A/N: I wrote all of this tonight, so I hope it makes sense! Thank you all for the reviews and support, it means so much to hear from you. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty Eight
Into the Fire.
Violet turned her head against the bright light that filled her dark tomb, scrunching up her eyes she tried to understand what had happened, but the more she tried to use her over exhausted brain, the more she felt unwell and dizzy. She knew that somewhere inside of her, she had been preparing to die. She had accepted it, and had made her peace. No amount of scratching at the walls with now bloody fingers could free her. At first she could not believe that this should be her destiny, buried alive, left to starve and rot in forgotten silence, but then reality won. There had been no way out… until now.
Suddenly she felt as if she had been a second chance. Someone had taken pity, not agreeing that it was her time to depart from life, and had let her go. A wave of fresh cool air touched her face, causing her to shiver, and at last she opened her eyes. Three faces stared down at her, and one offered their hand. Shakily she reached up to accept it. It fit well in hers, small, kindly and strong. Other hands reached down to touch her, and together they lifted her free, back up onto shaking legs and away from her prison.
Violet leant against the wall. Her dress was sodden with sweat, and the smell of her own fear made her feel sick. Without thinking she began to pull at the dress, ripping it to shreds, piece by piece it came away in her hands. Someone was telling her to stop, but through the tears and hysterics she couldn't obey them. The vile dress must be destroyed; she couldn't bare it another minute.
"Candy calm her down, someone is going to hear," Finnegan said, racing to the door and looking through the keyhole. The corridor was still thankfully empty, but that didn't mean that they were safe.
"Violet," Candy said snatching Violet's hands and forcing her to stay still. "Please, if they find us here we'll all die."
Violet saw the fear in Candy's eyes and knew that it was something like her own. She looked past her to her equally shaken friends and then down at the pieces of satin and silk on the ground. Her dress was nothing more than the under corset and the final layer of the full skirt, ripped at the bottom so that it now only scraped past her knees.
"I thought I was dead," Violet whispered, eyes now drawn to the darkness she had been trapped in. Candy looked at Malingo and he closed the door so that Violet could no longer see where she had been held captive.
"Have they hurt you?" Candy asked, looking over the girl for any traces of blood or heavy bruising on her limbs.
Violet shook her head.
"Finnegan is anyone out there?" Malingo asked. Finnegan shook his head but kept his eye firmly on the look out. "Candy, maybe you should explain…" he said handing the book over.
Violet watched the book with a growing feeling of dread. She knew that she was nowhere near being free just yet, she might have gotten out of the frying pan, but she was now in the fire. She hadn't given another thought to the promise she had made about casting their magic, almost dying could certainly drive a few things from a girl's mind.
"We had to use the spell to get out of the dungeons, and to find this book and you. But I guess it was one of those one time only spells, because the paper it was on burnt up…" Candy explained. The dull look in Violet's eyes told her to hurry, she had the feeling that Violet couldn't care less about the why's and when's, she just wanted to know what was coming next. "I guess that's what you get when you buy from the black market…"
Once again Candy trailed into silence. She was stalling because she didn't know how she was going to tell this girl, who had just recently become Christopher Carrion's bride, that she'd have to travel down a much more dangerous road than first thought.
"Candy some time today…" Finnegan prompted.
Violet's eyes drifted over to the red haired man at the door, and stayed there even though Candy continued to explain.
"The magic chose this book, and the new spell we need in on this page," she said opening the book. "I cast the other spell because it was do or die, but I know that I'm unable to do this one. Even if my life depended on it, I couldn't. You'll have to do it… but it's dangerous…"
Violet could have laughed. The chances of her actually casting magic of the kind that was in the book, was even less likely than her doing the previous spell. At least Candy had the princess Boa to help her, Violet had nothing. She had never even studied magic. She'd seen it done only a few times, but had never felt the need to look too closely. But then, there was little choice. She'd agreed to try after all.
"What have I got to loose?" Violet asked with sincere sadness.
"You're a princess now, that's something more than most," Malingo pointed out.
"More reason for me to do it then."
If the dark prison had not killed her, then this spell surely would. But since Violet had convinced herself that she was going to die in that hole, she considered herself living on borrowed time right now. It was partially her fault that so many people out there were about to die, she'd given Carrion the weapons he had needed to stage a war, the least she could do was try to make it a fair fight.
"Tell me what you want me to do."
Finnegan straightened up from his position at the door, and fixed Violet with a disbelieving stare. Candy might think that she was an honest person, but as far as he was concerned she was so mixed up with Carrion, that in his eyes she could never be trusted.
He wondered how this girl was going to fare in the game where her stakes had just been raised. From mistress to wife orchestrated by a crazy old woman who had lost her grip on reality. There was a safety as mistress, being simply a distraction from life; she could walk away at any time, now she was trapped.
