by Cameron Jace
Then suddenly I realized that I couldn't see the sack. Where was my sack? Without it, all of this was in vain.
My pain subsided, and I crawled on hands and knees, searching the raft. There was nothing to search. It was just logs, and I was upon it. Plain and simple. If there was a sack I would have seen it. Still on my hands and knees, I squinted against the curtain of moonless night, looking for my sack. Maybe it was floating nearby.
Be reasonable, Carmilla. The sack would easily sink in the water. It's gone.
I shrieked, my hands on my face, feeling defeated. I'd lost my sack. What was I going to say to Lady Shallot when I met her? I never even got to know what was in the sack. I never even got to know what Captain Ahab meant when he said that I could have "summoned the moon" with my sack. Why had I forgotten about this in Hook's presence? Captain Ahab must have been playing games, because no Moongirl came to save me from Hook, who had been laughing mockingly at her.
My cries sounded hollow again, as if the world was closing in on me, and I was some worthless genie in a bottle of life.
"Carmilla." Angel sprang out of the water. His smile was euphoric. He looked healthier and stronger, actually. He pulled out a pair of fish and laid them on the raft.
"Angel?" I cried out, and threw myself in his arms.
Angel laughed, as I was choking him. He struggled to pull himself up on the raft. "I brought you food," he said. "I thought I'd leave you to rest."
"What happened?" I couldn't pull myself away from him, and squeezed him tighter.
"Nothing much," he said cockily. "Fate decided to send a few tides and tornados after us, so I breathed some air into your lungs and sank into the deepest seas until he gave up."
I hit him lightly on his chest. I knew this was a lie. His body was full of scars, which meant there had been much, much more, since his body usually healed quickly.
"You gave in to your darkness to save me," I said, running my hands through his long black hair.
He nodded. He wasn't proud of it. "I had to, or Fate would have killed us. You won't believe the kind of powers I realized I have."
"Is that why you look so healthy?"
"I drank so much blood, Carmilla," he said, ashamed of what he'd done, but also feeling well. "Fish, Fate's men. I didn't know I could survive for that long underwater. Apparently vampires do enjoy some great powers."
I wasn't really happy with this, but I couldn't complain. I could hear the drone of evil in him enjoying the darkness that had helped him save me. It was confusing, but better than selling my soul to Fate.
"Here," he said, and pulled the sack from under the raft. He had tied it to a rope. I took it and hugged him, all hope returning to me. Hope of a better life, hope of tomorrow, and hope of surpassing all the obstacles to the Tower of Tales.
I realized Angel's darkness wasn't always a bad thing.
"So we still can reach the Tower of Tales." I kissed him hard, trying to suck all evil out of him.
"Wow." He blushed. "Yes, love. I promised you that we'd reach it. I'm sorry I gave up on you on the Pequod. It's just that my biggest weakness is the song that the mermaids played."
"Come to think of it, do you know what this song is, and why I can't memorize it?"
"It's an ancient tune, once played by a man called a Piper," he said. Nothing new to me. "He is supposed to be the man who created vampires. Why? I don't know. How? I also don't know. Just a few men on earth know how to play it, as one can only learn it from wicked witches. They say it takes years to master, and it can only be played with a Singing Bone."
"A Singing Bone?"
"Like the one Captain Ahab used as a pipe," Angel said. "It seemed he had found it on his sails across the sea, but never knew how to play it, so he just used it as a pipe."
"So it's not just a flute with seven holes?"
"You noticed it has seven holes?" He looked admiringly at me. "Legend says, each hole holds a musical note that leads to one of the…"
"…Lost Seven," I said. "Did this have anything to do with the musical scale?"
"How so?"
"There are seven main notes in music." I had been taught when I was a pampered child in my parents' palace. Austria was crazy about music. "Actually twelve, overall. But seven main notes to produce music. I was wondering if it had to do with the melody played from a flute with seven notes and inspired by seven people."
