by Carey Corp
“I’ll agree to the extra guards and someone to watch my back, but I’m not hiding in this room.”
Jamie stiffened. “This is the safest place in the castle. The most defensible.”
“Think about it — Addie tried to murder me with an ancient curse locked in a pendant. And when that didn’t work, she pushed me out of Doon multiple times. Then when I came back, she hurtled a tree at me.” Jamie’s profile hardened as he stared out the window. “Her attempts are getting less artful and more desperate.”
He pulled his arm from around my shoulders and shifted to face me, his eyes dark with concern, his mouth pressed in a firm line. His first instinct was to protect me, his Calling and his queen, so I appealed to the strategic side of his brain.
“You told me yourself, an early retreat would be a victory for my enemy.”
“Aye, but tha’ was — ”
I shushed him with a finger on his lips. “What better way to draw her out than for me to flaunt myself throughout the kingdom? The more desperate she gets, the more vulnerable she becomes.”
A muscle ticked in Jamie’s jaw. “I dinna like it.”
I took his hand in mine. “I don’t like any of this, but the sooner we can bring this thing to a head, the sooner it can end.” And I could bring back the baseball-cap-wearing, churro-eating boy whose carefree grin could power a small city.
Meeting Jamie’s solemn gaze, I lifted my chin with determination. “Besides, Addie should’ve learned by now. I’m not that easy to kill.”
CHAPTER 24
Mackenna
If I lived to be three hundred years old — and now that I was back in Doon, it was not outside the realm of possibility — I would still never understand the appeal of sports musicals. Whoever conceived that Rocky, an underdog story about a boxer, would be better with song and dance numbers had undisputedly taken one too many punches to the head. The boxical had debuted on Broadway the summer I’d lived in Chicago and, aside from a pretty song about rain, had failed to inspire . . . confirming my belief that show tunes and sports did not mix well.
Yet, as I stared down my straw-stuffed bag of animal hide while in the village’s first girls-only gym, I couldn’t help but hum “The Eye of the Tiger.” As I faced an entire hour dedicated to jabbing and kicking my way through Analisa’s class, I decided I’d much rather be performing Rocky than reenacting it.
Fortunately for me, the instructor was late. And while some of the Destined girls were using the time to get their Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on, I was more interested in observing than demonstrating my Kung Fu Panda skills, if I’d had any to begin with . . . which I didn’t.
Smack!
I staggered back several steps, flailing my arms like a scarecrow.
Vee steadied herself before frowning at me. “You’re supposed to be holding the bag for me.”
“Sorry,” I muttered, stepping back up and bracing my arms against the leather. “I was surveilling the crowd. That’s a word, right?”
“Not so loud,” she hissed, ignoring my question. She steadied her posture and took a slow, deep breath. Exhaling in a roar, she landed a single punch that made my teeth rattle.
“Geez. Remind me not to get on your bad side. Did someone pee in your Cheerios?” I leaned into the bag as she set her feet, lowered her chin, and jabbed again.
“Just picturing a certain — ” She stopped and glanced around before whispering, “Wicked person’s face.”
But which person? Of the two dozen or so Destined who had either crossed the bridge or trekked through the mountains at the last Centennial, I only knew a handful well. Did the witch have other minions doing her bidding while she walked around pretending to be one of us?
I’d lain awake the night before thinking about the Destined, and no matter how I scrutinized them, my mind always came back to Ana, the criminal who’d claimed to have been Called to Doon for service. Something about her set me on edge, but I’d been hesitant to voice my suspicions because of her friendship with my boyfriend. If I was going to accuse her of being the witch, I needed more than a gut feeling. I needed solid proof.
Speaking of the devil, Analisa burst through the storefront door. Clad from head to toe in black Lycra and spandex, her modern attire indicated that she’d specifically packed workout clothes for her trip across the bridge. That in itself seemed highly suspect to me. And with her two-tone hair gathered in a sleek ponytail, she reminded me of a Japanese assassin.
