More like the other way around. That sword had been very sharp. As I slowed down, I thought about it. Why did everyone want to kill me all of a sudden? I stopped and put my hands over my face, suddenly overwhelmed by everything. I was trapped there. Without having a gateway to get back, there was nowhere for me to go. There was the faery realm—obviously off-limits for me now. There was the clearing—not exactly the best place to hide. And there was Castle Dread—the only part of the Shadowlands that looked like anything other than a whole lot of nothing. Far beyond were the jagged mountains that apparently bordered the rest of the Underworld, but it was so far away I’d never be able to walk there, and I was pretty certain that it wasn’t somewhere I wanted to go in the first place.
I had no idea what I was going to do next. Even if I could find another gateway, what was I supposed to do? Just go back? Once I was there I had no way of finding a way to return to the Shadowlands. I knew I couldn’t leave. I had to find another way.
I remembered what Elizabeth had told me earlier.
“The Underworld potion makers always create an anti-potion for everything. It’s a by-product of the potion itself and a very good fail-safe—after all, one can never be too careful when it comes to magical brews.”
Maybe I’d sneak back into the castle. I’d try to find the anti-potion—the antidote—to Elizabeth’s poison. I’d cure my father and together we’d defeat Elizabeth.
I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, but I had to try. After everything I’d learned, I couldn’t simply hide.
Pushing away my fear and summoning up my remaining reserve of courage, I turned toward the castle only to find that my view was blocked.
Elizabeth’s thug stood in front of me.
I stared at him, my heartbeat thudding in the backs of my eyes, in my throat, in my head.
“Princess,” he said with teeth gritted together. “I never thought you’d emerge from the forest.”
“I’ll turn Darkling,” I managed. “I can do it. You can’t hurt me then.”
“It will take a few moments for you to shift form.” The knife turned in his grip. “I’m prepared this time.”
“Did you tell Elizabeth what happened before? When I turned?”
His brow furrowed. “No.”
Since Elizabeth hadn’t said anything to me about it, I figured he hadn’t. “Why not?”
The expression on his ugly face was grim. He was so big that he blocked out my entire view of the Shadowlands behind him with his thick body. “Do you truly think I would tell her that I allowed you to defeat me so easily? She fears you enough as it is, but if she had any idea that you’d harnessed your Darkling powers . . .” He visibly shuddered. “She would destroy me.”
My entire body was tense, and I found it hard to move or breathe. “She fears me? Why does she fear me?”
“Silence.” He moved the knife and I managed to stagger back a step. Instead of coming at me with it, he tucked it into a sheath at his side and pulled something else out of his pocket. A white cloth. “You have to come back to the castle with me. Your aunt wishes to speak with you.”
“She wants to kill me.”
“If that was the case, I would have done it already.”
I looked around the empty field. Not much chance of escape that I could see. The thought made me feel ill. “What did you do to Michael?”
His lips thinned. “The Shadow is proving to be more problematic than Elizabeth ever anticipated or she would have sent him away with the other servants. He’ll be taken care of in time.”
He moved toward me. I stepped back and held up my hands. “Look, there has to be another way. Maybe you can help me. Aren’t you sick of being told what to do? I know I was. You don’t have to take orders from Elizabeth if you don’t want to. That’s no way to live. Maybe we can work together and figure out a way to—”
But he wasn’t open to negotiations. He closed the remaining distance between us so fast I couldn’t even turn around. Before I had a chance to fight back or scream, he forcibly covered my mouth with the cloth, which smelled of strange chemicals, and a few seconds later darkness claimed me.
19
I woke with a sharp sob to find my face pressed against a smooth stone floor in a cold, dark room. It took me a moment to even sit up, and when I did, I felt around, trying to establish where I was and exactly how much trouble I was in.
I was somewhere in the castle.
And I was in a whole heap of trouble.
I touched my neck. My potion bottle was missing. Where had it gone? Did it slip off my neck when Elizabeth’s thug was dragging me back to the castle? Was it out in the field? Or had he taken it away from me to give to Elizabeth so she could force-feed it to me?
I was betting on the latter.
::Princess? Can you hear me?::
Michael? I drew my knees to my chest and stared blindly around at the darkness. Where are you?
::If you can hear me, then I must be close, but I don’t know where they put us.::
I felt a sudden wave of relief at hearing from him, even if it was only telepathically. You got away from that creep?
::I’d hoped he’d chase me, not you. I’m sorry about that. Did he hurt you?:: He sounded upset by the idea of it.
Despite total hysteria and being scared to death, I’m still breathing. Michael, what is Elizabeth planning to do?
::I think she wants to wait for King Desmond to die and for the power to shift to you. Then she . . . then she plans to kill you. You need to get out of here. Why didn’t you go through the gateway when you had the chance?::
A fist of panic clutched at my throat. It disappeared. One moment it was there, the next it was gone.
::Elizabeth must have discovered how to control the gateways now that the king is losing his power.::
I have to stop her, Michael. There has to be a way. I racked my brain. All of my earlier ideas seemed like huge long shots.
