“Ready, lovebirds?” Sam called.
Still looking at Chris, Rachel nodded.
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” she answered grimly.
Sam, Alex, and Danielle had gathered at three points around them. Rachel found herself shivering as Danielle’s eyes began to glow. Her hands moved and her teeth gritted with effort. For a moment, her magic fizzled out as if it was a light with a short circuit. But she shook her head and tried again, blazing even brighter than before. Rachel was the only one who noticed the lapse because Alex and Sam were too busy adding their own magic to the spell Danielle was weaving.
Rachel could feel the air crackling around her, growing warm, and she cried out as static lashed against her skin. With a start, she realized that Danielle was staring at her hungrily, her teeth like sharp points. Her face was haggard, her body bent with age, and her hair was a crow’s nest of tangled grey strands. That’s when she remembered the little fact that Danielle was still evil. The woman sucked out the lives of people to keep herself young and powerful. From the looks of her, and the issues with her magic, she hadn’t fed well in quite some time. Rachel’s confidence in their course of action fizzled and died, but it was too late to back down. The world split apart with a snap and a sigh. The ether sucked them down, and the real world was ripped to shreds that fluttered up and out of sight.
***
Rachel opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by sand.
The sun blazed down on them despite, the fact that it had been night back in the real world. The wind blew along the sand dunes, sending stinging particles against her skin and in her hair. She ducked her head against the assault and Chris took point as they started walking towards the rounded palace glittering beneath the sunlight. She had to squint her eyes in order to see the walls of the maze surrounding them. The sun had baked the vines until they were nothing more than dried husks struggling to survive.
Rachel thought she could feel eyes upon them, and more than once she glanced to the side to see little creatures scurrying along the ground. She’d finally broken down and asked Sam and Alex about the creatures while they’d waited around for Danielle to show up. Alex hadn’t had a clue, but according to Sam the animals were known as Salamanders.
“They’re the spirits that live in the fire,” he’d told her, his brow furrowing as he ran a hand up and down his forearm. “They bleed ashes and flame. Don’t let them touch you if they come for you again.”
“Not that I’m arguing, but why?”
“They are poison. They are death.” He shook his head. “Don’t touch them.”
His words came back to her in that moment and she was painfully aware of how lucky they were that the animals hadn’t moved in for the kill. Yet. When they got close enough to the palace to make out the sentries set up around the perimeter, the Salamanders backed off, blending into their surroundings seamlessly. If she hadn’t watched them leaping along beside and behind them, she never would have known they were there at all.
Danielle had told her that when the time came, she should simply concentrate on how it had felt to be trapped in her magical sleep. She said that focusing on that sensation should create an immediate result.
“You already have the mental strength, thanks to the astral travel. All you have to do now is focus that strength on another part of your will.”
It was surprisingly easy to do.
The same focus she’d once dedicated to escaping her body was used instead to try and make herself sleep. She let the sensation fill her, surround her, spreading further and further out like a wave. Between one step and the next, the sentries began to fall. Rachel realized that she could somehow sense the minds within the shining golden walls. She could feel the way those minds darkened as the curse struck them down. Winking out of her awareness, first one by one, and then all at once. Soon she and Chris were the only active minds left in the epicenter of the maze. Rachel realized that she was slowing, her legs as heavy as lead, and had to abruptly push the weight of the curse to the back of her mind.
Chris grabbed her hand, helping her keep up without being asked to. While the feel of her hand in his felt just as right as always, there was something…off about it. His skin felt as if it were stinging hers and Rachel had to swallow bile as the strange sensation of sickness began crawling along the palm of her hand. It sunk under her skin, made her vision waver, and she pulled her hand away. From the corner of her eye, she saw him glance at her in question, but she didn’t acknowledge him.
There was a courtyard that they had to pass through to reach the front entrance. The horses that milled about stared after them as they passed. They were too quiet, too still, to be normal and Rachel’s stomach flipped. Once inside and out of the sun, Rachel could have cried in relief as the cool air caressed her already sunburned skin.
“Now what?”
Rachel shrugged.
“If you were a Sultan, where would you hide your spell room?”
“Next to the bathroom,” he answered immediately.
“Are you serious?”
Chris shrugged, unapologetic.
“Come on then,” she sighed, and they began their search.
It felt like hours before they finally found the bath. It was the only room in the place that wasn’t covered with the bodies of the cursed. The floor of the room was gold plated and a deep pool had been carved into it to act as a tub.
“Bathroom?” she asked.
“Bathroom,” he confirmed.
The door at the far end of the room looked promising, and Rachel went to it without further hesitation. She pushed the door open, and the room they stepped within was exactly like the one she’d seen in her dreams, with hundreds of shelves that seemed to stretch on into infinity, straining beneath the weight of all the charms displayed upon them.
“Holy crap.”
“Are they at least alphabetized?”
She just looked at him and he scowled.
“Of course they aren’t,” he muttered.
She chuckled and they split up to start searching shelves.
