Author's Note: At 11:08 pm my time this story reached 1,000 views, you guys I feel like a minor celebrity. I never had a story outside of porn to get so many views. I am so thankful I don't even know what to say. I am literally crying as I write this author's note. Thank you so much!
Also, I am serious about the auditions.
Sitting in class, Will could barely concentrate on her lessons. The earlier conversation with her friends wouldn't leave her mind. She could understand Cornelia's blatant displeasure of the whole scenario and even Taranee's unwillingness to discuss it; however, Irma and Hay-Lyn are a different story. Irma won Hay-Lyn over and ever since this morning, they have been whispering to each other and passing Will notes asking the most absurd questions.
How many children do you plan on having? -Hay-Lyn.
Will looked at it and shook her head; replying with something ridiculous:
100 – Will
Irma too asked a ridiculous question:
What would you call your child if it were a girl? – Irma
IDK, Maybe Victoria? – Will
Sitting in History with Mr. Collins Will simply stared at the clock slowly ticking away until she had to meet Phobos; she still had no idea what to answer. Could she go with 'maybe'? Staring at the clock she inwardly groaned; it was only lunchtime. Should she go to the Inbetween and ask Diana or Sophia for advice? They seemed so much more mature than her friends, plus they were unbiased in this mess. Still uneasy, Will got up when the lunch bell rang and was surprised to find Cornelia waiting for her outside the classroom door.
"Will, I am sorry for snapping at you, can we talk?" usually Will would agree right away, but she could tell by the glare in Cornelia's cornflower-blue eyes, that she was still in a fit.
"Umm, I wanted to go to the Inbetween and them for advice, I promise to be back right away" the last thing Will needed was more unhelpful arguing. "You can come along, Hay-Lyn, Irma, and Taranee are coming along too."
It was then that Taranee approach the two, having overheard part of the conversation. "Will, I think it is best if you have a discussion at the Inbetween on your own without our input. This is your choice to make and it is clear none of us are making this easy on you."
Will silently agree, shouldered her backpack, and headed towards the exist; she didn't need to turn back to clearly hear Taranee and Cornelia arguing. Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the back of the school where the portal was. As though it were a mundane action, Will waltzed through the section of the wall where the portal was; soon she stood before the Victorian door and as soon as she knocked, Diana opened the door with a wide smile. "Wilhelmina, it is so great you are here. There is someone I want you to meet!"
Will gratefully allowed Diana to lead her to the kitchen; despite having visited a few times, she didn't feel she would find her own way around the Inbetween. She didn't know what to expect when she came to the kitchen, but it would have never been what she found. Sitting at the kitchen table was a cloaked, hooded figure hunched over the table as if in mourning.
"K.C. this is Wilhelmina, the guardian I told you about." Said Diana and Will stood at the threshold agasp; this was K.C. the creator of the Inbetween. Will did not know when the figure stood up and approached her, but there she stood, no, hovered over the ground in front of her. Will couldn't take her eyes off the figure in front of her. Stating with the face: it was smooth and white like porcelain; finely carved and with an unearthly moon-like glow to it. The face seemed to hang in nothingness with a thin neck and tufts of short brown hair around it to fill in the emptiness of the hood. Will couldn't decide if the figure was man or women, or if it was shorter or taller; one moment, it was at eye-level, the next it was taller. It didn't seem to have a solid form, or it did and couldn't decide if to remain solid or vapor. The strangest part was the eyes: a bright glowing magenta with swirls of silver, like finely gilded gemstones. Furthermore, the black abyss in their center kept their focus on Will like the eyes of a doll; no matter what angle you look at them, they stare back at you.
"A pleasure to meet you, Will Vandom." Its' voice was a hushed whisper with a slight rustle like dead leaves on stone. Its' breath was sickly sweet, like decaying fruit and the smell of damp earth clung to it. Everything about this thing screamed death and decay and whimsy.
