The Curse of Ormshire (The Beast Within Book 2)

by S. L. Perrine

  Ourobus had spent the years as Lord of Ormshire practicing his magia on the two unsuspecting brothers. Not because he disliked them, but simply because he could. Ourobus was the youngest of the three brothers, but he was still the one with all the power. They simply had enough power to heal others.

  “Your uncles used the magia gifted to them to help your father. They also swayed a fae to help him as well,” Sheree pointed out.

  “We have to get Farlow over here. We have to know which of his sisters is responsible for all of this betrayal.” Tyson slammed his fist within his other hand and paced the room.

  “I think I know who it is”—Sheree looked around the room—“but I cannot be sure of it without speaking to Farlow. Where is he?”

  We all looked around at each other. Ty looked as though he remembered something about the fairy prince, but he couldn’t entirely remember.

  “Has anyone seen him since we split up?” I asked them.

  “He was supposed to go with Chris, Tabby, and I to check out the town. I don’t think he followed us out of the house,” Ty announced.

  Chris and Tabby shook their heads in agreement, just as a loud commotion outside of the house made them all jump. Nolan ran to Tabby’s aid as she tripped over the square table in front of the sofa.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes, thank you,” my friend said, and I noticed her blush.

  The noise outside rang through the air again, and we all rushed out the front door. The figures had come from the ground surrounding the trees. As I reached the last step of the porch, I saw one of the figures coming out of the cracks of dirt, beyond the paved path that led from the porch to the road.

  The bestie di ombra were not solid; they were only the mist of a shadow of a man. They had the ability to grab hold of a victim, but they were not as easily held.

  I ran to the one making its way through the earth and moved my hand to hit it, but my fist merely went through the dark figure. It felt like the cool condensation of walking through fog.

  “This is what we were talking about!” Chris yelled as he looked for the fairy prince before remembering he was not with them. “They came up from the ground in the woods.”

  “How did you get rid of them?” I yelled back as Ty, Chase, and Nolan leapt from the porch to help those trying to escape the shadowed figures.

  “I don’t really know. I just used what little magia I had to hold them with the tree vines. When they hit the ground, they sort of just disappeared,” Chris said.

  I looked at the scene in front of me. A young girl was held by both of her arms from behind, even as she thrashed and squirmed against the hold of the creature. I ran to her and tried to grab hold of the thing, but it was no use. My hand went through him. I grabbed the girl’s hands and tried to pull her free. Again, I was unsuccessful. All around me, the creatures grew from the darkest parts of the earth and went into action, grabbing the people of the town as they scattered about the cul-de-sac.

  The girl I held onto cried uncontrollably for her mother, who was several feet away. She was sprawled on her belly trying to crawl away from a creature who held her by the ankle and pulled her closer to itself.

  I let go of the girl. I stood still and listened to the screams all around me and tried to block them out. Being a novice at using magia, I had no idea if I would be able to do what I wanted, but I had to try. The world seemed to stop spinning and all went quiet. I opened my eyes when I felt a hand wrap around mine. I could still see all that was going on, but there was a sort of bubble around my thoughts, which muffled the sound and drowned out the screams.

  “Ty,” I whispered in my head as he held onto me.

  Our hands raised above our heads, and as we moved, the tree limbs grew long and wiry. Motioning with our two free hands, we made the tree limbs move as we wished. The limbs shot across the cul-de-sac to each of the creatures. There were so many tree branches moving about and stretching so far that the little circle of concrete looked like a wooded forest. The branches met their targets and wrapped around them.

  I closed my free hand to form a fist and Ty copied me. The branches squeezed their victims, and each of the shadowed men released those they held captive. As the people moved away from the shadows, the branches retreated back into the trees, bringing the bestie di ombra with them.

  “What in the world was that?” Ferosa asked me and Ty once all the bestie di ombra were finally gone.

  “That was my father. He came to us at the borderline. He has Queen Karen and plans to kill her to release the spell that was cast to close the passage.” He looked at me, and I pulled my hand free of his.

  “She’s dying, and the veil between the two worlds is thinning. Once she’s gone, this world will no longer exist, and we will be back in Pylira.” I retreated back into the house and closed the door to the rest of them.

  I leaned against the door and listened to the gasps that came from the men and women on the other side of it. I knew each of them wanted so badly to go home to the world they were from, but I hoped with each passing minute that my mother would be able to hold on, and that we could find another way to open the passage.

  I knew the realization of it was my mother either had to recite her part of the spell or die. Those were the only two ways the passage could be opened. The bestie di ombra showing up in Cherry Valley meant the latter of the two was soon to happen.

  I closed my eyes, and the tears threatening to fall since Ourobus made his announcement broke free, rolling down my face and puddling on the floor.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cherry Valley

  I spent a few minutes on my own, inside my old house. I listened as the people outside gathered their emotions and speculated about the fate of their queen, and whether or not I was strong enough for the task at hand. I heard Ty and the rest of my friends trying to put the townspeople at ease.

  “She just needs a few minutes; this is her mother we are talking about. She will be fine. She’s allowed to express normal emotions, even as a ruler,” Ty told the people.

  “Is she okay?” I heard a small voice say.

