by Moni Boyce
He whimpered like a dog and she knew he was in pain.
“Just please, let me...” She tried to get to him again, when Morgana pulled a customized gun from her bag and fired a shot at Max. The gunshot had no sound. There must have been some sort of silencer on the gun. The shot hit him in the shoulder. He howled and yelped in distress. She didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know they were silver bullets.
“Now are we going to have any more problems with you listening to my instructions?” She put the gun away and eyed Willow.
All Willow could do was shake her head no. She took a step back and stumbled, resulting in her landing on her butt in the dirt. She still held the heavy book in her hands.
“Eli! Eli!” She knew they were somewhere in another tomb, but she had to try and call for help. When that didn’t seem to be working she tried to call out to him telepathically. ‘ELI! ELI!’ No response. Something was wrong.
Morgana gave her a knowing smile and shook her head. “He’s not coming.”
“What did you do to Eli?” She wasn’t just scared anymore. She was angry.
If this bitch hurt Eli I’m going to kill her.
“Ulrik! Ulrik!” She scooted back across the floor. One of them would would hear and come help her.
“He’s not going to hear you either.” Morgana’s statement held such a note of triumphant satisfaction Willow felt her stomach drop. Dread clawed at her insides.
She already knew the answer, but she asked anyway. “Why?”
“He’s dead.” Morgana’s maniacal smile chilled her to the bone.
In that moment she thought of Anippe and what Ulrik had been planning. Did that mean Eli was dead too? She willed the tears away as her body shook with fury. Right now she preferred the anger and rage that was coursing through her veins to the bottomless pit of despair that she wanted to disappear into if Eli was in fact dead.
If only Morgana didn’t have Mathilda she could try and fight her and hope that Phaedra or Gamal, someone, anyone would find them soon.
“Why did you have to kill him?” She managed to say through clenched teeth.
“Just another thing that Killian will thank me for. Ulrik’s been on his shit list ever since he disappeared. Plus, he’d become suspicious of me in Greece. Constantly sniffing around. First with Mathilda...”
“What? What about Mathilda?” Willow looked at the young girl who was frightened and penned to the wall.”
“Oh.” Morgana looked amused. “Well I just have to tell someone this story because it’s just too good. That morning of Mathilda and Zoriana’s big blow up in the woods, I’d left to go “gather” materials for a spell.” She put air quotes around the word gather. “I’d really headed out so I could report back to Killian, but then Mathilda who’d been running away from her fight with mommy caught me communicating with him. You see with magic, I’d been able to devise a way to talk to Killian without him being able to detect our location so he couldn’t try and get around me without giving me what he promised.” Morgana was so pleased with herself. Willow was waiting on her to physically pat herself on the back for a job well done.
“Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Mathilda... I couldn’t let her go running back to camp and rat me out, so I put her to sleep. Since she was already fighting with Mommy Dearest it made it easy to keep their feud going without too many questions being asked. Good thing I already had a forget potion on hand. A good healthy dose of that would have lasted a while before I had to give her another. Then I brewed a potion that would keep her angry and alienated from the person she cared about most in this world.”
Willow noticed something flicker in Morgana’s eyes when she referenced Mathilda and Zoriana’s close relationship. Was it envy or jealousy she saw? She wasn’t sure. Eli had said Morgana was an orphan. Had she known her mother at all?
“Administered every few days, it kept her right where I wanted her: by my side where I could keep a constant watch on her to make sure the potion wouldn’t wear off without anyone being the wiser. It’s natural after a horrible fight with her mom she would seek solace with me, her makeshift big sister. This way she couldn’t go running and spilling her guts.” Hopefully, the longer Morgana spent sharing her plans the quicker someone would find them. When she chanced a quick glance at Max, she saw the shallow breaths that made his chest rise and fall. Good. He was hanging on despite the silver that was burning his skin and poisoning his blood.
“The other day when Ulrik asked her about her eyes, I knew he recognized the potion from the effects it has on you after you’ve drank it. It was only a matter of time before he divulged what he suspected. Just happened to work out that we would find the book before he could actually get around to telling on me.” Morgana was like a cat with a bowl of cream she was so ecstatic over her plans coming together.
“That’s why I tried to kill him on the battlefield, but wasn’t able to finish the job because I had to take care of Katana. She was going to ruin everything. Once I sent her and the other vampires on the way, the sooner I could find this book that meant so much to Killian and he’d reward me with what I wanted. If Katana got you or the book before I did, the deal was off the table. I couldn’t have that.”
A chill ran down her spine at Morgana’s words, she was so cool and calculating. Her mind still couldn’t fathom that for years she’d played this role and fooled them all, but why? Why did she wait so long?
“I just don’t understand why you did any of this. Why did you betray us?” It was hard to keep the hurt from showing.
There was no remorse or sorrow when she stared into Morgana’s eyes. “Story for another time. You’ll know all my reasons soon enough. Now give me the book.”
“I can’t do that.”
Morgana’s answer was to use her magic to choke Mathilda. With her arms still penned to the wall, she couldn’t clutch at her throat like most people would when they were choking. Her body twitched and spasmed trying desperately to fill her lungs with oxygen. Drool ran down the side of her mouth. A tear fell down Willow’s face as she watched the girl’s eyes roll into the back of her head.