"The pleasure is all mine." Will's voice was barely above a whisper, it felt wrong to speak any louder; the same way it felt wrong to yell in a graveyard. She didn't know how it knew her name, it just did; was it always part of her life? It felt as though Will had known it for years. The thing with a women's face smiled kindly at her, showing a row of perfect white teeth but without any sight of gums, and whispered.
"I know why you are here. You better return to your school and prepare your heart for misery." With that, the thing was gone. Will blinked and shook her head; had that really just happened?
"What did K.C. say to you?" asked Diana with a concerned expression on her face.
"I-I am not sure, but I should get back to school," Will muttered under her breath, her mind reeling from the encounter. Did this really just happen? What just happened? "I came here for advice, but I think I found them."
"Great, are you sure you don't want some tea or something to eat?"
"I am sure." Muttered Will and Diana just shrugged, many had this reaction around K.C.; she herself, once reacted that way but she has seen K.C. often enough that its' presence stopped bothering her. Within seconds, Will was back behind the school; she chose to have her meal outside and away from her friends despite the dreary weather. She couldn't approach her friends like this; it felt like her mind was apart from her body and her movements were robotic. All too soon, lunch was over; only two more classes until she had to tell Phobos her decision.
Will still hadn't made up her mind. She sat in Biology and tried to take notes from the movie projected onto the whiteboard. She loved Biology and would normally be unable to take her attention off the lesson, but today it brought her no joy. She felt like a prisoner being led to a choice between the noose and the guillotine. Last class was a seminar where the students could work ahead on their homework or school projects; Will shared that class with her friends and they crowded her.
"What is your decision?" Taranee asked in a hushed whisper. Will only shook her head in response.
"Do you want us to come with you? You know, for back-up." Added Hay-Lyn and, again, Will only shook her head.
"Will, you need our help, you do not have to go through this on your own." Was Cornelia's response.
"Please, this is something I have to face on my own. Besides, I don't want him to panic in his weak and confused state. Things might escalate with too many of us around. He won't hurt me so I will be alright." Then the group fell silent again.
The closer the clock came to ring the end of school the more antsy Will became but so did Cornelia as she tried to wrack her brain on ways to stall Will. Finally, just three minutes before school let out, Cornelia wrapped her arms around her stomach, squeezed her eyes shut, and let out a painful whimper. This caught her friend's attention and they circled her; of the four girls, it was Will to gently place her hands-on Cornelia's shoulders. "Are you alright Corny?"
"I-I don't think lunch fully agreed with me…" she whimpered. "I think I need to get to the nurse station."
Before any of the girls could offer, Will helped Cornelia to her feet and began to guide her out the classroom.
"Will, don't you have a meeting after school?" Irma interjected, but Will only shook her head.
"This will only take a minute."
Little did Will know how much difference those few minutes could make because, as Will was leading her friend to the nurse Phobos was on his way to the park. The streets were nearly empty as the sky darkened and the wind picked up. Despite the empty streets, Phobos had put in a little effort to disguise is appearance; he was not wearing a black sweater, tan pants, black shoes, and his hair tied back. It was an easy illusion spell that didn't require a lot of effort; he was still weak from the poison. He was grateful that Will had shared a bed with him, despite the initial awkwardness. Even when she left for school, it took a great while for the pain to return; at least he caught up on sleep.
He still couldn't believe he had proposed to her; why had he done that? Awake and slightly clear-minded, he wondered if it was a good idea. Sure, it would keep her close by his side and it would keep the rumors at bay, but it would make neither of them happy. However, he couldn't think of a better alternative and as the gazebo came into view, he hoped Will had a better plan for them.
XXXXX
Waiting in the bushes around the gazebo were Caleb and Matt; waiting patiently for the prince to arrive. When Phobos came into view, Caleb nudged Matt in the side and whispered. "There he is."
Matt looked in the direction Caleb was staring and furrowed his brow in confusion; he did not remember Phobos looking like that. "Are you sure; he looks like a normal guy."
"I am sure," was Caleb's reply, "I recognize those eyes anywhere."
