Emil is waving his hands around and knocks a lamp to the floor, shattering it. Miss Canary steps back from him, clasping her hands together.
“Emil, calm down…” she warns him.
“It’s either you go…or I leave.”
His face lights up, his blue eyes fading to black. He is breathing harshly, saliva dripping from his mouth. Miss Canary is clearly frightened of Emil. She picks up a bar and warns him to not approach her any further. Emil does not listen; he watches his love carefully.
“Don’t do this to yourself, Emil…corruption will kill you.”
“Come with me…” he says.
Emil darts to Miss Canary swiftly. She holds out her bar, bends down to her knees, and swipes the bar, tripping Emil. She is leaping over his body toward the door when Emil grabs her ankle and snaps it. She crashes to the floor with a grunt.
“Emil, stop this!” she cries out.
Emil grapples Miss Canary’s neck, preparing to break it. A tear travels down Terese’s cheek. “Please…”
Emil fights the corruption as his eyes fade back into blue, and Miss Canary faints. He sees what he has done, runs over to a coat rack, and puts on a black coat, running to the Ellevil portal in the forest. He takes one glance behind him at the black castle, places the black hood over his head, and vanishes into the portal.
Christian and Elaena are watching me carefully.
“And that is where Lauren, your grandmother, comes in,” Elaena says.
“She finds Emil talking to a mermaid. Lauren and the mermaid fall in love…he then eventually corrupts her,” Christian says as I glance at him.
“How does this have anything to do with what I am?”
“Because, Eliza, Lauren made a deal with a corrupt elf. A betrothal with the king of corruption.” He looks at me, walking in my direction, his green markings glowing along with mine. The ends of my fingers freeze a tiny bit and I come to the realization of what he means.
“Don’t come any closer to me,” I say, my voice croaking.
I take out my broomstick, pressing the button to morph it into its purple sword. Christian tucks his hands into his pockets.
“This is where you ran off to?” I say, waving my sword in the air. “A cave with mermaids? You don’t fool me, Christian. I know you’re corrupt.”
“Don’t you want to know the reason why your mom was acting strange? Why Eric and Jared went missing with her?” he says. “It’s because your mother was betrothed to marry your father, the king of corruption. Her foolish acts caused havoc in Ravamere…she did not fulfil her marriage with the king. This is where you and I come into the story. The betrothal bounced off from the king and your mom onto you and me.”
“My mother is the reason why they were betrothed and she’s the reason why you and I are today, repeating the process?”
Chapter 20
Everything Christian was telling me could be another lie. He and his mother are the same: pathological liars. Kissing me, almost killing me, was all planned. I hope all of this wasn’t true. I can hear the pond’s ripples collide against each other softy.
“Donovan is Eric’s older brother,” Christian says.
“I’m aware.”
“I don’t think you are, Eliza.”
Christian glances over to Elaena, who nods and leaves the room.
“There’s something you’re not telling me, Christian.” I’m really in his mind this time.
“Eliza, it isn’t polite to read my mind,” he says aloud.
I’m not in your mind…
“Yes you are. My mother didn’t explain the ‘connected’ part well enough,” he says.
“No, she told me you killed your father.”
Then I realize that Miss Canary must’ve been pregnant throughout that whole scene. Emil is his father. Since Emil was corrupt at that time, then it definitely proves that Christian is corrupt.
Usually the corrupt mystics I fight aren’t as controlled as he is. Although, I can definitely feel when he’s corrupt whenever we kiss or touch. The freezing rollercoaster ride happens inside of me. I’m not sure if this is because of the myth within or because…
“We’re betrothed?”
He smirks. “Just to make it clear, it means we’re together. Well, we’re supposed to be mates. Whether you like it or not.”
“I’m not a piece of meat, and I refuse to marry you.”
He rolls his eyes. “To answer your question…” He holds up his index finger, fixing his bowtie. “Yes, I killed my father. You killed your mother. We’re the perfect couple.” Christian heads for the entrance to the tunneled room. “You’re going to destroy the world if you don’t marry me.”
