by Carey Corp
I pitched forward, hitting something solid with my shoulder. Belatedly, I realized the steps had ended. My pulse pounded in my ears as I explored the barrier in front of me. It felt like wood, warmer than the stone but still slick with damp. Images of spindly legged spiders dropping on my head and rabid, hungry rats milling about my feet almost paralyzed me. I opened my fist, and the red light of my ring erupted, illuminating a crude wooden door—thankfully, no spiders or rats were in sight.
With trembling fingers, I lifted the heavy wrought-iron lever, cringing as a squeak echoed through the corridor followed by a soft, creaking moan. The door opened about a foot and stuck, forcing me to squeeze through the opening. Flickering torches lined the stone passageway that led to another windowless door at the far end. On tiptoes, I jogged toward the end of the hall as every instinct within me screamed in warning.
I put my ear to the wood, held my breath, and listened. Nothing. I braced for the screech of metal on metal, but this door didn’t make a sound as I slowly inched it closer to me.
Pressing my spine against the gritty wall, I peered through the opening. A single candle flickered in the far corner of a small, cell-like room. I blinked against the shifting light, sifting through shadowy details. A bare cot … a wooden table … Jamie!
He was bound to a chair, his head resting on his chest. Was he unconscious, or was I too late? All thoughts of caution gone, I pushed into the room and ran toward him as his eyes rolled open.
“Stop. ’Tis a trap,” he groaned.
Heedless of the warning, I ran forward. But just before I reached him, something slammed me back against the wall. I hit so hard, my legs collapsed, sending me to the floor.
“Vee!” Jamie cried.
I sucked air into my burning lungs and searched for the source of attack. Through the gloom, a slight figure with long, wavy blonde hair emerged. “Allyson?” She glanced up at me, her green eyes huge in her pale face, her diamond nose ring glittering in the candlelight. She wasn’t bound like Jamie, but she was trembling. There was no one else in the room—it didn’t make sense. “Ally, run and get help! My friends are upstairs.” I pushed to my feet. “I’ll untie him and meet you there.”
Hyperaware of the time slipping away, I stumbled over to Jamie, who barely seemed to be able to lift his head. “Jamie?”
He turned toward my voice, his eyes unfocused. “It’s her.”
“What?” I began working on the rope binding his hands behind his back, but it was stuck tight.
“Veronica.” It was Allyson’s voice but—different. A chill rushed down my spine. I raised my eyes to find the girl walking steadily toward us, her edges strangely blurred. “You’ve done well.”
Something was wrong with her face. Slowly, I straightened and placed my hands on Jamie’s shoulders, my heart dropping to the floor. Impossibly, Ally’s hair began to shrink, growing shorter and straighter before my eyes. Her rounded cheeks sharpened, the skin on her face pulling tighter over her cheekbones. As she drew closer, tiny lines spidered out from her eyes. The nose ring was gone and her mother, Addie Dell, stood before me.
Oh no. I shook my head in denial as my knees grew weak and I gripped Jamie’s shoulders harder. Allyson and Addie were the same person? And they were both Adelaide Cadell—the witch of Doon.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the terrible excitement lighting her face as she purred in a silken voice, “I’m so glad to see you. Come here, my dear.”
“Stay away from her!” Jamie growled. The wooden chair legs knocked against the floor as he struggled against his bonds.
It occurred to me that my hands should’ve been resting on his shoulders, but he was suddenly several feet away. I hesitated mid-step, unsure how I’d gotten halfway across the room.
“Be still and silent, young king o’ Doon,” Addie commanded. She flicked her wrist in Jamie’s direction and he froze, unable even to speak.
“Strong willed, that one,” Addie said with a glow of appreciation in her eyes. “I’ve had ta enthrall him thrice now.”
Focusing her full attention back to me, she announced, “Veronica, I wanted ta thank ye for delivering my spell inta the proper hands.”
I stared in shock at Jamie’s eerie, lifeless form across the room. “I didn’t deliver anything for you.”
“’Tis no matter, really. It got ta him somehow. I must admit, though, I was beginning ta despair that my plan had failed.”
