Mistfall (14 page)

“Willa,” the two of them replied in
unison.

I swear to all that’s holy, Willa was ten
steps ahead of us, even now, after all this time. She had planned
ahead for my entire life, not just the time she occupied a spot in
it.

John’s voice retracted me from my thoughts, a
tad of annoyance in it. “If you two don’t mind, I’d like to finish
the story.”

John was faced towards me, so he didn’t see
Melissa stick her tongue out at him, rolling her blue eyes towards
the ceiling, while making a rude gesture at him. I fell to my side
in giggles, unable to hold it in.

“Gah!” John threw his hands in the air. “It’s
no wonder Willa paired you two together. As a team, you’d frustrate
a man to death before you had the chance to kill him.”

My giggle turned to full on laughter at his
outburst. Melissa lost control and joined me on the floor, unable
to stand, she was laughing so hard. John, knowing a losing battle
when he saw one, left us to our fit and went to converse with the
Dreamweavers.

“Ow,” I said holding my side. “That
hurts.”

“I couldn’t help it,” Melissa said, still
laughing. “It’s been morbidly serious around here since the
Dreamweavers showed up,” she confessed.

I managed to get to my feet and repeated
John’s tantrum while loping around like an ape. Melissa screamed in
a fit of giggles at my mimicry while I held on to a recliner for
support.

Once our hysterics abated, promises were made
not to even breathe heavy until John finished his story. For good
measure, he threatened to have Melissa hogtied with one of his
plants. Physical threats were useless against me, but I didn’t want
to see my best friend tied up. Besides, the green of the plants
wouldn’t match the orange jumper she was wearing.

John, satisfied that he could continue
without any further interruption picked up from where he left off.
“Melissa found me and told me about the werewolf attack and the
subsequent fallout. When she told me her suspicions about Luca, we
both agreed it was urgent to find you. I called upon the
Dreamweavers to help. Their magic maintained your dream state while
I manipulated it, or tried to. You were able to break through the
dream. The Dreamweavers said it was you and not my lack of skill
that caused it.”

John gestured to me with both hands. “You’re
different Violet. I don’t know how, but you are. You may walk,
talk, and act like a duck, but you’re all platypus.”

I tilted my head at that.
Platypus? What
on Earth did that mean?
I wanted to ask, but I had made a
promise to keep quiet until he was finished.

“With the help of the Dreamweavers, we were
able to locate you in the Wildwood,” John informed me. “By the time
we got there though, Luca had already kidnapped you. We’ve been
trying to find you ever since, but you’re somewhere the
Dreamweavers can’t locate. Do you know where you are?”

I took my cue to speak again. “I’m in an
oubliette under Abel’s castle. I won’t be here when you come for me
though,” I informed them.

I proceeded to give the two of them Hailz’s
and my escape plan. The three of us agreed it would be better if I
waited twenty-four hours to implement it. That would give them time
to travel to Ireland and for me to summon Hailz and bring her up to
speed.

The Dreamweavers, who had made nary a sound
until now, became agitated as we made our plans. We couldn’t
understand their native tongue. Melissa was in the process of
asking them what was wrong when the front door slammed open,
revealing John’s best friend, Jack.

“They’re ten minutes out. We have to go now,”
Jack updated the room.

The Dreamweavers vanished into thin air at
the warning. Melissa sprang into action, scurrying around the room
grabbing full backpacks for each of them and weapons.

“Hi Mags. Sorry to have to cut things short,”
Jack apologized. “It is good to see you again,” he offered in
consolation.

“John was in front of me.”You have to let go
and wake up now,” he told me. “The Dreamweavers are gone and I have
to go. I’ll see you again real soon though.”

I understood and made my goodbyes short. The
darkness had already started breaching the edges of my vision since
the Dreamweavers had left. I hastened its work and dimmed the light
until just the faintest glow was left. That’s when an explosion
rang through my ears. I tried to go back, but to no avail. Without
the magic to open a dreamscape, I was cut off from them.

