by K.N. Lee
Her lungs screamed for air, and her skin tightened as the water grew colder and colder. She could hear nothing, and within seconds, she could see nothing.
He was right.
She was going to die.
This wasn’t how her day was supposed to go.
Her mind scrambled for a solution. She flailed and fought the walls of the orbs, but they did nothing but bend and bounce back at her.
Holy hell. It was all over. She swallowed water and sucked it in her nose.
She was drowning.
Then, she remembered something she’d learned in Coach Hook’s class.
Her mind raced, and she closed her eyes, creating a fist with her hands.
Think, bloody happy thoughts.
With that, her body illuminated from the inside out and as she opened her eyes, a sonic charge of electricity shot through the water and burst the orb.
Soaking wet, with electric charges racing up and down her arms and legs, she twitched and shivered as she stood there. For anyone else, it would have killed them. But, Hook had taught her something she never thought she’d use.
Bless him.
Thoroughly pissed off, she glared at the professor under dark hooded lashes.
“You really did try to kill me,” she hissed.
He clapped, still smiling. “Good job. One point for the lass.”
“Piss off,” she shouted, and charged at him.
He laughed like a madman, until she slid across the slick ground and knocked him from his feet by kicking them from under him. She stood and readied herself.
Professor Hatter didn’t expect her to use warrior tactics.
Chess had taught her well.
She kicked him again, this time across the jaw with her heeled boots, sending him spiraling onto the ground face first.
He cried out, and covered his jaw as blood gushed from an open wound. “Bloody hell,” he shouted, and threw another orb her way.
She dodged it and leaped back to her feet. With the clasping of both hands, she pulled forth more energy from her core and watched with disbelief as her hands started to glow and her feet left the floor.
“Impressive,” he said, watching as she lifted into the air. “Two points for the lass.”
A bit unsteady, she tried to right herself before he threw another orb.
Before she could, he sent wizard’s fire her way. This time, it lassoed her legs and yanked her from the air.
She yelped as the flames wrapped around her ankles and slammed her into the ground. Her head hit the floor, nearly knocking her out. She could hear bone crack and saw stars when she gained the fortitude to open her eyes.
Professor Hatter stood over her, holding onto the lasso of fire with one hand and a tea cup with the other.
Where the hell did he get a tea cup?
Beth began to doubt any of this was real as he took a sip and continued to watch her.
“I don’t have all day,” he said in between sips. You’d have thought they’d just been discussing the weather by how calm and collected he was.
Groggy, and groaning, she tried to stand, and he placed his foot on her chest. He tossed the tea cup and it crashed into several pieces on the floor behind him. The weight of his boot pressed to her chest made it hard to breathe.
Her head spun. So far, she’d been nearly drowned, burned, and almost lost consciousness. No, she couldn’t lose. She couldn’t die. She wiped blood from the back of her head and her eyes widened.
This wasn’t good.
Her kingdom needed her.
“Is any of this real?” Beth asked, totally spent.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Does it feel real enough for you yet?”
As the professor leaned down toward her she realized that her mother’s dreams were right. One of her daughters was about to lose her life.
She hated when her mother was right.
“Well, well, what are you going to do now?” Professor Hatter asked in a soft voice that would have been soothing if he hadn’t been trying to kill her.
She swallowed back what tasted like blood, and it sent a panic through her body like nothing she’d ever felt.
She was frightened. Utterly terrified.
“I’m too young to die,” she whimpered.
He tilted his head. “Then, do something about it.”
She felt something heat up her leg and peered down. The vial. She’d forgotten that she’d brought it along.
“Oh,” he said, lifting a brow. “What’s that you’ve got in your pocket? Anything you want to share, sweet Iracebeth?”
No use hiding it now. She pulled the vial from her pocket and held tight to it.
“Oh,” he said, again. “Very nice. Looks like a little bit of Enchanted Nymph Blood. Very rare stuff, that. Are you going to use it save yourself? You know, before I kill you.”
She swallowed, hard. There was a sharp lump in her throat. So much pain. More than she’d ever felt.
Through tears, she looked up at him. She shook her head.
“No,” she said, and tears fell down her cheeks. All she could think of was Chess.
“Really? This is going to be good. What are you planning on using it for? You can use it to save your life or that of another.”
With that, she knew what she had to do. She knew the only way to break Chess from the curse.
She blinked away tears and sat up on her elbows, face to face with him. Glaring at the professor, she broke the glass vial in her fist and a cloud of smoke danced between her fingers and lit up the cave in an array of bright iridescent colors.
“I use this vial’s power to save another,” she said, and he started to laugh...before she used her other hand to grab him by the neck. “And, the power within to end yours.”
His smile faded as she sent a bolt of electricity into his ear, shocking his brain.
The entire cave exploded with light and she was blasted backward.
The darkness smothered her, and all went silent.
