Cinderella Assassin

by Allie Burton

  Red spots glimmered in front of my vision. Keltie had attacked Arbor. I ran forward trying to get to the sprite before she hit the ground.

  I was too late. Her tiny body flopped and hit the concrete with a splat. She landed near the back door.

  “Arbor!” I rushed to her side and got to my knees.

  The smoke sprite was dazed, but not unconscious. Of course, she’d been dazed standing in line because of the drug she’d been given.

  The guards seemed as confused as the drugged majiks. Why would an elf attack a smoke sprite? Stone and Rye both advanced toward me at the same time, bumping their shoulders.

  “What is going on here?” Regent Theobald shouted above the noise.

  The machine made the terrible sucking cacophony, vacuuming the next majik inside. That should’ve been Arbor. Keltie hadn’t attacked Arbor. The elf had saved her.

  My chest expanded and I tipped my head back toward Keltie in gratitude.

  Her body got trapped in the suction. Her eyes bugged out and terror flashed on her face. “Aiiea!”

  It was her special battle cry, and the roughness sent a glacial chill through me, frosting my insides.

  “Keltie!” No worrying about being stealth now. In one swift move, I got to my feet and darted toward the majik intake entrance.

  Stone pushed away the other majiks in the line trying to get to Keltie.

  “Stop the machine!” Rye dashed toward the control panel.

  The guards didn’t obey his instructions. Nothing stopped. The machine continued to operate, continued to suck. Continued to kill.

  Each of Keltie’s fingers lost their grip. She couldn’t hold on any longer. Desperation clawed at my lungs with ragged, trembling nails. The suction was too strong.

  Her body slipped inside.

  The horrible pandemonium of the machine combined with Keltie’s scream.

  “Aiea! Aieeeeeeeea! Aieeee—”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Noooo!”

  The immediate denial sprang to my lips. My mouth hardened, stuck in the same position. Like my mind. Stuck with one thought. Keltie was dead.

  When my screams faded into nothingness the cold hard truth stabbed. My new friend was gone. Killed by the machine. Killed by this monstrous royal government. Killed by Rye and his uncle.

  There’d be no more battles for her.

  She’d sacrificed herself for my friend. For me.

  Flying across the room, rage throbbed in my veins. I only saw one thing past the wetness in my eyes. My enemy. I pummeled on Rye’s chest. “How could you? How could you let this happen when you’re the stinking prince?”

  Even though I was close, he pulled me in, wrapping his arms around me. “I’m sorry.”

  I continued to pound out my anger, each hit becoming weaker. How could people be so cruel to each other? How could I stand by and watch?

  “Arrest that guard. She’s attacking Prince Zacharye.” Regent Theobald gathered his purple robes and swished toward the exit. “I must be protected and taken to safety.”

  My fists stopped mid-punch from the shock of the regent’s words.

  He hurried from the room with a couple of royal guards surrounding him. The door banged closed and the lock clicked in place. Coward. He didn’t care about the safety of his nephew, only his own royal blood.

  Three guards circled us. Stone was the fourth.

  His glare could’ve seared my skin. He was angry, and sad, and some other emotion I couldn’t define.

  “I’m okay.” The prince raised one hand to reassure the guards and patted my back with the other. “I know this guard.”

  Not really. Except now wasn’t the time to point that out. He didn’t know my initial task was to kill him while saving Arbor. He didn’t know I’d joined forces to destroy the auraguillotine and if I lived, to pursue justice for majiks.

  Whether through negotiation or revolution.

  “Stop the machine!” Rye ordered for the second time.

  The guard at the control panel shook his head. “The regent—”

  “Ellery.” Stone grabbed my arm and pulled me from the prince’s embrace. “We need to go.”

  Rye didn’t resist, although his gaze connected to mine and communicated with me in a silent plea for understanding.

  Understanding of what, I didn’t know. No matter how I felt, or what I wanted to believe, he was my adversary. He might’ve ordered them to stop the machine, however the regent clearly held more sway.

