Back at the hotel, I packed the little I had brought and took a quick shower. The hot water running over my body was just what I needed.
I stepped out of the bathroom with the lush white towel still wrapped around my damp body. Jade and Keelie were perched on my bed, my open duffel bag sitting between them.
“What are you guys doing?” My heart dropped when I noticed the empty shoe box thrown on the bed and the glass slippers perched on Keelie’s lap. I was also barefoot, but neither of them looked at my scarred feet.
Keelie ran a finger over one of the heels. “We always wondered what you were carrying around in this bag.”
I swallowed hard. “You guys shouldn’t just go through my things like that.”
Jade frowned. “Why not? We’re friends, aren’t we? Really good friends.”
Clutching the towel to my chest, I stormed over and snatched the shoes from Keelie’s hands. “These aren’t for you.”
Keelie glanced at Jade with her jaw dropped. “Are you serious? All the clothes you borrow from us—have we ever told you no? Have we ever complained?”
“You guys complain all the time, especially you, Keelie. If me being poor is such a problem for you maybe we shouldn’t be friends.”
Jade grabbed the empty shoe box. “Who makes these shoes anyway? It’s not that you’re poor, it’s that you’re poor when you don’t have to be. We already told you what to do but you insist on sticking with the aspiring writer and who needs a crystal ball to see that this dude will be broke for the rest of his life. Still, we accept you and all your poor people problems so, don’t be selfish. Let her try on the shoes.”
Without waiting for permission, Keelie grabbed the shoes from my hand and sat on the edge of the bed. “What size are these? It doesn’t say. I hope they fit.”
Time froze. What was I supposed to do? The shoes wouldn’t hurt Keelie at all. She wasn’t a cursed girl. All I wanted to do was leave and get home to Brayden. I didn’t have time for an argument. “Whatever. Try them on and then put them back in the box.”
Keelie grinned as her foot hovered over the shoe. She paused and looked up at me. “Wow. I can’t believe you were actually going to let me put that shoe on.” She let the shoe drop to the floor.
“What? What are you talking about?”
Keelie glared at me. “That shoe could have killed me.”
What was she talking about? How could she possibly know?
I cleared my throat. “What do you mean? It’s just a pair of shoes.”
Jade stood and studied herself in the mirror. “She means those are no ordinary shoes. Those shoes were given to you by a witch and should another cursed girl wear them, they will die within minutes and your own curses will be broken.”
I was stunned speechless for a few moments, looking back and forth between the two of them. “Who are you?”
“A sister of the Crimson Coven. And Keelie here, well, I’ll let her introduce herself.”
Keelie lay back on the bed making herself comfortable. “I’m number twelve.”
“What?”
“You know. I’m number twelve.”
I sighed impatiently. “What does that mean?”
“I’m the youngest of twelve princesses. In another land, another time, my sisters and I all shared an enormous, magnificent bedroom. One night as we were getting ready for bed, the floor opened, filling the room with a warm yellow glow. My oldest sister peeked inside and saw that the floor had revealed a staircase. Curious, the twelve of us took the staircase to see where it would lead.”
The Twelve Princesses. I had read that story quite a few times.
“That staircase lead us to the most amazing adventure. It was like a dream. There were twelve handsome princes waiting—one for each of us. They bowed as we approached them. They stood in order, so I knew the one at the end of the line was for me. He had the darkest hair and eyes I’d ever seen and the warmest smile. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on him that he would be mine forever.
“There was a beautiful, shimmering blue stream with twelve row boats waiting. Each pair of us got into a boat and our princes rowed us across. On the other side of the stream there was a glistening dance floor. There my sisters and I danced the night away with our princes. We danced for hours and never got tired although we danced holes in our shoes. Then the princes returned us to the other side of the stream, we bid them good night and went back to bed.”
Jade absently brushed her hair in the mirror as though she’d heard this story plenty of times before.
Keelie continued. “This happened night after night. It became the thing we looked most forward to. That was when things got interesting. Father noticed our shoes and wanted to know where we had been. We’d made a vow to each other that we would play dumb and never tell. Our father put forth a challenge to all the young men in the kingdom that if they could find out where we went, they could marry my oldest sister and be next in line for the crown.
