by M A Roth
“I’m alive; thanks for asking.” His words were heavy with his own anger, and I stopped.
“Well, Sam isn’t,” I said, and stormed past him.
“What does that mean? Who’s Sam?” he shouted after me with anger and confusion.
But I kept walking, leaving the dungeon and Nicolas behind while making my way to the room. I moved quickly, keeping my head down, trying to hide the tears that clouded my vision. I didn’t look up until I reached my door and slammed it behind me.
I slid to the ground and allowed myself to cry, but no tears came. Giving a humorless laugh, I pulled myself up and stretched out on my bed. I didn’t want to know why Nicolas was covered in that stuff. I didn’t want to know what really existed here in Hell. My mind couldn’t take much more.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
An hour of pacing the room did me no good, so I left. Unsure of where to go, I passed some men in armor and some staff of the castle. No one stopped me or questioned where I was going, yet I felt eyes on me the whole time. I needed time on my own, away from here, so I could think straight. My mind wouldn’t settle. I had so many questions, yet I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answers.
“Abigail!” My name being called made me stiffen. I turned to Elena. She moved towards me, her steps slowing, but her face was unsure. She stopped beside me. “Are you okay?” she asked, sounding genuine.
I had lots of smart answers. Did she really want to know? But I said nothing. I just felt too tired. “Yeah, thanks,” I said, watching a look of surprise pass over her face.
She wasn’t expecting me to be sociable. A smile grew on Elena’s beautiful face. I almost envied her. “You want to get out of here for a while?” she asked. Was she serious? She seemed to be.
“Yeah, actually, that would be great.” I tried to smile back, but more than likely it looked like a grimace.
But it didn’t seem to put Elena off. She reached out, taking my hand.
I flinched at the contact, and she raised an eyebrow. “I can follow you,” I said, pulling my hand away.
“Okay then.” She shook her head and I followed her out of the Castle. We left through a back door. Elena moved quickly and with familiarity around the small homes, taking us down side streets then emerging on another street. The town surrounding the castle was a lot bigger than I expected, but I didn’t get to look around, as Elena keep moving, keeping us out of sight.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Elena threw a mischievous smile over her shoulder at me. “We're nearly there,” she said, taking off again. How I hated that phrase.
We moved into the forest, disturbing the snow-white carpet under our heavy boots. I took care where I walked, terrified of falling again. Elena stopped a few feet away, leaning against the thick brown trunk of a tree. I stopped close to her, rubbing my hands together to generate some heat against the cold. Elena seemed fine, and she wore pants and a jumper just like me. I wondered if she felt the cold at all.
“Nicolas and I were born here.”
Her words startled me out of my thoughts. “I didn’t know people could be born in Hell.” I sounded silly, but to be born in Hell was such a sentence—well, of the Hell that I believed to exist. This place didn’t seem like Hell at all.
“Most of the people here were born here. My dad was one of the first to settle here, and people that wanted a quiet life moved here.”
I pulled a leaf off one of the nearby hanging branches and twirled it in my fingers. “Is your dad still here?” I asked, watching a hardness cover her face. I almost smiled at how much she looked like Nicolas when she was angry.
“No. Lucifer killed him,” she said. Her face took on a faraway look, as if she was remembering. She physically shook her head, clearing it of the past. A smile reappeared on her face. “I want you to meet someone.” Her eyes were asking me to trust her.
Did I? No, not entirely. “What does your brother want with me?”
Her shoulders became stiff, and a look of disbelief crossed her face. “He hasn’t told you?”
I crossed my arms. “Well, obviously not, or I wouldn’t be asking you.” My words held a bite that I regretted.
“You’re here to help us defeat Lucifer.”
I laughed, the sound leaving my mouth before I could stop it. When I looked back at Elena, she was serious.
My laughter trickled off. “You’re serious?”
“Well, obviously,” she said, pushing off from the tree.
“And how am I able to help?” I said, filling my words with sarcasm. “Shall I spit at him? Or maybe because he’s my father, if I ask him nicely, he’ll behave himself.”
“I know why you do that,” she said with an odd look on her face.
“Do what?” I was getting irritated with the change of topic.
“You get all smart and sarcastic, and sometimes even mean. I don’t think that’s the person you are. I think you do it to keep people away. You’re afraid of letting anyone in, and you’re scared.”
My anger rose. The truth hurt more than I could have imagined, but I wouldn’t let her see that she was right. “Thanks for the analysis…”
Elena cut me off. “See, you are doing it again.”
I growled, feeling frustrated. “I’m not doing anything! I just want some answers, that’s all.”
“Fine what do you want to know?”
It was such a loaded question. “Why do we even need to defeat Lucifer?” I asked.
“Is that really a question?” Elena’s hand went to her hip and she gave me a look as if to say was I really serious.
“Yes it’s a question. I know he’s the bad guy, but he always was the bad guy and why me, it still doesn’t explain why it needs to be. And why do I have to be here in hell? Why did your brother try to kill me?” Elena didn’t look as confident as she did a moment ago.
