The Heart of the Darkness

by M. J. Padgett

  Ravenna, Jeanine, and Rebecca entered the field, followed by Gerald. If Ravenna’s scowl was any indication, she was fast approaching her tipping point.

  “I simply don’t trust anyone anymore,” Ravenna said offhandedly, likely alluding to Annabell’s unusual disappearance. I still couldn’t decide how I felt about it all, even though Parker was quite sure Annabell would not betray us in the long run.

  “What happened, exactly?” Nathan asked.

  “Cole arrived in Schattenland and destroyed half the castle. His purpose was to retrieve Sutton, but she was protected and removed from the area before he could abduct her. Instead, he took Hayden. I also received news from Jemma. Something has happened to Stella, Nathan. She’s well, but unconscious.”

  “What? Why didn’t you lead with that?” Nathan shouted and hurried to gather his things.

  Ravenna raised her hands. “I apologize. It’s simply too hard to prioritize the news we receive lately! Everyone has lost something or someone, and I cannot be held to...”

  Nathan placed his hand on her shoulder and pursed his lips, the closest he could come to an apology, then said, “I understand. Tell me what we can do, and I’ll speak to Katie and the others.”

  Jeanine stepped up. “The villagers are being relocated to Goldene Stadt where they can be better protected by their royal army, given Schattenland’s is still under development. Sutton and Matt are on their way here under Benjamin’s watchful eye. I think we might better protect everyone if we are together.”

  “You’re probably right. Separated, they are more likely to be picked out one by one. At least this way, we stand a fighting chance,” Nathan said. “I’ll get Katie and the others and prepare the Organization members still here. We should divide up between here and Goldene Stadt.”

  “That sounds appropriate,” Rebecca said. “I will contact someone in the resistance community and check on Stella. They say she was talking to herself before she passed out from the pain. My guess is that she wasn’t speaking to herself but that someone had used a telepathic bonding spell on her. I hope it was Annabell and that we might get some answers.”

  I glanced at Parker, but he was focused on their conversation. I shuttered, thinking that he might have to fight against Cole, considering his status as one of the Seven, but I still wasn’t clear what that meant. He wasn’t even a wolf. For that matter, neither was Ethan, so it didn’t make sense to me what was going on. If Cole wanted a pack, why take creatures that were not wolves?

  “Fiona is working with Snow non-stop to figure out our next step, but I’m afraid until Cole makes his next move, we may not know what our next step is,” Jeanine said. Gerald wrapped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. When they were standing right beside us, I could see the resemblance between them and Parker. I couldn’t figure out why I’d never seen it years before when Rebecca was caring for us, considering she was Jeanine’s twin, but I dismissed those thoughts from my mind because they wouldn’t help us conquer the Darkness.

  Parker sighed and tugged my arm. It seemed he’d heard enough and needed a break. I followed him across the rear of the field along the small creek that ran to the first group of village homes. Once we were apart from the others, he sat on the thick grass and stared up at the stars. I sat beside him and wiped my dirty hands on my pants.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “About as okay as anyone can be, I guess. I feel like every time my feet are on solid ground, the rug gets pulled out from under me. Hayden was one of our strongest, and if she’s somehow... I hate to think it, but what if she gets infected again? They said it was really bad the last time.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t make sense to worry about things that might happen when there is so much else to focus on.”

  “There’s that, too. I feel so helpless. Chris is in so much pain just watching Alorna fading, unable to help her. It’s the same way we felt when we couldn’t help the girls. Sierra and Cecily suffered so much, and it killed us when we couldn’t take away their pain.”

  “Park, you did everything you could. And look at them now. They’re princesses, for Heaven’s sake,” I reminded him.

  “What about Ross? He finally found a girl who just gets him, and he can’t even be with her because he’s stuck researching in that stuffy library. He should be with Jemma, but once again, we’re—”

  “Stop, Park.” I clasped his flailing hands and pulled him closer. “Stop. Look around. It’s not perfect, but it’s home. For so long, we worked so hard for our family. We can’t stop now. We have Rebecca back, your parents... Parker, we actually have more now than we did before this whole thing started, and I, for one, want my kingdom back.”

