The Keeper's Curse (39 page)

Emmy
didn’t see much of a point in being belligerent at this point,
being outnumbered, out powered, and freezing. She bent over and
pulled the knob for hot water as far right as it would go. Feeling
was just starting to come back to her skin, prickling
painfully.

“
I’ll wait outside,” Montesquieu said, stepping out from sight
as she took off her heavy dress, weighed down by water.

Emmy very
much disliked Cynarra staying in the room with her, but her blind
eyes were focused on the wall opposite to her. She stepped into the
scalding hot water, her skin no longer shivering with cold, but
with pleasure. Now all she could do was stall, taking as long as
possible getting ready.

Half an
hour later she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fully warmed,
fully dry, in her white dress. She looked about ten years
old.

“
Drink this,” Montesquieu said, holding out a creamy drink for
her. “It’ll help you with the nerves.”

Emmy
wondered how stupid they thought she was. It was a potion similar
to anesthesia to knock somebody unconscious before surgery. She had
seen it in Milo’s office.

“
No,” she said. “Perform the reverse spell first. I want to
hold onto Breckin as long as I can.” At least she didn’t have to
lie about that.

Montesquieu flashed her a look of fury. “I will shove this
down your throat –”

“
Thoreoux promised nobody would hurt me,” she said, sounding a
lot braver than she was. She had to buy Breckin more time. “I can
stay awake for the reversal, can’t I? What difference does it
make?”

“
I know what she’s doing, Quincey,” Cynarra’s grating voice
said.

“
Easy,” Montesquieu said. “Should we go ask James if it’s
okay?”

“
No!” Cynarra whisper-screamed. “That’s exactly what she
wants. Just do it.”

“
I’ll be right back,” Montesquieu said, putting the drink and
incantation down on the nearest surface to him. “You watch
her.”

Before
Cynarra could protest, Montesquieu scampered out of Cyrus’s
room.

Emmy knew
this was her only chance to get away. But what was she to do? She
had a feeling Cynarra would know what she was doing at her first
step towards the door. She probably smelled her sweat right
now.

Was it
possible she could create a diversion? Emmy’s eyes roamed the room,
falling on her shoes. Could she throw the shoes on the other side
of the room to get Cynarra to head the other direction? It would
give her a few seconds, wouldn’t it?

Shoeless,
Emmy’s feet padded noiselessly across the floor, but Cynarra’s
attention sharpened right away.

“
What are you doing?”

“
I’m going to sit on the bed.”

“
The bed is on the other side of the room.”

Her
senses were impeccable, Emmy had to admit that. But she had reached
her shoes. Emmy leaned down, holding them at an angle that – if she
performed this successfully – would cause them to skid down the
floor and somewhat imitate the sound of running.

Without
further ado, she threw them a couple of inches above the ground.
And then she ran.

Cynarra’s
ears perked up and dashed for the bait. When her hands closed on
nothing, she howled with fury. Emmy was in the doorway when Cynarra
caught her. She had the drink in one hand, Emmy in the other, and
she slammed her against the wall.

“
I’ll cut your throat open if I have to get this down,” she
hissed at her. Emmy tried to push her away, but like any strapper
she had ever encountered, she was helpless against her. Her arms
bent against Cynarra’s one arm, the sweet-smelling liquid getting
closer and closer to her mouth.

“
Cynarra!” Emmy heard someone shout from the entryway, a voice
she recognized. “Get off her!”

Emmy and
saw Cyrus, Jade, and Persephone standing there, dishevelled and
still in their formal wear.

Cynarra
faced Emmy’s friends, but took a few moments to say something. She
was attempting to recognize the voice. Then she smiled, revealing
canine-sharp teeth. “Cyrus, darling, is that you?” Her nostrils
flared. “And you’re not alone. I smell someone else ... it’s very
familiar ...” She let go of Emmy completely, and she fell to the
floor. Emmy could already feel bruises blossoming on her hands and
wrists. “Metal ... rosemary ... I would guess Grayson, but it
doesn’t seem likely he would be helping you. Is that Persephone
with you?”

