Switched (27 page)

He closed the door quietly behind us, leaving us in the darkness of the room. Moonlight spilled in through the glass, and he ran to a corner between a bookcase and the wall. He pulled me tightly to him, shielding me with his body.

We could hear the Vittra outside. I held my breath, pressing my face into Finn’s chest and praying they didn’t come in the room.

When they finally walked past, Finn still didn’t loosen his grip on me, but I could hear his heartbeat slow. Somewhere beneath all my panic and fear, I became aware of the fact that Finn held me tightly in his arms. I looked up at him, barely able to make out his features in the light from the windows next to us.

“I saw that before,” I whispered, looking up at him. “What happened in the ballroom. Elora painted it! She knew that was going to happen!”

“Sh,” Finn shushed me gently.

“Sorry,” I lowered my voice. “But why didn’t she stop it?”

“She didn’t know when it would happen or how,” Finn explained. “She just knew, and the only thing she could do to prevent it was to add more protection.”

“So then why did you leave?” I asked softly. 

“Wendy…” He pushed back stray curls from my face, and his hand lingered on my cheek as he looked down at me. “I never really left. I was just down the hill, and I never stopped tracking you. I knew what was happening as soon as you did, and I raced back here.”

“Are we gonna be okay?” I asked

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Finn promised.

I looked up at him, searching his eyes in the dim light, and I wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms forever.

The door creaked open, and Finn tensed up instantly. He pushed me back harder against the wall, wrapping his arms around me to hide me. I held my breath and tried to stop my heartbeat. We heard nothing for a second, and then the light flicked on.

“Well, well, if the prodigal stork hasn’t returned,” Jen smirked.

“You won’t get her,” Finn said firmly.

He pulled away from me just enough so he could face Jen. I peered around him, watching Jen walk in a slow semi-circle towards us. He walked in an oddly familiar way, like something I had seen on Animal Planet. Jen was stalking his prey.

“Maybe I won’t,” Jen allowed. “But getting you out of my way would probably make it easier, if not for me, then for somebody else. Because they won’t stop coming for her.”

“We won’t stop protecting her.”

“You’re willing to die to protect her?” Jen raised an eyebrow.

“You’re willing to die to get her?” Finn challenged evenly.

In the ballroom, Tove insisted they had to protect me, and I hadn’t thought that Tove had cared for me all that much. Was it just that I was a Princess? Had Elora endured similar things when she first came home?

I clenched my fingers onto the back of Finn’s jacket, and I watched the two of them stare each other down. I didn’t understand what was so damn important about me that so many Vittra were willing to kill, and according to Finn, so many Trylle were willing to die. 

“Neither one of you have to die,” I said. I tried to slip around Finn’s arm, but he pushed me back. “I’ll go, okay? I don’t want anybody else to get hurt over this!”

“Why don’t you listen to the girl?” Jen suggested, wagging his eyebrows.

“Not this time.”

“Suit yourself.” Jen had apparently tired of talking and dove at Finn.

Finn was wrenched from my fingertips, and I screamed his name. They both went flying through the glass out onto the balcony, sending shards flying everywhere. I was barefoot, but I ran forward without regard.

Jen managed to land a few good blows on Finn, but Finn was much quicker and seemed to be stronger. When Finn hit him, he staggered back several feet.

“You’ve been working out.” Jen wiped fresh blood from his chin.

“You could give up now, and I wouldn’t think any less of you,” Finn said.

“Nice try.” Jen lunged forward, kicking Finn in the stomach, but Finn held his own.

I grabbed a giant shard of glass from off the balcony, and moved around them, trying to find an opening to attack. I managed to slice open a finger, but I barely noticed. Jen knocked Finn to the ground. He pounced on top of him and started hitting him in the face. Using all my might, I stabbed the glass into his back.

“Ow!” Jen shouted, but he sounded more irritated than wounded.

I stood right behind him, panting. That was not the reaction I had expected and I didn’t know what to do.

Jen turned quickly, smacking me so hard across the face that I went flying to the edge of the balcony. I only had a moment to notice the dizzying drop below as my head hung over the edge, and then I was scrambling to my feet and gripping onto the railing.

