… “Snow’s eyelashes fluttered. Did you see them?” Dorian asked.
“Whatever is going on inside of her, I think it’s almost at an end. Look at her skin. Completely back too normal. It shouldn’t be much longer,” Professor Pops said.
“You don’t think… she isn’t… dying, is she, Pops?”
“I’m not sure, Dorian. I hope not. For her sake, Gabe’s… Well, for all our sakes. She’s got to live.”
“You hear that, Snow? We aren’t giving you a choice. Come back.”
Chapter 38
“Welcome to my secret fortress, Silindra,” Titan said. “Only a select few have been inside and survived to tell the tale.
I grunted my response, walking past him to the doorway in the mountain, its entry bursting with light. The surface my feet touched was smooth and hard, like polished rock—but it wasn’t rock. It was some kind of iron. It swayed slightly, and I grabbed hold of the rails as my eyes roamed the fortress inside the mountain.
This is incredible, said Snow White.
I agreed wholeheartedly. Metal catwalks crisscrossed each other, reminding me of a spider’s web. Tall beams rose to the ceiling where millions of lights shone. It was as though Titan harnessed a portion of the sun and somehow held its rays captive within.
In the center of the mountain, reaching vertically to the top and, I guessed, touching the bottom, was a thick grated tube. Inside the tube were two sets of stairs: one used to walk up, and the other for down. A steady flow of occupants used them, exiting through archways onto the walkways like the one I was on. The walkways led to large, cylinder-shaped holes carved into the mountain.
Cautious, I glanced over the side and felt my throat drop into my stomach. A seemingly endless number of walkways weaved from the center stairs and downward.
I took a deep breath, noting the tang of something sour in the air, like curdled milk. The voices of thousands echoed as trolls, fairies, gremlins, and other magical creatures busily rushed around. It was a city.
“What is this place?” I finally asked.
“This is Varden, the place where all the scientific magic happens,” he responded, pushing his bulky body past me and walking briskly along the path. The metal shuddered under his weight and I held my breath. Snow let out a tiny scream.
It’ll hold him, I thought, hoping I was right but unable to follow.
When he reached the stairs, he turned. “Do you want the strength of a troll or not?”
“Of course I do.” With feigned confidence I reorganized my wings and moved along the metal walkway. He started down the stairs, and I followed. I was surprised to see so many different creatures working side by side in seeming harmony. They talked quietly amongst themselves. That’s when I noticed each level led to at least ten different tunnels.
“Where are they going?” I asked. We were on the third level from the top and moving down.
“Each level holds a different department. When a fairy, elf, dwarf, vampire… any magical creature comes to Varden, their talents are taken into account before they are put to work. Those two,” he continued, pointing at an elf and a troll walking side by side, chatting excitedly. “They work in the efficiency department as part of a team creating sustainable energy.”
I was shocked. Elves were killing trolls and vice versa above, yet these creatures didn’t appear to care.
I shook my head in awed amazement. A vampire could live a millennium and not see everything. But this truly was new. Above, all species, including and especially the magical ones, kept to themselves. Elves lived and worked with elves, dwarves with dwarves, vampires with vampires, fairies with fairies. It was the way life went. Order was kept by adherence to the rules. Yet in the heart of the enormous mountain, those lines were crossed—blurred into extinction. Didn’t these creatures understand they were messing with age-old regulations? Surely at some point their blatant disregard would destroy them. And why had Titan created this place? I knew I should be worried. Instead I was happy. All creatures working together; it seemed like an unattainable dream to me but now I saw it in action.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Titan stepped off the stairs onto a metal hallway.
“Do you?” I asked, joining him.
He nodded. “You’re wondering how I can allow a war to rage above while this goes on below.”
“That is curious,” I agreed noncommittally.
