As the illusion of the powder wears off, I realize Uncle Jo is so close to me now. His body is turned away from me. However, my screams of warning still don’t reach his ears.
Right as I’m about to make myself heard, Uncle Radix reaches me, his look of disdain is apparent. He won't listen to my explanation of why I ran away. All that's left to do is look on in horror as the Scotsman closes in on Uncle Jo, with his back still turned. Blaine lifts his sword and swings. Blood trickles from my uncle's side as he falls. I am too late.
Uncle Radix takes me to the edge of the arena, and I no longer have the will to fight him. He injects something into my neck, making my limbs go numb, and my face sting. The scene from before is on instant replay in my head. Uncle Jo is a master swordsman, he could have survived. If only it had been a fair fight, one that he saw coming. But it wasn't fair, nothing about any of this is fair.
My head feels fuzzy again. Trying to get my attention, someone shakes my arm. It's aunt Georgia. Why is she here? Jumping up quickly from where I was lying down, every part of me is confused. Uncle Radix is nowhere to be seen. That's weird, but my mind still can’t quite wrap around what’s fully going on.
Chapter 29
Death
Death has a way of coming for us all.
-Arabella
When I look up again, Aunt Georgia's not there, and all that's left in me is bitter desolation. I'm an empty shell of the girl from mere minutes before—my soul aches. Life has taken a drastic turn for the worse, and darkness consumes me.
I no longer see the battle that's all around me. Instead, in my mind I'm walking down a long dark tunnel. A cold darkness filled with no happiness or hope abounds in this new place. I've never felt such bitter anguish. My eyes start searching for the light, because I know that even the dimmest of lights can cover a multitude of darkness. All that's needed is a tiny shimmer of one of its golden beams, but there is no light here. What will I do? We all need the light to survive. Not all battles are fought between flesh and blood, some are against darkness in the vilest of places. Only evil lurks in the shadows here. Cognitively, in the back of my mind I know that a battle rages in front of me, but the ringing in my ears won't allow me to hear anything else. I'm a millionmiles away, and the closer I move into the blackest of shades, the louder the ringing becomes.
As I walk into another part of the tunnel, hands shoot up out of the ground. They’re trying to trap me here, to make me like them. Their coarse alabaster fingers wrap around my ankles. Kicking them helps, but they won’t stop reaching for me. It’s like having a thousand tiny snakes slither up and down your skin.
A raspy voice whispers from somewhere within, "Let go, Arabella. Give way to the darkness, we can be an unstoppable team. The world will be ours to rule, and all will bow before us. The darkness won't take as much from you as the light does. Come to me, my child, while the offer still stands. I will teach you the truth about your destiny, not lie like all the others. I will show you how to tame the darkness and bend her to your will. She is a mighty tool."
This is the voice of Duvessa Raven, The Queen of Death. How is she manipulating the light? My lungs fail to produce the oxygen that's needed for me to survive. My shallow breaths turn frantic. Is this what drowning people feel like when they know the end is near? Who will save our people if I fall?
"Arabella, come back to the light. You must do it now before you're lost forever. You know what to do." Eleanor whispers loudly through our Maritime bond.
Her voice is filled with worry, but she soothes me all the same. She found me; I won't be lost forever. Grabbing my necklace, I visualize the bright glow that came out of the letter my mom had written me all those years ago. A giant flame of light flows out from my fingertips, awakening me from my dark nightmare. My mind returns to the light, and the fuzzy feeling is gone.
Aunt Georgia is walking toward me, that’s not possible, she’s away on a mission for the King. However, there is no time to think rationally, we have to go see if Uncle Jo is okay. Plus, my people are on the front lines, they need me back out there. As she reaches me, she grabs my hand and leads me in the opposite direction. "Ella, come, we must get you out of here."
"We can't leave! Uncle Jo needs us! Our people need us!" Her hold is firm, and the skin on her hand is bruised and feels slightly different. Something is wrong.
"I've sent Jeremiah to save him, look." Jeremiah has the Scotsman in a chokehold, while Uncle Jo is now fighting on the other side of the made-shift battlefield. "Please, Arabella, come."
She should already know; I won't leave any of them. She’s the one that taught me family comes first. "No!" Aunt Georgia shouldn't be here. Turning my head back toward the chaos, I scream. The scene playing out now vastly differs from what I saw mere seconds before. Blaine Ramsay is a body length away from Uncle Jo, and another scream leaves my wrecked mind. "Please, God! Oh, God, no! No."
The powder that the twins slipped me was tainted with dark magic, and nothing after was real, an ugly chuckle eerily sounds beside me. Blaine takes his sword, plunging it forward narrowly missing Uncle Jo. Sebastian's shadow comes out of nowhere saving him in the nick of time. Knowing my Dark Prince will take care of the rest, my attention flies to the Anti-Georgia standing beside me. I grab Billie, and the fraud in front of me has the nerve to smile, sending prickles of ice down my body. "Only cowards hide behind disguises."
The answering laugh is evil. My eyes light up with the realization that this is a changeling. "Aunt Georgia" slowly fades away, and Ethan stands in her place. The emerald eyes that Ionce thought were beautiful shine brightly in the glowing light of the dusk sky. His smile is cruel, and when he moves his neck to the side, an ombre blue and white dragon tattoo slinks up and down there. The one with the Ice Dragon tattoo is Ethan. All at once, the pieces start falling into place. It's how Thaddeus gained access into the palace, and how the Umbra knew where the mirror would be placed at the end of the Trial. "Why?"
With the nod of his head, two Umbra grab me, and we're teleported to the upper East Wing tower of the Palace. The sound of Sebastian’s snarl fades through the air as I’m whisked away. His shadows are too late to save me from being taken.
As my eyes adjust to the candlelit room, my heart slices into a thousand pieces. The real Aunt Georgia is tied up to a wheel of death torture chamber. Mayra Blackwater stands at her side with a knife. A cold knot forms in the back of my throat, this can't be happening, she's not supposed to be here.
Aunt Georgia's smile is sad, she's given up. "No!" I scream.
"This is how it has to be, baby. Please, let me go." Fuck That.
Sebastian. Falkon. Upper East. Torture Chamber.I turn off all other communication, like Sebastian taught me, because I need to concentrate.
Motherfuckers forgot about Billie. Swinging her from side to side, I head for Ethan. He takes out his sword with a smile. "You should have chosen me, Arabella."
"Yeah, that's a hard pass for me." Many have already died today, but not my sweet Aunt Georgia. I need her, like the desert needs the rain.
Ethan comes for me, just like I knew he would. I flip him on his ass. Then Billie tears out a piece of his arm, because she'sa greedy bitch today. "Well, Ethan, it looks like you should have chosen the other side."
He howls in pain, as his eyes turn into angry little slits. He doesn’t scare me. I can't lose another parent, not to Mayra, not to anyone. This is a fight to the death, one of us will not walk away from this. The traitor comes for me again, I slide out of the way and Billie goes for his throat but only nicks his ear. "Stupid bitch." He howls.