Blood rushed in my ears as I clenched my hands into fists. I already knew she’d manipulated me like an empty-headed marionette, but hearing her gloat about it made me dizzy with rage. I’d never wanted to punch someone more in my life. “And what plan would that be?”
“My plan to destroy Doon, o’ course.” Addie arched a golden brow. “It’s just an added bonus that ye’re here ta watch your sweetheart die at midnight along with his kingdom.”
Something about her gloating statement caught me off guard. “Wait. What makes you think he’s my sweetheart?”
Her laugh was musical, like the tinkling of breaking glass. “I knew from the moment I touched ye that you’d received a Calling. It was delicious, really. Though it negated all the effort I’d gone to in conjuring a vision o’ the crown prince and planting the enspelled sketch in Grace Lockhart’s journal for Mackenna to find. I no longer needed young James’s beautiful face ta lure her to take the journal over the bridge. The power of the Calling did all that for me. You did all that for me.” Her focus shifted back to Jamie as she stalked toward him. “And o’ course Gideon’s eyes were an invaluable tool. I just wish he’d been able to find the journal sooner. ’Twas a truly brilliant hiding place, Veronica. But ’tis no matter now.” She laughed as she waved her hand in a dismissive motion.
My mind tumbled back to all the times I’d caught Gideon lurking in the shadows, and wondered how often the guard—or rather Addie—had been watching us over the past weeks.
The witch moved to Jamie’s side and ran her fingers through the layers of his hair. “Your prince and I get on quite well. A pity we don’t have more time.”
Speaking of time, I knew the long-winded explanations were her way of trying to run out the game clock. I needed to make my move. As I glared at the lazy movement of her hand, a reflection on her finger caught the candlelight. She wore a ring almost identical to the Rings of Aontacht in size and shape but with a flat black stone. Was it a source of power, like Gracie and Cameron’s rings? Or merely a benign piece of jewelry? I’d almost inched to Jamie’s other side when I noticed his eyes following me.
“A pity one so lovely has ta be destroyed.” She ran one long violet fingernail down the strong lines of Jamie’s immobile face.
I ground my teeth together, my blood boiling hotter every time she touched him. “Maybe he doesn’t.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. I had no plan. No reason for her to change her mind. But there had to be some way, some bargain I could make—in exchange for Jamie’s life. “Have to be destroyed, I mean … We could make a deal.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m the most powerful witch in my line, fer generations! What could one little girl possibly have ta offer me?”
With a calming breath, I tried to place myself in her black soul, to figure out what dark thing the witch might crave—that I could provide in the next thirty minutes. Would she want the ring now that I’d brought it back across the bridge? Probably not. If Doon’s sacred rings were any use to her, other than a host for her parasitic spells, she would’ve exploited them by now. Instead, she’d planted them for Kenna and me to find. But there had to be something else.
I watched as she stared at Jamie hungrily, like she might devour him to the bone. She ignored me, disregarding my presence as if I was no match for her power and therefore no threat. Her arrogance was a weakness that I might be able to use.
Adrenaline rolled through my body as I considered the odds of taking her out the old-fashioned way. She moved to light another candl
e, and I saw my chance. Clenching my fists, I hurtled toward her back.
With a mumbled word and a flick of her wrist, she propelled me through the air as if I were nothing more than a feather. But I landed like a boulder. My head bounced on the concrete floor and I struggled against the blackness that threatened to swallow me.
Addie’s dark form knelt over me and she shook her head from side to side. The curtain of her loose hair cast her face in unearthly shadow, transforming her into a faceless specter.
Brushing my bangs almost lovingly off my face, she intoned, “You stupid, stupid girl. Did ye think you could best me that easily?”
Past Addie’s crouched form, Jamie glared holes in the witch’s back. With great effort he opened his mouth and called to me. “Vee—”
The witch’s eyes widened in surprise before she stood and spun to face him. “I see our obstinate hero is back.” Her entire body was coiled and tense as she walked to Jamie’s bound, vulnerable form. Flipping back her sleeve, she glanced at her watch and smiled—a wide, maniacal leer that made my blood run cold.
