Girl Possessed (Book 1 of The Girl Trilogy) (15 page)

My eyes welled up with tears. When I
looked at his perfect face watching me, measuring my every thought,
I wanted to reach out to him. I wanted to touch his soft lips. I
could feel his breath surrounding me. His entire essence permeated
the cell. I felt his pain as if it was my own.

He continued in a melancholy voice,
“Our son will possess all four elements—earth, fire, water, and
air. He will gain the elements earth and fire from his serpent
ancestry and water and air will come from Eve’s ancestry. With all
four elements our son will be able to gain entrance into the Garden
of Eden that is guarded by the Cherubim with the ever turning
swords. He can bring his father and mother with him to complete
their mission.”

I felt a sickened feeling washing over
me. “Who is the reincarnation of Eve?” I didn’t want him to
answer.

“
It’s you, Cordellia.” His
expression was deeply pained. “You are the only josephine in the
world. No other creature exists like you. You possess the two
elements needed—water and air. I’m sorry.”

23

I looked down at my lunch plate
feeling utterly repulsed as fresh stewed eyeballs stared back at
me. Closing my own eyes, I took a bite of the pickled radish beside
the main course. It tasted Ok to me, but I wished it wasn’t so
sour. There was no way I’d even attempt trying the orbs.

The sun was overhead. Light poured
through the skylight into my cell. This was my favorite time of the
day.

It was pretty hard to believe that I
was the reincarnation of the first woman on Earth. But, after
discovering that I was a josephine, anything seemed
possible.

I had never been a very religious
person, so it was strange learning that all these stories my mother
had talked about over the years were true. Before now, I had
assumed the bible stories were myths designed to comfort weak
minds.

But, even weirder than
being the cause of all the pain in the world due to my original
sin, I was in love with the serpent, the source of all evil. If I
succumbed to my desires for Shaul, eventually I might go too far
with him. That could happen—right? The idea was a little hard to
believe with my lack of experience, but it
could
happen hypothetically. If that
occurred, I could possibly become pregnant and bare a son. Our son
would give Shaul entrance into the Garden of Eden where he could
choose to eat from the Tree of Life.

If he did that, then he would rule the
world and serpents would rein supreme bringing forth hell on Earth.
All other beings would be enslaved and tortured for
eternity.

But, if Shaul returned the apple to
the Tree of Knowledge, then he would die, eradicating all evil with
his martyrdom. Sure, the world would become perfected in peace and
love, but I would never see him again. With the way I felt now, I
didn’t think I could live with that.

The eyes on my plate just stared at me
blankly. They looked slightly blood shot causing me to wonder how
the animal was killed. I drank my entire cup of wine in one long
gulp.

A decision came to me. I would just be
with Shaul, but never make love with him. Then the world would stay
as it was—a mixture of good and evil. We could be together and
nothing would change for the worse. I was satisfied with this
decision.

Now, I did not want to escape from
this prison. I wanted to stay there forever. I wanted to be with
Shaul Hainsworth for eternity away from the rest of the world.
Whatever price I would have to pay, whatever torture I would have
to endure to be with him, I would accept. He was me and I was him.
I knew this now more than anything I had ever known in my
life.

That night I crawled through the hole
in the wall into Shaul’s cell. He was sitting on the floor with a
ball of light before him.

“
Cordellia,” he said with a
wry smile.

I must have blushed because his grin
widened. “Hi,” I whispered awkwardly.

“
I was afraid I’d scared
you away.” His demeanor was now more serious.

“
Whatever you tell me about
yourself, Shaul, I will accept.” I looked at him cautiously as I
sat down facing him. “You can’t scare me away.”

His eyes burned through me and the
ball of light between us lifted over our heads. He was entirely
beautiful. He reached his hand out to me and I touched his
fingers.

Electricity shot through my body. To
feel his skin against mine was magnificent. It was like I was
connected to a higher energy source that filled me with the life
force I craved.

He lifted one eyebrow and said
playfully, “Are you ready for a ride, Cordellia?”

I don’t know why, but a big smile
spread across my face. I felt so happy suddenly. “Just being with
you is everything I could want.” I couldn’t believe I’d said such a
thing.

“
Even when I’m not here
physically, I am connected to you.” He stared at me curiously,
tilting his head to the side as if he was looking for something
within me. “We are connected in mind and soul.”

“
In the music,” I said. My
eyes lit up and the slightest smile lifted on my face.

“
Yes.” He looked down at
our touching finger tips. His eyes raised slowly up my
neck.

I wanted to hold him desperately. But,
I was happy just being in his presence.

Light glistened in his silver eyes. “I
want to know everything about you.” His expression was soft and
sincere.

“
About me?” I laughed. “I’m
probably the dullest person you’ve ever met.”

“
Not to me.” He held my
hand gently and I could hardly concentrate. “What’s your favorite
flower?”

I laughed, not expecting the question.
“I love flowers actually.”

“
It’s the faerie party of
you.” He looked amused.

“
I like all flowers, but I
especially like water lilies.”

“
There are a lot of
beautiful water lilies at the forbidden lake.”

“
I’m not surprised. The
music in my mind calls me to the lake. Is that how it is for you
too?”

“
Yes.” He looked at me
intensely and sat up straighter. “The music calls us to the lake
because it leads to the entrance of the Garden of Eden.”

His words startled me. “What do you
mean?”

“
The lake is
bottomless.”

My eyes widened.

“
If you swim down very
deep, eventually you will come to the entrance of the Garden of
Eden that is guarded by the Cherubim with the ever turning
swords.”