Light rapidly suffused its way back into my
vision, dissipating the darkness. When I opened my eyes, I found
myself in bed, back in the oubliette. Hailz was leaning over the
bed, poking me with a stick.

“What in the Otherworld are you doing?’ I
exclaimed, grabbing the stick out of her hands.

Hailz put both hands on her tiny waist. “I’ve
been trying to wake you up for fifteen minutes. You didn’t respond,
so I figured you were dead. I didn’t know how dead though. In case
you were rotting, I poked you with the stick.” She pointed one
finger straight down at her red-soled shoes. “I didn’t need your
corpse exploding and ruining my brand new Louboutin’s.”

“You’re all heart Hailz,” I replied
caustically while I sat up in bed. I brought her up to speed on the
additional help for my escape, assuming they weren’t killed in the
explosion.

“It would help to have a few extra bodies
when the Aelfadl come hunting for us,” she told me.

Hailz had met with her friend who ran the
nearby Fae village. They were ready and willing to offer me
sanctuary and return me home. That was a relief. Otherwise, I would
have to swim all the way back to America.

After she left I showered and packed. I spent
some time checking and rechecking my supplies. I would have to
reallocate a few dwarf-made weapons along the way. Anything I
created would be as useless as a Nerf bat.

Once I was sure I was ready, I laid my trap.
It was time to go.

Weapons, as I’ve stated, can only be made and
not created by magic. The Dwarves of Elemental Deep forged all
weapons for Otherworlders. Their home was a fissure in the ground
that was exposed to all of the elements: earth, air, fire, and
water. It was a nexus of magical power that imbued each weapon with
the strength needed for Otherworlder use.

To harm one of us, a weapon had to also
penetrate the magic of the person. The weaponry of Elemental Deep
possessed that ability. The dwarves had a scientific explanation
for it, but Holy Hades it was boring.

The explosive devices I had fit on the wall
of the oubliette where the door forms, therefore, were almost
useless. They would, however, cause a nice, loud distraction. The
smoke I had added to them would allow me to leave the oubliette
without being seen.

My plan also included for anyone with an
invisible barrier. I had learned from my previous assault on Abel
that the barrier only worked for a frontal attack, so I put a short
delay on the timer. If he came prancing through the doorway, I
wanted him in front of the door. Hopefully he would turn towards
the sound of the explosion, exposing his unprotected side for
attack.

Now all I had to do was wait. Having to be
ready to go at all times left you with little else to do and I’m
not that patient of a person. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait
long.

Two hours later, the entrance appeared. Luca
strolled in, flanked by two bodyguards. I wasn’t expecting him, but
the shame he would experience because of a girl besting the king’s
son made my vindictive side jump up and down with glee.

I took a good look at him. He was dressed in
black fatigues, standard Aelfadl uniform. His hair was slightly
disheveled and shadowy lines were just beginning to form under his
Caribbean blue-green eyes. He had not only his father’s looks, but
his manipulative jackassery too.

“I need to talk to you,” Luca said, stepping
forward.

I put my hand out towards him in a warning to
stop his advance. “Not in the mood dirt bag.”

“Please, just hear me out,” he pleaded.

I smiled, my cockiness shining through, like
a beam from a lighthouse, as I counted down. “Captive audience or
not, I don’t have the time for whatever it is you have to say. I
have plans in 5…4...3...2...”

Luca realized what I was up to before his
bodyguards did and dropped into a ball on the floor. The explosion
went off, shaking the walls of my cave-like prison. Heavy smoke
filled the air, creating a grey, impenetrable curtain. Anyone who
wasn’t smart enough to wear ear protection, like my three
intruders, was certainly having some hearing problems from the
concussive blast.

I took my cue and made a break for it,
purposefully stepping on Luca’s outstretched hand before dashing
past the two guards on either side of the doorway.

I had to make it out of the dungeons quickly.
Without plans I could get lost very easily, making my attempt at
freedom an exercise in futility.

A steep, narrow staircase awaited me as I
exited the oubliette. I ran up the stairs, two at a time, hastening
my ascent. Upon reaching the top, I found myself in a corridor of
cells. Prisoners banged objects against the bars in a united
cacophony, cheering for me as I made my way past them.

