Ablaze - Book 4 (The Enchanted Castle Series)

by Chrissy Peebles

  “You would kill a child to reclaim the life taken from you by your own greedy actions,” she chastised, lifting us to our feet, the teardrop pendant hanging around our neck.

  We kicked the blade away and watched it skid across the floor, clatter against the wall, and King Geoffrey let out an odious, grinding cry from the depths of the principal, a wild, unearthly sound that didn’t seem like any a man would make.

  “You can’t imagine how long I’ve waited for this opportunity,” she continued, examining the form we inhabited, running our hands over our face. “My poor granddaughter. There’s no excuse to treat a child this way.”

  Distantly, I was aware of a clock striking midnight, and I watched as the principal, possessed by King Geoffrey’s energy and the strength that came with it, dashed across the room and vaulted the desk to sweep up the dagger.

  “Do you trust me?” asked Isabella.

  Because she was using my body, it took me a few seconds to recognize that she was actually asking me. “Yes! I trust you,” I cried.

  She nodded as King Geoffrey charged toward us with a snarl. She spread my hands and allowed him to bury the dagger directly in my heart, then lifted my hands to hold his tight grip there, just inches from my chest. The pain of the penetration was more intense than anything I’d ever felt; I literally felt my heart stop upon the blade entry. Gasping out a breath that I was sure to be my last, my mouth fell open with the pain.

  “I know,” she said, gripping tighter the principal’s hand.

  She pulled, and I saw the black begin to gather in our hands, swarming into my vision. The blood streaked down the blade, and the necklace upon my breast began to glow, even brighter still when the blood bloomed up, crawling the fabric of my blouse to stain the surface of the gem. The instant they touched, we were blown away by an explosive light, even brighter than the illumination that had cleared the hallucinatory wall from the basement. I understood then, more clearly than I’d ever understood anything before, why Isabella had joined me in my body.

  The necklace lost power when it was separated from its spirit and gained it upon the reunion. Twice, it had been separated from that spirit, and twice rejoined. What I saw—or didn’t see, rather—in the instance of that flash was the true, original power of the necklace, the very same power King Geoffrey had perverted to his own ends, the power he’d used to seal the souls and the bricks of the castle, the power of containment.

  With a violent, anguished cry, I could feel King Geoffrey being drawn into the necklace; I was fully aware of it even as I fell to my knees. The knife seemed to work itself free from my chest now that the principal’s body had collapsed. Weakened, I fell all the same, barely having the strength to recognize the violent rattling that seemed to overtake the castle. In the chaos, I barely had the clarity of mind to pay any attention to the teardrop-shaped blue gemstone of my necklace, to notice that it was now tainted with an inky black that mimicked the infinite nothingness of deep space. As the floor beneath my feet shuddered with what felt like a violent earthquake, I looked up to see the spectral dimension overlaid upon the fleshly one. With a deep, wet breath, I watched in awe as the connection between the two shifted further and further apart.

  “Zoey!” William cried joyously from the window that looked out from ground level, “Zoey, come and see!”

  Clutching my heart, which I had yet to realize was no longer bleeding, I watched in tearful amazement as hundreds of beings, more than I’d even known to be trapped, began to float upward, awestruck, from the castle. Some were holding hands, and others were embracing one another. Some cried, and others laughed, but all of them were finally free, and that brought tears to my eyes.

  It was not William’s hand upon my shoulder that stirred me from that beautiful sight; rather, it was a gentle touch from Isabella, and I turned to find them both standing behind me, with bittersweet expressions on their faces.

  I reached up to touch, to the best of my ability, the spirit of her hand. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done, for all the ways you’ve helped me.”

  “You’re welcome, but we should be thanking you, my dear.”

  “Yes, Zoey,” said William with a warm, gentle smile. “Thank you. We’ve waited for this day for a long time.” He glanced away, and when he turned back to me, I noticed, with a laugh of amazement, a tear in his eye. “You know, I might actually miss you a little, but look what you’ve made me do! Men are not supposed to cry.”