::You need to tell your father what she’s done. About the poison. He needs to know.::
But he’s so weak now. What could he do that wouldn’t hurt him even more?
::He might be able to open another gateway for you. He can still help you get home.::
The room I was in was so cold I was shivering, though it wasn’t just from cold—it was also from fear. I tried to calm myself down by thinking about Michael. His first thought was to protect me, to help me get home. I appreciated that so much, but I knew it was too late now. Even if I was willing to just skip back home and forget all of this, I couldn’t. The moment my father died, I’d be brought back here against my will and trapped inside the castle until Elizabeth killed me to take my power. There was no turning back now.
Where are you? I thought. I’ll try to get out of here. I’ll try to find you.
There was a pause, and then, ::Princess, I have to go. I have to—::
I waited with my eyes wide as saucers for him to say something else. But there was only silence.
Michael?
There was no reply. Had Elizabeth found him?
I felt around on the cool floor until I came to a big wooden door. I got shakily to my feet, feeling for a handle, but there was none. I pushed against the door but it didn’t budge. They’d locked me inside a dark room to deal with me later.
Slowly my eyes began to adjust to the lack of light until I could see. I was in a small unfurnished room. My shoes and purse were nowhere to be seen. I pushed on the door again, attempting to use my shoulder as leverage but it was impossible.
I sucked in a shaky breath and looked around. There had to be a way out of here. Michael was right. The only thing I could do now was to find my father and tell him about Elizabeth and pray that he had enough power left to stop her.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a soft glowing light in the darkness and I looked down. It was the crystal of my bracelet, pulsing like a tiny flashlight almost out of batteries. I frowned and ran my fingers over it.
Elizabeth had told me that
it was just a regular piece of jewelry. That dragons didn’t exist. That would have meant it wasn’t a dragon’s tear as my father had originally told me. But I figured I’d already established that Elizabeth was a big, fat liar.
What had my father said about the bracelet? That it could help focus my powers and make them more manageable?
Elizabeth had warned that using my powers would kill me, but it hadn’t. And after what Rhys had told me about Darklings being dangerous and not having to hide from anyone, I had started to realize that it might have been just one more thing she’d lied to me about.
Of course she told me if I didn’t drink the potion I’d die—that had been her plan. To scare me into drinking the potion.
But I hadn’t drunk it.
However, when I had turned Darkling I’d felt out of control, as if the Darkling controlled me instead of the other way around. But that was when my emotions were all jumbled up—fear, panic, anger. I felt all of those emotions present right then, but I wondered if things would be different if I could control them. Maybe if I concentrated, focusing on the crystal in my bracelet, it would help me channel my Darkling power.
Maybe being a Darkling was like having a muscle I never knew I had. A flabby muscle that needed to be worked on before it got strong and flexible and able to help me jump over tall buildings in a single bound.
It was definitely worth a try.
Please, I prayed inwardly. Please let this work.
I pressed both my palms against the door. I wanted out of that room.
Elizabeth told me that dragons didn’t exist and that my father was delusional.
It hurt thinking how easily I’d been sucked into believing her. I’d liked her and I’d thought she liked me. But she didn’t. She had a very specific plan and I was the only person currently standing in her way.
She was going to kill me.
The anger that flared with that thought created a sudden surge of energy and I focused all of my concentration then. The teardrop crystal lit up brightly and then both of my hands began to glow with red light. I pushed against the door and heard a splintering sound before it swung wide open.
My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it had actually worked.
I pushed my fear aside and forced myself to emerge into the hallway. I didn’t know the castle at all and the hallways and corridors all looked the same to me, but I had to find Michael. And, I knew I had to find my father and tell him about Elizabeth.
Elizabeth had to be stopped in any way possible. She couldn’t become queen. She planned to open the Shadowlands up to her boyfriend, and together they’d let the evil that my father had spent sixteen years holding back seep into the human and faery realms.
No matter what I had to do, I wouldn’t let that happen.
I pulled Michael’s sweatshirt tighter around me as I quickly moved through passages and corridors. I turned right and left and around until I was hopelessly lost and on the verge of tears again. I’d been determined when I’d left the locked room, but the feeling had faded the longer it took me to find my way. How was I supposed to stop Elizabeth if I couldn’t even find my father?
Finally I stopped walking and wiped at my damp eyes, my hands coming away smeared with what remained of my carefully applied Winter Formal makeup.
“Princess,” a quiet voice said.
I turned sharply to the right. From inside a darkened room Michael stared out at me. There was a look in his eyes that almost scared me more than I already was. No, scratch that. It did scare me more than I already was.
But seeing him also gave me a huge sense of relief. He was all right. I’d been so scared that Elizabeth had gotten to him and had hurt him—or worse—for helping me try to escape.
“Michael.” I took a step toward him. “What happened? Are you okay?”
He took a step back, holding up a hand. “Please, Princess, just stay where you are.”
His expression was dark and haunted and it worried me even more. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m . . . I’m a Shadow.”
