by Wendy Knight
With a unicorn.
Something in him whispered that what Eiress said was true. Maybe it was her mother, reaching him from the other side of the mirror. Who knew what crazy powers ghosts might have in this place. Eiress was the death of the Isle. To kill her would end Bloody Mary's five-hundred-year reign.
But if she died…if she left him…
"There's got to be another way, Eiress." You can't leave me. Please don't leave me.
She smiled. "I'm sure there is."
She didn't believe it. He could hear it in her voice.
"Eiress."
"No, I know. There's another way. We'll find it. But first, we have to get you back to the castle, before the moon rises again. If it hasn't already." She bit her lip and frowned, eyes straying to the darkness beyond.
"It hasn't." She had slept, but he had stayed awake to watch her sleep, count her breaths, and watch the cave entrance for nightmares. So he knew very well that the moon hadn't risen yet. Although it was difficult to tell in the Isle. The sun gave off barely more light than the moon did, and the whole place seemed to be swathed in darkness all the time.
"So… what's with the cats? I've seen demons, which I get. Ghosts, spiders, sharks. But kittens?" Again attempting to distract her.
It worked. Her face lost the pensive determination and she grinned. "This place is full of the damned's greatest fears. In a normal afterlife, I suspect it would be full of lost loved ones and watching others suffer, but not here. Here, it's heights, snakes, monsters, and kittens. Apparently fear of cats is a real thing."
Landon laughed. "You learn something new every day."
"Yes. You do. Now stop trying to delay the inevitable. We have to go back to the castle."
"Not yet. Talk to me, Eiress." In case they didn't make it back to the castle. He had to use these moments wisely. He pulled her back to him and she fitted herself against his shoulder. At her touch, his heart took off on a sprint, and again, he was amazed at her effect on him.
"Okay. What's your favorite color?"
"What?" Landon laughed. "That's…slightly random."
"I know your soul. But I know nothing about you." She twisted her head so she could peer up at him with huge brown eyes.
And who was he to refuse her? "My favorite color is blue. Dark blue, though. Not the girly powder blue they wrap babies in. What's yours?"
She blinked the huge brown eyes. "I…don't know. I haven't seen many colors for so long. But I think…" she drummed her fingers on his arm, pretending to ponder, but the mischievous smile gave her away. "I think my favorite color is also blue. But the blue of your eyes. Not that girly powder blue they wrap babies in. By the way, don't they wrap boy babies in powder blue?" She grinned like she'd won an entire debate.
"Touché. Your favorite food is corn, I think."
She lit up. "You remembered!"
"Always." He met her gaze and was lost in it. He never wanted to look away.
"What's yours?" Her voice was just a little breathless.
"My what?" For the life of him, he couldn't remember what they'd been talking about.
The grin split her face again. "Your favorite food."
"Oh." He chuckled, running his good hand through his tangled hair. "My mom's spaghetti. No one makes it like she does. Not too chunky, not too tasteless. It's the only thing she can make without burning the kitchen to the ground." The image of his mom battling fires with her handy old fire extinguisher flashed through his mind and he was suddenly hit by a wave of homesickness that nearly knocked the wind out of him.
"Tell me about her?" Eiress asked softly, her voice barely reaching him over the snapping and popping of the fire.
"My mom?"
Eiress nodded.
"She's amazing. She did her best to raise me well. I remember when I was little, and she'd pick me up each time I fell, every time I got knocked down. She'd chase down my bullies." At Eiress's raised eyebrow, he added, "I wasn't always the strapping knight in shining armor I am now."
She giggled.
"Every day when she'd drop me off at school, she'd yell, 'Be kind!' and everyone could hear her. But I didn't care. She'd sing me to sleep every night and burn my breakfast every morning. She believes in chasing dreams, risking everything, following your heart. She says these corny things like look for the helpers and be the good and don't give up and no matter how many times someone says you can't, they're wrong. She's the reason I had the courage to come here." He traced a path across her fingers, memorizing the scars. "Do you remember anything about your mother?"