Chapter 13
Beth woke to a knock on her door. Groggy, and confused, she shot up from her pillow. Wide-eyed and panicked, she held her hands up, ready to fight the first person she saw.
“Your highness, it’s Poppy, here to deliver your mail.”
Still, she didn’t trust the voice on the other side of the door. Poppy was her ladies maid, but she barely used her despite her mother’s insistence to bring her along. Poppy had it made, living in one of the suites with really nothing to do but enjoy its luxuries.
Still, as far as Beth knew, she was dead.
At least, after that explosion, she was supposed to be.
“Are you okay, your highness?”
“Leave it under the door.”
“As you wish, your highness.”
She watched, still wide-eyed, as a single letter was slipped under the door as half across the room on the wooden floor. Her heart still raced. Just a second ago, she was certain she was fighting Professor Hatter.
AS she looked around her room, her heart rate began to slow as she realized it was just another one of her dreams.
She breathed a sigh of relief and laughed as she covered her mouth with her hands.
“Goodness. That was the scariest of them all,” she said as she stepped onto the floor and crossed the room. She pulled her hair from her face and knelt to pick up the letter.
For a moment, her heart stopped when she saw who it was from.
Professor Hatter.
She took it to her desk and sat down, opening it.
There was a thick, laminated, card inside.
The color drained from Beth’s face as she read it.
Congratulations, Iracebeth of Crims. You have successfully completed your senior duel.
1 point for defense
1 point for offense
1 point for character
We are pleased to inform you that you have received top marks for choosing to save a life versus taking one. Your arch-nemesis, Alice
was a plant to test you in every way possible. While our methods are unconventional, they send our students into the world a great deal better than they arrived. We test you mentally, physically, and emotionally, and you have passed all areas.
It is of great importance that you uphold the purity of our dueling process by keeping your experience a strict secret. Again, we at Wonderland University congratulate you on displaying top marks on the three major areas we strive to teach.
Cheers,
Professor Hatter
P.S. No one has ever beaten me with such flair.
Bloody hell.
Stunned, she lowered the letter and held her hand to her heart.
Was this real? She shot to her feet. Alice was a plant?
No way.
That wasn’t the important part. She passed with top marks. A smile came to her face. She practically beamed like the sun.
“I passed! I passed,” she cheered, pumping her arm in the air and tossing the letter.
Another knock came to the door and she froze. Quickly, she hid the letter in her desk and turned the lock, putting the key in the jewelry box beside her bed.
“Who is it?” Beth asked, hurrying to find suitable clothes to change into.
“Open up,” Constance called. “We’re starving out here.”
“Yeah,” Lora said. “Get your tail out here so we can get some breakfast before class.”
“Slacker. Sleeping until nine,” Constance added.
Beth stood there, dumbfounded.
Had they forgiven her?
Slowly, she approached the door, half expecting to see nothing on the other end. It was her imagination, playing tricks on her. As far as she remembered it, Lora and Constance hated her.
She turned the knob and exhaled.
When she opened the door, there they were.
Real.
Constance gave her a look. “Why are you staring at us like that, weirdo? Get your shoes on and let’s go. I need waffles in my life. Now!”
Beth nodded, her smile slowly returning.
She rushed to slip on her boots and joined them out in the hall.
“You look like crap,” Constance said. “Did you sleep or not?”
Beth didn’t answer her. Instead, she just wrapped her arms around her neck and hugged her close. “I missed you guys.”
Constance gave her a pat on the back and pulled away. Beth laughed. She wasn’t the affectionate type, but she couldn’t help herself.
“We just saw you like, last night,” she said. “Stop being weird.”
“It’s just, after Alice did that whole Wondergram thing, I thought you guys would never talk to me again.”
Lora and Constance gave her blank looks.
“Who the hell is Alice?”
Beth’s eyes widened.
“Are you freaking kidding me?”
“Um, maybe you should see the campus doctor,” Lora said, feeling Beth’s forehead with the back of her hand.
Beth laughed again, nervously this time. Is that what the letter meant? Was Alice really part of the test? Was the first three years of her college career some strange test? It was all very confusing. But, her friends were back, and that made her happier than ever.
They left the building, and she listened as they talked about what they had going on in their day. All the while, she tried to make sense of everything that had happened during the first weeks of the semester. What had really happened?
She stopped in her tracks at the top of the stairs once they were outside.
There he was.
Chess.
He stood at the bottom of the steps, dressed in his battle gear.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said. “Let’s skip the café and head into town for brunch.”
“Ugh,” Constance said. She locked arms with Lora. “Oh well. Looks like the shifter is stealing you away.”
Beth shrugged her shoulders and Constance winked at her.
“Catch you later.”
Speechless, Beth waved at them as they left.
