“Night.”
Once she's left the room, I climb into bed. Yes. The strangest woman I've ever met. I blow out the candle and pull the blankets over me. Strange. I think I like her.
***
A noise startles me awake. Moonlight shines through my window. What woke me? I stretch out on my back. Usually it's one of my younger sisters that wakes me, scared or in need of a drink. That chore usually goes to Cynthia or Bethany, but sometimes it falls to me. Won't happen here though. Unless Cynthia comes, which she hasn't in the two and a half months we've been here.
The door is closed. It's hard to tell in the dark, but I don't see her coming toward the bed. Maybe it was something in my dream that woke me.
I curl up on my side, facing my window seat. I wonder how Cynthia's getting along. Many times I've awakened in the night at Father's, she was up. If I can't get back to sleep, maybe I'll go visit.
My eyes give a heavy blink. My limbs relax. Tomorrow then. I'll see her tomorrow. My eyes close. Then I jolt awake. Did that shadow just move?
Sleep flees from me. My body tenses. The shadow isn't moving anymore, but I can't think of any object in my room that would cast it. It's a lumpy, round shape, sort of like a person crouching. Someone's in my room.
Do I feign sleep or call for help? Who would even be in here? Has the Envadi come for me? I swallow, trying to force the fear down. The action does no good. If it is him, no one may come for help, but I won't sit by and do nothing.
There's nothing close by I can use to defend myself. The best I can do is ring for help and try for the door. Where to go after that? I don't know if anywhere is safe. I hope someone comes when I ring.
With several deep breaths, I bolt from the bed, yanking on the cord as I pass. The rope burns my hands as it slides through. I dart for the door, not daring to check behind me. It's still too far away when hands grab my waist and I'm knocked to the floor. My head bangs against the wood. Blood fills my mouth. I thrust my head back, slamming into my attacker. He grunts.
Hands scramble across me. I claw at them.
“Wenchit!” A tenor. Not the Chancellor. Who's attacking me?
The pressure lifts off me. I scramble on my hands and knees toward the door. Before I get more than a few feet, I'm flipped over onto my back. Meaty fingers wrap around my wrists and hold them above my head. He smells of damp earth and body odor, sort of like Thomas.
“Get off me!” I buck and kick, trying to get free.
A slap stings my face. “Where's the Envadi?” What? Why do they want him? “Where is he?”
The door opens.
“Help!” I yell and struggle to get my hands free.
A crack. The pressure is gone from me. I flip back to my hands and knees and crawl away.
“Light a lamp!” A female voice. Waverly?
Whack! A green spell zaps toward her. She twists away and it crashes on the wall behind her.
I rush to my night stand and light the lamp.
A man in black has his hands wrapped around Waverly's throat. She reaches up, trying to pry his fingers off her. No luck.
If I do nothing, she's going to suffocate. I jump onto his back, hitting him with everything I've got. Immediately, he releases her and casts a maroon spell at me. I drop to the ground before it hits.
A teal and pink spell hurtles toward the attacker. Where'd that come from? Does the attacker have help? I look around for more intruders.
Chancellor Zade stands just inside my room. “What are you doing here?”
Without hesitating, the attacker flashes an orange spell out the window and bolts after it. The Chancellor darts after him, but stops at the window. He throws several spells from the window and then shoots one through my door.
“Are you both well?”
I'm trembling, but don't think I'm injured. “I'm well. Waverly?”
She coughs. I fill a glass of water and bring it to her. Dark bruises are already forming on her neck. She croaks out, “I'm all right. Or will be.”
He crosses to her, puts a hand on her throat, and emits a faint blue light with streaks of red. When he takes his hand away, the marks are gone.
“Thank you.” Her voice back to normal.
His mouth thins. He comes to me. “Do you want me to heal you, too?”
I put a hand to my cheek. “It's nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
Very. I don't want magic cast on me ever again if I can help it. “Yes.”
“What happened?” Chancellor Zade asks.
Next to his presence I feel as helpless as I did a moment ago while being attacked. I shiver and Waverly wraps a blanket around me.
“I woke to a noise and rang for help. Waverly came before anything really happened. He asked where you were.”
His face hardens. “Speak of this to no one. I'll put extra guards and wards around the house. Let me know if you have any more problems, but you shouldn't.”
With that he leaves the room. What's going on? Does he expect there to be more problems?
Wavely's pale. “Did you need anything else?”
“No, I'll be fine.”