by D. N. Hoxa
We were walking along the back side. One more hour and we’d come out of the woods and reach the yellow rocks. Hopefully, ropes would be there waiting for us, just like I instructed Nick. He said it was done, but something always could go wrong. I was close, so close to them now.
I stood up. Even though my feet hurt, I couldn’t stop to rest for long. Aaron followed without a complaint. We hadn’t talked much. He didn’t bring up my breakdown from earlier on the plane, and I was thankful for it. That wasn’t something I wanted to talk about and especially not with him.
We passed more and more trees, careful not to trip on the vine-like roots and tree trunks on the ground. The birds chirped carelessly and the reddish brown wildflowers gave the woods a unique smell of sweet corn—a smell I definitely hadn’t missed.
Finally, dripping sweat and with every muscle in my body shaking, we reached the edge of the rocks. Sure enough, there were three thick ropes hanging from above, so far up that we couldn’t see their beginning. I sat down on a rock to catch my breath and to make sure everything was in place: my two katanas hung across my back, my knife belt around my hips filled with throwing knifes, Bob and two guns with silver bullets on the waistband of my black pants. I had to wear sneakers so no hidden weapons around my ankles as usual.
“You can wait for me here,” I said to Aaron after I filled my lungs with enough air, giving it one more shot. I still thought that his coming along was a stupid and dangerous idea, and I didn’t give up on trying to convince him. He shook his head, trying to catch his own breath.
“I’m not waiting for you here. I’m coming up.”
“But—”
“Can we just get on with it? I hate climbing, and the sooner we’re up there, the better I’ll feel,” he snapped.
I sighed loudly. “Fine.” He wasn’t going to change his mind and there was nothing I could do but hope that he’d be safe.
I stood up, testing the thick rope in my hands. It looked well secured. I hoped it would hold. The yellowish rocks had sharp tips everywhere. We’d have to move very slowly.
“Ready?” I asked Aaron, who was looking up, feeling the rope in his hands, too. He only nodded. “Let’s go.”
I put my left foot on a gap between the rocks and pulled myself up with all my strength. My arms would kill me after all this was over, I knew. Too bad I didn’t have a choice.
Up and up we went, the uneven rocks giving us edges to hold on to when we needed a second. Aaron looked nervous, concentrated. His eyes were narrowed, and I could tell he was struggling not to look down. He was scared of heights, all right. His face was turned up, his brows turned inward. He looked cute, even sweating like that.
When we finally saw the hole on the surface of the rocks, I felt a bit relieved. We were close to my cave.
“Almost there,” I said to Aaron who was two steps below me. The relief made his eyes glow when he saw where I pointed.
A few minutes later, my hand grabbed the smooth rock of the cave floor. I pulled myself up and finally, I was inside. My arms were burning like hell, but I didn’t care. I dropped on my stomach and reached for Aaron with both my hands. A second later, he was sitting right next to me, breathing heavily.
I hadn’t even managed to catch my breath properly when we heard footsteps behind us. I jumped to my feet with Bob in one hand and a katana in the other.
A second later, Nick appeared from the narrow tunnel, not a hint of dust on his black shirt. I sighed in relief and lowered my weapons.
“Star!” he called and ran forward, and…pulled me into a hug.
What the hell?
I just stood there motionlessly as he hugged me and finally let me go.
“Thank God you’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay.” Holy mother of awkward. I didn’t know Nick and I were on touching/hugging terms.
“You’re in trouble, you know that?” Aaron said to Nick as he half hugged him and did that that bumping-shoulders thing that all guys seemed to do for some reason.
“I figured,” Nick said, smiling. He obviously didn’t mind.
“You have everything prepared?” I asked Nick.
He nodded. “I have. They’re keeping your family down at the lowest level, but I don’t know which cell. Guards are all around the castle. Four of the Royals are down there, one by the door and three others inside. Five more are outside. They are expecting you,” Nick said in a breath.
I nodded. “McGraw?”
“In and out of the cells the whole time.”
