“Marcus?” Mom says, her mouth parted slightly as she huffs and puffs her way around her grandmother.
“I’ve warned you countless times about that man, Grace.”
Mom waves her hand, rolling her eyes. She walks Jared over to the shadows of the home. There’s a bang on the door and I flinch; so does everyone inside the house. A sound of a horse’s hooves plopping and crumbling up the mulch on the trail sounds as they return. I step beside the cottage, slipping into darkness. There’s a pair of glowing green eyes a distance from the trees, watching me. The rush of the men and woman on their horses pass me by, and I cover my mouth to keep from yelping.
I hear a loud crash. The crowd outside the house has forced their way through Mom’s barricade. The wood snaps and crackles as the angry citizens break through. I hear a zap from inside and rush over to the back door, seeing my mother’s broomstick circling in the air. She presses the button as it resizes and morphs into a silver sword. People run inside, throwing in flames and setting the house on fire. They shout and yell in excitement. She slices the air with her sword, trying to protect my brother. My markings are vibrating across my arms.
“Get the child. He’s the one we need!” a man grunts.
I reach for the door, looking up at Mellissa; the palm of her hand is faced toward me. She shakes her head. My eyes become warm and watery. A man pushes Grace out of the way, and I hear my mother screaming to the floor. Jared coughs, crying from the shadows. He is then snatched by a group of men.
“No!” my mother growls, wrapping her fingers around the broomstick on the floor.
The flames are heating up the little space, and both my great-grandmother and mother are coughing. Flame crawls out of the hole I peeked in, sizzling on the outside of the cottage as well. I step back, tripping on a pile of hay.
I get back up, my throat dry and the smell of smoke all over me. I cough, running back to the door, opening it, but Mellissa runs toward me and pushes me on the ground. Her hair is pulled back as she is yanked back inside the home. I hear the sound of the crowd running away with my crying brother held hostage. The smoke is stinging my eyes. I cover my mouth to keep from inhaling any more smoke and force myself out of the animal pen, seeing the men run away with Jared. Mom sprints outside with her broomstick activated, but a man with glowing green eyes leaps in front of her.
“My son! Get out of the way, Marcus!” she screams. Their markings are glowing as Marcus touches her.
This is the man Mellissa was talking about. I remember his green eyes, staring at me in the field while I was behind the cottage. Jared cries as he’s being dragged to the dark building I saw before. My mother runs for him across the wide space in the town. Marcus grabs on to her waist; she turns around, pushing him off. I stand, staring at the burning house across from me and then back at Jared. Jared has tears running down his face. The door to the building slams shut, leaving me one last glance at Jared’s open mouth.
I hear shouts of excitement and anger approaching the scene.
“Jared!” Mom screams, tripping to the ground, coughing. Marcus rushes over to her. “Let go of me!” she shrieks. “My baby!”
“Grace, the rest of the Verel are coming. We must leave.”
She lifts herself up and pushes Marcus to the side.
“Grams!” she shouts, running to the burning house. Her eyes flick to me, and she stops for a second, looking in the darkness where I’m hiding. I gasp and step back against the house.
A loud burst of flames crackling the wood sounds from her cottage.
“Grace!” Marcus yells for Mom’s attention; she turns to look at him. The two are forced to run into the field, disappearing into the forest together. I know Mellissa was stuck in that house; she was burned to death.
This was the day she died and Jared was turned into a cat.
I know she told me not to do anything, but my time here isn’t finished yet. I hear the group of angry citizens rushing after Mom and Marcus. I know they’re going to track them down until they’re dead. I dart in front of them and they stop. I circle around and run toward where the Verel were holding Jared.
“Another witch!” a woman screams in fear.
“Kill the witch! Kill the witch!” the crowd chants.
I reach the dark building, kicking the wooden door open. The Verel are standing in a circle with Jared in the middle of them, pinned to the floor.
