The Wildest Woods

by S. K Munt

  ‘Because of my ability, of course. Satan has been waiting for you to take her hand for a very long time, and she thinks that the history that is being made right now will end up being as significant to the world as God’s Armageddon was. Last time history was made telling the story of good versus evil, the people that recorded it and turned those recollections into the Six Books Of Creation got a lot of stuff wrong, just as the ones that wrote the Bible and the Quran did in the time before. Because this is not the first time that mankind has proven that they are capable of living by ‘the’ book, she wants another book written this time, one that tells an unabridged version of whatever goes down. And who better to record the whole truth, than a man that people cannot hide their truths from?’

  I stepped back, wings unfurling as that flight or flight reflex kicked in again. ‘So everything I do until I accomplish what she wants is going to be recorded by you via you digging around inside my head?’

  ‘Not everything,’ he assured me, ‘only what is relevant to your odyssey. That is why she said that I can go after them instead, you see? She is convinced that they will do as much evil as you will good from hereon out, and she’d be just as content for me to record that as she would be for me to follow you. So long as she ends up, you know- looking good.’

  ‘So long as she ends up looking like a superior deity to God,’ I realised, and then groaned and turned away. ‘All right I get what she’s up to and I see why you’ve agreed to it, but if it’s all the same to her, why don’t you go give Kohl Barachiel the mother of all migraines for the next few years, hmm? Between him and Amelia-Rose Choir, you’ll end up with the juiciest, filthiest story in history!’

  ‘Because it’s not all the same to me,’ he said emphatically. ‘There are more people in Calliel and because they count themselves as pious, I can’t very well tell them what I am and get them all to wear amber for our mutual benefit, can I? So I’ll be subjected to everyone’s thoughts if I go there, and I can usually only blend into an unguarded crowd for ten minutes at a time before that headache that I give you turns back on me with a vengeance anyway, you see? But at least here with these other misfits, I can be honest about what I am without fear of persecution, and that honesty allows me to help them keep a mental guard up against me so it’s a win all-round.’

  ‘For everyone except for me, you mean,’ I griped, clenching that rock again. ‘My mind is a door you plan on repeatedly knocking on, yes?’

  ‘Well, yes…’ He pressed his hands together in a prayer position when I flinched and looked away. ‘Look I understand why you’re upset and I don’t like having to do this either but now that I’ve seen inside your head, I know that I can not only tolerate you, but that I can also help you, if you let me! Wouldn’t that be great?’

  ‘Help me?’ I walked to the other side of the rocky shelf, forcing a path through the mist that I hoped would close between us. ‘That thing you do doesn’t tickle, you know, and it’s incredibly intrusive!’

  ‘I know…’ I heard him follow me as dirt and ice crunched beneath his boots, ‘but if you allow me to stay by your side a lot I won’t have to go into your mind as often, will I? Because I’ll have a clear view of what’s going on from a front row seat without needing to intrude on your thoughts as much, get it?’ A wolf howled in the distance but we both ignored it. ‘I won’t have that opportunity with the Barachiels, even if I could get into Eden, because they’re far too guarded and thanks to your reign of terror, they’re going to be on high alert for dark Nephilim forever now, and if I’m found out…’ he turned me back to face him so that I could see the desperation in his eyes, grasping my upper arms tightly and forcing me to empathise with him the way he claimed that other people unfairly forced him to do the same. ‘Larkin… just think of what they’d do to me if I was found out!’

  If he’s found out before he gets his soul back and killed… his own story will end- badly.

  ‘I don’t know-’

  ‘Please? I really don’t want to go to Eden and am fairly sure that I will end up dead if I do- so that’s why I came to feel you out first. Yes Bastien knows what I am and he hates the idea of me causing you pain, but he also likes the idea of me representing you honestly, and so he has opened his mind to me so I could see all that he has seen in the past day. If he can do that, can’t you?’

  My heart folded. ‘So he really is in on this nightmare?’