  The little girl sounded on the verge of tears, and I knew I could not show weakness to them anymore, regardless of whose life may be lost. I turned the handle of the door, wiping my tear-stained cheeks all in the same liquid movement, and stood before my people as quickly as I had left their sight. As I descended the stairs, Ty moved to me and I put up a hand for him to keep his distance.

  “I’m fine. Just needed to collect my thoughts about our next move.” I walked past him to address the crowd.

  “Everyone, if I could have your attention?” I ignored the looks of protest from my friends. “I think, for the time being, we should try to resume a sort of normal routine. Take care of your families and find your neighbors. There seems to be a shortage of townspeople.” I looked at the crowd and noticed people looking around at one another.

  “If the veil between the worlds is lifted, I want each and every one of you to head straight to Hearthstone Palace. My father will accept you there until Ourobus is dealt with. If you go back to Ormshire…” I scanned the crowd with my next statement. I wanted to know if anyone looked as if they might be against me. “If you return to Ormshire while Ourobus is still in power there, you will be considered an enemy of Pylira.”

  “Don’t you think that might be a bit harsh?” Tabby asked as I continued to scan the crowd of people before me.

  “She has to,” Sheree told her. “In order to keep them safe, she must threaten them. It’s a good strategy. She’s been taught well.”

  Tabby was not happy at her mother’s answer, but she did not ask any more about it, and for that, I was grateful. I stared at the crowd and saw Callie and Robin coming my way. I wondered when I would be forced to try to separate my friendships in the false reality with the current state of things.

  “Renee,” Callie started, but instead looked down at the ground and played with her hands. That was a nervous habit
she usually only exhibited when she found it difficult to speak to any guy she was interested in.

  “It’s okay, Callie. I get it,” I told her.

  “Well, I don’t. How exactly did we end up like this? Personally, I’d rather stay here.” Robin tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder. “I don’t look forward to going back to a world that doesn’t have running water from a tap.”

  I couldn’t help it. I started laughing and a small snort escaped me as well. Robin had always been very forthcoming. I didn’t remember her from Ormshire, but I did remember her taking a zero in gym because a lady should never sweat. I guessed that everyone maintained their original characteristics when Cherry Valley was created, or else Robin was just too stuck in her false reality.

  My friends and I exchanged a laugh and a hug. Then Ty spoke up. “Actually, things have changed quite a bit back home. I think you’ll approve.”

  “I doubt that, but I suppose we don’t have a choice…do we?” Robin looked around, tossing her hair back over her shoulder, even though she knew the minute she moved, it would fall right back where it had been.

  “I don’t suppose we do. We don’t belong in this world,” I started to explain. “Once the passage is open, this world will fade away and we will be in Pylira as prophesized.” I held her hand and squeezed.

  “Okay, but just because you’re the royal princess and all, it doesn’t mean we can’t still be BFFs?” Robin asked in a whisper.

  I looked at Callie to make sure she still paid attention. She stopped playing with her hands, looking between us.

  “We’ve been friends for twelve years. Nothing is going to change that,” I reassured them both.

  I hugged them and watched as they went back to find their families. Most of the townspeople had moved on to find their loved ones and neighbors. I wanted to go back to the elders and speak with them, but I knew Sheree would disagree.

  “We have to do something. We can’t just hang out here. There are people in this town that may still need to know what is happening to them.” I looked to Ty and Tabby first.

  “We also have to find Farlow,” Chris spoke up.

  “Well, that won’t be too hard.” Chase pointed to the end of the road that led out of the cul-de-sac.

  The tall, dark-haired fairy walked in their direction, but something looked off. Ty ran to him, and as he got close, Farlow collapsed. Ty managed to catch him before he landed hard on the ground. I didn’t even think about the people around me or what I was doing. Before I knew it, I was by his side with my hands outstretched over his wounds, which I saw as he fell.

  He had a large gash across his forehead and several across his chest. He was black and blue in the face and his knuckles were torn.

  “Farlow? Can you hear me?” Ty tried to compel him to speak as the light from my hands mended the skin and cleared away the blood.

  The fairy looked up at us with empty eyes and a blank stare as I continued to heal his wounds. I heard the murmurs of onlookers who crowded around us. Their soft words became panic-stricken as the fairy thrashed about.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I heard a woman cry out from behind me.

  “Everyone, get back. Give them some room,” Sheree demanded, and as the lady of their realm, they hadn’t hesitated to listen to her. She crept down by my side and held Farlow. I looked at her and saw her eyes go stark white. Sheree read his thoughts and looked into his memories, which meant her powers of magia had returned to her along with her own memory.

  “He’s been betrayed.” Her eyes turned back to their original shade of blue and I could see the shock on her face.

  “Who?” I asked after a beat of silence.

  “Malita.”

  “Malita did this to him?” Ty looked back to his mother.

  “Yes…Malita and Fulvia.” She looked at him with the sad eyes of a mother.

  Malita was Farlow’s younger sister. She had been the fairy who arranged the exit of the Ormshire maga to the new world. What had me worried was the fact that she was with Fulvia.