Trapped on Midnight, like Boa nearly was. He had kept his thoughts to himself whilst walking the eerie halls, but he could still remember every turn and every picture on the walls, because he'd never be able to forget. It was supposed to have been a celebration of the islands, a tour for the rich and famous to travel through every hour, being entertained wherever they set foot.
He remembered how excited Boa had been to be invited, being young and unable to dream of danger. Allowed to go simply because her brother would be there also. Finnegan had accepted the invitation only because she had pressed him to, having no desire himself to see the insides of large and expensive houses, one after the other.
Of course, it was the final island to visit, the island of Midnight.
Everyone was excited but him. They had not expected to be invited, but the prospect of seeing Gorgossium, which was so shrouded in mystery was too great to turn down. It was here that all of Princess Boa's troubles began. When the party had come to an end, Carrion had not wanted to let her go.
"I don't care," Violet declared, feeling the fight in her beginning to surface. "How could I face the rest of my life if I didn't try? I'll forever live with a man that despises me, because I did nothing but hide whilst the people of Midnight suffer… It would be better if I die…"
"Don't say that," Candy begged in a small voice.
"Why not? It's true."
Finnegan could feel the poignant sadness in the scene; they were like figures in a tragic play, and Violet the most tragic of all. He felt sorry that this was happening to her, but could not ignore the fact that she had walked into this herself. She could have done a better job of disappearing, and hiding. In the end she couldn't walk away, and this was the penalty.
"Well, no time like the present. The lack of guards tells me that Motley's plan worked. Carrion has begun the war. They have moved to the front line."
Violet felt her heart skip a beat. Whilst she had been wishing that someone would save her, Carrion had moved his army in order to try. She knew he couldn't have been fully prepared; there hadn't been enough time. He was taking on even greater odds because Motley had tied her into his honour, and they had both been damaged.
"We have to hurry."
Walking through the hallways, Violet followed Finnegan until she began to recognise where she was. Taking the lead instead, she peered down one of the secret passages that led out into the gardens. There was no way of knowing if they'd meet anyone along the way, but the only way to know was to take the corridor. The benefit of taking the shortcut outweighed the risk, and they followed Violet.
Taking a deep breath of what she expected to be clean cold outside air, Violet instead received a burning mouthful of ash. Looking up at the sky, she saw that the stars were blotted out with trails of smoke, and the red haze that usually clung to the forests was creeping inwards as if in the search of blood.
A bird screeched overhead, excited about the prospect of freshly slain carnage, its war cry piercing and painful. Violet held her breath in shock and prayed hard to whatever God was listening to make this spell work.
Candy coughed, deep from her stomach, half retching and doubling forwards was they hurried across the grass. The smell of the smoke was thick and wasn't from burning wood. They tried not to think about what it could be as they walked. No one had spoken it, but they all seemed to have decided that the forest was the safest place to evoke dark magic.
The forest was devoid or life, even the crows had taken to hiding. But the gallows remained, as if in a reminder that the likelihood of Violet walking back out of this wood was slim.
"OK," Violet said choosing a natural clearing to sit down in. "What do I do?"
Candy gave a sideways glance to Finnegan. They had been hoping that Violet wouldn't need any further help now. She wasn't too proud to admit that whilst Violet had decided that she needed to do this, she wasn't so willing to die for this cause. If that made her a coward then she'd hold her hands up.
"You have to call the magic… but first you have to make a…" Candy paused, then whispered, "sacrifice."
"What does that mean?" Violet asked.
"It usually means blood," Malingo said calling on his past experiences of magic, being kept as a slave by an insane wizard. The majority of the time it was blood the magic wanted, and it had usually turned out to be his rather than his masters.
"My own?"
"Probably," Candy replied.
"You don't know?" Violet exclaimed. "How am I meant to know what to do? I can't cut myself, I just can't."
"I'll do it," Finnegan offered, taking the buckle from his belt and stepping forward.
At first Candy thought he was offering himself in Violet's place, but Violet hadn't misunderstood.
"Get away from me!" she screamed. "Put that on the floor and get away."
Finnegan faltered. She wasn't as meek and helpless as she appeared. She was fighting with her back against the wall at the moment, and with the book of magic in her hands, she was as dangerous as a caged animal that had just tasted blood for the first time. He hoped that Candy had been right; otherwise they were about to hand over the tools to take over the Abarat to another nutcase.
Candy, Malingo and Finnegan stepped back and Violet took the buckle. With the book open at the correct page she turned the buckle so that the edge was facing her.
Well, here goes nothing…
Bringing the metal down hard on the side of her exposed leg, Violet began to speak the nonsense words on the page and waited for something to happen.
