At Death's Door

by Rebekah Paulsen

  “Just a little further. I can see the tower from here,” Mona answered. She was the only one not tired. We all knew why but still it kinda sucked.

  “Could you give me an estimate cause I can’t see the fucking tower,” Gabriel grumbled, “And who the fuck puts a fucking princess in a tower!” Eris started laughing so hard that she almost fell out of the air, which made the rest of us laugh except for Mona and Leo. He’s a very quiet child. Okay, child isn’t a good word to use when talking about what looks like a seventeen-year old who seemed to be only three inches shorter than his brother.

  “Gabriel, it is only about one and a half miles from here,” Mona sighed once everyone stopped laughing.

  “What? Is the little reaper getting tired?” Lander asked flying next to Gabriel, “Poor thing. Too bad too, you’re letting flower over there show you up.”

  “Get the fuck away from me, asshole,” Gabriel shot. Lander smirked and flew over beside me.

  “Hey pretty flower, how are you?” Lander asked, rolling onto his back and looking at me.

  “Exhausted. Why?” I asked with a yawn. He stretched and put his arms behind his head which caused his shirt to move just above his belly button. Okay, I used to do hand to hand combat when I was in school and it wasn’t uncommon for the guys to fight without their shirts on so it never bugged me. Although for some reason seeing Lander’s belly was making me uncomfortable. I quickly looked away and saw him smiling at me. His smile was as pointy as Eris’s since they both had teeth like the Vie.

  “Well, I was wondering maybe after all of this princess searching business that we could spend a little more time together. Just you and me, get to know each other more,” Lander answered with a mischievous grin. What the fuck? Are we in one of those cliche love movies? Whatever. Anyways…

  “How about no. I’d rather not go where you’re going,” I replied.

  “Why not, flower?” he asked with the sweetest smile.

  “Because I don’t want to run into that tree,” I said. He sat up just in time to fly into a tree. I laughed as I walked away and watched Leo fly down to check and see if Lander’s okay. When I looked back I saw Lander just sitting on the ground staring at me with a smirk. I turned back around and kept walking. I didn’t get far before I heard Leo yell ‘no’ seconds before my feet left the ground. I screamed and clung to what was closest to me. I looked at who had picked me up and saw red.

  “Lander put me down!” I yelled hitting him in the chest. He laughed and shook his head.

  “Nope, you’re cute like this. Just relax, you said that you were exhausted, so sleep,” he said with a soft smile.

  “That’s like telling me to trust you while you have a knife against my throat,” I said.

  “To be honest I prefer guns,” he said pulling out a nine millimeter.

  “PUT ME DOWN!” I panicked. He shrugged.

  “If you insist,” he said as he dropped me from thirty fucking feet in the air. I screamed. Everything happened so fast and I waited for my body to hit the ground.

  “Cerise, could you please stop screaming,” I opened my eyes and looked up.

  “Thank you,” Leo said, gently putting me down. He smiled softly.

  “I should be thanking you. Your brother’s kinda an ass,” I pointed out.

  “Never mind him. He’s just not used to the word ‘rejection’,” Leo said. I laughed and started feel awfully dizzy. Leo held onto me when I almost fell over.

  “Maybe you should rest, Cerise,” Leo suggested as everyone came to us.

  “No, no I...I’ll be fin-,”

  “Cerise!” someone yelled as everything around me went dark.

  Chapter 10

  When I opened my eyes I saw a black void all around me. I started walking with no real reason just trying to figure out where I was.

  “Miss.” I turned around to a little girl’s voice to find no one there. I stood there unsure of what to do when I felt a tug at my dress. I turned around and saw a small girl of about six. She had short, wavy, light blonde hair with a single blue streak on the right side of her bangs. Her eyes were a solid white, and she had big white wings to match. Her hair was short enough that you could see her small pointed ears that everyone had, and she had a small golden tiara with a single sapphire gem in the middle. I could tell that she was Vie, but she didn’t seem to be here to hurt me.

  “Miss,” she said again. She had a slight British accent, which made her seem cuter.

  “Yes?” I asked getting down on my knees.

