Soul (Chaos #1)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

I was awakened by tiny hands pinching my nose. I slapped Realtín away. "Stop that!"

"Huh? Cara? You awake?" Zoe's voice was muffled by her duvet, but when she sat up in the dark and stared at me, I couldn't pretend to be asleep.

"Yeah, sorry. Bad dream."

"No worries. Sorry I was late home. Lost track of time. Mam said you had bandages on your hands. What happened?"

"Oh, I was clumsy and broke a glass."

"Ouch. You should have come over to Darren's. He was so funny earlier. Have you ever seen...?" She fell asleep, snoring lightly as her head hit the pillow.

"Realtín!" I whispered.

"Oh, how can you stand listening to her? She grates on me. Besides, we wanted to talk to you. Stupid human waking up whenever there's a sound. What's wrong with her?"

"You promised you would be nice to her."

She held up a finger. "Ah-ah. I have never promised that. I keep promises. I said I would try. And I did try. But she's too much for anyone."

"We're sorry for waking you," Grim said. "We wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Apart from the banshee threatening everyone I know, I'm great. Can she bring death? I mean, is that a thing, or was she bluffing?"

"Banshees court death," Grim said. "It follows them around. I would take a banshee's threat very seriously."

"That's what I was afraid of. How did it go after I left? Did you find out who sent the pooka?"

"No," Grim said. "The king is very angry. And a little confused."

"Confused?"

"This is the third attack on you. There have been no attacks on his life. It doesn't make a lot of sense to him."

"I'm just so popular," I said with a sigh. "Did my parents go home?"

"They were delayed for a while, but all's well now. We cleaned up your room as best we could and resealed the bedroom door. I asked the king to glamour the window so it appears unbroken. We thought you wouldn't want to deal with yet another problem within your family."

"You rock. What happened to the guard? I thought there were always some hanging around."

Grim exchanged a worried glance with Realtín. "Apparently, there was some mix-up,and the pooka got close enough to attack." He touched his head.

"Looks painful," I said, feeling bad for him. "Thought you were a goner there."

"So did I," he said.

Realtín tapped my nose. "I can't believe you killed a pooka!"

"I didn't actually mean to kill the thing."

"You saved my life," Grim said. "Pooka leave no witnesses. They're too hungry for that."

"Anytime," I said. "Who do you think sent the pooka?"

"Sadler, perhaps," he said.

"Who is this Sadler chap?"

Grim made a face. "He's a distant relative of the old queens and of old royal blood. He was once Brendan's father's right-hand man, but it all turned sour. It's said that he took a human wife for the summer, but Brendan stole her and made her crazy. He was one of those who helped get rid of Brendan in the first place."

"So he's old?"

"They say he hasn't visited the human world since he lost his human wife," Grim said. "He had her beheaded in the end."