Did Wrath manage to kill me? Is this is my own personal limbo?
Raising my hand in front of my face, I waft it rapidly, watching as it swims from side to side. The details of my hand blur while it moves. I can feel my sanity slipping — if I remain here for much longer, I’ll go insane. I need to escape, get out, run away…!
“You’re leaving so soon?” I hear her ask me, the relief replaced by new dread as her silky tones wash over me. “And after everything I’ve just done for you. How rude.” There’s a cruel humor to her voice, the way she taunts me a great source of amusement for herself.
Closing my eyes to steady my nerves, I’m forced to face the deal I made back in Leo’s office. The Demon Queen demands it of me. And while I want to say no, to turn and hide, I can’t run from the mistake I made. No matter where I go to, she’ll come for me. This is her domain. Her space between worlds, able to lock me away for as long as wishes it. My only hope is that her power will drain from the effort of keeping me here.
When I ease my lids open, her face is enlarged in front of me. She’s so close that her features curves like a fishbowl lens, her sneer forced wider as she draws near. Her sinful eyes peer into mine as sniggers hiss inside my ears.
The way her moist orbs sparkle at me, a chilling reminder of how she craves me. Two extended legs, covered in the soft fuzz of dark hair, reach out to me. They poke near my face, but their pointed ends never reach my skin. It’s as if she can’t touch me here, my flesh free of the discomfort she promises.
My solace doesn’t last long though, for I still feel unclean in spite of her not being able to touch me. All it takes is me knowing how she’d feel if she could. My mind playing tricks on me, the environment pressing down on me and squeezing me like a pimple: I’ll burst if she doesn’t let me go. I can’t stand it. Can’t take it. I need to be free of this monstrous place, to be back to the world I recognize and know.
When she tries to stroke one of her legs under my chin, my body shudders; a million spiders are crawling across my body, her tiny legs needles pricking at me. I want to scream. But it’s lodged in my throat, trapped and unable to work its way free. I never feel her touch, however I imagine it in graphic detail. I know how awful she’d feel against me.
“My sweet girl, do I make you uncomfortable? After all we’ve been through, I’d expect better manners from you.”
My automatic reaction is to throw spells at her — anything, everything, it doesn’t matter. So long as it hits her, I’ll be happy. Nevertheless, when I try to frantically whisper a series of conjurations, nothing happens. My words are flat. Useless.
As horror sinks deeper into the pit of my stomach, she cackles at me, spittle peppering my face. I want to wipe the grime away, but I daren’t move. I reason with myself that if I remain still, she’ll not be provoked into harming me. My assumption has been that she can’t, but with her personality still a mystery to me, I can’t trust anything I see, hear or feel.
“Did you really think you’d be able to cast spells here, against me! Oh, my dear, you’re not strong enough for that, nowhere close.”
“I’ve been training—!” I snap back, forgetting how disadvantaged I am right now. More rumbling laughter, throaty and dry, ridicules me.
“You haven’t been learning much then, my sweet, for you still lack the power to defeat Wrath — and he wasn’t even at his full potential. If I’d have left you there, you’d be dead.”
I don’t try to argue, because I know she’s right. I’d have been dashed against the walls of Leo’s office, left as a gruesome present for him to find. Even though I don’t fully trust him, the idea still chills me. The whole idea of dying in such a way, to be powerless to a being who lacks their full strength… it almost stops my heart, all that I am numb as I stand before her.
I’m powerless. Useless. My training is for nothing.
“Not so quick with that tongue of yours now are you, hmm?” Stepping away from me, her legs clack against one another as she scurries around. She circles me, she the predator and I the poor, unassuming prey. “I’m curious how Leo will react in learning you accepted my deal—”
“No, you can’t, you mustn’t! Leo can’t know, he’ll… he…”
“Be disappointed. He won’t be the only one, my dear. They’ll soon all see the weakling you’ve become; you’re not their leader, Snow White, and you never will be.” I scrunch my eyes tight, trying to will her away from me, but still she taunts. “They’ll turn on you, give you over to Wrath to save themselves, and what will you do? Fight? You can’t fight without my help. Without me, you’re nothing.”
