by Sandra Love
“Bridget, where are your parents?”
“Amelia has them in one of these cells down here, but I don’t know if they are still alive or not.”
I stood up and walked to the cell door. I tried to look around to see what was down there, but all I could smell was the funk of death. I was about to quit and sit back down on the earth, but then I saw something moving in the cell straight ahead. I looked to see if any of Amelia’s guards were around. I didn’t see anyone walking around so I knew this was my chance.
“Psst. Hey, is someone there? I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“Who—Who’s there?”
“I’m Cameron and this is Bridget. Please, come to the cell door so I can see you.”
The person came into sight, and the sight made me sick to my stomach. It was the fairy king, Lerza. His skin was sagging, one of his eyes was hanging out of the socket, and his nose was just hanging there.
“Lerza, what happened to you?”
“It was the witch. The evil Amelia. She had wolves come and find us. When we got here, she only needed one. The wolves attacked me and Amelia took Betrica. I think she’s dead. I want to die; I’m in so much pain.”
“Don’t say that. I have a plan to get us out of here. Just be patient.”
I walked over to Bridget’s sleeping form, to see that her breathing had grown shallow.
“Bridget, you need to wake up.” I lightly shook her. “Come on, girl. Please, open your eyes. Can you hear me?”
She mumbled, but didn’t move. I knew she needed medical attention, but yelling for help was pointless. The guards didn’t care that Bridge was possibly dying. All I could do was hope I could get her to safety soon so I could get her some help.
After I dragged her away from the window, I took a deep breath and summoned all the power I could. Needing some extra strength, I closed my eyes and pictured Cordelia’s smiling face. My Angel. I have to get to her, I thought, sending a blast through the air and against the metal. It was loud, so I knew I had to hurry in case someone heard.
I yanked once, hoping the bolt had loosened it enough to pull it free. It easily gave way and fell to the ground. I peeked out the window and didn’t see anyone, making me wonder if this was the back of the castle. But at this point I didn’t care; I just wanted out.
I picked Bridget up and carried her over to the window. She felt like nothing more than skin and bones. I squeezed her through the small opening and she woke up enough to crawl underneath a nearby tree and wait for me.
After telling Lerza I’d be back for him, I ran to the window and jumped out. I inhaled the fresh air and relished in my escape, but when I hit the ground pain ripped through my back as my wound broke open. After breathing through the pain for several moments, I crawled over to Bridget to check on her. She was coughing up blood and her eyes were rolling into the back of her head. We were both in such horrible condition, that I wanted to lay there and scream for help. But I couldn’t alert anyone to our escape, so I grit my teeth through the pain and stood.Lerza.
I picked up Bridget and began to walk. “Bridget, I’m going to carry you around the castle. We need to blast Lerza out of there and find you a healer. Please, just stay with me.”
I could hear the moans and cries of the other prisoners, and I desperately wanted to save them all, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t risk Bridget’s life to save the rest. I tried my hardest to ignore them and continued walking. But I didn’t get far. As I rounded the corner of the castle, I was ambushed by a wolf. I dropped Bridget and she cried out. The wolf knocked me on my back and when I hit the ground, I landed on a rock. I felt my wound open up even deeper. The wolf jumped on me and I tried to hold him off me. He started to snarl and snap toward my face. I brought up my leg to kick him off, but I was too weak. I tried to keep him away from my face, but he got hold of my arm, and took a chunk out of it. I screamed and blacked out into nothingness………….
“Cameron Ethan, it’s time for you to open your eyes. Wake up, Son.”
My eyes flew open at the sound of the familiar voice. I was looking in the eyes of my father.
“Dad, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I couldn’t sit back and let you die at the hand of a stupid wolf, now could I?”
“Am I dead yet? Because I am sick and tired of asking that question.”
“No, you’re not. You just need another push to keep you going.”
“Why should I keep going? Amelia has the girl of my dreams, who knows if she’s dead or alive anymore, and I think Kaleigh forgot about me.”
He stood and he looked so pissed. “Cameron,” he bellowed. “I didn’t teach you to be weak. You are not acting like my son right now. You are acting like a coward. I didn’t raise my son to be a damn coward. Really, you think your sister forgot about you? I should slap you right now. She is an emotional mess right now.”
I held my head in shame, knowing I let my father down—even in the afterlife.
“Father, I am sorry. I’m just thinking with my heart and not my head.”
“It’s not bad to think with your heart, Son. You just need to be strong. Lives are at stake, and it your duty to help save them. I know deep in my heart that Dean will not let anything happen to you. He is your godfather and all.”
“Wait, Dean is my godfather?”
“Yes, he is. Amelia is your godmother. We were all best friends growing up. I still don’t understand what the hell happened to her, and I think that will just stay a mystery.”
“Okay, Dad, I would love to stand here and chat, but I need to wake up and save Bridget and myself.”
“That’s the son I raised. Good luck. Just know that your mother and I always watch over you and Kaleigh. I love you, Son.”
“I love you, Dad.”
