Quickly, he shrugged his coat off his shoulders and wrapped it around hers before sweeping her back up in his arms again. Valek’s brow furrowed as he hugged her tighter. He kissed her forehead.
“It’s really her,” Charlotte whispered, her breath curling in a silver mist in front of her nose. “It’s Baba Yaga.” She said it like she was six years old again as she marveled up at the impossible-looking cottage.
“Don’t be frightened.”
“I’m not, but….” She thought of poor Nikolai, behind them, swept into the chaos of all the magic and danger. She was sure he was more frightened than he let on. Funny how she didn’t empathize much with him. If anyone on the outside ever asked her if she was human, her initial response would be ‘no’. It was a mere reflex, because for her entire life, she’d never felt that way.
“That’s why I will always love you, Lottie,” Valek whispered.
“Why? Because I belong everywhere and nowhere? Because I am the world’s outcast?” She huffed.
“Because you are different from anyone else who exists on this planet. Because you belong with me and only with me.” He pressed his nose to the top of her head and inhaled deeply.
Bitterness bubbled up within her and she swallowed the acid that filled her mouth, hoping he hadn’t heard that reaction in her mind. She couldn’t help it. Once again, everything changed, and even the feeling of being carried in his arms made her queasy. She tried to focus on the forest, until eventually they started up the footpath that wound up a grassy knoll. It was edged off by various lanterns. The morning light twinkled off the frosted glass. “Chicken legs?” she asked Valek, noticing the great mechanical claws tucked under the home’s foundation.
“Remember all the stories I used to tell you? Baba Yaga is the oldest enchantress in the world, and one of the most famous legends. She sees everything. She knows a lot. She is very powerful.” His voice grew quieter with every step they drew nearer to the front door. “She is the wood hag who eats mortal children for their youth, to keep herself alive. Her house moves at her whim. No one can trace her. No one gets close.”
The door swung open, as if she’d caught the very last syllable of Valek’s final word. She bowed them in, the band of magical misfits entering into the dank and gloomy cottage. Charlotte’s eyes barely had time to adjust as Sarah ran up to her.
“Charlotte! Are you all right? I’ve been so worried! Valek, the Madame, and I were just coming to discuss her ideas when you all arrived. She has a plan,” she said excitedly before flitting off into the far room where Charlotte could see there was a fire going. From behind them, she could hear Ears cawing violently outside the hut.
“Wh-what’s the matter with him?” Edwin asked Nikolai.
“I don’t know,” Nikolai muttered.
Valek set Charlotte feet-first on the floor. His hand remained at the small of her back. “Are you all right to walk?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m fine.” She snapped, agitated.
“Come in, mortal.” What she assumed was the hag’s twisted voice beckoned to her. “I wish to see you.
Charlotte led the group into the room with the roaring fire. She saw the Witch in the corner sipping tea. She sat in the tallest chair, made from vines and tree branches. Even in all of her ancient lines and cavernous wrinkles, she was lovely in a way – put together from the jet piece in her silver hair to the turquoise and moonstone bangles at her wrist.
“Come here, dear. Sit here,” she instructed. “Wait while I pull up your chair.” This was quite literal. As she made a lifting gesture with one of her bony hands, a new chair seemed to grow from the floorboards, larger leaves collecting at the bottom to cushion the seat.
Charlotte turned to look at Valek, who nodded that it was all right. She walked forward a few paces and sat down.
Baba Yaga eyed her sympathetically, her sweeping eyelashes batting as she grabbed one of Charlotte’s hands in both of hers. She patted the top of it. “How are you, darling?”
Charlotte frowned. “I’m…fine.” She attempted to take her hand back, but the Witch refused to release it. There was a sudden, sharp prick at her index finger, which caused her to yelp. At last, Baba Yaga released her, revealing a tiny pin and a vial she was concealing in the other hand.