  “Are you Cerise?” she asked.

  “Yes…”

  “I have a message for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Don’t go to the tower. Turn around and turn left.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s not safe for you or your friends. Please don’t go.”

  “But we have to find the princess. We need the crown.”

  “Talk to the one with the one with the black eyes,” she said pointing to her eyes.

  “About what?” I asked. This was getting a bit confusing.

  “What happened to her family.”

  “Okay, but who are you?”

  “A friend,” she said as she started to walk away.

  “Wait, no please come back!” I called getting up and going after her.

  “Goodbye Cerise,” she said turning around. She placed her hand on my arm and I woke up.

  ~~~/~~~/~~~

  I woke up in someone’s arms. I almost freaked out until I saw that Leo was the one holding me. He was walking so he wouldn’t drop me. He looked down at me and flinched.

  “Cerise. You’re up,” Leo said drawing attention to the others. Everyone stopped and came over to see. Leo put me down and stood beside me just in case I fell again.

  “Cerise, what happened?” Mona asked.

  “Later, okay? Right now we need to turn around,” I said pointing behind us.

  “Why? It’s just a few more feet to the castle,” Gabriel said.

  “Just trust me one this one,” I pleaded. Leo stared at me for a bit before nodding his head.

  “I’m with Cerise,” he said.

  “Please guys, I have a feeling that it won’t end well if we go in there,” I said. Lander sighed and walked over next to me.

  “I can’t say no to flower,” he said as he put his arm around my waist. I sighed as I slapped his hand away. Eris shrugged and walked over.

  “I see nothin’ wrong with followin’ lil’ red,” she put in. Ethan walked over and nodded his head once.

  “Well, Gabriel it looks like we’re outnumbered. I guess we gotta follow her,” Mona pointed out.

  “Oh yay. Follow Snowdrop. Like nothing bad happened the last time that happened,” Gabriel grumbled as he followed the rest of us away from the castle and the crown.

  ~~~/~~~/~~~

  “Okay Snowdrop, where are we going?” Gabriel asked walking over beside me.

  “No clue,” I shrugged. We had been walking (or flying) for about an hour. I was sort of leading them the way I was told to go, but it seemed like there was nothing but ten-foot trees all around us.

  “Oh wow! Go figure that miss dumbass over here wouldn’t know!” Gabriel spat.

  “Hey! Leave her alone. She must have had a good reason to do this,” Lander said, flying down in front of Gabriel.

  “Oh sorry. Did I just insult your girlfriend? Oops,” Gabriel’s voice dripped with sarcasm, getting in Lander’s face.

  “Guys please, let’s not do this,” I pleaded as I tried to separate them. Mona and Eris tried to help me but Lander pushed us all away as Gabriel swung at him. By the time I knocked my head off of the tree nearest me I was seeing red.

  “I said stop!” I yelled as I lunged at them. I didn’t get very far as I was thrown into the air and left dangling there.

  “Ahoy, there! Would you mind stopping all of this fighting?” I tensed up upon hearing the voice. It was sweet and happy. Why did it sound so familiar? I looked up to
see who was holding me up this time but saw nothing and panicked.

  “Calamine! I said to hold her until she calms down not until she freaks out!” the voice said as I was gently set back down. I looked over to where the voice was coming from and saw a huge ship in the grass that looked like it came right out of a pirate book. The woman whom the voice was coming from wore a pirate outfit in varying shades of purple complete with shiny black pirate boots and two swords on either side of her hips. The sun was directly behind her head making it hard to see her face.

  “Ah, there she is. Although you’re a little more serious than I last remember, love,” she said pointing at me and jumping down from the ship. She landed a little away from me and stood up. Her black pirate hat with the light purple trim and dark red feather blocked her face. Everyone else backed up and kept quiet. She lacked wings so she must have been part of the Deces.

  “Who are you?” I asked a bit cautious. She laughed a cheery laugh that was full of bells.

  “Oh, silly me. I forgot that this ol’ hat is so big,” she said as she took it off. She had milky white eyes, unbelievably long white, braided hair, skin paler than mine, and a black eyepatch with a thick red ring in the middle. She smiled when she saw the recognition in my eyes.

