*gore warning*
38.
With each slow and heartbreaking step towards the castle, the earth shivered and stirred. Gradually, my emotions spread a thick cover of clouds over the sky, heavy with rain. It began to fall when a tear slid from my cheek to the earth and matched the unsteady stream with a sprinkle. Lucas was unbothered by the weather, trudging ahead like a rouge zombie. My power occasionally flickered out, uncontrolled, and attempted to sift around in his mind in search of an answer. But with my sister in danger, I forced myself to reel that urge back in and keep him from noticing my heightened abilities. With any luck, the Duchess would not know of my newfound abilities. With luck.
Beast and Noir were silent. No word from either of them meant that they still hadn't managed to locate my sister. With her life in danger, I had no chance of subduing the crowned Queen without a threat to my family. All I could do was delay. Deciding I had been walking perhaps too hard, I slowed my pace. Within only a few paces, the space between Lucas and I grew. Thirty seconds went by, the space increasing with each crunch of dry leaves. Suddenly, Lucas stopped. It took a moment for my body to uncoordinated from the steady pace, and my stop came with more of a stumble and a hop.
"Keep up."
Lucas' voice was sharp and unforgiving. It was all I needed to hear to keep on moving, for he knew I would hit endanger my sisters life. I nibbled my lip and continued to match his pace, debating on another strategy to slow us down before I reached the Duchess. There was still so many things about her that confused and haunted me. I sensed the 'death' of her husband had more to do with her own desire to power than The Anima has let on. As a King, surely he would keep his highest possessions hidden, but not from your wife. How else would he actually be dead? Unless, the only other possibility that came to mind, he wasn't dead at all and this was all a part of The Anima's broader plan. And how could I, someone who neither saw the death nor trusted someone who did, distinguish what was reality?
There was one other issue that I had not yet resolved: how do you fight those who cannot die? Unique circumstances, like the ritual of the doppelgänger, could not be replicated onto ever Fae soul. It amazed me that the guards even kept weapons; for they could not be used except to cause pain. I hoped that taking out the leader was all that would be needed, for they would follow The Anima, whichever one of us was left standing. All energy in this Plane was recycled, but the earth held onto a power unlike any one Fae could. I just hoped the Earth would pick me over its old and bitter keeper.
"Beast?" I called over our bond, licking my lips.
"I'm here." He replied quickly, his voice breathy.
"Did you find out what's controlling the humans?"
I stared at Lucas' back and shuddered. I blinked back the sudden urge to cry and ground my teeth together. Losing someone is one thing, but to then find them a year later and lose them all over again is another thing. There was nothing left of the old Lucas, the boy next door. The shadow who swayed in and out of the trees was but a shell.
"Yes, it's similar to the power the Umbra had. She's using some kind of mental loop. From what I can tell, she's replaying their worst memory, over and over again. They do what she says in hopes she will make it stop."
"But they're not compelled?"
"That depends on your definition. I'd say using your worst memory against you is the worst kind of compulsion."
But it wasn't compulsion. I lengthened my spine, a plan unfurling from within. If I could stop the mental loop with the powers of The Umbra, he would have a chance to speak and act for himself, to help me defeat the wicked queen. It was all so perfect, if only the Fae didn't have their sights set on my family...
"And my sister? Have you found her yet?"
"No. But they are close."
I swore under my breath. A small mistake that brought the attention of my former friend.
"What is it?" Lucas said sharply, swirling around to stare at my face.
"Sorry," I mumbled, averting my eyes quickly, "I just stubbed my toe."
Lucas stared at me for a moment or two longer, then continued on.
"We are almost there." The words he threw over his shoulder, but I barely heard them.
I could save him. I could really save him. I just needed more time.
"Hurry, Beast. I need to get Lucas on my side before we hit the city."
Beast nodded and through our bond I felt him take flight, soaring off into the trees.
Before I turned my focus back to Lucas, I reached out to another, fainter, bond than my creatures.
"Alvar?" I called out, but the line was weak and my voice travelled like a whisper. "Alvar!
I waited patiently, but worry crept into my heart with each step I took closer to the city.
"Lyra?" Alvar's voice was as quiet as a summer's breeze, gentle and kind.
"Are you alright," I breathed a sigh of relief, "Did you all make it through okay?"
"Yes, we're all fine-are you okay? We came through and you were gone. Beast explained some but I need to know that you're okay?" He was rushed, his voice tuning in and out of focus.