Exactly what I feared. He was keeping them in his lab.
“Vladimir?”
“I haven’t seen him around.” Nick shrugged.
He’d done so much for me. I hoped I could repay the favor one day, but for now, I offered him a smile.
I checked the digital watch on my wrist and calculated the time I’d need to get to the lowest level of the castle from there.
“Once we leave this tunnel, you will wait exactly ten minutes before you start the distraction,” I told Nick. “Once your distraction is over, your job is to keep the other students as far away from the cells as you can. Understood?” He nodded again.
With a deep breath, I turned to leave. It was show time.
“Star?” Nick called before I’d made it to the tunnel. “I’m sorry about your family. And I’m sorry that I lied to you.” His cheeks turned a very light shade of pink.
Oh, man…
“Don’t be. If you’d have told the truth, I would have killed you.”
I wouldn’t have liked it, but I would’ve done it anyway. And Nick looked like he believed me.
“What’s the matter with you?” Aaron whispered to Nick after I turned my back to them again. What’s the matter, indeed…
We walked the rest of the way in silence, out of the tunnel and into the back of the stairway. Nick made his way up to the training area where the new (old?) students were training, and he didn’t look back.
We headed down the stairs. I blended into the shadows in the wide hallway. It came naturally to me to do so because I’d been hiding at least half the time I’d been down there. The other half, I was being forced by guards or the professors, right after I’d caused some kind of trouble.
The dim lighting of the candles made it easier, too. I was worried about Aaron, but once again he surprised me. He moved with so much ease and with so much grace, you couldn’t spot him even if you were looking straight at him. He had the gracefulness of a predator.
Thankfully, no one passed as we made our way down. Once close to the lowest cell level, I motioned for Aaron to keep quiet and walk very, very slowly. I heard the Guard before I saw him. He was pacing slowly in the hallway, guarding the door across the stairs. I recognized him. He was a Nephil. One wrong move and he would hear us.
Then we heard it. The distraction.
“Fire!” The screaming was loud enough so that the whole castle could hear it.
Sure enough, Nick had started the fire just like I told him to and with success. The Nephil Guard stopped to listen to the screams. That was exactly the reaction I was looking for. Go, Nick!
Without wasting another second and taking advantage of the Guard’s distraction, I stepped in front of him and threw my first knife. Surprise registered on his thin and pointy face as he looked down at where my knife was buried in his chest.
“Motherf…” He started running towards us, and I threw my other three knives at him, all of them buried in his torso half a second later. The Guard didn’t give a shit, to say the least. He was still running like mad.
I held my ground, my eyes never leaving his until he was close enough that I could kick him. The front of my foot connected with his right cheek. He backed up a couple of steps, and I jumped him, my fists one with his face, until he recovered and started to block me. He aimed for my face with his fists, but instead, he hit me right on my left breast. Red hot pain shot through my left side before I took out Bob to slice his arms bloody. That didn’t st
op him, either.
He jumped and kicked me, fast as lightning, and I blocked every blow, processing a plan. You could only kill a Nephil by decapitating him or by tearing his limbs apart. I threw Bob on the floor and reached for my katana. I slit his gut while he kicked the hell out of my right hip. I turned around while his hand hit nothing but air and used the iron handle of the sword to hit him hard between his shoulder blades.
His body fell against the stone wall, but he recovered fast and dropped to his knees and sliced my outer thigh with a small dagger I hadn’t even seen in his hand. I brought down my katana, but my wrist met his fist and the sword fell to the floor.
Motherfucker.
I didn’t give him time to stand up again. My knee connected with his chin, the impact breaking at least one of his teeth and his nose. Blood exploded on his face, and he fell down on his back. Before he had the chance to stand, I jumped forward and landed with my palms on his chest. Air left his lungs and gave me the second I need to land on the other side with his head right between my feet.
I dropped to the floor next. With both my feet on each of his shoulders, one hand under his chin and the other on the base of his neck, I pulled.
Good thing he couldn’t scream and alarm the others inside. I pulled his head up while I pushed his shoulders the other way with my legs as hard as I could, until I heard a loud crack and was thrown back.
The Nephil’s body was in front of me and his detached head on my lap. His eyes, now lifeless and empty, stared at me, round and wide.
“Bloody Nephil,” I spit and stood up, tossing the head aside. “Let’s go,” I said to Aaron and headed for the door that led to the cells.
There seemed to be only two more Royals inside from what I could feel. I doubted Nick was mistaken so the third would show up soon enough, probably. I prepared my gun in one hand and Bob in the other. Aaron was standing right next to me, and I nodded at him to remind him of the plan. I would take the Guards down, free Ella and Dad so he could take them back to the cave and down the ropes, while I dealt with the potion and McGraw.
Aaron nodded back in response.
My breath caught in my throat for a second as I looked at his ocean eyes and the thought that I might die and never see him again occurred to me. I dismissed it right away, though. I didn't have the time for it.
The door opened slowly. The hallway that stretched in front of us was wider than the one we left behind, with cells on both sides, just like I remembered it. Two chairs were put in front of the last cell, where my family and probably McGraw’s lab was.
The Guards were on their feet in a second. I recognized them both. One was a vampire, the other a warlock. Without missing a beat, I fired my gun, aiming for the vampire, but I missed, since he was already in front of me, kicking my hand and gun out of it.
I pushed Bob into his gut, but I knew it would do no good. Through the corner of my eye, I saw Aaron walk around us to meet the warlock headed for us, sword in hand.
The fool. I’d told him to stand back no matter what!
The distraction cost me. The vampire hit me in the jaw hard, and I tasted blood in my mouth immediately. Going down, I cut the back of his left knee with Bob, and his leg gave for a second, enough for me to push hard under his chin and take him back a couple of steps. I reached back for my second gun and fired, just when he was in front of me with his hands around my throat, his eyes silver and his fangs long and sharp. He stopped moving for a second as the silver in him worked, but I hadn’t pierced his heart.
It didn’t matter, though, because the second it took him to get it together was enough for me to throw him back with my foot in his gut and fire two more bullets in his chest. He turned into grey ash the next second.
Aaron was already fighting the warlock. He was on the ground on his back, but he wasn’t giving up. The Guard was sitting on his stomach, and his fists connected with Aaron’s face more than once. Aaron fought back, hitting his chest and legs as hard as he could, but it wasn’t doing any good. The Guard pulled out a knife from his vest and raised his hand, aiming for Aaron’s chest.
Not on my watch.
Taking my remaining katana out of its sheath from my back, I made one clean swing, and its tip reached the Guard’s neck, slicing through it like it was nothing but soft butter. His body stiffened, but his head didn’t fall off. The sword must’ve cut only halfway through.
The Guard collapsed on Aaron’s chest. He pushed the dead body aside and stood, his face and shirt bloody, but I didn’t wait to see if he was hurt. I ran to the last cell, and my heart nearly stopped beating.
Inside the thick iron bars, at the end of the left side of the laboratory, sat Ella dressed in a light blue dress. Dad sat right next to her. They weren’t tied like the people in the video, but their heads were down. They looked unconscious.
I kissed the gun barrel to the chain and pulled the trigger. It broke under the bullet. I opened the door and ran to them as fast as my legs would carry me. I fell on my knees, the stone floor scratching my pants and skin, but I didn’t even feel it.
I took Ella’s face between my hands as my heartbeat tripled, and I called her name. Her eyes were closed, but she had a pulse. A very slow one but she was alive. Dad was the same, his pulse even weaker. Their faces were dirty, their clothes old and torn. I pushed Ella’s hair away from her pale face and continued to call her, again and again, begging her to wake up. But she wouldn’t move. Neither of them would.
“Star!” Aaron called.
I turned to look just in time to see a door opening in the wall opposite us, a door I’d never known existed. It was behind the table, the same one I’d seen in the video. Glasses of every size and shape, and liquid of every color was placed on it. Four Royal Guards stepped around it and stopped ten feet away from me.
McGraw was hiding right behind them.
My anger rose in a matter of seconds, replacing the helplessness I was feeling. I stood up, my katana in one hand and Bob in the other.
“Hello, dear,” McGraw said, his voice high-pitched. The four Guards stood in front of him, forming some sort of wall, but he was a foolish man to think they could stop me.
I ignored the burning in my veins that said to jump at them and slice my way to McGraw. Instead, I studied the Guards I already knew.
The first one was a vampire, a very fast one. He liked to play with daggers, and he had one ready. The other was a warlock, skilled with a katana. The third was the Devil, or so they called him. He was shifter gone bad, literally. His pupils were pointed like a cat’s, and his tongue was green, thin and long like a serpent’s. Scary to look at, strong hits but too slow.
The last one surprised me. It was Professor Young in all his glory, with his bald head and the scar I put on his face two years ago. He smiled, showing me his teeth, and I returned it, my Bob already itching to make more scars on him.
“I see you’ve reunited with your family,” McGraw continued, completely calm as his colorless eyes mocked me.
“What have you done to them?” I barely recognized my scratchy voice.
“Oh, you’ll see,” he said and turned to Ella and my father in the next heartbeat. “Wake up,” he ordered, and all I could do was watch.
I watched as both of them opened their lifeless eyes and stood up straight, very slowly. They were barely breathing. My dad, my Ella. They were no more than mindless zombies. They looked ahead but didn’t see anything. It was like someone had turned their lights off. They stood there with their shoulders hunched and their arms falling loosely by their sides, like they had no control over them.
“Kill Star.” McGraw’s voice echoed in the room made of stone and in my mind.
Before I could recover from my shock, my father hit me in the chest with his fist, and I fell back.
McGraw laughed.
I was paralyzed in place, watching the two people I loved most in the world move like puppets attached to strings and look at me with lifeless eyes that showed only hunger.
/> “Ella,” I whispered. “Dad, please. It’s me, Star.” They didn’t even blink.
McGraw’s laughter grew louder, but I could do nothing but drag my body away on the cold, stone floor of the cell, while my father and my sister came slowly to kill me. I stood up having no idea what to do. I couldn’t attack them, so I just let them hit me, too stunned and shocked to dodge properly.
Their hits weren’t strong, but they hurt more than anything I’d ever experienced before. It felt like they were hitting what was left of my soul, if there was any of it left. Tears rolled down my cheeks, blurring my vision even more as I watched them throw punch after punch, kick after kick until my back was against the wall and I had nowhere else to go.
This can’t be how this ends, I thought. I couldn’t let them win. Not over me, to hell with me! I couldn’t let them turn the only family that I had into zombies!
I wouldn’t.
I grabbed Dad’s slow arm as it was about to connect with my jaw and pulled him with his face against the wall. Ella kept kicking me on my back as I caught my own father with my arm around his throat. He tried to break free from my hold, but he was so, so weak. It hurt so much to hold him like that.
Finally, he dropped to the ground, unconscious. A piece of me fell together with him. A cry escaped my lips before I turned and faced Ella again.
Her beautiful face stared at me, pupils dilated like nobody was home. I prepared to hit her, but I couldn’t. Not her.
Aaron called me, but I didn’t turn. Instead, I took my sister’s face between my hands again. She had to remember me. She had to be in there somewhere.
“Ella,” I cried. She punched me on my cheek, but I didn’t let go. “Ella please, wake up.”
I tightened my hold around her fragile face. She showed no sign of life or recognition. She kicked me in the stomach with her knee instead.
“Ella, I’m so sorry. Please,” I begged again, desperate.
Nothing.
She looked so much like Mom. Her hair, her eyes—everything about her was like Mom. I wouldn’t have the heart to hurt her, even if it was to save her. I would choose death first.
But then, out of nowhere, something whispered in my ear.