  “Now.” Stone’s command caused me to stop staring and survey the area.

  The guards had listened to the prince’s first command and hadn’t apprehended me. Even so, they stood with their weapons raised ready to attack. They hadn’t switched off the machine. Their fierce expressions told me they wouldn’t hesitate to kill if I made one wrong move. The prince had given me precious time to attempt escape.

  “Elle?” Arbor’s soft tone carried over the commotion. She stood on her own two feet near the spot she’d fallen.

  I wanted to reach out to her, assure her, tell her everything was going to be all right. But I didn’t know for certain. We were surrounded by enemy guards and locked in a room with a bomb set to go off in minutes.

  And the machine continued to suck one majik in at a time.

  “Ellery?” Rye didn’t only question my name. With a single word he questioned my intentions.

  I was being pulled in three different directions. I wanted to confront and question the prince. I’d agreed to help Stone destroy the machine and save the majiks. I’d sworn to rescue Arbor. I’d already lost one friend today, and one last night, I refused to lose another.

  Rushing toward Arbor, I glanced at the explosive device. The red number glared five minutes.

  “Go, now.” Rye shoved Stone toward me. “If you can get out, I’ll stop them from following.”

  How? The guards listened to only some of his orders. And why? Whose side was the prince on?

  The prince wheeled toward the guards. “The majiks currently in the room will be released under my orders.”

  The guards grumbled. They kept their weapons pointed at us.

  I swooped Arbor into my hands. My best friend was with me again. At least I’d been successful at one thing. Sort of. If we escaped. I didn’t have time to celebrate. We didn’t have time.

  A guard stomped toward us following the regent’s orders, not the prince’s.

  “Elle!” Arbor’s nervous shout screeched in my ear.

  Stone jumped in front and punched the guard in the face. He removed his rifle and pointed it at the next guard. By doing so, he exposed his motives to his guard associates. He was now in danger.

  A tremble slid through me and everything started happening at once.

  The other guards zeroed in on us.

  I placed Arbor on my shoulder and stuck my hand in my bag.

  Rye raised his hands in a combative stance and edged toward me. The problem was I didn’t know which side he’d be fighting on. I wanted to believe he’d protect me.

  Focus. I couldn’t think about him. I needed to settle on a weapon from my bag.

  “Give me something helpful,” I whispered.

  Chaos broke out around me. Stone used the butt of his gun to smack a guard in the chest. He swung around and took out two more. A few of the guards hadn’t moved, unsure whether to attack.

  My hand settled around a slim, malleable object. I tugged it out and discovered a coiled rope in my hand. The silver whip made from tight, cylindrical notches glowed with magic. The tip of the rope spurt fire.

  Warmth radiated across my skin. I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  “Who are you? And what did you do with my anti-magic Elle?” Arbor’s joke sounded almost normal.

  “Watch this.” Flinging the whip, sparks of color flew off its tip.

  Tcha.

  I whipped the rope forward. My untrained arms knew what to do. Maybe that was part of the magic.

  The rope coiled arou
nd a guard’s legs like a snake. He tried to run, and his steps faltered. I yanked on the rope and the guard fell.

  “Woot!” Arbor cheered.

  Stone battled against three guards. Another guard drew a long gun. Its red laser light shown on my torso. I gulped.

  “Don’t hurt her!” Rye scrambled to block the guard’s shot. “Don’t hurt her.”

  I paused in my wind up of the whip. He cared about me. The proof was in his protection. Although, he didn’t know I was half-majik or understand the depth of my deception.

  “That guy is crushing on you.” Arbor whispered in my ear.

  I hated to burst her bubble. “That guy is the prince.”

  My beliefs about Rye went back and forth like my whip. Good or bad?

  Stone conked two of the guards together, knocking both of them out. “Arbor! Lead the majiks out of here.”

  He was fighting for me and the majiks. I could count on him.

  Rye? I wasn’t so sure.