"I will be fine as long as Virgo is protected. Sam is with Noir?"
"Yes, they're almost there. Lucius is with the Shadows. I'm still looking for The Anima. Lyra... she's not at her home, or anywhere near it, as far as I can tell. I have a feeling she might be in the city."
"I shouldn't be surprised," I breathed a frustrated sigh. I had hoped that the two most dangerous Fae would not be in the same space as one another, that I could deal with them separately. Not only did I have to face the Duchess alone, I might need to also face The Anima... alone. "In that case, I need you to start moving the Shadows towards the city. Don't form military lines, don't be aggressive; we want your people to see them as the innocents they are. Plus, its impossible to actually kill you guys so what's the point of actually leaving bodies around?"
I laughed darkly at the ridiculous situation I had found myself in.
"And if The Anima is here, we will need those ashes here as fast as possible."
"It'll be okay, Lyra. We've got this. Once your family is safe, you'll be able to defeat the both of them. You're virtually indestructible now, especially with that thing around your neck."
I felt him chuckle, but I also sensed his worry. He was trying not to show how scared he was. But it was okay to be scared; there were worse things than death. Going from someone who had tried to kill themselves weeks earlier to escape capture to something far from human, something unable to die, was quite exhilarating. I knew I couldn't get a big head. If The Umbra had access to poisons that stripped my powers and made death possible, there was no denying that the Duchess could do the same.
"Just go as fast as you can." I pleaded as the first signs of city life came into view.
The tops of the market buildings pierced through the trees like spears and street chatter reached my ears like soft whispers. Before Alvar could say good-bye, or strike a soft cord in my heart, I cut off our connection and focused on Lucas. It was now or never. I pleaded that my sister was okay and lunged towards the blonde Asian boy.
Our bodies collided and collapsed backwards into the dirt. We fell into the bushes, out of sight from the Fae who bustled through the market to do their daily shopping. My elbow pressed into something soft, there was a quiet 'ooft', and pain temporarily spiked through my lower abdomen. I had fallen on top of Lucas and his blade had found its way into my side. His almond eyes widened in shock as he stared at the blood that began to seep from the wound. Mouth opening, a sound or a scream building in his chest, he began to sit up. With one hand, I quickly pushed him down and covered his mouth. With the other, I pulled the blade quickly from my side and my body immediately healed, the blood stain the only clue to injury.
Lucas began to thrash. Before I could use my new strength to push him down, roots quickly uncurled from the dirt and wrapped around his arms and legs, securing his body to the ground. I sat back, impressed that the earth had responded even before I could will it to. A sharp pain in my palm alerted me back to Lucas. My blood was in his teeth, the cause of a bite to my hand.
"Stop fighting." I hissed at Lucas, healing the skin of my palm while it was still in his mouth, "I am trying to help you."
Still, he resisted, thrashing against the binds and tearing open the skin on his arms. Frantically, I pressed down on his shoulders, trying to prevent him from skinning his arms trying to escape.
"Calm down, Lucas!" I raised my voice, searching his eyes for some common ground.
But his eyes were everywhere but my face. They darted this way and that, never once focusing in on any feature of the forest or of me. It was like he wasn't even present, like he was somewhere else. Then I realised, it was because he wasn'tthere beneath me; he was trapped in the memory. It must have played each time the humans disobeyed, or stopped acting upon orders. I stared down at him and made a quick decision.
Letting go of his mouth, I pressed my hands on either side of his head, closed my eyes, and entered his mind.
Lucas was in the corner of the kitchen, whimpering. Shoulders shaking, he clutched his head in his hands while his mother shattered plates on the wall above his head. A small thing, his mother was deceptively weak looking. Standing only five foot, she managed to hurl whole glass vases across the room with a force that shattered it into a million pieces. The shards littered Lucas' shoulders. Another plate broke on the wall to his side and a shard lodged into his back. It was painful, there was blood, but if he moved he feared one of the plates would strike him dead.
"You're not my son! You hear me? You're not my son!"
His mother yelled over and over, hurling the table cutlery next. The smooth end of a knife hit Lucas on the head and a bruise began to form.
"I want you out! Out of my house! Out of this town! Out of my life!"
She threw a glass and a shard opened a cut on Lucas' right cheek. He sobbed into his elbow, hiding his face from his mother. The same mother who refused any responsibly for her only child.