“Dancing Shoes”
“Siren’s Call”
“Virgin Sacrifice”
“Golden Showers”
“Discordant Dreams”
“Lost Innocence”
“Gift of Midas”
“White as Snow”
“Awkward Social Skills”
“Is this serious right now?” she whispered in consternation, pressing her fists against her hips to increase her glaring power. This had to be some kind of joke. There was no rhyme or reason for the order of the spells. In fact, it was hard to tell the contents of most vials based off of their labels. Others, like “Plague Breath” were all too obvious, and Rachel found her imagination wandering more than once. She found her own vial on the second aisle, tucked between “Changling Fever” and “Boogie Nights.” She snatched the “Sleeping Beauty” vial and cradled it to her chest, convinced that something was going to happen to ruin the sweet sense of victory that filled her. Things were going too smoothly.
It was disquieting.
Rachel tucked the vial into her pocket and kept searching. She was supposed to be looking for a charm without a name. It should have been simple to find, but hours passed. She was about to give up when she heard Chris call out from the other side of the room.
“I found it.”
He was on the third aisle down, and his smile was bright as he turned to present her with his find.
“Frog Prince”
There was something different about it. Something significant that the other vials had lacked. There was a delicate ball sitting at its center. Another vial, sitting within the first. The small bit of glass had no name, the only vial in the room without one, and Rachel reached for the main container with a reverent hand. Their fingers brushed, and Rachel felt that rush of sickness again. Of death presented on a feather pillow. The muscles in her forearms spasmed, and she jerked away from him with a sob. The
vial seemed to drop in slow motion and they both stepped back from the destruction as glass shattered all over the floor.
The silence might as well have lasted for an eternity.
Rachel kept staring at the broken shards, convinced that something was supposed to happen, but seconds ticked by without any sign that breaking the vial within the vial had done anything at all.
“Well that was a huge let-down,” she said with a nervous chuckle. Chris remained silent, and she finally pulled her gaze away from the mess on the floor to look at him. That’s when she saw the blood. It was a trail that dripped from both ears. It dripped from his nostrils, it even dripped from the corners of his eyes. When he tried to speak, it coated her face in a fine spray before he fell to his knees.
“Chris?” Rachel choked, dropping down beside him and catching him as he canted drunkenly. His entire body grew rigid, then he began to shake and bucked in her arms with such violence that she could barely keep him from bashing his head against the unyielding floor.
“Chris,” she said again, sounding surprisingly calm, given the turmoil within her. “Chris, talk to me.” Terror and worry made swallowing an agony.
The muscles in his neck strained and blood bubbled up from his mouth. Rachel sobbed, cradling him there on her knees, she slipped her fingers inside of his mouth. His teeth were clenched and she had to use both hands the pry them apart. There was something in his mouth. She could feel it swelling, puling like a beacon, and she reached in blindly to pull the small round globe from the back of his throat.
She could barely focus on it because her hand was shaking so badly and tears momentarily blinded her. The sphere was pearlescent, a beautiful, perfect jewel coated in Chris’s blood. It was lit from within and the glow burned her fingertips. An agony that couldn’t be ignored. But no matter how much it hurt, she just couldn’t seem to let it go. Her vision tunneled down until the sphere was all that she could see. Until she could almost hear a siren’s call rising up from its depths.
There was a croak, and she finally tore her eyes from the sphere to look down at her lap. There was a tree frog staring up at her. Objectively, she knew that it had to be Chris, but when she looked into its red coated eyes, there was no acknowledgment in them. No recognition or intelligence. He ribbited at her, then jumped off of her lap. Rachel lunged after him, but he disappeared quickly beneath the nearest shelf. Scrambling after him, she hit her shoulder on the corner of another shelf, but kept going. Getting to her feet she hurried down the aisle, following the slapping sound his feet made each time he hopped and landed.
She skidded to a halt when she saw him sitting calmly in the middle of one aisle. She wanted to gasp for air after her mad dash, but strained to breathe slowly through her nose instead. Her head pounded, telling her that she wasn’t sucking in enough oxygen, but she dismissed it and instead, stalked towards him on light feet. She’d nearly reached him when he must have felt danger in the air. His tiny legs bunched and Rachel threw herself on top of him. Her cupped hands trapped him where he was while the rest of her slammed against the hard stone floor.
Rachel felt the vial in her pocket shatter and glass embedded itself in her hip. She screamed, pain a white light behind her eyelids. There was a sensation, like a bomb going off inside the pit of her being, the sensation spread and traveled outward. Before it disappeared completely, Rachel felt a stir of awareness as her curse was broken, thus freeing everyone that had been enchanted by it. Sphere clutched in one hand, and frog in the other, Rachel got to her feet and ran through the charm room in search of the door. Her leg ached, a deep pain that had her limping. But no matter how much the shards of glass may have hurt, the pain in her hand from where she touched Chris was even worse. It started at her fingers, then it swallowed her entire hand before making its slow way up her arm. Soon she lost sensation in the arm entirely, and the only reason she hadn’t dropped Chris was because her cramping hand had formed a claw that refused to relax.
