Breaking Bloody Mary

by Stephanie Nichole

  I manage to get to my knees while my lungs are begging for the air that has been knocked out of them. I see her moving toward me. Her deep red clothing looking as black as the sky above as she approaches me in the thick fog. The blood red stone hanging around her neck glowing like a beacon of power. Between the fog and my poor vision, I have a hard time of making out anything else. Once she reaches me she pulls my head back to look up at her by the root of the hair.

  Now, that she’s closer I can see that her hair is almost completely gray. “You have cost me too much!”

  Cordelia pulls me up until I’m standing, and my body is screaming in resistance. Cordelia flicks her hand and slams me into the tree. I let out a growl as my air is once again knocked out of me. I wheeze against the power she is using to hold me in place. She steps closer to me and that’s her mistake. I reach forward and lock my hand around the blood red stone and yank it from her neck. She stumbles back while I fall to the ground, the stone still in my hand. Cordelia grabbles at her neck and stares at me in horror. I feel myself smirk at her in reply. I think I just took her power.

  Chapter 29

  Penn

  I grasp the stone in my hand as if it’s a life line and I guess in some senses it might be. Cordelia’s aging seems to be speeding up in front of my eyes. Bloody Mary and an elderly man land just to the left of me. I look at them. The elderly man gives me a small smile. “Don’t worry she’s with us,” he tells me, and I recognize his voice.

  “Oski?”

  He nods slowly. “Yes.” He turns to face Cordelia. “It seems everything is catching up with you finally.”

  “You!” Cordelia screams into the night. “Marina! Kill him now.”

  I hold my breath to see if Bloody Mary will obey her request, but she makes no move toward Oski. She simply shakes her head. “You seem to forget that she does not bend to command anymore. You no longer hold the stone that controls her. Penn does,” Oski tells her.

  “If I destroy this, will it free Mary?” I ask him. Oski nods. “Do you know how?” Again, Oski nods in response. I get to my feet and toss the blood colored stone to him.

  “No!” Cordelia screams. She gets to her feet and charges after me. She still has more strength than you would expect. Cordelia knocks me into a tree as her hands wrap around my throat. I could beat her off me easily enough but then I see her. Her wild blonde curls are bouncing as she jogs toward me. Danny is beside her to make sure she keeps her balance. In the midst of her rage Cordelia doesn’t hear Olivette behind her.

  I watch as Olivette pulls a knife from behind her back and drives it into Cordelia’s back. Cordelia gasps and I watch as her skin begins to darken. She steps away from me, trying to clutch the knife protruding from her back. Olivette stumbles toward me and catch her in my arms, pulling her tightly against me. I bury my face into the top of her head, allowing her wild curls to tickle my nose. We did it, I think to myself. I can’t help but smile. I never thought we’d actually make it, but we did.

  “Trading one evil for another won’t save her!” Cordelia screams out as she collapses on the ground in a heap of red and black. Her skin is bubbled with welts and burned black as if she was burned by fire. Olivette pulls back and looks up at me. Her eyes full of concern and worry. I carefully trace the gash on her head and she winces. She’s going to need stitches.

  “We did it,” Danny says quietly.

  “Or so it would seem,” Oski says. We all watch as he swings his head to Mary and tells her, “Kill him.” That’s when I notice that he’s still holding Cordelia’s necklace. He’s in control of Bloody Mary.

  Bloody Mary begins to move toward Danny. Olivette darts in front of him. “Stop Mary! You have to fight this. Danny doesn’t deserve this. Fight it Mary!”

  Mary stops moving toward them, but you can tell she’s trying to fight the magic that binds her to kill. She begins to scream as she fights against it. I look back toward Oski and see a sinister smile on his face. Her dark eyes now look evil. What happened to the man I thought he was?

  “Why Oski?”

  He looks at me and cocks his head to the side with a condescending smile. “I was the black sheep of my family. My parents loved and adored Cordelia and Charity. I was ignored and treated as if I didn’t matter. So, when Lash showed up I saw my opportunity. I could see that both of my sisters loved him, so my plan was easy enough. I sent notes to Lash from my sisters and vice versa. Then he fell in love with Charity. When they announced their intention to be married Cordelia lost it! It was better than anything I could have planned. She killed Charity right there at the dinner table. Perfect little Cordelia wasn’t so perfect after all,” he releases a laugh that makes my skin crawl.

  “So, this was your plan all along?” I ask him.

  He shrugs. “It was. The moment I saw Olivette I knew a part of her was Elizabeth. Luckily, I had done enough research to know how to use that to my advantage. When Trivitt’s parents renovated their kitchen, I replaced the mirror in the bathroom with the one Mary had been trapped in. I knew it was just a matter of time before someone tried to summon her. It just happened sooner than I expected.”

  “You had immortality so why go to this extent?”

