“Look inside, my sweet Sophie.” My father’s eyes danced with love.
I gasped when I saw a perfect ballerina spinning in the box. It was like magic. I glanced up at my father. “How did you do that? Where did the ballerina come from?”
My father stroked my cheek. The ballerina figurine twirled around and around, wearing a beautiful pink leotard with a white tulle skirt. Her dainty slippers fluttered while her arms swirled above her head like a swan.
“When the box door closes, she enfolds. Then when you open the box back up, she pops out again,” my father explained.
My eyes filled with tears of joy. It was the best gift I had ever received. “It’s so beautiful. Thank you, Daddy, I love it.”
“A beautiful gift for my beautiful, sweet Sophie,” my father said and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. He patted my back with fatherly affection.
I savored his embrace. I clung to that feeling of security.
The warmth of a father’s love could never be replaced or replicated. I nestled myself in his arms and listened to the tinkling hum of the ballerina’s song as she spun around and around in my jewelry box.
And then it was over.
Like a fog lifting, or a memory fading into smoke behind the window of my soul, my father vanished into thin air.
I gasped for air. I clutched my throat and my eyes bolted open. My hands flailed in front of me as if I were still trying to grasp onto his shirt and hold tight to something that was no longer there, and in this present hell, never had been.
It had only been a dream. I felt crestfallen and heartbroken.
I glanced around the room. I was still in my cell, sleeping in a ball on my tiny mattress that was so thin that I woke up every day with a backache.
I shivered as a chill swept through the room. My arms and legs prickled with goose bumps.
Then, a deafening explosion erupted through my ear drums and rattled through my bones. I heard a bone-tingling shattering sound. I stood up in a hurry and instinctively backed myself into a corner.
My breath came in panicked, quickened gulps, heaving my chest up and down. My shoulders were rising and falling in violent movements. My heart drummed in my chest. I was suddenly sweating with anxiety.
“What…is happening?” I called out as another explosion shook the dungeon.
My eyes darted left and right as paranoia swam in my brain, drowning my thoughts with a fresh batch of hysteria.
A crashing sound thundered overhead. I screamed out, instinctively. I didn’t recognize the sound of my own voice as the cry for help escaped my lungs and burst off my tongue.
I clutched the sides of my head, forming a protective barrier to shield myself. I rushed up to the door of my cell.
“Help!” I shouted. “Somebody, please! Help me!” I was manic.
I craned my neck to get a better view of the shadow-shrouded hallway. I saw the occasional arms flailing from various other cells belonging to fellow captives.
“What’s happening?” I asked, calling out into the darkness and praying for a light to illuminate this living nightmare.
I banged on the door to my cell. “Let me out!”
I winced in pain and reeled back as my body reminded me that I was still bruised and sore from the abuse that I’d endured from Thom a couple of nights before, after the Master Ceremony.
Of course, that was really nothing new, but in this dire time of survival, it wasn’t convenient to be injured.
Panic continued to make me feel like I was drowning. My throat felt like it was swelling closed and I knew I was having a borderline panic attack. I hurtled myself back towards the door, ignoring the pain and the black and blue bruises that dotted across my arms and legs.
Chunks of the ceiling began to fall and crumble to the ground beneath my feet. I watched the faces of fellow prisoners as their eyes widened in horror and fear. They were just as clueless about the situation as I was.
It was like going from zero to one hundred and eighty in a split second. Only a few minutes before, I had been enveloped in a glorious dream where my father’s arms protectively snaked around me and I had no cares in the world.
I squeezed my eyes shut and wished that I could go back to that simple time, but there was no way to rewind the clock. The wonderful memories I had with my parents were frozen in time and there was no way to bring them back to life. They dwelled in my heart and were unearthed on occasion, but even that was both too often and not enough. It was a painful paradox.
I yelled out again and ducked as another concrete piece of the ceiling fell to the ground and shattered right beside me. I had gotten out of the way just in the nick of time.
The window above my bed exploded and tiny shards of glass rained through the air. I grabbed my head again and curled up into a little ball beside my cell door to prevent my face from being hammered by the broken window fragments.
I had no idea what had happened, but I knew that the castle was under some kind of attack. I didn’t want to die down here. I pushed myself back up into a standing position. I was determined to stay alive against the odds. I didn’t know if it was even worse upstairs, but I was willing to take my chances.
“Is anyone out there with a key?” I called out down the hallway. My voice was full of crippling despair.
“We are waiting for the guards,” another female shifter slave chimed back.
“If you think they are going to risk their own asses to come and save us, then you have another think coming,” a male slave responded.
My heartbeat pulsed noisily through my ears. I had never wanted to see a guard or Thom more in my life. For once, I actually wanted them to appear and rescue me.
I tried to use mind control to get them down here. It was a long shot, but it was better than nothing and I didn’t exactly have anything else to go on.
I thought the times when I started the fire and made the ropes fall off my arms. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to concentrate.
I pictured the lock to my cell door, vividly in my mind. I did my best to summon up the ability to unlock it, but no matter how hard I pushed myself, I wasn’t able to get it to unlatch. There was too much distracting chaos around me.
