Chapter Thirty-Four

"You're okay." I assured.

Elena cried as we applied the potion on her. After we were done, Clara calmed her down. Her whimpers soon disappeared. I made silly faces to make her laugh. She smiled in response. I looked to see Markl getting his cloak. It's been a long time since we've went out

"Where are you going?" I asked as he pulled up his hood. His disguise was complete. He turned to look at me.

"I'm going out to get food." He answered.

He grabbed a basket, as he got ready to get out. I glanced to check if we had any food left. The cabinet was scarce. Markl and Clara have been eating a lot. I didn't have my large appetite anymore as my dreams were starting to bug me. It was the same dream every night. Running with adrenaline and panic. Only for the dream to end with me being murdered.

"Will you be all right going out by yourself?" I asked him, a bit worried.

"Do you want to come with me?" He asked.

I hesitated and glanced outside. It's been so long since I went out. Was it really safe to go out? When Isaac was still looking for us? But it's getting kind of claustrophobic being inside all the time. Maybe stepping outside will be fine for a while. I nodded to myself.

"I'll go." I answered with a smile.

"You can't." Calcifer warned as soon as I agreed. "After what happened back at the palace, you need to stay low. Going out would only cause trouble."

"Two weeks have past and nothing has happened at all. Howl has also been keeping an eye out. We'll only be out for a while." I explained. He still looked doubtful.

I sighed. "How about I ask for Howl's permission?" I asked, carefully. "If he says no, then I won't go."

"Alright then." He huffed. I decided to go up and ask for Howl's permission. I carefully knocked on the door before opening.

"Howl." I called out with a smile. He looked up from his study. I noticed there were a lot of papers that held spells and potion recipes. I turned back to face him.

"Is it alright if I go out with Markl?" I asked. He thought for a moment. He looked very worried for me.

"So far, I haven't seen anything suspicious. But are you sure you want to go out?" He asked.

I thought about the nightmare once more before repressing it. There's no use thinking about that. This was only shopping. We're only going to buy food. The last few times I went out, I was basically asking for trouble. It will be fine for today.

"I won't be out for long and I don't want to stay inside all the time." I explained.

"It'll be fine. Just stay close with Markl." He answered.

I scoff. "I'm an adult." I said. He tilted his head with a small smirk.

"You don't act like one." He replied.

"Well, neither do you." I retorted. He chuckled.

"You have to stay with Markl, alright?" He asked. He looked serious. I sighed but nodded in the end.

"I will. We'll just buy what we need and come straight here." I assured. "Besides, I have the dagger you gave me."

He sighed. "Be quick, alright?" He asked. I grinned and left. I went down the stairs to tell Calcifer.

"He said I can go out." I told Calcifer. He rolled his eyes at me as I got ready. I looked at the dagger to see that the sheath was attached to a small belt. I decided to tie it around my thigh… just in case something happens.

"Can I come as well?"

I turned to look at Clara. She looked at me, eager to also go out. I bit my lip nervously.

"I prefer if you stay here, Clara." I answered. I haven't told Clara what had happened at the palace so as not to stress her out. For precaution, I had also warned her not to go outside. She gave a small frown.

"Just like you said, it will be fine to go out for a while." She reasoned.

"We don't need more people to go out." I replied.

"Do you even know what to buy? Which is fresh or not?" She asked.

I faltered. I actually don't. I wasn't that great at choosing which vegetable is fresh and Markl is a picky eater that I doubt he'll pick anything healthy.

"Alright then." I gave in. I turned to look at Elena before facing Calcifer.

"Calcifer, can you take care of Elena for me?" I asked.

"What am I? A babysitter?" He asked. "I can't. What if she starts crying? How am I supposed to calm her down?"

I turned to look at Elena.

In the end, we brought Elena with us. The atmosphere was cheerful as everyone was in the market. People were shouting to get customers' attention. I smiled as it's been a while since I went out. Clara was looking through the fishes.

"Just to let you know that Calcifer doesn't like to be used for cooking." I reminded.

She gave a sigh and frowned. "Well that will be hard…" She muttered.

I smiled. "Maybe I'll intimidate him to let you cook." I replied.

She looked at me a bit doubtful. "He's a demon. I don't think you can scare him." She said.

"Maybe I can. But if not, we'll just ask Howl to cook." I replied.

She sighed. "Howl is a good man but are you sure we're not burdening him. We're staying in the castle of a man who's rumored to eat women's hearts." She said.

She widened her eyes. "What if he–" I interrupted her.

