Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 33--Gray

In his room?

Up the stairs I go again.

I ran up the stairs (almost tripping on my dress while I was at it) and before I knew it, found myself in front of the deep brown wooden doors that opened up to Brennen's room. I moved my fist up to knock on the doors, but immediately decided against it and grasped the door handle instead. I turned it slowly and cracked the door open, giving myself just enough room that I could peek through the gap.

I smiled at what I saw and opened the door the rest of the way. Brennen didn't look up from his sitting position on the bed. He stared down at something in his hands.

"Hi." I suddenly felt cautious. I didn't know how he would be doing from the day before. The fact that he didn't move or look up was also a huge indicator that something was wrong.

I took a step forward. "How are you doing?"

His shoulders rose, then fell. He turned his back to me slightly. "I'm fine," he answered shortly.

What happened?

I walked farther into his room and sat down next to him slowly. The bedsprings screamed with the weight of another person on them.

Brennen turned around enough that it was just his back facing me. The black string that normally stood out against his yellow hair wasn't in its normal position.

I swallowed. "Are you holding your mask?"

He nodded.

"Do you want me to tie it on for you?"

Without a word, he passed back the mask. His hands shook like there was an earthquake.

I took the mask in one hand and grabbed onto his fingers with my other. "You're shaking."

He snatched his hand away. "Yeah."

I bit my lip and places that mask over his mouth. His fingers brushed mine as he reached up to hold it in place. Carefully, I tied the string in the back.

"Where's Raul?" I asked. "Isn't he the one who normally does this?"

Brennen's reaction was immediate. His shoulders tensed up--no--his whole body tensed up at the mention of Raul. It was like this electricity crackled off his every move.

My heart sank. "What's wrong? What happened to..."

I trailed off, knowing and dreading what the answer would be. I hadn't seen Raul the whole morning. The dirty rags that lay on the floor, the bucket of water that had yet to be emptied, the mask that wasn't tied on--all of them pointed to his absence.

Brennen's voice destroyed every flicker of hope I had that the worst was false.

"Raul is dead."

His voice caught at the end of his sentence.

I felt the color drain from my face. Oh no.

"How..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. I wanted so badly to know how he died, but I was afraid to delve too deeply into the subject.

Brennen answered my unspoken question. "Last night, after you left the room, he--he healed me somehow. It wasn't physical injuries that he healed, it was more along the lines of him pushing the--creature--beast--it--back. When he did that, magic claimed its price."

He turned to me. "I told you, 'equivalent exchange' was how that worked. Because I was dying--at least my mind was--his spell took his life."

Oh, God.