I picked up from a local restaurant.
"I was only half-joking when I wrote that note this morning," Anthony says. His eyes are red and his face is not as vibrant as usual.
"And I only half-cooked it," I say. "So tell me everything."
"Maureen called and she wants me to prepare the Portal of Blufire so we can leave in a few days."
My eyebrows rise up. "The what?"
He takes a bite of his dinner. "This is really good, Sonia, I didn't know you were such a talented cook." He scoops up some mashed potatoes. "It's a portal where we are immediately transported to Wraithsong Island. All portals lead there."
"Like an instant transfer?" I ask.
"I guess you could call it that," Anthony says, "I'll show you after dinner."
"It's here in this house?"
"Yes. There are three of them actually, and Maureen owns one of them. Well, technically she stole it from the governesses. They used to have two."
"Who has the third one?"
"It is an exhibit in the Viking Museum in Oslo, but the Norwegians don't know what it is or how to use it," Anthony says.
Was that why she had lived in Norway? "So, you walk into it and—zap?"
"Zap—I like that word, but no, it's more of a scorching blaze. It almost feels like your skin is being burned off," he says.
My face twists. I am not looking forward to traveling through it. Scorching and blazing aren't exactly things I want to experience.
"Shifting gears, Skuld, the Lightálfar I met in Arizona, told me that they've been on Maureen's heels for years, trying to track her down," Anthony says.
"Why were they after her?" I ask.
"Because..." He clenches his glass so hard his fingertips turn white. "She killed some of them."
'That's horrible," I say.
He nods. "And she stole many things from them too."
"What kinds of things did she steal?"
"Important things, they say, but they weren't too specific."
"Are you being vague on purpose?" I have had enough of everybody's vagueness.
"No, she took things like important scripts with formulas and spells and also ancient weapons," he says solemnly.
"Well, now we can make it all right again, right?"
"I suppose we can try. It's like our whole world just exploded, and now we're left to clean up the mess."
"Nothing is so bad that we can't fix it." I reach for his hand, but he withdraws it right away. His rejection of me stings deeply. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"No, there's not."
"We can't afford to have any lies come between us, Anthony," I say.
"Just because I am not prepared to share my innermost feelings with you, doesn't mean that I'm lying to you."
"You can trust me to understand whatever you tell me; I hope you see that," I say as sincerely as I can and I mean it.
"I know I can," he says, gulping some water. "I guess this situation is so much more serious than I thought. Many more lives are at stake than yours and mine and the other Huldras."
"I suppose we have been a little lax on things lately."
He glances at me. "A lot more people are going to be involved in this, and we'll have to put our personal feelings aside."
I know immediately that I don't want that at all, and I am frightened by my nearly complete change of heart. "So what kind of powers do the Lightálfars possess?"
"I don't really want to talk right now," he says, lifting his plate with him. "I'll finish eating in my room. I'd prefer it if you stayed down here for a while." He gets up and leaves.
I remain sitting for a while, not knowing exactly what to do or how to read the situation. Did I say or do something wrong? I try really hard not to read into his actions tonight, but fail miserably. Since he said we need to put our personal feelings aside, I feel like I have lost something of immense value, but then again, if I never really had it, how could I have lost it?