by G. Bailey
“We aren’t going anywhere, Sleepy,” Tobias says, coming over and sitting on the floor in front of me so I can rest my hand on his shoulder, which he rests his head on. Knox doesn’t say anything as he sits on the end of the sofa, lifting my feet and gently rubbing them as I lie on Noah’s lap and get comfy. It’s not long until I’m drifting off to sleep, praying for no more dreams. For once...sleep doesn’t feel safe anymore.
Chapter 16
“I have a question,” I start off, looking up at Warren still hidden under his hood as we walk back from class. Tavvy hasn’t finished her reading yet and told me to go back without her. “When do you find the time to eat? I mean you are never eating at meals with me.”
“I can conjure food whenever I please,” he explains to me.
“Can you conjure Doritos? I miss them so much, and I’d love you forever if you did,” I ask.
“What are Doritos?” he asks, and I look up at him in utter horror. The poor man has never eaten the most delicious crisps in the world…well, at least in my opinion. I go to explain them when we hear a female cry and shout, and it sounds familiar. I don’t wait for Warren as I run down the corridor, swing myself around the corner, and freeze for a second at the sight of three hooded dark tale guards beating the crap out of a girl on the floor. It takes me another second to realise that girl is Ella.
“Hey, dickheads!” I shout, lifting my hands full of dust as they look at me and choose to run at me a second later. I smile as I throw dust at them, and each of them collapses to the floor a moment later.
“It seems you did not need my help after all,” Warren says in a surprised tone as he steps to my side while I wipe the dust on their cloaks. I run to Ella the moment the dust is off my hands and pull her onto my lap, checking for a pulse on her neck which I find. She is covered in blood, her nose looks broken, and her lip has a deep cut in it. Warren kneels next to me and shakes his head.
“To do this to a woman is a deeply disgusting act. They should be ashamed, which I doubt they are,” Warren says and places his hand over Ella’s on her stomach. “I can heal her a little. Enough to make sure nothing is permanent.”
“Thank you,” I say, and he nods, pausing as he looks at me. “I use eternal light to heal, and it would blind anyone but my bloodline. If I was healing anything greater, I would ask you to leave the area, but right now, I need you to close your eyes, and you must not open them.”
“I promise I won’t. Thank you for telling me that,” I say, placing my hand over his for a second, and he surprises me by turning his hand, squeezing mine gently before letting go.
“You are the only person outside my family that has ever been told one of our secrets. In my family, secrets are worth more than life,” he explains to me.
“Then it is a secret I will take to my grave,” I promise him.
“Not anytime soon you aren’t,” he is quick to reply, and I smile at him, feeling butterflies in my stomach as my cheeks burn a little red. Before I can say anything stupid, I close my eyes. Seconds later, I hear Warren whisper something I can’t understand before warm light glows against my skin. It feels perfect, safe and almost kind. It makes me want to open my eyes and bask in the light, but I promised I wouldn’t. I don’t open my eyes until the light is all gone, and when I do, Ella has only a few bruises under the dry blood on her face.
“Thank you,” I tell Warren, and he nods at me as he slides his arms underneath Ella, lifting her body as we both stand up. I look at the three passed out dark tales on the floor and back to Warren, because I’m not sure what we should do about them.
“I will come back and deal with them after we return your friend to her room,” he tells me, and his disgusted, angry tone makes me shiver.
“Okay,” I say, and as I walk past them, I make sure to sprinkle more sleep dust all over them so they aren’t going anywhere. I lead Warren back to Ella’s room, and I open it for him. Ella’s room is pretty, and I’ve never been in it before to see how nice she keeps it. There is a big dark green fluffy rug on the floor, which matches her light green bedsheets. She has a pretty white dresser, a box with a range of stuff on it where there is only one bed in the room. It’s pretty big in here too, making me think Tavvy and I lost out on room choice. Warren gently puts Ella on the bed, and I tuck her in with the blanket before walking to the door, catching Warren’s arm as he tries to quickly leave.
