“Isabella. Hello.” I grinned broader as I approached. When her free hand rested upon mine, I noticed a similarity in the shapes of our fingers.
“Have you found anything of use today, Isabella?” William asked, walking over to join our happy reunion.
Her smile faltered, and then she shook her head and uttered an exaggerated sigh. “I have been searching diligently for anything that might help us turn the tables against that foul Geoffrey, to no avail. Alexander said he’s too powerful now, nearly invincible. I’m afraid that closing the portal has only trapped a beast in with us.”
“That’s not good at all!” William fumed.
“No, it isn’t,” she agreed.
“We must get rid of him,” William said. “He will do everything in his power to stop Zoey from helping us. He has already tried countless times.”
“Maybe it’s good that he has no way out,” I interjected.
“How so?” William asked, looking at me skeptically. “I do not see how that could be a good thing for anyone involved.”
“Well, maybe it’s not him who has to go.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we get you out of here, he’ll be stuck, imprisoned here forever. It’d be such irony that he would be stuck here by his own spell that his warlock cast.”
Isabella shook her head. “No, he’s too clever for that. He will just piggyback and leave with us.”
“Not if we can find a way to keep him from getting to the portal I’m somehow going to create.”
“And how is that going, my dear?” Isabella asked.
“We’ve got the sapphire, the medallion, my necklace, and me. Mr. Geo said something about needing my blood, so I’m guessing it must involve some sort of ceremony. Our blood must be powerful.”
Isabella nodded faintly, her expression firm and serious.
William placed his hands on his hips and began rocking back on his heels. “Royal blood is always powerful, and it can be very important in spells and rituals. In this particular case, however, it’s very potent, because Isabella’s blood creates both an entrance and an exit from this space between worlds.”
“Can it do other things too?”
“Like what?”
“Like curing diseases or causing immortality?”
The two darted their eyes at one another, and William scoffed. “I can’t possibly imagine. Such things only lie in the realm of fairytales.”
“Well, until I came here, I thought the same about ghosts and portals,” I offered.
“Touché, my dear. However, the only way for anyone to achieve any semblance of immortality… Well, I suppose you are looking at it, and it’s not terribly pleasant.”
Isabella smiled. “I suppose you found my clue here, the book.”
“I did, but what happened to you?”
“I simply could not maintain the connection. I cannot reside in your world as long as William can. Miss Shila blessed him with a magic spell while he was doing her bidding, so he can now linger there longer.”
I patted the desk. “I found the book right here, and King Geoffrey or one of his goons chased me out when I discovered it. I take it that it was some kind of warning.”
“Did you read it?” she asked.
“Some, but Mr. Geo is trying to decipher the details. A lot of it was written in strange symbols, something similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics.”
“The speech of the dead perhaps,” William said.
“Zoey, we feel your life is in danger,” Isabella said. “Principal Rowens is studying a very dangerous spell that involves spilling royal blood. This could put Debra’s life in danger as well, since you both share a connected bloodline.”
“So Mr. Geo’s girlfriend is really on our side?”
“Of course. She is…kin, and they are both trying to help us cross over. It is becoming very dangerous for you here. Perhaps you should leave the castle.”
“And leave you trapped, without my help?”
“We have Debra and Mr. Geo.”
“Yes, but they don’t have the necklace, the medallion, or the stone, and I’m not leaving those artifacts with them. Also, that prophecy you told me about says I have to free you myself, not leave it for some distant great-great-great cousin to do.”
William shook his head. “She is right, Isabella. Debra cannot free us because she’s not the chosen one. It must be the descendant who owns the necklace. It has to be Zoey.”
“But her life is at great risk!”
“She is our only hope,” William said sadly, glancing at the floor. “If she leaves, we will be stuck here forever.”
“And if she dies, we’ll be stuck here forever with our guilt,” Isabella snapped. “How can you be so selfish? Your desperation is what had you serving that witch Shila!”
“Just let me try,” I said quietly, stepping between them. “I won’t give up. I promise. What can we do?” I tried to sound brave, but deep down, I felt sick. When I first received the full scholarship to such a remarkable place, a beautiful castle teeming with a rich, exciting history, I had fallen in love with the idea immediately. Now, I was only in love with Hunter, and the castle had me terrified for my life.
“We must work faster,” William said.
“There has to be a way out for you guys.”
“There is, but only from your side.” William’s eyes seemed to glint as he regarded me. “We are very happy you are here, Zoey. You are in the best position of anyone to see what we’re going through, and I believe you can help us. I am worried about King Geoffrey’s interference, however, and contrary to what Isabella seems to suggest, I do not wish any harm to come to you.”
“If Prince Alexander cannot find him, maybe an exorcism will work,” I suggested. “Mr. Geo said we might need something greater than that, but I can’t imagine what that could be.”
“That teacher seems rather brilliant,” William piped in.
“He is, and he’s working on a Plan B for us. He’s obsessed with some sort of conduit or container. He has all these notes about what would be ideal.”
“He’s looking for a container for the spirit of King Geoffrey?”
“I think so.”