  “Hey, Cerise. Miss me much?” My mom said as I squealed and hugged her. When we pulled away I punched her in the arm.

  “Owww,” she said as she rubbed her arm.

  “You left me for ten years! Who the fuck leaves an eight-year-old child for ten years?” I yelled at her, “I was forced to move in with the Greenwoods and lived there for so long that I had to take on their name! I mean look at this!” I said shoving a picture of Lily and I wearing matching black and white dresses in her face. It was a family picture that Mr. Greenwood wanted us to take. I didn’t object since they’ve done so much for me.

  “I was just trying to tie up some loose ends, Love, I swear,” she said sadly.

  “Loose ends! Mom, what the hell could be so pressing that you don’t see your own daughter again for ten fucking years?” I was about to yell at her some more when Mona and Eris came running over.

  “Thorn!” they both called at once.

  “Mona Lisa! Eris Jackson!” Thorn yelled as she hugged them. (I’m going to refer to her as Thorn cause I’m still quite pissed off at her and plus that’s her name.) They started talking about how everything went after she left them and other stuff that I stopped paying attention to. Lander and Gabriel were having their own quiet argument while Ethan made sure that neither one of them actually tried to hurt each other again. Leo walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder with a reassuring smile.

  “Your mom had good reason to leave. Just like how you had good reason to follow your dream,” he whispered in my ear. I looked at him startled.

  “How did you know about that?” I asked.

  “It was a feeling I had. I could tell that you didn’t just randomly pass out. No, someone made you,” he replied. I watched as he rubbed my shoulder and walked away. I looked around at everything and everyone. It all seemed to go in slow motion. Everyone seemed to be happy, besides Lander and Gabriel. I sat on the ground and watched everyone chatting with one another. I had that feeling again. That feeling of being alone. I tuned out everything around me and just sat in a pretend silence that forms when one is waiting for the end. I knew it wasn’t the end. It just felt like it. I sighed and laid down in the soft green grass and stared at the ever so light blue sky. The clou-

  “AAAAAAHHHHHH!” I screamed as I was rushed into the air once more. I was too high in the air for anyone to notice my screams. From where I was I could see all of the trees that went on for miles and miles on end and the castle that we were going to. I noticed that the roof was covered in something that wasn’t wood. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was rigged explosives. I started to panic and looked behind me to see if anyone was holding me up. All I saw was demonic like blood red wings with the bone structure showing. The thing that scared me though was the fact that wings didn’t seem to be connected to anyone!

  I screamed just as they disappeared causing me to plummet a hundred feet out of the sky. I could feel the wind whipping against my face almost as though it was trying to stop my fall. Just as I was about to hit the first tree I stopped falling. I hovered there for a bit before I was gently brought over to the nearby ship and set down softly on the oakwood deck. I landed on my feet and looked around. Something shiny caught my eye and as I walked towards it I felt a tug at my dress. I turned around and came face to face with blank, white eyes, long, wavy, pale blonde hair with a single blue streak on the right side of her bangs, and a dark gray bandana with blue curvy vines wrapped around half of her face, covering her mouth and nose. I backed up when I realized that this was the same girl I had seen in my dream. Wait..she’s missing her wings...she also seems so much sadder and tanner...and the little girl was wearing a dark gray dress. This sixteen-year-old was wearing an old dark gray military style suit with blue curvy, vine-like designs on the collar and sleeves. Her collar was stiff and covered most of her neck except for the choker that was wrapped around her throat. In the middle of the choker was a golden Celtic trinity knot which seemed to only consist of three curved lines connected together. The rest of the choker was black. She seemed to be staring at me with her sad eyes.

  “Are...are you the girl from my dream?” I asked quietly. She nodded but said nothing.

  “Who are you?” I asked. After what felt like an hour of silence I finally got an answer.

