Girl Possessed (Book 1 of The Girl Trilogy) (17 page)

“
Thanks,” I said feeling
elated that we were actually free from what I thought was going to
be a tortured life of imprisonment. “I’m so happy,” I looked at him
with glistening eyes, grateful for the well lit, full moon
overhead. “We’re free!”

He smiled lovingly at me. “You did
it.”

“
We better hurry,” I said
coughing from the dust. My throat was a little sore from my screams
and cries, but other than that I felt great. “The community leaders
will probably come to inspect the destruction shortly. Surely, they
must have heard the loud crashing sounds of the dungeon
collapsing.”

“
I’ll carry you,” he
suggested.

I laughed. “I’m just fine.” I
continued laughing.

He shrugged and shook his head.
“You’re a tough one. But, first, let me dress us in something more
durable than these flimsy robes.”

“
Oh, right.” I chuckled.
“Yes, please do.” I hadn’t realized how silly we looked standing
outside in our cell robes.

He whispered a spell in Latin. My robe
fell to the ground. When I looked down at my body to see how he
dressed me, I burst out laughing. I was wearing black lace lingerie
with thigh high stalkings, spiked heels, and long black gloves like
in the painting he created of me. “Very funny.”

He smiled facetiously at me. “I am the
devil—aren’t I?” With that comment, he said another spell and we
were both dressed in camouflaged hiking attire.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head.
“That’s better.” I was still grinning.

Now dressed adequately for an
adventure, we climbed out of the rubble and into the
woods.

“
This way.” He took my hand
and we ran through the trees and then along the edge of a stream.
The full moon lit the leaves overhead and gave light to our
footings. The music played in my mind and I longed to reach the
lake.

But, as we ran, we heard rustling in
the trees, voices, and advancing footsteps. It sounded like a crowd
of community members were headed toward the collapsed dungeon and
headed toward us!

Shaul grabbed me and covered my mouth
with his hand. He scooped me up off the ground in one arm. “Don’t
speak.” He whispered. And then, with me pressed up against him, my
body yearning for him out of control, he scampered up with his free
hand and feet into the dense leaves of a very tall tree like a
lizard in fast motion.

We perched in silent agitation in the
tree as the crowd of familiar faces passed below. My pulse raced
from mixed emotions.

I saw Mazen Tratzel at the front
carrying a torch of fire blazing in the night. It looked like he
was starting to lose his hair. His body sagged. Some of the others
were also holding lit torches. It appeared as if the entire
community was involved.

When Jezebel Bradeere passed with her
tall sleek body along with chatty Lola and Tomaru, hatred rose up
in me. I wanted to pounce on Jezebel and cut her throat. Shaul held
me by the shoulder which only heightened my passions.

I saw the baker and the cook. Even
their wives and children were with them. There were many new
members in the community that I didn’t recognize. I was surprised
how much the population had increased.

Then there was my mother. My heart
sank. It looked like she had aged since I had last seen her. Her
eyes were puffy and tired. Her long blonde hair was cut to her
shoulders and looked drab and unkempt. She was with a tall pot
bellied man who held her arm as they walked. I wondered if she had
a boyfriend now.

I was relieved that no one had noticed
us. But, just at that thought, one edgy boy with messed up short
brown hair and a glare in his dark eyes trailed off at the end of
the crowd. I sensed he was looking for trouble. He glanced up into
the tree.

“
There’re people up there.
Hey everybody,” the boy yelled out, jumping and pointing at us.
“There’re people in the tree.”

Before anyone had a chance to take
action, Shaul ran down the trunk with me in his arm. He grabbed the
boy and snapped his neck in one clean movement. Without a fight, he
fell lifeless to the ground.

I winced. I couldn’t believe a boy had
just died only an inch from my face. Before anyone could catch us,
Shaul ran full speed away from the community members. He was so
fast that the trees whizzed by us in blurs. I thought I was going
to be sick to my stomach.

After some time, he slowed down. I
recognized the area realizing we were right next to the community’s
log cabins.

“
There’s a cave,” he said.
“We’ll hide in there and after the crowd returns, we’ll go into
your mother’s cabin and ask her to come away with us.”

The inside of the cave was dark and
musty. I was afraid of what kinds of insects or creatures could be
hiding within. But, even with that, I was happy just to be with
Shaul. The music groaned in euphoric escalation in my mind. I could
hardly control myself from running straight for the
lake.

I tried to change my thoughts to
distract myself from my desires. “Did you see how my mother
looked?” I asked, unable to see the expression on his face in the
darkness.

“
She looked depressed.” He
put his hand on my back comfortingly which sent another rush
through me. “She was probably worried that you were hurt in the
earthquake.”

“
Oh, you’re right. She
probably was.” I hadn’t thought about how the earthquake could have
affected the community members. “Do you think the people could have
felt it from their cabins?”

“
I’m sure it wasn’t as
strong, but I’m also sure they felt the movement and heard the
collapsing of the dungeon. That’s why they’re headed there right
now.”

“
I wonder if Lucindean died
in the collapse.”

“
If she survived, she’ll
tell the community that we are serpents.”

My eyes widened. “That’s right. She
accused us of being serpents just before I started
screaming.”

“
Your mother will tell them
that you are not a serpent, but she will not be able to tell them
the same about me.”

“
It doesn’t matter what
they know about you, but it does matter what my mother knows. She
will hate you if she thinks you are a serpent person.”

“
I know,” Shaul said
solemnly.

Later that night, when the people
returned, we waited until silence struck, and then we made our
move.

Shaul picked the lock to my mother’s
front door and we entered her cabin. It was pitch black
inside.

