“‘Bout time!” growled Wormwart, appearing from behind a tree as what was left of their party descended upon the chimera. “Fer a while, I thought yeh stinking humans were gonna leave the tough part to us magical creatures!”
She had never wanted to kiss Wormwart, but she certainly did now. But she refrained, thinking he might gut her. Instead, she smiled at him and nodded in thanks.
About that time, strong drafts ripped toward them and they whirled; the chimera had taken flight. They watched it soar above them, swifter than she would have given its bulky body credit for. It arced through the chamber, diving for them.
“Spread out!” Caspar yelled, and they scattered as the chimera drew closer.
A wild idea sprang to her mind. She began waving her arms in the air, screaming, “Over here!”
The chimera took notice and adjusted its course for her.
Caspar looked at her in horror. “Snow! What are you doing?”
She stood rooted to the spot, face hard as stone, ready to spring into action. Never once did her eyes leave the chimera.
“Taming the beast,” she said fiercely.
The lion roared, claws extended and aimed for her throat. At the last second, she moved to the side, grabbed a fistful of its mane, and swung onto its back, right in front of the dragon’s head.
Below her, Wormwart, the men, centaurs, and Fey whooped while Caspar screamed obscenities at her recklessness, but she was too focused on trying to stay mounted to hear much of what they said. The lion shook its head, thrashing around in an attempt to buck her off, but she held steadfast. The dragon growled, twisting its neck around and opening its mouth as fire built in its throat. Gasping, Natalia had just enough time to throw up a hand as the dragon breathed fire at her. She braced herself, prepared to be boiled alive, but the scorching fire never came. When she opened her eyes, she had to blink at the shield of blinding red light hovering in the air in front of her hand, which was glowing red. The shield absorbed the fire, growing brighter as it drank the dragon’s flames until the column of fire ceased. The dragon roared at her with fury.
She didn’t need to think about it; her body somehow knew what to do. Visualizing the weapon in her mind, she pulled magical energy from the chimera, its essence laced in dark power. The magic shifted and changed into something purer, coming together in strings of light that morphed from deep purple to red, forming a dagger of light in her hand. The hilt took physical shape and she grasped it, infusing the blade with as much power as she could afford to lose. The dragon again opened its mouth, preparing to breathe fire, and she took the opportunity to pitch the dagger straight down its throat, watching as it melted in the flames. The dragon snapped its jaws shut, its fiery gaze alight with confusion and then fear, as an orb of red light ignited in its throat. Its scales glowed brighter and brighter, and she tightened her grip on the lion’s mane.
The dragon managed to release one strangled cry before its neck literally exploded in fragments of red crystal, sending sparks and slivers of magic flying. The lion was jolted from its trajectory and it veered to the side. The movement was too sudden and she was flung over its side, holding on by one hand. She grappled with the lion as it careened toward the ground, spinning out of control.
“Let go!” Caspar screamed, running parallel below her. “Snow, let go now!”
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and released her hold, falling toward the earth. Air streaked past her ears, making them pop, right before the drop suddenly stopped as two strong arms caught her, one beneath her knees and the other behind her back.
Breathless, she opened her eyes to find Caspar smiling at her. He was panting, breathing so heavily she might have thought he had been the one riding the chimera.
“You’re mad,” he said softly. “You know that?”
She swallowed, trying to return moisture to her parched throat. “Well, look at the company I keep. Carnivorous dwarves and Elyon princes.”
“You’re right. You’re ruined for life.”
Crash!
He set her down and they looked on as the chimera – or what was left of it – skidded along the floor, knocking aside several trees before coming to a stop in a cloud of dirt. Natalia and the others wafted away the dust, tentatively stepping forward, hands on their weapons. The beast lay still, and for a fraction of a second, she allowed herself a brief moment of hope.
It’s done, she thought, still riding her adrenaline high. I actually did it.
The lion’s head twitched and they all snapped to attention as the chimera slowly found its footing, rising as the bloody stumps at its tail and back stretched and shimmered.