I banged on the cell door again and pushed my hands through the iron bars. “Hello!”
My voice echoed down the chambers. I trembled with fright. There was no way out, and the ceiling continued to cave in around us. Soon, there would be no way in or out. I tried not to despair, but it was a lost cause. I was in full panic mode.
Then suddenly out of nowhere, I heard the sound of muffled voices. There were still loud explosions taking place overhead. Was I just hearing things? Was it not really voices but the walls crumbling around me instead?
I heard several guards yelling. I knew I wasn’t imagining that. The sounds of their voices were raised with alarm and sheer terror. This realization sent my mind hurtling over the edge with dread.
Guards never got scared, of anything.
They were always calm and poised because that was how they were trained to be. They were burly and tough, and nothing stood in their way. But the wrath of fire and flame and explosion was a different story and was enough to send anyone, even the strongest of people, into a tailspin.
The concrete floor began to crack around me as if there was an earthquake rippling through the ground. I jumped out of the way as the crack spread like blood rushing through veins, holes spiderwebbing across the floor.
“I’m in here,” I called out. I felt the veins in my neck bulge and I screamed so loudly that I knew I would be hoarse later, if I survived at all. “Please, unlock the door. I don’t want to die in here.”
I imagined freedom. I saw myself bursting down the hallways, darting away from the debris that continued to fly from the collapsing ceiling.
Soon, it would be too late for me. Time was running out. I didn’t want any of the other slaves down here to perish either, but unless I was unlocked soon, I was powerless
to do anything.
I glanced down the hallway again, hearing mass hysteria unfold around me. There were shouts, screams, and bangs. The ceiling was caving in, and so were my hopes of getting rescued. Dust plumed just outside of my cell door. I coughed and sputtered, waving my hand in front of my face to prevent myself from breathing it in.
That’s when I heard the sound of footsteps rushing down the hallway. It was too dusty and smoky for me to see more than a couple of inches in front of my face, but it sounded like the footsteps were hasty and nearing my cell door.
“Who is out there?” I clutched the bars of my cell door until my knuckles turned white. “Hello, can you come unlock me?”
There was no audible answer, but the footsteps were edging closer and closer. My nerves were fraying, but I held my breath, closed my eyes, and waited. If it was meant to be, I would survive.
Fate held the key.
13
Sophia
Silhouettes of men began hurtling closer to my cell door with the pounding footsteps drawing nearer.
“Unlock it. Unlock her cell door and let her out.”
I instantly recognized the sound of Thom’s voice ringing with terror through the chaos encircling us.
“I’m in here,” I called out so that they could find me better as they navigated through piles of concrete and stone rubble and a thick smog of dust and dirt that had caked in the air.
“Right here,” I shouted again as the figures of the men rushed closer. I banged my fists against the iron bars of my cell.
My heart pounded. I was so close to freedom, but what would happen once they unlocked my cell door? I knew I wasn’t entirely free, but at least I wouldn’t have to die in this dungeon once the fires spread and the walls collapsed completely.
One of the guards raced up to my cell, the first to arrive from the cluster. He swooped the keys from his back pocket. With shaking hands, he dug the key into the lock and began frantically twisting it back and forth. In his panicked state of mind, his hands fumbled with the key ring and it fell with a clatter to the ground at his feet.
“Pick them up, you idiot,” Thom hissed, now standing behind the guard. “We are running out of time and I don’t want to die down here. We must take her with us.” Thom nudged his chin in my general direction, although he didn’t make eye contact with me.
I didn’t want to die down here either.
It might have been the only thing Thom and I agreed on. My heart stopped as I watched and waited with bated breath to see if the guard would be able to snatch the keys back up and get the job done in a hurry.
The burly guard with the stubby fingers stood up and began fumbling with the lock once again. I noticed in horror that his hands and fingers were wet with blood. I didn’t know whether it came from his own injuries or if it was someone else’s blood, but I didn’t have time to mull over the subject. It didn’t matter anymore anyway.
At this point, it was every man and woman for themselves.
The guard once again buried the key into the lock. This time, his scurried efforts were successful. I nearly cried with joy when the lock popped, and the door swung open with a creaky hitch.
“Thank goodness,” I mumbled under my breath.
I shimmied out of the cell door and Thom grabbed me by the arm. “Not so fast,” he growled. “I am saving you, but you are still mine.”
I had no choice to relent if I didn’t want to be crushed by the crumbling debris still shattering from the ceilings and falling below.
I nodded and let him take me by the hand as we continued to maneuver around the rubble. It wasn’t as if I had a choice in the matter anyway, but he was gripping me so forcefully that his fingernails began to embed a red indentation into my skin.
“This way,” he hissed as he held his free arm in front of his face protectively, the guards forming a barrier around us for added security.
“What happened?” I asked as we made a break for it down the hallway. “Who attacked the castle?”
I assumed it was an attack, although I couldn’t exactly be certain of that fact. Thom and his guards sure seemed blindsided. I’d never seen them appear so rattled before. They all wore stunned expressions on their faces and their eyes were bloodshot with fear.
