He disappeared into the darkness of the hole. My heart hammered in my chest as his footsteps faded. Caleb arrived back a few moments later.
“No luck,” he said. “Let’s head to the kitchen next.”
We opened the door again and hurried across the hallway, darting into the kitchen. We snaked around the stainless-steel tables until we arrived at the entrance to a dungeon I was familiar with. Caleb had once carried me down here and locked me up with my parents. We entered and looked around, but it was obvious after a few seconds that it was empty.
“We’re just fooling ourselves,” Caleb said. “None of us can smell warm human blood in this castle.”
“So what?” I said. “They’re gone already? Where would they have taken them?”
“It’s possible they’ve drained them of their blood already and stored it somewhere else. Otherwise, the only other place I can think of they could’ve taken them is their lair in the supernatural realm. The other side of the gate.”
“Do we have time to search there?” Gavin asked.
“I don’t know,” Caleb replied.
“Let’s just try,” I said.
Since nobody objected, Caleb nodded. He led us out of the kitchen again and toward the entrance area. We darted into another chamber. Caleb bent down next to a carpet in the corner of the room and, pulling it aside, revealed another wooden door. He gripped the handle and attempted to pull it open. It was stuck fast. Caleb stepped aside, nodding toward Ibrahim. The warlock took the hint and stepped forward, casting a spell upon the door. That had no more effect than Caleb’s pulling.
“Some kind of charm has been cast over this. It’s locked fast,” Ibrahim said.
I bent down on the floor, placing my hands flat against the wood. “Why don’t we just try to burn it?” I muttered.
“You can try,” Ibrahim replied.
I was already beginning to summon the heat in my hands. “Stand back,” I said.
Fire burst from my palms and enveloped the door. I stood up, watching the flames closely. They seemed to be disintegrating the wood. The black witches hadn’t been very thoughtful in securing this door—I guessed they didn’t expect to have intruders.
Once it looked weak enough, Ibrahim extinguished the fire, then slammed his foot downward against it. Sure enough, it fell away from its hinges and crashed to the floor. We lost no time in hurrying down the steps and into the dark chamber below.
“There’s the gate,” Caleb said, pointing to a circular hole in the middle of the floor.
Caleb leapt through it first, followed by me and the rest. We hurtled through so fast I could barely keep my eyes open. By the time my vision came into focus again, we had landed in another dark room. We stood up quickly, brushing ourselves off, and followed Caleb up another flight of stairs, toward a door that, thankfully, hadn’t been charmed. Caleb was able to force it open himself. A dim orange streak of light fell upon us as we entered into some kind of large kitchen.
“Humans,” Caleb said. “I smell them now.”
The other vampires nodded in agreement, as did Micah.
“It’s coming from…” My grandfather took a step forward as he sniffed the air. He walked further into the room and stopped outside another trap door. “Down there?”
“Yes,” Kiev said suddenly. “I’ve been here before.”
Caleb took a few steps back, still sniffing the air. “I sense human blood upstairs, too.” He gripped my hand. “We need to split into two groups. Kiev and Micah, come with us upstairs. The rest of you, break into that dungeon. We’ll meet you back down here.”
Caleb ushered me onto his back. Since Ibrahim wasn’t coming with us, we couldn’t have me slowing Kiev and Caleb down even a little. They raced out of the kitchen with me and entered into a large hall next door. There was a flight of stairs in the center and we began racing up it.
“Why would they keep some humans separate?” I asked nervously.
“I don’t know,” Caleb said.
With each level that we climbed, I kept expecting that we would bump into someone. Finally, after what felt like the fifth level, Kiev and Caleb stopped climbing. They exchanged glances briefly and nodded.
We took a left and began jogging down a corridor lined with doors. I jumped at each creak of the floorboards as we hurried forward. Finally, we stopped short outside a door that was very different from all the others I had seen in this place so far. It was tinted red, and it had strange, intricate carvings etched into it—it looked like some ancient language.
Kiev’s breath hitched. “No. We can’t enter this room.”
I gaped at him. “What do you mean?”
“This is a spell room.”
Understanding sparked in Caleb’s eyes. “Kiev’s right. We can’t go in here.”
I wiggled off Caleb’s back and placed my ear against the door. Caleb’s hand closed tightly—almost painfully—around my arm. My voice caught in my throat as I heard whispering on the other side of the door.
“I can hear them,” I gasped. “We just need to—”
“Even if we managed to open the door and get those teens out of there,” Kiev said, “we wouldn’t be able to save them.”
“What?”
“They were doomed the moment they stepped inside.” Kiev gripped my arm and pulled me back along with Caleb. “A curse is placed upon black witches’ spell rooms. Any person who enters who isn’t a black witch won’t survive long.”
My head reeled. “But those humans—” They were so close. They were just a few feet away. Their terrified voices rang through my head. It seemed to have grown louder, as they’d likely heard us talking outside.
Caleb and Kiev backed away from the door, pulling me with them. “There’s nothing we can do for them, Rose,” Caleb said. “We just need to try to save whomever we can downstairs.”
Caleb guided me onto his back again. I clung to him, still in shock. Even as they began to hurry back down the corridor, I stared at the door. Those young men and women we were abandoning.
