Cin d'Rella and the Golden Apple : Circle of the Rose Chronicles, Book 2

by S. J. West

  When Coltan leads us down the stairs to the hallway, I notice there are several corridors that branch off from the main one we’re walking down. Even though the walls are made of thick cement, they don’t block the earthy scent of fresh dirt from the other side of them.

  “How big is this crypt?” I ask in amazement as we pass the sixth side tunnel.

  “I’m not really sure,” Coltan says. “It was built to hold at least twenty generations of Princes, so it’s pretty immense. I think that’s one reason the tomes were hidden down here. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’d never find the secret room they’re stored in.”

  When we come to the tenth offshoot, Coltan turns to walk all the way down its length. We reach a blank wall at the end of it, and Coltan pulls out the key he used to open the crypt’s door, placing it in a natural indentation between two of the stone blocks making up the wall. After he twists the key in the hole, the distinctive click of a lock being disengaged can be heard. Coltan removes the key and pushes on the section of wall he’s standing in front of to open the concealed door for us.

  As soon as Coltan steps inside the room, a series of recessed lights in the ceiling flicker on, and we catch our first glimpse of the Princes’ hidden treasure trove of ancient tomes.

  Gretel whistles in amazement as we all follow Coltan into the space and see the leather-bound books scattered on various wooden tables within the room.

  Anwen flies off of Isabel’s shoulder and zooms around the space.

  “Look at all the pretty books!” she exclaims excitedly.

  “How many are in here?” Gretel asks Coltan.

  “One hundred,” he tells us. “I’ve only had time to thoroughly search through a few of them, but they all seem to have clues on where to find certain ancient artifacts and how to make potions I’ve never heard of before. Maybe something in one of them will lead us to a way to awaken Briar Rose.”

  “That’s strange,” Isabel says as she walks around the room with a keen eye while Anwen retakes her place on my friend’s shoulder.

  “What’s strange?” I ask our resident book nerd.

  Isabel looks over her shoulder at Coltan. “Have you noticed the difference in the aging of the leather?”

  “Kind of,” he admits. “It did seem like some were older than others, but I’m not sure why. From what my mother told me, these books have been down here ever since the curse was cast, so they should all be the same age.”

  “That’s very odd,” Isabel says as she picks one of the darker covered volumes up. I assume it’s one of the older ones considering the cracks in the leather.

  “Why don’t we transfer the books to the van,” Maximus suggests before our curiosity has us opening up every book in the room. “We can study why some of them look older than others later when we’re not so pressed for time.”

  Maximus uses his magic to make two stacks of ten books each and walks out the door of the room with them floating in the air ahead of him.

  “Show off,” Gus grouses as he struggles to follow Maximus out the door with three of the oversized tomes filling his arms.

  Without wasting any more time, we carry out the books as swiftly as possible. It takes us a total of ten minutes to get almost all of them into the van. While Coltan and I grab the last few books, I notice a slight hesitation in his movements that wasn’t there before.

  “Are you starting to have second thoughts about leaving your family?” I ask him, seeing this as a real possibility. I can’t say that I would blame him for changing his mind if he decided to stay here. He’s giving up everything he knows and possibly leaving his father and brother behind forever.

  “No. I’m not having any second thoughts,” he answers as he picks up the last two remaining volumes from one of the tables. He turns around to face me while I adjust the two books I have in my arms. “I just realized I won’t be able to come back here and visit my mom once I leave.”

  “Your mom isn’t here anymore, Coltan.” It’s a fact I know all too well. “Her soul has moved on to another realm of existence. I haven’t visited my father’s grave since we buried him because I know he isn’t really there.”

  “Still, I would like to bring flowers every once in a while,” he says. “If her soul is lingering around this place, I would like for her to know that she’s still being remembered.”

