It won’t be long now.
Yet, as I think it, the glittering surface of a lake appears through a break in the trees, as though the Father is sending a message that it’s not time for me to join his kingdom today. The words for the faerie portal come to my lips and I send them into the air, shooting them forward, wishing to go any place but here, wishing for my sister—not her magic, but her spirit. As I race closer, a sight I’ve seen a thousand times glimmers on the surface of the water, a set of climbing roses creeping up the side of a crumbling castle wall.
It’s Aerewyn.
I’ve been there before. I’ve slept among her thorns just so I could pretend they were her arms around me. I've smelled the perfume of her sweet petals in the air. I can think of no better place to live forever than by her side, two sets of flowers in the same eternal garden, blooming even in the coldest months of winter.
The humans close in behind me.
I dash through the edge of the trees, my feet sinking into the soft, wet ground as I near the edge of the lake. The faerie portal strengthens, the image as clear as day on the inky surface, bright despite the darkness. Just a few more steps and I’ll be there, crossing time and space. They could try to follow, but I don’t know what will happen if they do. I certainly won’t help their spirits make the crossing. Just a little longer, just a little—
I cry out as a bullet bites into my shoulder.
Tripping over my feet, I fall and slam into the ground. My chin snaps against the rocks at the edge of the shore. The water is close, so close, just three more feet and I could press my finger to the portal and dive through.
Mud squelches behind me—footsteps.
I reach for the water’s edge, but it’s too far, I’ll never make it in time.
A gun clicks as a human prepares another shot.
I roll onto my back and stare at the endless sky as I let the magic go, sealing the portal, sealing my fate. I draw the power within, so I feel the Mother’s warmth in limbs that are starting to grow cold. I focus on the stars, finding the brightest one—the one I’ve always guessed is Aerewyn. My vision starts to spot. A shadow passes in front of my eyes, one of the humans I’m sure. Hands grab my arms, but I can no longer see. I wonder what they’ll do when the woman they’re carrying turns to nothing but a bed of lilies in their arms. The thought brings a soft smile to my lips, or maybe only to my mind. I’m no longer sure. No longer aware.
I drift away.
My last thought before the Mother’s light winks out and I glide fully into Father’s darkness is that after all this, I finally will be reunited with Aerewyn, just not in the way I imagined. The realization gives me comfort as I sink into the unknown.
I wake to darkness and pain. My shoulder aches. My muscles spasm. The air I breathe is stale and dampness sinks beneath my skin. I shiver from the cold, yearning for the warm kiss of the Mother’s sun. I’ve been to the Father’s realm, and this isn’t it.
Where am I?
I blink a few times, trying to clear my eyes. Sickly green light filters into view as a slight hum catches my ears, whispering that it’s artificial. I try to sit up, but my wound cries out in protest. So I stare overhead, twisting my head this way and that, but all I see is gray—the ceiling, the walls, the floor. I’m lying on some sort of bed. It creaks when I move. There’s a door on the opposite side that’s also gray, but metal instead of the synthetic stone material of the walls. In the far corner of the room there’s a small black circle with a blinking light. When I look into its depths, I can’t help but feel there’s someone on the other side staring back.
I don’t understand.
I was shot.
Pressing my fingers to my wound, I find a bandage wrapped around my chest. When I sniff, chemicals I don’t recognize stink up the air. The humans must’ve brought me back to their military base and patched the wound, but my body doesn’t work quite the same as theirs. Whatever medicines they put on my skin shouldn’t have worked. Sunlight, water, and food are my best healers, and I don’t sense any of those things down here. There’s only one explanation.
Father brought me back.
It wasn’t my time to die after all.
Which leaves a lingering question… Why not?
The door swings open and I drop my arm back to my side as though caught. A man walks in, then closes it softly behind him. His black waves are peppered with gray and deep grooves carve into his face, but I get the impression stress and duty have done more to age him than time. The look in his blue-gray eyes is hard and his lips are drawn thin. Across the front of his patchwork-green clothes I see the words General Kelly. He pulls a chair from the foot of the bed, one I didn’t notice before, and sits down.
“You’re awake.”
I nod.
He leans forward, casually putting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands in the empty space between. “Before we begin, I’d like to get a few things straight. If you use magic, we’ll kill you. If you try to escape, we’ll kill you. If you harm anyone in this base, we’ll kill you. The only way you get out of this alive is to cooperate. Understood?”
I flick my gaze to the black circle in the corner, then to the door, then to the general, and nod. For now, I have no choice. We must be underground, because I can hardly feel the Mother when I stretch out with my senses. All I feel are more man-made walls and man-made lights, with the faintest hint of dirt and roots somewhere far away at the outer edges of this compound.
“Where am I?” I whisper, voice scratchy. “How long have I been here?”
“The Midwest Command Center,” he answers gruffly, leaning back in the chair. “I’m General Robert Kelly, and I’m in charge of this base. You’ve been here for three days. Now I have a question for you.” He pauses, drawing his eyes up and down my frame, stalling on my exposed arms. When he meets my gaze again, the gray in his eyes has turned to steel, making me shiver. “What are you?”