We had almost reached the staircase leading back down to the ground floor when a thud against the floor behind us made me jump. Caleb and Kiev stopped short, gazing around to see where the noise had come from.
Glowing in the darkness of the corridor behind us were three sets of red eyes.
Chapter 24: Rose
“Run!” I screamed.
But it was too late. Three giant wolf-like creatures emerged from the shadows, hurtling toward us so fast that Kiev and Caleb could barely react.
Caleb dodged them narrowly, leaping up with me on to the bannister a few feet away.
Vampire dogs. They were even larger than Shadow, their teeth sharp and long like knives.
Since when do black witches keep vampire dogs?
Kiev perched on a narrow windowsill opposite us. Two of the dogs leapt at Kiev again while another lashed out at us with razor-sharp claws. Caleb jumped with me onto the bannister on the other side of the staircase. The dog was moving so fast, Caleb could barely lash out at it. The dog was forcing us further down the staircase. Kiev hung from a chandelier, glaring down at the two dogs trying to bite at his legs.
“Put me down,” I said suddenly.
Caleb ignored me as he continued trying to find an angle where he could make contact with the beast’s eyes.
“Put me down,” I said again. Heat was welling beneath my fingertips, the panic of the situation making it hard to control myself.
Caleb backed into a corner and allowed me to slide down onto the floor. Had the fire released from my fingertips even a moment later, my head would have likely been inside that beast’s mouth. But a blaze of fire emanated from me, engulfing the dog completely.
I stepped around its burning form and rushed back up the stairs toward where we had left Kiev. To my horror, the chandelier was now a pile of smashed glass on the floor. One dog lay on the ground, whimpering and thrashing about. Its eyes had been slashed from their sockets. But the other d
og and Kiev weren’t anywhere in sight. Caleb caught up with me, gripping my arm.
“We have to find him!” I said.
Mona will never forgive me if something happens to him.
Caleb began leading me down the corridor. “I hear them.”
When we reached the end of the hallway, Caleb pointed to our right. Kiev had wedged himself up the narrow walls like a spider, inches away from the dog snapping at his feet.
“Hey!” I hissed.
The dog spun round, its eyes fixing on me. It began charging toward me.
Once the dog was five feet away, I let loose another storm of fire. The creature’s shrieks pierced through the silence of the castle. Kiev was limping as he made his way toward us. He had a nasty bite in his leg. At least he hasn’t lost another limb.
“If there is any witch in this castle,” Caleb breathed, wiping sweat from his brow, “they will sure as hell have heard us by now. We need to get out of here.”
Caleb wrapped one arm around Kiev’s waist since Kiev’s wound hadn’t finished healing itself yet, while I supported his other side.
We had almost reached the staircase when Caleb stopped suddenly. He looked at Kiev. "Can you hear that?"
I couldn't hear anything other than our own uneven breathing.
Kiev frowned, then nodded. "Someone is calling for help."
"Where?" I asked.
"It sounds much more distant than the spell room," Caleb said slowly. “Further up the castle."
"Could it be more humans?" I whispered.
The two men shrugged. "Only one way to find out," Kiev grimly.
We all looked down at Kiev’s leg. It was still bloody, but it was healing quickly.
I could tell that we were all thinking the same thing as we stared each other. We still didn't know if there were witches in this castle. But, considering the noise we had just made with those dogs, it wouldn't have taken long for them to manifest before us. The fact that no one had yet gave me hope that the castle was empty. We’d come this far, if there were indeed more humans higher up in this castle, we ought to at least try to help them.
"Come on, let's go quickly," I said.
We retraced our steps, back along the hallway, up the stairs, this time passing the level where the spell room was. We climbed higher and higher until eventually, even I started to hear the shouting.
On reaching the top of the last staircase, we stood on a small dim platform. There was a steel door in front of us. Caleb reached out and gripped the handle, pulling it downward. Squeaking, the door swung open. We stepped through it and found ourselves beneath a dark stormy sky. A harsh wind tinged with sea spray whipped against our faces. A black ocean extended all around us as far as I could see. We were on the roof of the castle.
“There," Kiev said. He pointed to a rectangular structure almost forty feet away. I could barely make out what it was in the gloom. But the cries became louder as we started approaching it. We reached the structure to find it covered with thick tarpaulin. Caleb and Kiev pulled it off to reveal five women, their faces pale and shining with sweat.
My mouth dropped open as I recognized one of them. With long white-blonde hair and clear blue eyes, she was unmistakable. Hermia Adrius. Sister of the Ageless. The witch who had only recently tried to kidnap me while I was standing on the mountaintop back in The Shade—moments before I had discovered my fire powers.
"You," Kiev hissed.
“Please, help us,” Hermia said, her voice rasping.
Caleb gripped my arm. "Let's go, Rose."
Kiev had already spun on his heel and walked in the opposite direction, back toward the door.
"Wait," I said, even as I felt confused by my response.
I stared at the white witches’ angst-ridden faces. I had more than enough reasons to despise them and want them to die a slow death, but there was something about the way they looked at me now that made it hard to feel hatred toward them. They just looked… pathetic.