  Arbor listened to the order without question. She flew off and twittered around the majiks waiting in line. Hopefully, she could be persuasive.

  Rye left my side and scurried away from the fighting. Was he trying to save himself like his weasel of an uncle?

  I used my whip harder to take out two more guards. The whip brought the enemy down and stunned them into submission. I didn’t understand the weapon’s powers, but I was using it and winning.

  While I fought, I kept my gaze on Rye.

  Which pissed me off because I shouldn’t be interested. I shouldn’t care.

  He argued with the guard controlling the auraguillotine, both their hands gesticulating. His pointing fingers rolled into fists. I took down another guard and lumbered toward the back. He shoved the guard aside. The guard couldn’t attack the prince. Rye reached the control panel and started punching buttons. Did he know what he was doing?

  Was he helping or hurting my cause?

  I lassoed another guard and pushed a dazed and straggling majik toward the back exit. We needed to get as many majiks out of the room before the explosion.

  The screeching of the machine stopped.

  My breath hitched and I paused.

  Rye had managed to turn off the auraguillotine. My pulse picked up its pace. He must be on my side.

  A guard grabbed me around the neck from behind. He pinned my arms to my sides. I couldn’t use the magical whip. My nostrils flared, and a scream built inside my lungs. I’d been so close to the exit.

  Arbor flew to my side and misted into a puff of smoke, spraying the guard’s face. He shook his head but didn’t let go. Struggling against my captor, I scanned the room for help.

  Three guards held Stone on the ground. A fourth guard pointed a weapon to his head. He had no chance of escaping.

  “Fly away, Arbor.”

  Her wings fluttered against my neck. She stayed put, loyal to the end.

  My chest swelled, and calmness spread through my veins. The machine would be dust soon and we would die with it. I tilted my chin to a proud and defiant angle. The prince would die, too. My original mission would be complete.

  A heaviness filled my heart weighing it down. I didn’t want Rye or Stone to die. Or Arbor or any of the majiks either. Yet destroying the auraguillotine needed to happen.

  Stone glanced at me, then to the countdown clock. We both understood where this would end in…

  Two minutes.

  Rye stepped around the now-silent machine. His expression gleamed with a light of sympathy, but he didn’t say anything. Didn’t approach me. Didn’t defend.

  My heart tightened and pulled, shrinking. He was the prince. If he wanted, he could save me. Although the guards hadn’t listened to his earlier order.

  The four guards holding Stone dragged him to his feet. Another guard stomped toward us with a majik detector. He raised the long stick to Stone’s head and ran it down the length of his large body. My friend fought their hold.

  Beeeeeep. Whir-whir-whir-whir.

  My body vibrated. Stone was a majik. I spotted the greenish veins by his neck. The unusual color should’ve been a clue. Plus, his size. He wasn’t as big as a regular giant, and yet he was bigger than most humans.

  Half giant?

  He nodded, understanding my realization.

  We had more in common than I’d realized. And, we both were working for Gardenia. The thought dropped in my stomach and wallowed there.

  The guard easily reached my head with the detector.

  I braced myself for the telling sound. I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. I was proud of who I was.

  Beeeeeep. Whir-whir-whir-whir.

  No surprise on Stone’s face. He knew I was majik. He probably knew more about me than I did. I’d force him to tell me everything when, and if, I got the chance.

  Rye’s skin paled to the unhealthy shade he’d had in all his princely vids, the pasty color the males at school imitated. “It’s the smoke sprite on her shoulder setting the detector off. Remove her friend.”

  “Go!” I shushed Arbor away.

  This time she listened. She flew toward the back door the other majiks had left open.

  Hopefully, I’d saved my best friend. She could escape before the bomb exploded.

  That’s when it hit me. Gardenia had chosen me for this mission so I’d learn the truth, accept my heritage, and realize I needed to fight.

  Holding my body still, I tilted my chin higher. The guard wanded me again.

  Beeeeeep. Whir-whir-whir-whir.