***
My mouth gapes open, and my heart begins to beat frantically. My nerves jolt inside of my body, and the organized pumps of pulse beat once more. My hands and feet warm up from my blood circulating properly, and I cough, waking myself up from the past. The sound of thunder reverberates around my room; I blink back into reality.
Miss Canary watches me collect myself from my daze. “The invigorating aftermath of projection…must be worth it for such an ability.” She steps toward me. “Everything okay, Eliza?”
“Everything’s fine.”
The rain begins to pick up and beat against the window, branches scratching the panes. My left arm starts to light up, and so does Miss Canary’s. The silence between us becomes more awkward by the moment. I am patiently waiting for anything she might attempt to do. I get up from the bed, feeling the mist of rain and wind blowing inside the room. I walk over to the window I broke out of.
“The boy, the one I saw in your doorway when we first met. When I was eight.” I stand still, watching the trees sway with the wind. I turn back to the queen of the elves.
“Your mother and I both knew you saw something, Eliza. No one was in the doorway.”
I walk over to pick up my broomstick, and I breathe in sharply, remembering that I’m half mystic. I have to be careful with picking up a witch’s weapon. My broomstick doesn’t burn me when I wrap my fingers around its base.
“Your emotions speak otherwise.” I place the weapon into my pocket. The mystery kind of soothes my confusion now that I know who exactly my mother was talking to and why Jared was taken away to begin with.
Something about Jared caused the Verel to kidnap him, but why?
Why does it feel like something is missing? Why would a group of male witches kill and steal away female witches? Jared isn’t a female, so something triggered the brotherhood to take him away. The Verel are supposed to use female witches and then eventually kill them off, but they weren’t worried about Mom or Mellissa; they were worried about Jared.
“Wouldn’t you think I’d tell you about him?”
“Don’t lie to me. If that’s the reason, you should know my father then.”
“He’s dead, Eliza,” she says.
“I don’t believe you.”
The book on my bed shines its light blue lines around the room. I pick up the book and hold it against my chest tightly. I stand in place with my back facing Miss Canary.
“I will find out the truth, and when I do, it won’t be pretty,” I say, then leave the room. The only reason I’m not fighting to leave this place anytime soon is because of this book. I want to see what the mermaid queen has to say about myths.
The hallways in the dark castle are buzzing from the many elves that surround us. Every mystic upstairs in the hallways flees to safety.
“Save yourselves!” An elf sprints by, vanishing into the shadows of the castle.
Miss Canary steps out of my room to see what all the commotion is about. Her hand covers her mouth; she is in full shock. I can’t see anything.
From the other side of the long hallway before us glow blue waves around the frenzied crowd. A girl with blue hair and a tall guy with glowing silver markings are walking toward us. The girl is barefoot, her light blue tattoos glowing around her ankle. She’s wearing a dark blue maxi skirt and a black crop top. She strides down the hallway, holding a long icicle sword. The guy next to her is circling a silvery whip in the air that slithers toward an elf that’s running away to safety.
The elf stops in place when the whip constricts around her neck, zapping and burning her
soft skin. She screams in pain, falling to the floor as the mermaid next to the witch leaps over to land on top of the elf, stabbing the mystic with the icicle sword. There’s a loud screech from the dying elf, followed by green mist floating up.
Her witch boyfriend presses the red button on his broomstick, and sharp blades spring up alongside the whip’s metal, striking another elf that runs by him. He clicks the broomstick and the metal scrapes, morphing into a dagger. He then stabs the heart of the mystic, killing it. Another elf trips on the floor in fear, the witch presses his broomstick, wraps his whip around the body of the child elf, and flings her onto a wall next to him. The impact is so powerful that she crashes into a wall and vanishes into green mist. How could this corrupt witch and mermaid enter Ellevil?
I step back, bumping into Miss Canary. Lightning strikes behind the evil duo in front of us.
The killer presses his button and the whip retracts. I hear the sound of boots running from behind the two corrupt people. The mermaid’s blue markings are glowing, and the witch’s silver markings are burning their light in the darkness. Other silver tattoos beam on from behind him. He turns around to look at his team of witches and then flashes a smirk at me.