The pain was coming back to me as I slowly opened my eyes. I looked to see that the wolf was now hovering over Bridget. I got to my feet and ran toward the wolf and slammed right into his side. He yelped at the hard impact. He got up on all four legs, started to circle me, drool, and foam at the mouth. I shot out a lightning bolt, but he dodged it. H was faster than I expected. He leaped at me, but I dodged him. He still wasn’t as fast as I was. I decided I would tackle him again when he got close. He finally got close enough and I grabbed him by the throat. I squeezed as hard as I could. He got a couple more bites in, before Bridget stood up and grabbed a brick to bash the wolf’s head in.
“Die, you stupid mutt,” She screamed as she kept striking the animal.
“Bridget, you can stop now. I think he’s unconscious.”
She backed away and dropped the brick, then fell to her knees and cried. I looked down at the vicious wolf. Even though it had attacked us, I hated to see anyone suffer. He was just doing what he had to do to survive. So I bent down and took his neck between my hands and twisted. The wolf let out a final yelp and went completely limp. After I shut its eyes, I walked over to sit next to Bridget.
“What have I done? He was hurting you, and—and I don’t know, I just had to react.”
“You did a wonderful job. You were strong and that’s what I needed you to do. If you didn’t do that, I would have been that wolf’s dinner.”
That got her to laugh and then she hugged me. “Cordelia is lucky to have a wonderful person like you in her life. Now, let’s go and save the Fairy King so we can find us the healer we both need right now.”
I looked down at my arm and the new wound. I took off my shirt and wrapped my arm to protect the area. When I was satisfied with the makeshift bandage, we stood and scoured the castle wall for the window to Lerza’s cell. When we finally found it, I blasted the frame like I did with ours and then pulled him out. When I saw him up close, my stomach rolled and my throat clogged with tears. His condition was much worse than I had initially thought. He’d be lucky if he lived another two hours. It wasn’t worth putting him through the journey, so I looked at Bridget and silently tried to convey what I was thinking. She nodded.
&
nbsp; “Hey Lerza, is there some place you would like to visit before we go?”
After a fit of bloody coughs, he nods. “There is a statue of a witch over there,” he says, pointing in the direction he was indicating. “Can you please take—take me there? I want to see it before I die.”
“Anything for you. Here, let me carry you to it.” It only took us about five minutes to get to the statue. I sat him down on the ground in front of it. Even though she was obviously evil, the witch that the statue was erected for was beautiful with long dark hair and wearing a gorgeous Grecian gown.
“Lerza, can you please tell us who this is?” Bridget asked as she stared up at the statue’s face.
“Yes, my children. Please sit with me and I will tell you all about this witch. As the story of her past is very important to our future.”
Bridget and I sat down on the ground, ready to listen intently to the tale. “This is Abigail. She lived here 300 years ago. She was the most powerful witch in Ithaca, just like Amelia right now. Abigail was also hungry for power and she would kill anyone who got in her way. We did have unicorns around 300 years ago. Yes, they are real—well, they were, but she would cut off the horns of these unicorns for her dark magic. She caused a huge battle that killed so many white creatures that we were almost extinct. All the remaining white creatures had to go in a secret underground passage to stay safe. In the meantime, she became pregnant with a daughter that she bared with a white witch. When her daughter was born, Abigail died. Rumors are that this was a plan that her lover came up with to kill her at her weakest moment. After her death things went back to normal and Ithaca was rebuilt.”
“So, if this child was born half evil and half good wouldn’t that make her bloodline tainted so that the future babies could have been born either good or bad.”
“Yes, Cameron, you are correct.”
“So is her bloodline still around?”
“Yes. Her blood is still running around in the country.”
“Anyone that we know?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, you do. Amelia is Abagail’s granddaughter.”
Which meant that Cordelia was this witch’s great granddaughter. I looked up at the statue again and noticed the resemblance to Cordelia. But no amount of family resemblance could make me believe that Cordelia would be anything but good.
Chapter Nine
Kaleigh
“Gabe, are you afraid I will run off?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Because you are squeezing my hand and I’m starting to lose feeling in it.”
We both laughed. “I’m just happy I met you, so I guess it’s my macho man coming out.”
“Really? Did you just say macho man? Please, never say that again or I will hit you.”
He laughed. “I feel the need to know you’re near me at all times. Not in like a stalkerish way, but…” Gabe sighed. “I’m doing this all wrong.”
I giggled on the inside. It was actually kind of cute to see this big man getting all tongue-tied. His words were sweet, but I kept that thought to myself.
We continued to walk and came up on a statue near the castle. The likeness of the woman was beautiful, yet very eerie all at once. I drew my eyes away from her to see some people sitting below the statue. Since I wasn’t sure if they were friend or foe, I pulled Gabe behind the nearby tree. I released the breath I didn’t know I was holding, satisfied that we were safe from harm for the time being. As I peeked around the trunk of the tree to get a better look at the people, I swore I could see Cameron. I walked from behind the tree without thinking and Gabe tried to grab me back. “Cam! Cameron, is that you?”
He stood up and ran toward me. “Kaleigh! Oh my gods, I’ve been worried sick.”