  Parker chuckled and leaned against me. “I suppose you do, and you deserve it, my sweet Ophelia.”

  “My people suffer in Weisserwald, and if anything remains once Cole’s dreadful misery leaves, then I want to help them. I want to restore it and give the people a glorious kingdom. Obviously, I don’t remember my parents, but everything I’ve read talks about their kindness and how much the people loved them.”

  “You’ll be the best Queen, Ophie, and you’re right. Come on, let’s go help them prepare. Heaven knows Jack is probably ready to hunt Cole down himself.” Parker pushed up from the ground and dusted off his hands.

  I froze, thinking about Jack. Parker wasn’t entirely wrong, and something told me Jack going rogue was something we should prepare for. I tugged on Parker’s hand before he stepped away.

  “Park... What would you do if that happened to me? If Cole came and took me?”

  “I’d go on a rampant monster-killing spree until I found out where Cole had taken—oh crap. We need to get to Goldene Stadt before Jack does something insane!”

  Parker took off across the field toward Nathan, but I couldn’t say what he had planned. I only knew whatever he did, I was on board. No more sitting around on my haunches waiting for the fight to come to me. I was in the best shape of my life, and if I really wanted my kingdom back, then I had to fight for it. I chased after Parker, who had already pulled Nathan away from the group.

  “Nathan, we might have trouble. Can you spare anyone to accompany us to Goldene Stadt?” Parker asked.

  “Sure, I could go along. Why?” Nathan asked.

  “Jack,” Parker said, but it was enough.

  “Get Ulrich and Larkin. We might need some dragons for this. I’ll see if the ladies and Andrew want to join. We should hurry.”

  Nathan ran off to gather his people, and I pulled my phone from my pocket. “I’ll call Larkin. I’m sure she’s in the library with her parents and Marissa.”

  The library had become the best place to keep the non-magical, non-shifting people safe while also giving them a job to do. They spent their time researching possible cures for whatever Annabell had done to Alorna, the guards, and a few Organization members. Some tried to decipher ancient texts that discussed Cole, at least, what we believed he was thanks to Ava’s memory. And still more searched for anything and everything we might have missed about the curses, Cole’s origin, the merging, and so on. Basically, the library was the place to be if you didn’t feel like sitting around twiddling your fingers awaiting certain death.

  Larkin answered after two rings. “Hello?”

  “Larkin, we need you and Ulrich on a mission to Goldene Stadt. Cole took Hayden, and we’re worried Jack might—”

  “Say no more. We’re on our way.” She hung up a moment before I heard a loud screeching from the front courtyard. The illumination of her flame lit up the night sky.

  “Larkin’s ready,” I said to Parker as he explained our plans to Henry.

  Jordan tugged on my shirt, awaiting his own orders. Oddly, the kid had become more obedient since discovering our true identity and surviving several near-death experiences. “What should we do?” he asked.

  “The villagers from Schattenland are headed to Goldene Stadt for protection. Matt, Sutton, and Benj
amin are headed here. Help everyone else prepare, gather food and supplies, the usual.”

  Jordan hugged me then disappeared with Petra to get ready. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was coming—the moment we had been waiting and training for, our go big or go home. Whether we were ready or not, by morning, we would have to fight for our lives.

  It didn’t take long for everyone to get ready, considering we had all been living on edge since we arrived in the forest. It felt like ages ago, though it had only been a few weeks. Denise and Andrew entered the field hand-in-hand, quite the item after saving each other’s lives countless times. Nathan, Katie, and Niyah followed with weapons in hand. The moment they stopped beside us, I felt the tension in the air. They were as worried as I was, an unspoken understanding we were about to fight—for real.

  “Ready?” Nathan asked, glancing between Parker and me.

  Parker looked at me and sucked in a breath. “Ready as we can be.”