  “I think she knows that wherever she is, Coltan. You’re a good son. She knew that while she was living, and that’s what matters most. I think she would want you to go on with your life and not mourn her death for too long. If I had been stuck in that coma for as long as she was, I would have welcomed death as an escape from a terrible situation.”

  “You’re right,” he says. “But it doesn’t take away the pain of never seeing her again. She won’t get to watch me have a family of my own. She won’t get to meet my children. There are all these future moments in my life that she’ll never have the chance to be a part of, and I can’t help but feel a little cheated. I know I sound like a selfish sad sack, but like I told you before, I’ll never lie to you. That includes how I feel right now.”

  “I understand what you’re going through,” I say with a melancholy smile. “I wish my dad could have seen me graduate and become a Thorn, but I can’t bring him back from the dead. Things are the way they are for a reason, and I’ve made my peace with that fact.”

  “Hey!” Gretel says breathlessly as she jogs into the room. “Let’s go, you two! Maximus says we need to skedaddle!”

  Coltan and I walk out the door while Gretel closes it behind us.

  When we get to the van, the back of it is more crowded than before, and there’s barely any room left for the three of us.

  “Fold your legs in so I can sit on your lap,” Gretel tells Scarlet as she steps into the van.

  Scarlet does as she asks because we’re so cramped for space that even with Gretel sitting in her lap, there’s only room for one more person to sit on the van floor.

  “Let me go in first and you can sit on my lap, Cin,” Coltan offers.

  My first thought is that I probably shouldn’t sit on Coltan’s lap, but I really only have two options open to me: Isabel’s bony lap or Coltan’s muscular one. For me, the choice is obvious. As soon as Coltan is situated with his legs crisscrossed, I step into the van and take my place on his lap. I immediately realize I’ve made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I’m about to warn Isabel that I’m going to switch over to her lap when Gretel closes the sliding door behind her and Gus speeds out of the cemetery. Now that we’re moving, switching places is no longer an option because Isabel is busy trying to make sure that the stacks of books behind her don’t tumble over or slide around as we make our great escape.

  “Well, we probably should have expected this, but it honestly didn’t cross my mind until you sat down,” Coltan whispers in my ear.

  My cheeks grow warm with embarrassment, and I simply nod my head because replying would make me feel ten times more uneasy.

  Sitting on Coltan’s lap was a colossal mistake because now we’re both feeling the tingling sensation every place our bodies are touching. I try to ignore the feeling, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult with every passing minute, and I can feel Coltan’s physical response to the sensation. When I glance in Gretel’s direction, I see her grinning from ear to ear, and I know she understands why my cheeks have suddenly turned the color of a ripe apple. I look away from her because all I need right now is to feel even more self-conscious that my best friend understands what’s going on.

  “How much longer until we get to the Guild, Gus?” I ask in what I hope sounds like an offhand voice.

  “Oh, a good twenty minutes at least,” he tells me in a definite way. “Why? Do you need to go to the bathroom? I could probably find you a place really quick.”

  “No, I don’t need a bathroom break,” I assure him, feeling even more embarrassed now by his suggestion.

  “If you need to pee, Cin, I can stop th
is van right this minute, young lady,” he offers in a very concerned and fatherly voice.

  When I hear Gretel and Scarlet snicker, I turn my head to give them both scathing glares. Unfortunately, that propels them both into fits of laughter.

  “What’s so funny?” Anwen asks them from her perch on Isabel’s shoulder. “I want to laugh too.”

  This makes my two friends laugh even harder.

  “I’m fine, Gus,” I tell him as I try to ignore my friends. “I was just curious how much longer the ride is going to be.”

  Maximus turns around to look at me sitting on Coltan’s lap. He narrows his eyes as if he’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with me.

  “I’m fine,” I tell him.

  “You’re sure?” he asks, eyeing Coltan suspiciously.

  “Yes. I’m sure,” I reply, even though I’m hoping for a miracle by this point to get me out of this uncomfortable situation.

  As fate would have it, a miracle does indeed present itself.

