“So what are you suggesting?” Liana asked. “You want to try use the wish instead of waiting for Dex?”
“Maybe.” Elle pushed one hand through her tangled, dirty hair—how long had it been since she’d washed it?—before letting her arm fall to her side. “I don’t want to waste it, and that’s exactly what will happen if it doesn’t unlock our cells. But I don’t want to wait too long and then by the time we try it, the Godmother’s taken over everything, and the royal family’s dead, and Vale City’s in flames, and …” She shook her head, her mind snagging on the words royal family’s dead. Now that she’d voiced her fear out loud, she couldn’t shake the mental image: The king and queen and Dex, lying motionless amid the smoking ruins of a destroyed Belmont Palace.
“So do it then,” Liana said. “Use the wish. You don’t have much to lose at this point.”
“Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?” Jax shouted.
Ignoring her, Elle reached for the pocket watch again. Pulling it free once more, she said, “Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, how much magic can it really take to unlock a few gates?” She looked up and met Liana’s gaze.
Liana grimaced. “You probably shouldn’t have said that.”
“You think I jinxed it?”
She shrugged. Elle rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m doing it.” She stepped back and turned away from Liana’s cell as she opened the pocket watch again. The glow of wish magic illuminated her palms as she stared at it in wonder. She would have to break the glass to free the magic, a thought that caused a stab of anxiety to pierce her chest. It went against everything inside her to break something that served as such a special reminder of her father. But she wouldn’t be breaking it completely, she reminded herself. She would just be freeing the wish. She could close all the layers afterwards, and the watch itself would still work.
She ran her left thumb over the glass layer, wondering what to break it with. Any faerie would have used a charm, and Elle did possess magic now, but she had no idea how to use it. Even if it was simply a matter of Liana telling her exactly what words to use, she didn’t want to risk getting them wrong and breaking the entire watch. Besides, who knew if the same words and spells that applied to fae Essence also worked with human magic?
Elle cast her gaze about, looking for something sharp and hard enough to break glass. She turned slowly, her eyes traveling across her almost empty cell, until she spotted the spoon sitting in her half-eaten bowl of porridge. That should do it. She bent and picked up the spoon, tapping it against the bowl to remove any remaining bits of porridge before she rose. Then, gripping it with the handle pointing down, she held it over the pocket watch.
“What are you doing, girl?” Jax called.
“Hush,” Liana told her.
Elle turned her back to the women again, but she couldn’t help considering the two she didn’t know. Jax and Myra. They probably didn’t deserve to be down here any more than she and Liana did. Should she try to free them too? If she didn’t, she’d probably never forgive herself for leaving them locked down here in this dark, musty dungeon. But what if there wasn’t enough magic to unlock all the cells? Would it only open one or two? Or would it open none of them?
Just get on with it, she told herself. You’ll never know until you try.
She arranged the words in her head, going over them several times to make sure she would be wishing for exactly what she wanted. Then she lifted the pocket watch until it was level with her face, and raised the spoon a little higher. This moment—the act of breaking open a wish and letting the contents spill over her as she whispered her heart’s desire—was one she’d dreamed of for years. It didn’t escape her notice that while she no longer had to wish away the slave charm, she was essentially wishing for the same thing she’d always planned to wish for: her freedom.
Elle squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them as she brought the spoon down swiftly. The glass shattered. A glowing gold substance, almost liquid like water, but somehow lighter, spilled from the pocket watch, ran down her hands and arms, and dripped onto her chest. As her entire body glowed, she whispered, “I wish for the gate of my cell, Liana’s cell, Jax’s cell, and Myra’s cell to be unlocked and opened.”
The glow diminished. Darkness settled over her cell again. Elle looked at her gate, holding her breath, waiting and hoping desperately. Then, with a grinding, rusty screech, the lock turned and the gate swung open.
Elle twisted around in time to see Liana’s gate swing wide, then Jax’s, and then Myra’s. Silence followed. No one moved an inch. Finally, Jax spoke: “Ho-lee heck. What the hell just happened?”
