Enchanted Ivy

between her and the knights.

She forced herself to stand her ground. They won't hurt me, she told herself. Tye had said that deep down they didn't want to kill. 'I can help you!' Lily called to the Feeders. 'You can go home! You can break free!'

A werewolf with red eyes stalked up the hill. 'I am free, little Key.' His fangs mangled his voice into a cross between words and a growl. 'And your strength will help me stay free.' He sprang toward her.

Jumping off the stone wall, she ran.

Behind her, she heard the Feeders charging up the hill and scrambling over the stone wall. She plunged into the grove of trees. 'Help!' she cried. 'Stop them!' She slapped the trunks. The branches knit around her like a barricade.

The wolf launched himself at the branches. They bent and strained under his weight. Lily dropped to her knees and plunged her hands into the underbrush. 'Grow!' she shouted at the bushes. In response, the bushes swelled. 'Slow them!' she commanded.

As other Feeders crashed into her woods, the underbrush writhed around their legs. Closest to her, the wolf snapped his jaws, breaking branches. Another gray-skinned troll sliced through the shrubs with a sword. A unicorn stabbed at the branches with a horn dark with blood. Lily retreated deeper into the grove. Sweat covered her forehead and dripped down her shirt. Her heart hammered in her chest. She backed up until she smacked against the fence on the other side of the trees. Saplings tried to close around her.

Suddenly, Grandpa was on the lawn.

Silver sword in one hand, knife in the other, he flew through the air. He spun among the Feeders, kicking and lunging so fast that he blurred like a film in fast-forward. The Feeders turned to face him and Grandpa whirled, his blades flashing in the dying sunlight.

'Help him!' Lily cried to the trees. Magic poured out of her and into the trees like blood flowing from a wound. She felt dizzy, as if the oxygen had thinned. Her legs buckled. Lily fell to her knees.

Around her, the trees surged forward. She heard the rip of roots as they strained against the ground. Through the branches, she saw the other knights join Grandpa. Jake tossed aside a svelte fairy as Grandpa charged at the wolf who had first chased Lily. Another knight slammed into the unicorn, and yet another leaped onto the second troll.

A faceless man stretched out his fingers. Fire burst into balls of red and orange on his fingertips.

'Grandpa!' Lily yelled.

Grandpa dove and rolled as the fireballs shot through the air.

The flames slammed into the trees, and Lily heard screams. The sound felt like fingernails against the marrow of her bones. She collapsed into a ball as the trees' screams echoed and bounced inside her, drowning out all other sounds. Flames licked up the branches.

Through the red orange glare, she saw the Feeder shoot fire at her grandfather again. This time, a fireball grazed Grandpa's arm, and his sleeve burst into flame.

Lily tried to scream again, but her voice was a croak. She tasted smoke, and she tried to crawl from the trees. Her muscles quivered and gave way. Through the screen of leaves, she saw Grandpa drop to the ground. She had to help him! Lily thrust her fingers into the roots of the underbrush. 'Smother the fire,' she whispered. She saw leaves curl toward the flickers of flame. She saw the unicorn's horn slice down toward Grandpa. ...

And then she blacked out.

CHAPTER Ten

Lily woke to her mother's singing. She blinked her eyes open as Mom planted a kiss on her forehead and sang, 'Good morning, sleepyhead!'

'Morning,' Lily mumbled. What a bizarre dream, she thought. She rolled onto her back and stretched. Above her, the ceiling was decorated with intricate swirls of vines and leaves and flowers.

She sat up quickly and faced the drawing of the Chained Dragon by the window, precise and elegant on the cratered plaster wall. It hadn't been a dream. She looked down at her hand. Someone had unbandaged it. The dragon bites were uneven bumps, closer to cat bites than the gashes they'd been just yesterday.

Yesterday.

An image flashed through her mind: Grandpa, falling on the grass, flames licking his arm, a unicorn's horn about to stab ... 'Where's Grandpa?' she asked. She tried not to sound panicked.

'Grandpa's friend, that Mr. Mayweather or something, called to say they'd be breakfasting at his club,' Mom said. She smiled brightly as she added, 'We're to scavenge for ourselves. Like squirrels!'

Grandpa was alive. Oh, thank God! She felt her ribs release, and she could breathe again. Lily clasped her hands together so Mom wouldn't see they were shaking. If Mom had any idea what had happened last night ... 'You dyed your hair,' Lily said. Mom's hair was neon orange.

'Like it?' Mom said, touching a few strands.

Lily peered closer. Mom's scalp was bright orange, and she had a streak of orange on her forehead. 'That's not hair dye.'

'Spray paint,' Mom said.

Lily flopped back down on the bed. A spring poked into her back. 'Ow.' She wondered if hair-color obsession was Mom's own quirk or a dryad trait. She wondered how much of Mom's personality was her own and how much was due to her tree-ish-ness. She wondered how angry Grandpa was that Lily hadn't stayed hidden last night.

'I knew you wouldn't like it. Bought you a bribe to win your forgiveness.' Mom yanked a shirt out of a bag and tossed it to Lily.

Lily caught it, sat up, and spread it out on her lap. It had an orange P and a tiger. She touched the tiger and thought of Tye. She hadn't realized how brave he was to try to bring Feeders home. They didn't want to break their addiction. 'Thanks,' she said belatedly. 'Wait, you went shopping on your own?'

Mom patted Lily's shoulder. 'You're such a worrier. I was fine.'

Only because she'd been lucky. If she'd run into a Feeder ... For an instant, Lily considered telling her mother the truth right then, without waiting for Grandpa. You're not human, she could say. You're from an alternate world. Oh, and about the monsters from your nightmares? Yeah, they exist. Mom would force-feed her medicine if Lily said any of that. 'Did Mr. Mayfair say anything else when he called?' Lily asked.

'He certainly did,' Mom said.

Lily felt her heart skip a beat. 'What did he tell you?'

Mom threw her arms around Lily. 'I am so proud of you, I could burst! Princeton girl! I'm sorry that I put pressure on you. But I knew you wouldn't fail. You never fail at anything.'

Oh. That. 'It's not official yet,' Lily said. 'It doesn't count until the letter is in my hand. Besides, I might still apply to schools near Philly.'

'Absolutely not!' Mom gripped Lily's shoulders. 'Now, you listen to me. I am not letting you sacrifice your future to take care of me. This place is your dream!'

Her dream had a few hidden nightmares in it. But Mom was right. Until the Old Boys changed their minds, she was a Princeton prefrosh. She'd wanted this forever. She should remember to be happy about it.

Mom handed her a Ziploc full of toiletries. 'We'll buy you one of those bathroom caddies. And flip-flops. College girls shower in flip-flops. I'm not sure why.'

'Remember the time we both refused to clean the apartment and waited to see who would break first?' Lily asked.

Mom grinned. 'We wrote poems in the dust and grime.'

'Bad poems.'

'Some almost rhymed.'

Lily said, 'I'm guessing dorm showers are about that clean.'