Chapter 9
I kind of blacked out after this. I don't remember much; it all happened so fast. I think I was in shock. I faintly remember running forward, but being pulled back by the rough hands of guards before I could get to him. I wasn't really sure what I would have done if I had actually gotten to him. It just seemed like the thing to do. I barely knew the guy, but seeing his death destroyed me. I had never witnessed death before, and it was an eye opening experience. Adam looked absolutely terrible. The guards started pulling me out of the throne room, and Dominick ordered Adam to be taken to the dungeon.
A few moments later, I arrived in a small bedroom a little lower in the tower the throne room was located. I was alone, but sure the guards were still outside the door, preventing me from escaping. I examined the room, but didn't really see anything, mostly because I was still pretty shaken up. I didn't want to process the past five minutes, but I knew I had to eventually. I plopped down on the bed and waited a few minutes, hoping that I would wake up, but I knew that wouldn't happen. I didn't think that I was dreaming anymore. Now what?
I needed to grow up and stop being so naive. Before Caleb's death, I was able to easily convince myself that everything would be alright. Obviously, everything was not going to be ok. Adam's brother was killed right in front of him, and it was all because of me. What was stopping Dominick from killing Annie or Adam or me? Nothing. I was helpless. I had to stop waiting for Adam to save me and actually do something. I determined to get out, and get all of us back safely, no matter what it took.
I sat on the bed for another few moments, just continuing to think of the same thoughts. Soon, I heard a knock on the door and sat up. I thought I probably should go open the door, but knew that no one friendly would be on the other side. Before I made the decision whether or not to open it, Dominick came in, and I was immediately filled with hate.
"Where's Adam?" I asked. I wasn't expecting a helpful answer and knew he would be in the dungeon if he was still alive. I'm not really sure why I asked. Perhaps it was still a part of me hoping that he would come in and rescue me. I had to dismiss this ideology immediately if I wanted to survive, but I didn't know if I could.
"He's safe," Dominick started as he moved closer to me. I backed up in response. "Lucky for you, I need him alive."
"Why?" I asked.
"Politics," he answered plainly. "See, when Caleb's people receive his head, they might get a bit restless. That's where Adam comes in. By publicly swearing his loyalty to me, I might get some support from his people, or at least extinguish their hope."
"What makes you think that Adam would ever swear loyalty to you?" I knew I really shouldn't argue since it was keeping Adam alive, but it just seemed so unlikely. After everything that I had seen of Dominick, I knew he wasn't that terrible at making plans.
"I think Adam will do anything to keep you alive. Never underestimate the power of love." Love? I mean, I would greatly enjoy it if Adam loved me, but that just wasn't the case. If Adam did keep me alive, it would be out of guilt, not love. I couldn't imagine Adam letting me die, but in this situation, it was entirely possible. Better me than innocent children and his own people. With Caleb gone, he was the sole king of his land, and had duties to his people. I couldn't be as naive to think that he would let them down on account of me. "A tough decision, but I'm sure he'll make the right choice. If it was up to me, I would rather have you alive. Who knows what other uses you could have for me. The great curse breaker! Who knows what kind of magical potential you have?"
"What happened to letting us go back to Earth?"
"You will eventually," he lied. "Assuming Adam cooperates, after a few years working for me you could go back. I wouldn't kill you because I might need you again, and I won't want Adam here when he changes his mind and decides to start a revolution." I didn't know why he continued to lie. Of course I wasn't going to believe him. "Just in case you have to die, we'll make good use of the day or two it will take for the news of the death to spread."
Did he honestly think that I would do anything for him? Not that I could do anything. I was just a normal girl. I supposed I probably should be worried, considering the only value of my life was based on speculation and the will of Adam, which would also be useless in a few days. Things weren't looking good. I needed a plan. Maybe I could play into Dominick's plans. He would think that I was just a scared girl doing whatever it takes to keep myself and the man I loved alive. Whoa, did I just refer to Adam as the man I loved. I thought he was hot, and kind, and funny, and strong, and brave, but love? Why did that word keep coming up? I couldn't love him. I couldn't- What I really couldn't do was be distracted by that. I needed to come up with a plan. Pretend to play into Dominick's mutually beneficial friendship plan. Who knows? Maybe I would find something magical about myself. It sure would be helpful. That's what I would do. I would use Dominick to hopefully discover something about myself that I could use against him.
"I think that we could be friends. You can trust me. I've already sent Annie back, just like I promised," he said. I forgot about her. Oops. I hoped he wasn't lying, and that she was really safe. That would just make getting Adam and myself out easier, and at least I knew one of us survived. I guessed he could send a monster to kill her anytime, but I hoped she knew not to sleep in beds. Thinking about it, she probably didn't know anything other than the short summary Adam initially gave us.