“Honestly I don’t know but if my brother say’s we need to stop Lucifer then we do. I know your here in hell so Nic can protect you. He can’t protect you in the upper and as you have figured out yourself by now, you had to die to get here” Now I looked away from Elena.
“Why would you have to die?” I glanced at her, but she was giving me that look as if I was stupid.
“Your soul can only travel to each place. Your body can’t. It’s not possible”
“But what if my soul was meant for here, what if it was meant for heaven?”
“You are Lucifer’s daughter we knew when you died you would come here” Elena looked satisfied with her answer. I wasn’t I felt like I had more questions from this conversation.
“You want more answers?” Elena asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I do”
“Good. Then follow me, and you’ll get them.” She moved away without waiting to see what I would do.
I stood for all of five seconds before I followed Elena deeper into the forest, hoping she was telling the truth and that I would get my answers, or even a way to escape from Hades and make it back to Cathy and Zee. A pang twisted in my stomach just thinking about them. It felt like working with Father Peter and the rest was a lifetime ago. I just hoped Zee was okay and that I would see him again.
I kept up with Elena, but I was also very careful where I put my feet. She stopped right in the middle of a circle of trees. They looked larger than the other ones, their branches free of snow. Their leaves were in full bloom, the green almost an emerald color.
“We request to see the seer,” Elena said to no one. She was facing the tree in front of her. Nothing happened, but she stood still with a confidence that I wasn’t feeling.
“Your seer doesn’t seem to be here.” I bristled, hating that she was making a fool of me, bringing me to a group of trees and claiming to give me answers.
“Be patient, Abigail,” she said, without turning back to me.
“Patience isn’t my forte.”
“Like we don’t know that already,” Elena responded. She turned towards me and gave me a scowl that I atte
mpted to return with my middle figure. My motion was stopped when all the branches began to sway in an invisible breeze.
I looked at Elena, and she smiled before turning back to the trees, looking like she was listening to something I couldn’t hear. “Thank you,” she whispered before turning to me. “He will see you now.”
Okay, she was crazy. I wanted to start moving back slowly. “What? Did the trees tell you that?” I said with a sneer on my face.
Elena didn’t bite; instead, her eyes lit up with excitement. “Yes, they did.”
I took a slow step backwards.
“I’ll leave you with your tree-friends, then. Oh, I think I hear them calling you,” I said, turning to leave Crazy and the trees alone.
A burst of laughter left Elena’s mouth, and then her hand fell on my arm. “Trust me,” she said.
I looked up, trying to shove her hand off. “No,” I replied, and went to walk away again.
“Abigail Thornton from Middle-Earth, come.” My body froze as a voice that danced on the breeze spoke to me. I did a full three hundred and sixty-degree turn, looking for the source of the voice, but my vision was only filled with trees and Elena’s victorious smile and one hand on her hip.
“Who’s crazy now,” she said, moving towards the largest tree in front of her.
My curiosity got the better of me. I followed her slowly, getting ready to bolt in case anything happened.
What happened next, I wasn’t prepared for. A light started to spread through the tree, moving like the ripples of a wave on a calm night. The light lit up all its veins in a snow white color, beautiful against the contrast of the deep brown bark. My heart pounded as I watched the tree take on a different form. It pulsed with life, as if it was the heart of this forest. Such magic, such beauty.
I didn’t care if what I was seeing wasn’t real; right now, it was a moment of peace in a world filled with war, and I let myself get lost in the beauty of it, just watching the tree progress. The bark cracked and a door opened. I couldn’t see beyond the door, but I wasn’t afraid. I wanted nothing more than to feel the peace that was radiating off the tree. I walked towards it with sure steps.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Once I cleared the doorway, I could hear the resounding click behind me as it closed, taking the beautiful white veins and the forest with it. I stood inside the tree, larger than what was possible, yet I knew standing here that anything was possible. Looking around, roots hung from the clay ceiling rubbing the top of my head.
Roots from all around me moved and slithered towards me until they all made contact with me. Once they contacted me, my vision failed, but I didn’t panic as my body soon felt lifeless. As if I was floating, a voice entered my mind, the voice that I had heard on the forest floor. It belonged to a man, a man who had seen a lot and who lived for a very long time. His voice held knowledge that he had gathered and knowledge not yet revealed. Elena had called him a Seer. Maybe he would tell me what I was supposed to do, what I was created for.
“Welcome, Abigail Thornton. In you, I see so much potential to do good and bad. Everyone carries darkness and light, but in you, there is more darkness.”
I didn’t like those words, but his voice didn’t stop to give me any time to think about what he was saying.
“Your life hangs in the balance of one decision that you will make, and you will either allow the darkness to take you forever or you will accept what you are and what you must do. This decision will arise when you fall for the third time. It will test just who you truly are.” The branches released me, letting me back down to the ground slowly.
My vision returned, and the lifeless feeling that I had experienced was gone. Now my body felt heavy. My shoulders were weighted down with this new knowledge. The worst part was when he said I would fall for the third time. I had fallen twice already, and I wasn’t sure if I could come out sane another time.
His voice came back to me. “Middle-Earth will burn, and Heaven shall fall, while Hades will rise from beneath their feet. If you do not succeed, this will be the future for all of us.”