Hot tears singe my cheeks.
She’s right — I’m not capable of keeping myself safe, let alone anyone else. I’ll fall to Wrath or my friends or maybe even the Queen, forever incapable of saving myself from a deathly fate. My suicide 1,000 years ago did nothing, saved no one.
I feel pitiful in giving in to my despair. However, I don’t know how to stop myself from falling deeper into the crater opening up to swallow me down. When I’d survived my battle with Glaw, I’d believed learning more of my past, of myself, was the worst to come. Even when we’d attended Dorian’s funeral, when we sensed Wrath’s presence stirring, I told myself I could handle anything. I was a badass. I was Snow White.
I’m nothing but a blind fool!
I clamp my lids tightly shut. Too tight, the pain of it aching as I cry out into the void the two of us fill. My hopes, my dreams, all the silly fantasies Seth and I shared were just a delaying tactic, a pointless exercise in torturing me with a life I’d never live.
“You see now, don’t you, you see how hopeless you are. You can’t fight it nor can you change it, my sweet, pretty Ebony.” Her speech is a depressing comfort I cling to as I’m tossed from this blank hell-scape and back to Leo’s office.
Despite the familiar decor coming into focus, I feel less safe than I did before. At least back in the void I was only disappointing myself and not everyone else. If I’m back here, so too are the expectations placed on me.
The Queen’s defeated me. And all it took were her words.
Although she’s no longer with me, I sense her still. My mind reels, my body aches. The bruises dealt by Wrath break through to mottle my flesh as the real world solidifies.
Wrath isn’t here, but knowing that offers no relief, not when I know how it’ll all end anyway. I’ve faced doubt before, many times throughout my childhood, however it’s nothing compared to the doubts troubling me now.
It takes me awhile to will myself to move, the heaviness I’ve been left with having welded to my bones; it’ll never leave me now. It’ll always be a reminder. Making sure that I never forget the monumental way I’ll fail when the time comes.
Melancholy coloring me, my whole body deflated, I finally make my way after Leo. I doubt he’s had time to notice my absence, and even if he has, he clearly didn’t care enough to come looking. I’m not important to him, all I am is a means of him being reunited with his Queen.
I go to move, but the room slips as does my vision. I fall. Where will I end up this time…?
16
Ebony
I wake up staring at my own ceiling. Relief floods through me. I’m not in a pocket realm or a dungeon. I’m just in my room. My skin prickles when I realize that I don’t recall how I got here. I claw through my mind for even the tiniest clue, but I find nothing. I don’t remember anyone coming into the office after Rhiannon brought me back to this realm.
Whoever it was must’ve been more of a friend than they are a foe. Perhaps I fainted and Leo stumbled upon me.
I look at the clock. Only ten minutes have passed since Leo left me in his office.
I sit up in bed. Sharp pain explodes behind my eyelids as if I’ve been struck. Nausea rears up inside me. I swing my feet over the side of the bed and stand but I immediately regret that decision.
I lurch forward and catch myself on my bed frame. My body feels cold and wrong all over. My limbs w
on’t stop shaking. I see everything in double. My stomach lurches. Before I can even see straight, I’m stumbling for the bathroom. I hit my shoulder on the doorframe and grab the edge of the sink as I go down. My stomach revolts against me.
I barely reach the toilet in time.
Tears burn my eyes. I’m shaking all over. I can’t stop. It feels like someone’s twisting a knife into my gut while simultaneously slamming a stone into my temple.
I heave until there’s nothing left inside me. Even then, my body won’t stop. My stomach is nothing but an aching, hollow pit by the time I slump down onto the cool stone of the floor.
I suspect Rhiannon made the crossing from her in-between-realm to here as difficult for me as possible out of spite. She couldn’t touch me so this must’ve been the only way she was capable of hurting me.