Caspar blanched. “This doesn’t look promising.”
There was a tearing sound as the stumps ruptured, revealing two snake heads and two dragon heads that coiled around and locked their glittering black gazes on them.
Natalia’s breath hitched, and the air in front of her went up in flames. Goldentongue screamed, flailing about as he tried to put out the fire on his hat and tunic. Leaf and Wormwart rushed to help him while Caspar and the others ran forward, slashing and hacking at the chimera.
She wanted to kick something. Well, Snow, a lot of good that little stunt did us!
Anger coursed through her, so palpable she could taste its bitterness on her tongue. There had to be a way to defeat this monster. Its heart perhaps? Did it even have one, or had the Queen taken those too, as she had once tried to take hers?
A loud grating sound rumbled over the cacophony of battle, and she glanced over her shoulder. The doors – their only chance of escaping – were closing.
“Caspar!” she yelled, pointing.
He immediately looked up and his eyes widened. “Go now, before it’s too late!”
She gaped at him. “What about you and the others?”
“Don’t waste your worries on us, gurl!” Wormwart hissed. “Dwarves have been around for countless centuries because we’re mighty warriors. No need to fear for our sakes.”
“We’ll hold it off while you run,” Caspar called back, diving out of the way as one of the snake heads snapped at him. He brought his sword down hard on top of its head, splitting it open in a bloody gash.
She faltered, glancing back at the shrinking exit. “But I can’t –”
Caspar kicked the snake in the eye, followed by a punch to its snout. It hissed and reared, shaking its head to clear its vision as blood from the wound drained into its eyes. “You must!” In that moment, his eyes met hers and nothing else mattered. Not the Queen, not the chimera, not any of it. All that was dear and true to her stood a few feet away, gazing at her with fire burning behind his eyes.
She held her breath, taking a step back then another. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life. “I won’t let you down,” she said, voice thick with emotion. “I swear it.”
Then she ran, forcing herself not to look back as the chimera’s shrieks mixed with the shouts of her comrades.
“Run, Snow!” Caspar yelled. “Kill the Queen and take back what is yours!”
His voice fueled her, setting her pace ablaze as she raced for the shrinking rectangle of light. Pushing herself, she dived through the opening, and the great marble doors closed with a resolute boom.
She lay on the floor, panting and trying to force her erratic thoughts into order. It hurt. It hurt so much to think about what was happening behind her, to think she had deserted them, but she knew she couldn’t afford to dwell on Caspar and the others. She would simply have to hope for the best, say a prayer, and focus on the task at hand.
“The Queen,” she breathed, pushing herself to her feet. Her muscles burned from all the battles and from running, but she felt alive, powerful.
You can do this, she told herself, trembling. You can take down the Queen.
She looked around the room. It was small and circular, with blood-red tiles and mirrors lining the walls from floor to ceiling. Black iron chandeliers lit with dripping red candl
es hung from the ceiling, which was so dark she couldn’t tell exactly how the chandeliers were attached. They could have been suspended by magic for all she knew. Nothing much would surprise her anymore.
As far as she could tell, there were no exits. She turned around, eyeing each mirror. One of them had to lead out of here – a secret door, maybe – if only she could figure out which one.
A chilled draft blew at her back, lifting her hair and whispering her name in a tiny, familiar voice.
“Tali…”
Gasping, she whirled around so fast she almost lost her balance.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rose Red
Rose stood in front of a mirror, the toes of her red boots dragging the ground, her body suspended by some unseen force. Her head sat at a crooked angle to her shoulders, and her face was completely lax, her vivid green eyes empty as they stared straight through Natalia. She truly did look like a porcelain doll, with her flame-colored hair pulled back by a red ribbon, the same color as the short, lacey dress she wore.
Every tendon and muscle inside Natalia coiled and her breath came in a shaky half sob.
“Rose?” she croaked.
Silence.
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.