This? Again?
Why are humans so afraid of something different?
Is the idea of me so terrifying?
Yet, even as I think it, my memory drifts back to the very same question coming through Frederick’s lips while his eyes glittered with curiosity. He wasn’t afraid. He was intrigued. He was mystified. He was uncertain. But he was never afraid. And I took that for granted during my time with him. Sitting here now, staring into a face laced with subtle notes of hate, I’m realizing too late what a gift the prince gave me—to greet someone different with marvel instead of fear. If only I’d been able to do the same for him, for Ella, maybe I never would’ve ended up here.
“I’m a faerie,” I murmur.
“Your blood was white.”
“We’re creatures of nature, given human form through our magic. My body looks like yours, but it’s not the same. Not quite.”
“How many of you are there?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath before answering. “At the moment, I believe there’s only me.”
He narrows his eyes. “Then who were you traveling with? We know you weren’t alone.”
I hold his gaze and seal my lips shut.
The muscles in his clenched jaw twitch once, then twice. In a flash, he reaches across the bed and digs his finger into my wound. I cry out with pain, but it only strengthens his resolve. He jams his thumb in deeper. My vision blurs as tears come to my eyes, but I don’t relent.
“Who were you with?”
“No one.”
“Were you in England a week ago?”
I don’t answer.
“Were you with Prince Frederick? Do you know where he is?”
I stay strong.
“Why doesn’t your magic affect our electricity? How long have you been in these mountains? Are there other people like you using the same magic? Where are they? What are you hiding?”
His nostrils flare and his skin reddens as his frustration mounts. The pain is so intense I’m not sure I could speak even if I wanted to. Good thing I don’t. A fierc
e protectiveness rises within me, made stronger by his aggressiveness. With a snarl, the general reels back and grabs his gun. He pulls it from his waistband and points it at my head.
“Answer me,” he orders.
“No.”
The gun clicks. He closes the distance between us so the cool metal rests against my temple, a little bit of ice in a room that’s grown too warm. I hold his gaze the entire time.
“Answer me or you’re of no use to us.”
“Then shoot me,” I whisper. If the Father wants me to live, he’ll bring me back again. I don’t fear death. I fear the thought of this man finding Ella, finding Frederick, finding the shifters. I never thought I’d sacrifice myself for humans, but here I go again, the urge too strong to dare defy.
The general trembles with anger.
The metal barrel shakes against my skin.
I don’t look away. I let my gaze bore into his, until he understands this threat won’t work with me. Years ago, maybe. Not now. Not after everything I’ve lived through and everything I’ve seen. I know I thought sparing Ella was weakness, but right now, I feel strong. Love is never the wrong choice. Love for a human. Love for a faerie. Love for the world. I think that’s the lesson Aerewyn was always trying to make me understand—love is its own kind of magic. Right now, that power thrums through my veins, oozing with defiance.
The general yields.
He pulls the gun away and shoves it back into his waistband as a frown passes over his lips. Hatred burns even brighter in his eyes, which just makes love flare even hotter in mine.
“There are fates worse than death,” he growls as he stands. “If I were you, I’d think about that for a little while, because I’ve been authorized to use whatever tools necessary to get the information I need. If you want to play games, I’ll play them. But you might not like my rules. Take that as a warning. The next time I see you, I won’t be so forgiving.”
Then he leaves.
The slam of the door echoes in the silence.
I roll over and face the wall, so if anyone is watching, they won’t be able to see me as I close my eyes and cup my hands over my heart, reaching out with my magic. I sense roots, but they’re too far away, behind so many layers of rock they won’t be useful. I could call winds to my chest, maybe a little lightning from the ground, but I’m not sure what it would do against their guns. Maybe I’d escape this room, but I have no idea how to get through the building and back outside. They’d find me and make good on their threats before I could even step foot aboveground. No, the best thing to do is play along and wait. Eventually, I might be able to convince them to bring me some water, maybe a bath if I’m lucky. As soon as that happens, I can call a portal and vanish in the blink of an eye.
Patience is my only option.
When the general comes back, I’m sure I’ll need my strength. Without sunshine or nourishment, rest is the only thing that might help me heal, so I will myself to sleep. I pretend I’m in a meadow. I pretend the neon light sifting through my eyelids is the sun and that the distant buzzing noise is nothing but bees. I pretend the pillow beneath my head is a thick bed of moss and that the stale air smells of fresh daisies.
I bolt awake to the sound of gunfire.
Terror shoots through me, then pain as I force myself to sit up. The room is pitch black. The dull hum of the lights is gone. At first, I think it’s the general playing a new game, one meant to instill fear. It’s working. But as I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing pulse, I sense the subtle prickle of magic in the air.
Aerewyn.
Ella.
They’re almost one and the same now.
Is she here? Why?
It can’t possibly be for me. Not after what I did. At the very least, she knows I drugged her. At the very most, Frederick explained how I nearly put a knife in her heart.
Maybe she’s here for revenge.
It’s a sentiment I understand well.