"I don't know, love," he said. Apparently Angel didn't know much about music.
It was pointless talking about the Lost Seven now. Who knew who they really were? And I didn't see how this would help us find the Tower of Tales. Knowing more about the Singing Bone was a necessity, since its music had turned Angel to a monster. It was an obstacle. "So why is it called a Singing Bone?"
"Legend has it that in ancient times when a man was killed, you didn't need to investigate his killing and have proof of it," Angel said, now running his hand through my hair. "All you needed was to crush his bones and make a flute with seven holes out of them, and then it would sing the killer's full name."
"Really? It was that easy in old times?" I laughed.
"Like I said, I'm not sure," Angel said. "All I know is that the first one to use it for another purpose, like driving rats away, was the Piper. I really am not comfortable talking about him, my father, or the mermaids." Angel kissed me again then pushed me lightly so I was on my back and he was on top of me.
"Angel." I blushed, happy he was in such a mood. "We're in the middle of the sea."
"Sea?" He squinted, then laughed. "No, love. We're not in the sea anymore."
I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?" I thought he was playing with me, just to get closer. I wasn't going to make love to the man I loved on a raft in the middle of a sea.
"We're inside a whale, love," Angel said. "Strangely, it's the safest place I have found."
40
Fable's Dreamworld
Instead of finding Loki's Fleece, Fable was running away from him. But the Lost Seven needed her. They needed her help. It didn't matter how many times she was told she was one of them. She couldn't quite grasp it. Having the chance to help the legendary fairy tale characters every kid read about in the Waking World was beyond her comprehension. She only knew one thing. It felt so good, and at the moment, she really hoped Cerené was right. She really hoped she had some power to help others, and she wondered how everyone would view her if she could help.
Fable pressed her eyelids together harder, executing the witch's spell, unaware of the price she would pay later.
It didn't work.
She recited it over and over again.
Sweating.
I am a loser witch, just like my mother.
A hissing wind began to shape outside the cave, the same laughing wind she had seen wrapping its arms around Loki when he entered the Schloss in the Waking World to kill Shew a few days ago. It spiraled closer and closer and then orbited in front of the cave's opening. It began sewing spider webs onto the opening from outside. So dense and so real.
She struggled with her hands and body as the magic seemed to shatter her insides into pieces, and felt her intestines ache, as if a snake was spiraling inside her tubes.
Is this really happening?
It wasn't just that she had conjured that wind with the spell. She could feel herself change inside. She didn't know whether her memories were partially coming back, or if she had been hexed by some otherworldly force. What the hell happened to me when I was in the forest?
Finally, the wind escaped the cave, and Fable dropped to her knees with a thud.
"Fable!" She could feel hands reaching for her. "Where did you learn this kind of magic?"
"A spider web on the cave from outside." Fable glimpsed Ladle staring at the cave's opening with utter fascination. "That's some spider web, so thick it would take days to spin it. It means the huntsmen can never assume we're inside. I want to learn magic!"
It was minutes before Fable fully regained her senses. S
he sat with her back to the cave, feeling parted from something. She had been parted of her innocence and joined the Black Art, whatever that was. Spontaneously, she reached for her hair. It wasn't a surprise that her pigtails were gone. Her hair felt like strings of hardened bushes over her head.
"Cerené breathed a little life into you." Jack patted her and smiled. "You're back, my awesome friend." Jack had never called anyone else "awesome" before. There had always been one awesome person in the world, and that would be Jack Madly himself. Fable knew this because her memories began to come back, slowly.
The Lost Seven mended her, as well as taking care of an unconscious Shew, for a few hours. She could see the sun had set outside—the few shafts of thin light had disappeared.
Fable listened to them speculate that it should be safe to leave the cave now. They just didn't want to pressure Fable with another incident of magic right away. They could wait until she was strong enough to perform it again and part the spider webs. But there was nothing to eat or drink, and no ways to take care of Shew in here—the Weighing of the Heart's sedative seemed to keep her in a semi-conscious state all the time. The cave could be a death trap.
