by D. N. Hoxa
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out whether the man was even real, or whether I’d done that all by myself somehow, and then my brain had made him up as a way to ease the guilt. But whether he’d been real or not, I’d promised myself that I was never going to turn to him for help, ever again. I was never going to think of him, not for anything in the world.
Until now.
“It’s happening again,” Ax said, his voice deep with sleep. He shook his head furiously to try to keep awake, but it didn’t seem to help. With a loud sigh, he fell against the bed, exhausted.
“Scarlet, focus,” Luca whispered, his eyes already closed. “Just focus. You can do it.”
No, I couldn’t. But I could do something else.
Fighting the gas or whatever they used to knock us out was useless, so this time, I welcomed it. Instead of spending all my energy in trying to keep my eyes open, I closed them, and I focused on his face. It was an easy thing to do. His every line was imprinted in my mind and I’d remember him until the day I died. His green eyes flashed in my mind, and in the darkness, he slowly took shape. Ink dripped from somewhere above, and formed his hair, his ears, his nose, his smile together with his dimples. He was in front of me now, exactly like that night I’d found him in my room. He belonged in my mind and my whole being was attracted to the image of him. My heart slammed against my rib cage. The gas was dragging me down, faster and faster, but I managed to open my eyes, just a bit, to see him in the flesh.
But he wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there because he wasn’t real. A man who could set buildings on fire, walk through walls, and appear when I thought of him? Come on, Scarlet. I’d never felt more stupid in my life. I’d imagined him; it had been all my mind’s doing. I’d set the school on fire. I’d somehow tricked myself into believing that I didn’t know where the money and the plane ticket had come from. My mind had arranged everything for me: from my father’s reaction, to the guilt.
And now, I finally truly believed that there was no way out.
***
“Wake up, Scarlet.”
The voice came from the deepest corners of my mind, yanking at my thoughts, pulling me furiously to the surface.
“Wake up.”
My heart raced and my whole body was already shaking by the time I could feel it. Fire licked my skin and my panic made my stomach roll. Opening my eyes took forever. The excitement and the fear that this was just another dream tore me apart.
Trusting myself was no longer a possibility, but when darkness let me go, I saw him. He was right in front of me, like I’d imagined. He was the same, but he was also different. His hair had grown, some strands touching his jawline. His shoulders seemed broader, or maybe it was the white shirt he wore, the sleeves folded up to his elbows. But his eyes…his eyes of green light were the same, and so was his smile. It took me a while to come to terms that I was really seeing him, dream or no dream, and every time I blinked, I feared he’d disappear. But he didn’t.
“You’re real,” I whispered to myself. We were still in the ECU room, the others out cold, the blue lights in the corners shining brightly, the mirror right where it always was. “You came.” It was just so hard to believe when what felt like seconds ago, all hope had left me, and I’d been falling into despair with nothing else to hold on to.
“You thought of me,” he said, his smile growing. God, if this was really my imagination, my mind was a wicked, wicked thing.
“You can read my thoughts?” I asked, smiling in surprise. It felt real, our conversation, but it also felt like we were away, far away from the whole world.
“Only sometimes,” he said with a wink, and with his hands in his pockets, he walked to the right, looking at Luca and Grover sleeping in their beds.
Chatting would be nice—there were about a million things I wanted to know about him, but Adams and Melinda could come in any second and find him. If that happened, I was doomed. This was my last chance, if I wasn’t just dreaming. So I didn’t bother wasting time.
“I need your help,” I said as he walked to the other side of the room to analyze Ax and Fallon next. “They’re keeping us in here, cuffed to these beds and they’re never going to let us go. Please, help me.” It had always been hard for me to ask for help, but in those moments, it was easy. With him, it was easy. It was amazing, really. I hadn’t seen him in three years, but now that he was in front of me again, it felt like we were in my dorm room at the academy just yesterday.