  ‘Yes, but only because he thinks it will benefit you.’ The boy let me go when he saw my wings drop in resignation. ‘That will be where my record starts- at midnight last night after you came back to consciousness- and I swear that if you are as open with me as he was, I will stay out of your thoughts at all other times.’ He held out his hands. ‘And if you don’t agree for the sake of my soul, just think about what I can do for you! You’re going to have to try and turn that mob in there into a community, right? Well I can help you do that! Dishonest people are the Achilles of every kingdom Larkin, so if I police the dishonest ones that you have here then think of how much easier your job will be!’

  ‘I don’t have a job!’ I cried. ‘That would imply that I have an agenda but I don’t! I have a prophecy to try and live up to, and a vague one at best that apparently changes every minute!’

  ‘But-’

  ‘No, it’s MY turn to talk!’ I ranted, shaking his hands off as he reached for me again. ‘You and Satan and Bastien are all starry-eyed to think of where I could get us over the next few years but I quite literally can’t see two feet in front of me right now! I’m probably going to make a fool of myself and yet you want my permission to keep tabs on it so you can set up a running commentary on my satanic coddiwomple? Ugh! It’d be one thing if you were nice but you’re already admitted to being a soulless monster so what’s in this for me, huh? Besides, I don’t even know your name!’

  The boy smiled. ‘My name is Sam, Samuel McIntyre and who says I’m not nice?’

  I raised an eyebrow. ‘You said that it’s impossible for you to be kind. In fact, you’ve referred to yourself as a soulless monster that’s been doing Satan’s dirty work for her… so what part of that sounds like a glowing recommendation to you?’

  He shrugged. ‘Kind is a state of mind, but nice is a way of acting. I can act as nice as anyone else, considering that I know how to fake it well when required- and that’s all that most apparently nice people are doing, you know- putting on a disguise. I can be incredibly charming, but the only reason why I didn’t come at you all smiles and compliments is because after looking inside your head, I knew that you’d likely breathe fire at me if you suspected for even a second that I was interested in anything but your mind.’ He made another face. ‘And because I figured it was best to tell you the truth while the night was young- because the longer Bastien and I hid my gift from you, the angrier you’d be when you found out about it.’

  ‘You’re right on both counts,’ I crossed my arms across my chest, ‘but I’m still angry, Sam. You refer to having emotional scars, but I don’t know any specifics- whereas you know all of mine. If I feel this violated after one day with you, how am I going to feel after two, or three?’

  ‘Less violated than you did in Eden, I should hope,’ Sam said, his disposition sobering as his eyes darkened. He stepped closer to me, and I flushed hotly, knowing that if he got too close he would be pleading the rest of his case with singed eyebrows. ‘If you work with me, I can make damned sure that you’re never violated again.’

  ‘Wh-what do you mean?’ I asked, tightening my hold on the rock when he stepped closer still.

  ‘You’re a beautiful girl, Larkin…’ he said softly, and the urge to shoot sparks intensified inside me as he stepped more into my personal space while dragging those bright eyes over me. ‘I wasn’t lying when I said that before. I would not hesitate to take you to my bed, and I don’t think there’s a man inside that camp that would. However-’ he held his finger up when I bared my teeth, ‘I would never force myself upon you and I can expose
any man that would contemplate it. Imagine how much peace of mind that will bring you, hmm?’ He stepped back and gestured to the opaque air again. ‘Imagine how much more soundly you’ll sleep knowing that all of the truly bad man have been weeded out of the community!’

  I narrowed my eyes at him, though he had a point. Still... ‘Well what about you, huh? How do I know that you’re not capable of attacking me now that you’ve admitted to finding me attractive?’

  ‘Do you think Satan would have sent me along if she thought there was even a chance that I would?’ he asked, incredulous. ‘I’m here to work off a debt, not to accumulate a larger one by raping her only living child. Besides, a life without a soul is a life without passion. You might not believe that I wouldn’t jump you, but I can swear to you that I am the only man in this world that cannot fall in love with you and believe me when I say, that makes me a hell of a lot less dangerous to you than every other man that will ever cross your path will be!’