Finn had already jumped up and knocked Jen back down. Kicking him as hard as he could, Finn growled through gritted teeth, “Don’t. Ever. Touch. Her. Again.”

When Finn went to kick him again, Jen grabbed his foot and yanked him back to the ground. I heard the sound of Finn’s head cracking against the heavy concrete of the balcony. It didn’t really hurt Finn, but it stunned him long enough where Jen could bend over and wrap his hand around Finn’s throat. He lifted him off the ground by his neck.

I jumped on Jen’s back, which wasn’t as smart as it sounded because Jen had a giant shard of glass sticking out of his back. I cut through my dress and my side without actually impaling myself on it. It was enough to bleed and hurt, but not enough to kill.

“Get off!” Jen growled, then jerked his arm back, elbowing me hard in the stomach and knocking me off his back.

I landed on my feet but Jen already had Finn pressed back over the railing. The top half of his body dangled over the edge, and if Jen let go, Finn would plummet to his death hundreds of feet below.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe or move. All I could see was the painting of me. The broken shards of glass glinting in the moonlight. My beautiful white dress with the slit of blood in the side. The vast darkness that went on beyond the balcony, and the horrified look on my face as I reached for it.

“Stop!” I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. “I’ll go with you! Please! Just let go of him!
Please
!”

“I hate to break it to you, Princess, but you’re going with me either way!” Jen laughed.

“Not if I can help…” Finn barely managed to speak through Jen’s hand clamped on his throat.

Finn kicked his leg up, planting it squarely between Jen’s legs, and Jen groaned, but didn’t loosen his grip on Finn. Keeping his leg there, Finn started tilting backwards. Jen realized what he was doing, but Finn had reached forward and grabbed onto Jen’s jacket.

He had changed the weight ratio, and in a moment that felt oddly slow motion, Finn went backwards over the railing, pulling Jen with him.

“
No
!” I screamed and lunged towards them, grabbing at empty air.

23. Aftermath

As soon as I reached the railing, Finn floated up to the top, coughing hoarsely. I gaped at him, too shocked to believe he was real. He came over the top of the railing, then dropped heavily onto the balcony.

Lying on his back, he coughed again, and I rushed to his side, kneeling next to him. I touched his face, checking to make sure he was real, and his skin felt soft and warm under my hands.

“That was quite the gamble,” Tove remarked from behind me, and I turned to look at him.

Tove had lost his blazer, and his white shirt looked slightly burned and bloody. Other than that, he didn’t look that bad as he took a step towards us. When Finn had gone over the balcony, Tove had used his power to catch him and lift him back up, setting him down safely.

“Nah, you always come through,” Finn said.

I went back to staring down at him, unable to completely believe that he was alive and here with me again. My hand was on his chest, above his heart, so I could feel it pounding. He placed his hand over mine, holding it gently, but he looked past me at Tove.

“What’s going on in there?” Finn asked Tove and nodded to the house.

“They’re retreating.” Tove stood over us. “A lot of people were hurt, but Aurora is working on them. For the most part, I think everyone will be okay.”

“Good.” Finn sighed in relief and looked back over at me. “What happened? Are you alright?” His hand went to my side, where I bled all over my dress. I winced under his touch but shook my head.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Have my mother look at it. She’ll patch you both up,” Tove said. When I gave him a confused look, he went on, “Aurora’s a healer. She can touch you and fix you. That’s her ability.”

“Come on,” Finn forced a smile at me and slowly sat up.

He tried to seem like he was perfectly fine, but he had taken quite a beating and there was a hesitation in his movements. Tove helped him to his feet, then took my hand and pulled me up.

I wrapped my arm around his waist, and Finn put his arm around my shoulders, reluctantly putting some of his weight on me. We walked carefully through the broken glass back into the house, and Tove gave more details about the attack.

Other than the trackers that had been guarding, most of the Trylle had played defenseless, myself included. The Vittra might not have as many abilities, but they mastered physical combat much better than the Trylle. Eventually, though, Tove, Elora, and a few others had managed to defeat them.