The battle call of her drumming heart was too loud, threatening to split her temples. Every buried fear about her sister began resurfacing. She knew the possibilities when she left Rose behind. Now she knew without a doubt that she was nowhere near prepared to face them.
Swallowing hard, she dared not blink for fear her sister would disappear. Tears stung her eyes, in part from lack of blinking and partially from the rising lava of regret, guilt, and love that threatened to erupt at any moment.
In a flash of green, Rose’s eyes snapped onto her. Natalia felt the air around her body pull away, sucking outward, right before Rose vanished then reappeared, eye level and only a few inches away. Her face was no longer angelic; her button nose and round cheeks were twisted and sunken, no longer the face of a young girl but that of a gargoyle, demonic and vengeful.
“I’ve been waiting for you… Snow.”
Ice shards stabbed through Natalia’s heart. That was not her baby sister speaking. It was a deep voice, grating like nails on glass against her brain and dripping black with malice and anger.
“Nefrim,” she whispered.
Via’s ghostly voice drifted through her mind. “A Host is a carrier of Dark Magic, someone who’s been so consumed by it that they become its living incarnate.”
In a tiny gesture, Natalia shook her head. “No, Rose. You have to fight –”
The words were knocked from her mouth as Rose reached one shriveled hand up, clamping down on her arm with long black claws, and hurled her across the room. Natalia’s back slammed into a mirror so forcefully it shattered and she fell to the ground, landing hard on her side.
A flash of red lace appeared at the corner of her eye right before Rose seized her once again, this time by the shoulders, and catapulted her toward another mirror. Her body hit harder, so much she was half-surprised she hadn’t gone straight through the wall.
Glass fell around her as fire scorched her skin, eating at her strength while he struggled to regain her footing. Rose’s demonic laughter hissed and twisted throughout the chamber. Natalia coughed, wiping blood away on the back of her hand.
Her limbs shook from fear, a cold, paralyzing thing that wrapped its slimy, serpentine body around her rational thoughts, choking them until she could hardly think.
“Look what you’ve done to your sister,” Nefrim said through Rose’s mouth.
Suddenly, Natalia fell backward, banging her head on the glass as Rose slammed her against the mirror wall. Pressure built in her throat as she gasped for air but found none, her windpipe slowly crushing under Rose’s tightening grasp. For all her small frame, Rose lifted her into the air as easily as if she were grasping a doll.
Natalia kicked, prying at her sister’s marble fingers. “Rose,” she choked out, “if you can… hear me… please… stop. This… isn’t you.”
Rose’s eyes turned deep green, almost black, narrowing until they were thin slits cut into her face. “It is me, sister. I finally have what has been denied me – power.”
Natalia’s lungs began to ache as they starved for air. If she didn’t act, Rose was going to kill her.
She studied her, this monster that wore her sister’s body. Her vision blurred, and at first, she thought she had imagined the thin strips of red hanging in the air. She blinked, and the threads crisscrossing through the chamber became more vivid, running into one of the mirrors on the opposite side of the room. She focused on them, desperate now to stay awake.
“Show… me,” she commanded, sending out a scattering of red energy from her palms.
The threads took physical form as the magic dust stuck to them, brightening under the chandeliers’ light until their bloody trail was crystal clear. Long, thin strands wrapped around her sister’s limbs; her ankles, her wrists, her neck. Rose was a marionette under the direction of a twisted puppeteer.
“Tali, help me!”
Rose’s voice rang loud in her head, desperate and terrified. Though it felt strange to do so, she mentally replied, “Rose, where are you?”
“Trapped… dark… I’m so cold…”
Black hands stretched across Natalia’s mind, grasping at her consciousness and threatening to pull her under. She grunted, fighting to stay awake. “It’s all right, Rose. Don’t worry. I’ll think of a way to –”
The thought abruptly ended as her chin sank to her chest, her body no longer able to support the weight of conscious thoughts without oxygen to fuel her mind.