He then leaves. I hear Elaena crashing to the floor. She is shivering and her lips are purple. Her eyes bulge and her markings light up as she screams in pain, splashing into a puddle. Christian walks away with his hands in his pockets. He killed her. I run after him, my feet squishing in the moist sand. I smell his distinct minty scent; I guess we are connected, because I know exactly where he is going. He leaps in front of me on the scattered lily pads I fell onto. There’s only so much time until one of the mermaids of Mervil find out that Elaena is dead. What has Christian done?
In the middle of my dramatic entrance, the same mermaids were playing around with him. I couldn’t help but notice that Christian’s shirt was off, and the mystics were splashing colorful water on his muscular body. The water splashes on him, trickling down on the sides of his v-cut. We made eye contact, but I divert my gaze, avoiding the awkwardness.
Jealousy flares inside of me when a giggling girl holding onto Christian’s arm wraps her hands around his waist. She looks up at me and grins. I don’t know why I’m feeling this way toward a corrupt mystic. My eyes freeze, like frost is developing. I twitch my fingers and my throat is becoming cold, like how it feels after you eat a mint and the aftertaste blows your mind. This is how I felt.
“Calm down.”
I dart my stare toward Christian; his face is worried.
“Your eyes are glowing.”
Christian is in my mind conversing with me.
“You killed their queen…”
“You can’t kill a mermaid out of water. I’m sure you know this.”
“I have to play with them; this is how mermaids are. If I don’t they’ll keep tempting to play with you.”
“Who cares if they try to play with me?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll kill them and then cause even more havoc in this world.”
The entrance into Mervil is across the lily pad pond and above on the rocky walls. I dash across the pond, not missing a single lily pad. The entrance is now above me. I take one last look at Christian.
He breaks away from the mystics and runs in my direction. I bend to my knees and use the force of the bouncy lily pad to bounce me back through the water portal. The water glides through me as I land on the hard rocky gravel in darkness. A blue light fades in and out further inside the cave. I get myself up, looking back at the magical pond behind me. I run toward the light blue color and stop right in front of colorful ripples. Goosebumps pop on the sides of my arms from my markings. I poke my hand through the clear circular portal in front of me. I feel water moving in between my fingers. I pull my hand back, seeing the droplets drip to the ground. This must be the exit.
I feel my ears twitch; there is a sudden presence here in the tunnel with me. Soon after I sense Christian running in my direction, his light green eyes glowing in the darkness. I jump through the water portal, swimming through the seaweed forest. I breathe effortlessly in this magical water. I direct my gaze up at the river, splitting the two worlds. I take one last deep breath, swimming into the cloudy water above me.
The forceful impact of the current punches my body around. I keep focused, the salt stinging my eyes. The glare from the moon’s rays on the sea’s surface calms me; I know I will make it in time. Seaweed slaps across my
stomach as I kick my feet through the cold water.
***
I poke my head up out of the surface, gasping for air, the waves crashing into my face. The weather hasn’t changed, the clouds are still gray above and the whipping wind slaps my cheeks. I stroke through the rough waves until my boots touch sand, thankfully not too far from the waterfall. I control my breathing, feeling my heartbeat increase. My hair glues to my back and to the side of my jawline. I huff and puff for a minute or two and then jog back toward the rocky sides of the waterfall. When I reach the massive structure I climb up against its jagged edges.
“Eliza! Why do you keep running away from me?”
“Christian, do me a favor and stay out of my head.”
“Look behind you.”
“Too busy.”
A rock jabs against the wall I was climbing on right next to me. That was enough for me to look for him. Christian is shirtless, watching me from below with his arms crossed. I keep climbing, trying to ignore him. How did he get out of the water so easily? He can’t even swim.
“Have it your way!” he yells, but his voice is muffled by the crashing water.
