The Key

by Felicia Rogers

  He knows! Maddie shivered. She prayed he wouldn’t say anything. After all, they shared a common goal. Neither one of them wanted the tower opened.

  “What is he laughing about?” Serena frowned.

  “Who knows?” Dougal-Doran shrugged. “He’s obviously crazy.”

  “No, I think he has another motivation.” Serena whipped her head up and again stared around the sky, her eyes bulging out.

  A soft wind blew from off the lake, the first for hours. Maddie’s hair teased her cheeks. Chase muttered something under his breath, shifting beside her. Dougal lifted his nose and sniffed.

  Serena glared at Chase. Her eyes widened. “You!”

  Chase’s body convulsed, whirling, stretching, bulging. Fur sprouted, claws, teeth. He barely had time to morph before Dougal jumped on him and pinned him to the ground.

  ****

  Serena droned on and on. Chase ground his teeth, taxing his energy to remain human. He was pretty sure he could outfly Doran, but Serena was unknown and her snake-like tail stretched longer than he liked. Who knew what she could do with it? Could she grab him out of the sky and dash them together on the rocks? Of course she’d make certain he landed on bottom; she wanted the eochair for her own use. And if he died…

  Maddie would be alone.

  Then Gregory snuffled the breeze. Chase swallowed. Gregory’s changing expression caused his stomach to clench. Was the black gryphon going to give him away? Maddie…

  But then Dougal lifted his snout and Chase knew it was over. He let go and the change coursed through his body. Now Dougal pinned him to the ground. The hundred-year-old black gryphon bared his claws and thrust them at Chase’s neck. Defensively he raised his hands and instead Dougal swiped his side. Blood sprayed and Chase cried out.

  Maddie screamed and ran to help, fists clenched. But Serena’s tail whipped out and wrapped around her, yanking her back. He wanted to tell her to stop fighting, that he’d be fine. His wounds had all healed in the past. Surely these would heal, as well.

  Without releasing his hold, Dougal heaved Chase from the ground. Chase grabbed blindly over his shoulder, but he couldn’t even get a handful of wing feathers before the lakeshore whirled around him. Thrown about like a rag doll, he realized his folly. Instead of romancing Maddie, he should’ve been learning more of the necessary skills to defend her. Instead he’d left it all to his instincts. But surely the black gryphons had the same instincts, and after a hundred years of life, Dougal knew in his bones how to fight.

  Suddenly the ground was there. Chase’s wings tried to extend — they knew what to do, even when he didn’t — but Dougal twisted his hold. Chase crunched face-first into the rocky shore.

  “How pitiful.” Dougal grabbed his wing and leaned on it. Pain wracked up Chase’s back into his chest. “If the gray gryphons can defend no better than this, it’s no wonder Gregory was able to annihilate all the eochairs.”

  Once more Chase tried to wrestle free. Once more Dougal smashed his face into the ground and leaned on his wing. Through the blood dripping into his eye, Chase watched as Maddie wept silently.

  Serena jerked her hair. Speaking to Dougal, she said, “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” Dougal’s voice didn’t even sound winded. Humiliating.

  Serena spoke unintelligible words. Chase’s head swam and lights swirled around him. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he lay face-down atop purple heather. So the snake-woman could work magic, too. His heart sank within him. It was hard to convince himself they weren’t doomed.

  “Where are we?” Maddie’s eyes were wide with fear.

  “In Ireland, my dear.”

  Slowly Chase lifted his head. The heather extended in all directions, to a distant stand of dark trees on the left, and on the right…

  A pale tower shimmered into focus.

  Maddie squirmed and struggled against her captor. “I won’t do it!”

  “Madelyn, dear, you can only open the door if you do so willingly. And we both know you want to open the door.” Dougal’s voice made the words sound like dripping poisoned honey.

  “That’s where you’re mistaken.” She fought harder, her hair falling over her eyes. “There’s no way you’ll ever get me to open the door.”