Eiress tipped her head, watching his hand. "I remember a lot. The memories of my mother are what kept me from giving up so many times." She laughed softly. "Mothers, huh? I remember a song about the sunshine. She'd sing it when I was sick while she would stroke my hair away from my face. Her hands were always cold. She could never get them warm. I remember she hated ice cream but loved frosting. And she worked all the time. But she was still there when I needed her. Almost always." Her smile died. "The night I was taken, she was at work. The babysitter was asleep on the couch and my sister thought…she thought it would be fun to try this thing everyone was talking about at school. After—after I was taken, my mom kept calling—at the—at the mirror. I had to keep going to her before Mary did. Mary would have killed her. I tried to tell her to move on. But…but I guess she didn't."
"She never stopped fighting for you, Eiress. Everything she did, everything she's done, it was to save you. Your mother will not give up until you make it back." He brushed the tear that was soaking its way down her cheek.
Eiress nodded silently and leaned back against his chest.
"Back to our conversation," Landon said, twining her fingers through his. "Funniest thing Kaida has ever done?"
Eiress scrubbed her eyes and nodded. "Okay. Yeah. Umm…Oh! We were racing down the hall. There are no mirrors out there, so you couldn't have seen. Kaida wasn't watching, and he missed the corner and smashed right into the wall." A half-hearted giggle escaped her. "He folded up like an accordion. Once I made sure he wasn't broken, I couldn't stop laughing."
Landon laughed with her, relieved that she was smiling again.
"Do you have pets?"
He shook his head. "My dad's allergic to all types of fur. I had a tarantula for a while, but it scared my mom to death. She didn't sleep the entire time I had it. We finally took pity on her and got rid of it. Truthfully, I'm not a fan of spiders, either."
"Your dad wouldn't be allergic to Kaida. No fur." Eiress tickled the little dragon under his chin. "What do you do for fun? On the other side of the mirror."
"Fun. Fun. Well, I play football every chance I get. I'm the wide receiver on my high school team."
"Wide receiver?"
"Oh. Yeah. Wide receiver catches the ball and runs like hell." He winked and she blushed.
"What else?"
"Well, homework because my parents seem to think I should get good grades and go to college, you know. Make something of myself." He leaned his head back against the rough wall of the cave. "Also, I work at my mom's antique store, which mostly means I dust stuff. A lot. There are a lot of creepy dolls that come through there." He shuddered.
"Hey!" She practically squealed. "There are creepy dolls that come through here, too!"
"And you thought we had nothing in common."
She shrugged playfully. "Now that we've discovered that, we have to go back to the castle. We're out of time, Landon." Standing, she winced a little and grabbed her wounded head. Then she gathered herself and reached her hands out to his.
"Are you sure? I kinda like it in here. No bad guys trying to eat me, no cliffs to fall off. And," He winked, taking her hands, "you're here."
She rolled her eyes. "Very funny. You aren't going to stay trapped in this land forever. You have a way home and—"
"I meant it, Eiress. I came here to rescue you, and I'm not leaving without you. I promised your mother, and I keep my promises."
&n
bsp; She sighed. "Of course you do." But it was an endearing sigh, and he loved her for it.
Landon rose to his feet and held a hand out for Kaida. The little dragon scurried up his arm, across his shoulder and leapt to Eiress. She smiled up at Landon. "He likes me."
"He's not the only one," Landon said quietly.
She sucked in a breath, her eyes dancing. "Good."
LEAVING THE SAFETY OF the cave was hard. In the cave, she'd had Landon. He was there with her, a light, a warmth, and he was all hers. But leaving the cave and going back to the castle, to Elizabeth and Mary and Vlad and the ball, the gates of hell, and her newfound destiny…
It was terrifying.
And she could lose him at any second. Eventually, she would lose him. Somehow, she had to come to terms with that, because he was going back through the mirror, and unless they pulled someone else through to take Eiress's place—a reprehensible act that she would not do—she could not go with him.