Chess gave her his charming smile—the smile she wished she could marvel at for the rest of her life, and met her half-way up the stairs. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning.” She smiled at him.
“Sleep well?”
As they walked from the dorms and to his car she just smiled, not sure what to say exactly. What could she tell him?
He took her by the hand and she let it go. What did it matter? He wasn’t cursed. Alice didn’t exist. And, above all...he loved her.
“Welcome to University,” she said under her breath. “We’re all mad around here.”
The End
Thank you for reading The Red Queen. It is the first book in the series, and I am thrilled to bring you more fun, flipped fairytales. Stay tuned for more standalones with book two, The Sea Witch. Coming Spring 2018.
If you want to check out more fantasy with paranormal elements, grab Half-Blood Dragon on Amazon today!
Pirates, dragons, mermaids. Embark on a coming of age journey that will leave you breathless.
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YOU’RE LUCKY TO be alive.
Those words resonated in Rowen’s mind as the noose was lowered over her head and secured around her throat, scratching her delicate flesh with its coarse banding.
Not so lucky now, she thought, noting that this was the third time she’d had this nightmare in a week.
Still, she couldn’t awaken. Not until she had more information. If she was going to suffer in her sleep, she was going to at least figure out the cause of the prophecy, and the result. It was all she had.
Her only gift.
Rowen coughed as her airway began to close against the ropes. Was it supposed to be so tight? It didn’t matter, the wooden floor would soon disappear from beneath her and she would either break her neck from the sudden fall or suffocate.
Neither option was appealing.
Rowen looked out to the crowd of blank faces. She ignited her second sight and dug deeper into the prophecy, summoning energy from the deepest depths of her soul. She could tell the difference between a dream and a prophetic scene. It was harder to awaken from a prophecy, and for good reason. There was something she needed to see to survive, if only for a few years longer.
The people that filled the square around the gallows were nondescript. No features to their faces, and no sounds from their mouths. No movement, either. They just stood like stoic silhouettes and stared at her as she awaited her death.
A black shadow stretched across the sky, blocking the sun and dimming the courtyard. While everyone looked to the sky, Rowen’s gaze peered past them, to the gates.
But, wait. Something new was happening, something Rowen had never seen in the other dreams.
Someone stood at the far end of the yard, behind the crowd, cloaked in dark gray.
The mysterious figure lifted their hand and pointed a finger right at her.
Out of the silence that filled the crisp morning air, a whisper burned her ear.
“I’m coming for you.”
Then, the trap door in the floor opened and the snap of her neck woke Rowen up.
A screech erupted from her lips as she woke up, clutching at her neck. Rowen shot up from her bed. A sheen of sweat glistened on her face as she struggled to catch her breath.
The nightmares. They were relentless. But, this time, a new element had been added to her prophecy. The fates were warning her, and she needed a plan just in case the time came when she needed to escape.
Something or someone was coming for her, and she wracked her brain for who that could be.
“They know,” Rowen whispered into the darkness, as she struggled to catch her breath. Escape was the
only way. Her plan to restore her mother’s honor would have to be abandoned.
Rowen crossed the small room and gave the sleeping girl in the bed across from hers a gentle shove.
“Brea. Wake up. I need that favor you owe me.”
A quick glance out the tiny window that looked out to the back of the palace showed that the path from the castle to the gates was clear.
“Really?” Brea yawned and sat up, her white bangs falling into dark almond-shaped eyes.
“Yes.” Rowen lowered herself to her knees before Brea’s bed. “Please tell me you will uphold your promise.”
Brea tilted her head. “I promised to help you escape if necessary. I will do what I can, Rowen.”
“But, what if we are caught?”
“No one will catch us. And, if they do, we are ladies-in-waiting for the princess. We can make something up. You’re a clever girl. I’m sure you can talk us out of any situation. I’ve seen you do it.”
“You are truly the best friend I’ve ever had,” Rowen said, giving Brea’s hand a squeeze.
“You as well, dear. I will miss you. We all will.”
“I’m ready,” Rowen said as she shoved on her traveling frock and boots. Once her cloak was secure around her shoulders and fastened at the neck, she strapped her money purse to her thigh. It would be unwise to leave with a bag. There could be no suspicion from the palace guards.
At first, becoming a lady-in-waiting for the princess seemed like a welcome escape from her stepfather’s constant scrutiny. With her new life came hope and an opportunity to restore honor to her mother’s family name.
Little did she know that Withraen Castle would be significantly worse. Since childhood her prophecies had been harmless. She’d always been one step ahead of whatever fate threw at her.
Now, a mysterious being haunted her. Remaining in the palace only led Rowen one step closer to the fate of her prophecy. She had to find a way to prevent that horrible death.
Ready, Rowen watched Brea dress herself. With a nod, they left the safety of their apartment adjacent to the princess’ room and entered the dark hallway of Withrae Castle’s east wing.