“I already helped you, Scarlet.” He no longer smiled and his eyes no longer sparkled. He slowly walked back in front of my bed and looked down at me. Disappointment and something else I couldn’t place flashed on his face.
“You did?”
His green eyes slowly moved to the dragon around my hand. This would be a really bad time to pass out, but I was very close to doing it.
But when I thought of it…of course. Of course he’d given me the dragon. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know why, but it was him. He was the only man I knew who could do the things he did, in the way he did them.
“It was you,” I whispered, smiling at myself for not figuring it out sooner. This whole dragon thing had his name written all over it, never mind that I had no idea what his name was.
“I gave you this to protect yourself, and you failed.” He voice was rock hard, and I’d have felt bad any other time, but not today.
“You have to help me get out of here,” I said instead. He’d helped me once. Granted, he’d broken me out of a school, and this was the ECU, but if anyone in the world could free me, it was him. If he could walk through walls, he could break the cuffs around me with a freaking look. Probably.
“But I already did! And you made no use of it.” He raised his brow at the dragon around my hand. “Makes me wonder if you’re even worth more of my time.”
“I am. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.” It had to be the truth. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered to come to me when I thought of him, and he didn’t deny it. “Is it true? That this is a real dragon?” I asked halfheartedly. Not very important at the moment, but the words slipped before I could stop them.
“It is,” the man said without hesitation. “It’s something…special.” His eyes blazed as he looked at the dragon.
Then, I heard noise coming from the other side of the door. Oh, shoot. The ECU could be here any second now. Forgetting about the dragon, I met his eyes.
“Please, help me. If you don’t, they’re going to chop my hand off. They’re going to keep me here forever.” I don’t know why I thought he’d care about that.
“Nobody is going to chop your hand off, Scarlet,” he said, somewhat annoyed.
“But they are! I heard them myself. Please, just get me out of here. I’ll do anything.” And I meant it. “Just name your price.”
The smile returned to his face at its full potential, almost making me look away. “You already know my price.”
I did. Like I said, I remembered everything about him, like I’d seen him the day before. His price was a kiss. “Then take it.” I’d give him a thousand kisses if he got me out of there.
“I don’t usually ask this, Scarlet,” he said, laughing at himself and shaking his head while he walked closer to my bed, on the left, almost as if he was afraid to get close to the dragon. Which was ridiculous. He’d given it to me. “Are you sure that this is what you want?”
This time, when he looked at me, I was scared of him for the first time in my life. Like really, piss-my-pants afraid of the look in his eyes, so green and intense, as if they had a power of their own.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I want my freedom. I want my life back. I don’t want to be chained to a bed like this.” Who did? “And I want the others to be free, too.”
“Then consider it done,” he said, a terrifying smile on his face. “If you ever call on me again, you will never have any of those things. But I promise you, you will love it.” Holy cow, this guy was something. He made
me want to run away, and to jump in his arms in the same second.
“But no fire this time,” I said, more concerned with all the people locked down there with us, all the workers who weren’t to blame for what was being done to us. I didn’t want them to lose their lives because of me. Except for Adams. I wouldn’t mind seeing him dead at all. Cain, too.
As he leaned closer to me, I lost myself in the jungles that were his eyes. Air left my lungs in a rush as his face became bigger and bigger, filling my vision. Nothing else existed but us—not the ECU, not the room, and not the others. We were suspended in time, floating on air, until his lips touched mine, just barely. Even if the collar around my neck hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been able to move. Just like the first time, he didn’t even give me enough time to blink before he pulled away from me.
Suddenly, he looked different, his face flushed and the green of his eyes shining like emeralds. My heartbeat was unusually slow as I watched him slowly step away from me and the bed.
“Is it…is it over?” My voice was weak and shaking. I tried my cuffs. They were still there and locked just as tightly as before.
“It is,” he said with a nod.
“So let me out of here.” I tried the cuffs again, their clicking meant to show him that I was still not able to move.