“Okay. Stop.” She let out a breath. Her shoulders slumped. “I’ll give you the book. Just please stop hurting her.” Willow awkwardly scrambled to her feet, maintaining her hold on the book. Morgana’s smile pissed her off.
“And since there’s no one here to stop me I’ll take you and the book to Killian.”
The smug expression taunted Willow. Why wasn’t there something she could do? She felt so helpless. If she tried to fight, Morgana might kill one or both of them. She couldn’t take that risk.
“Fine.” The defeat she felt carved out her insides. “Let them go and you can take me.”
Morgana eyed her. “Not both of them.”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt either of them.”
“Yes, but I didn’t say I would let them both out of their traps. Once you get over here and hand me the book, then I’ll let Mathilda go. She can help Max once we’re gone.”
Damn it. Why does she have to be so smart?
She was thinking of everything. Guess you didn’t get to be an evil genius if you didn’t think ten steps ahead of everyone else. “As soon as I hand you the book, you let her down.”
“Yeah, we agreed on this already. Let’s go before one of the others finds us.” Impatience seeped into her tone.
Willow’s steps dragged as she walked the distance to Morgana. Her eyes went to Mathilda’s face and she offered up a silent apology to the girl that she couldn’t have done more.
“Don’t Willow.” Max’s weak plea made her want to cry.
“I don’t have a choice. I won’t let you guys get killed because of me.” A sob choked her when she reached Morgana. “Let her go.”
“Book first.”
She had no more leverage, no more cards to play, nothing up her sleeve. With deep reluctance and regret she handed Morgana the book. She hadn’t expected her to keep her word but Ma
thilda fell to the ground the minute she relinquished the book. Morgana was about to grab her so they could teleport out of the tomb when Morgana cried out and stumbled to the side. Blood stained her shirt on the side.
“Run Willow!”
Willow took a few steps back from Morgana. “I’m not leaving without you guys.” She called to Mathilda. Voices could be heard coming from the entrance. Morgana recovered quickly from the injury Mathilda inflicted. She heard the voices too.
What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion and sped up all at once. There was no way she could have stopped Morgana and then she disappeared, taking The Book of Prophecy with her.
CHAPTER 22
Eli
Blurry vision wasn’t the only side effect he had from being knocked unconscious. His head hurt and he had ringing in his ears. It took a second for him to remember where he was.
Valley of the Kings.
Once everything flooded his mind, he rushed to his feet and swayed from getting up too fast.
How long was I knocked out?
He wasn’t in complete and utter darkness. His flashlight lay on the floor of the tomb a few feet away. The beam cast an eerie shadow on the wall. As he dusted himself off, he realized it had to be Ulrik that bashed him over the head. He seethed with anger for trusting the son of a bitch.
The thought occurred to him that Ulrik could have gone after Morgana before or after he dispatched with him. Fear shot through him. “Morgana.” He knew he shouldn’t call out. What if Ulrik was still here? Something told him Ulrik was smart enough to flee the scene of the crime and not hang around. He grabbed his flashlight and started shining it about to see if he saw her body laying anywhere.
Alarm bells were going off. He could have taken Morgana hostage and went looking for Willow. He knew he had to find Morgana first before he could go racing from the tomb to find Willow, but he was anxious, nervous and scared. If Ulrik got to Willow there might not be any saving her.
“Morgana.” He shined the light frantically around the tomb. Then the shaft of light landed on something. Something was off as he approached. The body was nearly perfectly mummified and looked like it should have been entombed in the sarcophagus that sat behind the glass. There was something familiar about the body. He nearly dropped the flashlight as recognition dawned.
The corpse was Ulrik. Someone had used magic to drain every drop of blood from his body. That meant one of two things, Morgana was safe and had gained the upper hand on him and fled or... the alternative made his blood run cold. He went tearing towards the entrance of the tomb. He had to find the others. Hopefully, it wasn’t too late.
When he exited the tomb he realized he didn’t remember which one he’d seen them run into. He ran to the nearest one and called out as he shined his flashlight. At this point, he didn’t care if the noise he made alerted security. He wanted to find everyone.
His heart wouldn’t stop racing. He decided they weren’t in the tomb he’d entered and rushed from it and went to the next one. This tomb was well lit. Maybe they were in this one. He was about to call out when he heard a woman’s loud wail.
“Willow” He bellowed and raced into the tomb unsure what he would find.
His heart was in his throat as he panicked over what he would find below. He skidded to a halt when he came into the chamber. The first person he laid eyes on was Willow. Their eyes met across the distance. He wanted to breathe a huge sigh of relief, but when he heard the loud wail again, he was pulled from her gaze. What he saw made him feel like someone had kicked him in the chest and left a big gaping hole.
For a minute, it didn’t even register that he was walking, but then his brain was back in his body and he moved slow and stiff towards the scene on the floor. He hoped his eyes were playing tricks on him. When he reached them, he dropped to his knees and took her hand.