I stood still, my heart pounding.
Light filtered into the tree from behind me, and I could hear two raised voices. I turned and walked out into the bright sunlight, stopping at the sound of voices.
Nicolas’s hard face turned to me, while Elena looked guilty.
“What did he say?” Nicolas asked, still keeping his features schooled. I could see the concern and worry under his façade.
“Just that the Middle-Earth would burn, Hades would rise from the ground, and…”
Nicolas cut me off, shaking his head. “What did he say about you?”
My stomach fluttered. “None of your business,” I said.
Nicolas took two long strides and stopped when we were toe-to-toe. “It is my business.”
I had to crane my neck back to look up at him. My gaze shifted to Elena. She stood waiting patiently, but I could see worry in her eyes. “Why is it your business? What am I doing here?” I folded my arms, brushing them off his chest. I didn’t like the close proximity, but I wouldn’t let him see that.
“There are six of you. Three are more powerful, and I think you are one of them. So you’re here to make sure that Middle-Earth doesn’t burn and Heaven doesn’t fall, and that Hades does not rise from beneath men’s feet.”
I swallowed, my heart pounding. Six of us. I could bet everything that Blake was one too. But powers? I had none. So I was here to make sure the end of all worlds wouldn’t happen, but how I would contribute, I had no clue. “So what, you’re just going to keep me here, until…” I left the rest for him to fill me in.
He looked at Elena, and she gave him a look that said tell her. This wasn’t going to be good; nothing ever was. “I’m not sure exactly what Lucifer intends to do to bring around this prophecy, but if I have two of you away from Middle-Earth, where he can’t touch you, we have a pretty good chance. I think.” He frowned, thinking about his own theory.
“But Elena seems to believe that I will have to fight Lucifer.”
Elena gave me a look of horror at my betrayal. We weren’t friends, and my life was on the line, so I wouldn’t feel guilty. No, I wouldn’t feel guilty, I told myself as I felt the twinge.
Nicolas threw a look over his shoulder back at his sister. “She is right. We need to train you.” He walked away.
Elena stayed rooted. She didn’t look angry anymore. “So what did the seer say?”
I let out a heavy breath. At least someone was keeping track of our conversation. “That I had more darkness than light in me.”
She gave me a sad smile. “He’s not always right, you know,” she said.
I laughed. “Yeah, he’s only a seer.”
Elena laughed back, and we left, following her huffy brother back to the castle. Nicolas was waiting for us in the kitchen, where Cecelia had made a chicken dinner. I smiled when the smell of food tantalized my nose.
Nicolas was already eating, so he didn’t look up when we entered. I sat down across from Elena, and Celica placed a plate each in front of us. Elena thanked her and I started eating.
“Manners doesn’t cost,” Celica said as she bustled back to the stove, I knew she was referring to me, and I could feel Nicolas’s eyes on me. I kept my head down and shoveled the food into my mouth.
“I will start to train you tomorrow. You need to know how to fight.”
That got my attention. “What, you think I could punch the daylights out of Lucifer? Because if I could, I would love to.”
“No, I don’t think you could, Abigail. But I’m sure you could insult him until he cried.” He stood angrily, placing his plate in the sink, and then kissed Celica on the head, thanking her. She patted his cheek like he was a child before he stormed from the kitchen.
“He’s in bad form,” I said to no one in particular.
“He is trying to help you, and you make it impossible.” I looked up at Elena, who mirrored her brother's angr
y expression.
“No, he’s trying to save himself, not me. I bet if, and I mean a big if, I am the one to help, that I will die. Not you, not your dumb brother, me.”
Color filled Elena’s cheeks. “My brother has spent his life helping the people in Hades who don’t want to live in a world full of anger and hate. He could die any day when he leaves here looking for people to help and bring back. Yet you come from Middle-Earth, the world everyone wants to live in. But the more I get to know you, the more I realize that you don’t deserve to live there, or here with us, for that matter. Your anger and hate would suit Hades itself. You are your father’s daughter.”
My body froze at her words, and she got up, leaving me trembling with anger and confusion at what I was feeling. Her words ran deep into my veins. My breathing was becoming heavy. I wasn’t sure who I was anymore, but I wasn’t the girl who came from Middle Earth. I was something far worse.
Cecelia sat down, her chubby hands covering mine. “Elena didn’t mean what she said. She just loves her brother and is afraid for him.”
I looked at Celica; the women to whom I’d never showed an ounce of kindness, yet who was always willing to help me.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me; I can’t seem to form one decent thought. I feel so angry all the time, and mostly I feel confused and I hate myself for it. Yet even though I know all this, I can’t stop messing everything up. I understand they brought me here to help and they need me, and it’s so much bigger than what I ever expected. With Nicolas helping people.” I gave Celica a half smile. “Helping people doesn’t happen here. That’s not what we’re taught. It’s meant to be a fire raging and all the souls burning for eternity. It’s only for bad people.” I shook my head. So much was racing through it that I didn’t know where to start.
“I can see why you’re confused. But now that you know it’s not as black and white as you may first have believed.” Celica paused and squeezed my hand again. “Whatever is causing this anger, you need to let it go.”
