From Shadows to Starlight

Unworthy

He forced himself to look up at her, but he couldn’t find the words to speak. He was gripped with an insane panic, inexplicably frozen by a fear he didn’t understand. I am unworthy.

Alana gazed back at him, confused. “What did you say?”

Had he said that out loud? What a pathetic fool he was. Not only did he not deserve to walk through the doors, he didn’t even deserve to live. Then he saw her face darken, her eyes grow wide. “Erik, come inside. Hurry,” she whispered.

He turned and looked through the rain. There were two mounted soldiers coming down the street, headed straight towards the church. They hadn’t seen him yet, but they would in…

“You there! Stop!” The sound of hoof beats, rushing toward him.

Then he felt his arm being seized, and yanked back hard. Before he knew it, he was lying on a cool stone floor, and Alana was slamming the great door shut and locking it. He was inside the church. Panic overcame him, and he braced himself.

But nothing happened. There was no change at all in the room, Alana still stood there before him, looking alarmed and confused. And he was still alive.

“Erik? Are you all right?” she asked, kneeling down beside him. “I’m sorry I jerked your arm like that, but you were…frozen. Is something wrong?”

He blinked and looked around him. It was dark, but he could tell that he was in a beautiful place. He had not been struck down. The gypsies had been wrong; they’d been wrong about everything. He wasn’t the Devil’s Child, he was just a man who’d been born into a life of terrible fortune. He was Erik.

There was a loud knocking at the door. “Open this door! Open it now!” a voice shouted.

“All right,” Alana was breathing hard, obviously afraid, but she was trying to get a hold of herself. “We haven’t done anything wrong. We live across the street, and we just went into my uncle’s church for a minute to get something. They won’t arrest us for that…I’ll just let them in and explain…” She moved closer to the door.

“No.” Erik leapt to his feet and took her wrist. “They won’t let us off.”

“What do you mean? We didn’t really do anyth--”

“Trust me.”

He heard a rattling noise. The soldiers were trying to pick the lock. Then there was a click, and the door was kicked open.

“Surrender yourself!”

But by the time the soldiers could catch a glimpse of Erik, he was already disappearing into the dark halls of the church, pulling Alana along with him.

The girl’s feet dragged on the floor and she stumbled, unable to keep up, so he lifted her in his arms and carried her off with him as he raced through the unfamiliar corridors. They turned a corner and he stopped for a moment. All was quiet but the sound of Alana’s racing heart next to his own, so close. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, her soft warm fingers pressed against his skin…

Erik made himself clear his head, and listened for the soldiers. Sure enough, they were drawing near, and would be upon them in moments. He looked down at Alana’s little, scared face, and put his finger over her lips. “Over here.” He threw his voice so his words seemed to come from down the hall. “Hurry. They won’t find us here.” Then he fell silent again and listened for footsteps heading in the wrong direction. He heard them, as he’d known he would. He set Alana down, and led her in the direction they had come from, moving toward the entrance to the church so they could make their escape.