Another round of gunfire explodes. I flinch back and lift my arms to cover my ears against the roar, even as my shoulder screams. It’s close. I don’t realize how close until the door to my room bangs against the wall. A girl waits on the other side, holding a flaming torch in one hand and a large gun in the other. Her face is familiar, with a hard, determined look I recognize but can’t place. I search the darkness for clues, but all I notice is the smattering of bullet holes surrounding the doorknob. She was shooting the lock, not people. Which means someone is here for me, but who?
“We don’t have much time,” she mutters, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Thanks, Jade.” Omorose steps into the light. “I’ll be quick.”
When she finds me on the other side of the room, she lifts her arm, aiming a gun at my chest. Even in the dull light, I see it tremble in her hands. She’s not a killer, but then again, I would’ve said the same about myself once upon a time. Who knows how far she’ll go if pushed. I remain rigid on the bed, careful not to make any sudden moves.
“Frederick and Ella are waiting outside with Cole. It was too dangerous for them to come down here. But I know these halls. I lived here. The plan was for me to sneak in with Jade and Asher’s help, then sneak you out while Ella used her magic to cut the electricity. I ran these drills all my life. The lockdown will only last a few more minutes, and then the soldiers will deploy. We don’t have much time, but before I do what I’m supposed to, what I promised Ella I would do, I need to know why.”
There are a million things she could be asking. Why should she trust me? Why should she save me? Why did I drug them? Why did I pretend to be their friend? Why did I leave? Why did I draw the humans away? Why am I still alive? But as I stare at her across the darkness, watching the flames reflect in her eyes, I already know what she’s asking.
Why did I try to kill her sister?
Frederick must’ve told her what I did. I don’t blame him. It wasn’t his secret to keep, and I’m sure in his mind he was helping me—showing them I wasn’t a threat, that I truly loved Ella, that even without the blood oath I couldn’t hurt her.
But I’m a sister.
I understand the rage simmering in Omorose’s fire-filled eyes.
All she heard was what I tried to do, not what I didn’t. And if I were in her place, with Aerewyn the potential victim, I’d feel the same. Maybe there’s no such thing as good or evil. Maybe it’s all just a matter of perspective.
“The magic coursing through Ella’s blood? The magic your ancestors stole hundreds of years ago and have kept trapped beneath their skin for all that time?” I pause, unsure if my next words will doom me or save me. “It belongs to my sister.”
Omorose gasps.
The gun pointed at me drops an inch, but doesn’t fall away completely.
She’s torn, teetering on the edge, a mirror image of the emotions that have been at war in my own heart.
“When you used your magic to wake me from my healing sleep, I felt it then. It’s why I didn’t try to save your life. It’s why I was in such a rush to leave. I thought your death had freed her, until you told me the magic went to an heir on the other side of the world. Without the blood oath, I probably would’ve killed Ella the second I saw her, but with it, I was forced to help her, to live with her, to travel with her. And in that time, against anything I ever could’ve imagined, I came to love her. I tried to kill your sister to save mine, but I failed. And if I tried again, I’d keep failing. I don’t know if that makes me weak or strong, brave or a coward, but I do know it’s the truth. Not only can’t I kill her, but I won’t. You have my word. If you want it, you can have my oath too.”
Omorose doesn’t move.
I’m not even sure she breathes.
She’s frozen with indecision—I know the feeling well.
“Do you—” She breaks off, squeezing her eyes shut and scrunching her face tight, fighting the words even as she speaks them. “Do you know how to break her curse? Is there any way to free her magic besides death?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. I never looked for another way. I was too blinded by hate and grief and pain to even try. The precipice was too wide to cross. But what would’ve happened if I’d told Omorose the truth right from the beginning? If I’d tried to work with her instead of against her? She wants to save her sister. I yearn to save mine. Our goals aren’t that different, not really.
I take a cautious step forward.
The gun hitches but Omorose doesn’t shoot.
I take another step, and another, until I’m close enough to wrap my fingers around the gun and push it to the side, so it’s aimed at the wall instead of me. Her pulse pounds beneath her skin, matching the racing beat of my heart. I hold on to that, choosing to see the hope in our similarities rather than the fear in our differences.
“Maybe, just maybe, we can figure it out together.”
Omorose takes my hand and leads me through the halls, pulling a hood down low around her face to keep the firelight from revealing her features. When we hear the rumble of voices, Jade peels off in the opposite direction, trying to cover her tracks. The humans here think Jade and Asher, and even Omorose, all fight to defeat magic. Their lives would be in danger if anyone discovered they helped me escape. I’m not sure if my life is worth the risks they all took to save me, but a flame sparks deep in my chest, burning with the will to prove differently.
By the time we get outside, I’m gasping for air. My thighs burn from running. My shoulder aches from my wound. I’m light-headed and weak from my days spent unconscious. I’m not sure how much longer I can go on, but I force myself forward, putting one foot in front of the other and refusing to give in to the pain. I won’t stop now. I draw the Mother into my lungs with each ragged breath, praying for her strength and perseverance to guide me forward. Just when I’m about ready to collapse, a hulking figure appears in the shadows, silhouetted by moonlight.
Chasing Midnight - A Cinderella Retelling (Once Upon a Curse Book 3) Page 19