  Serena’s tail snaked farther up Maddie’s struggling body. Dougal scoffed and gave Maddie an evil smile. With the distraction, Chase’s— no, Alasdair’s strength and hope increased. He lunged, but Dougal was too quick. Again Alasdair found himself eating purple heather. He screamed in agony as Dougal sank his claws into Alasdair’s side and ripped off a chunk of the repairing flesh.

  Alasdair collapsed, lights flashing before his eyes, and he struggled to stay conscious. Dougal held the chunk of flesh for Maddie’s inspection. She turned an unsightly shade of green.

  “Do you see this? This is only the beginning. If you wish for him to live, then you will open the door.”

  As quickly as that, all his hope died. “No,” Chase moaned in a ragged whisper.

  ****

  No more.

  Maddie cast a final glance at Alasdair — her own beloved Chase, now beaten and bloody — and stepped forward as Serena’s tail fell away. The entire scenario reminded her of her dream; only this time it wasn’t a dream. It was most definitely real. The grass with the purple flowers was indeed a field of heather in Ireland. The tower that once shimmered in her dreams now loomed, solid and forbidding. And she’d hear Chase’s agonized scream in her soul for the rest of her life.

  As she strode forward, the heather tickled her legs through her jeans. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine herself home in bed, sleeping and dreaming the nightmare that never ended.

  She glanced back over her shoulder.

  Gregory lay bound, chains wrapped around his wings and body. Dougal-Doran stood over Gregory with fangs and claws bared, daring him to break free and try to escape. Alasdair, her loving Chase, curled on the ground with Serena’s tail now writhing around him, his side sliced open, the ground blackened with his blood. The beast part of his body tried to heal the wound; she could see it starting to close, but then Serena squeezed him with her tail and fresh blood spurted. He choked out another hoarse scream, weaker now.

  “Go on, lassss,” hissed Serena. Triumph twisted her face into even more of a mockery. “Touch the tower.”

  Maddie drew in a ragged breath and walked on. With luck, she’d die before she reached the gleaming white tower.

  As she approached it shone, beautiful and pristine, the white reflecting the sun like polished ivory. Even in her terror, she thought it amazing and beautiful. However, the closer she drew, the more the tower changed. No longer white and inviting, it slowly changed to gray, drab stone. Forbidding, she thought, and her breath hitched in her throat. As she neared, wails and moans drifted from between the bars that appeared like magic on the outside walls.

  “Let us out! Let us out!” It seemed thousands of voices screamed.

  Maddie’s heartbeat raced and she backed up. If they got free…

  She blinked and the scenery around her changed. No longer did she stand mesmerized by the forbidding prison tower amidst the heather. Instead it seemed she crouched behind a huge, moss-covered tree trunk. A massive dark flying beast, more demon than gryphon, laughed and dragged a screaming woman from her hiding place behind another tree. A man leapt out beside her, awkwardly swinging a cudgel. But the dark gryphon whipped out one claw. Blood sprayed, the farmer gurgled and collapsed, and the gryphon yanked the woman into his arms and flew away, wings pumping. Her screams trailed behind them. Maddie turned, spied another dark beast hovering behind her, fur matted with blood…

  But she blinked again and it was all gone. She stared at the tower, watching the spurting blood in her memory. No. No.

  Behind her, Serena hissed, loud enough to be heard across the field’s expanse. “Go on, lasssss, or lover boy here is a goner.”

  “Don’t do it, Maddie!” Chase howled, but fought to choke
out words even through his pain. “The whole world is at stake! Those things destroyed Arin’s village and if you let them out, there’s no telling what havoc they might cause!”

  “Shut up!” yelled Serena, squeezing Chase until he let out a yell of pain.

  Maddie didn’t know what to do. Serena would kill Chase if she didn’t open the tower door, but the escaping dark gryphons could destroy the whole world, bit by bit, if she did. She had no doubt she’d seen a memory from Arin’s village, perhaps floating loose in the rampant magic of Ireland.

  She looked at Dougal. He turned away, and a thread of hope twined around her thoughts. She needed to see his face. Surely there was some good in him. How many times had he saved her? Had he saved her only so he could have the prisoners released? A part of her said there was more to it. Hadn’t he seemed torn earlier, not really happy that they’d won?

