by Morgan Rice
She gritted her teeth. “It’s not too late.”
He grabbed her hands in his and stared deeply into her eyes. “Listen to me. I love you. But you have to let me die. It’s over.”
Scarlet turned her face away from him and wiped away the single tear that fell from her eye. When she turned back she reached out and hauled Sage’s arm across her shoulder, wrenching him to a standing position. He cried out in pain and sunk into her. As she began to lead him across the rubble and through the plumes of acrid smoke, she said:
“It’s not over until I say it is.”
*
The castle was in disarray. Though the plane that had crashed into it had been small, the damage to the ancient building had been colossal___.
Scarlet weaved through the corridors as the walls crumbled around her. She held Sage tightly to her side and he slumped into her, groaning with pain. He was so weak and feeble it made Scarlet’s heart ache. All she wanted was to get him to safety.
Just then, she heard shouting coming from behind.
“They’re getting away!”
Scarlet realized with a sinking sensation that they were coming back to their senses, that despite their castle being destroyed and many of their brethren lying hurt and dying around them, their desire for vengeance was going to drive them on.
“Sage,” Scarlet said, “they’re coming for us. We need to go faster.”
Sage gulped and grimaced.
“I’m going as fast as I can.”
Scarlet tried to hasten her pace but Sage’s weakness was slowing them down. He had to stop running. She had to find somewhere safe to hide him so that they could at the very least say their goodbyes.
She looked over her shoulder to see several Immortalists advancing. There, at the back, half concealed by shadows, she saw Octal. So he wasn’t dead.
As the group gained on them, Scarlet saw that half of Octal’s face was badly burned. He must have been in significant pain and yet he still wanted to harm her and Sage. It made Scarlet so sad to think that the love between her and Sage outraged the Immortalists so much.
Suddenly, an almighty crash made Scarlet leap, and a sudden spray of icy water soaked her. She looked over her left shoulder to find that the whole side of the castle had crumbled into the sea, causing a mighty wave to crash over them.
She heard screaming and looked back to see the Immortalists tumbling into the sea. They fell so quickly they didn’t even have time to fly to safety, and as soon as they hit the waves, the angry ocean swallowed them up.
As the tiles began to give way beneath her feet, Scarlet slammed her back against the wall of the corridor and pushed Sage back with her arm. The black water churned several feet below them. Scarlet suddenly felt as though she were balancing precariously on the ledge of a mountain.
The only person left standing, on the other side of a wide chasm, was Octal. Scarlet knew that it would take him no more than a few seconds to fly across the gap between them. But instead, he decided to watch.
He thinks it’s hopeless. He thinks we’re going to die.
“Quick,” she said to Sage. “Before we fall into the sea.”
Cold ocean spray hit her face as she led him across the ledge. With every step, more of the flooring broke off and tumbled into the ocean. Scarlet’s heart raced with anguish. She prayed that they would make it out of the castle and to safety.
“There,” she said to Sage. “Just a few more steps.”
But no sooner had the words left her lips than the tiles beneath Sage’s feet cracked. He just had time to look up into her eyes before the floor gave way and he plummeted down into the blackness.
“Sage!” Scarlet screamed, her hand outstretched, reaching for him.
But he was gone.
Scarlet glanced up at the other side of the chasm and saw a smile spread across Octal’s horrifically disfigured face.
Without a second of hesitation, Scarlet leapt off the ledge like a diver from a diving board, and soared downward toward Sage’s falling figure. Seconds before he hit the ocean she swept him up into her arms.
“I’ve got you,” she whispered, holding him to her chest.
Sage was heavy. Scarlet was only able to hover. They were barely inches above the treacherous water. She knew she couldn’t fly up because that would reveal to Octal that they had survived and he would launch an attack on them right away.
It was then that she saw caves to her right. They were naturally made, eroded into the solid rock by the ocean over centuries. The castle must have been built on top of them.
Scarlet wasted no time. She flew into the cave, Sage in her arms, and set him down on the floor. He flopped back and groaned.
“We’re okay,” Scarlet said to him. “We made it.”
But she was soaking wet and shivering. Her teeth chattered as she spoke. When she held Sage’s hand, she realized he was trembling too.
“We didn’t make it,” he finally said. “I’ve been telling you all along, I am going to die. Tonight.”
Scarlet shook her head, making her tears fly from her cheeks.
“No,” she said.
But she realized then it was no use. Sage was dying. It was really true.
She held him in her arms and let the tears fall freely. They rolled down her cheeks and onto her neck. She didn’t bother to wipe them away.
Scarlet was about to utter her goodbyes when she noticed a strange glow coming from beneath her T-shirt, just where her heart was. She shook her head, thinking at first she must be hallucinating. But the glow got stronger.
She looked down and realized it was her necklace that was aglow, white light spilling through the hinges. She reached inside her top and pulled it out. She had never before been able to open the necklace but something told her this time would be different. As she slid a fingernail into the latch, she realized that her tears had been dripping onto it. Perhaps they had somehow unlocked the pendant.