Being in my own realm doesn’t have a high appeal to me right now, either. Wrath is here somewhere and he wants to kill me. I wonder if the others know. Leo might’ve left me on purpose so that Wrath could find me alone.
As I form the thought, I’m not convinced. Leo looked genuinely distressed by the news that students were injured. And, if Leo set all this up, why would he go to the trouble to bring me safely back to my room? If that was even his doing.
It must’ve been all Wrath’s doing. He attacked the students to ensure that I’d be left alone.
But that means he had to have known I was alone with Leo in the first place. And his window to get to me would have been very short. I don’t know enough about Wrath’s abilities to make any definitive statement.
The others can tell me more. I have to find them.
It takes me some time to get back on my feet. I wash my mouth out with water and scrub my face until the redness goes away. The last thing I want is for the other Huntsman to know something’s wrong. Though, Seth and Lucien will be able to tell after once glance at me.
Once I leave my room, it’s not hard to figure out where to go. Everyone I pass in the hallways looks pale and scared.
“Excuse me,” I reach out and touch a passing girl. “Where were those students injured.”
“How have you not heard?” She looks at me with shock. “It happened in the atrium. There was still blood on the stone when I walked by.”
I didn’t have the courage to ask if anyone died. No doubt she’d think me strange for asking. If she only knew how strange I really am.
I spot Ivora as I walk to the east wing. Her face lights up when she sees me like she wants to say something, but she looks away with a glower. I chew my bottom lip. I don’t blame her for still being upset about our argument. I wish I could make her understand but it’s just too complicated and too dangerous.
“Hey,” I say quietly.
She looks me over, lips pursed.
“Hey,” she replies after a moment of consideration.
“Did you see what happened?”
“No, but I saw the aftermath. I’m waiting for the nurse to tell me if I need to make them anything special. It was brutal. The students aren’t stable enough to move yet. They’re still in the east wing.”
“What do you know?” She walks with me
“From what I’ve heard, it was a student that did it.”
Not Wrath, then. Unless he’s been disguised as another student this whole time. I doubt he could’ve fooled the other Huntsmen like that.
“Was it a magic attack?”
“I’m not sure. There’s a lot of blood. I can’t think of how the attacker pulled it off. It had to have been between classes. That’s the only time the east wing is empty.”
“But if there was a lot of blood, wouldn’t the first victim have started screaming instantly? The attacker didn’t have much time.”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe some of your friends saw?” She suggests.
“I’m hoping they did. I want to know what happened.”
There’s still tension between us but at least we can speak to each other like things are normal. Sort of. A violent attack isn’t what I call normal. Though, now that I know who I am, maybe I should start considering it normal.
Lucien, Seth, Gabriel, and Kashton along with a gaggle of other students are already in the east wing. Several professors try to get everyone to leave but to no avail.
Seth reaches for my hand as soon as I approach him. I stand between him and Lucien. Lucien rests his hand on my shoulder.
“Where were you?” He asks. “We haven’t been able to find you. We’ve been worried.”
“Just resting,” I lie. “I came as soon as I heard. What do you know?”
Leo looks up at me when I speak. He’s bent over one of the students, a young girl in a pool of her own blood. He holds her hand and speaks to her in a low voice. She’s pale as death but her eyes are still open. The minuscule rise and fall of her chest is the only sign that she’s still alive.
Her white school shirt is stained red. From what I can tell, she’s sustained a serious wound to her abdomen. Leo uses magic to keep the bleeding under control until she can be moved. The other two students, both young men, are in similar states.
“Try not to look,” Seth warns me.
“Too late.”
He steps in front of me to block most of the carnage.
“So much damage done in such a short time,” Lucien shakes his head. “I came when I heard the first scream. I was only a few rooms away. I should’ve gotten here sooner. They were all on the floor like this. No sign of the attacker. I don’t know how they could’ve done it. I should’ve done more.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” I tell him.