***
Natalia “woke up” in pure darkness. The air was strange, like it was breathing. It stirred, as if detecting her, and she sensed its growing agitation at her presence.
Could this be the Queen’s Dark Magic?
Rising to her feet, she tried to make sense of where she was. Somehow, she knew it was never-ending, a void of abysmal thoughts and cruel whims. When she took a step, she literally floated, taking to the air as easily as a bird. The odd air slithered over her skin, sprouting gooseflesh along her arms and neck. From the corners of her eyes, she saw flashes of tentacles and bat wings. Things slithered in the muck below, setting her nerves on edge.
She had been somewhere similar once before, right before Caspar had pulled her out. But unlike that peaceful nothingness, she had no desire to remain here forever. Though she didn’t know how, she knew it was a place things were sent to when someone wanted them to be forgotten.
She sailed slowly, casting wary glances over her shoulder, afraid a monster would reach out of the darkness and eat her, though to think so made her feel childish.
Wetting her lips, she called, “Hello?”
That lonely word echoed around her, everywhere and nowhere at once. No one answered, making her both frightened and relieved because it meant nothing was coming to harm her, but at the same time, no one could hear her.
“You’re in the Nether,” a light voice said.
Natalia’s heart stuttered at the girl’s voice. She drew to an abrupt stop, spinning around. “Via!”
Via stood there – or rather floated – a soft white glow illuminating her figure. She smiled sadly. “It’s good to see you again, Natalia,” she said softly.
Natalia floated toward her and wrapped her up in a swift hug. “I’m so glad to see you. I thought we had lost you forever.”
Something flashed across Via’s crystalline blue eyes and her smile faltered.
Natalia froze, studying her. “What is it, Via? What’s wrong?”
Via swallowed, her face growing fearful. “We are lost, Natalia,” she whispered. “This is the Nether, the home of lost souls.”
“The Nether,” Natalia murmured. “Are you saying…?” She hesitated, not wanting to say the next words aloud. She didn’t even really want to think them. “Are you saying I’m dead?”
> Via shook her head. “Not truly dead. Your body is still alive, though you are not in it. You’ve been separated.”
“Separated? How?”
“When you began dying, Nefrim must have ripped your soul out and placed it here for safe keeping. That’s how he claims Hosts, by ‘emptying’ them so he can take possession of the body.”
Natalia’s heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. “Is Rose here?”
“Yes,” Via said, smiling softly. “I’ll take you to her. But first, there is something I want to show you.”
“No!” Natalia shook her head. “There’s no time. It might already be too late to save Rose. You must take me to her, now.”
“Be still, Natalia,” Via said calmly. “You haven’t lost anything. Time moves differently here. Practically nothing has happened in the mortal realm since you came to the Nether.”
She blinked. “You mean time is frozen there?”
“It might as well be.”
Natalia’s fear abated somewhat, though Rose still lurked at the forefront of her thoughts. “You said you had something to show me?”
She turned her back from Natalia, wringing her hands in her white dress. Strange brown splotches dotted the dress in patches along her back. “I’ve hesitated to show you this because I don’t want you to think any less of me,” Via said, her voice tiny.
Natalia froze. Via sounded so heartbreakingly vulnerable, her words like a plea. “How could I think any differently of you? You are my friend. You’ve saved me countless times, and without you, I know I would not have made it nearly this far.”
When Via turned around her eyes were shining. “Please promise me you’ll remember that after you’ve seen the colors of my soul.”
Natalia looked her dead in the eyes, uncomfortable at seeing Via – strong, steadfast Via – in this breakable state. “I promise.”
Via nodded, her lip trembling. “Give me your hand,” she said, reaching out.
Natalia looked down at her open palm and slowly placed her hand in Via’s. The moment Via’s fingers closed around her hand, a flash of white light blew up around them. When it died away, they were in different surroundings. A cottage stood before them, with a barn off to the side and a familiar well in the front yard.
A White So Red Page 33