William tapped his chin and frowned thoughtfully. “Several centuries ago, a sorcerer tried to free us, but even his mighty efforts proved unsuccessful. King Geoffrey’s curse is simply too strong.”
Suddenly, Isabella’s eyes widened. “Speak of the devil. He’s here. I can feel his presence.”
“King Geoffrey?” I asked, but a sweep of dread was all the answer I needed.
“William, get her back to her body!”
He grabbed my hand and jerked me away. “Yes, we must get you out of here now!”
We exited the library in a blur, and William picked up the pace, drawing me toward the stairs.
“Ow!” I squealed.
“I’m sorry, my darling, but he’s figured out you’re here. We must reunite you with your body, for you are quite vulnerable this way.”
I suddenly became aware of a louder noise, a series of slams, and I almost tripped as the rattling of the floor grew more violent. Fortunately, William caught me before I took a tumble, and we hurried away as fast as we could.
Chapter 6
“How is he able to do this?” I cried.
William shook his head.
“Why isn’t the spell I recanted in Isabella’s room working? It was supposed to keep him out.”
“It kept out most of them, but he broke through. He’s far too powerful.”
Another metallic cry rang through the corridor, and as William pulled me down the stairs, I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see that the hall behind us had filled with terrible black smog. In the center of that billowing smoke, with his head down, was the shadow of a man trembling with fury. His face and his whole body were indistinct, either made of the same smoky substance as the smog or perhaps simply a direct extension of it, a part of it.
I trembled and do
ubled my pace, skipping several steps at a time as William and I flew down to the first floor, back to the nurse’s office. All the other ghosts had cleared out, it seemed, and most of the people were gone, too, having finally made their progression to their classes in the real world. I didn’t have any time to wonder how long I’d been gone. All I felt was cold, hard panic. We scrambled around a corner, and I dared a look over my shoulder to see how close the shadow was.
Terror swept through me like a tidal wave. We picked up our pace and burst through the closed door of the nurse’s office. She was on her way to check on me, her figure skipping between the moment when she rounded the curtain and the moment when she stood at the foot of my cot. I skidded through her, suffering through that stifling sensation one last time before falling, as if out of a dream, back into my body.
For just a moment, I felt as if I’d actually had that much-needed sleep. My perception blackened, and I heard only the panicked beat of my heart, as if my body had required adrenaline to perform even the most basic of functions, despite the fact that it hadn’t moved. To my horror, I still heard the rumbling, that metallic shrieking, even though the real world seemed eerily still. I heard a slam, saw a black shadow on the other side of the partition, and cried out when, in a blink, he suddenly appeared through it, his hollow, coal-black face just inches from mine, his wide white eyes open as he let out a gaping, terrible, animalistic scream. Then, suddenly, he was gone, as if all along he’d been nothing but a nightmarish vision.
I found myself with my back pressed up against the wall behind the head of the cot, a very concerned nurse standing at my feet.
“Are you all right, Zoey? Did you have a nightmare?”
Panting and trying to breathe while my heart pumped with panic, I looked around, clutched my chest, and somehow managed a nod.
“Poor thing,” she said. “It’s no wonder you haven’t been sleeping at night. Have you been having nightmares often?”
“I-I don’t remember,” I said, my hand lifting to my forehead. I was still so confused, and everything that had happened felt surreal, like a very lucid dream. I had very little proof that there wasn’t more to it until I saw William peek around the curtain, nod approvingly, then vanish again. I sighed. “My head hurts.”
“We’ll get you some aspirin,” the nurse said kindly.
When she went to fetch it, I lifted the blind of the window behind me and stared out. I was desperate to assure my own rattled mind that I was back in the real world, in a version of the castle that was not floating in space, with a madman who would do anything to hurt Isabella.
King Geoffrey seemed more determined than ever to strike out at me. It was hard for me to imagine that such a deep level of hate could even be possible. To think one man’s disdain for a family could bind the souls of an entire noble class to the castle they inhabited! Not only that, but poor Isabella, a branch of my own family tree, was the cause of his rage. I shuddered to think what guilt she must have endured. Even if she wasn’t to blame for King Geoffrey’s choice, she seemed tenderhearted, and I knew she had to take it very hard and felt great remorse when the castle inhabitants were murdered and cursed.
Despite the horror that had chased us back to my body, I wanted to go back immediately to speak to Isabella, but I knew going without William was a dumb idea, and he was now nowhere to be seen. I felt drained, and my temples pounded. I accepted the aspirin from the nurse and gulped it right down, hoping it would do something to stop the hippos from dancing the chorus line in my head.
Then, feeling like a ghost myself, I went through the motions of the rest of a typical school day. I felt like I wasn’t even there. I was too tired to fall asleep in my seat and far too distracted to learn anything. Every small movement I caught in the corner of my eye seemed to be King Geoffrey, ready to attack me, no matter how I tried to remind myself that he was more or less harmless. He could not kill me, really, because that would send him straight to Hell; those were the rules of the realm. Still, he was not one to follow rules, and he was quite unpredictable. If he’d ever had a heart at all, it had been devoured by centuries-old rage. William had done his best to assure me that spirits could not kill a human without great penalty, but King Geoffrey certainly had me on pins and needles anyway.