  “Dougal, would you look at me?” Maddie called. The wind surrounding the tower sucked away the words and she yelled the question a second time.

  She expected him to ignore her. Instead he faced her but didn’t speak.

  Surprised, she swallowed. “Won’t you help me?”

  He studied the ground. Serena laughed maniacally. “Are you kidding? He has wanted to use your kind for a full century!”

  So much for Dougal. She aimed her next words at Serena. “What’s in this for you?” She couldn’t help but ask. Dougal had said it was power and surely freeing his family, as well. So what did Serena want? Maddie needed the truth. But more so, she needed to stall. Surely someone would come to her rescue. Someone had always come to her rescue. But how much time did she have? The wails and moans of the prisoners grew louder. Had they sensed her approach? Could they smell her? Her heart pounded harder.

  “What’s in it for me?” Serena paused, then shrugged. “Well, I’ll tell you. Once I was a beautiful young girl, but I fell in love with the leader of the Ancient Ones. He promised me long life and eternal beauty if I would stay with him forever. And I promised him I would.” For a moment her smile was tender, like a young girl in love for the first time. It didn’t last long. “Then Cian and Arin locked him in prison! Without his presence, his magic, I turned into this horrible snake creature. I have been this way for over one hundred years and it stops now!” She contracted her tail and squeezed until Chase screamed. “Here’s your last chance. Open the door or he dies.”

  Maddie glanced once more at Dougal. Tears raced along her cheeks. “I called you friend,” she whispered, as she touched the door and entered the tower.

  Part V

  Choices

  Chapter 36

  The door melted from in front of her. Maddie stepped through the opening; it felt like walking through mist. Solid walls of looming gray stone surrounded her. She couldn’t see the bars or hear the prisoners’ wails. She couldn’t hear anything, not even the popping flames of a torch, and felt more alone than she had since her parents died.

  “Well, this is a sticky pickle you’ve got yourself into.” She wrung her hands and considered her next move. Fact was, she didn’t know what to do next.

  Light flowed from a narrow tunnel ahead. Behind her was nothing but wall, the mist-like opening and the solid wooden door both gone. She gulped and followed the tunnel. Stark stone towered over her, around her, cold and dry. The light was steady, not flickering, as if it were magic, not flame.

  At the tunnel’s end, she entered a hollow room. Maddie lowered her chin and gnawed her lip, too terrified to breathe. What was she supposed to do now? She’d touched the door as Serena had demanded. Surely that wasn’t all of it. She couldn’t just be expected to walk around this room for eternity.

  She swallowed. Could she?

  She turned in a circle, stopped at the halfway point, and stared. The tunnel had vanished, just like the door and mist-like opening. Where they’d been stood a platform. A lone chair resided in the middle of the raised dais, statues on each step. Otherwise the room was empty. Steady light kept the soaring room bright, although it didn’t seem to have a source. It just was.

  She studied the chair without approaching it. Was she supposed to sit in it? Was that how she released the prisoners? Or had she already released them?

  What had happened outside the tower when she’d entered? Did Serena continue to squeeze the life from Chase? Did Gregory fear for his own existence? Did Dougal feel remorse over allowing her to go inside?

  What was she going to do?

  She backed up, leaned against the wall, and slid to the floor. Cradling her head in her hands, she tried to make sense out of what she saw and what had happened.

  “Why put a seat in the room if it wasn’t meant to be sat on?”

  Shoring up her resolve and sucking in a deep breath, she stood on wobbly legs and strode forward. Questions kept bobbing to her mind’s surface. If she sat in the chair, would the whole world perish? What would happen to her? What would happen if she didn’t?

  That was the only question she thought she knew the answer to — Chase would die.

  Three steps led up to the wooden seat. Three times bigger than any chair she had ever seen, it had massive armrests and a width made for three giants. Not a chair; a throne.

  On the ends of each step poised gray stone statues. On the first step was a statue of a lion and another of an eagle. The rest of the stairs held statues of gryphons in various stages. One looked like a man with the lower half of a lion. Another was a man’s legs with the upper half of an eagle. On and on it went, gryphon and man in interchangeable forms.

