Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Josie

The lap of water against my body startled me awake.

I hadn't been able to sleep before in this pathetic excuse of a wasteland, not that I remembered at least, but I felt as if I'd been asleep.

The sun hadn't long set. I could tell by the darkening sky and the twilight that settled around me.

Swampy water bogged me down into the mud. It reminded me of back home, where I yearned to be. I missed my family. My life. I'd never take the bayou for granted again.

How much time had passed?

Had they filled my position at the school?

Shifting my weight, I felt my heels sink into the deathtrap that sat beneath me.

The outline of the castle slowly formed when I blinked to readjust my sight. The Dark Woods looked far away, which I wasn't sad about. The last I remembered was the fight with the talking wolf. I didn't recall getting here, but I wouldn't complain, as long as I didn't run into a Louisiana-sized alligator, ready to swallow me whole.

Something slithered next to my foot, sending me up to my feet. I knew enough about snakes to stay away from them. The mud captured my bare feet, trapping me in the middle of this marshy mess.

"You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled, grabbing my knee and lifting it out of the mud to take a step.

Irritation flooded me.

Maybe the Dark Woods weren't so bad after all.

At least I could make my way through the brush. This was going to take me all night and exhaust what little energy I had left.

Sighing, I pushed my ebony-colored hair out of my face and glanced around.

A slight movement caught my attention on the castle. A figure swiftly scaled the wall. The speed was impressive and gave me chills at the same time.

When the man opened the wooden shutters and crawled inside, my heart leapt into my throat. It looked like a man from a distance, but considering where I was, I couldn't be for sure.

Did they not know who lived in there?

"No!" I shouted, but it wasn't loud enough to reach him.

Grabbing my other foot, I began to pull. The strength it took to get to land rivaled that marathon I ran because Jason asked me to Freshman year.

My exhaustion was so strong that the rocky ground felt like the Hilton. Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths before pushing myself up to all fours.

There was no way any normal person could scale that wall.

It was high, and I knew that I wasn't making it up there without a broken back.

Stumbling upward and dusting off my knees, I looked for the door.

I didn't remember getting into the castle, so I wasn't sure where to begin. Following the moat around it, I halted in my steps.

Several yards away, there was a giant black shadow stretched along the ground. Fear prickled down my spine. I moved closer when the moonlight hit it.

It was the talking wolf.

He looked ... dead. One could dream, couldn't she?

Had my hero killed him? Was my hero looking for me in that castle? Was he here to save me at all? Not all heroes turn out to be heroes in the end.

I stepped around him, admiring his size, when I realized he was breathing steadily.

Holding my breath, I tiptoed further away from him, hoping he didn't wake and smell me.

The small stretch of land that led to the front door looked promising, though I wasn't going to hold my breath.

Rocks tore into my bare feet as I stumbled down the lane toward the front gate. The giant, circular knob swung violently in the growing wind, whipping my hair around my head like a mini tornado.

Grabbing the handle, I shoved it open, wishing I had done more yoga last semester as I struggled to swing it inward.

The door creaked loudly as I shoved it opened. There wasn't any hiding my whereabouts apparently.

I swallowed the growing lump of fear in my throat. What would this crazy witch do to me? She already put a spell on me.

Would she kill me?

I doubted it.

She wanted something from someone and wasn't going to stop until she got it back.

I stepped inside, seeing her pet crow flap his ebony-colored wings on the stair railing.

I couldn't shake this bird.

He cawed at me. The sound echoed against the walls building a ball of fear in my stomach.

"Stop it," I hissed.

The crow didn't stop stirring and cawing, even when I raced up a familiar set of stairs to the second floor. I would never forget the double doors at the end or the room that hid behind it.

They'd led me to whatever this hell is I'm living.

I ignored the crow's calling, knowing Deidamia was facing off with my hero because I could hear their voices.

I stopped at the door to listen.

"You don't remember me?" he asked.

Both of my brows lifted up my forehead. My hero interacted with this witch and lived to tell the tale? Maybe that was a good sign. Dad hired someone that could handle himself and Deidamia. Maybe get me out of here alive.

Her laughter was soft and feminine. I didn't like it.

My hero was very bossy when it came to me intruding in his savior's activities, but I couldn't stop myself from pushing the door open.