“Keep your chin up,” he said instead. “Your time will come.”
My time will come? “No, no, no, this wasn’t the deal. If they come back, they’re going to maul me. They’re going to cut off my hand!”
“Don’t be afraid of silly things and small creatures, Scarlet. You are better than that.” He began to walk backwards again, slowly, going for the mirror.
“I am?” I asked, completely shocked for a second, when it occurred to me… “Do you know what I am?” My voice shook, my heart trying to leap out of my chest.
“You are Scarlet Jones,” he said with a proud look in his eyes. “The first Storm witch.”
Tears sprung from my eyes. “Did you…did you make me?” It was such a ridiculous thought, but with that man, nothing seemed impossible. “Did you make those demons?” He was dark, that much I could see on his face. In all honesty, if he said yes, I wouldn’t be too surprised. I had no idea what exactly I thought he was, but his energy was stronger than anything I’d ever felt before.
But he laughed. “I’m flattered that you think so highly of me, but giving life is a gift I have yet to possess. Taking it, on the other hand… ” His voice trailed off as he stepped back, into the mirror. The left side of his body completely disappeared. It was hard to make sense of what I was seeing but the urge to know more was stronger.
“So who made us? What is our magic? Do you know why?” I shouted but all he did was smile before the mirror swallowed him whole. “You didn’t even tell me your name!” I cried in desperation.
It was too late. He was gone. The green-eyed man was gone. He’d taken my kiss and I was still cuffed to the bed, unable to move a single inch, crying angry and desperate tears. I looked at my hands, trying to feel the pain I’d felt at the academy, after I saw him. I tried to see the light under my skin, burning me, eating at my flesh. But it never came.
A scream tore from my throat. If the others woke up, I wouldn’t mind. They could see now. They could see that we were doomed and that there was no more hope.
But then, the door opened. Adams’ face made my skin crawl. His smile was carved from hell. Behind him came the two women with the pencil skirts, and behind them Cain, Eddie, in tow with Melinda. Her bag was around her shoulder, looking much heavier than before. What the hell did she have in there?
“You’re wasting your time,” I said as they lined in front of the mirror. The Pencil Skirt women and Eddie stayed behind Adams and Cain, while the two ECU members positioned themselves next to Melinda, who, for the first time, looked at me straight in the eye. I took advantage of it. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“Ms. Jones, spares us the drama, please,” Cain said, annoyed.
“Listen, I got the bracelet from Oscar. He brought us two bags full of weapons, and I found this in one of them. You have to believe me. I thought it was a knuckle! I didn’t know that it wouldn’t come off!” I’d beg if I had to, now that I was staring at the end square in the face.
“We gave the weapons to Oscar, Ms. Jones,” Adams said, shaking his head. What he meant was that he didn’t believe me.
“So let me take it off myself.” The dragon was already around my hand. If I could touch it without being thrown against walls, maybe I could take it off. “It obviously doesn’t attack me. If you free my hand, I can take it off and you won’t need to break a sweat.” It was a good deal and he knew it.
Adams raised a brow at Melinda. “She’s lying,” she said with a sigh, then kneeled in front of her bag.
“I’m not. I’m not lying, I swear it!”
“You’re asking me to trust you again, Ms. Jones,” Adams said, almost rolling his eyes.
“Just one hand! What can I do against all of you? Just free my hand and let me try. Please!” It was so hard to spill out that last word, but I was willing to go to great lengths to save my hand.
“She thinks we’re stupid. Filthy Dirt,” Melinda muttered as she put on her freaking gloves and that goddamn mask. “Girls?”
Immediately, the two Pencil Skirts moved around my bed and stopped to the side of my right hand. Melinda came to me with a fistful of Pretters. She threw them on the bed, and the girls began to put them on my arm and around my hand, all ten of them.
“It’s not going to work and you know it. Come on, what do you have to lose?!” I said to Adams. If I could get him to just think about it…
But he wouldn’t. “We’d rather not take unnecessary risks, Ms. Jones.” Yeah, he’d rather just cut my hand off.