  My fingertips tingled, but this time it was due to a rush of relief. ‘I believe you,’ I said quickly, and it was his turn to look surprised. ‘If I learned anything in that castle, it was that the most dangerous men in the world are men that believe that they are in love.’ I stood taller, and felt my wings begin to go numb in a way that told me that they were folding away. ‘Okay, I think I can come to terms with this, but before I agree I want to know how you made yourself look like an old man. You said your only power is in the mind but-’

  ‘It’s a magical cloak. It allows the person wearing it to assume whatever identity they want.’

  I blinked. ‘Where did you get such a thing?’

  Sam turned away and gestured towards the opening in the tunnel. ‘I stole it from someone in Asiana. I had no idea what it could do until about a year later and so no, I have no idea how it was made.’

  I cringed as I walked past him and into the darkness again, hoping it wasn’t a symbolic moment. ‘You really are a bad person, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Can I borrow the cloak sometime?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘What stuff have you done for Satan?’

  ‘I’d rather not talk about it.’

  ‘Fine… then can you tell me more about the mermaids?’

  ‘Has anyone ever told you that you ask a lot of questions?’

  ‘And the witches?’

  ‘They’ll tell you all about themselves if you ask.’

  ‘Did you ever want to be a pirate?’

  ‘My guess is that I’m going to regret not going to Calliel instead...’

  ‘Hey Sam… guess what finger I’m mentally holding up?’

  ‘This one?’

  ‘I think I’m going to end up setting you on fire.’

  ‘I think I’m going to be grateful for it when you do…’

  Even though we were in the darkness, I was fairly certain that we were both smiling for the first time in a very long time, and I also found myself wondering if souls were overrated.

  8.

  Eden Palace, City of Arcadia

  Kohén Barachiel

  As far as I knew I’d only been a prince for less than a day and I hated it. HATED it. Everything about being in Eden made my skin crawl and strangely, everything about my identical twin made me wish he’d come out as a fraternal one instead, because then I wouldn’t have to see myself doing and saying so many things that irritated me.

  It was a horrible thing to think about someone, especially someone who was clearly bending over backwards to help me out, but something about Kohl was so off that it was decomposing, and worse than that was the fact that I had no idea what it was. Well, some version of me did know- the Kohén that was curled up in a foetal position under a trapdoor in my mind probably understood exactly why I was so repelled by my own twin... but that Kohén wasn’t stepping up to take his life back and so I was stuck living it for him and I didn’t know what to do about my conflicted feelings. How was it possible for me to feel so numb towards everyone, but so irritated by my twin brother?

  Kohl’s smile was bothering me, and the strange thing was that it was bothering me because it wasn’t like mine. His mouth and his eyes were identical mine as far as the shape and colour went, but the way he used them was very different, so different that it amazed me that people struggled to tell the difference between us. His smile seemed unanchored- nervous and jittery. One moment he would be scowling off into space, lost in some private outrage and the next, he’d flash a mega-watt grin at someone just because they’d entered the room. He had lots of different smiles too- a repertoire of them- and I seemed to get more varieties than anyone else did. Others got a sad, bittersweet smile or that blinding one but I got smirks, sneers, grins and most annoying of all- this lip-wetting thing that he did before he finally gave me that blinding one… like he was warming the smile up, or something- working on it but only after careful consideration. It unnerved me every time that he smiled at me, but those broad, bright ones were the worst because I knew they were powered by some joke that he was in on with the other Kohén that this Kohén was completely befuddled by.

  To be fair, Kohl seemed like a pleasant enough kid, and he’d been nothing but helpful and respectful to everyone all day, but he was a little bit too composed in the light of all of the tragedy that we had suffered as a family for my liking. Oh Karol was putting on a big, tough front but everyone knew it was a front, even me, so no one was whispering about how ‘well’ he was taking things because it was plain that he wasn’t… but Kohl seemed almost at ease with the entire situation- like everything was going to be just fine if we kept our heads. He was as determined to catch that Larkin girl as Karol was, but he didn’t seem upset by our father’s death as a son ought to be.