“You should be more wary of clever magicians, mortal. It seems you get yourself ensnared in the trap far too often.” She wagged her finger and dripped the droplets of stolen blood into the beaker of swirling magic. She watched Charlotte’s blood steep. The others gathered around as well. “For those of you wondering,” she announced to the room in her rustic voice, “a blood reading will give me a faster and more accurate knowledge of her true fate. While a tealeaf reading is good,” she glanced toward Sarah, “it is not always the most accurate, and it is easy to misinterpret.”
Sarah humphed and put her hands on her hips.
Charlotte glanced at Nikolai to gauge his reaction to the fresh smell of her blood hitting the air. She noticed Valek’s eyes were already black, but could tell it was just a natural reaction and not anything that actually bothered him. Instead of thirsting for the dripping mortality at her fingertip, she found Nikolai chomping into a big one of Baba Yaga’s crumpets. She left a plate of them cooling on the coffee table. He wasn’t joking when he’d said he was hungry.
“Since the uprising, I’ve been watching. You destroy the greatest leader in European Magic civilization, you capture my attention…like it or not. I’ve been waiting months for you to seek council. Vampire, you should not have been in hiding all this time, you should have been acting! You could bring balance back to this world! You have the will.”
“It’s my fault,” Charlotte spoke up. “I’m…ill. He’s been preoccupied with ways to help me. Valek and Sarah want nothing more to do with the Regime. None of us do. We just want to be left alone to live in peace.”
“Ah, but I’m afraid we’re much past all that now, child.” Baba Yaga waved her hand, causing a small table to grow next to her chair. “More tea and crumpets,” she announced as more cups and saucers flew to various bark surfaces about the parlor. A new plate of steaming pastries flew in and landed on the coffee table as well, as Nikolai had cleared the first of all but crumbs. Mr. Třínožka was content at last with his cup of Earl Gray. “Dinner will be served promptly at midnight. We’re having rabbit. Oops! Almost forgot! Blood for the gentleman.” The dark liquid inside the glass flute sloshed when it landed in Valek’s claw in the next moment. “Now, girl, your fates have been set since the day you were born. Child of the Light. You may not know this yet, but you are meant to play a more important role in this revolution, Charlotte Ruzikova. More important than you’ve ever dreamed. Look at your palm.”
Charlotte did as the hag asked, turning her hand over to find that her fate line was bright red, as inflamed as her scar. “Wh-what’s happening to it?”
“I understand you are in grave danger. It can sense that, too.”
“I am being sought by the Dark City,” she admitted. Valek’s face fell.
“But we’d like to avoid the Parliament at all costs, Madame,” Sarah added.
Baba Yaga held the vial of blood and magic up to the glimmering firelight. She looked at it as though it spoke to her. “Cinder Price has a more powerful tie to your Parliament than you care to realize, Valek Ruzik. She is a great and terrible villain and she is hot on your trail.”
Valek considered that. “What do you know?”
“During the last uprising, Cinder proved herself to be quite the adversary.”
“I know she is singularly responsible for destroying Sigismund,” Valek admitted. “And driving the Order into hiding.” From the other end of the room, he heard a flood of new questions crash over Charlotte’s mind.
“Very good. So you’re educated. It would be an overstatement to tell you I’m impressed.” She took another swig of her tea, her eyes going distant. She shook the vial around and squinted at it.
“Then we
’ve got to let her find us,” Charlotte concluded at last, remembering Cinder’s vow. “If she endeavors to lop off Valek’s head, we’ll give her a good fight.”
Baba Yaga’s good eye glanced back at Valek, and she almost grinned. Almost. “Do not underestimate her, Valek. Do not forget so easily how she destroyed Sigismund, the man your kind calls Father—the man who was historically the most powerful Vampire to ever exist.”
Valek straightened in his chair, eyeing the dead branches scraping against the window outside.
The hag shrugged. She eyed the contents of the vial again before chucking into the fire, similar to the tealeaf reading Sarah had done. The flames billowed higher before flashing a more brilliant yellow. They licked and danced around each other until a definitive image was formed. Charlotte and Valek watched in horror as the image of a face appeared from the blaze. Its mouth was stretched in a long and anguished scream as parts of the fire colored itself in a deeper red. Blood, he recognized. It was Charlotte’s face.