  Steeling myself, I held Rye’s gaze as the guard pronounced, “She’s an ugly zauber.”

  I took offense to the ugly part.

  “Majik?” At least Rye used the correct term.

  I waited for him to defend me. To tell the guards he knew me, and I was a friend.

  He didn’t. He clamped his lips together and pivoted away. From me. From everything I’d believed we had together.

  My shoulders dropped. What did we have together? A stroll beneath the castle, a kiss? He wouldn’t even admit to befriending a majik. I’d thought we’d made a connection last night. The kiss had been special. Of course, at that point he’d believed I was one hundred percent human. My body wavered. I’d placed too much faith in a guy I’d just met.

  “Rye?” I couldn’t stop myself from calling out.

  He turned back. His gaze pierced through me, and then to Stone. The silver orbs flashed with hurt. His mouth pursed together in an angry pucker.

  “You both are under arrest.” A guard advanced with two sets of magnetic cuffs.

  What did it matter? I was ready to face my death. I’d succeeded in saving Arbor, ruining the auraguillotine, and possibly killing the prince.

  Everyone in this room would die in less than a minute. My friends and I would spark the revolution.

  I glanced at the countdown clock and watched the final seconds tick, tick, tick.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kablow.

  The room exploded.

  The machine fractured and pieces of metal flew like shrapnel. Smoke mushroomed out in large, black billows. Fire sputtered shooting flames into the air like a firework display, similar to the one I’d created which had started this adventure.

  Jolting, I ducked and covered my head. The guards holding me followed my actions. Adrenaline burst through my veins. This could be the end of all of us.

  A guard near the control panel screamed and yanked a piece of metal out of his arm.

  An ogre stomped her large foot on an out of control flame.

  A female guard fell to the ground clutching her midsection.

  A fairy had a piece of shrapnel stuck in his wing.

  People fell left and right. Chunks, and ashes, and other particles hit me, and the majiks still in line, and the guards holding me. I gasped for air and yet still struggled to breathe. The granules choked, clogged my throat, and stuffed my nose.

  The guards let go of my arms and dropped to the ground to protect themselves. I
stayed partially standing, hunched, watching and searching for my companions.

  Arbor, Stone, and Rye.

  The machine toppled to the ground in large fragments. The concrete floor exploded on impact, whizzing more debris into the air. My exposed skin scratched and burned. The smell of dirt, and oil, and chemicals spilled into the room causing me to gag.

  Now free, the lasso in my hand whipped out of its own accord and blasted a piece of the machine headed toward me and sent the shards flying in the opposite direction.

  My eyes bugged. My arm lashed back and forth. The whip was a shield and a weapon in one. The line of the rope blurred with the speed of its movement stopping shard after shard and chunk after chunk. I didn’t control the lasso, only watched in fascination.

  A sharp hunk of metal went flying toward the control panel where Rye stood. A guard yanked him to the ground and covered the prince’s body with his own. The metal sliced through the guard’s uniform. Ugly, dark red stains colored the guard’s back. What about the prince?

  My pulse raced and stumbled. With my whip protecting, I edged toward the control panel dodging flying sections of the machine.

  A new sound rose, the rumbling of metal grating on metal. The closer I got to the control panel, the louder the noise. I waved at the smoke and focused on one thing. The large control panel shook and wavered. It toppled on the edge.

  The panel fell and crashed. On top of Rye and the guard.

  My heart clutched, and my skin went cold and clammy. Everything inside me quivered. “Rye!” Over the clamor, I could barely hear myself scream. “Rye!”

  I tugged on the fallen control panel, trying to lift the heavy piece of machinery. It wouldn’t budge. I yanked and pushed and finally kicked the dang thing. Only Stone had the strength to lift it.

  Using the lasso to protect myself, I worked my way to the spot Stone had been standing. His three guards were gone. Seeing me, he scrambled to his feet and then stopped.

  His gaze widened and his pupils darted around following the action of my whip. “What the heck?”