The ballroom looked even worse than we left it. Someone had lit lanterns around the edge of the room so we could at least see better than before.

Willa ran over to me when she saw me and threw her arms around me. I hugged her back, feeling tremendous relief that she was alive. Despite a few scrapes and bruises, she looked okay.

She then launched into an excited tale about how she had blown a Vittra out of the ceiling, and I told her I was proud. I wanted to listen to her talk, but the destruction was too overwhelming.

When Elora saw us, she pulled Aurora from where she helped a bleeding man. I noted with some dark happiness that the Chancellor had a nasty cut on his forehead, and I hoped that Aurora couldn’t make time to fix him.

Elora didn’t look any worse for the wear at all. If I hadn’t known, I would’ve never thought she’d been here when the fight was going on. Aurora, on the other hand, looked beautiful and regal, but she showed signs of the battle. Her dress was torn, her hair was a mess, and there was blood all over her hands and arms, but I doubted most of it was hers.

“Princess,” Elora looked genuinely relieved when she walked over to us, delicately stepping over broken tables and a Vittra corpse. “I’m glad to see you’re alright. I was very worried about you.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

She reached out and touched my cheek, but there was nothing affectionate about it. It was the way I would touch a strange animal that they assured me was safe, but I didn’t really believe it.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened to you.” She smiled wanly at me, then dropped her hand and looked at Finn. “I’m sure a thank you is in order for saving my daughter.”

“No need,” Finn replied rather curtly, and Elora gazed at him intently for a moment, saying something in his mind. Then she turned and walked away, going to deal with something far more pressing than her daughter.

Aurora squeezed Tove’s arms and looked at him warmly, making me feel a horrible pang at my own mother’s reaction. Aurora had seemed like an ice queen, too, but she could at least show signs of genuine happiness that her son hadn’t died.

The moment passed quickly, and she moved on to me. She tore open the hole in my dress wider so she could put her hand on my wound, and I gritted my teeth at the pain. Finn tightened his arm around my shoulders, a warm tingling sensation passed over my side, and moments later, the pain stopped.

“Good as new,” Aurora smiled tiredly at me.

She seemed to have aged since before she’d touched me, and I wondered how much all that healing took out of her. She started taking a step away, going back to help other people, and Finn leaned on me, clearly in pain.

“What about Finn?” I asked, and she looked back at me, startled. Apparently, I had asked something wrong, and she didn’t know how to react.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Finn waved her off.

“Nonsense,” Tove clapped him on the back. He nodded at his mother. “Finn saved the day. He deserves a little help. Aurora, wanna take care of him?” She looked uncertainly at her son, then nodded and walked over to Finn.

“Of course,” Aurora said. 

She looked over him for his wounds, trying to find out specifically what he needed fixing. I glanced away from them, and I saw Rhys sitting on the edge of a table. He held a bloody cloth to his forehead and stared down at the ground.

“Rhys!” I shouted, and when he looked up and saw me, he smiled.

“Go see him,” Finn suggested. Aurora poked at something painful in his side and he winced. “She’s taking care of me.”

“I got him.” Tove took Finn’s arm, so he would be leaning on Tove instead of me.

I looked back at Finn, but he nodded at me for me to go and tried not to let on how much pain Aurora was causing him.

I didn’t really want to leave Finn, but I felt like I should at least say hi to somebody that tried to save my life. Especially since Rhys had been the only person that had told me I looked beautiful all night without sounding really creepy about it.

“You’re alive!” Rhys grinned. He tried to stand up, but I gestured for him to sit back down. “I wasn’t really sure what happened to you.” He looked past me at Finn, and his expression faltered. “I didn’t know Finn was back. If I had, I wouldn’t have worried.”

“I was worried about you.” I reached out and carefully touched his forehead. “You took quite the punch there.”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t get one in,” Rhys grumbled, looking down at the floor. “And I couldn’t stop him from taking you.”

“Yes, you did!” I insisted. “If you hadn’t been there, they would’ve hauled me off before anybody had a chance to do anything about it. You kind of saved the day.”

“Yeah?” His blue eyes were hopeful when he looked at me.

“Definitely,” I smiled back at him.