Within a minute or two, Christian is next to me on the walls of the waterfall. I continue to climb, still ignoring him. The power and energy I experienced back in Mervil and whatever happened to Elaena felt uncontrollable, and bad, and…addicting and pleasurable. I remove myself from the kingdom as fast as possible.
I plop myself over the edge, finally making it to the top.
“Stay away from me, Christian. I’m not going to allow you to corrupt me.”
“What if you already are corrupt?” Christian chuckles.
What if I am?
Christian comes from behind me and holds onto my waist. “You feel that?” he asks.
I push him away from me. “Don’t…”
He traces the scattered tiny freckles on my neck with the tip of his index finger. It tickles me and I shudder with goose bumps, freezing again.
“It feels amazing to have you by my side, Eliza.”
He shows his teeth, and each and every movement is precise. I nudge his stomach gently. “If you think I’m mating with you, you have another thing coming.”
Christian laughs.
I continue to walk, forcing him to release me. He grabs my hand and pulls me back toward him. The tip of my nose touches his chest.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” He sounds worried.
“You can’t pull me into your tricks. You can’t pull me out of reality anymore,” I say, looking down at the ground. I figure if I don’t look him in the eyes, maybe I can resist any sort of temptation. What’s stopping me from killing him now? I have my broomstick in my pocket; I’m sure I can slice his neck and then stab his heart.
Come on, Eliza, fight the temptation.
“That may be true now that you’ve discovered your own secret.”
Christian glances behind me, checking to see if there is anyone in the forest. It’s funny because I feel the same thing; we both sensed a presence. The waterfall roars behind us, but my attention is caught by how his eyes start to glow slightly.
“Alec Verel. Well, he had—”
He pushes me to the ground and the gravel scrapes across my neck.
A silver whip slithers out of the green forest behind me and wraps around Christian’s neck. It begins to zap and choke him and he falls to the ground, dragged to the entrance of the forest. Another whip is getting ready to slither out; I can sense it happening. Christian is in pain, scrunched up and trying to peel off the whip. It’s zapping him; I can’t stand to feel him in pain. I sidestep to my right as the whip I figured would come out to catch me too. I wasn’t prepared enough, because a second whip comes from the ground and coils around my legs. My body thuds to the ground as it begins to shock me. I always thought a shock wouldn’t be pleasant but this shock sends freezing waves through my body, numbing me. I am being pulled against the dirt.
Stepping between the scattered branches, two guys in black ripped up outfits are holding out weapons that look like broomsticks.
“Donovan? W-what?”
Eric chuckles. “Hey, Swift!”
I want to burst out of this trap with my new abilities, but my body is numb. I feel like I can’t do anything. Donovan’s cold eyes stare at me silently as his brother punches his shoulder. I thought he would be dead by now in the burning castle of Ellevil. He looks down at me on the ground contemptuously. How can he act this way toward me? How is he even alive?
Christian groans and Eric walks over to him and kicks his side. I can’t believe I went on my first date with…Then it happens, I remember what Christian was going to tell me before we got attacked.
“Ahh, she knows…” Eric chuckles. “Go on, say it, Eliza.”
“The Verel.”
“That’s right, Eric Verel, here with my big brother.”
Donovan’s whip is around my neck; he looks like he’s in pain. Eric’s thumb hovers over the button to kill Christian at any minute.
I try to break free from the whip that’s constricting around me.
“Don’t you think we’ve handled myths before? Your mother was quite an animal.” He laughs.
“Don’t talk about her like that!” I screech.
“Oh, so you do care. Weren’t you the one who killed her?” Eric steps toward me. “Quit the act, myth.” He motions for Donovan to pull me into the forest.
“Donovan! Stop this! Your brother is evil, you aren’t. I know you aren’t!”
“Shut up,” he finally speaks.
“Let go of me!”
Eric waves his hands in the air. I lose vision of Christian; he’s with Eric and he’s going to die soon. I’m dragged into the forest, my neck bruised by the whip. Donovan doesn’t look at me at all. “I knew you were a liar. I knew something was up with you. I shouldn’t have ever trusted you! How could you kill off all witches for the sake of your manly cult? How could you! Let me go!” I scream, and he ignores everything I say.