He slammed into me and we hugged each other tight, tears streaming down my face. Please, I silently begged the world, tell me this isn’t a dream; that my brother is really alive and hugging me. “Cam, I didn’t know where you were. When I saw you got stabbed—Are you okay?” I grabbed his arm to see it was wrapped up in his shirt. “What happened here?”
“A werewolf attacked us. Bridget over there helped save my life.”
I looked at my old best friend lying on the ground. She had lost a lot of weight and looked to be on the verge of death. She could barely sit up. I ran to her and I engulfed her into my arms.
“Kaleigh, I am so sorry I listened to my parents. I’m the worst person in the world. You needed me when Kale broke your heart. You needed a friend and I just left you. I understand if you never forgive me.”
“Bridget, you will always be my best friend. Kale is a douche, and I plan to stick his wings down his throat. Do you know he had the nerve to show up at my house, kissing on me and telling me he loves me just to turn around and be on Amelia’s side? He’s probably up there having sex with her and making mutant babies.”
“Funny Kaleigh, but I don’t think you need to be thinking about that right now,” Gabe said, coming up behind me. “We need to save Dean’s daughter.” He heard that. What a great way to start a relationship. I was kissing Kale one night and turned around to kiss his cousin the next. I looked at him and was about to explain, but he stormed off..
“Go, Kaleigh. I can see you have something for this boy,” Bridget said.
I stood, but hesitated when I saw Lerza sitting there. He looked so bad—like he didn’t have long to live. I was conflicted on what I should do, because Gabe was important to me, but Lerza was technically one of my superiors.
“Kaleigh dear, go after him. I will be just fine.”
I nodded and got up to run after Gabe. When I found him, he was sitting by an old weeping willow tree. I slowly walked to him and sat beside him.
“So, you kissed Kale recently?”
“Yes, I did. He came to me and started talking about how when Cordelia takes over the country we could be together. Yes, I believed him. But I soon found out that he was nothing but a liar. Gabe, you need to understand: I. Hate. Him. I want to kill him; he needs to learn his lesson. Please look at me,” I begged. When he did, I continued. “I’m starting to develop feelings for you. Yes I know that sounds crazy, but I am.”
He looked into my eyes, making me feel safe, wanted. “Kay, just hearing that he kissed you made me jealous. I’ve never been the jealous type, but you brought it out in me.”
He stroked his hand on my face. I closed my eyes and enjoyed his touch. Then a scream rang out and we both jumped up and ran toward the statue. The sight that met us made bile rise in my throat. One of the creatures was biting and spitting hunks of body parts off Lerza. I reacted with my gut and not my head and ran toward the creature and slammed into it. In retaliation, the creature grabbed hold of my leg and bit it. I screamed bloody murder. Damn, that was painful! Then the creature was on top of me, trying to bite my neck. I kicked and screamed for help. The creature’s breath smelled so horrid I felt like throwing up. Just when I was going to give in to the nausea, the creature fell limp on me; his body extremely heavy against me.
“A little help, guys,” I yelled to the others. Gabe kicked the creature off me and continued to kick it in the head.
I struggled to get up and limp over to him to get him to stop. “Gabe.”
He yanked his arm away from me and continued to kick. He was really starting to scare me, but I got up and limped my way to Lerza. I saw Bridget and Cam sitting next to him, crying. I collapsed onto the ground next to them and looked up at thd statue. I’d heard the stories about thd evil being from my mother. “My dear—dear children, don’t cry. I knew I was going to die. That’s why I asked to you to bring me here. Death is the circle of life. I will be celebrating it when I’m in the afterlife, because my love, Betrica, is there waiting to take me into her arms. Now, promise me that you will stop Amelia. She is nothing but pure evil, and Ithaca’s fate depends on her demise.”
I took his bloody hand and I held it. We had a song in Ithaca that we sung when someone was dying. I’d never sung it, but I knew
the words. I looked over at Bridget and Cam and nodded. We all began to sing the song of death. The song was peaceful and it helped the person dying enter the afterlife to accept their fate. Gabe walked over and joined hands with the rest of us and began to sing.
It’s time for you to move on; we will never forget that you’re gone.
Remember us when you’re in that place, always have a smile on your face.
Death is not a punishment; it is a way for you to forget.
All the awful things that have happened, just know you will never be forgotten.
We all watched Lerza close his eyes and take his last breath. I put my face in my hands and cried. He was such a good king. He didn’t deserve to die such a horrible death. This just pissed me off more and I stood up to walk toward the castle. It was time for me to end this nonsense.
Gabe pulled me back again. “Kaleigh, she will kill you on the spot. What happened to Lerza was horrible, but you need to stop and think. Your head is full of revenge, and that will only get you killed. I’m not ready to say goodbye to you, so please think before you react.”
I turned and saw tears streaming down his cheeks. Cam and Bridget are crying as well. “Lerza was a good person; he didn’t deserve that. He was the kindest creature here, and now look at him. You can’t even tell it’s him. Why, just why?” Gabe grabbed me into a hug and allowed me to cry on his shoulder.
Cameron cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but we need to bury him. I found a shovel behind the statue. I think he would like to be buried beside it.”