Zoriana’s face was buried in the hair of her lifeless daughter. Mathilda’s eyes were still open. They stared blankly up at the ceiling. Blood ran from her nose and her ears. He was stunned. He couldn’t stop staring. That wasn’t Mathilda. Tears stood in his eyes when he looked up at Willow with his mouth hung open in a question. She had her arms wrapped around herself. Her body shook with the force of her weeping.
When he was finally able to tear his eyes away he looked over and saw off to the side that Phaedra cradled Max in her arms. Was he dead too or just unconscious? Tears spilled from her eyes. In all the years they’d known each other, he’d never seen her cry before.
Who did this?
The question sat on the tip of his tongue, but he was too scared to ask and hear the answer. He couldn’t get the horrible, guttural sounds of Zoriana’s cries out of his head. She’d just lost her only child. He didn’t know how to comfort her.
A loud cry tore through the air. It was seconds before he realized it had come from him. He cried out again, trying to release the physical pain that sat heavy in his gut at losing Mathilda. His head fell into his hands and then he felt Willow’s hands on his shoulders and around him. He leaned back into her.
His eyes returned to Mathilda once more. He wanted to tell his little cousin to get up, but he knew she wouldn’t.
“Sana! Sana!” Zoriana repeated frantically, the white light glowing from beneath her hands, but having no effect. How long had she tried to resurrect her daughter, despite knowing their magic was incapable of that.
“My baby!” Zoriana sobbed and howled. The hurt he felt intensified at what he imagined Zoriana was feeling after losing a daughter she’d never had the opportunity to get things right with. The two had never settled whatever it was between them and now they never would.
All he could think about was the teenage girl who was eager to talk about spells and magic potions and who probably hadn’t had her first kiss yet. Now she would never have any of that again.
He finally found the breath to ask the question he didn’t want the answer to. “Who... who did this?”
Willow’s tears fell on his neck. “Mor...” It was a struggle for her to say the name, like the name was getting caught on something as it tried to exit her throat. “Morgana... she killed her and took The Book of Prophecy.” She rushed out the last part.
The betrayal sat like bile in the back of his throat. Even if he could have spewed it up at that moment, the poison of it would still be running through his veins much like the silver ran through Max’s veins. How long had she been plotting and scheming to betray them? She’d known Mathilda since she was born. How could she so easily kill her? All of these thoughts plagued his head and his heart.
CHAPTER 23
Willow
Morgana had been like a hurricane leaving devastation and destruction in her wake. The aftermath had been brutal and was still causing Willow physical pains. The loss of both Mathilda and Ulrik was too hard to put into words. The last few mornings she’d woken up with Zoriana’s ragged cries still reverberating in her head and the soul-crushing grief on poor Anippe’s face when they told her Ulrik was killed still haunted her.
They hadn’t left Egypt yet because there was an issue with transporting Mathilda’s body out of the country since she had been murdered.
Alistair teleported in the next morning after it happened. Zoriana was inconsolable. They were mostly keeping her sedated because she would sleep and then wake up and have these screaming fits when she realized Mathilda was no longer alive. She was like an open wound that just wouldn’t heal. Every morning the scab got violently ripped off. It was one of the most painful things she’d ever had to watch.
Everything was just different. She felt different. Morgana’s betrayal blindsided them and was already a tough pill to swallow on its own, but her murdering Mathilda gutted them. She felt like someone had hollowed out her insides. They were all walking around in a daze.
Max was still recovering from the silver poisoning. The supernatural doctor that cared for him said if the bullet had been just a few inches closer to the heart, he wouldn’t have survived.
She had yet to tell everyone all the vile things Morgana shared with her. There would be time enough for that.
All she’d been able to think about was how selfless Mathilda had been. The instant Morgana released her, the first thing she did was try and keep Morgana from taking her. She hadn’t considered her own life for a second. Of course she was sure that none of them thought Morgana would kill anyone. Now there were two dead bodies and a trail of bleeding, broken hearts. Everyone was dealing with their grief in their own way. Phaedra and Eli had taken to sparring every day. He usually came back with fresh bruises or blood. She was sure Phaedra wore matching bruises and injuries. Even when they made love now it was like they were trying to fuck the pain away. Sometimes it bordered on painful, but she needed it, she needed him.
She hadn’t felt a loss like this since her mother and knew there was so much she was suppressing, anything to keep her from feeling. Helping Gamal and Anippe make funeral arrangements for Ulrik kept her busy. She’d gone back and forth over whether to tell Anippe about the conversation she’d had with Ulrik before he was killed. Eventually she did. It was important she know that Ulrik intended to love her despite all the ugliness that threatened them. The news broke the girl’s heart even further. She let Anippe cry on her shoulder despite the fact they didn’t know each other that well. At least she now knew that Ulrik had been determined not to give up on them again.
It was good to be useful to everyone, which helped her suppress the grieving and sadness to welcome the hate that now grew in her heart for Killian and Morgana. It had taken root and grown like a vine, twisted and snarling and wrapping itself around her heart. She would use the hatred as fuel to feed her when she felt like quitting. She was going to spend day and night mastering her Oracle and fae abilities, and then, she was going to hunt down Killian and Morgana and kill them both.
To Be Continued