"You have magic," I said, addressing Hermia directly. “Why don’t you just magic yourself out of here?”
“We can't," Hermia said. “They cursed us with a spell that took away our powers before locking us in here.”
"Rose!” Kiev hissed. He had reached the door and was holding it open. "Get over here, now!”
"I'm coming,” I called. “Just give me a second."
I wriggled away from Caleb's grasp and approached the cage cautiously, careful to keep my distance.
“Why on earth would we help you?" I glared at Hermia.
She bit down hard on her lower lip.
"We helped you defend The Shade," the brunette next to her piped up.
I scoffed. "Only because it benefited you." I looked again at Hermia. "Do you not recall trying to kidnap me just a short while ago?"
Hermia lowered her eyes to the ground, then nodded. "You have no reason to save us,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Please," the brunette begged. "Please help us. You've no idea what horrors the black witches have in store for us.”
"Rose!" Now it was Caleb getting on my case.
Why am I stalling? The side of me that was closer to my father was screaming at me to just go with the men and leave these witches to their fate. I had been known to listen to my father's instinct more often than not in the past, but, somehow, this time the other side of me—the side that was closer to my mother—came into prominence. I couldn't help but think that not even my worst enemy deserved the torture these white witches were about to go through at the hands of Rhys and his people. It just didn’t feel humane to leave them here, caged like animals. Besides—ignoring the fact that Hermia had tried to kidnap me and the fact that the witches’ actions were always only selfishly motivated—I couldn't deny that they had benefited our island by stalling the black witches’ assault.
I took a deep breath, part of me still feeling crazy for even contemplating what I was about to say. “Even if I wanted to let you go, how would I do it?”
Hermia pointed to a small black cabinet fixed against the wall, near the door we had just exited from. "The keys are in there. They kept them purposefully close to taunt us.”
“And if I set you free, where would you go? You’re sure as heck not coming with us."
"I think there are some still some boats moored in the harbor down below,” Hermia replied, hope sparking in her eyes. “We would try to escape back to our realm across the ocean."
I paused, contemplating her words. “And what reward would I get for saving an Adrius?”
Hermia looked at me anxiously. "My deepest thanks, and a promise that none of my kind will ever bother you again."
"I don't trust you to keep promises," I muttered.
Still, even though I was still mesmerized at what I was doing, I found my legs walking toward the wooden cabinet and opening the door. Reaching inside, I found an old rusty key and picked it up. Then I walked slowly back to the cage. I looked deep into Hermia’s eyes.
“Don't make me regret this,” I breathed. Sliding the key into the keyhole, I twisted it and the cage door popped open.
The witches stumbled out.
"Thank you," the five of them said at once, and I could've sworn that I actually saw sincerity in their eyes.
To my surprise, Hermia dropped to her knees before me and, reaching for my hands, kissed them both. She looked up at me, her eyes glistening with tears of relief. “I promise, Princess of The Shade, that I'll never forget what you have done for us. I will make sure that I, my sisters, and all those we rule over never trouble you or The Shade again."
She let go of me, casting one last lingering glance my way before all five of them hurried toward the edge of the roof. I wasn't sure what they were doing at first, but then I noticed the beginnings of a narrow winding staircase—apparently leading all the way down the side of the building. I watched the last of them disappear, then turned back to the two men who were staring at me, flabbergasted.
There was no time to
explain the conflicted inner workings of my mind right now. “Okay,” I said, heaving a sigh. “Let's get out of here.”
Chapter 25: Rose
We made our way back down the staircases through the castle until we arrived at the ground floor. Crossing the room that led into the kitchen, we found the others already waiting there for us, a group of about twenty teens huddled in a corner. Their pale faces turned toward us as we entered the room. They scrambled even closer to each other.
“What happened?” my grandfather asked, running toward us and gripping my shoulders. His eyes fell on the blood staining Kiev’s leg.
“We’re okay,” I said, “We need to just get out of here. But… these humans are the only ones you found?”
My father nodded sadly.
“Where are the others? I thought they stole over a hundred from that school. And those are just the ones we’re aware of. We’re missing so many.”
Could they all be locked in that spell room?
“These people are all we’ve found, darling,” Aiden said.
I looked at Caleb. His face was ashen.
“We need to try to get out of here now with those we’ve found,” Caleb said. “If we stay here longer, we risk losing not only their lives, but our own.”
“Maybe some others are kept in Stellan’s island,” I said hopefully.
“They took them upstairs,” a weak voice spoke behind me. I turned to face the humans in the corner. A girl with wide brown eyes and curly black hair, no older than fourteen, had spoken. I walked over to her, bent down and touched her shoulder.
“U-upstairs?”
She nodded, flinching at my touch.
My stomach clenched. I swallowed back the lump in my throat and stood up, looking over the humans.
So we’ve lost the others. We just have to do our best to save these people now.
“I thought you looked upstairs?” Ibrahim said.
“They’re being kept in a spell room,” Kiev said.
Before more disturbing details could be discussed about the state of those humans in front of the ones before me, I addressed the group. “It’s okay,” I said, “We’re going to get you out of here now. Please, stand up. We need to leave.”