  “I’ll miss you,” I told him, “but I’m so happy. You’re finally free, my friend.”

  “Yes, well, we mustn’t lose touch entirely, my dear. If you wish to speak to me, please use that game board. Please don’t summon me right away though,” he said with a little smirk, wiping the back of his hand across his face. “I haven’t waited centuries to leave this dimension, only to be dragged back into it just because you cannot live without my handsome face and witty conversation.”

  “I won’t,” I said, laughing.

  He nodded and opened his mouth to say something else, but his mouth produced no sound, and he simply patted me on the top of the head instead. Then, with the phantom touch of his hand, William vanished from my sight.

  Isabella smiled at me. “Go live your life to the fullest, luv. You have so much to live more. I’ll be watching you from above. Always know that.”

  I smiled as she blew me a kiss and disappeared.

  My chest ached, but I was sure that between the newfound powers of the necklace and the influence of Isabella, the damage that had been necessary to activate it was steadily being undone. I glanced at the body of the principal, and, overcome with panic, rushed to his side, then gently shook him by the shoulders. “Principal Rowens? Please! Are you there? Can you hear me? Please wake up,” I said, my throat tightening with worry. “We can’t have anyone else dying over this, not because of me. Please, please wake up.”

  As I patted his face, he slowly came around, and when his eyes twitched open, I took a deep breath of relief and laughed. “Z-Zoey?” he mumbled, wincing. He tried to sit up and looked at me in confusion, holding his head as if he had the worst hangover of all time. “Wh-what happened?”

  “It’s okay now,” I told him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Listen. Can you feel it? The stillness.”

  He paused, and neither of us said a word.

  I closed my eyes and grinned. Yes, silence, beautiful silence. It was a quietness like none I’d heard since I’d arrived at the school. Even better, though, beneath it stirred an utter peace. All those spirits had finally been put to rest, set free after centuries of confinement, generations of the dead set loose to their destination. Though my mother had always warned me to avoid pride, I couldn’t help taking some satisfaction in that successful mission. I didn’t say so, but I certainly felt like a hero. I also felt very, very tired.

  “King Geoffrey is gone,” Mr. Rowens observed, breaking the silence after a time.

  I clutched the necklace. “Not quite, but he’s trapped. He won’t be able to hurt anyone else, so long as we keep him locked up tight in here.”

  The principal nodded dumbly, and his eyes began to water. “I’m so sorry, Zoey. I don’t even know what I can possibly do or say. No excuse or explanation could make sense of this.”

  “You changed your mind,” I said. “In the end, you tried to do the right thing. King Geoffrey is more powerful than anyone could imagine. When a spirit is so full of hate, it can be impossible to resist his will.”

  “Perhaps, but a weak will is no excuse.”

  I squeezed his shoulder a little tighter. “Well, I don’t mean to get your hopes up, but now that you’re free from his influence, “you might start to recover. You touched the stone, and it has healing properties.”

  “How do you know?”

  “William told me. The stone has all kinds of magical properties. It can act as a power source. It can heal. And it can give a person the energy to travel between worlds.”

  Relieved, he n
odded, and more tears filled his eyes. “What a magnificent stone. I can’t believe it can heal. Even if that’s not the case, I can go to my end knowing I tried to do right.”

  “Yes, you can,” I said, “and I commend you for that.”

  Hunter, Eric, Pam, and Shantal hurried into the temple, their eyes wide with shock.

  “Zoey!” Hunter shouted. “I had a vision King Geoffrey took over your body.”

  “It’s true,” I said.

  As soon as Shantal saw me, she paled and averted her gaze, which only drew a knowing chuckle from me.

  “Wait! It’s really me, Zoey!” I said as she rolled her eyes.