“This mountain, and what goes on down here, is of the utmost importance. Devoran and his band of elves think to take the mountain, believing it belongs to them. But, if they were to gain control, they would discover our secrets, and Devoran would never let the work we’re doing here continue.” His face grew angry. “The elven king is ancient and set in his ways. I won’t allow him to destroy everything we’ve worked for in the name of old-fashioned beliefs. This is the future.”
I understood Titan’s passion. I held the same beliefs for the quest I was on, to save magic, but I doubted what Titan was doing down here would matter in the long run. The term “science” was thrown around at the last council meeting. It meant little to me. “What else do you do down here?” I asked.
“Let me show you.” He glanced over and smiled.
I held my tongue, working to keep my face blank of any emotion.
“You believe I’m heartless, uncaring. Is that it? You’re wondering how I can put science above the lives of my people.”
“Something like that,” I acknowledged.
“It’s simple. Down here we take emotion out of the equation. We take a problem and use science along with our magic to solve it. Up there,” he pointed one of his thick fingers toward the ceiling, but I understood he meant above ground, “the trolls and the elves fight over an imaginary line—an important line, yes, but imaginary, nonetheless. The elves only desire power. We aren’t oppressing them. They have plenty of food and shelter. It doesn’t matter. They fight because one of the elven leaders believes the trolls should give over this land.”
Titan threw up his hands, flashing long, unkempt armpit hair. “They don’t realize if they worked together, used the resources from each side to benefit the other, their lives would be far better.” He spun in a slow circle; his arms extended wide. “This, down here, is the true power. Down here we have harmony, accord, a group of intelligent beings working toward the betterment of the entire world.” He moved toward one of the corridors. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
I didn’t speak, interested in his opinions and shocked he even had them. I believed him to be an intelligent brute, but he was more than that.
“You probably think none of this has anything to do with you. Vampires are lucky they can’t die of disease.” He raised a finger. “But other magical creatures can, and you, Silindra, should be concerned with that.” He waved his hands in a circle. “All of this should matter to you. Once you’ve seen what we do, perhaps you’ll encourage more vampires to join our cause.”
“What kinds of sicknesses?” I wanted to take the focus off what I wouldn’t do and turn it toward what he found so fascinating about this place.
He gave a knowing smile. “The top rung houses the center for disease control. One ailment our scientists are working on causes the loss of fairy wings. Did you know that happens?”
Worry formed in my belly. Ryden wasn’t a fairy, but a pixilette. Still, I wondered if she ever got sick, if her wings would fall off. I never knew her to be ill. “I didn’t,” I answered quietly, still lost in my own thoughts.
“We’ve discovered it’s a degenerative disease found in the DNA of some fairies. But in the last few years, our scientists have found a cure.”
That surprised me. And Snow White.
Cool. I never really thought about fairies getting sick or old, she said.
Me either.
A troll ran up to Titan and demanded his time. “One moment, please.” He walked away with the troll.
I glanced out over the railing, down, down, down. It made my
head spin…
And I was suddenly being pulled into Snow’s time. I sighed in anticipation. What were the brothers, Pops, and Cindy up to?
… “Snow. Merde! I’m so over not being able to get your advice. I need to tell you about Gabe. The guy has lost it. Last night I was at Warehouse Video and he pulled up in his silver CRX wearing a sword across his back, like some kind of Knight of the Round Table. He looked sexy and completely stupid. Sexy, because I know what he is—the leader of the chayot. Stupid, because everyone else thinks he’s gone crazy. I mean, really, if I didn’t know what he was I would’ve laughed my ass off. He didn’t even notice the other high schoolers making fun of him. It was like he saw no one else, just the vampire dude who was sniffing around one of the cheerleaders. Gabe grabbed him by his coat collar and yanked him into the car. I have no idea what happened to him, but I’m guessing Gabe killed him.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to think about Gabe. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t believe witches did anything to you, so that’s good. But, ugh, how do I say this? I guess I’ll just spit it out. See, he’s… I… Kuso! That’s Japanese for dammit. Anyhoo, Gabe asked me out. It was weird. He came into work, sat at a table in my section, and when I brought his water and bread he was all, ‘Hey, Cindy. Want to see a movie with me on Friday?’