“Of course, none of us wanted this to happen. We wanted to marry our own dancing princes and Father couldn’t find out what we were doing or he would put an end to it. Man after man came and failed. They were each put to death. Serves them right for trying to come between us and our princes.”
I thought about Brayden and my patience was wearing thin. “I’ve read your story plenty of times. Get to the point.”
Keelie glared at me and Jade scoffed. “Oh, just wait. She hasn’t gotten to the best part yet.”
I turned back to Keelie. “Go on then.”
Her expression turned sour. “Then one night this idiot of a man came by to accept the challenge. My sisters and I weren’t bothered. We expected him to fail along with the others. That night we went to meet our princes just as we did every night. Somehow, he figured it out because the next morning he told Father where we had been. Father made plans to have the floor sealed, but before he could do that, I ran to my prince. I told him what was going on and we made a vow to run away together.”
Jade took a seat on the bed beside me, amusement flickering in her eyes. “Tell her the best part.”
For the first time ever, Keelie threw Jade a look of disgust. “Because my father was one of the kings taking part in the great witch hunt, the Crimson Coven cursed me. Out of all my sisters, they had to choose me. Unfortunately, they didn’t just curse me. They cursed my prince also.”
My stomach tightened. Keelie seemed to lead a very charmed life. I couldn’t imagine what her curse would be. “How did they curse you?”
“They cursed both me and my prince, dooming us to live apart forever. There’s nothing worse than that. Once the curse is broken, we can finally be together again.”
I stood and then leaned against the wall because my legs felt weak.
“No one ever talks about me. They don’t even mention my name. I’m just one of the twelve princesses. That should have been enough of a curse.”
I shook my head trying to take it all in. “What is your name?”
“Princess Victoria Blake. I’ve grown fond of Keelie, though. I think it’s cute.”
“How—how did you get a family?” I asked her. Surely hers had died hundreds of years ago.
“I took over the body of a little rich girl about six years back. Jade here helped me do that.”
I glanced over at Jade, still occupied with the mirror. “How nice of her,” I said.
She flicked her hand in my direction. “Twas nothing really. Sorcery 101.”
My mind was reeling but I had to find some type of solution. I had to get back to Brayden. “So, we’re both cursed girls. We can team up to figure out this mess. Scarlett told me about this special school where the other girls like us are hiding out. They’re working together to figure out how to break their curses.”
Jade snorted. “That will never happen.”
I ignored her and focused on Keelie. “You, Scarlett, and I, we can work together to try and find it.”
Keelie looked up at the ceiling, thi
nking, “That sounds tempting but I’ve already broken my curse and earned an elixir.”
I suddenly felt weak and dizzy. “You’ve already broken your curse? How?”
“With candy.”
“Candy?”
“Yes, poisoned candy from the witch’s house. I was supposed to use it on a girl named Gretchen, but I can’t find her anywhere. It was simple really. All I had to do was give another cursed girl a juicy, red watermelon flavored lollipop. Sound familiar?”
I thought back to the car. I wanted to carry myself to the toilet to vomit it up, but I was too weak to move.
Keelie held her hand toward Jade. “The elixir, please.”
Jade wagged her finger. “Uh, uh, uh. Not until she’s dead. Then the elixir will be all yours.”
I lay on the ground, clutching my belly. It hurt worse than it ever had in my life. I thought about Brayden and how I couldn’t help him. How I was already worse off than he was.
Tears welled in my eyes. I looked at Jade, hoping to find some shred of humanity. “Please, I don’t want to die.”
Jade rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to die. That damn Merna put a spell on you a long time ago that won’t allow us to kill you. God, I’m glad she’s dead. Anyway, her spell doesn’t protect you from a sleeping curse. You look tired, Cinderella. You should take a nap. But you’ll never wake up.”
My body stiffened. I opened my eyes as wide as I could because I knew once I closed them there was a good chance they wouldn’t open again.
“I think that’s it,” Jade said, crossing over to Keelie and handing her a small purple bottle.