  She stopped in her tracks and looked at me quizzically, then arched her eyebrow. When she recognized the familiarity behind my eyes, she leapt in place. She darted over to me and asked, “Zoey? Is it really, really you and not that king?”

  “Yes!” I laughed again and hugged her tight, relieved to feel the solidity of another person, especially one of my best friends. She was so warm and so soft, just so real. I could hardly believe it was happening, and I found myself biting back tears I didn’t wish to cry; I’d leaked far too many in the past month alone, and I didn’t want my cheeks stained with those salty rivers anymore. I hugged the others as well, and nothing felt more wonderful.

  “Oh,” Pam said as she leaned away, her expression of joy fading just a little, “your necklace.”

  Nodding, I reflexively touched it. “King Geoffrey.”

  “He’s trapped!?”

  “For good…I hope.” Anxiety clutched my throat as I considered how difficult it would be to keep him contained for eternity. No matter how careful I was in instructing future generations, I was certain that someone would screw up at some point in time, and then they’d have to deal with the consequences, a furious ghost even angrier than he was before his capture. Nevertheless, that was a fear for the future, and there was nothing I could do about it in the present. It would be out of my hands when it was finally time for me to depart the Earth, but until I took my last breath, I could educate my children and keep the necklace secure from harm.

  “What happened?” she asked, and I filled everyone in, between all their “ooh’s” and “ah’s.” Pam was like an excited little girl listening to a bedtime fairytale, though my story was far too real. Both Pam and I were relieved that it had a happy ending, at least for the time being.

  I then jumped into Hunter’s arms. “How did you know where to find me?” I asked after he freed me from a powerful kiss.

  “It was weird. I kept having these visions of you on an altar, so I gathered up the gang, and we came to check it out. There was this earthquake or something, so I knew something was going on. Are you okay?”

  “Your psychic abilities are really kicking in,” I said. “I’m fine now though. I was on the altar, and King Geoffrey possessed my body, but I got it back.”

  “I can’t believe it wasn’t you all this time.”

  “No, baby, it wasn’t. I was in ghost form, somewhere else. That was the king being so mean to all of you.”

  “Whoa,” Eric said, shaking his head. “I knew something was off.”

  “Yeah,” Pam said. “I should’ve known when you didn’t steal my French fries during lunch something was wrong.”

  I couldn’t help laughing at their banter, and I felt better because of it. I was beginning to realize that my friends were the best medicine of all. “Remember when that bracelet fell on the floor?” I asked Hunter.

  “Yeah. Why?” he said, his eyes glittering with curiosity.

  “That was me, trying to communicate with you.”

  “Oh! I’m so sorry. I thought it was a demon tormenting me.”

  “Nope, just little ol’ me.”

  “I really didn’t know, or else I would have… I’m sorry I yelled for you to get out.”

  I touched his cheek. “I know. It’s okay. I’m back now, and the spirits are released. Mission complete!” I said, then went on to explain everything to them as they listened in wide-eyed amazement.

  “That’s good to know,” Pam said. “That other you told me my blue dress makes me look like a cow.”

  “Yeah. She was always in a bad moooood,” Eric punned.

  Folding her arms, tapping her foot, and rolling her eyes at him again, Pam said, “Hey, no more cow jokes.”

  “Sorry, babe. I know my jokes are udderly cheesy, but you shouldn’t have a beef with me over it.”

  “Ugh,” Pam said, slapping her forehead. “Tell me, can you lock this one up in a necklace too?”

  “I second that,” Hunter said.

  “Me too,” said Shantal.

  “Hey! I’m right steer, you know!” Eric spoke up, beaming with pride at his own wit, which none of us found humorous.

  Laughing, we all joined in a group hug.

  Chapter 19

  The following morning, the whole school was abuzz with talk about the earthquake, especially since it had shaken everyone awake during the night. I, on the other hand, was less eager to talk about it; while everyone else was talking about tremors falling bricks, I was too busy relishing the fact that I’d been able to sleep like one, for the first time in longer than I could remember.

