* * *
Arlana stared out the window of the suite. How had all of this happened? It was crazy. She was not a witch. Why did everyone believe Mari so easily? Now she was having to marry a man she didn’t know and her father was not here yet. She looked behind her when she heard the door to her suite open. Christina walked in with a tray of wine and bread. “Mistress Fifi, I have brought you something light to eat. I noticed you barely ate your dinner tonight. You must have something.” Christina urged Arlana.
Arlana sighed and looked at the bread. Her stomach turned as she thought about eating. She turned back towards the window. Thankfully she had a view of the back of the estate. She didn’t know what she would have done if she saw all the commotion happening at the front of the property. She stepped away from the window and walked over to Christina. Her dress felt stiff and awkward. “Where is Madam Seraphim?” She asked Christina.
“Downstairs in the parlor preparing for the ceremony. She is determined to make it as grand as she can in such little time as she has. I think she is also worried because Monsieur Seraphim has yet to return.”
Arlana couldn’t take it any longer. She pulled at her dress trying to undo the stays on the back. “Fifi, What are you doing?” Christina asked in alarm.
“Christina I cannot wear this anymore. I need to get out and go for a ride. If I stick to the back of the estate I will be fine. Please help me change into my clothes. I promise to be back in an hour.” Arlana pleaded with Christina.
Christina bit her lip trying to decide what to do. She had never refused Fifi anything but she had a bad feeling about this. “I don’t think that is a good idea. Those people want to kill you Fifi. Don’t you see how dangerous it would be to go outside?”
Arlana felt frustrated and felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes. She had never been one to cry but the events of the last few days had finally worn her down and she couldn’t hold back. She looked at Christina with tears in her eyes and sat down on the settee.
Christina looked at her with regret and went to the wardrobe and pulled out Monsieur Seraphim’s clothes.
Arlana looked at her “What are you doing?”
“I still think it is too dangerous but maybe if we could make it look like you were a man they would ignore you.”
Arlana jumped up and hugged Christina, “Thank you!”
Once she was changed she looked in the mirror and laughed. “I look like a man!” She cried out in delight. “Christina I think this will work!”
Christina looked away. She knew this wouldn’t work, she could feel it. She would never admit it to anyone but she had inherited her family’s curse. She could always sense when bad things would happen and right now she knew she shouldn’t be helping Fifi but her pain was too much to bear.
Christina put on another of Monsieur’s Serphim’s outfits. As they were putting their hair up they overheard commotion downstairs. At first they thought Monsieur Seraphim had returned and they froze in panic. What if he saw them in his clothes?! Then they heard one of the maids yell “You can’t go up there!”
Arlana gasped and turned to Christina, “we have to go now!” Arlana’s heart began pounding and she began to feel strange. She began walking towards the door to the hallway. Her brain was telling her to run out the side door but her heart was pounding so hard and it was drawing her to the hall. She felt a hand grab hers and pull her away. “Fifi! No! They are here we must go!” Christina pleaded.
They ran towards the side door that led to a back stairwell. As they reached the bottom of the stairs they heard someone at the top of the stairs. Arlana hesitated a moment. She had the feeling she should turn around. Something in her wanted to see who was upstairs, but as she started to turn Christina pulled her towards the back entrance. When she reached the cold night air she came to her senses for a moment. That weird feeling was still with her but Christina’s sense of urgency kept her focused on getting out. What was wrong with her?
They ran towards the stables. When they got inside the stables she could hear Colton making a fuss. She ran over to him and untied him from his stall. There wasn’t time to saddle him. She could hear someone running their way. “Christina no time to saddle up. Grab the bridles we are going bare back.”
She hollered over her shoulder. Thankfully she and Christina had been riding bareback since she was little.
They mounted the horses and urged them out of the stables in full gallop. She could hear a man’s voice hollering out to them but it didn’t make sense. He was hollering someone’s name but she had never heard that name before. She wanted to look over her shoulder and turn back to see him but Colton was moving too fast to turn around. Arlana shook her head trying to clear the odd feeling she was having. She needed to flee.
As they raced into the night she felt her heart pounding. She couldn’t explain why but she felt like she should turn around and meet the man that was calling out. Christina was directly behind her. She could hear Kelm panting as he raced to keep up with Colton. Arlana turned to look over her shoulder to see if the man followed them she couldn’t see anything. She felt an odd sense of disappointment and turned her head forwards. She heard a scream and then went flying over Colton’s head as he stumbled on something. The last thing she saw was the dark ground coming into view and then everything went black.