“Sorry I’m late, girls. I took a long run in the castle gardens and lost track of time. We’ll get started in just a moment.” Other than a red nose, she didn’t look like she’d been out in the elements — no perspiration dotting her face, no panting for breath. Either she was one of those fitness freaks who never got winded or she’d been up to no good.
I watched her stretch her long, graceful limbs, looking for signs of decay underneath the facade. What if I’d been too quick to dismiss that burning in my gut as jealousy when it’d been something else entirely? I opened my mouth to voice my suspicions to Vee just as Ana called out, “Let’s get started, shall we?”
After ten more minutes of holding the bag while Vee did combination drills, I was wobbly. When it came time to switch, I motioned for Fiona to take over and stumbled to the door in search of air.
As I stepped outside, I could feel eyes staring at my back. With a sudden pivot, I caught the impression of Ana’s smirking face as she turned back to the class. How could I prove she was a card-carrying member of the Evil League of Evil before she pulled out her freeze ray and stopped the world?
“Do ye think Analisa’s the Witch of Doon?” Sofia’s voice at my shoulder startled me. I shifted my attention to see Jamie’s petite ex-girlfriend watching my reaction through shrewd ebony eyes. With the howling wind, I hadn’t heard her follow me out.
Quickly checking my reaction, I glanced at Eòran to make sure he hadn’t overheard. Fortunately, Mutton Chops seemed riveted by the queen getting her ninja skills on. I tugged on Sofia’s arm to guide her away from the gym window and asked, “Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m observant.” The bitter wind tugged dark spirals out of her braid, so that the whip-like tendrils lashed at her cheeks. She’d thought to grab a couple of plaid wraps, which she’d draped around her small body to keep out the cold, and proved her attention-paying skills by handing me one. As the woolen warmth settled around me, I nodded for her to continue.
“The weather never changed like this when Lucius Jobe crossed inta Doon.”
“How can you be sure?” Vee’d scoured every book in the library that had anything to do with the Witch of Doon or her known minion, Lucius. If there’d been any record of weather, Vee’d have mentioned it. What did Sofia Rosetti have access to that the queen didn’t?
Looking fairly pleased with herself, she offered me a sly smile. “I reviewed all the interviews that my brother and sister conducted and cross referenced them with the queen’s research notes.” Before I could inquire how she got Vee’s notes, she supplied, “Fiona got them for me. She wasna simply being kind when she said I had much to contribute.”
To have this girl echo my suspicions about Analisa seem a bit convenient. Either Sofia had more information than she was sharing or she was fishing for confirmation . . . or worse, she was working for the big bad. “So the freaky change in weather makes you think the witch is actually in Doon? Even though she never breached the border before.”
“Aye.” She shoved a tangle of curls back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “And if ye ask me what proof I have, I’ve none. Just the same as ye’ll find no mention of weather in any of the Lucius Jobe reports. But I feel the truth, deep inside o’ me. The witch is here. I know it as surely as I know my name is Sofia Maria Rosetti.”
I didn’t want to offend her, but she also had been sure she’d had a Calling with a boy on the outside world, and he’d failed to materialize when the portal on the bridge opened. As carefully as I could, I
said, “Didn’t your instincts also lead you to believe that you had a Calling?”
Pain flashed across her face. For a moment I could read all the hope, longing, pain, and confusion that she’d experienced with her supposed Calling. “I wasna wrong about that,” she answered fiercely. “I can’t explain why he didna cross the bridge at the Centennial except to say that the Protector’s ways are no’ my own. We will meet at the appointed time — I have faith it will be so.”
Analisa’s class shifted from heavy bags to sparring as partners. I watched as Fiona claimed Vee before Gabby could swoop in. The younger Rosetti sister, while usually harmless, didn’t know her own strength.
“Another thing.” Sofia gestured toward Ana on the other side of the glass. “She was lying about where she was.”
“How could you know that?”
She huddled closer to me, but we both kept our focus on what was happening in the gym. “Because I have a keen sense of right and wrong. I kin usually tell when someone is lying. She came from the opposite direction of Castle MacCrae, most likely from the road that leads inta the forest. That excuse about losing track of time in the gardens wasna true.”