  The next few days felt like being caught in some sort of blissful dream, so much so that I often checked to see if I was really awake, rereading the clock and pinching myself to make sure I was actually in reality instead of some lucid, hopeful fantasy. It was a little sad, in a way, as I often found myself missing Isabella. I even missed William’s dryly annoying mannerisms. Still, it was of great comfort to know they were free.

  Soon, we were all gathered in the common room, happily chatting about homework and watching movies on one of our laptops, more appreciative than ever for one another’s company.

  Hunter smiled and pulled me into a hug, sensing that I was still quite shaken about all the recent events, in spite of my decent night’s sleep. “It’s all right,” he said, pulling me tight against his chest. “We’re getting our happily-ever-after after all.”

  Better yet, Mr. Geo’s suspension was up. He returned with no fanfare, not even acknowledging his disappearance until I asked him about it in his office during lunch. “The principal found the gem and medallion in my locked desk,” he said. “I don’t know if it was King Geoffrey’s doing or if Rowens just searched every faculty office until he found it. Either way, it’s a small price to pay for such a great cause,” he said with a casual shrug, pleased and relieved that the spirits had been freed.

  “An incredible cause!” I parroted. I beamed at him and asked, “What do you think you’ll do now?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said, smiling faintly. “Maybe I’ll go back to archeology. There is a dig in Egypt that Debra and I would like to join. She looks quite adorable in khakis and safari hat,” he said, winking.

  * * *

  My final month at Tiker Castle was uneventful and beautiful. My perspective on the place completely flip-flopped. Whereas I’d felt trapped and endangered before, when the end of the school year arrived, I sometimes felt I did not really want to leave. All that had happened had made me so much stronger, helped me to grow into my own person.

  Mr. Geo was able to transfer King Geoffrey’s spirit from my necklace to one of his ancient artifacts. It was an enchanted ‘prison’ box. Mr. Geo would bury the box deep in the earth and the king would be stuck in the box for all of eternity. So I was glad I got my necklace back. It was a special heirloom and I’d hate to think I couldn’t wear it anymore because a king was being held prisoner inside of it.

  Mr. Rowens had been healed from his cancer, and Mr. Geo was sure that had something to do with the sapphire energy. In one of the ancient texts, we learned that the blue, softball-sized gem did have some healing properties, and it worked a whole lot better than chemo. Mr. Rowens didn’t get his wish of becoming immortal, but it bought him another twenty or thirty years. I couldn’t be too angry at him, and I learned to forgive him. A
fter all, without his scandalous plot, I wouldn’t have ever met Isabella or had the chance to help her or the other castle spirits. I also wouldn’t have met so many wonderful friends in that place, nor would I have found the love of my life. Most of all, I never would have discovered the truth about my past and my heritage or the necklace draped around my neck.

  Mr. Rowens called me to his office, and this time, hearing my name over the loudspeaker didn’t make me anxious. Now that he was free of King Geoffrey’s influence, he was not quite as intimidating, and it helped that some of his color had returned as his illness released its hold on him.

  “Go right on in, honey,” the secretary said, smiling at me.

  I walked in and shut the door.

  “There are a few souvenirs I would like you to take home with you to the States, young lady,” the principal said.

  I cocked a brow. “What?”

  He walked to the other side of the room and motioned to the portrait of Isabella, the same one I’d found in the attic when I first arrived, the picture of her dressed in a crown and an equally stunning gown.

  “It’s so gorgeous,” I said.

  “I’m glad you think so, because it’s all yours now.”

  Excitement flooded through me. “Thank you.”

  “Also, there is this.” With that, he reached for a box and handed it to me.

  I jiggled the box around and looked inside it, only to discover the crown and other mementos. “Oh. I-I can’t take this, Mr. Rowens,” I said. “These are precious artifacts, far too valuable for a girl like—”

  “Nonsense. These belong to your family, and you are rightfully entitled to them.”