Catching sight of the exit, Rachel veered towards it, weaving her way through the bookshelves, until she was only feet away. A figure moved to block her exit, wide shoulders filling the doorway, and Rachel came to a sudden, clumsy halt. Zaran looked her up and down, his eyes bright with amusement, and took a step towards her. Rachel knew she should run or something, but…but she’d never been afraid of Zaran. There’s always been an understanding between them. They both possessed a level of practicality under pressure and it was this exact trait that had Rachel hesitating. Waiting for what, though, she wasn’t sure.
Zaran came to her and held out his hand.
“You have something for me,” he stated softly.
Rachel felt the hand holding the sphere lift of its own accord and had to force herself to stillness. She shook her head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His face twisted with rage as he gripped her upper arm and jerked her close.
“Don’t fuck with me. Not about this. Where is it? Where’s the Toadstone?”
The Toadstone.
She almost gave herself away by glancing down at her fist, but managed to stop just in time. Opening her mouth, she took a breath to lie when clapping suddenly echoed through the room. They turned to find Danielle making her way across the bath, her pace measured, clapping as if they were performing a skit that only she could appreciate
“Bravo,” she said with a smile. “I didn’t expect you to show so quickly.”
Zaran’s eyes narrowed, and he shoved Rachel away and stepped to the side so that he could keep both women in his sight.
“What are you doing here?” Rachel asked, feeling numb.
Danielle shook her head.
“You were both gone for so long that I decided to come check on you. Alex and her lizard are holding the portal open.”
Rachel took a step back, trying to hide the way her shoulder sagged, a dead weight struggling to hold on to a squirming frog.
“Let’s try that again,” she panted. “What are you doing here?”
Danielle nodded, and the goodwill finally faded to be replaced with calculated loathing.
“I came to finish what I’ve started. You’ve done your part after all, so there’s no real reason to drag this out.”
Rachel nodded. She’d suspected as much.
“What will you tell Alex?”
Danielle’s gaze went to Zaran, and Rachel chuckled.
“Did you come for the Toadstone as well?”
Danielle snarled at Zaran, who was watching the two of them intently.
“You never did know when to keep your mouth shut.”
He magicked himself to her side, striking her across the face. Her head snapped to one side and black blood welled up from her busted lip. She growled and her hand came up. Magic burst from her palm in sputtering stream. Zaran magicked himself away again and by the time Danielle’s spell had hit him, it had diminished to nothing more than a trickle. He dispersed the rest of it with a wave of his hand and Danielle’s face flushed scarlet with embarrassment. He laughed.
“You’re losing your touch, Danny. Why is that?”
“Shut up,” she snarled. She’d been as gorgeous as always when she’d first shown up, but after her failed attack on Zaran, her hair had lost its luster. There were age lines around her mouth and her chin hung in wrinkled jowls that quivered with every angry step she took towards the genie.
“Is little Alex still following after you like a puppy?” He jeered, disappearing and reappearing so quickly that it was hard to keep track of where he would end up next. He popped up behind Danielle and his mouth pressed against the shell of her ear. “Isn’t she ripe enough to eat yet?”
Danielle growled something unintelligible and went after him with a fury. Her next spell ripped a crater into the ground where he’d been standing and Zaran howled with laughter as he leapt out of the way. Rachel saw an opportunity to take advantage of their distraction and made a run for it. She’d barely gone a half dozen steps befo
re Zaran appeared before her.
“Where do you think you’re going, little love?”
Rachel’s knee came up to strike him between the legs, but he shoved her back. She hit the ground on her bad hip, and gagged at the pain of it. Her deadened arm finally lost the battle with frog Chris and he wriggled free. Rachel reached for him just as Zaran’s foot came down upon her other wrist. She felt bones grind and she gritted her teeth. She wasn’t able to put up with the pain for long, and soon enough her fingers opened one by one.
The Toadstone rolled out of her grip and Zaran lunged for it. Danielle followed suit. Rachel wasn’t sure how she did it, or even why, she just knew that if they both wanted the stone so badly, then neither of them could have it. She felt an old, familiar, sensation stir to life within her, and she lashed out with it. Pulling the wind from the ether and driving it towards the Stone. It shot across the floor, just out of their reach, and Danielle and Zaran went after it blindly. As soon as they stepped within the charm room, Rachel reversed the flow. The Stone shot back to her like a bullet and hit her in the chest hard enough to make her cry out. Before either of them could step from the room, Rachel clenched her fists and focused her powers on shutting the doors before they could escape.
She climbed to her feet painfully, her deadened arm held tight against her body and her eyes trained on the door. It shook on its hinges, but didn’t open. There was a crack of sound and Rachel jumped. She saw the edges of the door glow purple, the steel growing hot as the heat built. Just when it looked as if the door would give way, a ruin came to life on its surface. A flash fire symbol that dismissed the magic that had been aimed at it. From the bottom up, the steel began to morph into gold, the edges welding to the frame so that there would be no opening it again. There must have been some sort of spell on the room to keep the curses inside contained. Rachel heard a roar and then the sound of breaking glass as Zaran and Danielle continued to fight. Then the door transformed completely and blocked the noise.
Chris was nowhere in sight and she could hear the residents of the Palace stirring. Moving. Investigating. She wouldn’t make it back to the portal without being spotted. She needed to get away. Now. But she couldn’t leave Chris.
Fairest 02 - The Frog Prince Page 14