“I think my mouth might have dropped open. I was like, ‘No way. What about Snow?’ His features grew angry and I thought he might hit me, but then he crumbled like his heart was fractured. He said, ‘I just need someone to hang out with.’ Well I couldn’t say no to that, so I agreed. I hate to admit it, but after the movie, which was all blood and guts and totally gross, he took me home and we kissed… like a lot.
“Please don’t be mad. I’m so sorry. But that’s why I need you to wake up, so everything can make sense again. See, I think I might have feelings for the stupid, arrogant chayot. Ugh! Please, Snow. Wake up.”
Cindy’s news didn’t upset me as much as it should’ve. Sure, I loved Gabe, but I knew he wasn’t my true love just like I knew Heathcliff or Christopher wasn’t. Hearing her talk about kissing Gabe did hurt though and I found myself longing to go back to Silindra’s time. Even if it was just for a while.
Chapter 39
When Titan returned, he was all business, and took me on a tour of the immense innards of Varden, winding us through the most elaborate structure. Like the inside of an anthill or a beehive, everything was precise and pristine. When we finally reached the bottom level, I sensed a change in the air, like the crackle of electricity right before a lightning storm. There was a vibe, a droning energy. It made me nervous.
“What’s this level for?” I asked, moving after him into a tunnel. A reddish glow pulsated to some unknown rhythm and a coppery smell inflamed my nose.
Titan turned back and smiled, the light bouncing off his teeth with a menacing radiance. “Down here we extract, study, and discover the delicacies of each creature.”
I stopped. “You what?” What did he mean by delicacies?
Snow shivered.
“This is our lab. It’s fascinating all we’ve uncovered about each species.”
Tentatively I hurried after him. The farther along the corridor I went, the worse the smell. If Snow could’ve run, she would have. I sensed her immense desire to turn back. She didn’t want to see whatever we were headed into.
When we arrived, I worked not to gag. The large room contained magical creatures in varying degrees of decomposition. Some lay on tables, their innards spread out on top of their bodies. Others hung from the ceiling, their eyes open and vacant.
“What have you done?” I asked, stepping toward a fairy pinned against a piece of wood, his guts pinned around him, his chest opened and peeled back like a banana. “This is wrong,” I added, my throat dry. I couldn’t swallow. All the excitement and happiness I felt at creatures working together was sucked dry. This would not do. This was cruel and evil. Even worse than what Sharra wanted.
“How can you say that?” Titan asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation, scaring the trolls busily doing whatever it was they were doing. “Without this room we wouldn’t understand how each creature works.” He paused and picked up what looked like a walnut still in its shell. “This is the brain of a fairy. Right here,” he touched his dirty index finger to the back of the brain. “This is where the ability to do magic is stored. Without this tiny piece of the genetic puzzle, a fairy can’t do magic.” Then he tapped a portion on the left. “This tells the fairy’s body it’s going to be small and winged.” Then he pointed at the portion directly in front. “Right here, this tells the fairy it wants to reproduce every six years.” He stared at the thing in awe.
I was mesmerized and revolted at the same time. It was fascinating that he knew such information but, as my eyes searched the tables, witnessing all the carnage, I couldn’t join in his awe.
Titan walked over to a large container filled with a liquid that looked like dirty water. Encased within was another brain, much larger than a fairy’s. He tapped on the glass. “This is the brain of a troll.”
I stepped toward it involuntarily. Was this why he brought me here? Did he intend to give me a portion of this brain?
“We’ve studied each and every magical creature, save one.” He gave a nod and two trolls grabbed each of my arms.
Where had they come from? I let out a roar of anger. How dare Titan think he could capture and study me? I was Silindra, Queen of the vampires. I wouldn’t be taken captive!