The two halves folded open and white light burst into the cave, illuminating Scarlet’s and Sage’s figures. In the middle of the glowing light was an image. Scarlet studied it. It was a castle in the middle of the sea, but not Boldt Castle. This one was taller and thinner, more like an elaborate tower than an actual castle.
Scarlet shook Sage by the shoulder.
“Look,” she instructed him.
Sage managed to half open a weary eye.
Scarlet heard him take a sharp intake of breath.
“You know where it is?” she asked.
Sage nodded. “I do.”
Then he slumped his head back into her lap, exhausted.
Something inside Scarlet told her that wherever this place was, it was important. And if Sage knew of it, then it was significant to the Immortalists. Why would her necklace show her such a place? And why would it only open when her tears fell on it? Surely it was a clue.
Scarlet snapped the necklace shut and the white glow disappeared, taking with it the image of a crooked castle in the middle of a raging ocean. Somehow she knew deep inside of her that if she got Sage to this castle, he would live. But she was running out of time.
She heaved the unconscious Sage onto her back. He was heavy, but this time Scarlet was more determined than ever, and more certain that there was hope. She took to the sky.
She would save him. No matter what it took.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Caitlin struggled to catch her breath as she fell though the night sky. One moment Caleb had hit the eject button, and the next, the plane was suddenly no longer around her. She was in the black air, falling toward the raging ocean.
She glanced right, looking for Caleb. He wasn’t there. Feeling anguished, she looked about her—and finally, she spotted Caleb above her, his parachute deployed. He was pointing to his parachute cord. She couldn’t hear him over the sound of the roaring air.
Then she realized: he was trying to tell her to pull her cord. She did and all at once the plummeting stopped as her body snapped. All was sudde
nly peaceful. She was hovering, floating, the white parachute spread open above her like angel’s wings.
Caitlin took some deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She looked back up at Caleb and saw him giving her two thumbs up. Caleb, who had far more experience with this sort of thing, managed to maneuver himself so that they were almost level.
“It’s going to be cold!” he shouted to her.
Caitlin looked down. The water was looming, and before she had a chance to think about the frozen waves hitting her, an enormous explosion made the whole world shudder.
Panicking, Caitlin looked to her right to see that the plane had crashed into something. She realized with a sinking sensation that it was the building she’d seen on the horizon, the one her senses had told her was where Scarlet was to be found.
“No!” she screamed.
Flames and bits of burning fuselage tumbled into the sea as a huge plume of black smoke billowed into the air.
Then Caitlin hit the ocean.
Caitlin gasped as she hit the freezing water. It was so cold, it felt as though her bones had turned to ice.
But the sharp sting caused by the frigid ocean paled in comparison to the anguish in her heart. Just ahead, the building Caitlin was certain her daughter was in was ablaze. She watched, as though in a daze, as the ceiling caved in. A moment later, the whole sea-facing wall crumbled into the ocean, leaving a deep wound in the exterior.
“Caitlin!” Caleb’s voice came from a little distance away.
Caitlin shook her head and found her way back to her senses. Caleb was swimming toward her, his parachute already detached and floating away, snatched by the strong current.
“Get your pack off!” Caleb instructed the second he was beside her.
Caitlin shrugged the heavy thing off, feeling instantly more buoyant. But her body was still weary, and her water-logged clothes were weighing her down.
“We have to get to land,” Caleb said.
He scooped his arm around his wife. She could feel that he was trembling violently. He was trying to be strong for her but really his situation was just as perilous.
“Do you think you can swim that far?” he added, nodding to the crumbling Boldt Castle.
Caitlin gritted her chattering teeth.
“What if the plane hit her?” she managed to say.
Caleb shook his head. “Don’t think like that.”
“I can’t help it. She’s our daughter. What if—”
But Caleb didn’t let her finish. He pressed his hand over Caitlin’s heart.
“If she was dead, you’d know,” he said. “Wouldn’t you? If you can sense our daughter, track her to this place, then you’d know in your heart. I’m right, aren’t I?”
Caitlin bit her lip.
“Yes,” she said, finally. “You’re right. I would know if she was dead. I would feel it.”
But even as she said the words, and even though she believed them, she couldn’t help but feel that same sense of dread. Even if Scarlet was alive, she was most certainly still in danger.
Caitlin felt her arms begin to fatigue from treading water for so long.
“What are we going to do?” she cried to Caleb. “The only land is that way.”
She pointed at Boldt Castle, at the gaping hole in its side. Caleb followed her outstretched finger.
“I know,” he said with trepidation.
Caitlin nodded. Wet tendrils of hair stuck to her face. She swiped them away and began to swim toward the castle.
Just then, a noise caught Caitlin’s attention. It sounded like a distant whining noise, mechanical in nature. Familiar. Getting louder.
Caitlin glanced over her shoulder at Caleb.
“A helicopter,” she said.
Caleb paused mid-stroke and stared up at the sky as the noise grew louder and louder.
“The police?” he said. “They can’t still be on our tails, can they? Unless they were tracking the plane.”