I thought carefully about my response. "Even if I wanted to, I don't know how to help you." I had to seem a little reluctant. He did just kill someone, two people actually, in front of me. I didn't think that he would expect me to suddenly be on his side.
"I'm working on that. I have a pretty good source." I didn't know how I felt about this. Maybe I needed a better plan. Earlier I accidentally helped him without meaning to, so what was stopping me from doing that again? Although, I knew I probably didn't have anything to worry about, seeing that I was a normal girl who had no control of any magic. I was just being too hopeful again. I needed to think more practically. Maybe finding Adam wasn't such a bad idea. Yeah, I would sort of be relying on him to save me again, but at least I wouldn't be making the situation worse. "Have you ever noticed anything strange? Anything that you couldn't seem to explain?"
I thought about it. Other than my trip under Adam's bed, not really. "No," I said confidently. I probably would have lied, but this was the truth. "Everything has seemed normal."
"Anything. No matter how little. You probably would have come up with some generic explanation and forgotten about it." I'm sure there were times like this, where I heard a sound that didn't quite seem right, and just said it was the wind or something, but I was pretty sure everyone had experiences like that, an that they meant nothing.
"Nothing that stands out. I mean, if it was something small that I forgot about, why would i think of it now?" I probably sounded genuine, and I was being truthful. I supposed I probably should have lied or something, but there was nothing to lie about. Like I thought, I was just a normal girl.
"Alright. I'll leave you to think. Please tell me if you come up with something," he seemed to have believed me. I thought it probably was good that I could tell the truth, because if I had to lie, I would be worried that he would catch me, and kill me for lying. "Explore the castle if you want. I'll get you if I need you. Oh, and if you do feel like trying to escape, know you won't with my castle security now that they know who you are. If you do somehow manage, you wouldn't survive ten minutes outside by yourself anyway."
And on that cheerful note, he left. It somehow felt good to hear a threat. At least he still wasn't trying to convince me that we can be friends, which I didn't think even he believed. My first plan now seemed terrible. I decided to execute plan B: find Adam and figure out what plan he had. It was against my new philosophy, but it seemed like the best option.
I waited for Dominick to get a little farther away, then left the room. I was surprised not to see any guards outside the door, but supposed that Dominick made it pretty clear that he knew that there was nothing that I could do. I went down to the main level of the castle where the market was. I figured I should stay away from my previous employer, who by then probably realized that I was not coming back with lunch.
Before, I didn't really take time to notice everything in the castle. Maybe if I just observed for a bit, I could come up with a better plan. The dark brick was very ornately decorated, but everything in the market was very cluttered and messy, like no one really appreciated the beauty of the building. Unlike Adam's castle, Dominick's was inhabited by mostly younger people and monsters rather than old men. Walking around, I quickly noticed that I was being watched, mostly not by guards or people that I expected to want to pay attention to me, but by the inhabitants of the castle. They all looked at me like I was a piece of meat, something that I did not feel comfortable with. I figured I should do what I came down there for as soon as possible, before anyone deduced what I was up to.
No one bothered to actually talk to me, which was good for productivity. I was looking for the dungeon, but didn't want to ask anyone, and they didn't have any visible maps or floor plans. I figured it would be underground, so I decided I would just check every staircase on the ground floor going down. The first staircase I found led to the kitchen, which I was promptly kicked out of by the servants. I was glad I didn't go there during my first castle escape plan, because they didn't seem to react well to visiting strangers.
The next door I found led to a wooden door that was locked. A pulled it a few times to make sure that it definitely was not going to open, but no matter how hard I tried, I was not getting into that room. It didn't seem like a dungeon anyway, so I kept looking. On the way up, I ran into a man in his mid forties who stopped and looked at me for a minute. He was kind of creeping me out. I was about to rush past him when he asked, "What are you doing down here?" I wasn't really sure how to respond.
"I was just exploring, and I guess I took a wrong turn," I answered. It wasn't a complete lie. I was slightly intimidated by the man, and I felt bad for being down there, even though I really wasn't doing anything wrong.
"You'll find what you are looking for in the east corner," he whispered as he walked past me. I thought that was very odd. I turned around to ask him what he meant, but he was gone. Was I just imagining him? Maybe I was going crazy. I tried to forget about it and move on. He couldn't have known what I was actually looking for, but I thought that I should probably check the east corner just in case. The problem was that I had no idea which way east was, or if I was even on the right floor.