“The more you cry, the harder you’ll fall.”
“You won’t be saying anything once I’m out of this whip.”
We stop walking. Donovan stands in place. “Do you have the ring?”
“Don’t talk to me. Let me go,” I growl.
“Will you answer the damn question? Do you want to live? Do you think I want to do this to you?” He turns around slightly and repeats. “Do you have the ring?”
“Like I said, you’re going to un-whip me so that I can kill you.”
Donovan continues to drag me across the foliage on my back. Thunder booms above us, and the wind punches against the trees.
“Have it your way,” he says.
I roll across the ground, sliding my leg to trip Donovan. With the whip still around my neck, I leap up and kick Donovan’s stomach. I search the forest to see where I am, my senses reeling from all the sounds and scents together. Somehow, the elf within me knows how to get out of this forest.
“I’m sure you’re aware it’s a bad idea to take an elf into the forest,” I say and kick him aside. “You can’t kill me here.”
Donovan’s a Verel. I need to get away from him. The link to the whip is in his pocket. I drop to my knees, taking out his broomstick from his pocket. My hand is in intense pain from the burn.
I press the button, hoping it won’t release spikes to kill me. It’s risky but definitely a chance I’m going to have to take. The metal scrapes, activating the whip; it recoils back into the broomstick.
I drop the broomstick and run away from Donovan, my pulse pumping harder than ever. My wrists abruptly clink together behind me; the coldness of metal is around them. My hands are locked. I try un-cuffing myself…it’s no use. I take a few steps back, tripping over a large branch.
I know that he would corrupt and then kill me. All Verels would take advantage of the present opportunity. Donovan runs toward me with a bolt of speed, his face beyond serious. I leap up and complete an
aerial over another branch as I run to safety, my hands tied together. I can feel Donovan approaching. How am I going to get away?
Running over to a nearby tree, I kick off the tree’s trunk, using the impact to twirl in the air. I land on my feet in another direction, hoping to lose Donovan in the woods.
It’s no use…he’s in front of me now. He jabs my stomach, but I don’t fall. I absorb the pain with a grunt. He swings a punch in my direction. I duck below and dodge his second punch, then nudge my shoulder against his chest, dodging yet another punch.
I manage to wrap both of my legs around his neck to bring him down. I step on his chest, kick his face, and take off running.
Chapter 21
The night is cold. I’m running faster, and the winds whip at my face. I am feral and uncontrolled. Leaves and gravel crunch underneath my boots. My eyes return to their normal freeze. My markings tingle and I feel the ground vibrate. Springing from the earth beneath me a large, sharp root emerges. My eyes wink on their green color as the root slices the rope from around my wrist. A cold pressure inside my body forces itself out.
The trees separate, creating a path for me. Vines and a mixture of grass and branches wrap around my thighs. They lift me up and float me toward the exit of the forest.
I remember my great-grandmother talking about the group of witches who helped inside Ravamere. Mellissa told me that Alec Verel was the leader. He trained normal witches and mystics to embrace their corruptness in a place called Ravamere. Nothing but evil lurked there.
My bones stiffen and goose bumps form on my shoulders. The tall grass brushes against my legs. One thing is clear. Donovan is his son and he has Christian; I’m pretty sure he’s dead.
I proceed in running through the field up a hill, only to see Ellevil’s castle burning, orange and red flames flickering on the castle’s walls. I glance behind me at the forest one last time. Eric and his Verel brotherhood invaded Ellevil; they had set out to corrupt this place. It makes perfect sense how Donovan survived the fire. I glide through the field down to the castle and stop at its door. I sense someone’s emotions inside the castle. There’s a vibrational pattern beginning to tingle around my elf arm. There’s someone inside.
Mythical (The Mystical Series Book 2) Page 19