This
disturbed Emmy – how on earth did she know who Persephone was? She
turned to Persephone, expecting her to deny it, but her expression
was perfectly vacant.

“
Yes, it’s me,” Persephone said.

“
Oh, your voice is so different! A woman’s voice. Have you
seen your daddy yet?”

“
What are you talking about?” Emmy demanded, going for a
vicious sound, but her voice cracked.

“
She didn’t tell you? Haven’t you ever wondered why little
Persy takes her mother’s maiden name? Her real last name is
‘Rathbone’, Keeper, and hides behind ‘Nassar’ because she’s ashamed
of who she really is.”

Emmy shook her head. She didn’t understand. She had to be
missing what Cynarra was really trying to say. “No.
No.
You’re lying, you’re
just trying to ...” she trailed off, turning to her friends for
support.

Cyrus had
his normal veneer of calm on, Persephone looked devastated, but it
was Jade who looked murderous. So quickly Emmy didn’t even see it,
Jade attacked Cynarra, slamming her against the far opposite
wall.

“
She is not one of you!
” Jade
screamed hysterically.

Cynarra
was unperturbed; she flung Jade off her like she weighed nothing,
landing on, and breaking, the bed. Without realizing it, Cyrus had
taken Emmy’s hands.

“
We have to get out of here.”

“
I’ll hold her off!” Jade shouted, breaking off a post from
the bed and swinging it at Cynarra, breaking it on her
back.

Emmy
didn’t know what to do; she couldn’t leave Jade to die, not again.
“Please Cyrus, just order her to stop.”

“
You don’t understand – Thoreoux’s people have been trained to
resist people like me.”

“
Try it, please!”

Cyrus sighed and turned to face Cynarra. “I order you freeze,
Cynarra.” Nothing. Cynarra and grabbed hold of Jade’s neck, and
squeezed, tighter and tighter. Jade was starting to lose
consciousness. “Cynarra, I order you to freeze,” he said slightly
louder. Persephone’s legs and buckled and fell to her knees; her
best friend was dying right in front her. Shaking, Cyrus shouted,
“
CYNARRA! I ORDER YOU TO RELEASE JADE AND
FREEZE!
”

Cynarra
fell off Jade, landed on her back, and stayed there. Her body
vibrated with effort trying to move, and when she couldn’t, she
screamed. “Cyrus, you filthy little traitor!”

Jade
cupped her neck, panting, but she was able to rise to her feet.
“Let’s get out of here.”

Not
understanding why, Emmy’s eyes went to a small table beside the
connecting bathroom, where the incantation Montesquieu had written
was sitting.

“
Emmy, we have to go,” Cyrus said, intertwining her hand with
his.

She had
to get it. She had to. “Hold on,” she said, breaking her hand from
Cyrus’s. She sprinted to the table, picked up the paper, and
stuffed it in her dress. “Now we can go.”

Emmy’s
spine tingled hearing Cynarra’s insane scream at Cyrus as they
traveled down the corridor, her voice bouncing off the
walls.

“
Tell Breckin he can go,” Persephone said.

Breckin! We’re okay, the four of us are heading to the exit
now. Go back to Methelwood.

I’m already in the mansion looking for you,
Breckin’s voice replied.
I want to make sure you all get out alright. I’ll be there in
just a minute, I can feel you.

Breckin, no –

In a few
seconds, he was standing at their side. He pulled her into a hug so
tight her feet lifted off the ground.

“
Come,” Cyrus said, averting his eyes from the sight. “We’re
close now.”

The five
of them continued on their way, Cyrus in the lead. Several
corridors later, Cyrus led them to an archway, which Emmy realized
as all too familiar. She came to a halt.

“
No!” she whispered. “Not the ballroom – that’s where they all
were when I got here.”

But it
was too late. A few of them were still lingering in the ballroom,
in sight through the archway, and heard Emmy and her friends
coming. Within no time, strappers were on all of them.