  Gus slams his foot against the brakes right before we reach the Neverwhere Bridge.

  “What do you want me to do?” Gus asks Maximus, sounding startled by whatever it is he’s looking at. From my vantage point behind Gus’s seat, I can’t see what’s going on, but Gretel can.

  She looks at me in alarm and says, “Ruby and her squad are blocking the bridge, Cin.”

  I get off of Coltan’s lap so I can position myself between Gus’s and Maximus’s seats to look out the front windshield. Standing on our side of the bridge is not only Ruby, but also the two members of her squad who failed to graduate with her, Kacey and Amber. The fourth member of their squad at the academy, Lolo, now works for Maximus at the Guild, but I see a new girl standing with them who has apparently taken Lolo’s place. Ruby and the other girls are dressed in the dark green leather uniforms that Prince operatives wear on this side of town when they are on patrol.

  “I can’t believe they turned sides so quickly,” I say in utter shock.

  “I can handle this,” Maximus says as he places his hand on the handle of his door, preparing to exit the vehicle.

  “No, Maximus,” I say, laying a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Let us deal with them. The head of the Circle can’t be seen having a street fight with lowly Prince operatives, but we can. It’s our job. You need to make sure these books and Coltan reach the Guild safely. Right now, they don’t know that we have them, and I would rather keep it that way for as long as possible.” I study Ruby’s stone-cold demeanor from the window. “Besides, I think this fight is personal. Ruby’s hurt that her squad didn’t get any votes from the Thorns. She probably feels like she has something to prove.”

  “How did she even know we were here? Or in this van?” Gretel asks.

  “My father has cameras set up all over the city,” Coltan tells us. “They more than likely caught you crossing over the bridge earlier.”

  “It doesn’t matter how it happened. This fight has been a long time coming anyway,” I say. “Gus, as soon as we engage them and clear the road, I need for you to get this van across the bridge as fast as possible and head straight for the Guild. We’ll meet back up with you there after this is over.”

  Coltan touches my back to gain my attention.

  “What can I do to help?” he asks. “You wouldn’t be fighting them if it wasn’t for me.”

  “The best thing you can do for us is stay in this van and go to the Guild,” I tell him. “This won’t take us long. Ruby and her squad weren’t chosen to be Thorns for a reason, Coltan. They’re just not as good as we are.”

  Coltan looks uneasy, and I know it’s because he wants to help.

  “Trust me,” I say. “I’ve got this.”

  “I do trust you,” he replies without a shred of doubt in his voice.

  I feel an overwhelming urge to kiss Coltan before I go into battle, but I resist it. I don’t want our first one to be rushed, and I definitely don’t want an audience for it. Instead, I reach over and open the sliding door on the side of the van and jump out into the street. The rest of my squad follows my lead.

  “Anwen,” I say when I notice that she’s still on Isabel’s shoulder, “would you mind going to Coltan and taking care of him for me while we’re busy?”

  “Of course!” she chirps before flying over to land on Coltan’s shoulder.

  Once she’s there, she does something that shocks me a bit. She sniffs him just below his ear.

  “You smell sweet,” she declares giddily before hugging him around the neck.

  “Thanks?” he says, not sounding sure what she meant by that. I have no idea either, but I also don’t have time to delve into it right now.

  “This should be fun,” Gretel says with a grin as she stretches her arms above her head to loosen them up for the fight.

  “They were the B team,” Scarlet says. “Unfortunately, I don’t see this lasting very long.”

  Isabel reaches into the van to pull out her staff. “The quicker we get them out of the way, the sooner I can start looking through all of these books.”

  “Leave it to Isabel to think about doing research at a time like this,” Gretel says as she grabs the two black battle batons strapped to her back.

  “They could hold the key to everything,” Isabel says excitedly. “We won’t know until we start searching through them.”