“Hey, wait,” I say, and he looks down at me. More than once, I wish I could see what he looks like underneath his hood, because I feel like I’m getting close to a stranger if I don’t. “Thank you. I wanted to say thank you, you know, again.”
“I’m your guard and your friends’ guard if you need me to be,” he tells me so formally, but I don’t believe he is just doing his job with me. It’s more than that.
“Why are you bound to Rueben? Will you tell me?” I softly ask.
“It’s a long story for another day, but let’s just say I’m alive when the rest of my family isn’t, due to that bond,” he explains to me.
“Your family used to be the royals of the dark tales, right?” I ask. I wish I could see his face to know if I surprised him or angered him by knowing that.
“Yes, and my father made the mistake of betraying his council, which Rueben lead. He was going to make a deal with the good tales for peace,” he explains to me.
“So Rueben killed him?” I ask.
“No, his brother did, and then he took the throne. Rueben came to kill me, but instead, he offered me a choice. I follow him, bound to protect him, or I will die. I made a promise, and here we are,” he replies. “When Rueben’s brother fell, he took the throne, and now I’m indebted to the king.”
“So it’s only words and not magic that binds you to him?” I ask.
“Words have more magic than you think, Madi,” he softly replies, and my breath hitches at the tone. He has never called me anything but Miss Dormiens before, and I really like how my name sounds on his lips. Not that I know how it looks to see him say my name. Before I can say anything, he steps away from me and clears his throat. “I will deal with the dark tale guards before returning. Do stay here.” I nod, rubbing my arms as I watch him hurry away. I quickly go to my room and get a bowl, a towel and a bottle of water before going back to Ella’s room and shutting the door behind me. I go and sit next to Ella, pouring some water into the bowl and using the towel to gently wipe the blood off her face and neck. I’m brushing away her hair when she groggily wakes up, flinching from the pain she is no doubt in.
“W-what?” she says, rapidly looking around then relaxing when she sees she is in her room.
“Just rest, Ella. You’re okay now,” I tell her, and she does, resting back but staying awake. I wash the towel in the bowl of water as she watches me and slowly starts to cry.
“Ella,” I gently say, placing my hand over hers. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. The world is fucked up, Madi,” she says, her voice catching on a sob.
“I know it is, but you can’t let it beat you, Ella. Not yet,” I tell her. If the world has beaten Ella down, then there is no hope for the rest of us.
“I o-only told those guards I wouldn’t fuck them. The moment I said no, they started beating me, and if you hadn’t been there...” she drifts off before bursting into tears. I hold my arms around her until she calms down a little.
“They won’t touch you again. Warren is going to deal with them,” I say as I pull back.
“He is one of them,” she says.
“No, he isn’t. I trust him. Completely. Warren might be a dark tale, but he is on our side. Now rest,” I tell her, and I hold her hand until she falls asleep. I’m sad that this happened to Ella, and I wish I could make it all better, but I’m selfish. I’m happily going to ask the goddess to bring Sin back to me, instead of saving the world as we know it.
Love makes you selfish because there is nothing you wouldn’t do, no line you wouldn’t cross, to save someone you love.
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nbsp; Chapter 17
“I don’t think green is your colour, Madi. I would suggest blue...and maybe something brighter. Are all your tops this big and well—”
“Comfortable?” I fill in for Ella, though I doubt she was going to use that word. I don’t know how she is in my room, going through my closet and telling me how awful my clothes are, but this is us now. Tavvy just smiles at me from where she is lying on the bed, after Ella just went through her wardrobe. A bored Ella is a nightmare. This is what I’ve learnt today. Someone knocks the door, and I’m jumping up to open it as quickly as possible. Please say Warren has come to save me.
“Can I come in?” Roger asks the second I open the door. Warren is watching from the other side of the corridor, hidden in the shadows.
“I can get rid of him if you wish, Miss Dormiens,” Warren suggests in a dark voice. Roger gulps in fear as he stares at me. I smile and open the door, chuckling.