Fable didn't mind performing the ritual again, but it was those flashes of memories that bothered her. Memories of her escaping something in the forest. Something so evil she couldn't bring herself to fully remember it. She also thought the memories brought back some of her powers. A certain power seemed imminent, crossing her mind and blurring her sight even more. She couldn't really understand this. Her mind told her that she would have this power soon. It wasn't the cave power. Another, darker power she had almost lost her eyesight to. Was that why she had poor eyesight?
"I can hear the huntsmen," Ladle said.
"I heard Loki's voice a couple of times in the last hour," Marmalade said. "I am also thirsty."
"Listen. I can hear them circling our area," Jack said. "It's like they know we are here, but can't tell exactly where. How's that possible?"
"They will never leave without finding us. At least Loki won't," Cerené said.
Silence roared in the cave for a long time. How was that possible? How was it that everything Fable had done meant nothing now? True, Loki wouldn't find the cave with the spider web on it. But how long could they survive in this tight space without sunlight, food, or drink?
***
"Can someone remind me why the Queen needs the heart so much?" Jack asked, fed up with all they'd been through to save the princess.
"She needs it to relieve herself of a curse," Marmalade said.
"Shew's heart will spare the Queen the burden of killing all those girls and bathing in their blood," Ladle said. "She does it to keep her beauty, or she'd turn into a monstrous vampire. An ugly one. No offense, Beauty." Ladle giggled at the Beast standing in the darkest shade of the cave.
"As long as you call me Beauty." He sounded like he was smiling. Fable couldn't tell.
"Shew's heart can preserve the Queen's beauty forever," Ladle continued.
"We're not sure about that," Marmalade said. "We really don't know the real significance of the heart. I feel it's something much bigger than just a beauty issue."
"But we know one thing," said the Beast. "We know the power the Queen will acquire, whether through the mirror or Shew's heart, will help her kill us all. She saw us in the Schloss and knows who we are. The Queen never looks away from revenge."
"I thought she didn't know who the Lost Seven were in the ceremony," Marmalade said.
"I wouldn't count on what the Queen pretends to know," Fable said. "Like, how did she ever know about my breadcrumbs curse?"
Fable was sure everyone, including her, wanted to know about her breadcrumb addiction, and how the Queen of Sorrow knew about it. But they surely had other priorities now.
Everyone went silent again, but they were interrupted by Loki's distant voice outside. "Come out, pretty Princess! Sooner or later I will find you!" he shouted, sounding exhausted and angry. He must have been going crazy, searching the whole forest for them. "How about cutting out your heart and liver, and rolling them out to me from wherever you're hiding?" Loki's words were shocking this time, because he seemed nearer. Too close, and not really going away.
"Do you think he knows we are here?" Cerené asked.
"He seems to know we're close," Jack said. "I wonder how."
The answer came sooner than expected. It was the Queen's black panthers. Fable could hear them padding around the cave. They were sniffing the air. Cerené explained how they would be able to smell them, like dogs, from the scent on the cloaks left at the castle.
"If we find a source of fire, I can try to fight some as we leave the cave," Cerené suggested, still holding the unconscious Shew in her arms.
"I could get out and fight for a while as you escape," the Beast offered.
"Not a bad idea," Jack said. "As you do, I will steal their swords and find ways to stall them."
"I could help killing a few," Ladle said happily. Then her face knotted as she asked forgiveness from the Tree of Life again.
"I don't mind ending up dying to save us," Marmalade offered.
"We're forgetting the purpose behind all of this," the Star said in that alien-like voice. "We can't let the Queen of Sorrow have Shew's heart. Like the Beast said: Shew's heart, controlling Bloody Mary, and finding the secrets the devil's mirror splintered all over the world—the Queen would be invincible. We can't risk dying, being caught, or losing Shew to the Queen. We need another way out. A safer plan."
