“Do you think we should try to just speak to her as she’s approaching?” I asked.
Another pause. “No,” he replied. “Not while that man is with her. We need to try to get her on her own—”
His voice trailed off as Mona and the warlock were now too close for us to speak even in whispers without the risk of being detected.
Erik’s grip on me tightened as they walked right past us and reached the gate. Mona pulled out a key from her gown and, unlocking the heavy gate, pushed it open. I almost left my head behind as Erik jerked me forward with speed that knocked me breathless. It was just as well. If we’d delayed a moment later, the gates would have slammed shut in front of us, locking us out.
Erik continued leading me forward at a safe distance from the two of them. As we reached the foot of the stairs and began ascending toward the palace entrance, I kept fearing that they would vanish themselves, leaving us stranded and without the slightest clue where to find Mona. But, as we reached the top of the stairs and walked through the front door into a stunning entrance hall, I began to allow myself to hope that they were enjoying the exercise.
We began climbing staircase after staircase as we moved up the floors of the palace. I would have been stunned by its beauty had my stomach not been in knots. I was thankful that Erik was taking it upon himself to regulate our speed and distance from the pair in front of us. On more than one occasion, I became anxious that we might lose them and I got too close, and Erik pulled me back.
Finally, we reached what appeared to be the top level of the palace and, walking along the corridor, stopped outside an engraved wooden door. Mona pushed it open and stepped inside.
“Well, Coen, I’ll catch you later,” Mona said.
“I look forward to it.” Coen smiled and began to walk back down the corridor.
Erik lurched forward with me once more, but before we could enter the door, Mona closed it behind her.
“Wait until the warlock has disappeared,” Erik breathed. “Then we’ll knock.”
I was hoping Coen would hurry up and vanish, but, apparently still enjoying the exercise, he ambled along the long corridor until he finally descended the steps down to the floor below.
“Now,” Erik said, moving closer to the door.
He knocked quietly at first, then louder when nobody came to answer the door. Footsteps sounded. Erik was barely breathing as the door clicked and swung open.
I was sure that during our walk through the palace, Erik had been mulling over what to say to Mona once we finally got her alone and he was now preparing to spit it out.
But it wasn’t Mona standing before us. It was a dark-haired witch wearing a navy blue smock and a white apron.
I was about to blurt something out anyway, but Erik’s hand closed over my mouth and he pulled me back away from the door. We retreated further down the corridor as the maid poked her head out, looking up and down with a confused look on her face.
Once the door closed again, Erik whispered, “We can’t risk trusting any of these witches. We have to find a way to speak directly with Mona. We’ll have to wait here and hope to catch her the next time she comes out alone.”
Exhausted from the tension, I slid down the wall and sat on the floor. “Okay,” I said. “Hopefully it’s just a matter of time.”
Erik’s hip brushed against mine as he slid down the wall next to me. “And hopefully, this invisibility spell Patricia put on us won’t desert us any time soon…”
Chapter 28: Kiev
Who was that man walking next to Mona?
The question was circling in my mind as my vision came into focus again and I realized we were standing in some kind of dark, damp underground chamber. A prison, I soon realized as one of the warlocks dressed in black pushed open a gate and threw Patricia and me inside.
I threw myself at the gate, but not fast enough. It clicked shut and no matter how much I tried to rip open or bend the bars, they wouldn’t budge. Clearly bewitched to withstand the strength of a vampire.
I clutched Patricia’s shoulders. “Try to get us out of here.”
She raised her palms toward the gate. Nothing happened. Her shoulders sagged. “They’ve removed my powers.”
“No!” I yelled, slamming my fists against the wall.
I looked up and down the corridor outside. The guards had disappeared from sight already. My eyes travelled around the cells surrounding us. After a brief glance, they all seemed to be empty… except the one about four doors along. A red-headed man sat up against the bars, gazing across at me.
Efren. I recognized him instantly. How could I not? He’d once almost killed me.
He looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see him. He was a black witch. I had no idea how he could have gotten here in The Sanctuary.
“What are you doing here?” he spat.
I ignored the bastard and turned back to Patricia. She was staring through the bars, to a cell five doors to our left.
“Corrine?” she whispered.
I let out a gasp. She was right. I’d looked around too quickly to notice before, but now I could see, right at the back of the cell, both Corrine and Ibrahim leaning against the wall—apparently unconscious. “Corrine!”
“She won’t be waking up any time soon.” Efren chuckled.
“What happened?” Patricia asked, clutching the bars so hard her knuckles had turned white.
“They were causing trouble, from what I overheard one of the guards saying,” he said. “Weren’t settling into the new life the Adriuses wanted them to adopt. So they put them to sleep.”
Patricia looked at me, horrified. “They must have been caught… That means all this time, nobody has been looking for Rose.”
Before I could respond, a witch with flowing light blonde hair appeared directly in front of our cell, accompanied by one of the guards who’d placed us in here. She raised her brows as she looked us over.
“Brisalia,” Patricia gasped.
So this is the bitch.