Charlotte began to mutter something and the room became quiet again. “Please see Volume Two….”
“What’s that, Lottie?”
Her watery eyes lifted to find his. “Volume Two. The first note I received when we arrived home.” He gaze shifted to Baba Yaga. “It was from somebody with the initials C.D.”
“Ah…you are being beckoned by Cicero, are you?” She flashed a mossy grin to Valek. “He can help her just as well as I can, you know?”
“No! If we bring her to the Dark City, they’ll destroy her!”
“She will die anyway if you continue on as we are! Now, where is it?” She snapped her fingers and with the wave of her hand, called, “Give me the account of Orsolya Nadasdy!”
Valek was about to ask whom she meant, but the thick black Anatomy of Vampires: Volume Two flew up and out of the satchel in Sarah’s lap, landing in Baba Yaga’s steadfast grip.
Throwing the book up in the air toward the middle of the room, it seemed to be caught by some unseen force, hovering before all of them.
“Rad,” Valek thought he heard Nikolai whisper.
“Unit Seven!” Baba Yaga announced and the pages began to flip. “To the end!” They continued flapping and turning until they rested on that infernal blank page at the end of the section. “At last! You know…I was a ghost-writer for this one,” she giggled shrilly. “Orsolya was far too busy too—”
“Who on Earth is Orsolya?” Valek was beginning to grow more frustrated by the second.
“Hmm, not as educated as you let on…. Orsolya Nadasdy. Daughter of Queen Bathory herself. Otherwise known as Ophelia Drăculești of the Order.” The corners of Baba Yaga’s purple lips curled up. “You’ve met before, I’m sure.”
“What is she talking about, Valek?” Charlotte asked.
“Ever wonder why this page was blank, pane?” All Valek could do was glare at her. “Perhaps, all Cicero endeavored to do from the beginning was help. He intended this book to be given as a gift, after all.” She arched her salt and pepper eyebrows.
Then, Charlotte remembered the rule about Sarah’s grimoire. In order for any of the information to reveal itself, it needed to be asked by the person it was gifted to. He turned his focus to Charlotte who already knew. Slowly, she got to her feet. “She can’t know about the order!” he growled.
“Why?” She wheeled on him. “Why not? What are you hiding this time, Valek?”
“You need to trust me, Charlotte! This is more danger than you realize!”
“Oh, give the girl a little credit, Vampire. After all, if it wasn’t for her, you’d be dust in the wind today,” Baba Yaga sniggered. “Go on, Charlotte. Ask it a question.”
“Oh…well….” Her hands quivered, more tears gathering in her eyes. “I…am…very sick,” she admitted slowly to the room. The words tasted sour on her tongue. “How do I…get better?” One of those tears slipped beyond her eyelid and rolled to drip off the point of her chin.
The room watched as splotchy red ink began to swirl around on the page. Sarah leaned forward in her chair, though more green tendrils snaked across her chest and held her back. Valek didn’t move.
* * *
THE SWORD OF THE ORDER TO PIERCE THE HEART AND STEAL THE CURSE.
* * *
“Ask where it is,” Baba Yaga insisted.
“H-how do I find the sword?”
* * *
CINDER PRICE.
* * *
And then the ink shriveled away and the page was blank again.
The entire room froze. The tension was absolutely deafening.
It was just like Sarah said. There was only one answer. And Valek would never yield to it. The hag was right. Charlotte could feel herself fading, could physically count every dying minute. Perhaps it was all in her head, but after the old Witch confirmed it, it was as if her body physically acknowledged the dying process. Growing weaker. Fading. Like her own body was betraying her when she had so much more to give.
“Charlotte, could you just keep your mind quiet for a second! Please!” Valek growled, raking his claws through his hair.
She dared not glance in his direction. She knew whatever expression his face held would be one that might destroy her. Instead, she attempted to turn her watery eyes to the winter scene outside the window and focused on that instead.