Caleb suddenly thumped his open palms against the water, making a huge splash. But the noise was almost completely drowned out by the whirring blades of a helicopter approaching fast.
His features dropped into resignation.
“Get ready,” he said. “This is about to get a lot more dangerous.”
*
It took several minutes to swim to Boldt Castle. The side closest to Caitlin and Caleb was completely destroyed where the plane had struck. Stone and rubble had tumbled into the ocean, creating a sort of slope that they could now climb up. It was precarious going but they made it, finally, into Boldt Castle.
The smell of airplane fuel was strong in the air, mixed with the smells of dust, smoke, and sea salt. Caitlin heard a clamoring of noise in the distance, of people shouting, arguing, and crying out in pain. She knew at once that the building had been full before the plane hit, and that thanks to her, many people had been hurt. She shivered, her frozen body racked with guilt.
Caitlin was in a state, her hair a mess, the jump from the airplane and force of the waves having turned it into soggy dreadlocks. Her clothes were torn in places. Caleb looked just as bedraggled.
“Well?” he said. “Can you sense her?”
Caitlin put a finger to her lips to quiet him. She tried to get a feel for her daughter, to let her instincts tell her where she was, but she was struggling to catch hold of anything tangible. The sound of the roaring helicopter circling above them, the heat coming from the fire, the cries coming from the injured, all were crowding her mind and messing with her abilities.
“I can’t feel her,” Caitlin whispered, feeling defeated.
Caleb rubbed his chin. Caitlin could tell he was at his wits’ end. She wished she could do more to help but her mind was too frantic to hone in on Scarlet.
“Is she in the castle somewhere?” Caleb asked.
Despite his best attempts to hide it, Caitlin could hear the exasperation in his voice. She’d led him to this place, forced him to jump from a plane, and now she couldn’t even tell him whether she’d been right or not.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to calm her mind.
“I think she is,” she said finally. “I think she’s here somewhere.”
“Then we search,” Caleb replied.
He turned to leave but Caitlin grabbed his arm.
“I’m scared,” she said.
“Of what we might find?”
She shook her head.
“No,” she said, “of seeing the damage I’ve caused.”
Caleb reached out and squeezed her hand.
They stepped further into the castle. They walked carefully as the ground underfoot seemed unstable. When Caleb suddenly stopped short, blocking Caitlin’s path with an extended arm, she assumed there was some kind of obstacle ahead. But when she craned her head to look over his shoulder, her mouth dropped open with astonishment. A little way ahead of them were hundreds upon hundreds of men and women. Some of them were flying, others hovering, and all were facing a man who stood taller than any human Caitlin had ever seen. He was at least double the size of a normal man. Half of his face was burned red raw.
“What is he?” Caitlin whispered to her husband.
Caleb just shook his head.
Caitlin shivered. Finding her daughter seemed more imperative now than ever before. These strange people were disconcerting her, especially the giant man with his disfigured face.
“This way,” Caleb said in a hushed tone to her.
They crept away, keeping as silent as possible, sticking to the shadows where the crowd would not see them. Then Caitlin placed her hand on Caleb’s arm to stop him. He looked back.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Scarlet,” Caitlin said. “I can’t feel her anymore.”
“You mean she’s not here?” Caleb challenged her.
Caitlin shrunk back from the fury in his voice.
“I think she’s gone somewhere else,” she said quietly, feeling defeated and desperate. “I could feel he
r before, right by the place where we came in, but the further into the castle we go, the weaker it becomes. I think she left before we got here. She got out the way we got in.”
Caleb ran his hands through his hair in exasperation.
“I don’t believe this,” he muttered under his breath.
Just then, a strong light beamed into the castle from the helicopter above. It was lowering itself through the collapsed ceiling.
“It’s attempting to land!” Caleb cried incredulously.
The crowd in the great hall began to disperse, with people running and flying all over the place.
“We have to leave,” Caitlin said to her husband.
“I know,” he replied. “But how?”
“This way,” Caitlin said, tugging on his arm.
She led him across the great hall. Thanks to the descending helicopter, none of the strange people in the hall seemed to realize that the two figures racing across the room were strangers. The helicopter blades were creating a mini tornado in the room, whipping up plumes of smoke that added even more to the chaos.
Caitlin and Caleb burst out of the hall and into a gloomy corridor. The smoke was thick here and the light dim. Together, Caitlin and Caleb ran the length of the corridor until they reached a door. Caleb shoved it with his shoulder and it opened at once, revealing to them the outside world.
“Over there!” Caitlin cried, surveying their surroundings.
Caleb looked to where she was pointing.
Just ahead, down some stone steps leading from the castle, was a small parking lot with enough space for four or five vehicles. Amongst them was a motorcycle.
They ran for the bike. It hadn’t been locked up or secured in any way.
It took several attempts before he was able to kick the motor into life, but all at once the engine roared and spewed out fumes. By then, people from inside the crumbling church had begun filing out.
“Quick,” Caitlin cried, jumping on the back behind Caleb. “They’re coming.”
But before Caleb had a chance to accelerate away, the sound of police sirens began wailing out from nearby.