“Not long now, young man. I canna wait to watch you disappear into the mist, along with your beloved kingdom. What would yer dear departed mother say if she knew her favored son was the cause of Doon’s ultimate demise?” She shook her head and made a tsking sound with her tongue.
Barely a whisper, Jamie labored to contradict her. “She’d say Doon’s blessing is yer curse … and it always will be.”
“Not for long—”
He shook his head feebly. “Aye. Forever.”
Emboldened by Jamie’s strength in the face of certain death, I scrambled to my feet. I knew only one thing: I couldn’t watch him disintegrate before my eyes, or whatever horrific thing would happen to him at the stroke of midnight. I had to find a way to save him and Doon, no matter what the cost. The Ring of Aontacht had to be the key. Fiona had asked me to put it on in the chapel just before the spell around the journal shattered, and it had led me to Jamie. This was no benign piece of jewelry; it contained power, if I could just figure out how to use it.
I closed the ring in my fist and channeled my desperation into a question—How can I defeat the witch? Several seconds ticked by, and then I heard the auld laird’s lilting brogue resonate in my mind. “When the time comes ye must be willing to sacrifice … for Jamie’s sake.” Echoed by Fiona’s parting advice: “Pure, unselfish love can break any spell.”
Bits and pieces of information slipped into place, and a perfectly crazy plan took shape. Before I could put too much thought into where my scheme would lead, I stepped forward and said, “Maybe I have something to offer you after all, Addie.”
Jamie’s eyes pleaded with me, as if he knew what I was about to say. Clearly, he’d fought against the enthrallment to speak, and it had cost him. He no longer raged against his bonds, but sat hunched over in the chair, bruises of exhaustion under his eyes.
I took a deep breath, faced Addie, and announced with all the confidence I could muster, “I want to trade places with him.”
Jamie groaned, “Vee, nooo.”
Addie stilled. Now that I had her attention, I continued. “I know I can invoke some sort of exchange using this ring.” I rotated the stone around on my finger and lifted my hand.
She stared at it as if examining it for flaws and then lifted her gaze to me, her eyes burning with something I couldn’t identify. “Ye want ta offer yerself in sacrificial substitution?”
That sounded about right. I nodded. “My life for Jamie’s.”
“Why should I?” Addie’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Searching for a compelling reason to give her, I dared a glance at my prince, and my heart contracted. His eyes glistened with unshed tears, and his muscles trembled as he strained to break his bonds.
“Adelaide, dinna listen to her. I’m the one you want.” His voice was low, but his words were underscored with steel. “Leave Vee out of this.”
The effort it took him to speak appeared to drain the last of his strength. His shoulders slumped and his eyes fell shut. I crossed to him and cupped his rough cheek in my hand. His eyes cracked open, blazing at me under heavy lids.
My true destiny clear for the first time in this journey, I quietly pleaded, “It has to be this way. Don’t you see? This world would be much too dark a place without you in it.”
Jamie’s mom had said there was a price for everything, and now I finally understood. I placed a single lingering kiss on his warm lips and then leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “I would pay any price for you.”
Addie clapped her hands in glee. “Aww, how verra sweet! I was going ta enjoy his death at midnight, but victory will be even sweeter witnessing his suffering as he watches you die along with his precious kingdom. Not to mention I get to keep the lovely young king as my plaything.”
A sliver of fear shot through me as I met her wide, bone-chilling grin. I clenched my teeth tight to keep them from chattering and nodded. This was it, my last hope.
“Place your hand on yer prince’s shoulder.”
I complied and she lifted her ring to her lips, muttering secret words against the precious stone. Her eyes glowed neon green in the gloom as she declared, “So it shall be.”
A light flashed and then a blinding blackness engulfed me, followed by a quick, intense pain, like fire shooting through my veins. Maybe her spell was too powerful. Was I dying?