  “I actually came across something inside one of the volumes that I want to show you all later,” Coltan tells us. “It might be a good place to start, if we can figure out what the quatrain is talking about. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but the artifact it described sounded useful.”

  “First things first,” I tell him as I pull out my daggers from my boots. “Let us handle this. Then you can show us what you’re talking about back at the Guild.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” Coltan promises me. “Be careful, Cin.”

  “Always,” I promise him with a reassuring wink.

  After I see him smile, I start to slide the door closed, but I stop when Gus asks, “Do you want me to circle back around and pick you girls up after your fight?”

  “That won’t be necessary,” I tell him. I certainly don’t want to ride all the way to the Guild sitting on Coltan’s lap. “We can use the time to do a quick patrol of the city.”

  Gus nods that he understands our duty and doesn’t belabor the issue.

  After I finish closing the van door, I turn to my squad and ask, “Ready, Thorns?”

  Gretel twirls her batons in her hands before gripping them firmly. “I’m ready.”

  “How far are we taking this fight?” Scarlet asks me.

  “I have no intention of killing them,” I say. “We simply need to get them out of the way so Gus can drive the van across the bridge, but don’t hesitate to do what you have to if your life is in danger. They are the ones asking for this fight, not us.”

  “Then I’m good to go,” Scarlet says as she pulls out the short sword from its sheath at her side.

  “I’m good too,” Isabel says as she grips her staff with both hands.

  I turn around to look at Ruby and her squad. She has her hands on her hips and impatiently taps her right foot against the pavement while she waits for us.

  “Let’s go,” I tell my friends.

  As we walk over to the other squad, I wonder why Ruby chose to become a Prince operative. Was it retaliation for not being chosen to graduate by the other Thorns? Or was this the best job she could find under the circumstances? I know Ruby was originally from this side of Briardale, but after training at the academy for so many years, it seems like she should have developed at least a little loyalty to our cause. Whatever her reasons for working for the Prince family, she’s chosen her side, and there’s nothing we can do about it now except view her, and those with her, as our enemies.

  Chapter 3

  The sun breaks through the clouds and glances off the water as we approach the bridge. Ruby’s silhouette calls out to us. “What are you doing h
ere, Cin? You and your kind aren’t welcome on this side of town.”

  “There’s no law that says we can’t come over here,” I tell her as my squad and I stop about six feet away from her and the other Prince operatives. “Why are you blocking our way back home?”

  “Because I don’t trust you,” she says as she shifts her gaze behind me to the van. “What’s Commander Kane doing over here?”

  “He came to pay his respects to Sela Prince,” I tell her. It’s not a complete lie. Maximus and Sela were friends at one time. If circumstances had been different, he might have openly attended the funeral. “Or didn’t you know they were friends?”

  Ruby looks confused by what I said, but she doesn’t ask any more about it.

  “Why a van?” she questions suspiciously.

  “He wanted us to come with him as backup in case something like this happened,” I tell her. “We couldn’t exactly all fit inside a car.”

  Ruby’s lips spread into a wicked grin. “I think you’re lying, Cin. I think there’s something inside that van that you don’t want me to see. What is it?”

  “There’s nothing inside the van that concerns you, Ruby,” I tell her truthfully. “My best advice to you is to let it and Commander Kane pass.”

  “Not without looking inside it first,” Ruby says, crossing her arms.

  I take four determined steps forward and say, “You don’t want to fight us, Ruby. This is a battle you can’t possibly win.”

  “I guess we’ll see,” she says as she swiftly raises her right leg and attempts a push kick to strike the center of my chest.

  I grab the underside of her ankle with my right hand and throw her leg to the left while raising my left leg to kick her in the head and momentarily stun her. Ruby’s move sets into motion the rest of the fight for everyone else. While Isabel handles Kacey, Scarlet takes on Amber, and Gretel fights the new girl. Since we don’t know if the newest member of Ruby’s squad is a mage or not, it’s better to have our own fire mage battle her as a precaution.