“
Bring them in here,” a strong voice commanded from the
ballroom that Emmy recognized as Thoreoux’s.

All of
them put up a good fight, but many torturous minutes later they
were inside the ballroom, restrained. Emmy, Cyrus, and Persephone
were easier to hold down, with only one strapper each, while Jade
had two, and Breckin had three. Emmy was separated from her
friends, probably to keep her away from Breckin.

“
I can’t say I’m surprised you came,” Thoreoux said. Emmy
stretched her neck out as far as it would go to see what was going
on beyond the strapper holding her. Her friends were lined up in a
row, Thoreoux’s attention at the moment on Jade. “I am extremely
sorry you were caught up in this,” he said. “I have no choice but
to kill you, but I regret that very much.”

He moved
on to Cyrus. Thoreoux slapped Cyrus across the cheek, the sound
echoing in the ballroom. “You I have no problem killing. There is
no worse thing to be than a traitor.”

“
I’m not,” Cyrus said, looking at Thoreoux like he was the one
restrained, and Cyrus was the one giving orders. “I was never loyal
to you.”

Thoreoux
slapped him again and moved on to Persephone. “Persephone dear, I
don’t want to kill you, and luckily I don’t need to. We’ll have you
live with us again, and you’ll be taught properly of our ways. You
were taken away too early, you never had a chance.”

Emmy
couldn’t see it, but she heard it – Persephone spat at him. She
bent her head to look at the men standing against the walls. Her
eyes were focused on someone specific, and Emmy followed her gaze
towards none other than Rathbone. “Dad, please,” she begged. Her
father was unresponsive, with a face even blanker than Cyrus’s
normally was. “Please, I’ll stay here with you, just don’t kill
them. I’ll do anything –”

But
Thoreoux had already moved on to Breckin, who was still struggling
with his captors. Emmy could feel the hate emanating from him,
images of Becca dying flashing through his head.

“
You,” Thoreoux said. There was no hate in his voice, no
resentment. “My whole life has been wrapped up in you and I’ve
never actually gotten to meet you. You don’t look anything like
your sister.”

Emmy was
sucked into Breckin for a moment, his rage so all-encompassing she
had no choice. He thrashed in the grip of the strappers, wanting to
hit Thoreoux, to break his neck.

“
Why don’t you let him go?” Emmy shouted from the other side
of the room. “The two of you can battle it out and let the best man
win.”

Thoreoux
whirled on her. “He isn’t killable. That’s a bit of an unfair
advantage, isn’t it?”

“
And three against one is?” She didn’t see much a point in
holding back now; they were going to die soon regardless. Thoreoux
stomped over to her, his expression contorted into
anger.

He bent
down to her level, pressing his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Do
you know why his soul chose you?” He was so quiet nobody else in
the room would be able to hear him but her. “There are many
definitions in many different books. What is the one you
read?”

“
Compatibility,” she said. “The soul chose me because our
personalities were compatible.”

“
That’s not a bad one,” he murmured, “but it’s not the
original. Obviously I have a special interest in the Keeper’s
Curse; I’ve read countless versions as to why a soul chooses a host
and from what I can gather, there is only one true answer.” He
pressed his mouth even closer; Emmy was holding her breath. “You
see, a soul could choose the bravest person in the world, or the
smartest, or the strongest, but it doesn’t. It would make sense,
wouldn’t it? But the soul would rather choose the person who would
resent the parasite the least, who would
want
to protect him. It’s a way to
ensure the least amount of conflict, the least amount of
complication, to keep the pair together. It’s manipulation at its
best: the soul chooses the person who would love the parasite the
most in the world.”

Emmy
lowered her eyes; she could not look at Breckin. With every
movement she felt the parchment with the spell on it move in her
dress.

“
Do you, little Emmy? Do you love him? Because you’re going to
watch him die now.” His lips left her ear, and he ordered, “Bring
him over here.”