  “I had immortality because of her!” he screams while pointing to Cordelia’s body. “I was tired of being linked to her. She only linked us because it was her only option. It was because she loved me or wanted to spend time with me. I searched and searched for her and could never locate her until Bloody Mary was released. She got what she deserved and now I’m going to get what I deserve. I will control Bloody Mary! I will own her! I will have my own immortality.” Olivette screams from behind me and I see Mary circling Olivette and Danny. She’s preparing for the kill, like a hunter circling their prey. “I’m sorry Penn. I never wanted you to be involved in any of this. You I liked but now you will have to join them. Kill them all!” he screams out at Mary.

  She lunges forward, trying to get a hold of Olivette or Danny. They split, each going in a different direction. Oski is watching the action so I lunge forward knocking him to the ground. I’m trying to grab the necklace, but I can’t get a hold of it. I hear Olivette scream and make the mistake of looking back at her. Danny is lying lifeless on the ground and Mary is moving towards Olivette in a rapid pace. That’s when I feel the burn. The burning starts right under my rib cage and moves out. I stumble back and see blood pouring out of the cut. I clutch my side and move back away from Oski. We didn’t win. We didn’t win this at all.

  Chapter 30

  Olivette

  Everything in my entire world just flipped upside down. Oski isn’t with us, he was never with us. He used us to help him gain control over Bloody Mary. That’s why he suddenly found a way to summon Mary. I want to cry but I don’t have time for that. Oski just used Bloody Mary against us. Danny tells me to run the opposite direction of him, so I did but she followed me. I wasn’t able to keep my pace with my head dizzy and pounding. I fell but continued to try and crawl away from her. Danny tried to come to my rescue, but it got him killed. I stare at his body lying on the ground. He hadn’t seen it coming.

  He had ran over to help me up when she killed him from the back. Mary had taken her razor like nails and stabbed him with all ten fingers then drug them down his back. I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t save him. I could only watch in horror. I was rendered useless. Unable to look at Danny’s dead body anymore I advert my eyes. Unfortunately, the sight they land on is no better than the one I’m trying to avoid.

  Penn is stumbling back, blood streaming through his fingers as he clutches his side. Oski is getting to his feet. Cordelia’s necklace is hanging from one hand and the knife used to stab Penn is in the other. I don’t know what comes over me, but I get up and run. I run like I’ve never ran before. My head protests but I push through it because Penn needs me. I couldn’t save Danny, but I will save Penn. I reach out once I’m close enough. My hand closes around the necklace and I yank it free before I fall to the
ground.

  Everything seems to slow down in that moment. I can hear Penn trying to move as the leaves rustle from his direction. Oski is glaring at me as he makes a decision for his next move. Mary stops moving altogether and stares at me, waiting for my command. My eyes dart to each of them. “Mary, take Penn to the others,” I tell her.

  “Olivette, no!” Penn shouts at me but I’ve already given the command. Mary moves towards him. I have a plan. I doubt I’ll make it out of this alive but I’m going with it anyways. Once I’m sure Mary has had enough time to get Penn to the others I will smash the necklace and free her. My only hope after that is to get the knife away from Oski before he kills me with it. That’s the only part of the plan that I’m unsure about.

  I look back at Penn once more before Mary takes him. One moment they’re there and the next they’re gone. I didn’t even get to say goodbye and I feel a lump form in my throat. I’m so distracted that when Oski charges me I’m caught completely off guard. The necklace flies out of my hand. Luckily, he loses the knife too. I’m trying to grab the knife when he manages to get his hands on my shoulders.

  He pulls me up off the ground slightly before slamming me back into it. My entire body jars from the impact and a scream escapes me before I can stop it. A satisfied smile comes over his face. He continues to slam me back into the ground. My body is screaming in protest, my head feels like it’s going to split into two. I’m seeing stars in front of my eyes. Of all the ways I saw this ending this was not it.

  Out of nowhere blood splatters over my body. It clings to my face and clothes. I can see it stuck to my eyelashes. Oski eyes go wide and his mouth falls open, but he never makes a sound. When I look down I see a tree branch sticking out from the middle of his chest. His body falls to the side of me and when I look up I see Mary hovering just above the ground. I wipe at my face with my hands to remove the blood but all I manage to do is smear it. The smell of blood and dirt fills my nostrils. It’s a sickening smell so I decide to breathe through my mouth. I look up at Mary as I sit up, giving her a small smile. “Thanks.”

  She nods then moves away from me. I glance back and see her staring down at the necklace. I crawl over to where she is. I pick up the necklace. “Find me a rock,” I tell her. I watch her disappear. While I wait for her to return the chill from the stone fills my body. I can’t get rid of this awful thing fast enough. Mary reappears with a rock that she hands to me. I lay the necklace on the ground. I raise my arms above my head and bring the rock down on top of the necklace with every ounce of strength I have. I hear the crack of the necklace before the entire wooded area lights up red and a boom of thunder deafens me. I stumble back as a forceful wind blows through the forest. The sky lights up once again with red lightning and Mary’s scream can be heard over everything. I cover my ears with my hands and squeeze my eyes shut but I can still see the red flashing behind my eyelids.

