“It’s time to get out of here, they are closing in,” I said quietly.
We came up to a statue we’d seen before, a scary-looking snow-crusted thing that looked like a wild beast wrought in iron.
“I thought that thing was on the other side of the roof last time,” said Beth, not liking the look of it.
“Maybe it’s a different one, I said, and proceeded to tie the rope to its base.
I tossed the long length of it over the side. “You first, I’ll hold it,” I told her.
She looked at me and rope doubtfully.
There was another door slamming sound, and some thumping sounds somewhere over the peaks. I heard someone give a whoop, as if they had slipped on the treacherous snow-covered shingles.
“Go!” I hissed.
Beth went over the side. Again I was surprised by how light she was. She looked at me one last time with those super cute eyes of hers. “Don’t let go,” she said, and she was gone.
Before she had gone down ten feet, the statue moved behind me. A huge rough hand with claws like black iron landed on my shoulder. The claws closed and dug into my flesh. I was lifted, gasping, into the night air.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I turned to look into the face of the thing that had me, and I knew fear then like I never had in my life. It was Vater, but in his animal form. I knew in an instant then what he was, and what he always had been. His animal form was that of a wolf, of course.
Vater was a werewolf! I felt sure in my heart that he was the werewolf, the one that had given birth to a thousand dark stories over the centuries.
Vater’s lips curled over his sharp teeth into what I took to be a grin. “You’re cheating, rodent,” he said.
“You never said we couldn’t leave the mansion,” I said, grunting as I wrapped my paws around his huge arm and struggled. He might as well have been made of iron like that statue of him on the other side of the roof. His arm had no softness in it, nothing but fantastic strength.
He nodded, giving me the point. “True,” he said.
He reached down with the other arm and grabbed the rope. He yanked it. Up came Beth to dangle over the roof with me. Vater examined the two of us like a kid that has caught a pair of lizards by the tail.
Vater wrinkled his nose at her. He looped up the rope with his clawed fingers and drew her nearer. Beth tried to climb down, but he caught her hair with one of his two-inch long, hooked claws. He drew her closer to him, to that snout full of fangs.
To my surprise, he sniffed her and nodded his head. He gave her a slight shake, which pulled Beth’s hair and she screamed.
“Let her go!” I snarled at him. All four of my legs and my tail were wrapped around his right arm now, but he still had me by the scruff of the neck.
“I knew there was something about this one,” he said, eyeing Beth and snuffling at her. “She’s not one of mine. I know that smell.”
Another voice spoke up, smoothly, from behind Vater.
“I was going to tell you, Milord,” said Urdo. She stood relaxed at the top of the roof peak behind us.
Vater turned to face her. His snout twisted into a snarl. “She’s an elf!”
“Yes, milord,” said Urdo.
“I’ll not have her kind back here,” said Vater. I could feel his rising anger. He squeezed my neck uncomfortably. “This is my mansion now.”
He lifted Beth up and held her out over the four story drop to the snowy plain below.
“An elf,” he muttered, disgustedly. “No wonder I sensed something different about her.”
“What are you doing?” I shouted.
“You can stay, Connor,” he said. “You’ve impressed me. I’d say you are the best of the crop that I sowed here so long ago. I see myself in you. Today I declare you to be a full-fledged member of my clan.”
Urdo clapped her hands together, “Well done, Connor!”
“A good choice, Milord!” said Waldheim, who’d shown up from somewhere.
“You can’t drop her!” I shouted.
“She’ll be fine,” said Vater. “She’s an elf. Her kind don’t weigh anything, and they’re practically made of rubber. She probably won’t even break a leg. You are like me, Connor. She isn’t and she must go.”
“I don’t want to be like you! Look what happened to your own family!” I snarled at him angrily.
He looked, for the very first time since I’d met him, surprised.
“You dare, rodent?” he said, turning his dangerous gaze fully on me.
“The Stranger came and told you what you were,” I said. “He told you about the Maker. We’re not better than she is.”
“The book,” he said as if to himself. “I’d almost forgotten it. You are even more resourceful than I imagined.”
He dropped Beth then, over the side, without a word. She fell, clinging to the rope. It snapped like a whip as it caught her weight. He reached down for the rope to finish the job.
I bit down on his wrist, as hard as I could. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I couldn’t let him hurt Beth.
Something huge and pink and sticky came out of nowhere and snapped around Vater’s wrist. It took us all a shocked second to realize what it was. Jake had snapped his tongue out and wrapped it around Vater’s wrist, in what I took as a bizarre attempt to save me.
After that I felt like I was strapped into a rollercoaster that had jumped the tracks. I heard wild shouts and a strange croaking sound.
I flew through the air and landed in the snow in a heap next to Jake.
“Couldn’t stay away, could you?” I said to Jake.
Jake’s tongue was still stuck to Vater’s wrist. Vater shook his tongue-wrapped arm about like a man who has walked into a mass of cobwebs in the garage. Jake couldn’t speak with his tongue fully extended like that, but he did look at me and grunt affirmatively.
I got up painfully, but quickly, and ran to where the rope holding Beth dangled over the side.
“You defy me to protect this creature?” asked Vater seriously.
“Yes, I do,” I said, pulling at the rope. I could feel his hulking presence behind me. But I didn’t care.
When I had her up on the roof with us, I turned to face the frowning patriarch of my family. He had one hand on his chin. The hand was bleeding, but he took no notice of that.
“Resourceful, tricky, willing to fight, and able to find loyal friends. Hmmm. I don’t want to throw them both out, but I can’t have open defiance,” he said.
“Milord,” said Urdo, stepping forward. Her boots crunched on the snow. “By clan law, he is allowed to declare her to be under his protection. You made him a full member of the clan, after all.”
“What?” said Vater, turning upon her. “I suppose next you’ll tell me I wrote that law.”
She inclined her head, giving the slightest nod. A tiny smile played over her lips.
Waldheim cleared his throat. “What good is a law, milord, if it isn’t followed? Even if you did write it yourself.”
“You’re on thin ice yourself, lizard,” growled Vater. “I know you gave them that rope.”
Waldheim studied the snow at his feet. “Remember that Romeo and Juliet were only thirteen,” he said quietly.
“Hmph! They were fourteen,” muttered Vater. He eyed everyone in turn. “Very well. I’ll follow clan law. But there must be no further defiance!”
He turned back to me. I had managed to get Beth up onto the roof with us. She stood behind me and we both looked up at Vater warily.
He nodded. “You may keep her as a ward, but there had better be no trouble. Somehow I’m sure there will be, but at least I’ve warned you.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
When my alarm went off for school, I was ready, but I gave no sign of it. I didn’t even hit the snooze button. I just let it ring.
It was less than a minute later that my sister Heather came into the room with her dastardly camera.