Enchanted Ivy

and suddenly she couldn't breathe. Mom. He laid her mother on a pew and removed the robe from her face. Mom's head lolled to the side.

'She's breathing, Lily,' Tye said quickly. 'It's okay. She's alive.'

Lily gulped in air. He was right. Mom was alive. Her chest rose, shuddered, and then fell. Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open. 'What have you done to her?'

'She was ... resistant to leaving your grandfather's side, and so I was forced to drain her to ensure complacency,' he said. 'Such devotion from a monster. So unexpected.'

'She's not a monster! She's a good person.' Lily's eyes were glued to her mother's face. Mom looked so pale. Her cheeks were sunken. Every wrinkle stood out like a sharp black line.

'She isn't a person at all,' Mr. Mayfair said. He shook his head. 'My son was lost as well, but unlike Richard, I did not choose to shelter an abomination. I treat monsters as they deserve to be treated.' She noticed he didn't mention Tye and Jake's mother.

Tye detected the omission as well. 'My mother was 'lost,' too.'

'She was a traitor to humanity,' Mr. Mayfair said, 'as your very existence proves.'

Mom's breathing sounded so strained, as if each inhalation were squeezing her lungs. 'If you're such a paragon of virtue,' Lily said, 'then why didn't you ever tell your grandson what you did, that you were responsible for his parents' deaths? Bet he would have called you the abomination.'

For an instant, a shadow of pain crossed Mr. Mayfair's face. It was the first time she'd seen any emotion but unruffled calm. 'Jake is young and idealistic,' he said. 'Someday he will understand that I serve a greater good.'

'He won't understand if he's dead,' Lily said. 'Please, what 'greater good' do you serve by keeping my mother? You have me. You have Tye. You can let her go. She's not a threat to you.'

'She isn't a threat,' he agreed. 'She's insurance.' He pulled a flask from his pocket, propped Mom up, and poured silver liquid into her mouth. In an instant, Mom spit and coughed. Her eyes snapped open.

'Mom!' Lily said. 'Are you okay?'

Mom looked at Lily, at the ropes, and at Mr. Mayfair, and then she began to scream. He clapped a hand over her mouth. She whimpered. 'Perhaps I should have left you drained for longer,' he commented. Mom's eyes flickered everywhere.

'Calm down, Mom, please,' Lily said. 'Everything's all right.' The lie rolled easily off her lips. 'Take a deep breath. Now exhale.'

Mom obeyed.

In a minute, Mr. Mayfair removed his hand.

'Now,' he said, 'listen to me carefully. You want your daughter safe, yes?'

Mom nodded. Her eyes were wide.

'She inexplicably wants you safe as well,' Mr. Mayfair said. 'So this is what we will do: When the battle ends, you will both accompany me to the gate. Lily will return the army of potential Feeders, and she will help me repair the damage she's done to my reputation with the knights and the gargoyles. You will walk through the gate, and the dryad queen will return my grandson. Do you understand?'

Mom's eyes were like a storm. 'If you harm my daughter—'

'Good,' he said. 'We understand each other. If you disobey me, I will kill her. If Lily disobeys, I will kill you. Are we clear?'

Wordless, shaking with fear and fury, Mom nodded.

'And you?' Mr. Mayfair asked Lily.

Eyes glued on Mom, Lily nodded, too.

Mr. Mayfair took a call as calmly as if he were in an office. 'Splendid!' Lily heard him say. 'Send the army and the prisoners to the gate. We'll meet them there. Begin damage control.' He paused. 'Wonderful. Thank you.' He slid the phone back into his pocket. 'Excellent news,' he said. 'We won.'

He untied the ropes around Lily, and then he pulled her and Rose to their feet. Smiling at them, he picked up the fairy's head wrapped in the choir robe.

As Mr. Mayfair led them toward the door, Lily glanced at Tye. He had nearly sliced through his ropes. If she could distract Mr. Mayfair for only a second ... Trying to send a hint with just a look, she met Tye's eyes.

I love you, he mouthed.

He what?

Startled, she slipped in the fairy blood. Mr. Mayfair caught her arm. That was all the distraction Tye needed. He cut through the last frayed rope and sprang from the pew.

But Mr. Mayfair was faster. Drawing his sword, he lunged forward. In a move so fast that Lily could barely see it, he slammed the hilt down on Tye's head.

Tye crumpled onto the marble floor.

Mom screamed and screamed and screamed.

'Foolish boy,' Mr. Mayfair said. He leveled the sword at Mom. 'Silence.'

Mom stopped.

'Is he ...,' Lily began. She saw Tye's chest rise and fall. He was alive.

Without another word, Mr. Mayfair fetched the ropes and retied him. This time, he lashed Tye's fingers together. He left him cocooned in rope, unconscious on the floor. Then he slid his sword into a scabbard under his coat.

'You are a monster,' Mom said.

He blinked at her. 'That is almost amusing, coming from you.'

Scooping up the robe with the fairy's head, he propelled both Lily and Mom out of the choir box, down the stairs, and out of the chapel.

Outside, the sky had darkened. The sun had sunk below towers and turrets, leaving behind streaks of bruised rose. As they descended the chapel steps, Lily noticed that her footprints were rust red smudges on the stone—the fairy's blood.

'Lily?' Mom's voice was strained. 'That dragon ... I know him....'

Lily looked up at the Chained Dragon. He was silent, sleeping to conserve his magic. 'How can I trust that you won't just get rid of me, Mom, and Tye after we've helped you?' Lily asked Mr. Mayfair.

'You have little choice but to trust me, my dear,' he said.

She didn't think that was a comforting response.

Looping his arm around hers, he escorted her across the plaza. In his other hand, he held the robe with the severed head. Looking dazed, Mom walked beside them. She kept shooting glances back at the stone dragon; he continued to sleep.

Stay calm, Lily told herself, and think. There had to be something she could do, but what? Overwhelm him with her fantastic power over lawns? She'd seen him fight. He was stronger and faster than a tiger. Her best hope was the ivy vines in East Pyne courtyard.

But Mr. Mayfair bypassed East Pyne. Instead, he marched them straight toward Nassau Street, exiting campus via a service driveway and keeping to the center of the road, away from any greenery.

Lit by street lamps and lights from storefronts, Nassau Street was as silent and empty as a vacant lot. Cars had been diverted to side streets, and campus police warded off pedestrians. Yellow tape cordoned off the entire Nassau Hall yard. Recognizing Mr. Mayfair, one of the guards waved them through the blockade. As they passed, Lily tried and failed to catch the security guard's eyes.

Using the side entrance, Mr. Mayfair propelled them onto the lawn. Grass shivered as it touched Lily's bloody shoes, but the trees didn't hear her silent yells.

Mr. Mayfair halted in front of the gate and said to Lily, 'You are to think of your mother and follow my lead. No heroics. Are we clear?'

Lily swallowed. 'Crystal.'

He pulled Mom closer to him, and they waited.

Coming from beyond Nassau Hall, creatures marched, limped, slithered, flew, crawled, and walked across the shadowed yard. A few were carried. Others winced in pain with each step. Lily saw blood and dirt streaks on faces and exposed skin. In the distance, she spotted her grandmother, tall and unearthly, surrounded by the usual