It was useless. All the begging in the world wasn’t going to save me now. Realizing it wasn’t that hard. It meant I no longer had to fight. No longer had to search for a way out, because there wasn’t any.
Melinda reached down for something in her bag next, and brought out a dagger with a very long and very thin blade. At the sight of it, I knew exactly what she was going to use it for: to peel my skin off.
My stomach turned and bile rose up my throat. Stopping it was impossible. I barely had time to turn my head to the side before I threw up in front of all of them. My body was numb and my heart beat loudly. My headache intensified in seconds and nothing but spit and acid came out of my mouth, on my chest, and on the bed.
“For the love of God,” Adams said and covered his eyes with his hand. “Eddie, get someone to clean that up. Now!”
“You’re gonna…you’re gonna…” Strength slipped from my fingers as if a demon was there, sucking me dry.
“Begin now, girls,” Melinda said, stepping in front of my hand again. She seemed pissed off like never before. She’d taken the whole dragon thing personally, and taking it off me had become her mission.
The Pencil Skirts began to chant. I didn’t recognized the spells, but they sounded like Bone magic. With her tongue sticking out, Melinda slowly brought the thin, sharp tip of the dagger toward the dragon. Knowing that no matter what I said wasn’t going to stop them, I kept my mouth shut. I bit my tongue and I braced myself for the pain, wishing with all my heart that I’d pass out before I saw them cutting my hand clean off.
Twenty
The chanting grew louder from the girls standing to my sides. Every word that left their mouths put some more weight over my shoulders, as if they were afraid I was going to break free. Couldn’t they see the cuffs?
Melinda didn’t hesitate. With one quick movement, she stabbed me with her dagger right where the dragon’s tail ended. Following it’s S shape, she ran the blade along my skin, easily cutting through my flesh. Blood filled the right side of the bed in seconds. My blood. Whatever the witches were chanting, it kept the pain away. At first.
But then Melinda drove the dagger under my skin. Her arms
shook as she tried to keep from touching the dragon. Instead, she went deeper and deeper, cutting off my flesh. The blood coming out didn’t let me see anything with clarity, and the pain that went to my brain like a brain freeze filled my vision with black spots. I don’t know if I screamed or moaned, or even spoke. I just remember Melinda’s face, and the witches’ voices. Breathing deeply hurt so I took in short gasps of air, waiting for the split seconds Melinda would stop running her dagger under my skin to better grip the handle. A storm raged inside my chest, my magic blowing and breaking and lighting my thoughts on fire, but unable to break through the barriers they’d put on me. It tried desperately to find a way to leave my skin, to come out into the world and protect me from these monsters, but all it did was intensify the pain.
Melinda’s dagger had reached all the way to the curve of my hand, slowly moving up to my knuckles.
“Steady,” she whispered to herself and licked her dry lips, before pushing the dagger with all her strength. I thought this was the end. I thought my mind wasn’t going to be able to handle any more of this, but I was wrong. This was only the beginning.
I was looking at her face, so I saw the second her eyes grew wide and she was pushed back by an invisible force. She flew up in the air, hit the ceiling with her side, and then fell to the floor even faster. The girls stopped chanting for a second. They waited. I waited. Melinda still didn’t move.
The girls rushed to her side, their spell already leaving their lips. The pain began to fade, little by little, but I no longer had the courage to look at my hand. Adams wrapped his hand around his mouth as he looked down at Melinda and the witches trying to heal her. He was concerned, and a bit of panic flashed in his eyes when he looked at my hand. At the sight of all the blood, he turned really pale and took a step back.
“Call the medics,” he said to Eddie, who’d been hiding behind Cain, his back against the mirror, shaking violently. He ran to the door gladly, never looking back, and I thought, what a lucky guy. If I could walk out that door, I wouldn’t look back, either.