Weightlessness pulled me toward oblivion. I struggled against the welcoming dark, and a flash of memory pierced the swirling abyss. “Veronica … Doon did no’ call ye here to become its queen by marrying my son. Ye are here for a reason. Our Protector does no’ make mistakes … by marrying my son … its queen.”
With a flutter, I opened my eyes. I was sitting in the wooden chair, Jamie standing between me and the Witch of Doon. All traces of Addie’s enchantment over him had vanished.
“As a citizen o’ Doon by blood,” he spat, “ye must surrender to me.” He had no weapon, but his fingers twitched as if ready to rip her apart with his bare hands.
Addie’s laughter was as evil as any Wicked Witch of the West I’d ever heard in the movies. “Dinna test me, James.”
Jamie took a menacing step forward, doing just that.
“I could kill you both without so much as a word.” Then, as if to make her point, she lifted her hand and Jamie flew through the air, hitting the wall with a sickening thud. “But where would the fun be in that?”
Still weak, I stood on shaky legs and made my way to his side. His dazed eyes met mine as I crouched beside him and whispered, “Are you all right?”
He nodded and then closed his lids, grimacing in pain.
I sprang to my full height and spat, “Don’t ever touch him again!”
Addie advanced, evil triumph radiating from her countenance. She flicked her wrist and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. It was as if invisible hands were pressing on my windpipe. “Poor deluded Veronica. Just as you are nothing ta Jamie, yer irrelevant to me. Because you are nothing.”
Stars were dancing before my eyes when she released me with a chuckle. I sucked in shallow, ragged breaths and clutched my burning throat as she turned to address Jamie. “See what a weak coward you’ve chosen? She’s nothing but a child.”
Weak coward—the exact phrase I’d used so many times to describe my father. Too cowardly to stick around when things got hard, too weak to face his problems and fight for the people he loved. But I wasn’t like him, at least not anymore.
Suddenly, the Ring of Aontacht burned on my finger, each symbol branding my skin. I’d researched every rune until I knew them by heart. And yet I still felt like I was missing something—some greater significance that I sensed but couldn’t see. I flipped the characters in my mind’s eye, examining each one.
Jamie struggled to his feet, every line of his face etched in pain, but his voice was strong and clear. “As yer king, I command ye to release us at once!”
“I’m terribly sor
ry, young James, but since Veronica so selflessly took yer place, not only are ye no longer a citizen o’ Doon but”—she narrowed her eyes, a malevolent smile twisting her lips—“Doon no longer has a king.”
The ring’s symbols tumbled in my mind until they were one connected blur. Symbols became pictures, pictures became words, and then everything clicked into place.
Addie raised her fist, and the black stone on her ring glowed with an ethereal energy. I stepped toward her. With confidence born of a higher purpose, I lifted my hand, my own ring gleaming on my finger, and stared evil incarnate directly in her brilliant green eyes.
“No, but Doon has a queen.”
CHAPTER 37
Veronica
Adelaide Dell let loose an unearthly wail—like a banshee going through a wood chipper—and leveled her ring at my chest.
“Vee! What’ve ye done?” Jamie stepped closer, intending to shield me with his body.
With a shout of warning, I wrenched him back as white-hot light shot out of my ring, slamming into the violet power blasting toward me. I had no idea how, but the ring on my finger was neutralizing the witch’s spell. An explosion of white, purple, and fuchsia sparks filled the air, cascading around us like fireworks. I held my arm steady, spots dancing in front of my eyes as the embers of magic dissipated.
The fury in Addie’s now violet irises rivaled something out of a monster movie. Her voice filled the hollow space, low and lethal as she growled, “How did ye know?”
Neither one of us lowered our arms as I lifted my chin and forced myself to meet her turbulent stare. “I finally saw it. The symbols on the rings have individual meanings, but Aontacht means unity. They work together like a sentence.” I glanced at Jamie, who’d remained by my side despite my warning. “When I took Jamie’s place, I could complete the spell by declaring myself the new ruler. Now I’m the one who’s life is linked to the fate of Doon.”
Addie clasped her hands behind her back. “I gravely underestimated you, Veronica.”