I angled my body to look squarely at Sofia. “So you’re a human lie detector?”
“Nay.” Sofia shook her head. “Nothing so grand. I canna discern the supernatural realms, or see shades of evil magic. I dinna have prophetic dreams like some — but my intuition is hardly ever wrong. Fiona’s mum once told me where facts are the knowledge o’ the mind, intuition is the knowledge o’ the soul. I’ve learned ta trust my instincts, even when I lack the evidence ta prove them.”
I guess on some level that made sense. Acting was about going with your gut, but I’d never thought about instincts being equally weighted with facts. “And your instincts are telling you that Addie is in Doon?”
She met my challenge with unwavering eye contact. “Aye.”
“How do I know you’re not one of the witch’s minions?”
“I canna prove it, other than to say listen to your own instincts. My destiny — perhaps even my Calling — is intertwined with what’s happening. I am supposed to stand with you.” She pressed a clutched fist to her chest, her wide eyes meeting mine unwaveringly. “I know it in the core of my being; it’s soul knowledge.”
Fiona trusted her, as demonstrated by their sharing information about Vee’s notes and their collaboration on the spell book. As I dug deep down, I felt I might be able to trust her as well. “We know the witch crossed into Doon with the Destined, but we’re not sure who she’s pretending to be. Your instincts are telling you it’s Analisa?”
Sofia’s confidence didn’t waiver as she said, “I canna say for certain. All I can claim is that Analisa lied about where she’d been. From that I can conclude tha’ she also lied about what she was up to. It’s suspicious, but not a certainty that she’s the witch. I’ve been trying to narrow down the Destined.”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to do.” Her brow lifted in question, so I supplied, “Fergus and Fiona, the princes, Vee and me. Just the six of us.”
Placing her hand on my arm, Sofia replied, “Now seven. Not only is it my kingdom, my family and friends, who’re in peril — it’s my destiny to stand with you.” Then more shyly she asked, “Will ye come with me ta speak ta Veronica when class is over?”
“Sure.”
As I contemplated the best way to get Sofia into our inner circle, a castle page hurried up to Eòran with a written message. Mutton Chops scanned the note and then dismissed the page without the slightest change in expression. After a moment, he crossed to the gym door, cracked it open, and calmly asked to speak to the queen.
Draping a plaid around her sweaty body, Vee slipped from the gym into the frigid outdoors with Fiona in tow. Mutton Chops handed her the note. The wind whipped her ponytail into a frenzy as she read the contents. Unlike her guard, her face revealed plenty — and none of it good.
After a long pause, she looked at us, her eyes filled with shock. “Gregory Forrester is dead.”
Fiona let out a soft gasp. “What happened?”
“He fell onto the saw that cuts logs in half.” She shook her head as if trying to contradict the contents of the letter. “Is that a common mill accident?”
“Nay, Yer Highness.” Eòran answered. His hairy face was still passive but I thought I detected worry in his beady eyes.
Biting her lip, proving that she had more on her mind than she was vocalizing, Vee said, “Please excuse us, Sofia.”
“Wait.” I placed my hand on the girl’s arm to keep her from leaving. “Sofia knows the witch is in Doon.”
“Kenna!” Vee’s brow furrowed as she cast a quick glance at Eòran.
For the first time since the day I met him, Mutton Chop’s careful composure cracked. But just as quickly as he’d lost it, he reined himself in, his face once again a stoic mask. “’Tis all right, yer majesty. I’ve had my suspicions.”
Vee searched his face for several seconds. Then, apparently satisfied with what she found, she turned back to me and Sofia. “How?”
Fiona, who’d been hanging back to watch for eavesdroppers, stepped forward. “Sofia’s gifted wi’ a strong intuition.”
“Dinna worry, Your Highness,” Sofia whispered, trailing off as a group of men, both Doonians and Destined, walked past. “I havna spoken my suspicions to a living soul, except to Kenna. I only shared my theory because I believe that I might be of service to ye.”
