Forever Scarlett: The Everly Girls Book 3

by V. B. Marlowe

  I watched the cherry red car peel out of the driveway and speed away. Nana grabbed my shoulders and shook them. “See, this is exactly what I mean. Those girls could be anybody. They could be a witch or someone out to get us. She led them here to us and all this time we’ve been so careful about staying hidden.”

  I got what Nana was saying but I didn’t think the girls meant any harm. They’d even invited me to come to a party with them. My heart leapt at the invitation but Nana quickly shut it down. They wanted to see what Ella was up to so they were checking up on her. I didn’t have anyone to do that for me. I stuck my shovel in the ground. “I get it, Nana. We’ll just stay here hidden away forever. What a life.”

  The next day Nana left the cabin to drop some orders off at the post office for shipping. She left me alone with strict instructions not to let anyone inside. I was reading my copy of Little Red Riding Hood when the doorbell rang. It was Ella. I knew Nana would have been upset, but I had to let her in. If she left by the time Nana came back, everything would be fine.

  She came in and we went to my bedroom. Ella was acting strange, like she had something to say but didn’t quite know how to say it. I figured it was because of the way Nana had flipped out on her and her friends the other day. I was surprised she had even had the nerve to come back.

  “Ella, are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m just fine.”

  But she wasn’t just fine. She was jumpy, skittish.

  “I’m sorry about the way my Nana acted earlier. She didn’t mean it.”

  “No, it’s fine.” She stood abruptly from where she’d been sitting on my bed. “I have to use the restroom.”

  Once the bathroom door was closed, my gaze fell on the duffle bag she’d tossed on my bed. I always wanted to know what was in it, so I unzipped it. Inside was a beautiful silver box. I removed the box from the bed and took off the lid. I gasped and my shaking hands almost dropped the box. Nestled inside were a pair of glass slippers. They were beautiful—made of glass with intricate designs carved into it.

  I tossed the box onto my bed. I knew exactly what they were. They weren’t some ordinary shoes. These were shoes from another time and place. A pair of shoes that had been cursed by a witch. The witch in the woods had warned me that someone would use them to kill me. If Ella had them . . . I was so stupid. I should have been able to put two and two together. Ella—Cinderella of course. All this time I was thinking she wanted to be my friend when she was only waiting for the perfect time and place to get those shoes on my feet so I could drop dead. Nana had been right all along. We really couldn’t trust anyone.

  When Ella returned, she stared at the bed wide-eyed. “You went through my bag?”

  I couldn’t believe that was all she had to say. “Yeah, I wanted to know what was in there so I looked?”

  She didn’t seem to understand. Ella had a scent that I had recognized from long ago. She smelled like the little girl whose life I had saved that night in the woods. A Wolvenblood never forgot a scent. Ella was the reason I had been cursed. I’d killed the witch to save her and now I was going to pay the price for it. The witch had been right. My hero complex would be the death of me.

  Ella looked angry for a moment, then her face softened. “I wasn’t going to go through with it. I promise.”

  I would never believe another word she said. Nana was right. We couldn’t trust strangers. “Liar. I can’t believe I saved your life and you pay me back by trying to kill me.”

  Her face crumpled. “What do you mean you saved my life?”

  “You know damn well what I mean. That night in the woods when the witch was trying to kill you, I stopped her, didn’t I?”

  Ella grabbed her duffel bag and zipped it up. “It was an animal that killed her. I couldn’t really see what it was in the darkness, but it was some kind of creature. Nothing Human so what are you talking about?”

  I wasn’t about to explain it to her. “Get out of my house. Just get out of here and I never want to see you again.”

  Her lips quivered liked she might cry, but she didn’t. She took her duffle bag and stormed from the house. That was the last I ever saw of her.