He could not physically hurt me in my human form, but in my spirit form, I’d be vulnerable, and I knew he would happily take the opportunity to hurt me the second he got a chance to. With shudders of horror, I remembered how close he’d been when I awoke, and I was sure I’d never forget the chilling anger in his scream when he discovered I had beaten him back to my body. Quite literally, I was only safe in my own skin.
It was amazing to me that anyone could despise Isabella so much, could despise me simply for being related to her. Aching with exhaustion and feeling as if I could trust no one, I left the castle after my last class and sat on the bench at the back of the grounds. The winter-dead grass swam up to my knees, wet and muddy from the melting March snow, but I couldn’t make myself care; I could only sit and ponder my grim predicament and my difficult duty.
Suddenly, I heard my name, carried on the wind. I jumped in place, fearing another spirit was beckoning me, but then I spotted only Pam, Eric, and Hunter, standing a few feet behind me, with concern etched on all their faces.
Pam frowned. “Are you okay, Zoey? What are you doing out here, getting all soggy?”
My lips trembled, and my eyes fluttered as I admitted, “Okay? No, not really. I just…” The words were my breaking point, and a tear slipped down my cheek. I squeezed shut my eyes, turning to bury my face in my knees.
My friends were by my side immediately, and Hunter wrapped me in his arms as I cried into his shoulder.
“What did Mr. Geo say about the book?” Eric asked.
Through sobs, I told them everything I’d discovered so far.
“Why would a school have a book like that?” asked Hunter.
I shook my head. “We’re not sure,” I said. “It really doesn’t make much sense, but this place is far more than a regular school. We all know that.”
“Right,” Eric said, looking around suspiciously, as if he feared the trees might spring to life and grab hold of us.
“William said there were magicians who lived here before,” I explained. “They left their books behind, in that library upstairs.”
Pam’s eyes widened with fear. “This is crazy, Zoey, we need to call the police.”
“And tell them what? That a dead king is after me because he hated my great-great-great-great whatever and I have a magic necklace?” I almost laughed at the suggestion, but she was dead serious.
“This isn’t a joke! Somebody in this school is planning to kill you, and there are blood magic books hidden in some creepy old library. It’s insane, and the authorities need to check it out. Not to mention the fact that Miss Shila tried to shoot one of the students! We can’t let this happen. The school should be investigated. I saw an episode of 20/20 where they shut a school down for serving curdled chocolate milk. If you ask me, this is…a little worse.”
“We aren’t going to let anything happen,” assured Hunter, “but you know we can’t call the cops either. They’ll lock us all up in asylums.”
“He’s right, Pam,” I agreed. “If a bunch of teenagers call them about some crazy witchcraft books, the school will just explain it away, to keep their name out of the papers. They’ll say they are just antiques, and we’ll look like idiots and get in trouble for wasting time and making accusations.”
“I know,” Pam finally conceded, “but we have to do something to stop them.”
“I agree, but I just don’t know what,” I said. “At this point, we don’t even know who it is. I still have a hunch the principal’s got something to do with it though.” I sighed heavily and nuzzled deeper into Hunter’s strong, comforting shoulder. I didn’t want any of it to be real. I wanted it to be a bad dream, a hallucination, or a coma. I was still growing up, just a girl, not even
eighteen, yet I was forced to fight for my life. What had started off like some enchanted fairytale had turned into a horrific nightmare, and it was horrible. I just wanted to be safe and happy, to have fun with Hunter and Pam, and to live a normal existence that wasn’t plagued with ghosts and artifacts and ancient curses and homicidal grudges.
“It’s not quite April yet,” Hunter offered; it was an obvious attempt to console me, but it really just felt like he was announcing the beginning of some sort of countdown. “That gives us plenty of time to figure out who it is and how we can stop them, if we can stop them.”
“We have to!” Pam said, insistent. “Between the three of us and Zoey’s ghost friend, I’m sure there’s a way.”
I really had no answers for my friends, who were all just as scared and clueless as I was. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, of two worlds really—the burden of not only saving a castle full of ghosts but also of saving myself from a fate I did not deserve.
“I love you, Zoey,” Hunter said, brushing a strand of hair from my eyes. “I don’t wanna lose you, baby—not for anything or anyone. Maybe we should get the heck outta here, just you and me.”
“And how exactly? Do you plan to steal the maintenance man’s Harley and just drive off into the sunset?”
“Yeah, that sounds like a great plan. I don’t need anything but you.”
“I can’t leave Isabella and the other castle spirits trapped, Hunter. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
“Maybe, but if you stay here, you might not be able to live at all. It gets riskier every day, Zoey. We got rid of Psycho Shila, but that wasn’t enough. Somebody is plotting your death, and I can’t just sit around and let that happen. We can’t even see the enemies we’re fighting. It’s not a fair fight, and we need to retreat.”
“We don’t know for sure it’s me they’re after.”
“Nonsense! The spell calls for royal blood, and they want to spill yours.”
Ablaze - Book 4 Page 4