"He won't. He uses those rumors to scare people away." I replied. She glanced at Markl before leaning towards me.

"What exactly is your relationship with Howl?" She whispered. I backed away, surprised.

"Well… we have a history." I answered. She gave a small blush.

"Oh…" She muttered before chuckling. I started blushing and fanned myself to cool down my cheeks.

"What's so funny?" Markl suddenly asked. I quickly turned and smiled at him.

"Nothing. What are you craving for?" I asked.

"Anything." Markl answered as he stared judgmentally at the fishes.

I chuckled and turned to Clara. "How about you, Clara?" I asked.

"Well, I'm not sure." She answered. She looked at the town in awe.

"So many people." She commented. I avoided bumping into each other as we went to another stall.

"Yes this is why we have to stick close to each other if we don't want to get lost." I said. Clara nodded as she went closer to me. She held Elena closer to her chest. Markl went farther away from us.

"Markl." I called out and grabbed a hold of his cloak. "Keep close."

"You almost ruined my disguise!" He said as his beard looked lopsided. He fixed his cloak afterwards. I laughed but froze when I noticed a pair of eyes staring right at me. I froze at the sight. I had an eerie feeling from that gaze. As soon as I blinked, the person disappeared.

"We need to go." I said. They looked at me confused.

"We barely got any food." Markl replied. Clara looked at me with concern.

"Rose, what did you see?" She asked.

"We have to hurry." I said.

"Look! The ships!" A voice called out.

I looked to see airships flying over us. Suddenly the crowd began moving as they went to see where the ships were going. People bumped into me and separated me from them. I pushed through the crowd and manage to escape them

I looked around but they couldn't see them in the crowd. This is such bad timing. We need to get back to the castle. I have to find them quickly.

"Rose…"

I paused and looked around. No one was paying attention to me and only walked past me. Was that my imagination? Or was it something else?

"Help… me…"

I held my head, feeling a bit dizzy. I am sure that voice wasn't in my head. It didn't sound like it. The crowd around me was starting to get overwhelming. I pushed my way through the crowd and sighed, taking a breather.

"Rose…"

The voice was much more clearer once I was out of the crowd. It kept repeating my name over and over again. I felt like I knew that voice. I turned to see an alleyway and for some reason I walked into the alleyway. I felt the need to find out whose voice was that.

"Rose." It called out to me. I hesitated at the voice. I recognized it but I never thought I would see her again.

"Agatha?" I muttered. The voice called out my name and I took a step forward at the direction it came from. I gave a confused frown.

"Agatha, where are you?" I asked a bit louder. I couldn't hear the chattering from the crowd any longer. It was silent as I looked for Agatha.

"Help me…"

"Where did you come from?" I called. How did she get here? I thought she was back at Azmarin. This can't be possible.

"Rose, is that you?" She called out. I took a few more steps towards the voice. What if it was her? Then she was safe after what had happened to Azmarin.

"Agatha!" I replied and went to follow the voice. I looked around to find her. It was slowly getting darker. I had ventured further and tried to find her.

"Rose? Is Clara with you? I… I need to tell her I'm sorry."

I soon stopped for a moment. Why exactly is she here? I widened my eyes and realized what was happening. This isn't real.

"It's all my fault." She wept. Why would she want to see Clara again? After everything that has happened. She tried to kill Clara!

"Rose… are you still there? Help me find my sister!" She begged.

"Then come out. I'll show you where she is." I said.

"What?" She asked.

This wasn't Agatha. This isn't real. It's a trap.

I quickly turned around and ran. I tried looking for a way out. Finding the light, I didn't hesitate to run to it

"Rose, wait!" It called out.

Something cold grabbed my ankle but I managed to get myself out of its grip. There was an ear-splitting scream and my ears hurt. I winced but kept running away and out of the alleyway. I ran as fast as I can through the crowd. There were angry shots as I pushed through people. I have to find them. We had to get back inside the castle now. After a while, I caught sight of Markl who was carrying Elena. He looked around, frantically. He finally found me and rushed up to me. I took deep breaths as I tried to calm down.

"Rose, what's wrong?" He asked in concern. We're not safe here. We have to get out of here.

"We need to leave now!" I said. I looked around but Clara wasn't with them. My heart dropped. I turned to look at Markl and grabbed his shoulders.

"Markl." I called out. "Where's Clara?"

He looked confused before looking more panicked.

"She said she went to follow you." He answered.

I widened my eyes. No… I looked around but it was hard to find her in the crowd.

