Read Online The Villain Keeper by Laurie McKay - Free Book Online Page B

and her flesh eaters, doomed to fight each day for the barest of food and safety until he perished weak, alone, and humbled. His image was immortalized in the portraits so no man or woman in the whole of the Greater Realm would forget his horrible deeds or horrible fate. His image in the Hall of Infamy had looked cruel and mocking as it gazed from the portrait.
    If this man was Rath Dunn, he did not look weak or humbled. Yet he was dressed in the colors of Crimsen. He had the same scar, the same wolfish grin. His voice made Caden’s blood run cold.
    Regardless, Caden had enough sense to know that he needed to establish he was unafraid, deserved respect, and—like all the Ashevillian boys and girls in the room—in no way suspected that the man teaching math might be a monster.
    The bell tolled; the class ended.
    Alive and confused, Caden moved as fast as possible to the door. He needed to think about everything. He needed to find Brynne, throttle her for the curse, and tell her of the strange Rath Dunn look-alike at the school.
    â€œCaden. Stop,” Mr. Rathis said.
    Caden stopped, frozen in place, his compliance unbreakable.
    Mr. Rathis settled his large hand on Caden’s shoulder. “Glad to have you,” he said. “You’re a surprise, but I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
    The other students hurried away. Only Tito remained, standing by the door and looking impatient.
    Caden had stopped long enough to satisfy the curse. “I should leave now,” he said. He did not know if this man was the villainous Rath Dunn or a mild-mannered impostor, but he preferred not to take any chances.
    He had one boot in the hall when Mr. Rathis called to him again. “One last thing.”
    Caden raised a brow and turned back.
    Mr. Rathis smiled like a wolf. “I like your coat.”
    With those words, Caden knew this man was no look-alike. This man was the great enemy of Caden’s family and kingdom. He hadn’t been banished to the Land of Shadow where he should have been; he was here, teaching math in Asheville, where Caden was stranded.
    The math teacher was Rath Dunn.

C owards fled; brave men made strategic retreats. Caden hurried from the school. Rosa’s orders “Come here” and “Get in the pickup,” however, kept him from fleeing to the hills.
    He climbed into the pickup’s backseat. He told her that Mr. Rathis was not as he seemed. He was to be feared. “He’s Rath Dunn, the tyrant of the Greater Realm.” He gave an abbreviated history of the man and his vile acts—the plague he’d unleashed on the land, the many dead by his hand, the rivers that ran red from the battles fought against him. “He must be stopped.”
    Beside him, Tito snapped his seat belt and looked confused. “From teaching math?”
    â€œFrom whatever terrible deeds he has planned,” Caden said.
    Caden’s seat rumbled as Rosa turned the truck’s key and the transport engine came to life. “Mr. Rathis is a good teacher,” she said. “Unorthodox, but good.”
    â€œHe’s a monster—his skill with math does not excuse that.” He looked between Rosa in the front and Tito beside him. “We’re all in danger.”
    Instead of pulling out onto the road and away from the terror within the school, Rosa turned back and looked at him. “Why would you say that?”
    â€œHis hands drip with the blood of good men and women.”
    â€œMath’s not that dangerous,” she said, a smile pulling at her mouth. She turned front, and finally drove onto the steep road. “Tomorrow will be better.”
    Tito shrugged. “I can help you with your homework.”
    Caden didn’t know what “homework” was and he had no inclination to find out. He cared that he’d been taken from his land and deposited in this place; he cared that a threat walked among the backward people of Asheville; he cared