“I sent someone to fetch the headmaster.” I’m not sure if he’s speaking to me or speaking affirmations to himself. “I didn’t know what else to do. I’m not a healer.”
“It’s okay,” I say.
“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Seth adds. “The only person to blame is the person who attacked them.”
Lucien nods but doesn’t say anything else.
Gabriel and Kashton are on the opposite side of the room. They haven’t made any move to join us. They haven’t even looked in my direction.
Kashton looks pale as a ghost. Gabriel keeps clenching and unclenching his fists and looking around. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looks nervous. What would he have to be nervous about? I’m about to go over and ask him myself when the nurse arrives with stretchers for the injured students. I decide it’s best to stay out of their way.
Leo and a few other professors help the nurse magically levitate the students onto the stretchers. The girl cries out in pain. Leo rushes to her side and quickly applies a pain-killing spell. The girl goes quiet. Tears leak down the side of her face.
My heart breaks for her.
“Should I put her to sleep?” Leo asks the nurse.
“I think that would be best,” she replies solemnly.
Leo works a spell with deft fingers. Within moments, the girl is sleeping peacefully. I wonder if he gave her something to dream about. He walks beside her stretcher, his brow furrowed in concern. He might serve Rhiannon, but he genuinely cares about his students.
When he walks past, his gaze meets mine. My breath catches in my throat. Unmistakable worry shines in his eyes. It’s clear to me that he knows as much about this attack as any of us do. I’m not sure if he saw the odd looks on Gabriel and Kashton’s faces. Perhaps, I’ll bring it up during our next lesson.
I hold his gaze until he has to look away. Seth squeezes my hand gently, bringing me out of my trace.
“Are you all right?” He asks.
“I don’t think so,” I say honestly. “We have to figure out who did this.”
“It could be one of Rhiannon’s minions doing her bidding,” Seth suggests.
I bite my bottom lip and say nothing. I don’t think it was Rhiannon. If it was, she would’ve taunted me about it while she had me in her in-between realm. She struck me as the sort to take credit for actions, especially if they were me
ant to terrorize me.
Leo wouldn’t have looked so shaken if this was the product of Rhiannon’s spite.
“You look like you need to lay down,” Lucien murmurs in my ear. Goosebumps tickle the back of my neck when I hear his velvety voice. I wish I knew how to control my body when I’m around him.
“Yes.” I can feel my mouth forming the words, but they don’t sound like they’re coming from me. I can’t take my eyes off the pools of blood left behind from the attack victims.
“Do you need us to walk you back to your room?” Seth asks.
“I can manage.” I feel weak again, like I might vomit.
“I’m sure you can, but I’d feel better if you had someone with you,” Seth argues and gently leads me away from the blood. Lucien walks beside me. I can tell he’s as shaken as I am. He looks like a ghost of himself.
There’s something seriously wrong happening within the walls of the school. I don’t think Wrath or Rhiannon had anything to do with this. That means there’s something else out there we need to worry about. Something deadly.
17
Leo
It’s a mess. A bloody damn mess. And in the middle of it all, she vanished. Where had Ebony been hiding up until now?
Since I last saw her, I’ve dealt with so much pain and suffering of students. The injury count is rising, my biggest fear being that a death tally will soon be needed.
Nodding as the nurses pass, I watch as stretcher after stretcher is taken to the infirmary. There’s no end of pain trapped inside of the wounded, the only reason for their silence being the deft magic I weaved. In spite of not hearing them, I know the wails that would rip from their throats if I hadn’t eased their suffering.
They’re not free from agony, only numb to it.
My eyes cautiously returning to Ebony, I give a slight motion of my head for her to join me. Not now, but once the crowd disperses. Given how shaken she looks, Seth and her other minions rushing to her in a bid to impress, I suspect I’ll be waiting for some time yet. I don’t mind, I can wait. I have much on my mind, anyway, most of it thoughts of Rhiannon and whether this could be her doing.
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