"You talk as if you're sure we are on the good side," the Beast said.
"We are the good side," the Star insisted as the light dimmed a little.
The Beast said nothing. He only let out a sigh. It seemed like he considered himself evil. Because of his looks, maybe?
"I don't think I'm on the good side." Ladle raised her bloodstained scythe.
"I am a thief," Jack said. "I won't stop stealing, whether you count me good or bad."
"Don't say that," Marmalade said. "You're good, and I am also on the good side."
"I think I am good," Cerené said, really unsure, as if she'd never thought about it.
Fable didn't know what to say. She hadn't felt quite on the good side since she'd practiced the Black Art to seal the cave. Something inside felt wrong. The spell she was remembering wasn't leaving her alone. She couldn't tell how it came to her mind, but it was like an annoying memory hunting her inside her head. A dark spell she thought she was about to use.
"I am waiting!" Loki shouted outside. "I know you're here!"
"It's only a matter of time before they locate us," the Beast said matter-of-factly. Unafraid, though. "The black panthers will eventually expose the spider web trick. Either you have a magical exit, or we fight back."
"Fable?" The Star turned to her. She felt safe when it talked to her. "Do you have a magical exit?"
Fable wished the earth would swallow her. It was as if the Star could read her mind, as if the Star knew about the dark spell that had been buzzing in her mind for while.
"Don't hesitate, Fable," Cerené said. "It doesn't matter if it's a Black Art. Just help us save Shew's heart."
The six of them were staring back at Fable. It was obvious now that they didn't care what had happened to her in the past three months if she could help now.
"Come on! Why not just cut out your heart and roll it out to me, Princess?" Loki seethed outside. "Save me the burden."
The Lost Seven were still staring at Fable. She was so close to exposing herself and telling them that she came through a dream. But that would mess with the purpose of her mission, which had already gone askew since she had gotten too involved with the Lost Seven's quest. How would she ever get Loki's Fleece? Would she ever see how Shew and Loki fell in love?
"I—" She hesitated, looking at Cerené, pleading for her support. Cerené was unaware that she was the only one who knew what had happened to Fable in the forest. "I don't remember the for
est quite clearly now," she finally said. "I mean, it's a blurry memory."
"But you told me about it," Cerené said. "You told me about the Spell of Hearts."
Fable wanted to choke herself now. The Spell of Hearts. That was it. The spell that had been roaming in her head for the last hour. Was she supposed to just blurt it out, not really knowing how she'd learned it, or if it had dire consequences?
"Fable," the Beast said. "We don't have time. Do you know of a way to save us and Shew?"
"Do you know of a way to save Shew's heart from the evil Queen?" Cerené went straight to the point.
"I can save Shew's heart." Fable nodded, succumbing to the spell in her head. Why did she have to hold such great responsibility in her hands?
"How?" Cerené said. Everyone else was listening carefully.
"I have to warn you of the heaviness of this kind of magic first." Fable was talking with her heart. Most of what she was going to say wasn't coming from a thought-processing mind. It was like someone else was talking for her, the someone she had been two centuries ago. My name is Gretel, and I will kick your ass.
***
"Spell it out," Marmalade said. "Whatever incantation it is."
"It's not like that," Fable said, fidgeting. "All of you have to participate."
"I don't like the sound of that," Jack murmured.
"I know how to split Shew's heart among us so the Queen can't get it." These were the hardest words Fable had ever said.
Is this it? Is this the moment when Shew splits her heart among the Lost Seven? Really? Fable's head was boiling inside. So Shew didn't do it herself. She wasn't even aware it was done, as she was unconscious. Is that why she doesn't remember it? And oh my, I am the one who suggested it?
"What?" Jack grimaced. "Split her heart?"
"Shew's heart is now twenty-one grams," Fable explained. "I know of a way to cut it out and split it among us. If we do that, the Queen has to catch the seven of us to get it."