  After I told Nana what happened, she told me that I had to start listening to her because she knew exactly what she was talking about. Clearly, she did. I was too trusting and I believed all people were good when they really weren’t. Just like some Wolvenblood were bad, some Humans were bad. I know Ella was only trying to protect herself and the people she loved, but I felt deceived. Nana was right, these girls were looking to take me out and I couldn’t trust anyone.

  Days later there was a knock on the door. I looked through the peephole. No one was there. I opened the door to discover the familiar silver box. Inside, nestled onto the red cushion, were the glass slippers. If the slippers were there, and Ella wasn’t, something had happened to her.

  “Nana!”

  She hurried from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “What Scarlett?”

  I handed her the box. “What does it mean?”

  Her expression turned solemn. “I think we know what it means. I’m sorry, Scarlett.” She tapped the box with her fingers. “I’ll put these in a safe place.”

  Nana buried the shoes in our garden to keep them from falling into the wrong hands.

  7

  Days turned to weeks. We went back to our quiet secluded life and never talked about Ella. One day while I was helping Nana knit an order of baby booties, there was a knock at the door. I opened it. On the other side was a beautiful boy with dark hair and sparkling hazel eyes. Nana was not going to be thrilled with yet another unwelcomed visitor. This boy I feared, might not leave our property alive if Nana felt he were a threat. She would do anything to protect me. She had let her guard down with Ella and it wasn’t going to happen again.

  “Can I help you?” I asked the beautiful boy.

  He nodded. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept for weeks. “Yes, I’m looking for my girlfriend, Ella. She’s gone missing and it’s not like her just to disappear. I found your name and number written on a slip of paper inside one of her drawers. I was hoping you had seen or heard from her.”

  The look in his eyes told me he knew he had something to worry about. I was sure that Ella loved him dearly and he had to know she would never just leave by choice.

  “Ella was here but she’s not anymore. I have no idea where she is.” That was the truth. All I knew was that something bad had happened to her.

  Nana stood behind me. “Who is it, Scarlett?”

  I looked to the boy for an answer. “Brayden. Ella’s boyfriend.”

  Nana pulled me back and slammed the door in Brayden’s face. “We must send him away. We can’t trust anyone. Ella might have already gotten us discovered by the witches.”

  “I know, but he’s just a boy. I feel bad for him. Maybe he can help us find her.”

  Nana sniffed the air. “Something is off about him. He’s not just some ordinary boy. I can sense it. And who said anything about trying to find her?”

  I wished my senses were as strong as Nana’s because I didn’t sense anything but a worried guy looking for the girl he loved.

  Brayden knocked on the door again. “Please, I’ll tell you everything. I don’t have anything to hide.” After a long pause he added, “I was cursed too.”

  Nana’s eyes widened as if to say, “I told you so.”

  I pushed past her to open the door. Brayden hurried inside, running his fingers frantically through his hair. “Please help me. I have to find her. None of this is her fault. I mean, it isn’t my fault either, but . . . it’s really not her fault.”

  Nana grabbed the boy roughly by his collar.

  “Nana!” I shouted, but she ignored me.

  Brayden stood with his mouth wide open as Nana patted down every inch of his body. She was checking for weapons.

  Nana pointed at the couch. “Sit,” she ordered stiffly.

&
nbsp; Brayden readjusted his clothing and took a seat on the couch, wiping his hands on the front of his jeans.

  Nana took a seat in the arm chair across from him. “You have five minutes and everything that comes out of your mouth better be the truth. I’ll know if it’s not. Speak.”

  Brayden eyed me as I lowered myself onto the opposite end of the couch. “Right. My real name is Prince Thorpe of Malacia.”

  Nana huffed. “Malacia? Never heard of it.”

  Brayden nodded again. “Most people haven’t. We’re a hidden realm. Magical even. It can only be reached by secret passage.”

  Even I had to roll my eyes at that one. Couldn’t he have made up something better?