  Maddie placed her foot on the first step and a red light glowed behind and above her. She stepped on the second step and the light glowed yellow. Would green be next?

  She would have laughed at the craziness of the notion if she hadn’t been so terrified of taking that last step. But she had to find out. She drew in a ragged breath and lifted her foot one more time. As her foot descended, a green glow bathed the room. Warning bells and alarms went off with a sound like an air raid siren. She covered her ears and fell into the chair.

  Chapter 37

  Dougal squinted across the field of heather, watching. Maddie entered the tower and it took on a translucent look, letting him track her progress through the changing interior. Serena’s face held a smile of delight. Gregory wailed and thrashed against his padlocked chains. Chase remained in beast form, lying on the ground in frozen despair. No one paid him any attention. Dougal remained still, pretending to guard the captives but instead reviewing his betrayal.

  Earlier, in the forest, he could’ve revealed Chase’s secret identity. No telling what had held him back. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to hurt Maddie — as if he hadn’t when he’d ripped a chunk of flesh from her irritating defender’s side. Perhaps he’d thought if Chase could get away, then Chase would leave Maddie to her fate and save himself, giving Dougal an opportunity to play hero and rescue her again. But in the end it hadn’t mattered. Chase had changed to Alasdair and Dougal had been forced to crush him. He couldn’t let Serena know his loyalties wavered.

  In the end, Serena had been right. Injured, either form of Chase had been enough leverage to make Maddie open the tower. His heart hammered against his ribs, jealousy eating at him. What would it feel like to know someone loved you so much she would sacrifice the whole world for your life? That was the bad part about being a beast; you never wanted to share. Madelyn should have loved him, just as Arin’s daughter should have loved him. Cian and his heirs had taken love from him for the last time. Maddie would just have to perish, as Serena had suggested.

  Dougal watched Maddie from outside, sensing her fear. Through the tower’s magical walls, she looked ethereal, like a beautiful ghost. She was so small against the towering fortress, so hesitant. The urge to be by her side was overwhelming. If he moved, Gregory would have a greater chance of getting free, as the watcher in his chains could easily twist his wings and let the padlocked links slide away. No, Gregory was no longer his problem.

  His hear
t pumped faster, his sight swam before him, and his blood churned. Dougal took a step toward the tower. If he let her sit in that chair, she would be stolen from him forever. His last chance at love would be lost. Had he rescued her from the fire just so she could be a pawn in Serena’s games? Had he saved her from Gregory’s hand only so he could watch her die? He’d survived without his family for this long; why not continue? Which love was more important, the one that would set him free or the one from a father he’d never known — and who’d never known him?

  Before he could overthink it and change his mind, Dougal leaned forward and pumped his wings, shooting straight up into the air. He swooped low, lining up with the shimmering opening. Surely now that she had walked through the magical door, it would be open to all.

  Serena wailed. “Doran!”

  But it was too late. Dougal folded his wings and shot through the misty door feet first. Pain ripped through him, as if he’d forced a path through solid stone or wood. He screamed. His wings convulsed and he landed on the other side in a heap. The pain radiated through him, pounding like a sledgehammer in his head, wings, and torso.

  There — through the translucent walls, straight ahead, Maddie hesitated in front of the massive throne on its dais. The yellow glow surrounding her changed to green as her foot moved to the top stair.

  He dragged himself up by his arms, not having the strength to stand. “Maddie, wait!” he yelled, but it was no use. “No!”

  Covering her ears, she sat upon the chair and disappeared.

  ****

  Chase winced and looked away. Dougal lay bruised and battered on the floor of the tower with his arm outstretched; for a moment it had looked as if he’d survived smashing through the misty doorway, but then he’d yelled something and collapsed, and hadn’t moved since.

  Serena laughed wildly, somewhere between hysteria and victory, relaxing her tail’s grip. Her bulging eyes focused on the tower and didn’t shift. Distracted; good. Chase tried to will a change to his human form, but it was useless. With the wound in his side, even though it was trying to heal, he was too weak.