But his journey had not been worthless. He'd freed her of her chains, yes, but he'd also given her beautiful memories to hold on to when she couldn't stand the darkness anymore. When he was gone.
She held tightly to his hand this time, as they made their way back down the mountain. The sun sank in the sky, too quickly. Unless they ran, they wouldn't make it, and that was assuming there were no nightmares to attack them along the way.
The only problem was Landon. He was in no shape to run. He could barely walk steadily.
You'll never make it. He'll be trapped here. With you.
And would that be so bad? Even this place, with Landon in it, could be a home, couldn't it?
She let herself dream of that until they made it to the valley floor, and then she had to give it up. She'd lost her family. She couldn't ask him to give up his. He had parents who obviously loved him—and whom he obviously adored, as well. The smile on his face when he spoke of his mother told her that well enough. He had an innocence, like he'd not been exposed to the horrors of real life. His parents had protected him, and she couldn't take him away from that.
"Do you have brothers and sisters?" she asked quietly as they fought their way through the thorns surrounding the mountains.
"No," he answered just as quietly, clearly realizing that to make noise would bring the nightmares. "My parents were never able to have more. I'm it."
Her decision was sealed with his words. Hope died with it.
But he could never know that. She forced a smile and prayed the weak light of the sun didn't show him how false it was. I have to let him go.
Before she let him go, though, she had to get him back to the mirror. "Do you think you can run?" she asked, because they were free of the thorns.
He'd been staring at the ground in front of them, focusing on placing one foot in front of the other. He raised his head, and the look on his face clearly said he couldn't. But this boy, he seemed to not know the word can't. She watched him gather his strength, pulling from deep within his soul, and he nodded. "Yes."
Eiress checked to make sure Kaida was holding on tightly, and without releasing Landon's hand, she started to run. He ran with her, keeping pace but not easily. It hurt him, she could hear it in his breathing, feel the pain emanate from his soul, as she'd done a thousand times through the mirror. She might not know all his hopes and dreams and fears, but she knew his soul.
That told her everything she needed.
She watched the sun sink lower and the shadows grow longer. The castle loomed in the distance, seemingly drenched in blood and darkness. She stumbled to a stop, and Landon gratefully stopped next to her, dropping to one knee. "Are you alright?" she asked, crouching next to him.
He nodded but didn't say anything, breathing hard. When he raised his head, his face was white, his lips pulled tight with pain. She didn't have to be a doctor to know that he was done running.
Eiress had spent a lifetime learning to protect herself, to take care of herself. She didn't know what to do now, to save him. Especially when half her soul was begging to keep him there with her.
The sun sank lower.
"The monsters…" Landon gasped.
Eiress looked up, away from his pain-filled eyes, past his wild, dark hair. He'd seen them before she had.
Now they were surrounded.
"It's okay. I'll—I'll take care of them. Just stay still."
He nodded, but as soon as she had turned her back on him to face this new threat, she heard him climbing to his feet, and she almost smiled, thinking again that can't wasn't in his vocabulary.
The nightmares inched closer. She saw a clown with long, sharp teeth. She saw a Taraxippus, claws reaching for her soul. There were shadow demons and grotesque animals with jaws gaping and red, glowing eyes. Too many for her to fight alone.
"You're not alone," Landon said quietly by her side. "I'm here, Eiress."
She glanced at him sideways and nodded, fear making her throat tight. She searched through the depths of her courage, searching for the strength that would protect them. As the nightmares leaped, anxious for their blood, as Kaida uncurled from her arm and blew little flames, as Landon raised his club…
She found it.
She screamed, like a banshee, and it echoed through the night. The monsters shattered, raining down like shards of black night. Those not torn apart tried to run, with their sharp claws and sharp teeth and terrified hearts.
Eiress went after them.
She had to clear a path to the castle. There was no more time for stops. Landon wasn't going to make it unless she did everything in her power to get them there safely, and this was in her power.