“Hey, Miss Swift.” Eric clicks the button on his broomstick.
His girlfriend Tori giggles.
Chapter 17
The two most dangerous people invaded Ellevil, killing all the elves in plain sight. Miss Canary’s eyes water and the tattoos under the long sleeves of her robe glow. How did Tori and Eric get through the portal in the first place? Corrupt creatures or witches aren’t allowed to get in.
“Stay behind me, Eliza,” Miss Canary commands.
“I don’t need your protection. I’ve encountered a mermaid and a witch before,” I say.
Tori stalks toward us, trailing her index finger against the walls as she walks. Frost begins to develop along the wall. Icy blue eyes watch me closely as her boyfriend walks behind her.
“Why couldn’t you die the first time we met, Liz?” she sings. “Who’s going to play with me first?” She crooks her neck to the side, switching her glare to the elf next to me. “I’ll make it easy for you guys,” Tori says, dropping her spear on the ground, where it shatters into tiny icy pieces.
“I want her…” I say.
“We must go. I sense her energy, and I’m sure you sense it too, Eliza.”
“I sense it…she’s dangerous. I already know her.”
“Your daddy was right about your mother. She’s weak, like you,” Tori teases.
Eric clicks his broomstick and it turns into a slim sword. I pull out my broomstick, clicking the button. A light purple sword slides out of the handle. He looks down at my weapon. I know he knows my sword is different than his.
Tori starts running toward Miss Canary. I press the button on my broomstick once more, turning it into its usual long bar shape, only this time two purple daggers are poking out on each end. Grinning, Tori splays out her hand on the wall beside her. On her knuckles, her markings glow as ice forms, spiking up large jagged edges and traveling down the wall toward me. Tori lets go of the wall and the ice continues to travel. She punches her hands in the air and icicles shoot out, aiming right for me.
I ducked and dodged all five icicles calmly, cutting them with my sword. The silver lines around my long weapon glow. Miss Canary does the same; her tattoos are glowing bright. She steps in front of me, her back facing our enemy.
“Eliza, get to Mervil.” She and I both know Ellevil is in danger.
Tori and Eric would slowly corrupt their kingdom.
I step in front of her, turning my broomstick into a weapon, and say, “No.”
I circle the whip in the air, aiming for Tori’s neck. Eric and his group of witches step back, shocked that I would react this way. Tori sidesteps the attack, glaring at me with her hair glowing in the darkness. Her ice on the wall thickens around us. It’s becoming cold and the tips of my fingers are numb. Ice beneath me begins to freeze over my boots. I sense another attack forming in Tori’s mind. Miss Canary spins around and catches the icicle with her thumb and index finger. Another three icicles shoot through the air. Miss Canary chucks the icicle she caught back at Tori. The icicle grazes Tori’s hair, and the mermaid smirks at us. We both dodge to the floor, avoiding the other sharp pieces of ice. I hear them crack when they land next to us.
“Eliza, leave now.”
She knew about me being a myth and for all I know this mermaid knows my father, and so does Miss Canary. She doesn’t want to tell me the truth. Tori flicks her fingers in the air; a snake-like water current slithers toward Miss Canary.
The water wraps around her neck, knocking her to the floor. Tori giggles, pulling Miss Canary toward her with increasing speed. I run after her, but Miss Canary waves her hands and weeds spring up from the floor, creating a wall and separating me from the fight. I try cutting my way through.
“Leave!” she cries out.
Flames light up the weeds. I cut them and back away, coughing. I remember Donovan in the holding area. I have to get to help and save him from the people invading the castle. I race down the hallway to the steps. I trip down the stairs into the basement. Orange and red flames crackle on the door. The heat on my skin warms as I get closer to the entrance of his prison; the flames rage in front of me angrily.
