Gifted

10: Help!

Charles

I stared out the window at the sky, missing Hera. She'd been gone for almost a week now, and I missed her desperately.

Suddenly the library doors opened, and the maid Katherine ran in. Her face was streaked with tears and her hair was a mess.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Come with me," she said shakily. "Hurry, he only gave me ten minutes!" Confused, I followed her to the foyer, where I found my father staring hard at a man and woman I recognized. I gasped.

"Hera!" Gerard stepped back, pressing the knife against her throat more. She whimpered in pain. I threw myself forward-- I had to protect her! But my Gerard's men caught me and held me back. I struggled violently.

"Morning, cousin," Gerard sneered. "You don't look so good today."

"Let her go this instant or so help me--!"

"You can't do anything," Gerard said. "I have the thing you love most right here, and if you touch me, I'll slit her throat faster than you can say 'oops'. Do you understand?" I swallowed, looking at Hera. Her eyes were filled with tears, whether of pain or fear or both I didn't know. Her chest was heaving, and her lips were trembling.

"Let her go," I snarled. He took a step back, dragging Hera with him. I watched her grimace in pain, and I fought angrily.

"Stop, Charles," Gerard spat. "Stand there quietly, and don't fight any more." He traced the point of the knife down Hera's face. "You don't want Hera to pay for any slip ups." I looked at her face, which was streaked with tears and had an expression of fear. I pulled against the men holding me, straining to run to her and pull her close. I saw her shaking violently.

"Please, Gerard," I begged. "Let her go. She has nothing to do with this. Just take me or hurt me, but don't drag her into this." He laughed.

"But she has everything to do with it," he cackled. "How else am I going to make you do as I say? How else am I going to punish you?" He waved to one of his men that was holding a torch, and he stepped forward. I watched with wide eyes as he threw a rock, then the torch, through a window of the house. I saw the flames licking the drapes, then climbing the bookshelves, and soon the house was burning high in the sky. I looked over at my father, whom I knew was a worldly man, but rather than watching his possessions burn, he was staring at me. For the first time since before and after my mother died, I saw tears on his cheeks, and I was surprised.

"Let's go," I heard Gerard say. "Bring him with us." I heard my father roar in protest as I was started away, and my cousin turned.

"Enough, uncle," he spat, drawing a pistol and pointing it at my father's chest.

"No!" I yelled. "Father!" But it was too late, the gun fired, and my father jerked backward, eyes wide as his legs shook for a moment, then he collapsed. I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut, my breath wrenched from my lungs with a single tug. I felt the man dragging me away as I stared at my father's body on the ground, and I felt like a child. A lost, lonely child.

I was thrown into a carriage roughly, and heard a soft sob as soft hands clung to my shirt. I put my arms protectively around Hera, clinging as much to her. She sobbed quietly against my loose hair, and I closed my eyes to catch my own weak tears as I held her. I felt her gentle hand stroke my hair and face, wiping away the stray tears from my face.

"It's all right, I'm here," she breathed.

"But I don't want you to be!" I seethed. "You're not supposed to be! You're supposed to be safe somewhere you won't be hurt! This is my fault! If I just hadn't taken Lillian out for that ride all those years ago..."