Chapter 3 — The Prisoner and the Gardener (1)

The next time Lila woke up, the door was locked from the outside.

She pushed. It didn't move. She knocked. No answer. She took a deep breath, gathered every skill she possessed, and shouted into the crack of the door:

"KAEL RAVENSCROFT! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"

The door opened.

He stood there in a fresh dark suit, black hair neat, looking slightly better than last night — if you ignored the heavy shadows under his eyes.

"Awake." He said. "Breakfast is on the table."

"You locked me in!"

"I didn't lock it." He said. "The door locked itself."

"…What's the difference?!"

"The difference is," he said calmly, "that if you really want to leave, the door will open for you. But you won't want to."

"Why?"

"Because it's raining out there. You have no money, no phone charge, no navigation, and no civilization for twenty miles." He stepped aside. "Also, I bought you some things."

Lila followed him downstairs with deep suspicion. And then she saw the great hall.

In the middle of the hall stood a mountain.

An actual mountain. A mountain of takeout boxes. From floor to ceiling, every color, every logo — pizza, burgers, burritos, tacos, fried chicken, bagels. There was a bag from a place she was pretty sure was three states away. There was a bag from a place she was pretty sure had gone out of business last year. Lila stared at the mountain, opened her mouth, and took a full moment to find her voice:

"…Are you trying to fatten me up?"

"You said you were hungry yesterday." He said. "I didn't know what you eat. So I bought everything."

"How did you buy everything?"

"I sent my people into the city."

"Do your people know you're keeping a human?"

"They know I'm keeping a bird." He paused. "It's been two hundred years since I sent them to buy food. They said, 'Master, are you finally going to start eating?' I said, 'No, it's for my raven.'"

"…Your raven can eat all of this?"

"He's a very hungry raven." He said. Then he pulled a phone out of his pocket and held it out to her. "Also. This is yours."

Lila looked down. A brand-new phone. The newest model. The one she'd been saving for six months and still couldn't afford. She inhaled sharply: "Where did you get this?"

"I sent my people into the city." He said. "He told me humans all need these. I charged it for you."

"…You don't know what Wi-Fi is, but your subordinate is very modern."

"He's been alive three hundred years." Kael Ravencroft said. "More up to date on modern life than I am."

Lila held the brand-new phone, looked at the mountain of takeout, and looked at this 2700-year-old monster who was clumsy like a man raising his first pet — and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She did both, a little.

"Kael." She said. "You're keeping me locked in a castle, buying me phones and takeout. What exactly do you want?"

He was quiet for a long time. So long she thought he wouldn't answer.

Then he said: "I want to keep you."

"…"

"Like a flower." He said. "I don't know how flowers are kept. I asked — I had my people check. They said flowers need water, sunlight, and fertilizer. But I don't know what you need. So I bought everything that might be it. Water, done. Sunlight, I can't give you — the castle has no sun. Fertilizer… I don't know if humans use fertilizer."

"…I do NOT need fertilizer!" Lila shouted, and then it all felt so absurd she had to lean against the takeout mountain and laugh. "You genuinely don't know how to keep a person alive."

"I've lived two thousand seven hundred years." He said. "I've killed a great many people. I've never kept anything alive — except the raven who delivers my mail. He keeps himself alive."

Lila looked at him. At his serious, almost reverent expression. She stopped laughing.

"Kael." She said softly. "Are you afraid of being alone?"

He didn't answer. But the fingers gripping the doorframe went white at the knuckles.

"I'm not afraid of being alone." He said, after a long time. "It's just—in all these two thousand seven hundred years, it's the first time being alone has felt cold."

And Lila Moore made a choice she would second-guess many times in her life, but would never regret: she said, "Fine. I'm staying. But I have conditions."

"What conditions."

"One: I paint. Get me art supplies. Expensive ones." She held up a finger. "Two: I need sunlight — you must have a south-facing window somewhere. I paint in the sun two hours a day. Three: I want Wi-Fi."

"What's that."

"It's the thing that phone connects to." She waved the new phone. "Your subordinate definitely knows how to set it up."

Kael Ravencroft looked at her. And then, very slowly, the corner of his mouth curved up.

"Deal." He said. "Prisoner."