“
What are
Cherubim?”

“
They are Cherubs. I’ve
never seen them, but I’ve been told they are magnificent winged
creatures.” He raised an eyebrow. “This conversation is supposed to
be about you.” His voice was teasing.

“
What do you want to
know?”

“
What don’t I want to
know?”

I blushed. The music pulsated in my
mind.

“
Where are you the most
ticklish?”

“
Behind my earlobe,” I
laughed.

“
What would happen if I
touched you there right now?” He smiled at me. “Would you laugh
uncontrollably?”

“
Go ahead—test
me.”

“
Maybe I will, but not now.
I want to ask you more questions. I want to know more.” He paused
and looked up at the light ball. “You’re scent, your smell—what is
that?”

“
It’s my own secret witch’s
potion.”

“
How do I open your
secret?”

“
The secret only opens for
a very select few.”

“
So how do I become one of
the select? Do I have to make magical incantations? Do I have to
walk through fire?”

“
Yes, you’re going to let
blood and swear an oath of eternal fidelity and
service.”

He laughed heartily. “Yes, My lady, I
will pledge eternal love and slavish devotion to unlock such
secrets.” He held out his hand before me and released a water lily
from his palm. It lifted in the air and he blew it at me. It turned
to sparkling faerie dust.

My heart raced. Every moment with
Shaul was like living in a delightfully magical world. I wondered
if his was hearing the same romantic melody in his mind now as I
was.

The night flew by. By daybreak, Shaul
knew more about me than I thought possible. I was floating in the
clouds as I lay in his lap while he stroked my hair.

“
I have breakfast for you,”
he whispered as a wry smile lifted on his unfathomably gorgeous
face. He said some spells in Latin and a silver tray of exotic
fruits appeared in his free hand. He spun it around on his finger
playfully.

I laughed. “Pretty talented there.
Aren’t you?”

“
I’d say so.” His silky
voice was confident.

He sat the tray beside us and fed me
big, bulbous grapes one by one. The intense flavors burst in my
mouth.

“
Wow. These are really
good.”

“
Israeli grapes from
biblical times when the Hebrews entered the land for the first
time. The flavors are unheard of in our days.”

Before I could respond, we heard
footsteps rushing down the dungeon stairs. One of the guards was on
his way to the cell!

24

“
Hurry,” Shaul commanded.
We both rushed to our feet. “Go back to your cell.”

I was terrified we would be caught
together in Shaul’s cell. If the guard found us together he would
surely torture us and then find a way to separate us
forever.

I heard the cell door unlocking.
Quickly, I began to crawl through the wall. The door opened to
Shaul’s cell.

“
Up—off the floor.” I
recognized Wardo’s voice.

My foot was still sticking out of the
wall as he spoke. Quickly, I pulled it into my cell as I tumbled to
the floor. My pulse raced as I put the stones back in
place.

Still panting from the rush, I could
hear Wardo’s voice through the wall over the faint music lulling my
mind. “Yearly lice check,” he said to Shaul as I imagined him
setting his lantern down on the floor. “Strip down for inspection.”
He must not have seen me.

I couldn’t hear Shaul’s response, but
then Wardo went into a rage. “How did you get this?” There was a
clatter. It sounded like he picked something up and then threw
it.

Shaul didn’t respond. Then I realized
what was happening. Wardo must have found the silver platter of
exotic fruits Shaul had magically brought to his cell. In the rush,
he must have forgotten to make it disappear.

“
Who brought this to you?”
Wardo demanded. “Lucindean wouldn’t do it. She hates the inmates.”
I could hear Wardo’s footsteps as he walked around the room. “We
don’t have fruit like this in the woods. I’ve never seen anything
like this anywhere.”

“
I can explain,” Shaul said
calmly.

“
This is magic,” Wardo’s
gruff voice shook slightly. “Only the serpent people can perform
such tricks. I’ve seen them with their extravagance.”

I wanted Shaul to say something to
make it all better, but he remained silent.

“
You’re a serpent,” Wardo
said in a shocked tone.

“
Yes, I am,” Shaul’s voice
was ironic.

Then Wardo screamed. It was unsettling
hearing such a huge threatening man cry out like that. After that,
Shaul hollered out. There was a shuffle. Then I heard bones
crunching and then silence.

I was terrified. What had he done to
Shaul? At once, I pulled the stones out of the wall and crawled
through to the other side. I didn’t care about my life. I only
wanted to save Shaul.

When I entered the cell, Wardo was
laying on the stone floor next to his lit lantern with his body
twisted something awful. He was dead.

I turned to Shaul in the dim light.
For a flash of a second, Shaul’s body was entirely black and scaly.
He looked like a cobra in human form with silver piercing
eyes.

I flinched and coward away. But, a
second later, his body shape shifted back to his usual gorgeous
self.

I was surprised to see that when he
was in his serpent form, he looked so much more sleek and stunning
than the usual green serpent people I had seen. I wouldn’t say he
was handsome, but he was impressive and fierce in a grand
way.

“
Shaul.” I rushed over to
him. “Are you Ok?”

“
I’m fine,” he said wryly,
“…but he’s not.” He pointed at Wardo.

I didn’t know what to say. On one
hand, I was happy Wardo was dead. I hated him for locking me in the
black box way back when upon original attainment. He had mistreated
my mother and he had brutalized me in this dungeon. I felt he
should die. But, on the other hand, I was worried about what would
happen to Shaul when the guards found Wardo missing.

When I looked into Shaul’s eyes, they
were glistening. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.” He
motioned to the dead body on the floor.