“Warren is a big softy, don’t worry,” I tell Roger, trying to put him at ease as well as wind Warren up. He isn’t a big softy as far as I know. Mr. Serious would be a better nickname for him.
“Yeah, okay,” Roger grumbles as he walks in the door before I shut it.
“What do you want?”
“I know Ella has been a bit down recently and—”
“I have been fine, thank you very much,” Ella snaps, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Roger. Roger shouldn’t be scared of Warren when he has a bored Ella to deal with.
“I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to tell you all I heard something important, and it might cheer everyone in the academy up. Well, the good tales that is,” he says, rubbing the back of his thick neck with his hand.
“What did you hear?” Tavvy asks, sitting up on the bed. I cross my arms as Roger starts to talk.
“I was staying behind after history because I couldn’t read half my Latin book, but that doesn’t matter. I was walking back to my room, and I hear King Frostan telling three guards that he is doing to destroy the magical descendant books tomorrow. He said they were being kept in his office,” he starts to explain, but I interrupt him.
“Why is this good? I love that book. Lane will be gone,” I say, rubbing my chest. Lane doesn’t deserve that, and I really miss him. He was a terrible guide that got me lost and in trouble most of the time, but he belongs to my family. I know the rest of the good tales feel the same way. Those books are hope to us. They are our past and future rolled into one.
“Cherry was so sweet. I don’t want to lose her,” Ella says, rubbing her arms in a nervous way and looking more than upset. Cherry must have been her book, which I never knew the name of.
“No, you don’t get it. We know where the books are. There are only two guards, and every day for thirty minutes, King Frostan goes for a walk with prince Quinton around the academy, which they are about to do. We could go and get the books. Madi can knock the guards out and then—”
“You are brilliant, Roger!” Ella excitedly exclaims, jumping into Roger’s arms and hugging him tightly as his cheeks burn red. I look at Tavvy who winks at me. Someone has a little crush, I think.
“I love the idea. We should save them and bring them here,” I suggest.
“Why here?” Roger asks, but I’m not going to tell him about the other dimension.
“I can keep them safe, I promise,” I say, knowing I can put them in the other dimension tonight, and they will be alright.
“I have an even better idea. A temporary fix. I will be right back!” Ella says and walks out of the room, holding Roger’s hand as she drags him along with her. I briefly speak to Warren, who reluctantly agrees to look the other way and pretend I’ve stayed in my room if anyone asks, before I go to Ella’s room with Tavvy. We wait outside after knocking, and Ella soon opens the door.
“Let’s go,” she says, leading the way with Roger closing the door after her. I don’t ask what she was doing the whole time as we carefully sneak our way down the corridor and down the stairs. Without running into anyone, we luckily get to the corridor which Rueben’s office is on, and I call my dust. I blow it into the air, and thanks to Ella, who blows a cold breeze out of her hand, it hits both the guards in the face before they can see us. They collapse to the floor, and we run over. Roger and Tavvy grab the guards as I open the door, and they drag them in before Ella closes the door. On the desk are dozens of books. All the magic books. I don’t know how I know, but I pick up the one on the edge under two others and open it up. I’m so relieved to see Lane’s floaty face as he grins up at me.
“Miss Dormiens. I’ve missed you,” Lane says, and I’m so relieved to hear his voice.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
“I’m a book, of course I am,” he responds, and I roll my eyes.
“I’ve missed you too, Lane,” I tell him.
“Of course you did, I am an exceptional friend,” he replies.
“How are we going to move all these books?” Tavvy asks as Ella pulls open a large red bag. I watch as the books are all sucked into the bag like a vacuum after she whispers a word in Latin I can’t pronounce.
“What was that?” I ask in shock.
“Oh, it’s an heirloom of my line, but I just use it to sneak stuff into the academy. That’s why my room is so pretty,” she explains to me. “Now hand your book over. We can’t risk anyone seeing them here, and then you need to take the bag. I want the bag back though.” Ella knows about the other dimension, but she decided to stay here so as not to arouse suspicion.