A grin stretched Elle’s lips. “It worked. It actually worked!” She hurried forward through the open space, half expecting some unseen form of magic to toss her back into her cell. But nothing happened.
“We’re actually … free,” Liana said in a stunned tone, walking slowly out of her cell. Jax and Myra joined her a moment later, and Elle finally got a proper look at them. Their clothing was just as ragged and dirty as Liana’s, and Myra, being fae, had the same youthful look. But Jax’s lined face and gray strands mixed in with her dark hair suggested she was in her forties or fifties.
“Normal magic could never have done this,” Myra said. “Liana and I have tried so many times. Was that wish magic I saw glowing in your cell?” Elle nodded, and Myra asked, “How on earth did you mange to smuggle a wish in here? Didn’t the guards search you?”
“I don’t know,” Elle said as she carefully closed the pocket watch and slipped it beneath her clothing once more. “I was a little bit out of it when they brought me here. Maybe they did pat me down or something, but they wouldn’t have known I had a wish with me. It wasn’t inside a gem.” She met Liana’s eyes. “I didn’t even know I had a wish with me.”
“So you wished for our gates to unlock,” Jax said. “That’s great and everything, but how are we supposed to get out of this dungeon and away from the palace?”
“Yeah, that may not have been the best wish,” Myra added. “Wishing for us to be instantly transported outside of the palace grounds would have made things a lot easier.”
“Hey, look, I didn’t know if there was enough magic in that wish to unlock even a single gate. I didn’t want to wish for too much and end up with nothing.”
“We’re grateful,” Liana said hastily. “We really are.” She shot a glare in Jax’s direction. “Let’s not ruin this opportunity by arguing for so long that the guards end up—” Her words cut off at the sound of someone approaching. “Dammit,” she whispered, throwing a glance back over her shoulder at her cell. Elle began to backtrack toward hers, though the logical side of her brain told her there was no way all four of them could get back into their cells and pretend the gates were closed before—
A growl shredded the quiet, and with a shudder, Jax fell forward onto her hands and knees. Her body twitched and began to change shape, and as a female guard rounded the corner and froze, Jax launched, now a fully formed wolf. She tore at the woman’s throat, and Elle gasped and instinctively squeezed her eyes shut as she turned her head away.
Within seconds, the snarling, ripping sounds came to an end. Slowly, Elle looked toward Jax. She shuddered and arched her back before returning to non-animal form, breathing heavily. Blood stained her mouth, and she used her dirty sleeve to wipe it away as she pushed herself to her feet. Elle’s horrified gaze moved to the blood-drenched guard lying motionless against the wall. “Is … is she dead?”
“I hope so,” Jax said. “She was one of the guards who threw me into a cell years ago. You don’t expect me to go lightly on her, do you?”
“I …” Elle swallowed. “No, I suppose not, but I don’t expect you to kill everyone on our path between here and the main gate.”
“Why not? They’re all our enemies.”
“Actually, they’re not. The prince and his friends are on our side.”
“Well, good for them. Hopefully
they’re the only ones we come across on our way out of here.”
“Let’s get moving,” Liana muttered. “And try to keep the killing to a minimum,” she added, looking at Jax.
As quietly as possible—easy for the other three women, who were all barefoot; not so easy for Elle—they headed around the corner and along a shadowed corridor. At the top of a staircase, they came to a gate. “Not locked?” Liana whispered as she carefully slid the gate sideways.
“Probably left open by the guard who came to fetch our trays,” Myra said. “It’s not as though they’ve experienced a security breach in all the years we’ve been down here. At least, not from our section.”
They continued along another cold, dimly lit passageway, the windowless stone walls feeling as though they were pressing in around Elle. Not too much further, she assured herself, though her memory of exactly how long it had taken those men to drag her to the dungeon last night was fuzzy.