Kaida dropped from her arm and ran back toward Landon, but Eiress kept running, kept screaming, feeling the power radiating from her in waves, watching from outside herself as the nightmares burst into black and gray flames.
And finally, when the path was clear, the nightmares realized what she could do and scrambled to get far, far away from her, or maybe to find bigger nightmares to come after her with. She didn't know, but finally, she felt her soul quiet, and the screaming stopped, and she turned and ran back to Landon.
At first, she thought he was just resting. That's what her desperate mind tried to make her believe. He was hurt, and he was resting. But Kaida was running the length of Landon in panicked circles, screeching, breath coming in smoky gasps.
Eiress fell to her knees next to him. "Landon? Landon?" she whispered, because that was all her voice would give her.
The nightmares.
The nightmares had gotten him.
While she'd chased down their brothers, they'd circled around and gone after Landon.
Heart in her throat, she rolled him over, onto his back, and cradled his head in her lap. "Landon? Please, please…please?"
"It's…it's okay, Eiress." Landon gasped, and blood, red blood like hers and not gray and black like everything here, spilled from the corner of his lips and traced its way to his jaw. "But I have to tell you…before you go…"
"No! Landon, I'm not leaving you! You'll be okay. We just have to—we just have to—" Have to what? What could she do?
"Eiress, I love you. I've always…loved…you. Go…through the—the mirror. Take my—my place." His eyes slid closed.
"Landon! Landon, no! Come back, please—please don't leave me." She bent her head over his, her long red hair falling around them like a curtain, like she could block the world out and keep him here with her.
But she couldn't.
She'd left him, high on her own power, and now he was dead, and it was all her fault.
His soul, his beautiful, bright soul, it did not belong in a place like this, but now it was doomed here.
Forever.
EIRESS STAYED LIKE THAT, CURLED AROUND him on the cold, damp ground, for hours. The sun sank, the moon rose, and then the sun followed it. She could feel the frenzied energy of the souls, and realized belatedly that Elizabeth and Mary would not have opened the gate. The lost spirits had been granted
a night's reprieve, and they were growing in strength. Another night like that, and they might try to overthrow the castle. They might break Mary's spell and attack her royal court.
Eiress couldn't seem to care.
She cried until there were no more tears, and her eyes burned so badly she couldn't keep them open. She relived every moment with him, in the short time they'd had, every conversation, every touch. When those were burned into her memory, never to be forgotten, she went back further, to every time she'd felt him at the mirror, every time he'd lent her his strength, every time he'd soothed her with his compassion.
And now he was gone, and she didn't know what to do without him.
There was no hope left. No light. Nothing.
She realized, as the sun started to set again, that her hair was no longer red. It had turned black, and she wasn't even sure when.
She leaned up on an elbow, used her skirts to wipe the blood from his face. She brushed his brown hair back from his forehead, and gently kissed everywhere her fingers touched. His eyes, his cheeks, his cold, cold mouth. And she decided she would stay here with him, always.
Likewise, Kaida hadn't moved from Landon's chest, as if he thought keeping Landon's heart warm would make it beat again. She'd never seen Kaida cry before, but tears soaked the tiny dragon's scales now, and tremors shook the little body. "It's my fault," Eiress whispered. Her voice shocked her—it sounded old, and raspy. Like Mary's. Like brittle leaves rolling across a desert wash.
This was what she became, without Landon.
Another night spent sobbing, unable to move, unable to find the will to do anything but stay by Landon's side.
Another night of the lost souls gaining power.
It wasn't until the morning that she truly realized how much danger she was putting the world in. If the souls found a way to fight back, or…or escape…or whatever they seemed to be trying to do, Landon's parents would be in danger. Her mother was dead, but maybe her brother—maybe her brother Kaida—was still alive. She had to open the gates. And then she would blow them to pieces so no one could ever close them again.
Then, she'd go after the castle, and Mary.