Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Daffodil

John readies himself to lunge at Mrs. Vanderbilt, bent at the knees and arms out, ready to put his high school football years to use when Jamie's sister points a stake at him and blocks her mother from his view.

"Do it," she dares him.

"John, don't," I beg.

His lip curls over his teeth, his eyes a darker shade of orange. The same color Gunner's shift into when there's blood nearby. Sophie grabs his shoulder.

"Play smart," she whispers, her eyes focused on Jamie's sister. "You okay, Gwen?" This time, she projects her voice across the room, pulling her eyes away from the threat to look at me. Before I can respond, her eyes flick to Mrs. Vanderbilt, to the fresh blood on her forehead and even from the other side of the room, I can see her pupils go wide.

"I'm fine, Sophie." I try my best to keep the hoarseness out of my voice. "You guys should leave. I'll meet you at..." I let the sentence hang in the air. The Vanderbilts probably already know where Sophie's warehouse is but in case they don't, I'm not going to be the one to put everyone in danger. Again.

John shakes his head. "She tried to kill you, Gwendolyn. We ain't leaving."

Mrs. Vanderbilt shifts her weight so she's leaning against the wall. "And you tried to kill Jamie. Seems like we're even." After a pause, she looks at her daughter. "Put the stake down, Oakley." Oakley. I tuck her name in the back of my mind, part of me hoping that one day this will be a funny story we tell over dinner.

Oakley looks at her like she's lost her mind. "Mom."

Mrs. Vanderbilt glares at her and Oakley drops the stake, far enough to appease her mother and close enough to grab it if something goes wrong.

"It's obvious these aren't our real enemies," Mrs. Vanderbilt continues.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," John grumbles.

Mrs. Vanderbilt rolls her eyes. "Leroy just sent dozens of his highly trained guards to execute us. In comparison..." Her eyes travel the length of John's body. "You're not exactly a threat."

John's mouth opens but he clamps it closed again, his jaw clenched tight.

Sophie takes a step forward. "Aren't you guys working with Leroy? What happened?"

Mrs. Vanderbilt lets out a long breath. "After we finished our job, we came home and were attacked." More to herself than anyone else, she adds, "This is why we don't work with leeches."

John starts shouting about how she's out of line while Mrs. Vanderbilt snaps back, but I can't hear them over my own thoughts coming at me like a train, so fast and loud they knock the breath from my chest.

Leroy told me something bad was going to happen if I didn't take his offer to be a guard. He's going after Jamie because of me. He didn't even give Mrs. Vanderbilt a chance to prepare herself.

My voice is quiet compared to the shouting filling the room.

"He's after Jamie." My cheeks go hot, and I hope Mrs. Vanderbilt doesn't notice.

I'm hoping to god she doesn't ask me how I know but she's already nodding. "I've gathered that much. The leeches who stormed into my home weren't interested in hurting her, only apprehending her."

I swallow the lump in my throat. If Jamie's isn't here....

"Where is Jamie?" I ask.

Oakley snorts, pulling the attention to her. Her lips pull into a sinister sort of grin. "With Kelsey."