  Suddenly, everything falls completely still. I open my eyes first and see that everything seems back to normal. My hands fall away from my ears and I survey the area around me. Cordelia and Oski’s bodies are missing. Mary is lying on the ground. I crawl over to her. She’s smeared in blood and dirt but she’s breathing. She’s alive and she’s finally free.

  We did it after all.

  Epilogue

  A few months later

  Olivette

  It’s warm and the smell of cinnamon and coffee fills my nose. I breathe deeply. This is one of my favorite smells in the world anymore. I take comfort in the smallest things now. After what I survived it’s the last I can do. None of us will ever be the same after what we went through, but we are moving forward.

  Mary is now Marly Meyers. She wanted nothing to do with the name Mary anymore. To her it was evil and vile. I can’t say that I blame her for feeling that way. She moved into the Conjurer’s Apothecary. It’s now The Book Nook. Luckily, Bannen and his genius brain were able to create all the documents we needed for her. She and I spend at least one day a weekend together.

  Normally, it’s on Saturday because Penn started teaching a boxing class then. We ride over together. Speaking of Penn, I feel a set of arms wrap around my shoulders before he kisses my cheek. He smells like his soap. “It’s bitterly cold out there but it overly warm in here,” he says as he pulls his hoodie off. His shirt rises up, exposing the scar that Oski left on him. Every time I see the scar it sends a cold chill over my body.

  We thought we knew Oski. We thought he was on our side, but he wasn’t. It feels odd when I admit that because in my mind he’ll always be the shopkeeper. The kind of creepy guy that told us scary stories. He was our friend. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around seeing him in his true colors.

  Penn catches me staring at the scar. He slips a finger under my chin and tilts my head up and gives me the look. You know the one your boyfriend gives you when you make him feel less. I don’t mean to give Penn that look but the thought of what could have happened that night scares me. Bannen had come back for me after he had dropped Trivitt, Penn and Chasity at the hospital.

  He helped me get Marly to the Jeep. Once we were headed for the hospital we came up with the story. The cops already thought we had a serial killer on the loose, so we went along with it. We gave them Oski’s description and told them the last time we had seen him he was running through the woods after stabbing Penn. The police bought it and to this day there are wanted posters of him hanging around town.

  When my parents showed up at the hospital afraid and in tears, I knew I had to be honest with them. I told them I was quitting cheerleading. It took my mom some time to wrap her head around and accept but she’s gotten there. Penn and I both enrolled in early college classes online to keep my parents happy. Once I was released I slept in Penn’s room until he woke up. He didn’t need surgery, just a blood transfusion and a lot of stitches.

  He woke up the next day and I was so happy I cried. Scratch that, I bawled like a baby. Penn managed to get me calmed down then he kissed me. I guess he figured he needed to strike while he had the chance because it was a messy, tear filled kiss in the most unromantic place in the world, but I wouldn’t trade it. It was perfect for us.

  Chasity was released the same night with a sprained ankle and bruised face. Shortly, after she started dating Bannen. I had laughed when she first told me but now it all makes sense. They work well together, and he treats her great.

  Trivitt got it the worst of us. He had severe internal bleeding. He stayed in a coma for a few days but luckily, he came around. Triv is back to being the town’s golden boy and star of the football team with his new girlfriend, Christina. I guess they found comfort in each other.

  Penn takes a seat beside me then starts distributing the food he brought with him. “You look lost in thought babe.”

  I lay my head back to rest on his arm. “I get lost in there often it seems.”

  Penn plays with my hair. “We’ll get there. It’s just going to take some time. I mean what we all went through, well it’s not normal so who knows how much time. I promise you one thing though.”

  “What’s that?” I ask him.

  “I’ll be right here with you,” he tells me with a smile.

  I lean in and kiss him just as Marly is coming into the room. “Ugh! Get a room you two,” she teases.

  I pull away with a giggle. “Sorry Mar.”

  There’s a knock on the front door. Penn says he’ll get it. I watch as he leaves then turn my gaze to Marly. She’s come a long way in a few months. She cut her hair up to her shoulders and added some bangs. The hair was easy, but the rest wasn’t. Getting her used to the style of clothes we wear now days and makeup was a job in itself. Also, teaching her how to speak like she’s from this era was difficult. She still speaks different sometimes but she’s getting there.

  Penn reappears in the doorway with Bannen and Chasity behind him. A flickering light catches my attention and I see Bannen carrying a cake with a candle on it. Penn smiles at me when I
give him a questioning look. “Technically, today is your birthday and we thought you should celebrate it.”

  Marly’s eyes fill with tears as do mine. These three are amazing. We all begin to sing happy birthday to Marly. Penn takes his seat next to me again. I lean in. “Thank you,” I whisper into his ear. He winks at me. Once the song is over I clap. “Make a wish Marly!” I tell her excitedly.

  Marly looks around the room and smiles. “For what? I already have everything I want.”

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication:

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue