The Eternal

by Bianca Hunter

  “Of course,” I replied, glancing at Ravenna who still had her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Hella, how do we know we can trust you?” she said, lifting her brow.

  “I’m not planning to cross Aurelius and Blake in one night, Ravenna. Not even I’m that insane,” she replied, her tone full of spite.

  “How long is this going to take?” I asked, thinking about how little time I had left from the three days.

  “As I told Blake five times, it’s going to take me about three hours,” she said and rolled her eyes.

  “Three hours? Good God, witch, how unpracticed are you?” Ravenna replied with a bite to her tone. If Hella had a dagger available, she most likely would have stabbed Ravenna in that moment. She turned back to me and pursed her lips.

  “I need twelve candles, a needle, salt, dried sage, and your blood,” she said, pointing at me.

  “Her blood?” Ravenna took a step toward me so our arms touched. There was something comforting in the fact that Ravenna was so overprotective of me.

  “I can’t do any of this without her blood,” Hella said, shrugging.

  “It’s okay,” I said, smiling at Ravenna. “Really, it’s not like I haven’t already lost enough in Greyhaven.”

  “Okay, as long as you’re okay with it,” Ravenna said. “I’ll go get everything you need.” She turned to Hella now.

  “Hurry, immortal princess, tempus fugit.” Hella smiled and crossed her arms now.

  “Je déteste cette sorcière,” Ravenna muttered as she left the room.

  Okay, so they really don’t like each other. Does Ravenna not like witches at all?

  “Evelyn.” I heard Blake’s voice as he entered the room.

  I turned and watched him approach me. Oh God Evelyn, please stop feeling like this, please, you cannot fall for him. You just cannot.

  “As soon as Hella has cast the spells, we need to leave,” he said, glancing at Hella who was watching us with mild curiosity.

  “Where are we going?” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to keep my voice level.

  “Oh mijn God, jullie zijn de profetie,” Hella mouthed, looking from me to Blake.

  “Niet nu, Hella,” Blake replied darkly.

  “Did she just say something about the prophecy?” I asked, looking at Blake.

  “I did.” Hella smiled and stepped toward us. “You two have a terrible shadow over you,” she continued, ignoring Blake and staring directly at me.

  “Hella,” Blake warned.

  “We’ll watch you fall, we’ll watch you burn, but out of ashes you will return, and once transformed your fate is locked, immortals lost and forgot, two remain on shaking ground, kept each other safe and sound,” Hella whispered, her face twisted in excitement.

  “Oh God, honestly, do you witches have nothing to do but come up with ill-conceived little rhymes?” Ravenna spat, walking back into the room carrying a wooden crate. “We all know how much your prophecies are worth.”

  “This is not my prophecy. This is the prophecy of all witches and all the Ravens. We all see the same thing,” Hella said, keeping her eyes locked on me. “Once the immortals are gone, the witches will be free again.” Her eyes lit up with the words.

  I shifted uncomfortably on the spot and glanced at Blake, who was also glaring at me.

  “Here, witch,” Ravenna said, hoisting the wooden crate into Hella’s arms. “Time for you to pay for the safety of Greyhaven you so desperately seek.”

  Ravenna lifted an ornate dagger to me. “I thought we may at least bleed you out in style,” she said as she handed it to me.

  “Do I just cut my hand?” I stammered. “How much do you need?” I looked at Hella, who had walked to an open space on the floor.

  “At least half of this bowl,” she said, handing me a charcoal-black ceramic bowl. “Ravenna, I don’t see the sage?” She turned to Ravenna, clearly taking pleasure in forcing her to do her bidding.

  “Oh, for the love of everything that is holy,” Ravenna spat before disappearing in a blur.

  I looked down at the dagger and bowl in my hands.

  What happened in my life that I ended up here?

  “Let me help you with that. It’s easier if someone else does it,” Blake said softly.

  I nodded and followed him to the couch.

  “I think I’d rather stand,” I said as I handed him the dagger and put the bowl on the coffee table next to the half-eaten macaroni and cheese.

  He nodded and held out his left hand. I placed my hand, palm facing up, in his.

  “Do you want to close your eyes?”

  “No, I’d rather watch,” I breathed, feeling my heart pump faster.

  He placed the cold edge of the blade in the middle of my palm and then forced my hand to close. He pushed the dagger into my skin and pulled it out of my hand, then put down the dagger, picked up the bowl, and held it under my bleeding hand.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” I said, my voice shaking slightly.

  “The anticipation of something is usually worse than the experience itself,” he replied softly.

  Hella began muttering as she threw something on the wooden floor.

  “So, what are we going to do?” I asked as we watched my blood slowly drip into the bowl, very aware that Blake had not let go of my hand even though he didn’t strictly need to hold it anymore. I inhaled his scent and my heart started racing as my breathing became shallow. What is wrong with you?

  “If I tell you, I think Astara is going to know. We’re always one step behind Serena, and I think it’s because you’re connected to her somehow. She may even be giving you the dreams you’ve been having. You’re going to have to trust me until this is over,” he replied gently.

  “Do you think she’s watching us now?” I asked, my stomach lurching.

  “Not for much longer,” Hella replied from the floor where she was now sitting in the middle of a salt circle.

  “I know it’s frustrating, but at this point, the only way I can protect you is by giving Serena and Astara as little information as possible,” Blake continued, ignoring the witch.

  “Where are you sending me?” I asked, suddenly not wanting to be away from Blake or Ravenna.

  “We’re all going. You, me, Ravenna, Tristan, Gwenn, and Bastian,” he explained.

  “Why, are they all in danger?” I replied, my eyes widening as the blood in the bowl reached the quarter-way mark.

  “I can’t tell you that, Evelyn,” he said. “But it’s only for two nights. We’ll have to be back for the end of Verto.”

  “The sage, your bloody majesty,” Ravenna interrupted, appearing in front of Hella.

  “How much blood do we have?” Hella asked, taking the sage from Ravenna and ignoring her.

  “Not enough,” Blake replied. My wound was closing.

  “We’ll have to cut my other hand,” I breathed.

  “No, I’ll make do with what we have. I must finish the spells before the moon begins its descent.”

  Blake let go of my hand. I opened it and noticed how deep the cut was.

  “Ravenna, do we have a bandage for Evelyn? Tristan can heal you later,” he added before handing Hella the bowl.

  “Yes, here,” Ravenna said, grabbing a bandage from the bottom of the wooden crate. She handed it to Blake.

  “Can you collect Gwenn and Bastian and meet us at the airport? You won’t need a bag where we’re going,” Blake said, looking at his sister, who gave a gentle nod. “And Victoria.”

  Ravenna stopped and turned to read Blake’s face, most likely trying to figure out if it was a joke. It wasn’t. Blake held his gaze as Ravenna nodded once again and walked out of the room without another word. Blake walked back to me and held out his hand once again. He began to carefully bandage my wound. I closed my eyes
at the sensation of his hot skin again mine. Don’t, Evelyn.

  “Why is Victoria coming?” I asked as he secured the bandage.

  “I can’t tell you that,” he replied, his tone constricted. “You also can’t see where we’re going.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, a pang of anxiety hitting my chest.

  “We’re going to have to blindfold you from the airport onward,” he replied, not breaking his icy-blue eyes away from mine.

  “You really think Astara is so connected to me that she’ll be able to see where we’re going?” I asked. “Won’t the cloaking spell help?”

  “Not if she starts looking for you. If she does, she’ll find the spell and—”

  “Kill me to kill it,” Hella said as she lit the dried sage.

  “I need you to try hard not to think too much about what we’re about to do and where we are about to go,” Blake continued. “Hella is right, and her life would be in danger if Serena senses anything.”

  That had done it. No one else was going to die.

  Think about something else.

  “You know,” I said with a level tone, “I always wanted to be a curator.” I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away from Hella completely. “My dad was curator before he started lecturing at Duke, and before he met Grace, he would take me to the most wonderful places.” I sat on the edge of the couch and kept my eyes on the fireplace. Blake sat down next to me. “I don’t remember much of it though, it’s weird, I can’t seem to remember that time in my life, the time before and after my mom died. Do you think she made me forget?” I whispered trying to remember her. She had always been a shadow, someone that I knew I once loved, but so distant, so far away from me that I couldn’t feel anything for her.

  “Maybe,” Blake said quietly, throwing a glance at Hella. I kept my eyes on Blake, desperate not to look at Hella. Talk about something else. I was about to ask Blake where else he had lived when he turned to me.

  “It’s not the worst thing in the world to forget the pain of a loved one’s death.” Was he talking about his own mother?

  “I think that forgetting all the terrible things comes at a price,” I whispered as Hella began to chant. “I may not feel any sorrow with my mom’s death, but I can’t remember all the good things either.” Couldn’t I? I closed my eyes and tried to remember her face, her smell, her voice. Nothing.

  When I opened them, I met with Blake’s narrowed eyes and a slight smile.

  “You could almost pass as a two-hundred-year-old mortal with that level of enlightenment,” he spoke softly. Once again, an overwhelming feeling to reach out to Blake and take his hand washed through me. I just want you to hold me for a moment, just a single moment. Why did I feel like I would find the comfort I needed in his arms?

  “Hella, how far are we with the cloaking spell?” Blake asked turning away from me abruptly. I exhaled and turned to face the fireplace. Does he suspect that you feel something more for him?

  “Easiest one,” Hella muttered. “She’ll be cloaked in a few minutes. The bilocation will also take a few minutes. The protection spell over everyone in Greyhaven, however, will take me hours.”

  “As soon as the first two spells are done, we need to get to the airport as quickly as possible,” Blake said in my direction.

  I nodded as my chest constricted again. Knowing what was going on was awful but not knowing what was going on was even worse.

  For a fleeting moment, I could have sworn I felt the heat of Blake’s hand lingering above mine, but a second later, the sensation was gone.

  “She’s cloaked,” I heard Hella call.

  I took a deep breath. Serena couldn’t see me anymore.

  “You can open your eyes; she can’t see you anymore,” Blake said softly.

  My eyes met with the fire, and my back muscles relaxed slightly.

  “Do I need to take anything to where we’re going?” I asked, looking at him.

  “No, everything you need is there,” he replied before glancing at Hella, who had started chanting again.

  I looked over at Hella just as someone appeared on the couch across from Blake and me. I narrowed my eyes and watched a perfect version of myself grow more and more pronounced until a mirror image sat across from me.

  “Bilocation is done. Go now,” Hella urged.

  Blake took my hand and pulled me up. “Come on, we need to move,” he said as I followed him out of the room.

  I glanced back and noticed that Hella was on her knees, her eyes completely white and her mouth open.

  “Is she going to be okay?” I gaped as we entered the passageway.

  “She’ll be fine. Don’t worry about her,” Blake replied as we entered the entrance hall. We bolted out of the house and to his Range Rover. He opened the passenger door for me and held my hand as I pulled myself up into the seat. Not a second later he was in the driver’s seat starting the car. He turned to me. “Evelyn, you cannot fall asleep until we get there. Hella can conceal you when you’re awake but not when you’re dreaming.” The car sped over the gravel toward the iron gate that was opening for us.

  “I won’t,” I promised as we sped down the hill. I turned to look at the manor in the darkness and wondered if Hella would be able to cast the protection spell.

  “She’ll be okay,” Blake said, guessing that I was worried about the spell.

  “I’m just so tired of worrying that everything I do means someone else has to die,” I breathed, looking through the windshield as we arrived at the bridge.

  “If we stay, we’re at her mercy,” Blake replied, revving the engine as soon as we crossed the bridge. “This is the only way we can take control of the situation.”

  “What the hell happened to Serena to turn her into this?” I shook my head.

  “When she arrived, she was a wretched little witch still trembling from the iron chains Aurelius had used to hold her down, but granted her freedom by Viktor, she came out of the shadows and began to cut a path of destruction across the immortal covens. We all despised her save one.”

  “Astara,” I whispered.

  “Yes, Astara,” Blake breathed as we entered the fog.

  “Couldn’t she see what Serena was?”

  “Astara was the author of everything Serena is today. My mother kept Serena like a snake charmer would keep a cobra, lovingly hidden away until she had use for her magic tricks. Serena was besotted with Astara, her savior, the immortal who gave her life beyond Aurelius. Together, they systematically destroyed everything we held dear, never seeing the error of their ways.” His voice was laced with malice. Ravenna blames Serena. Blake blames his mother. But which of them is right?

  “But, Astara was just trying to help her, wasn’t she?” I thought back to my dreams. The Astara I had seen in London was different from the one who appeared to me in every other dream.

  You can’t trust the dreams. Serena could be behind them.

  “Evelyn,” Blake said, glancing at me. “Whatever you may see and hear in the next few days, there is one thing I can assure you of. My mother is wretched, and the moment you trust her is the moment she will betray you without an ounce of remorse.”

  “What if we find Nero and he brings her back?”

  “We must find Nero, and he will bring her back, and then as soon as he does, when Serena has her precious Astara and her guard is down, I’ll gladly rip out her heart and then rain hellfire on my monstrosity of a mother.”

  “You’re going to kill her?” I gaped.

  “No, death is far too delicate a fate for her. I’m going to entomb her until she desiccates and take great pleasure in knowing that she will be in limbo for eternity, able to remember the sweetness of life and never being able to live.”

  “Tantalus,” I replied.

  A slight grin curved his lips. “For a mortal, you do seem to know an aw
ful lot,” he said as we arrived at the airport gate. The jet was already waiting on the tarmac.

  “My dad,” I replied. “He told me all of these stories growing up, some just stuck.” I turned to look at Blake. A surge of unwanted affection coursed through my brain. Evelyn, don’t.

  “Time to blindfold you,” Blake said as soon as he stopped the car next to the jet. I nodded as he grabbed a long piece of black cotton from the back seat. I closed my eyes, and he gently tied the blindfold around me.

  I really don’t like this.

  I took a deep breath.

  He’ll protect you, he said he would.

  I heard Blake leave the car, and a few seconds later, the passenger door opened. He scooped me up and then walked up the metal stairs of the jet. When I heard two massive engines start humming, I jumped. Not being able to see anything was worse than facing Serena. Blake gently set me down on one of the massive leather armchairs.

  “Once we take off, give it ten minutes, and then open your eyes. We’ll be over water, so Serena won’t know which direction we’re going in,” he said as he gently fastened my seat belt. I nodded, keeping my eyes tightly shut, trying to control my breathing.

  Why does this feel so horrible?

  A few moments later, I heard Ravenna’s voice as she climbed the stairs. “I have them all. Tristan called to let me know he’s abandoning the flight plan to London and meeting us,” she called out to Blake.

  I heard Gwenn, Bastian, and Victoria filter into the cabin—at least, I thought it was them. Does Gwenn remember me? I heard everyone fasten their seat belts in absolute silence. Blake had obviously ordered complete silence until we took off. The plane sped up on the runway, and I took a deep, sharp breath as the jet started its incline.

  Chapter Thirty-One