Grinning, Keelie snatched the bottle, cradling it in her hands like it was the most precious thing she had ever held. “I’ve been waiting forever for this.”
She threw her head back and poured the liquid into her mouth. Her body shuddered.
“I know,” Jade said. “It tastes awful, but now you can be with your prince again,” then she gestured toward me, “and I have her. Such a shame. What a waste of a pretty face. And don’t worry about the boy. Keelie will take very good care of him.”
Keelie stood over me smirking. “Yes, you’ve had my prince long enough, now it’s time for me to take him back.”
What? What was she saying?
She broke into giggles. “He put on a great show. You didn’t really think he loved you, did you? He was only with you to keep tabs on you for us. Just the thought of you two being together made me want to kill you every day.”
“Huh? Brayden?” That sucked the wind out of me. Brayden was in on this too? He was Keelie’s prince? He couldn’t be. I had done all this for him. Had our entire year together been a lie?
I wanted to say something. I wanted to move, call for help. I wanted to kill them but my body had stopped working. Keelie and the witch watched me, cackling loudly. My eyelids drooped, and no matter how hard I struggled to keep them open, they finally fell shut.
24
Scarlett
I’d saved her once but I couldn’t save her this time. Part of me didn’t think she even wanted to be saved. Why wouldn’t she listen to me when I told her not to leave with those girls? I knew something wasn’t right with them. I knew the day they’d shown up at the cabin.
Even after Ella rode off in the red sports car, I’d hoped somehow, she would have been okay.
The following night there was a knock on the door. Nana answered it. There was no one standing on the other side but on the porch was a light blue box and inside the box was the pair of glass slippers. That was how I knew. Ella had lost her fight.
Nana said that Ella was a nice girl, but she had taken her eyes off the prize. Instead of keeping her eyes open for witches, she’d gotten consumed with boyfriends, and girlfriends, and clothes, and all sorts of frivolous things.
“This is why we live the way we do, Scarlett. All that other stuff is a distraction and in the end, none of it matters. Are the parties and pretty clothes going to do anything for Ella now?”
“No, Nana,” I answered, but I understand how Ella had gotten caught up. That stuff seemed fun and Ella wasn’t like me. I had Nana, but she had been alone. I could understand why she wanted friends and a boyfriend.
Unfortunately, Ella had also led the witches to our location so we were on the move again. Our goals were to find another safe haven where we would be far away from anyone and to find the school where the other girls were hidden.
The day before we left, there was a knock on the door. Nana told me not to answer it, but something in my gut told me that I needed to. I hurried to the door before she could stop.
I flung the door open. Before me stood a handsome boy with tufts of dark hair sticking up all over his head and wide, frantic eyes. “Uh, can I help you?” I asked.
He looked over his shoulder as if he thought someone might be following him. “I found your name and number on a sheet of paper in her drawer. She must have come here.”
“Who?”
Nana was standing behind me now with her hand on the small of my back. “What do you want boy?”
“Ella. I think she was here, but she never came home. Have you seen her? Do you know where she might be?”
“Um . . .” How could I even explain to him what was happening? “Yes, she was here, but I don’t know where she is now. Unfortunately, she is in danger.”
The boy groaned and looked at the ground. “Listen, I know about the witches and the curses and all that stuff. I know Ella has gotten caught up in that. Whatever I have to do to help her, I’ll do it, but I need help.”
Nana opened the door wider. “Come in, boy. We’ll do everything we can to help her.”
The boy came in and we closed the door behind me. Nana did a quick check of the premises to make sure no one had followed him. The boy set on the couch and told us everything he knew about Ella, the curses, and the witches. The three of us were at a loss as to where we should start looking for Ella, but we Wolvenbloods were resourceful. We would find a way.
My main goal was to sink my teeth into the necks of every one of those witches. I had done it before and I fully planned on doing it again. They had to pay. They had to pay for what they’d done to Ella, and all the other cursed children who had lost their own personal battles.
Time to be a bad wolf.
Want to know what happens next? Click here for Forever Scarlett: The Everly Girls Book Three
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Forever Ella: The Everly Girls Book 2 Page 14