Although, I’m grateful now as I can play this sad game with Renly. He huddles between the mashed, sweaty bodies around us, careful to stay wedged and protected as we shuffle out way past the threshold. Renly hugs my waist as per our routine. I don’t want him to see the other captives with bloody gashes on their heads or knocked out teeth.
“Did I do good?” Renly mumbles into my shirt.
My throat is tight, but I don’t let him hear that I’m so close to tears, it hurts. So, I nod and say, “Mmm-hmm.”
“You too.”
We’re left alone to ruminate on the previous events of the execution and hateful, bloodthirsty villagers. It’s their way of letting our new reality sink it. Not all will we be killed if we try to escape, the villagers might do it for us. I’ve tried asking why they are so hungry to hurt the men and women in the first place, but the answers are unclear.
“Do you still think someone’s coming to rescue us?” Renly sits in our corner, tugging open a loose brick to snack on a small piece of bread. I told him I’m allergic, so he’d finish the little loaf himself and stop offering it to me.
“I do.”
“Why?”
I smile. The “why” stage was always my favorite when Niklaus was this age. Every explanation I gave always resulted in him asking why again. Marilynn would try to distract him to put a stop to the endless loop of questions. But I loved it. I’d give elaborate answers that would fuel his curiosity.
“Because…it just so happens, I have the strongest, most powerful family in the whole world.” I cross my arms proudly and lean against the wall. “They’d find me across time, Ren Ren.”
“Are they royalty?”
My cheeks warm at the image of Ruth’s pretty face popping into my head. Her upturned little nose and freckles.
“Some of them,” I say.
“Wow! What about the others? Who is most powerful?”
“My sister, I think. Though, it’s arguable the big-headed mastermind, Dessin.”
“Why?” Renly asks with a mouth full of bread.
“Well, my sister, Skylenna, has magical powers. She—hmm, how do I put this? Take that fat warden over there, see him?” I lift my chin to point to the shittiest guard here. “She could jump into his brain, scramble things around, and lock him up in a dark prison so he can never hurt anyone ever again.”
“You are serious?” Renly gawks at me in wonder and joy.
“Yes. And the mastermind, Dessin? He could outfight any warden here. No one would be able to take him down.”
Except his brother and Masten.
“And what’s your magical power, Mr. Niles?”
“Making them laugh. Being eccentric. Annoying everyone.”
Renly scrunched his nose as he giggles. “You have magical powers too.”
I think on this. “I am very good at picking locks.”
And pockets, but I’ll leave that out.
Renly throws his fist in the air. “Mr. Niles is the most powerful at escaping!”
I bunch my lips to the side, tempted to take on that title, but my old friend would kick my ass for stealing the thing he was known for.
“Actually, big-headed Dessin would take the cake on that one. He is a master escape artist. He used to be locked up in the Emerald Lake Asylum. Escaped loads of times.”
“Oh. Not a good place.” Renly pops his head up, facing falling.
“You know it?” Have they really heard of it from smaller villages in Vexamen?