“If you don’t want the girl to die now and by the hands of someone near, you must find the sword and bring it to me.” Baba Yaga’s voice echoed throughout the room. Storm clouds swirled against the ceiling, sending Sarah’s curls thrashing around her face. “Fetch me the Sword of the Order from Cinder’s grasp, and I will heal Charlotte’s curse.”
“How long do we have to find the sword?” Sarah turned her face, desperately trying to shield herself against the wrath of the hag. Bewitched lightning thrashed around the room, striking deep within the floorboards near Charlotte’s feet, making her jump.
“To gain knowledge, first you must seek wisdom. Find me the Sword of the Order and the next step in your path will be revealed. Until that time, your road will be a long and perilous one.” The ominous, booming sound of her voice reverberated on her last words.
Charlotte bent in half, covering her ears from the wretched laughter as the tempest began to suck up various things within the house. One of the massive armchairs almost took off her head before it disappeared in the eye of the storm raging above them. The laughter continued to ensue. A bookshelf and a coffee table followed the armchair soon after.
“Get out of the house!” Valek roared from one corner of the room.
Charlotte looked to see him waving his hand toward the front door. Nikolai had already grabbed up Edwin in his arms and was making a sprint for the exit. Valek quickly swept Charlotte up before the fireplace mantle crushed her.
“Go! Quickly!” he called to Sarah, who had frozen in her place.
Stumbling over her feet, Sarah began running for the front door. Nikolai slowed, only for a moment, grabbing her hand before racing with both her and Edwin to the outside. Valek and Charlotte were not long to follow, along with Mr. Třínožka, who trailed quickly behind them.
The group made it out in time to turn and see the hag’s abode swallow itself up in the forest clearing. The awful storm swirled Charlotte’s hair around her face as she watched the house virtually disappear. And then there was silence once again.
Untitled
Chapter Twenty-One Frost
The sun was already beginning to set. The group ventured only about five kilometers to the north. Valek led the group on horseback with Jiri trotting at his flanks, carrying Sarah. Charlotte and Nikolai talked for a long time on the back of Mr. Třínožka. Ears followed overhead. Valek didn’t anticipate the twinge of jealousy he felt as he heard her soft laughter at some joke the boy was telling her. He hadn’t heard that laugh in a while, pure and carefree. They seemed to be getting along, perhaps finding a lot in common. This was complicated and he prayed Nikolai didn’t have an inkling of who h
e really was.
“So you’ve always had these abilities?” Valek heard Charlotte ask the stranger. “Even when you lived with your family, they never had the inclination that you were something different?” Her voice took on a mystified sort of quality as she spoke to him, like she genuinely took interest in his strange story.
“Yes. From as far back as I could remember,” Nikolai answered, a smile playing around his words.
Valek’s chest felt tight.
“But even when you were little –when you were small, your parents must have noticed something about you. Something that was not normal. You must have inherently done something as an infant or a toddler that would tip them off?” Charlotte continued to pry.
Valek heard it in her mind –the notion that Nikolai was like a breath of fresh air. In her whole world, she hardly had anyone she could relate to. Out of everyone, Sarah had been the closest, but now Nikolai’s story sparked something new within her, some sort of hope that perhaps she wasn’t the only mortal in this universe that carried the weight of this knowledge on her shoulders.
“Perhaps,” Nikolai dismissed. “Maybe that’s why my father always hated me. Maybe that’s why I never truly felt like I was a part of that family.” His voice as he trailed off. Was he seeking sympathy from her? Why was he divulging all of this personal information to her so quickly?
Valek peered over his shoulder at the boy, narrowing his eyes as though that might make it easier to see directly into his soul. He heard nothing of any danger within his mind. He furrowed his brow, just as Nikolai turned his gaze away from Charlotte and glared directly –knowingly—at Valek. Turning back to face front, Valek noted the heat from the warning signs as they flared up in his mind. He knew.
Halfway through their trek, Valek noticed Charlotte was growing fatigued –could hear her heartbeat begin to slow and the tired, dazed thoughts within her mind. Most of those thoughts centered around Nikolai and what he told her of his past.
Of Blood and Magic Page 38