I figured that a square castle should have four main corners, and I knew that the kitchen was in one, so hopefully I would just have to check the other three. I thought I probably could use the sun or something to figure it out quicker, but I didn't know if it worked the same way where I was.
The first corner I found did not have anything in it, so I moved on to the next. I thought it would be a little easier to search for the corners. The floor was pretty open, but the room was huge, so it took some time to get from one corner to the next. Without shoes, my feet were not happy. Hoping that I was able to sit down, or at least stand still, for an extended period of time soon, I trudged to the next corner, where I found that I was back at the kitchen. I must have gone the wrong way. Ugh.
The next corner approached close enough, and I found a large, ornate stone door that looked like what I would imagine a dungeon to look like. It was framed with stone pillars and a gargoyle head in the top center, so i felt pretty confident I was in the right place. I just hoped that Adam was actually in there, and that he was ok. I pushed the heavy looking door, but it was surprisingly easy to open. I walked in and the door slammed behind me. Looking at it from the inside, you couldn't even tell that there was a door there, probably only because it was so dark.
Continuing into the clean cut stone hallways, I could barely see into the cells with the only light coming from small torches on the walls scattered through the hallways. Most of the cells looked empty, but there may have been things lurking in the shadows past what I could see. Of the cells that looked inhabited, their inhabitants were still, seeming either sleeping or dead. I hoped it was the former.
"Child," a meek voice screeched. I jumped at the sound breaking the silence, and was disappointed that it was one of a woman, not of Adam. I knew I probably shouldn't have, but I turned to where the voice came from with the intention of talking to her.
"Hello?" I asked, trying to determine her exact position. I saw a figure move closer to the door of one of the cells, and also moved closer. The woman was very old, and looked like she should be dead. I wondered whether she was just a dying woman or really a monster. She was chained to the wall and her hands were cuffed together, causing her to struggle to get as close to the bars of the cell as she was.
"Heed my words," she started. "Get out of here while you still can. Forget about Adam. Forget about all of this before you get killed caught up in a war you were never supposed to be in."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"I knew you were coming, and hate that I couldn't stop it." Who was this woman? "You have no idea the destruction your presence will cause."
"What can I do? I'm just a normal girl." I think I was trying more to convince myself than the woman.
"Trust me, child. You are far from that." She slid me a small key, and I grabbed it. After I did, I somewhat regretted it. I had no idea what this woman was capable of, and knew I should just leave and find Adam, but something deep inside of me was telling me that I could really trust this woman. I just hoped my instincts were right.
"What is this for?"
"You'll know when you find it." She answered, sort of. "I should probably die now."
"No you shouldn't!"
"Yes I should," she said solemnly. "I need to before Dominick continues to make me feed him information." I remembered him saying that he had a good source, and figured she was it. As much as I didn't want him to have answers, I couldn't just let this woman die. I would have to find a way to get her out too. I thought maybe that's what she wanted, though. She could just be lying in order to make me let her out when she really wished all of us harm. I was conflicted. "I told him how to break the curse, and that's how this whole thing started. I can't let something like that happen again."
"How do you know all of this stuff?"
"I was the one to cast the curse." It made sense, but didn't help me to trust her any more.
"Why?" I asked. I wasn't sure whether anything she said was the truth, but at least she was giving me answers, which is more than I got from anyone else.
"I thought it was the only way to preserve the land. I just ended up postponing the inevitable, though. Now it is your turn to do the same."
"Didn't you just say I should get out of here and forget about all of this?"
"Yes, and you should have, but it is too late now. I was just holding on to false hope that there was still time to keep you out of this." Why did this person care if I was involved or not? I just met her.
"What can I do for Dominick? It can't be that significant? Can it?"
"It's much safer if you don't know." I had a feeling she was done giving me useful answers.
"I think I deserve to know who I am!"
"You are very right," she whispered, reaching behind her back for something. "I just hope you never do." She pulled out a sharp stone, and slit her throat.
"No!" I yelled, but it was too late. She died just like she wanted, and I couldn't do anything about it.
A/N So sorry I killed someone at the end of the last two chapters! I probably should have put some space between them, but the which wasn't a major character, so you shouldn't be too disappointed. Sorry I waited longer than usual before posting this chapter! I feel like I am uploading chapters too quickly, and people are not seeing all of the chapters I post, just the more recent ones. I don't know if it's a normal thing for chapters 6 and 8 to have a significantly greater number of views than chapters 5 and 7. I would think that chapter 1 would have the most views, followed by chapter two, then chapter 3 with a little less, then chapter four with a little less and so on, but that is not the case. I'll probably come up with a schedule for posting, and I'll probably start posting every Sunday, not counting tomorrow.
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope that you are enjoying!