  Larkin and Ulrich rose over the castle and landed near us in the field. It seemed they were to be our caravan to the Vogel castle, which I thought was a good idea since traveling by land was more dangerous these days. I had no doubt Cole had hellhounds, trolls, and all manner of nasties out hunting for wolves.

  Nathan and Katie climbed aboard Ulrich, while Andrew, Denise, and Niyah climbed Larkin like a tree. I was trying to decide which ride would be more comfortable and less crowded when Isla screeched and settled beside her sister. There were a few squawks and grunts, then Larkin lifted her head to the sky and spouted her flame. It seemed Isla was reprimanded but given permission to join anyway.

  “It looks like she’s our ride,” Parker said, then hoisted me up.

  Riding a dragon had not been on the top of my list of things to learn to do, but the others made it seem easy enough. I reminded myself that even if I fell, the dragons were skilled and would catch me—I hoped.

  Parker snuggled in behind me.

  “Hey, you have wings,” I said, thinking I trusted riding him a lot more.

  “I do, but I tire faster than them. I’ll need to save my energy in case we run into something. Now, hold on and enjoy the ride,” Parker said just as Isla shot into the sky like a rock from a slingshot.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Annabell

  Elfriede’s Castle, Das Unbekannte

  HAYDEN TENSED BESIDE me but eased when I took her hand. I leaned toward her. “He won’t hurt you. He knows it would devastate me.”

  “How comforting,” she said but managed to spackle on a smile when Cole entered the room. He had, in fact, gone hunting for us.

  “I didn’t mean to bring back an entire deer, Cole,” I said.

  He shrugged and dropped it by the fire, already skinned and ready to roast, not that it would fit into the fireplace. Hayden scrunched her nose, then shifted into her wolf form. I had if only for a moment, forgotten she was still a wolf. As such, the deer did not turn her stomach, so she ate like a savage.

  Cole observed her, his eyes darting between her and me. “Are you pleased, Ellie?” he asked with so much hope I almost was pleased.

  “I am. Thank you, Cole, but I do have another matter.” Originally, I planned to send Hayden on her way and to offer her safe passage back home so she could pass the treatment for my magic on to the others, but I needed her there for the next phase of my plan. However, I couldn’t very well leave Alorna and the others suffering. I took a chance and bet Cole would want to please me again.

  “Which is?” he asked as Hayden made smacking noises chewing her food.

  “You will not wish to do this task, but I beg that you will.”

  Cole stepped forward and pressed his palm against my cheek, careful not to ignite a transference of our energy. “I will do anything to please you, my Ellie. But I do grow weary. My power drains me, and I must absorb the Seven soon. Will you tell me who the rest are?”

  “If you do this for me, then I will tell you,” I said, earning Hayden’s attention. Her ears perked as she ate, listening but subtly.

  “What is it?” he asked as his thumb caressed my cheek.

  “When I rendered the people unconscious, it seems I injured some, and they are dying. I must send word on how to reverse the spell and heal them. I care for them, Cole, and I do not wish to see them harmed. Will you deliver the message for me, please?”

  He chuckled. “You want me to take them a message? Why would you think they would even believe a word in it if delivered by my hand?”

  “You promised, Cole.”

  “I did, yes, and it is a promise I will keep, yet you seem to forget that I am not anyone they would trust willingly... or unwillingly, for that matter. What shall I do? Pretend to be a small child so that they will trust me?”

  I pursed my lips and crossed my arms. His teasing was unbecoming and unnecessary, especially since he could not afford such things if he wanted to win me back—an impossible feat whether he knew it or not.

  “Yes, Ellie, I will deliver your message. I apologize for my teasing, but you really must understand there is nothing I can say or do that will encourage them to believe whatever is in the letter you send with me.”

  I pulled another sheet from the desk and copied down the information again, assuming it was an easier task than having Hayden shift to retrieve it from her pocket. That thought brought on several others, all curiosities about how the clothing vanished and reappeared—all manner of nonsense that didn’t matter a bit, so I rushed through my writing and folded the paper.