The two boys held their breath as the prince climbed the three steps of the gazebo before Caleb gestured Matt to carefully crawl to the other side of the wooden structure. Using the blade of his knife as a mirror, he saw the prince facing away; this was his chance. Without making a sound, Caleb came out of the juniper bushes and climbed the three steps; when he reached the top landing, he hid the dagger behind his back and cleared his throat to catch the prince's attention. As if expecting his end, Phobos turned around and glared at the rebel standing before him.
"What do you want here?"
"There is no way I will let you force Will into an unhappy marriage." Was Caleb's response. At this, Phobos only smirked; there was no way he was going to let his low-life figure out why he had proposed to Will. It didn't matter how he found out, he just didn't want this rebel boy to find out why.
"Is that so, and how are you going to stop me?" he was ready to throw a ball of energy at the rebel, which would have easily killed this would be assassin.
"I won't let you get out of this park alive." That was the signal. Matt had reached the other end of the gazebo and used the blade of his sparing dagger to observe the ongoing above him. As quietly as he could, making sure not to snag on any of the twigs, Matt crawled out of the bushes, jumped over the low railing, and rammed the dagger into Phobos's back before the prince could even react.
The moment the cold metal pierced his back, Phobos gasped and cried out in agony; the pain pulled the breath out of his lungs and halted any thought running through his mind. Out of instinct, he attempted to reach behind his back to try pulling the blade from between his ribs. That was the opening Caleb had waited for; within the blink of an eye, Caleb pulled the dagger from behind his back and rammed it into the prince's chest. He knew he had missed the heart, but the damage was done.
Phobos's mouth dropped open in shock and pain; his body froze in surprise. His hands stopped reaching for the knife in his back and enclosed the knife in his chest; his mind couldn't comprehend what had happened. Matt saw what Caleb had done and it was then that it registered in his mind; he had just aided in an assassination. His hand clenched down on the dagger and his arm instinctively pulled away, pulled the blade from the prince's back. Immediately, deep red blood poured from the back wound; however, Phobos wasn't going down.
Realizing that this wasn't enough, Caleb twisted the blade and yanked the blade from Phobos's chest; cutting his fingers in the process. It was then when the red liquid began to pour from his chest that Phobos sank to his knees; the illusion spell broke and his Meridian appearance fully on display. As Phobos fell to his knees, the blood ran down his front and back, staining his dark smoke colored tunic; in the back of his throat, Phobos could taste blood and he knew this was the end, this is where he would die. However, for Caleb, this wasn't going fast enough; clenching his teeth, he grabbed Phobos by the back of the head, pulled his head back to fully expose his neck, and pressed the blood-stained blade against it.
"Thus, ends tyranny." and with that, Caleb slid the sharp blade across the prince's neck. Blood spilled from Phobos's neck like water from an open Fossett; the prince immediately forgot about his chest wound and clamped his cut fingers against his neck, but it was no use. The blood ran down his front, staining what little the chest wound didn't; blood also poured from his mouth, staining his beard a deep strawberry red. Phobos tried to take a breath, but it got caught in his damaged throat and he only ended up coughing up more blood. When Caleb released the prince's head, he went limp and collapsed in a growing pool of red.
Knowing Will would arrive any minute, Caleb turned to a frozen Matt and shoved him into movement. Matt almost stumbled over his own feet as Caleb shoved him down the back steps of the gazebo, away from the path leading to it and towards the tree-line just a few feet away from the gazebo and lake. When they were just past the tree-line and out of sight, Matt's knees give way and collapsed onto the forest floor and threw up; his hands shook, and he couldn't stop crying. Matt had never seen someone die. He had never seen so much blood.
"I killed someone…" he blubbered between sobbed breaths.
"You helped me kill a monster. We are heroes." Replied Caleb but saw how much it had affected the young teen. Matt couldn't stop staring at his hands, still clutching the bloody knife. Thinking fast, Caleb yanked the knife from Matt's shaking hands and chucked it into the nearby lake; one last thing to worry about.