“You’ll regret this.” Furious anger roared through me. I felt Snow’s fury as well, fueling me on. I yanked my arms together, using the trolls’ strength against them, and flipped over so I faced them. Flapping my wings, I used my magic to make my wings become pointy, like swords, jamming them in the eyes as I stepped forward. In unison they screamed out in pain, lessening their grip on my arms. I slapped my hands together, knocking the disoriented trolls into each other. They crumbled to the ground. I stomped down, crushing their oversized heads into a dark pulpy puddle.
My wings returned to normal, and I growled. Changing them like that reduced my magic greatly. It would take days for that kind of power to refuel. I rarely used my wings as a form of defense for that very reason, but the trolls caught me off guard and I’d reacted.
Whipping around, I faced Titan. “You thought I would be taken so easily?” I stepped toward him and a clear understanding of what I had to do sank into my stomach. He gnashed his teeth and crouched low in a fighting stance. I stepped to the left while he stepped to the right, a kind of dance after which Titan’s life would be over. In order to retrieve a portion of the trolls’ strength, I would have to defeat Titan. It wouldn’t be easy, but it had to be done.
Do you know where the Troll’s strength lies? Snow White asked.
In his brain somewhere. That’s what he said, I responded.
From the nearest table I picked up a large, razor-sharp knife. The trolls performing their various tasks ran from the room, leaving Titan and me alone with the dead and decaying corpses. It seemed fitting the troll leader would die here, among the creatures he so mindlessly, mercilessly ordered to be destroyed.
Tossing the knife from my left hand to my right, I waited for the right moment. “I suppose I’ll cut your strength from your very large, incredibly convoluted head.”
Snow pulled away from me. She didn’t want to be part of the death.
Don’t, I commanded, but she pulled us forward, into her time.
… “Hello, my darling marked one. I just stopped by to check on you, to see if the rumors were true. You’re still live, yet you are in some form of eternal sleep. This is a variable I did not foresee.”
“Sharra!” Silindra and I shouted her name together.
“I wonder if Abernathy knew the Seal would do this. Knowing him, he probably planned the whole thing with my insipid sister years ago. It’s sad, really. I didn’t have a second choice. Sure, the hunters selected many marked, but I always only wa
nted you. There were many reasons. Your beauty, intellect, the way you view the world—but most of all I wanted you for your genetics. You’re special, Snow, more than just an ordinary human girl.”
I knew Silindra heard all that was being said and I was glad. Perhaps if she were able to change the past, things could be different in the future and I wouldn’t be marked. I could just be me and wouldn’t even know about vampires or magic or anything supernatural.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Sharra continued. “Whatever the Seal did, it’s ruined you. The chayot, the witches, Adam Henry… they all believe you’ll wake, but they don’t understand the Seal’s power like I do. You won’t come back. And that’s for the best. I’ve chosen another. She isn’t as great as you could’ve been, but she is part chayot.”
No! I couldn’t let her hurt anyone else.
“Besides, she’s nearly ready. She’s fallen in love and her craving for her lover’s blood burns within her. It’s so strong I can feel it. Soon she’ll consume him, and then her body will be mine.” She cackled.
I tried to force myself awake. I needed to stop her.
“Stay asleep, Snow. Because if you wake, I’ll hunt down and destroy everyone you care about, starting with that dimwitted child leader you call Gabe. That’s right, dear one. I’ll kill him first.” She paused and I heard her fingernails click against the bedside table. “Maybe I should just solve the problem and slay you while you slumber. Press this knife to your neck, sever your head from your body—”
Something was pinching me, making it difficult for me to breathe, but it only lasted moments.
Sharra screamed. “My hand. I can’t feel my hand. What have you done?”
Chapter 40
Sweat beaded at my brow as I shook off what I saw in Snow’s time. My sister had tried to kill her, but I couldn’t be concerned with that now. I had to focus on ending the altercation with Titan. “I’m going to kill you slowly, you sick, twisted creature.”
Fate and Magic: Snow White Reimagined with Vampires and Werewolves (Seven Magics Academy Book 2) Page 14