  As I ought to be.

  One of the Companion girls had quickly whispered to me that he and our father had not been as close as Karol and I had been with the king, so it wasn’t so shocking that he was suffering less than Karol was, but that didn’t make me feel any better about anything. Why hadn’t they gotten along? Why had he hated our mother too? That same Companion had told me that while Elijah had favoured me, Constance had favoured Kohl… so why had he been able to rabbit punch her earlier that morning like it was nothing?

  That had been the definite low-point of the day- seeing my mother seemingly rise from the dead, only to be put into a coma by my twin in the blink of an eye. I’d freaked out and had practically sprinted for the door, determined to declare to anybody within earshot that my twin brother was a fucking lunatic, but he’d shut me up real quick by explaining that he’d done that for both of our sakes, but mainly mine. I could not forget that she’d revealed herself to be a dark Nephilim that night, and I had to keep in mind that if the rest of the kingdom found out about that, then we’d probably be put to death for having dark blood in our own veins.

  Then he’d delivered another blow by explaining to me that I’d been the one to knock her out, and that he’d only taken responsibility for it because he knew that I would more likely be charged for attempted murder of my own damned mother if it came to light that I’d hit a woman in anger, instead of people thinking that he’d shoved her while defending me. Then, just as I was ready to throw myself into the fireplace and finish what Larkin had started and with good reason, he’d reminded me that both mother and Larkin Whittaker were the evil ones in this scenario- that they’d both been playing mind games with me since I’d been a little kid, and that I should not be held responsible for how desperate they had made me feel in the end.

  ‘You’re going to hear a lot of nasty things said about you until all of this blows over Kohén, but you must hold strong to what I’m going to tell you now: Larkin Whittaker pretended to love you in the hopes that having your heart would be the key to her freedom.’ He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me directly in the eye. ‘She was in all of our heads and all of our hearts, turning us against one another Kohén, even mother. You did some shitty things in t
he name of your apparent love, but it was never love Kohén, it was an infatuation that she orchestrated. If you get your memory back, I swear to god that you will know that what I’m saying now is the truth, but I sort of hope that you don’t, because I think your amnesia is the only thing keeping you alive.’

  ‘I wouldn’t want to live without her?’

  ‘No. You wouldn’t want to live with yourself. Because despite how innocent you were and still could be, that girl made you into an obsessive, jealous and paranoid control freak that would probably kill anyone that stood between the two of you- good or evil.’ He cringed. ‘And yes, you did try to uh, subdue her in the end using your passion. She was half out of her head due to her allergic reaction to the golden brand and thought it was both of us tearing at her clothes, which is why she ran out of here screaming rape and accusing us both of it. I do not think you would have raped her, or at least I know I wouldn’t have let you… but I do know that a lot of people that have been watching you slink off into this harem all week like a sex-crazed monster are going to believe that you tried, so these coming months are going to be difficult for you, my twin, make no mistake about that. I’ll admit that twenty-four hours ago I would have revelled in it, but the moment she left, her hold over me dissipated so like Karol, I have come to my senses enough to understand that I was never truly in love with her, just spellbound, and that I need to stand by you because blood is thicker than water and ashes.’ He squeezed my shoulders. ‘I can see that you’re upset with yourself thanks to that awful little story but please, focus on the moral of it: everything evil that you did, you did because you were provoked by a demon, all right? And now that she is gone, I do not doubt that you will revert to being the sweet, considerate gentleman that you would have been if you’d never gotten stuck in her web on our fifth birthday.’ He cringed as he released my shoulders and stepped back. ‘Unless mother comes to and spills all of our secrets to the public as she threatened too, of course, because that will lead to the Barachiel family’s collective ruin, and now that she’ll never get to be a queen, she won’t give one whit about what happens to the rest of us.’