“Do we know how they got in?” Brisalia asked the guard in a low voice, ignoring Patricia.
The warlock shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Hm.” She approached closer, her cool eyes traveling from mine to Patricia’s face, before turning back to the guard again. “Well, we can’t keep them here.”
“What do you propose?”
“We need to get rid of them.” She was speaking as though we weren’t even present in the room.
“Banish them from the island?”
“Oh, no,” she said. There was a pause as the warlock stared at her. “Now that they’ve found their way in once, we can’t risk it happening again. You know the consequences if Mona ever found out. We’ll need to find a more… permanent solution.”
“What?”
She looked thoughtfully at the warlock before replying, “Send them down to Hagatha. It’s about time she had some visitors…”
Chapter 29: Abby
Each time a witch passed us along the corridor, I kept fearing that Patricia’s invisibility spell would lift. But thankfully, it was still upon us.
Sitting on the floor began to grow uncomfortable after a few hours. Neither Erik nor I had spoken much during this time. We’d just been listening, hoping to hear any sign of Mona leaving the apartment. But we had yet to hear it.
“Erik,” I whispered, standing up. “I need to stretch my legs.”
“Me too.” He stood up with me, and I felt him reaching for my hand once again. “We can’t afford to lose each other.”
“And we shouldn’t go too far either,” I said.
We began walking slowly along the seemingly endless corridor. Something about the way we were walking together reminded me of my walks with Ben.
Ben.
I hoped that he’d be all right. It had been frightening to see how much his transformation had consumed him. Since Derek and Sofia hadn’t wanted anybody else visiting him until they understood what was wrong with him,
the last time I’d seen him was when he’d escaped from the apartment and dove into the sea. The way he’d looked at me… it was as though he hardly recognized me.
Kiev didn’t know that the main reason I’d wanted to come on this mission to The Sanctuary was to distract myself from what was happening to Ben.
I thought back to the last encounter I’d had with him before he turned into a vampire. We’d been taking our usual walk with Shadow. I wasn’t sure why, but with his turning looming so close, something had made me want to finally admit my feelings toward him. Perhaps I’d sensed he might be different after his turning and I just wanted to get them off my chest while he was still the Ben I knew. Whatever the case, as we neared the forest on our journey back toward the residences, I’d slipped my hands into his and pulled him to a stop. But then when I’d opened my mouth to speak, a paralyzing fear took hold of me. My throat felt parched and I just couldn’t spit the words out. I had no choice but to clumsily change the subject and let go of him as we continued walking.
But even though I hadn’t managed to express myself, something about the way Ben had looked at me told me that he suspected what I was about to say. The way I’d touched him, and the way my cheeks had flushed—it would have been obvious to anyone.
Ben wasn’t one to shy away from subjects with me, so the fact that he didn’t step up and say something made me believe he didn’t feel what I felt for him. He didn’t take it as a cue to admit his own feelings for me, as I’d hoped he might. He didn’t put his arm around me and draw me closer to him, walking back through the woods as lovers might.
He allowed us to continue walking back home as the close friends we’d become.
By the time I arrived back at my treehouse, I found myself feeling glad I hadn’t spoken the words out loud. Because now I was sure that they would have made Ben feel uncomfortable. It was just as well I’d choked up. I’d probably made him feel awkward enough as it was…
“Do you hear that?” Erik’s voice broke through my thoughts as he squeezed my hand. “Someone’s coming up the stairs.”
Footsteps ascended the staircase a dozen feet away. Erik tugged on me and we sped back to Mona’s front door, careful not to make a sound. I glanced back at the staircase to see a man emerging from it—the same blond warlock who’d escorted Mona up here earlier.
Erik and I flattened ourselves against the wall as he passed by us and stopped outside Mona’s door. He knocked loudly three times. The door opened and the same witch I’d seen earlier appeared—based on her dress, I could only assume she was a maid.
“I’m here for Mona,” the warlock said.
The maid disappeared back into the apartment, calling, “Mona, Coen’s back for you.”
Mona appeared at the door a few moments later. Her long blonde hair trailed down her back and she wore a flowing white summer dress that perfectly complemented her tan skin. She looked more alive than when we’d seen her a few hours ago.
The second she stepped out into the corridor, Erik pulled me forward without warning. We managed to slip into the apartment just in time before the witch closed the door behind her.
We stood motionless, barely daring to breathe as the footsteps disappeared down the corridor. I cast my eyes around the lavish apartment, looking for the maid. I could hear pots clanging in a kitchen some doors away. For now, it seemed, she was occupied.
“We should find somewhere to hide until Mona returns,” I breathed.
We padded from room to room until we reached what was obviously the master bedroom. A dressing gown lay on the bed, and there were various items scattered on the dressing table.
Erik led me over to the corner of the room where there was a large closet. He pulled open the doors. It was filled with gowns, but there was still just enough room for both Erik and me to sit. I stepped inside first and Erik followed after me, closing the doors softly behind us. There was a narrow keyhole that each of us could take turns looking through, but for the most part, our hearing would be enough to sense movement in the room.