  “Lass, Calamine can’t talk. No one knows exactly why.” I looked over to where I heard the voice and saw a very interesting sight. A man (I’m talking a guy in about his twenties) stood there holding a huge stack of about ten books and a glass of something silver. His hair was shoulder length, curly, gray, and cornrowed on the left side. He had pure black eyes like Eris. Huge black wings too. His hands were covered with gauze in such a way that it looked like he’s wearing fingerless gloves. He wore a bright green button up shirt with the first two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up, showing off his well-defined muscles. He also had on a loose black plaid tie that matched his dark green plaid pants that had a single silver chain on them. He also wore a red spiked choker and golden glasses.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “No one has heard her talk,” he said as I noticed the slight Scottish accent.

  “So she’s Calamine?” I asked pointing at the girl.

  “Yeah.”

  “And you are…” I led on, leaning a little towards him.

  “The name’s Jakey, lass, I’m the one who steers this big hunk of wood,” he said with a laugh.

  “Oh...How...did you get here?” I asked stepping back a bit only to run into Calamine. She put her hands on my shoulders to try and stop me. When she did I felt a surge go through me as I was sent somewhere else.

  A little girl, no more than eleven sat on a stoop crying before me. Her light blonde hair had lost even more color since the last time I saw her. The blue streak was darker though and her wings were missing. When she looked up I saw that she had blood-soaked bandages around the bottom half of her face that covered her mouth and nose. The next thing that happened made me realize that I wasn’t sent anywhere. This was someone’s memory.

  “Calamine? Love, please just come with me. I’ll keep you safe and you won’t have to go through any more pain. Please, Calamine,” Thorn’s voice pleaded with the small child. As I looked at her tear-filled eyes I felt the urge to just pick her up and make everything better.

  “Please…” Thorn pleaded once more. The small child looked at the ground before nodding her head.

  When I came back down to earth I saw Calamine staring at the floor while Jakey seemed to be talking with Eris about something. I could feel Calamine’s hands leave my shoulders slowly as I turned around. I stared at her sad eyes and was about ask what just happened when another emotion washed over me: annoyance.

  �
�Love! I see you met Calamine and Jakey. She’s a real sweetheart and he’s the smartest little guy I’ve ever met! Sure I might’ve stolen him from his boyfriend, but he said he didn’t mind. They are such a cute couple too!” Thorn rambled. She is the happiest person I have ever met. How, though?

  “Um...Mom? Would you mind shutting up for one minute to explain why you even wanted me here? You waited ten years to come see me again. Why now?” I asked a little irritated.

  “You’re still on the whole ‘ten years’ thing? Love, you gotta relax, calm down, enjoy life,” she said waving away the question.

  “MOM! The Witch of the Deces is dead and you expect me to calm down when the princess is still out there somewhere,” I yelled. Jakey dropped his books and glass, Calamine bowed her head, and Thorn’s ever present smile fell from her face.

  “W-what?” Thorn barely whispered. She looked shaken by the news and also on the verge of tears. She swallowed hard and looked at Calamine.

  “Bring...bring the rest of them on the ship and get us in the water,” she said as she headed to one of the doors on the ship. She looked at Jakey on the floor and shook her head as she pulled out one of her swords. The handle was encrusted with pearls whereas the blade itself had the same markings I had seen on Witch Ella.

  “J-Jakey,” Thorn stuttered as she placed the blade under his chin, causing him to stand. Even though he was only a few inches taller than her, he was still visibly terrified. I would be too if I had a sword pointed at my throat.

  “Jakey,” she said again.

  “Y-yes ma’am?” Jakey stuttered.

  “After you’re done with cleaning up your mess, please do set course for the center of Valabin,” Thorn said, somehow looking down on him.

  “Y-yes ma’am,” he said as he scurried to do as he was told. She sighed and walked away with her head in her hands. What’s wrong with her? I turned around to ask Calamine but she was busy. The choker around her neck glowed a beautiful light golden color as her hands began to glow the same color. She placed her hands against her temple and slowly raised them above her head leaving them there for a second before slowly spreading them out wide. I watched in awe as she brought one hand down to her side. When she did I heard a loud thud and turned around to see Mona, Gabriel, Ethan, and Leo in a pile on the ground.