When they came to a solid metal door, their luck finally ran out. “Locked,” Liana grumbled. There was no handle, only a keypad on the wall, but when she pressed her hands against the door and tried to slide it sideways, it wouldn’t budge.
“So we wait,” Jax said. “And when it opens, I’ll take down whoever’s on the other side.”
“No,” Liana said. “We wait, and when it opens, Myra and I will use magic to knock out whoever’s on the other side. Knock unconscious,” she added. “Not dead.”
“You guys are so boring,” Jax grumbled.
They waited, and Elle began to question the wisdom of setting free two prisoners she knew nothing about. Though they’d most likely been unjustly imprisoned—the king’s secret dungeon wasn’t exactly a place people ended up in after going through a fair trial—that didn’t mean they were good people.
“I think someone’s coming,” Myra whispered, pushing away from the wall and raising her hands. “They’ve probably noticed the missing guard.” Magic sparkled at her fingertips. Beside her, Liana’s hands took on the same appearance.
“Ready?” Liana asked. Myra nodded.
Though Elle hadn’t intended it, she found her hands glowing silver as magic rose away from the surface of her skin. She hastily tucked her hands behind her back, not wanting her magic to leap away from her without her permission. She would gladly have offered to help Liana and Myra, but only if she knew what she was doing.
A click sounded somewhere within the metal door, and then it slid swiftly open. Liana and Myra lunged forward, magic flashing away from them. Elle squinted against the bright light. It subsided a moment later, accompanied by the heavy thump of a body hitting the floor.
“Is there anyone else there?” Jax whispered.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Liana replied. “Quickly, let’s go.”
They moved forward, stepping hurriedly over the body on the other side of the doorway. A wider, brighter corridor greeted them on the other side, with polished tiles instead of a dull stone floor, and ornamental light fittings instead of plain, dim lighting. But there were voices nearby. At least two or three. Footsteps, unhurried but moving closer.
“Crap,” Elle whispered. The moment the owners of those voices rounded the corner up ahead and saw four disheveled women and an unconscious guard, they would attack.
Liana and Myra stepped forward, hands raised once more. “We’ve got this,” Liana said.
Jax shoved her way between them. “Let me—”
“No,” Liana said. “These people are just following orders. You can’t go around killing them all. Let us—”
“Hey!” a voice hissed from somewhere on Elle’s right. “This way!” Her head snapped toward the sound, and somehow, where there had been only a flat, plain wall before, then was now an opening. A figure stood in the dark space beyond, and the only detail Elle could make out was a beckoning hand. Could it be Dex? No, the voice hadn’t been deep enough. Still, there were people inside this palace willing to do whatever he asked. Hopefully this was one of them.
“Come on!” Elle whispered to the others, tugging Liana and Myra. “Someone’s helping us.”
Liana didn’t hesitate to follow Elle—perhaps because she assumed Elle knew whoever it was that beckoned from the darkness behind the wall—and Myra and Jax followed her after only a moment’s pause. They slid into the shadows, and the section of wall swung closed behind them with a quiet click, sealing them in complete darkness.
A few stray gold particles danced in the air in front of a Elle, and a moment later, a gold light materialized. It soared upward, illuminating the narrow passageway and the woman who stood before Elle: Queen Amra.
Jax rushed forward, her body already twitching, but Liana reached out and tugged her back. “Don’t.”
“She’s not just another guard,” Jax growled, shaking Liana off. “She’s the damn—”
“I swear I’ll knock you out with magic if you dare shift right now,” Liana hissed.
The queen narrowed her eyes at the two of them. “Liana?” she asked. “How … You disappeared years ago. I thought …” She shook her head and returned her gaze to Elle. “No time for that,” she muttered, reaching for Elle’s arm and tugging her forward. “Have you had dealings with the Godmother recently?”
“Y-yes,” Elle answered, too startled to let anything other than the truth slip free.
“Did you come to the masquerade ball?”
“Um, yes, I did.”
“Why?”