I wasn’t really expecting an answer from Thom, but to my surprise he opened his mouth. Before he got a single word out, there was another bellowing boom as a thunderous crash erupted above our heads. Another explosion penetrated the walls of the castle and it shook on its hinges as if it were a dollhouse being smashed to bits.
I screamed, and my black wings instantaneously shrouded my body, preventing me from being impaled by any of the falling chunks of stone.
“What the fuck?” Thom roared and that was when I mustered the courage to lift my chin and peer out with my eyes half open to determine what was going on.
Thom was standing in front of me, looming there with a domineering expression on his face.
“I thought I told you not to summon those fucking wings of yours,” he shouted.
“I’m…sorry,” I muttered as I clambered back to a standing position. “I didn’t mean to do it. It was just a natural response to the explosion—”
“Well, get rid of them,” Thom interjected before I could finish. “I can’t reach through them to grab you.”
“I…what?” I asked and inspected my wings. Sure enough, I realized then that Thom was telling the truth.
From the inside, I touched the tip of my wing at the bottom. It had hardened on the surface as if I had my own armor wrapped around my body. It was a magnificent sight to witness. I lightly rapped my knuckles against the stiff exterior of my wings.
I stood there with my mouth agape as I realized that the dynamic of my wings had changed. As they were cloaked around me, I realized that I had a particular ability to harden them like a shell to protect myself. I knew I could use this to my advantage, especially if I was going to survive after this night.
“Shift back!” Thom yelled at me.
The veins in his neck bulged blue, protruding slightly. There was no doubt about it, he was as angry as the fires spreading around beloved castle. The flames of his fury licked and sprayed at me in the form of harsh words and a violent temper.
My wings vanished after that. I knew that it was time to get to a safer location, and I wouldn’t be able to rush along with my wings attached.
“Okay,” I nodded. “I’m ready to go.”
“You are damn right you’re ready, you stupid little bitch,” Thom grumbled under his breath and clutched me to his side once again. “I’m not dying for your silly little tricks.”
I noticed that a guard was smirking at me as if he were relishing in the fact that I was getting lectured by Thom. I had to bite my tongue to prevent my own rage about situation from spreading.
I had lived with Thom a long time. In some ways, that worked to my advantage because I knew what things set him off, and I also knew that sometimes saying nothing at all was the best way to get on his good side.
Thom was the type of man who needed constant attention and reassurance from all of his slaves and his guards as well. If the people in his life were not groveling at his feet or pleading for his mercy, then Thom felt out of his element and would do whatever he could to make sure the tables turned in his favor once again.
After Thom freed the slaves from their cells along the way, we trekked back up the stairs in a frenzy, a herd on the loose just trying to survive against the odds. He told the ones he favored most to come and follow us. The rest were on their own. I wasn’t sure whether to envy them or pity them.
Once we made it to the landing on the main floor, Thom yanked me towards the front foyer. “Come on,” he grumbled. “And try to keep up. There’s nothing to see here.”
Curiosity got the better of me as we raced for our lives towards the set of double doors leading to the world beyond the castle walls. My eyes darted around with dread as I observed the horror unfolding aro
und us.
There were a handful of guards on the floor. Some were dead already, while others were bleeding and writhing around in pain as they attempted to crawl or scrape their dragging bodies across the floor.
There were slaves who had shifted and were trying to escape in the best way they knew how. Their wings were spread in grandiose spans. I wished I could do the same, but if it happened again Thom would have my head on a stick.
“Just close your eyes,” he barked at me. “I have your hand. Just follow me and you will be safe.”
I had no choice but to believe him, and I was wondering where he came up with the spontaneous idea for me to close my eyes. It seemed like too gentle of a gesture for him to suggest. I wondered if it was a trap and whether he would lure me somewhere that he could inflict more harm and pain on me as soon as I closed my lids.
I was still trying to recover from how he had beaten and forced rough intercourse on me a few days ago, and I didn’t want to be on his bad side. Nor did I want to be set up, so I decided to narrow my eyelids into slits, so I was still able to see where we were going as we jogged along.
Thom’s guards rushed in front of me as we approached the set of double doors leading out of the castle.
“Move out of the way,” they told me in urgent, gruff voices.
I jumped away as they instructed and watched as they burst the doors open. Thom and I breezed through first. The chilly night air slammed into my face. I inhaled sharply before the cold took my breath away.
“Get in this carriage,” Thom ordered.
I glanced behind me, over my shoulder. I didn’t know why, but I felt wary about this.
“What are you doing, foolish girl?” Thom’s voice sounded exasperated. “Get in the fucking carriage now before I leave your ass behind.”
I stumbled into the carriage, wondering why we weren’t taking a car, because it would have been faster. At the same time, I saw other carriages leading away from the castle. Perhaps Thom’s heart wasn’t as black as I had assumed all these years. It appeared as if he was using the carriages as a method of removing his horses from the stables on the castle property in an effort to also lead them to safety.
Dark Swan Page 10