I felt around for the matches next to
the lantern. They were there just as they always had been. I lit
the lantern and a soft yellow light filled the living room. “Mom,”
I whispered.

At once she ran out of the kitchen
wide eyed and maniacal toward Shaul with an ax in her hand. She
must have been waiting for us to arrive. With all her force, she
swung the edge of the blade at his neck, but he ducked with his
fast reflexes. She tried again.

He was too quick. At once, he grabbed
the weapon out of her hands.

Stumbling forward, she regained her
balance and then backed away. “Leave my daughter alone, you evil
devil.” The look on her face was crazed as she backed against the
wall.

“
Mom, he’s Ok. He won’t
hurt us.”

“
You don’t know what you’re
doing, Cordellia.” Tears streamed down my mother’s face. “Tell him
to leave,” she demanded.

“
I can’t leave him. We want
you to come away with us.” I looked at Shaul and he was
nodding.

“
Look what this community
did to your daughter,” Shaul said to my mother. “They tortured her
and locked her away in a dungeon. We don’t want you to live in a
corrupt place like this and Cordellia cannot stay here now. They
will put her back in prison or worse they may even kill her as
punishment for escaping.”

“
You have to come with us,
Mom.” I was crying and so was she. “There’s no future for me here
and I cannot be without you.”

My mother’s face turned cold. “I
missed you, Cordellia, but I cannot allow you to be with a serpent.
The guard woman who he grossly disfigured told us how you were
kissing Shaul and of his black magic. Make him leave. We’ll find
our own way.”

“
We have to go now.” Shaul
motioned to me. “Someone’s coming.”

I saw a man walking toward my mother’s
cabin with a lit torch in his hand.

My mother started screaming, “They’re
here. They’re here. Come and get them.”

Though I shouldn’t have been, I was
shocked that my mother would betray me like that. “Please,” I
cried. “Please don’t do that.”

Her voice grew even louder. “Shaul and
Cordellia are in here. Take them away.”

The man outside started running and
yelling to the community, “We have them in Patravia’s
cabin.”

Shaul lifted me into his arm again and
ran out the door. He knocked the tall pot bellied man over, but did
not kill him. “I think he’s your mom’s boyfriend,” he whispered to
me as he ran in the direction of the lake with me in his
arm.

26

Shaul carried me in his arms across
the boundary line. The sky was turning from pitch black to a dull,
dreamy gray as the sun showed its first signs of rising.

“
You can set me down now,”
I said uneasily as I thought about my mother’s betrayal. “I can
make my way down the cliff on my own.”

With hesitation, Shaul set me down.
“They’re probably looking for us already. We have to hurry.” He
wiped a tear from my cheek with his finger. “We’ll work this out
somehow.”

“
I don’t think so,” I
whispered as I looked up at the sky. “It’s great to be outside.” I
smiled, feeling the dance of the lake music to my very
core.

His silver eyes were intense as he
looked at me.

Deer grazing in the field beyond the
lake raised their heads only now aware of our presence. A
surprising feeling washed over me. I felt like I was home as we
stood above the water rippling in the early morning
light.

Now that we had arrived together, side
by side the music calmed and became more romantic and melodious in
my mind. I felt as if I had been here before. I’m not talking about
the time that I chased after Shaul when he crossed the boundary
line. Before that. Something about this place seemed very familiar
like I had lived here in the past. Maybe in another life, I
reasoned. I just didn’t know. Whatever it was, I was home and I
never wanted to leave.

“
It’s so beautiful here,” I
said looking at the landscape.

“
It is.” He had a serene
look on his face as he gazed at the water.

“
I can’t wait to try out my
new mermaid tail in the lake. There’s a whole lot more room to swim
around here compared to that bathtub in my cell.”

“
I’m going to take you on
the swim of your life.” His voice was teasing. “But, we better
hurry to the lake before the community finds us here.”

Just thinking about being caught and
put back into prison upset me. If they found us, they surely
wouldn’t let Shaul and I stay together. They would either kill us
or imprison us again for life. Either way, they would separate us.
And now I knew I couldn’t live without Shaul. He was me and I was
him. We were one. I would rather die than be alone without
him.

Movement and breaking twigs sounded in
the trees at a distance behind us. There were the sounds of hushed
voice. I looked back and saw lit torches in the early morning light
moving through the trees in our direction.

“
You ready?” Shaul took my
hand.

I nodded.

“
Command your
wings.”

My eyes widened in shock with his
expectations. I wasn’t about to jump off this steep cliff with my
inept control over the giant flower tucked inside my
hump.

Just then a gust of wind blew over us.
It was happening so fast. There was the loud sound of an engine
over our heads. I looked up and saw that an air scout had moved in
right above us. Only the serpent people flew air scouts!

My hair started to blow in all sorts
of directions. At once, a long silver pole with a spiked tip
extending from the vehicle shot into the ground. A black cobra-like
serpent man slid in super speed down the pole.

Shaul barely had time to speak.
“Aver!”

I froze. Aver was Shaul’s evil
brother. Shaul grabbed me as huge black feathered wings extended
from his back. Aver threw Shaul into the air. We spiraled up and
then Aver slammed us to the ground. My mind spun. The next thing I
know Aver’s black scaly body turned inside out and surrounded me
like a cocoon. I couldn’t breathe. I was covered in black cold
scales. He pulled his body off of me, regained form and started
ripping my clothes off.

I heard Shaul chanting in Latin.
Suddenly, I was back in Shaul’s arms. His brother was slithering on
his belly without appendages.

“
Command your wings,” Shaul
said.