I started forwards, aware that the flying glass and cutlery could not hurt me, for it was only a memory. This one was a particularly nasty one, but I expected no less. My family had been the one to clean these very wounds and give him a bed and a home until his mother sobered up. I remembered the blue Band-Aid I had put over the cut on his cheek and the kiss my little sister placed on his bruise.
"Lucas?" I called out, crouching in front of his cowering body.
His head poked up from his elbow, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Lyra? What are you doing? Get out of here!" Lucas screamed, pushing my arms as I reached out to grab him.
"Lucas! Calm down. This isn't real. This is a memory. I need you to take my hands. I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
I stretched out my arms once more, the corner of my mouth twitching into a smile as I stared at my best friend. His quivered as another plate smashed over his head and drew backwards.
"I know it feels real, Lucas. But trust me? Okay?"
I leaned forwards, realising he wasn't going to make the first step, and pulled his arms towards me. He sobbed harder, the tears cascading down his soft cheeks.
"Lyra, what's happening?"
"You're okay." I reassured and pulled him one step towards me. He shakily shuffled his feet.
I stepped back again and he followed, a little more willingly than before.
"You're okay, Lucas. You're with me. I'm going to take you back now, okay? Somewhere she can't hurt you anymore."
I smiled and pulled him another step backwards. This time, he moved with me. A laugh escaped me and as we fell backwards, out of the memory, I pulled him against my chest.
I jerked back to the present and fell off of Lucas' chest. The vines sunk into the ground, unwrapping from around his wrists, as Lucas sat up with a cough.
"Lucas?" I asked gently, hands shaking as I reached for his arm.
"L-Lyra?" Lucas' eyes shot to mine. They shined with tears.
"Oh, Lucas."
I wrapped my arms around his chest and pulled him against my body. His body shook as his arms lightly curled around my waist. I felt his cold tears against my shoulder as he cried into my neck. Moving my hands along his back, I soothed him with humming sounds and rocked gently back and forth.
We stayed like that for a little while. The only thing that finally broke us apart was the sound of loud laughter from the village. Lucas jerked backwards as if suddenly realising where he was. I let my arms drop from his shoulders and sat up with a sigh.
"Do you know where you are?" I asked gently.
"Y-yes. I think so... So it's all real then?" He stuttered and raked both hands through his hair.
"Yes, its all real. You're not crazy." He sighed at my words and looked like he was about to ask more, "But I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain. You told me that The Duchess knows where my family is and if I didn't come with you they would die. So I need you to pretend like your still obeying her, okay? I need you to take me to her so I know my family will be okay. Can you do that?"
My lips were pressed into a hard line. I was nothing but serious. What he had been through was traumatising, more than any one person might have been able to handle, but lives were on the line. Specifically, the life of a sweet little girl.
His eyes shot to mine, holding some strange mixture of emotions that unsettled my stomach.
"What is it?" I said quickly, standing from the ground.
"I-I don't know... I can't really remember—"
"Think, Lucas!" I cried out, rushing forwards to grip his shoulders. "Is she okay? Is Virgo okay?"
"I-I don't know! But I don't think you should go see her, The Duchess. It's a trap!"
"Of course it's a trap!" I nearly screamed, releasing his shoulders quickly. "But I need you to take me to see her. I have the feeling you do too if you want to make it out of here alive!"
"Okay!" He threw his hands up and quickly got to his feet, "But I don't like it. There is something I'm not remembering, something important."
"Think about it on the way." I mumbled and gestured in the direction of the castle, "I'm sorry, Lucas. I know you've been through hell, but I can't loose her."
After my words, we fell silent.
We walked quickly through the capital. Lucas had been given passage through the back streets of the city, so our journey was quiet, undisturbed, and all the more terrifying. The closer we got to the castle, the further we got from the laughter that cloaked the city like a fog. The buildings became more spread apart, few and far between, and then everything opened to reveal the castle. It stood in all its glory, untouched since the last time I had seen it. There was only one thing that had changed; the walls, once alive, were still. Lucas tilted his head towards an opening in the wall, an archway with no vines or flowers blooming and writing around one another. Just like the earth had been upon our arrival, it seemed the castle laid dormant.
"Well, well! What do we have here?" A thrill voice sounded through the chamber as we stepped into the dark room. The Duchess' voice carried quickly to my ears and sent a spike of alarm down my spine.
