The bright lights inside the castle lit up the outside, warning us there were people inside.
Laylen guided us behind a large oak tree when we reached the edge of the forest. “Okay…we’re probably just going to have to make a run for the back.” He peered around the corner of the tree trunk. “I don’t see anyone outside.” His eyes searched for something. “And I think I see the rock Alex was talking about.” He met my eyes. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
I clutched the Sword of Immortality in my trembling hand. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Alright, then.” He was nervous, which made me even more nervous.He raised his eyebrows at me. “On the count of three?” he asked and I nodded, crossing my fingers I didn’t eat dirt during the sprint. “One…two…three.”
We took off, charging through the night toward the ominous castle, our feet thudding in unison.I tripped over a rock, but caught myself and didn’t endure anymore stumbles the rest of the way. The rock was gigantic—the size of a car at least, and it took Laylen quite some effort to scoot it forward. Beneath it was a small hole burrowed into the ground. Even with my night vision, I couldn’t see the bottom. Laylen jumped into the hole first, since neither of us could tell how far of a drop it was, and Laylen was skilled in the art of enduring high falls.
“Alright, go ahead and jump,” he called up once he reached the bottom.
Figuring it must not be too far of a drop, I sat down on the ground, slid my legs into the hole, and without any hesitation I jumped. I was wrong, though. It was a far jump. At least a few stories high. At least. But Laylen was there, in the darkness, breaking my fall as he caught me in his arms.
“Holy, crap,” I breathed into his chest as I clasped tightly to his neck. “I didn’t think it would be that far.”
“I thought it would be easier if you didn’t know,” he replied, letting me go so I could stand.
He was right—it was easier.
It was the thickest darkness down here. “Can you see?” I whispered.
“Barely.” Laylen took my hand. “This way,” he said, guiding me with him as he walked through the blackness.
I’m not really afraid of the dark or anything, but this was scaring me to death. I mean, I didn’t know this place, only that Stephan probably was around somewhere. And what if he was out there in the darkness, watching us as we wandered around blindly. What if we couldn’t see him, but he could see us and he was just waiting for the perfect moment to—
“Gemma, take some deep breathes and try to relax.” Laylen squeezed my hand. “Your hearts beating so loud I can hear it.”
“Sorry.” I took a deep breath, but I knew it wouldn’t relax me. “It’s just creepy, you know. I mean, I can’t see a thing.”
“I can see a little,” he tried to reassure me. “We’re in an empty tunnel. There’s nothing here to worry about.”
Worry about yet. I scooted in closer to him.
The tunnel seemed to last forever. And just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, that the pitch black was never going to leave us, I could suddenly see again.But what I saw made me want to shrink back into the dark tunnel again. It made me want to run.
Laylen and I were standing in a torture chamber.
And we were not alone.
Chapter 14
“What is this place?” I whispered, staring at the pale figure, strapped to a rack in the center of the room.
Laylen shook his head. ‘I have no idea…I’ve never been down here before.”
“Should we…” I gestured at the person bound to the rack. “Should we free them?”
Laylen gave me a skeptical look and then slowly made his way over. I followed at his heels, trying to figure out if the person was alive or dead. Honestly, they looked dead, their eyes sealed shut, their body unmoving, their lips silent as a grave.
Even when we stood above them—or should I say her—she still showed no signs of life.
“Is she…is she alive?” I said to Laylen.
Laylen leaned over her. “Yeah, I can hear her heart beating.”
“Should we…” I reached for one of the ropes around her wrist. “Should I untie her?”
Laylen nodded and reached for the other rope around her wrist. The rack wasn’t stretching her limbs to their full capacity, but her pale skin was pulled rather tight. Her curly black hair ran off the sides of the rack, and so did the worn-out blue dress she was wearing. Laylen and I untied the ropes around her arms and her legs, but still she didn’t move.
“Now what?” I wondered, reaching out as I considered giving her a soft shake.
But Laylen beat me to the punch, lightly shaking her shoulder. But still, she didn’t show any signs of being alive.
“Maybe she’s—” I started
The girl’s eyes shot open. She took one look at us and leapt from the rack. She backed herself up against the stone wall like a skittish cat, her black curly hair a tangled mess around her face as she let out the loudest blood-curdling scream.