  The boy went on. “I had eleven brothers. One day a fairy led us to a pond where there were twelve boats waiting. She told us to each get inside a boat and the paddle across the glistening lake and wait on the other side. She didn’t tell us what we would find, only that it would be the best thing a man could ever have. So, we figured, why not and did as the fairy told us. My brothers and I rowed our boats to the edge of the lake and waited. Almost an hour had passed and my second oldest brother thought the fairy was full of it. He said nothing was coming and that we should head back. However, my oldest brother believed her. “Just wait,” he said, so that’s what we did.

  “Harold was right because moments later my vision was filled with the most beautiful sight. Twelve princesses wearing the most beautiful and delicate nightgowns ascended a flight of stairs. There was one for each of us. Like magic, they each knew just where to go. Each princess walked to a boat. The youngest and most beautiful one came to my boat. She told me her name was Victoria. I held her hand and helped her inside. The twelve of us rowed our princesses across the lake to the other side where we danced the night away. We danced until our shoes wore out and our legs would no longer carry us. Then we took our princesses back to their side of the lake.”

  I glanced at Nana who wore a frown. We both recognized the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses which she had read to me many times.

  Brayden went on. “This happened night after night. Dancing with our princesses was the one thing my brothers and I looked forward to. We didn’t understand what was happening or why, but we were thankful for those stolen moments we got to share with our loves.

  “One day something strange happened. The staircase lowered. We expected our princesses to appear like always, but instead there was a single woman. A witch. Our kingdom had never had to deal with witches before. My eldest brother demanded to know what she was doing there and where our princesses were, when she let out the most wicked laugh. She told us we would never be seeing the princesses again because they had been cursed because of their father’s participation in witch hunting. She told us we were to be cursed along with the girls because that would inflict even more pain on them.”

  I swallowed hard. “Okay, so you’re a prince from the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Ella wasn’t a part of that tale. She has the glass slippers, so that makes her Cinderella. How did you end up with her?”

  Brayden paled. “That’s were things get a little twisted and I need you to hear me out before you react, please.”

  I braced myself to hear something terrible. I could feel the tenseness radiating from Nana.

  He cleared his throat. “Victoria and I built a life together but we knew nothing would ever be good until we broke our curse. The witches got to all our brothers and sisters, starting with the oldest and going down the line. We were the only ones left. As part of our curse we had to dance every night, but not with each other. It wasn’t a lovely, enchanted dance like it had once been. It was painful and exhausting and we couldn’t stop until we had painful blisters on the soles of our feet. Hiding from a coven of witches and being terrified all the time was no way to live. We learned that to break the curse, Victoria had to get rid of another cursed girl—Ella specifically.”

  I scooted to the edge of the couch. Whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be good. “And?”

  “And . . . so, when we found Ella, Victoria came up with a plan. Ella wasn’t like us. We had each other, but she was alone and probably lonely. It was Victoria’s idea for me to become Ella’s boyfriend.”

  My bad wolf was clawing its way to the surface. “You fooled her?”

  Brayden held his hands up. “Listen, please. It started off that way, and I’m ashamed of that, but that’s the way it was. Victoria changed and became a totally different person. Breaking this curse and finding an elixir made her this evil, bitter person that I didn’t like anymore. Once I met Ella, I immediately fell in love with her and broke things off with Victoria and the plan was over. I could never tell Ella who I really was. She would hate me and never trust me. Anyway, breaking up with Victoria totally pissed her off and she was going to go after Ella with a vengeance. Then she and the witch got the idea to pose as Ella’s friends. They told me that if I told Ella, they would kill us both. I tried to warn Ella to stay away from those girls, but she didn’t listen.”

  “So, what are you doing here?” Nana demanded.

  Brayden looked at me. “I know who you are. You’re a cursed girl too—Red Riding Hood, right?”

  Before I could answer, Nana was shoving him toward the front door. “You leave our home and never come back, you deceitful rat.”

  “Please . . . No . . . Listen,” Brayden said, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Nana slammed the door shut and locked it behind her.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “You see how he schemed against that poor girl? You can’t trust any of them. Stay away from him.”