My eyes shot up and saw the beauty and danger of the new queen. She draped her long legs over the side of the throne, cloaked in a thin golden dress that seemed to drip off the chair. Atop her long hair sat the Kings' crown. The spikes seemed different now, darkersomehow, like they had been dipped in something before she had placed it upon her head. Her thick lips were twisted into a wide and cruel smile. She had a dirty little secret, one she intended to tell.
"Someone's changed quite a bit...haven't you?"
She cocked her head to the side, no doubt staring at my large horns and the changed colour of my eyes.
"Is my sister okay?" I ground my teeth together and forced myself to keep her gaze, the smile on her lips still had not dropped.
"Tsk. Tsk." She wiggled her finger and sat up in her throne. "Not so fast. You," She pointed at Lucas, "come here, boy."
Lucas obeyed without hesitation, just like we had prepared. Any inclination he was no longer her slave and he would be dead.
"Go fetch me that bag would you?" She gestured towards a dark sack that lay pressed against one side of the throne room. Two Fae guards stood on either side of it, unmoving.
"While you were gone," The Duchess began, rolling her neck on her shoulders like she was cracking the bubbles from her spine, "I've learned many things about The Shadows. It was, in fact, The Umbra who helped me kill my husband and take his crown..."
I snapped my teeth together and clenched my fists. I suspected as much, how else would Sam believe that someone with myface killed his father? But it had to do with me was another story entirely.
"I, in fact, made a deal with her for co-existence. A deal which involved co-existence, on my part, and the destruction of The Anima and her power, on her part. I mean, what's the point in ruling if it's in the shadow of someone else, right?"
Lucas had picked up the sack and handed it to the Duchess.
"You see why this puts us in a sticky situation, right? You've killed my ally. I wouldn't have actually minded if it weren't for the other power you stole from The Anima. Now I have to kill The Anima, on my own, and somehow kill you...A creature I actually don't know how to kill! So I thought to myself, why don't I try the most obvious thing first? The Tri-factor!"
The Duchess grinned and nodded to the guards. One reached into the hallway and the other pulled a long blade from his belt. From the darkness, they pulled my sister into the light.
"Virgo!" I cried out and started forwards.
Immediately, the guard pressed the blade against her throat. I halted, hands in the air, and sobbed. Virgo's curly brown hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat. She was trembling against the blade, her brown eyes darting to mine.
"Please!" I turned back to the Duchess. "Please, if you just let her go, I'll find The Anima for you. Then you can kill me, do whatever you have to do, but just don't kill her. She's just a little girl." My voice cracked and I stumbled forwards towards The Duchess.
"I'll tell you what... You do just that, you bring me The Anima, dead preferably, and find a way for me to kill you without killing her... I'll let her go. I might even throw in your high school friend over here." She flicked a sharp nail towards Lucas who flinched back.
I nodded quickly and dragged a heavy hand over my wet cheeks.
"Just hang on, Virgo. You'll be okay." Virgo groaned and opened her mouth to speak, but the guard pulled tightly on her hair.
"Just in case you need more of a motivator..."
The Duchess reached inside the sack in her hands and threw something heavy towards me. I flinched backwards, believing it was intended to hit me, but when it hit the ground and began to roll forwards, I cocked my head in curiousity.
It rolled forwards, a mess of tangled hair and blackened blood, each movement making a sound like a steak slapping down onto a chopping board. The Duchess tossed another one, a larger one, after the first. It too rolled forwards slowly, catching on the corners of the tiles, leaving a train of light blood spatter. There was a tiny voice, one I silences quickly, that told me to step back, to avert my eyes, but I could not. As the bundles rolled to a stop, I crouched low to examine them. My hand reached out and touched the hair on the smaller one. In the same moment as I parted the hair I realised that they were in fact severed heads. The severed heads of my mother and father.
"If you are not back by dawn with proof The Anima is dead, I will kill your sister. And if that doesn't kill you, I'll keep killing every person you love until it does."
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Sorry guys, that got a little dark...
Yes these last few chapters are going to take a little longer to come out. I'm really busy (seriously have no days off hahah) and I want to also make sure I get this right.
Also, not sure what happened with the last chapter but it was uploaded and then taken down again, so Im going to monitor this one and see if the same thing happens...
Comment your thoughts!
Vote if you enjoyed :)
xx Charli
(Unedited)