“Donovan!” I cough from inhaling the smoke. The ends of my robe catch on fire and warmth blooms on my skin. I take off the robe and stomp the fire out. On my other side, that wall too is burning. I will be trapped in this cube of flames if I don’t get out of here.
“Donovan!” My skin is warm from the heat around me; my throat is sore from screaming. Tears trickle down my cheeks.
“Donovan,” I cough, turning on my broomstick and plunging my weapon at the door. My broomstick burns me, and I release my grip. I’ve lost focus and my weapon believes I’m a mystic. I try to breathe but I’m coughing.
I close my eyes, remembering what Donovan said to me. “Relax.”
I reach down and successfully retrieve my broomstick without being burned. The flames burst in front of me. I step back, coughing my way up the stairs. An elf bumps into me; the shivering boy watches me in fear.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say with my hands covering my mouth, and holding out my hand to help him up. He is too frightened to take my hand. He runs off.
Several elves are huddled out on the field behind the castle. A mixture of young, teen, and adult elves sprint into the woods. I hold onto the book Miss Canary gave me. I take one last look at the burning castle behind me, wondering if Donovan is alive somehow. I wipe the tears from my face.
Everything inside of me wants to go back in.
I didn’t think running into a forest would lead me to Mervil, the mermaid kingdom. I remembered the ocean Christian and I stood on and that mermaid we encountered. Maybe Mervil is located somewhere around there? My senses are telling me that it is in the forest.
Sprinting between the thick branches, I dash forward. The scent of moist wood and leaves enter my nose. I stand still, noticing the silence. The same boy elf who didn’t want my help is sitting on a branch above me.
“Why are you here?” he says, holding on to a rock.
“I feel like I need to be here, in the forest.”
“You don’t feel anything. You’re a myth. Myths don’t exist.”
“I guess you’re wrong, because I’m alive and breathing.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, silly witch.” The young elf leaps off the branch and lands on his feet with ease. “Corruption brings death, elves are dead, and you brought death upon our kingdom.”
“Why are you blaming me? I had nothing to do with the corrupt mystics and witches entering Ellevil.”
“Because myths are the founders of Rav.”
The boy glances behind him and runs away through the large ferns in the woods. I don’t believe what he said; I figure every elf hates me anyway. I shake off the tho
ught that being a myth means being corrupt. I close my eyes and let my senses guide me through the forest. I find closing my eyes and disabling my vision really kicks in my myth instincts. Mom would be proud of me for utilizing them, I suppose. I’m guided through the forest by my senses, the soft mud beneath me sinking my boots deep into their grip. The tall ferns tickle against my skin as they push me along my journey. My right arm with my witch markings burns slightly.
The sucking grip that once pulled on my boots becomes hard and stony. A mist of fresh salt water breeze brushes against my face.
I open my eyes cautiously, glancing to my left. A large rocky wall is right next to me. Behind me is the forest. The trees’ leaves rustle and lightning shoots across the sky.
Toward my right is another rocky wall, but in front of me is a large cliff. I walk over to the end of the cliff only to see a massive waterfall. Streams of raging water roar out of its mouth, leading to the ocean. The mystical ripples it creates dance for me. Glowing fish in the water circle around as they play with each other. I bite on my lip softly, holding onto my book; my fingernails dig into it. I toss my lingering hairs behind my shoulders. I inhale slowly, and my eyebrows furrow at the steep fall of water.
I walk backward from the edge of the cliff, afraid I will fall down into the water, allowing the water to take over my body as it once did at the rave in Virginia Beach. I am afraid of drowning and becoming unconscious with absolutely no one to come save me.
I think about the possibilities. I’m not even sure if this book should come with me. I take another step backward, reluctant to go any closer to the edge. I stare at the cliff, hearing the waterfall. The book starts to freeze against my palms and it glows blue, creating some sort of saran wrap around itself.
Don’t think, don’t look down…leap.
My feet are planted onto the gravel; they feel heavier and my muscles thicken.
Leap…Don’t look, don’t look down.
Mythical (The Mystical Series Book 2) Page 17