I let out a sigh and muttered, “At least now we’re one step closer to getting her alone.”
Chapter 30: Rhys
Arielle went to pay a visit to Lilith on my behalf to inform her that our journey to The Shade had to be delayed. I would have gone myself, but my sisters convinced me that I would serve Lilith better if I remained in bed and used the time to recover.
When Arielle returned from the visit, she had a wide gash across her cheek that even Julisse had trouble healing. Clearly, Lilith hadn’t taken the news kindly.
The wait for my aunt to return with a fresh supply of mer-fin was perhaps the most agonizing of my life. Every time my door clicked open, my eyes shot up and I kept hoping it would be Isolde walking through the door, clutching a jar of aquamarine scales.
When my aunt finally returned, I ushered her into her potion room. I waited with her while she brewed the antidote, breathing down her neck and assisting her any way I could to speed up the process.
Once the potion had turned a maroon color, she poured a goblet for me and handed it to me. I downed it instantly, even though it scorched my throat.
“Pour me another,” I said.
She raised a brow. “Rhys, it can be dangerous to take more than one dose within an hour.”
“I’m willing to take the risk,” I said, brushing her aside and filling the goblet up a second time myself.
I took two doses every hour for the rest of that day, and by the evening, I was delighted at the progress my palms had made.
It won’t be long now…
Chapter 31: Abby
Waiting in that cramped closet for hours was torturous. I was sure that Erik was suffering more than me—he had much longer legs, after all—but he persuaded me not to risk going out. We were so close to catching Mona alone, we couldn’t afford to be noticed by the maid now.
“You’re right,” I muttered, shifting on my feet for what felt like the hundredth time.
I bent down and looked through the keyhole. The room was dark now. Night had fallen.
I straightened again, praying that Mona wouldn’t be gone much longer.
“I wonder who that warlock is… Coen,” I said.
Erik didn’t respond.
I reached out and touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry about your brother.”
He gulped. “Yeah… We just have to get him back.”
As I withdrew my hand, I realized that I could see it. I pushed aside the gowns covering Erik. I could see his tense face too, his chestnut-brown eyes wide.
“The spell is gone!” I gasped.
He grimaced. “We’re lucky we got inside this closet first.”
“Do you… do you think this means something has happened to Patricia?”
“I don’t know.”
Come on, Mona. Hurry up.
I looked through the keyhole once again as though doing so would somehow hasten her return. The room was still empty.
We stood in silence for the next hour, and I tried to stop looking through the keyhole. It was only making the wait worse. When the front door finally clicked open, both Erik and I let out a deep sigh of relief.
I bent down to look through the keyhole while Erik remained standing and pressed his ear against the door.
Warm lights flickered on in the bedroom as Mona walked in, followed by Coen, who was holding her hand. Judging by the way they were staggering slightly, they’d both had a little too much to drink.
“Well, Coen,” she said. “Thanks for this evening.”
He raised her hand to his lips and placed a kiss over it.
“Any time,” he murmured.
They remained standing, just staring at each other for several moments before Coen reached out slowly and slid his hands around Mona’s waist. He drew himself closer to her and began placing kisses on her skin, working his way from the base of her throat up toward her cheeks. I was glad Erik wasn’t watching this—it would have only made him feel
worse about his brother.
While Mona didn’t seem to be returning Coen’s affections, she wasn’t resisting them either. It was only when his lips neared her mouth that she detached his hands from her and took a step back. Her eyes downcast, she shook her head.
“I… I can’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Coen backed away apologetically. “I understand. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I-I’ll leave.”
She gave him a faint smile. “That’s all right. Good night, Coen.”
“Good night.”
As he vanished from the room, Mona heaved a sigh. Removing her earrings, she placed them inside a box on her dressing table and headed straight for the bathroom. Water gushed as she took a shower.
“As soon as she comes out, we’ll step out.”
Barely had I finished my sentence when the maid walked into the bedroom with a tray containing an ornate silver jug and a matching goblet. She placed it on Mona’s bedside table before proceeding to straighten the bedsheets.
Damn maid.
When Mona finally stepped out of the bathroom wearing a nightgown, her hair wrapped up in a turban, the maid was still fussing about in the bedroom. My heart hammered each time the maid looked in our direction. I was terrified that she might come over to the closet.
Finally, the maid dimmed the lights as Mona slipped into bed and nestled her head against the silk pillows.
“Mona’s in bed,” I breathed to Erik. “The maid can’t hang around much longer…”
But I was wrong. Bizarrely, as Mona settled into slumber, the maid pulled up a chair in a shadowy corner of the room, directly opposite the closet we were standing in, yet hidden from Mona’s bed.
“What is she doing?” I whispered. I thought perhaps the maid had made it a habit to sleep in here with Mona, but she was showing no signs of drifting off. She sat bolt upright in the chair and her eyes were open—seemingly fixed on the dressing table at the foot of Mona’s queen-sized bed. “Maybe we should just risk stepping out.”