  I crouched, tugging at a carrot and tossing it into my basket. From the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of something in the forest trees—something yellow and orange. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. An intruder. I remained in my crouching position and bared my teeth. “Show yourself, trespasser.”

  Quickly, whatever it was, hid itself behind a tree. It was a Human. “Show yourself!” I repeated.

  Brayden emerged from his hiding place.

  He smiled nervously. “Hi, I know we got off on the wrong foot and everything, but I really wanted to speak to you without your grandmother around. Can we talk?”

  I shrugged. “What’s there to talk about?”

  Brayden stepped into the clearing. “Ella. Despite what you may think, I love her and I want to find her.”

  I believed him. He could have simply written Ella off and enjoyed his life with that Keelie girl, but here he was trying to find his lost love.

  I picked up the basket of vegetables. “I want to find Ella too, but honestly, I have no idea where to even begin looking. She could be anywhere. There’s no telling what that witch did to her.”

  “You’re right. Finding Keelie is the key to finding Ella. She has to know where she is or at least where to find the witch.”

  “Give me something of hers,” I told him. “If I can pick up her scent . . .”

  Brayden looked at me as if I had grown two heads. “Or, we can just check her social media. Keelie’s addicted to that stuff. I always found that annoying, but now it can help us. She’s addicted to posting everything little thing she does and the places she goes.”

  I knew what social media was but nothing else about it. We owned a computer to sell our goods from a website but Nana never let me use it for anything else. She wouldn’t even let me own a cell phone. “Who would you call besides me and we’re always together”, she would say. Nana had a point I guess.

  Brayden pulled out his phone and scrolled through it. “Do you think you can get away tomorrow? I can come pick you up and we can track down Keelie.”

  That was going to be impossible. The only way Nana would allow that would be if she didn’t know. I swallowed hard. “Sure. Just tell me what time.” She was going to kill me but I would have to deal with that later. Helping Ella was more important than following rules.

  Brayden grinned. “Awesome. I’ll pick you up at noon.
With the two of us working together I know we’ll find her.”

  I hoped so. I killed me to know that Ella was somewhere in that witch’s clutches. I only hoped that she was still alive and that we weren’t too late.

  At noon, the next day I told Nana I was going for a walk. What I really was going to do was walk down the road and wait for Brayden so she couldn’t see me get in his car. He pulled up in a dark blue Corolla right at noon. I took a deep breath and hopped in. “Hey.”

  He gave me that dazzling smile. I could see why Ella loved him so much. He had an inner and outward beauty. “Hey. Ready?”

  I nodded even though my stomach churned. I was more afraid of Nana’s wrath than I was of the Crimson Coven.

  Brayden handed me his phone. There was a picture of a pretty girl with brown hair and blue eyes. Keelie. I remembered seeing her that day she and Jade showed up at our cabin. It was an Instagram pic she’d posted.

  What a great day for shopping with my bestie!! #shopaholic #willowcreekmall #canneverhavetoomanyshoes

  The entire statement seemed silly and pointless but whatever.

  “We’re going to get to that mall before she leaves and wait by her car. Then we’ll corner her. I must warn you, this might be an all-day thing.”

  Great. In about half an hour Nana would be wondering where I was. I sank into his car seat. I hadn’t ridden in too many vehicles so this was going to be quite the treat. “That’s fine,” I lied. I had never been to a mall either. Nana ordered everything we couldn’t make ourselves online. She thought mall trips were more trouble than they were worth.

  As Brayden reversed and headed away from the cabin, I inhaled the scent of cinnamon gum and musk. It was a nice mixture.

  An awkward silence hung between us. I wasn’t sure what to say to him. “So, what do you do besides look for Ella?”

  He kept his focus straight and narrow. “Work my stupid jobs, to pay the bills. That’s it. Ella was everything. If I don’t have her, I don’t even know what I’m living for.”