  Fulvia was one of Ourobus’ advisors. The Buio King had many maga working for him, but Fulvia was his second-in-command. She was known to be ruthless, and just as his first-in-command—Ankor—she was willing to do whatever the Buio King asked of her. If she was in Cherry Valley and capable of using magia, that could mean trouble for everyone in town.

  “So Malita is the one feeding Ourobus with information?” Nolan asked, suddenly aware of the trouble ahead of them.

  “I’d say so…and if she is, it would make sense to know she is the one who tipped him off about the curse to begin with. I just wonder if her sisters are helping her as well.” Sheree looked at Farlow. “What he must be feeling.”

  Sheree was with the original group transported by the fae from the old world to Pylira. My mother had once told me how the fae fawned over them all as if they were already royalty. She said that Farlow, being the oldest, took pride in caring for his sisters during the entire voyage. I couldn’t imagine how he had felt to learn his own sister had betrayed him. After the loss of his mother in the battle before the curse, losing a sister could destroy him.

  The lights from my hands faded, which meant all of his wounds had been healed, but still he had not opened his eyes. Ty reached under him, and as best he could, lifted him off the ground. I placed my hands under him and allowed my magia to help with his weight. Farlow was almost seven feet tall, which would have been hard for any one man to handle alone.

  We brought him inside and laid him on the sofa my mother spent nearly four hours picking at the local furniture store. In light of everything, I almost missed the reality in which normal was almost boring, such as matching paper towels to the kitchen and worrying about homework and tests.

  “It’s getting dark. We should probably just stay here tonight.” Ty lifted Farlow’s head to place down a pillow.

  “We should place a protection spell on the town,” Chris mentioned as she got comfortable in the arm chair by the window.

  “What are they doing?” Chase leaned behind her to look through the window.

  “Looks like they’re all going inside. Everyone is freaked out.” Chris pointed to Farlow.

  “I don’t think so.” Ty looked at me and smiled. “You were great and they all saw. They know you can protect them.”

  As the night went on, everyone stayed quiet. I crawled into my mother’s bed instead of my own. I could still smell her there. I heard the soft murmurs of those who were still awake. Chris and Sheree had agreed to share my room. Chase and Nolan were in Xander’s room. I think they just wanted his room because they had seen the video game system and the flat screen.

  Tabby and Ty were in the living room keeping watch over the prince. Tabby didn’t want him to wake up alone, and Ty wanted to keep her company. I knew he missed her. A hundred years is a lot of time to catch up on. I was more than happy to lay by myself in the darkness of my mother’s room, surrounded by all the things that reminded me of her, waiting for sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cherry Valley

  The night wore on and even though Ty sat with her, Tabby felt alone in the darkness of the house. The moon’s light filtered in by way of the big picture windows in the living room. Farlow slept on the sofa. He had not woken once since he collapsed in the cul-de-sac, but he did appear to be sleeping peacefully and not sick in any way. Renee had said she healed him completely, but she was still unsure of her abilities. The link between her and Ty had been severed when she was taken from Ormshire and put in the false reality, but since they had been reunited, Tabby suspected it had been restored.

  Ty sat on the floor under the window. He was looking for movements outside. Tabby looked at him and thought how fortunate she was to have a brother who cared for her, even if he was the twin who got everything. Tyson, being the only one of the twins who showed any hint of having magia, was favored by their father, and she was simply forgotten. Their mother had always treated them the same
, but when her brother wasn’t around, she’d do little extras for her daughter.

  Tabby enjoyed growing up in a castle; being lady of the realm. She was adored by the people and envied by the children. She hadn’t been able to have friends from town. Her studies and duties had her too busy for such things. She did have many people in the castle who showed her favor and kept her entertained as she grew up.

  Ty was always a great big brother. He was only a few minutes older than her, but he was still her big brother. He would sneak them away from the castle when their father was away, and they would swim in the river or go to town and shop in the market place. As they got older, his time was demanded more by their father, and she was left alone.

  She grew to enjoy the quiet and loved books, but she loved to draw more. She was never more joyful, however, than when Renee had come to live at the castle. She finally had a friend. Tabby looked down the hall to the room that was occupied by her mother and Chris, and quietly thought to herself that she had two friends.

  Chris found her while she attempted to get to her brother. Tabby spent five days and nights trying to make her way back to Ormshire but growing up on the inside of the realm meant she knew nothing beyond it. She had no idea where she was when she woke after the curse. She hadn’t even remembered who she was for a day.

  When she had finally given up on locating Ormshire, she spotted an abandoned cabin on a hillside and decided to stay put. When Chris had found her, Tabby was on the last of her food and was in desperate need of a bath. As it turned out, she was only a mile from Regalis and seven hundred miles from Ormshire. Ormshire was south-west of Hearthstone Palace, and Regalis was north-east. She had been traveling in the wrong direction the entire time.

  Chris said her mother, Mariella, had told her to go for a walk and see what she would find. Being a seer, she had known exactly who Chris would find. Chris and Tabby had become fast friends, and her family welcomed Tabby into their home. They treated her as one of their own; so much so that she even had training sessions and chores. Being the children of the lord and lady of the realm, in their eyes, did not mean they couldn’t help out.