"Rose, is something wrong?" He asked. "Did something happen to Clara?" He was starting to panic. I held his shoulders and looked at him in the eye.

"Go, run back to the castle and tell Howl what happened." I said.

I turned to find Clara.

"I want to help." Markl said as he started to follow me. I looked at him and caused him to stop in his tracks.

"No, you can't." I answered sternly. "I need you take care of Elena and run as fast as you can. Don't stop until you reached the castle. Don't even turn around. Now go!"

He hesitated but finally listened. He ran away from me and I went to look for Clara. Clara may have some knowledge on magic but she wouldn't realize that the voice was a trick. She would be too emotional to even question why her sister was here. They'll trick her into following them. Elena was with Markl and she was safe. All I had to do was to make sure to find Clara before it's too late. I ran back to the alley that I was almost lured into.

Where are you, Clara?

As if she heard my thoughts, I heard a scream. I followed where it came from and slowly it was like light had disappeared. My heart raced as I thought about the dream I had. I ran even faster as adrenaline coursed through me. I turned a corner and saw a glimpse of Clara's blue dress. I looked to see a woman towering over her.

"Clara!"

The woman glared at me with her blue eyes. "Not so fast." She hissed.

I felt myself be restrained and I turned to see the twins. I struggled as they giggled at me. I recognized the twins but not the other girl. I looked at her closely as her almond eyes looked familiar.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She shook her head and gave a small smirk. "Now isn't the time for questions." She stated.

My eyesight blurred and I felt dizzy. I felt weak and could feel myself struggling even less. This can't be happening!

"Someone's expecting you." She said. Everything went black afterwards.

That night, all she could felt was pain and fear. The wind howled as if it was in mourning. The trees towered over them like monsters. She held her twin sisters close to her body. She shielded them from the sight as only she was a witness to such a horrifying scene. Her sisters cried as she felt sick in her stomach.

She could see the man suddenly shake in horror at what he had just done. He stumbled to his knees. His hands hovered over the woman as if too frightened to touch her. For if he did, he would feel how cold her skin was.

The young teen could only stare at his blood soaked hands while the rock covered in blood laid dejected beside him.

"…se." He had muttered. The girl pulled her sisters closer as she forced herself not to look at the young woman who had save them. She didn't want to see what had become of her hero's face.

"Rose…" He muttered as he stared down at her body. "No…"

The girl flinched as the man screamed in pain. "What have I done?" He wept.

The girl watched before realizing she might have a chance. She gave a silent apology to the woman but knew she had to protect her little sisters and run. After seeing what he had done, she knew that he would kill her next. She tried to get up as quietly as possible. She pulled at her sisters to follow her. As soon as she looked to see he was distracted, he turned around, glaring at her.

She faltered and tripped, falling backwards. He got up and lunged at her. She choked as he wrapped his hands around her throat.

"It's all because of you!" He yelled.

"Please…!" She managed to beg. "Don't kill me!"

Her eyes pricked with tears as she could hear her sisters crying out her name. She could see tears of anger fall from his golden eyes.

"I'll do… anything you want…!" She begged even more. Her hands weakly reached for his.

"You…" She tried to say but his grip tightened.

"Who do you think you are?" He hissed. He greeted his teeth.

"None of this… was supposed to happen. She didn't have to know." He yelled. "Now look what happened to her!"

"You… didn't mean to… kill her." She forced herself to say. She remembered one thing that might stop him from killing her and her sisters.

"You want… magic." She said. He froze but she could see his eyes widened just an inch.

"I'll help you!" She persuaded. Tears streaked down her face. "Don't kill us."

He didn't move at all. He had no reaction. For a moment, she had hoped he had given them a sliver of mercy. However, his grip tightened and he strangled her. She struggled as she began to be unable to breath. After losing air, she began to be weak. She stopped moving and he dropped her.

"Melody!" One of the twins cried. They cried as they held on to her sister.

"She's still alive." He said.

He watched as the girl was still breathing but had lost conscious.

"You better help me." He said.

He turned to look at Rose. He closed his eyes in frustration. He knelt down and held her close to his chest.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. There was no reply.

"You told me, you wouldn't stop me. Why did you do this then?" He muttered in frustration. She felt cold in his arms. This never would have happened if he was more careful. He thought of the horrified expression she had. The way she feared him.

"I'll bring you back." He promised.

A/N: More information on Melody and the twins and how their fates intertwined with Isaac. Also information on how Isaac is connected to Rose. Feel free to give constructive criticism to help me improve. Don't forget to favorite, follow and review! As always see you next time!