The wind from the window tossed my hair around my shoulders, and thunder rolled in the background like a warning to turn back.

My hero's gaze met mine as he stood in-between Deidamia and my lifeless body.

Deidamia didn't stir.

Did she not see me? It didn't seem like it. Maybe because my need for a hero was giving me pathetic dreams that were a figment of my imagination.

Deidamia shifted her weight. "How could I forget my first immortal?" she chuckled. "Well, besides myself."

Immortal? My hero couldn't die. Even better.

My hero's heavy jaw tightened, and I watched as his thick throat moved when he swallowed. "I'm nothing to you," he said, his voice gravelly and full of emotion.

Deidamia chuckled. "Oh, you're just as serious as you were all those decades ago. I hope you're not crying over that woman—"

"Don't," he yelled, lifting his sword toward her, "Don't you dare, witch."

"Oh, you got me there," she said, moving slowly around the room. "Why are you here? To avenge your wife? Your daughter? Or to save this little girl over here? Maggie told me someone was coming, but I couldn't see who. I can't say I'm not utterly surprised to see you of all people, but I am pleased. I'm glad you've made it all this time. Wait—" she chuckled. "That's right. You can't die, can you?"

I held my breath.

My hero's face contorted into pain. His nostrils moved as he took deep breaths to control himself.

"I'm here to save Josie from the claws of a manipulative cunt that thinks she rules the world. I'm here to avenge my family that you ripped away from me, and for the life I never had because of you."

Deidamia lifted her arms out beside her. "Sticks and stones, my boy. If you think you can hurt me—"

He tossed his sword so swiftly at her face that he nipped the side of her cheek. Blood oozed outward but only for a few minutes. She wiped it away with a small smile on her face. "I'm immortal, like you, Kellan."

Kellan. His name rolled over my tongue and tasted like chocolate when I mouthed it to myself.

"Tell me," she said. "How many times did you try to kill yourself?"

He didn't answer, instead he lifted his arm, and a small knife formed in his hand. "You're right, Deidamia. I tried so many times that I lost count. How many times have you looked in the mirror and seen yourself as the ugly devil that you are?"

Deidamia chuckled. "Only when I realize that I didn't kill you when I had the chance."

Kellan dodged left and then bent down, sending his knife at her robe.

She lifted her head and let out a blood-curling scream that oddly enough felt satisfying to hear.

When she looked back, he was holding me—the asleep me—in his arms. The look they exchanged envied the devil himself.

"You won't make it out of this realm with her," she said, bending down to pry the knife from her leg. "And if you do, I'll kill every last one of those greedy, filthy humans that stole from me."

Kellan glanced down at me. Something soft passed over his features, and it warmed my stomach. "And I'll protect them because this time, you can't kill me like before. I do not fear death, Deidamia. I fear not avenging my family and letting you get away with taking everything from me."

The corner of Deidamia's lip turned into a snarl. She lifted her hands and shot what looked like green electricity out of her palms.

But he was already gone out of the window. I raced over, looking down at him swiftly moving toward the Dark Woods.

Deidamia sliced through me, my body turning to smoke and forming once she made it through. It felt like a prickle up my spine.

She curled her long skinny fingers over the window.

Her body began to shake in anger until a roar ripped from deep in her chest. It shook me until I backtracked out of the room and down the stairs. How was I supposed to keep up?

Was I supposed to?

Would he find a way to save me?

He looked like he knew a little magic but more so to fight than awaken the poor human girl that didn't have a chance.

I made it out of the castle and into the night.

The wolf sat by the bayou, staring up at Deidamia's window as her scream still lingered in the air.

"He got her," the wolf said.

I almost felt an inch of pride in his tone.

Maybe he appreciated Kellan for standing up to her. I know I sure as hell did.

I stumbled around the opposite side of the castle, running into Kellan. He stood with my lifeless body in his arms, his gaze settled over me like a heated storm.

The silence between us was tight. Every time I shifted, he reacted in some way. The muscles in his deltoids jumped under his flesh. "Follow me," he said gruffly. "Keep up."

Many questions formed in my head, but I didn't ask them.

How would I get back into my body? Why was he the only person that could see me?

I swallowed them down with the fear of being caught by this madwoman. Then rushed after his large frame as he led me toward what I hoped was my salvation.