Some of the other incarcerated Otherworlders
begged me to free them too. I didn’t dare turn my attention to
them, lest my heart betray me. If I stopped to look I was afraid of
what I might see.

As it was, I couldn’t turn off my ears. I
heard a baby wailing in one of the cells and a child begging their
mother for food. I glanced.
Big mistake.
These weren’t
thieves or murderers. They were parents, mothers, fathers,
children, etc. Whole families were being held down here. What kind
of man would do this to people?

A hand managed to grab a hold of my arm,
stopping me dead in my tracks.

“Won’t you help us miss?” a middle aged man
asked me.

There was a pang of guilt stabbing me in my
soul. I didn’t have the luxury of time to help the prisoners. I
felt for these people, but if I stopped now I surely would be
caught. Then what good would I be to anyone?

The man who had a hold of me was a gypsy.
Damned by consequence to roam the Earth, being neither human nor
Otherworlder, they were the offspring of humans and Fae. The Fae
did not discriminate with whom they bred with. Occasionally, that
meant humans.

“I’m sorry, truly I am, but I’m about to have
the full wrath of Abel on my heels if I don’t leave now,” I told
the man.

He let go of my hand. “My people can see the
truth Magdalene Maguire, the impossible child.”

One of a gypsy’s attributes was seeing the
truth. Another trait was knowing how a person’s life would unfold.
And here I thought my existence was one big secret this whole
time. What was with the impossible child mantra? That’s twice I’ve
been referenced as such.

“You will come back to us in time and rescue
our people, but to which future?” he mused.

I put my hands on the cold, iron bars of the
man’s cell and put my head as close to his as I could so I wouldn’t
be overheard. “I haven’t figured out how to change that outcome
yet, but I will,” I promised him.

The old gypsy looked at me fondly, as if he
knew me well. “Relax miss, I accuse you of nothing. Take this.” The
man turned from me and moved towards the back of his cell. Using a
hand carved walking stick, he poked the cold, grey stone of the
cell wall, revealing a hidden compartment.

Removing a sword, he then turned back to me.
“I took this weapon from a guard during a rather physical
inquisition a few weeks ago,” he explained. “I saw a young woman in
a vision who might have need of it.” The man then handed me the
sword with a wink.

Shouting erupted behind me, breaking up the
conversation. Luca had appeared at the other end of the corridor
and was running straight for me.

I turned to the man as I took off. “Thank you
and I promise I will come back.”

“Magdalene!” the man shouted from behind me.
“You always have a choice.”

There wasn’t time to go back and ask the man
what he meant. Luca was gaining on me. Aside from the two trainees
Abel sent to subdue me previously, I had never taken on one of the
Aelfadl before. Outsmarting them had been the desired way of
dealing with them in the past. I wasn’t sure if I would succeed or
not, let alone with their leader.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to find out. A door
to my left opened, revealing one very surprised guard. I hit him
hard in the head with the hilt of my recently procured sword. His
skull made a sickening crunch, like biting into a piece of celery,
as he fell to the floor. I leaped over the crumpled body and headed
in the new direction, hoping it would lead me somewhere I wanted to
go.

I found myself on an empty catwalk that led
from the dungeons to the castle grounds. Stone arches lined either
side, forming glassless windows. Taking a look out of one, I found
myself ten feet above the ground. Below me laid scattered shrubs
interspersed with jagged rock that promised to flay anyone who fell
upon them. I could hear voices nearing my location from both ends
of the walkway. With only moments to decide whether to try my hand
at entering the castle or jumping out the window, I chose the
window.

My heels stung as I hit the ground. As I
rolled away, my upper arm caught on one of the sharp stones,
slicing it open like a surgeon’s scalpel. Blood flowed freely down
my arm. In times like these, it was good to be an Otherworlder. If
I was human, the injury might have been life threatening. Even now,
just moments after being cut, I could feel my skin knitting itself
back together. In another fifteen minutes, the only tell tale signs
would be a red and angry scar. By tomorrow, even that would be
gone.