I frowned. “I know that already. I told you I don’t care.” There was something different about him, but it wasn’t until I looked down at his worn, gray T-shirt that I figured it out. “Where’s your amulet?”
He touched his chest with a shaky hand. “Elizabeth took it away from me.”
“Why?”
“To punish me.” He studied the floor at his feet. “There’s no worse way to punish Shadows than to take away our amulets.”
A rush of concern swept over me. “But aren’t you supposed to wear it at all times? I thought you needed it.”
“I do.” His throat moved as he swallowed, and I noticed his eyes weren’t green anymore; they were gray. “But don’t worry about me. There’s still a chance for you to be okay. Elizabeth doesn’t want to kill you if she doesn’t have to. If you drink the potion, she’ll let you live.”
I felt a stab of anger at what my aunt had done to him. “Would you stop protecting me for one moment and think about yourself? What happens if you don’t get your amulet back?”
“Please, Princess, listen to what I’m telling you. You can go back to your normal life. Go back to school and to the dance and forget all about this.”
I shook my head. “I can’t do that.”
“You have to drink the potion. Forget about me. There’s no other way for you to be safe.”
He sounded so broken, his voice barely a rasp as he told me to forget about him. He didn’t look well at all. In addition to his eyes, his skin grew pastier the longer he stood there. He looked sick and weak and tired.
“Why do you think she’d just let me go now?” I asked. “After everything that’s happened?”
“Because that’s what I told him,” a now-familiar voice said.
I turned to my left. Elizabeth was about twenty feet down the hall and approaching slowly. Even after everything that had happened, she was smiling warmly at me.
“Nikki,” she said, “I can’t begin to tell you how badly I feel about all of this. I never meant to involve you. I didn’t want you to be hurt.”
I looked at her, wanting to run, but not able to leave Michael behind. “How can you say that to me?”
“Because it’s the truth. I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault that you were swept up in all of this, but it was unavoidable.” She fixed me with a concerned look. “I tried to make it easy for you. I wish you’d never learned the truth.”
“The truth that you’re murdering my father?”
Her shoulders stiffened. “You make it sound so horrible.”
“How is it not horrible? How is there anything about it that isn’t horrible? You’re poisoning your own brother. How can you do that?”
She ignored my question. “How did you escape from your room? I know it was locked very well.”
I used my Darkling strength and busted it open, I thought. But I didn’t say it out loud.
Michael, I projected telepathically, what’s wrong with you? What has she done to you? Please tell me.
There was no reply, even though he was standing six feet away from me.
“You didn’t answer me,” I said to Elizabeth, trying as hard as I could not to sound scared to death. Her casually polite demeanor was now scary rather than pleasant. “Why are you doing this?”
She spread her hands. “The time has come for a change. The Shadowlands have been a protective barrier for so long. But who’s to say that it must always be that way? I’m looking for progress instead of stagnation. My father was stuck in the old ways, and Desmond is much the same. But there are new ideas. Demons have been relegated to the dark worlds for too long. We should be given the opportunity to move out to other places if we so desire.”
“Is that what Kieran wants?” I asked coolly.
She gave me a small smile. “Kieran is very wise. He knows how the worlds should be. And he loves me. Together I believe we could change the universe.”
“You’re
insane,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed at me. “Actually, I’ve never been more sane than I am right now,” she said. “My love for Kieran has shown me possibilities other than those I was raised to believe. He has opened my eyes and helped me embrace my own potential, my own power. That is what love does, Nikki. Since you’re so young, I don’t expect you to understand.”
I thought back to my conversation with the hot-but-creepy Kieran and shuddered. “Kieran made sure to tell me that if something happened and you didn’t become queen, he and I should ‘get to know each other better,’ ” I said, making air quotes. “And I don’t think he meant because he was in love with my aunt, if you know what I mean. The guy is a jerk.”
Her mouth twitched a little. “I’m sure you misunderstood him.”
“No, I’m thinking that you’re the one who misunderstood him. Did it ever occur to you that he’s just using you to get to the Shadowlands? So he can take control for himself?”
“Kieran loves me,” she said simply. “He’s absolutely perfect. And he only wants what’s best for me.”
“I had a date who seemed perfect this evening,” I said, flashing back to what had happened with Chris and sensing a ghost of the panic I had felt well inside me again. “He attacked me in the back of a limo.”
But I could tell that she didn’t want to hear what I was saying. She was so far into the decisions she’d made for the sake of true love and progress that anything else was just white noise to her.
“I’m sorry you don’t understand what true love is,” Elizabeth said. “I hope, for your sake, that one day you’ll get the chance.” She stretched out her hand and I saw that my potion bottle rested on her palm. “I took this from you to ensure that you didn’t break it or dispose of it somehow. I’m giving you this last opportunity to do the right thing. Drink the potion, Nikki. Your presence has caused a disturbance in my plans, and this is your last chance to make it right.”
I just glared at her.
Her expression stiffened. “Dax,” she called. “Come here.”
The thug came around the corner. Indoors he looked even bigger than before. He glanced at Elizabeth and then came toward me.