“Son of a…” Laylen jumped for her, grabbing her as gently as possible and covering her mouth with his hand. “We’re not going to hurt you, but you have got to stop screaming.”
The girl’s bright yellow eyes were wild as she scanned the room, the rack, the stairway that twisted up to a door. Then, she caught sight of me and something in her expression changed. She calmed down.
Laylen slowly inched his hand away from her mouth, testing whether she was going to freak out and scream again. But she didn’t. There was something about the sight of me that was calming her.
“It’s you,” she breathed loudly. “I can’t believe it.”
I glanced behind me, making sure there wasn’t someone else she was looking at.
There was nothing there but the tunnel
“Yeah, it’s me.” I shot Laylen an ‘is-she-crazy’ look and he shrugged.
“If I let you go, are you going to scream again?” Laylen asked her in a gentle tone.
The girl shook her head and he released her. Her bright yellow eyes stayed locked on me as she walked forward. Laylen, I guess getting nervous, stepped between us.
“You think you know her?” he asked, pointing at me.
She nodded. “She’s the one he talks about all the time. The girl with the violet eyes—the star.”
Well, holy crap. She did know who I was. “Who told you about me?” I asked, stepping up beside Laylen.
She glanced up apprehensively at the top of the spiral stairs. “The man with the scar,” she whispered.
Stephan.
“Why did he tell you about her?” Laylen held out his arm in front of me, still trying to urge me to keep away from her.
“Because.” She tilted her head, examining me over with her unnatural bright yellow eyes. “I’m the half faerie, half Keeper he needs for his plan.”
She said it as if were nothing out of the ordinary, as if we should have known this bit of information already.
But it wasn’t normal. At all. It was one of those things that made your jaw smack to the floor. At least that’s what I thought until she tacked on, “And I’m his daughter.”
Chapter 15
It was one of those moments where time freezes. No one moved. No one talked. No one breathed. As if we all had forgotten how to.
Laylen was the first one to find his voice. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you are…Aislin and Alex don’t have a sister.”
“Oh, I’m only their half-sister.” She talked strange as if using her voice was foreign to her. “And they don’t know about me. My father keeps me hidden all the time. Down here.” She gestured at the rack.
“Of course he does,” Laylen said like something had just dawned on him.
“Why would he keep you hidden?” I asked.
“Keepers aren’t supposed to mix like that with fey,” Laylen explained to me, brushing his blue-tipped bangs away from his forehead. “There’s something about the blood…too much mythical creature on one side and not enough on the other that creates an imbalance.” He discretely nodded his head at the girl. “It makes things a little off.”
How off? “What’s your name?” I asked the girl.
She stuck out her hand awkwardly. “I’m Aleesa.”
Laylen shook her hand politely. “Nice to meet you Aleesa.”
I eyed over Aleesa and something didn’t add up. “You don’t really look like them. Alex and Aislin, I mean.”
“Oh, I get my looks from my mother. She was fey,” she said, like it explained everything.
It didn’t.
“It’s actually true,” Laylen told me, finally lowering his arm from in front of me. “Many of the fey have bright yellow eyes and dark hair like hers. Nicholas was an exception.”
Nicholas. It felt like someone was choking me. “So Stephan is your father,” I croaked and Laylen gave me a funny look.“I mean, he created you for the plan…the end of the world plan.”
She nodded. “Yes, I am his half-faerie, half-Keeper sacrifice he needs. I am what will bind the fey to him.”
My eyes widened. “Sacrifice?”
“Yes,” she said simply, her hands behind her back as she rocked forward on her toes.
The poor girl. She thought this was all alright.
I gazed around at the torture chamber, the rock walls, the cold cement floor, the rack. “How long have you been down here?”
She considered this, a look of perplexity twisting across her face. “I’m not sure. Forever, I think.”
I shuddered. “Well, what about your mom? Where’s she?”
“Oh, she’s gone,” she said with a shrug. “She left me.”
I had no idea what to do with this. Obviously, we couldn’t just leave her down here to be tortured by her own father. But she also made me kind of edgy because she seemed a little off her rocker.