.

8. Kairi

Kairi was more terrified than she had ever been in her life. She tried to shrink into an even smaller ball and willed herself not to cry. Nonetheless, fat tears slid down her cheeks and small sobs made it past the hands she had clamped over her mouth.

Granny, where are you?

It felt like forever ago she had snuck out of bed to see the ladies in their pretty dresses and men in their elegant tuxedoes. Granny had said to stay in bed, like the other kids. There were always at least half a dozen stabled in the bedrooms in the nursery wing. Kairi was the only one with a permanent room, however. She watched the rotation of guests in the others with interest. Lately she had seen a spoiled brat of a prince from Resplendia, twin nine-year-old duchesses from the Dazzle Islands who had a quirky way of talking at the same time, and a princess from Wutai everyone in the Royal Cadets was afraid of because she liked taking stupid risks and getting into trouble so they'd save her.

"They're just lonely," Granny had said when Kairi asked why aristocrat kids always acted so weird. "It's hard to make friends when everyone always tells you exactly what you want to hear."

"I don't understand, Granny."

"It's complicated, honey."

Kairi had blown out a sigh and gone back to turning soil for new seedlings in the window-box. "Everything interesting is complicated. I'm gonna be, like, eleventy-hundred years old before I know all the good stuff."

"Curing loneliness isn't all that hard, honey. It just takes time and effort."

"That's what you said about flowers."

"And are flowers worth it?"

Kairi had contemplated the riot of colour and shape in the window-box that bordered Granny's room on the other side of the castle. Living in the castle meant they couldn't have a proper garden. "I guess."

She wished Granny was here now. Granny could always make her feel safe, no matter what. When the monsters came in her dreams, or her chest tightened in that horrible way, or anything, Granny's smile and kind voice could drive away the darkness and make everything better.

Except Granny had gone to the ball, and now Kairi couldn't feel her heart, and the shadow-monsters had come out of her dreams, and she was so scared –

"Hey!"

She scrunched up as small as she could. I'm not scared. The darkness can't hurt me. I'm not scared. I'm not. They're just dreams. Granny said they're just dreams. I'm not scared. I'm not –

"Hey there." Someone was blocking the triangle of light where the two sides of the broken table met. Kairi briefly saw an eye, which disappeared seconds before the table began to shift.

"Hey, whoa! Whoa! What d'ya think you're doing, yo?"

"There's a little kid trapped under there."

"Seriously? And you think collapsing the entire friggin' pile of rubble is gonna help him?"

"Her."

"Whatever. Here, let me – nggh!"

The table began to shift again. Things flaked off and hit Kairi in the face – black dust and other stuff she didn't want to think about.

"Quick, grab the other side!" instructed the second voice. "If you can handle it with your girly-ass muscles."

"Put a sock in it, pretty-boy."

The triangle of light widened until it was as big as a rabbit hole, and then bigger still. Grunts of effort accompanied the incremental opening.

"Quick, kid," said the first voice, not soft this time but strained. "We can't hold this long. Get out before… we can't…"

Kairi didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled. Seconds after she reached open air, her hidey-hole caved in. if she had still been inside, she would have been crushed. She shivered. Someone put a blanket over her. No, she realised, not a blanket, but a blazer-jacket thing. She looked up into the face of a girl with tangled auburn curls and cut on her forehead.

"Are you all right?"

Kairi couldn't stop shaking enough to nod or shake her head.

"Shock," said the girl.

"No shit," said the second voice, which apparently belonged to a gangly boy with the longest ponytail Kairi had ever seen.

"Don't cuss in front of a little kid!"

"Like bad language is the worst thing in her life right now?" he said derisively.

The girl ignored him. "What's your name?" she asked instead.

Kairi drew the jacket tighter around her. The boy wore one just like it, but the girl had only a white shirt speckled with flecks of red. Lots of flecks. "K-Kairi."

"I'm Cissnei."

"Reno," said the boy. "Or 'sir'."

"Or 'asshole'," Cissnei said under her breath. "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll look after you now."

Reno snorted. His next words made Kairi want to tunnel back under the wreckage. "But who's gonna look out for us?"