  Cole opened his hand and accepted the square paper, then disappeared from the room amid a puff of smoke and a guttural grunt I knew well. Shifting really was taking all his effort to control. Once he was gone into the night, Hayden shifted and came to stand beside me.

  “Why is he no longer a wolf?” she asked as she stared into the evening.

  “He can shift into many animals, but the wolf was his natural state when he was born. He uses the dragon now because, as he said, it controls the darkness better during the shift. I’m afraid I didn’t learn much about that during my first life.” I sighed, realizing perhaps I had been a bit bratty and selfish during that time.

  “Wouldn’t absorbing more power make it that much more difficult to control?” she asked.

  “Not the sort of power wielded by the Seven, no. It is light and good, and such things balance the darkness in him. You see, he is not only the vessel to contain the darkness, but also that which... dilutes it, I suppose.”

  “Could he not be good if...” Hayden faded as if she realized what it might entail for Cole to remain a good person. “So, if he refused to absorb the evil, then it would just spread through the whole world?”

  “He must, on occasion, take innocent life and absorb their goodness in order to balance what is inside. If he does not, it spills into the world. You have seen evidence of this in the hounds, and other animals Cinderella and the others created. If he chose not to absorb the darkness, then yes, the world would fill with those creatures. Stella and her people fight those monsters all over the world, entities who sprung from the Darkness Cole’s ancestors could not contain.”

  “I’m confused about what role Ella and the others played in this? What was his plan with them?”

  I sighed and shrugged. “He says it was to reclaim my land and that they went rogue with his plan once they were drunk with power, but I cannot say if that is true. He claims I have forgotten a key piece of information, but I believe that is likely his way of stalling the inevitable.”

  “You feel as if your memory is full? I know with me, I always felt a little nagging in my brain. It was almost like something was knocking on a door in there, but I just couldn’t open it.”

  My eyes narrowed, and lips parted. What she explained was the exact feeling I had, but I feared telling her would only weaken our trust. I thought there was nothing more, that perhaps Cole really was just stalling, but there was that nagging Hayden described.

  “I think if I forgot somet
hing that truly changed everything, he would have admitted that truth to me by now if only to ensnare me further.”

  “And if he dies? If you kill him, will the evil not spill out uncontrolled?” Hayden asked.

  If she only knew my plan, what I had chosen to do to eradicate the forest from the darkness that had plagued it from the beginning of time, then she would cease her questions so she could deny the truth to herself. There was no plan to release the Darkness, only to place it into another vessel—one that had enough light to destroy it.

  “Not exactly,” I said.

  “Annabell, what have you planned?”

  “All in time. For now, I need your help. I need your magic with mine to perform this next step. Snow was to help me, but your power is above hers. It will be just as easy for you.”

  Hayden sighed but nodded, then said, “Do you think your father will accept Cole’s communication?”

  I stopped cold, realizing what position I might have just put Jack in. The man who not only took his daughter but also his beloved wife would land in his kingdom with a communication he may or may not believe. Jack, no doubt, would attack Cole. My heart seized, but all I could do was pray that Cole held his temper and did not lash out at Jack.

  “I believe Cole knows if he harms Jack, I will hate him.”

  “And you don’t hate him now?”

  I glanced at her with narrowed eyes as I gathered the things I needed for our spell. “I think we have gone over that already.”

  “Annabell, I know his purpose as a vessel, but if somehow underneath all of that he is good and might be—”

  I pressed my palm against her cheek and smiled. “It is kind and sweet and so motherly of you to hope for my happiness, but I assure you Cole cannot be saved. So much darkness taints the soul, even if it is not something he asked for. Trust I have seen happiness with you and Jack, and that will be enough for me in the coming time.”

  Hayden sucked in a breath and nodded. Sometimes I could not understand human nature; for example, Hayden’s willingness to try to save Cole even though he had allowed Bianca to possess her with his darkness, turned people against one another, and caused death and destruction. The ability of the human soul to forgive was beyond measure, but so was its propensity to sin—what a paradox.