Elle paused, her mouth open. It couldn’t possibly be a good idea to admit that she’d gone to the ball to kill the queen’s son. “Just to … um …”
“I need the truth,” the queen insisted.
Though the truth was likely to get her thrown back out beyond the wall and into the midst of whatever activity now surrounded the unconscious guard, Elle couldn’t force a lie past her lips. “The Godmother asked me to kill the prince,” she admitted. “I said yes, but I was never planning to go through with it. I got hold of a potion to mimic death. When I realized the prince was Dex … well, I’d already given the potion to his body double, but even if I hadn’t, I would never have given it to Dex. I already knew him. I … I couldn’t have done that to him. Neither fake death nor real death. I swear.”
“And did you wish for the Godmother to remove the Darkness from him?”
This, at least, was something Elle was happy to admit to. “Yes. I didn’t want him to die.”
The queen’s gaze darted to the three women behind Elle. Her breathing was heavy, and a war waged in her eyes. Then she clutched Elle’s hand, tugged her even closer, and said, “Thank you. Now follow me. Quickly.”
Elle hurried after the queen as the light bobbed ahead of them. She tossed a glance over her shoulder to make sure the others were still right behind her, then looked forward again. The queen brought a phone to ear and spoke quietly to whoever was on the other end. “Meet me in the Rose Suite. Bring three sets of clothing. Oh, and four wigs from that collection Marcio sent over before the masquerade ball. And organize a car to pick me up at the east entrance in ten minutes. I’ll be leaving for tea with four of my friends.”
She lowered the phone and followed the passage as it bent sharply to the right. When it split into a T a little further on, she turned left without hesitation. Finally, after turning right again, she came to a halt. Elle stopped just short of bumping into her. Thank goodness. Bumping into Queen Amra of Astranerica was probably considered a crime of some sort.
“Remain silent,” the queen instructed. Then she pushed a section of the passage wall. It gave way, slowly swinging open and allowing daylight to stream in through the gap. She peered out. “Quickly,” she said to Elle. “Follow me.”
They filed out of the passageway and into a wide and lavishly decorated corridor. The queen pushed the section of wall closed, and once it was flush with the rest of the wall, Elle could barely make out the panel’s edge. “In here,” the queen added, hurrying past them and opening a door. She ushered them into th
e next room, which turned out to be a beautifully furnished bedroom, and slipped in behind them.
“Is this your room?” Elle asked before stopping to consider whether it might be rude to ask.
“No, just a random guest room. Now, we just need to wait for—Ah, Katrina, there you are.” A woman in a pantsuit slipped inside the room mere seconds after the queen had shut the door. She flicked her hand behind her, and a suitcase floated into the room before the door quietly shut itself. “Was there anyone else out there?” the queen asked. “Anyone who might have seen you?”
“No, your majesty.” She sent the suitcase soaring toward the bed and hastened toward it as it popped open. “I grabbed several of your outfits, and you didn’t say anything about shoes, so I brought—”
“Perfect, thank you.” The queen turned to Elle. “You still look mostly presentable. Just cover up your hair with one of the dark wigs, and make sure it conceals your ears. You three …” She turned to Liana, Jax and Myra. “Change as quickly as you can. You’ll attract far too much attention in those rags. Katrina, did you organize a car?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s probably waiting for you already.”
“Good.”
As Liana, Jax and Myra changed their clothes, Elle grabbed one of the wigs Katrina had hastily laid out on the bed. She moved to the dressing table on one side of the room and peered into the mirror as she piled her blond hair on top of her head. With some difficulty, she pulled the wig on, then pushed any free strands of blond hair beneath the wig’s edge. When everything was positioned properly, she appeared to be the owner of a sleek black bob with a dead straight fringe. Nothing like her natural hair, which, of course, was the point.
“Hurry up,” the queen said. Elle turned away from the mirror and smoothed her hands over her sweater. Jax hopped on one foot as she pulled a shoe onto the other, and Liana and Myra finished fixing their fake hair.
The Everafter Wish Page 5