Vee’s sharp gaze moved from Sofia’s earnest face, to mine, and then to Fiona before settling back on the girl in question. “Okay. Please stay, Sofie. Jamie and I were supposed to go to the mill later today to meet with Gregory.” She paused and glanced up at the sky, blinking away tears. “I can’t believe he’s really gone.”
Before I could reach out to comfort her, Eòran stepped into our circle and scowled, his badger-like face puckering with deep, craggy lines. “Tha’s not on your agenda for this afternoon. In fact, Prince Jamie said the two of ye were in want of some alone time and had me dismiss the guards.”
Grimacing apologetically, Vee answered, “I know — and I’m sorry. Gregory had something urgent to discuss, so he asked us to meet him at the mill in secret.”
“Your Highness,” he scolded. “I canna protect ye if I am no’ privy ta your plans.”
“You’re right.” Vee nodded. “I’ll keep you in the loop from now on. Who else knows about Gregory’s accident?”
“I expect the whole village will know shortly.” Eòran cleared his throat. “But I’m afeared, Your Highness, this wasna an accident.”
Vee shivered hard and pulled her wrap tighter. “I was thinking the same thing. We need to be very careful. Gregory knew something, something about his brother that he wasn’t comfortable putting in writing. Now we may never know what that was.”
Her voice caught, and I moved over to take her hand. “We need to call a meeting as soon as possible. Tell the princes what we’ve learned. Compare notes.”
“But no’ at the castle.” Eòran crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Secret passages and spy holes make it near impossible to guarantee privacy.”
“My mum’s cottage in the village is empty,” Fiona suggested. “She’s staying in the castle wi’ me and Fergus for the time being. Safer that way.”
But was the castle safer? Gregory didn’t think so, and neither did Eòran. Not to mention the tree that nearly squashed my bestie like a bug. As long as the witch lurked through the streets of Doon, safety was an illusion.
“We should wear peasant disguises,” I said as my brain started whirling with costuming possibilities. “Like Cinderella when she goes back into the woods in act two.”
“That’s perfect,” Vee said, her voice strong again now that we had a course of action. She met each one of our gazes. “Tonight. Under the cover of darkness. Mrs. Fairshaw’s cottage. Make sure you aren’t followed.”
CHAPTER 25
Veronica
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The deep-hooded cloak concealed my face and blocked the worst of the icy wind as I made my way through the deserted streets of the village. A steady fall of snow sifted the light of the oil lanterns, creating deep shadows around every corner. I’d left Blaz behind and given Eòran the task of guarding my suite, both of them much too telling. Tonight I wasn’t a queen surrounded by a bevy of guards, but a girl delivering a basket of cakes to an ill relative. If my borrowed cloak were red, instead of dingy brown, I’d fit neatly into a fairy tale.
As I neared the center of town, all the shops were closed and dark, everyone huddled inside by their toasty hearths. I envisioned myself curled up by the fire in Jamie’s strong arms, the heat of his body keeping me warm. The thought alone spiked my internal temperature by several degrees.
But instead of cuddling with my fiancé on this frigid night, we’d rode to the village in a cart laden with barrels full of grain. After stowing the cart in the stables behind the Rosetti Tavern, we’d split up and continued on foot.
A loud screech gave me a start as a crow landed on a nearby awning, its jet-black eyes tracking me as I passed. Visions of the demonic zombie crow Kenna and I had encountered in the limbus pushed my feet faster. With a great flap of wings, a second crow landed on a nearby lamppost, a third cawing as it swooped over my head. I pulled my cloak tighter and resisted the powerful urge to glance behind me where Jamie trailed at a distance.
Practically running, I rushed off the main road and headed down a side street, the rapid fall of snow blinding me. A piercing wind moaned, followed by a shuffle and drag that had my heart catapulting into my throat. I stumbled on an uneven stone, righted myself, and sprinted forward. What if it hadn’t been the limbus that created zombie creatures, but Addie? She’d been here all along . . . there could be more.
Something grabbed me, a low voice rumbling through the stillness. “Whoa, there.”