“One second,” I say, and she nods, looking away. Tavvy and Roger just drop the guards in the corner, and I look down to Lane.
“Lane, do you know much about the Rumpelstiltskin line?” I ask him.
“The Nightshade royal family line, you mean?” he asks.
“Is that their last name?” I ask.
“Yes. They are tricksters and known to have incredible powers due to their ancestor making a deal with a god. I do not know more, I’m sorry,” he replies.
“It’s okay. We will speak more later, okay?” I ask.
“Promise?” he asks.
“Of course,” I tell him and smile as I close the book. I place the book into the bag, which vacuums it up so it looks like the bag is empty. Ella hands me the bag as we leave the office as quickly as we can. When I get back to my room, I hear Rueben shouting downstairs. Warren only shakes his head with a small smile as I shut my door. It was risky but worth it. For once, we have a little hope.
Chapter 18
“Tavvy and I were talking earlier,” Ella says after barging into our room, where I’m clipping my cloak on, before she shuts the door. I’m not sure which one I’m more surprised about. That she and Tavvy have been talking, or that Ella is so happy so early in the morning. “And you need to drink this.” Ella holds up a purple glittering vial that looks like that slime stuff that the kids in my neighbourhood had an obsession with the summer before I came here.
“I don’t think anyone should drink that,” I point out.
“It’s magical protection against getting pregnant. You have a lot of boyfriends, and every girl here takes it,” she says, and I want to be insulted about the “lot of boyfriends” comment, but she has a point.
“I’ve had it,” Tavvy tells me. “It isn’t all that bad.”
“Why would you want it? You aren’t dating anyone,” I ask, only realising how harsh that might have sounded. “Sorry, I don’t think I’m awake yet. I need more sleep.”
“No worries, sleepy head, and it’s just in case,” Tavvy says, and she and Ella share a weird look.
“What am I missing?” I ask, placing my hands on my hips and glaring them both down. I can see the guilt a mile off.
“A lot, but we don’t have time for all that now. Just drink it, and then we get going to fight class since they added an extra one this weekend due to the last lesson being a bit of a mess,” Ella says, thrusting the vial at me. I pull the lid off, smelling it and finding out
it smells like flowers. I close my eyes before taking a long drink, and the stuff burns my throat. I cough a few times, and Tavvy pats my back as Ella opens the door.
“It stops burning in a second,” Tavvy explains as I straighten up and clear my throat a few times. I gratefully nod as the burn stops, and Tavvy goes to follow Ella out. I gently grab her wrist, stopping her from leaving.
“Are we okay?” I ask her because she has been weird with me recently.
“Yeah, we just need to talk—”
“Come on, slow coaches!” Ella interrupts, and I remind myself to bring this up with Tavvy again sometime as we walk out our room and down the corridor.
“Ella, Tavvy, don’t you dare volunteer today. Let Mrs. Frostan choose who she is going to beat up,” I warn my friends as we walk into fight class. It might be selfish, but they aren’t fighting her. What I don’t tell them as they nod at me is that I want to fight her instead. Her powers wouldn’t stand a chance against mine, whereas she is challenged well against Ella and Tavvy and, well, most of the class, I think. Tavvy’s fight proved to me that, in direct combat, she is hard to beat, so I’m going to use magic to do the most of it. We stop at the side of the group, and I look back to see Warren is stood by the door as Mrs. Frostan walks in, clicking those shoes against the ground. She keeps her head high as she moves to stand in front of us all, placing her hands on her hips. This time, she doesn’t put a show on with her shadow copies or whatever the hell they are.
“Who is going to volunteer today?” she asks, and there is dead silence in the room. I almost expect a tumbleweed to roll past us any moment. Everyone else in fight class got to fight her shadows after we went back to our rooms with Tavvy, and I’ve heard they were easier to beat. They act like robots. The only one that is a risk is the boss woman herself, and no one wants to fight her.
“I will,” I say, pushing my friends’ hands away as they try to grab me with hushed whispers.
