But the castle was made entirely from this type of black rock.
I took the rock from Michael and weighed it in my hand as if holding it for the first time. It was heavy for its size and cool to the touch. “The castle is magically infused, right? It keeps anyone from the dark worlds from just strolling through the Shadowlands to get to the other side.
And when a visiting demon is in the castle, their power is automatically zapped so they don’t try something funny.”
“Yes. And the castle is also warded.” He traced his finger over the rock in my hand and when his skin touched mine, again I felt that immediate tingle and the pull I always felt toward him.
Even when he was pushing me away.
I didn’t know what his problem was and why he was acting so strangely with me lately, when things before had been more comfortable and relaxed between us. If I was in Darkling form I would have asked him directly.
But I wasn’t. So I didn’t. But I wanted to.
“We should show this to your father,” he said. “Come on.” He grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs to the entrance to the castle. The blue sky, green grass, flowers, and fake sunshine disappeared and we were back inside the dreary interior of Castle Dread.
Michael knew his way through these halls much better than I did. By now I would have been lost, but he took turn after turn through the labyrinthine halls without hesitating once.
“Wait.” I pulled him to a stop as I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye.
It was the boy I’d spoken with the other day slipping around the corner up ahead, I was sure of it.
“I just saw him again.”
“The mind-reading kid?”
“Yeah, he went this way.” I followed after him, around the corner he’d disappeared behind.
“There he is!”
He was twenty feet ahead of us, moving quickly. He glanced over his shoulder at me, but didn’t slow down.
“I don’t see anyone,” Michael said.
“You don’t see the kid right in front of us?”
“No. But I assume you do.”
“Trust me, I do.”
The kid had told me he’d shown himself only to me. Talked only to me. He could also show himself to my father, but he hadn’t yet for some reason. I didn’t understand any of this, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. I took it to mean he’d been hiding, but maybe he meant that they literally couldn’t see him.
We went in the direct opposite direction from where we’d been headed to talk to my father.
But I had to talk to this kid again and find out what he wanted. Why he was here. And why he’d given me a piece of magic rock from the castle itself.
He disappeared through a door ahead of us. He didn’t open the door and go inside, though. He walked right through it like a ghost. I stood there, eyes wide, as I realized what I’d just seen.
I tried the handle, but it was locked.
“He went in here,” I told Michael. “He walked right through the door.” He also tried the handle with the same result. Then I pressed my hand up against the door.
That kid had shown himself to me for a reason, I knew it. He’d wanted to talk to me and he specifically wanted to give me that rock.
And seeing him again made me think he wanted another chat. But he was making me work for it.
Enough of this. I was sick of depending on my Darkling form to give me the courage and strength to do what I had to do. I could be just as strong-willed in either form—only in my Darkling form I had wings and more physical strength. Same brain. Same mind. Same me.
I could be courageous and strong no matter what I looked like on the outside.
I pounded on the door until my knuckles hurt. “Let me in. Right now!”
“Princess?” Michael asked.
“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of people messing with me. I just want someone to tell me the truth without me having to command it out of them every time.” I gave him a very pointed look.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why do I feel like you’re not just talking about the invisible kid?”
“Because I’m not. No, after this, you and me are going to have a long talk. And I want some answers.”
He looked both intrigued and wary. “Consider me warned.” I knocked hard on the door again. “I’m serious. Open up or else!” A moment later I heard a click and the door slowly swung inward. Michael and I exchanged a glance.
“Progress,” he said.
It was a room meant for storage. Mostly old furniture—a wooden chair with a broken leg. A table with a crack down the center of it. Some old jugs and plates and cutlery were stacked on shelves. My gaze finally landed on the kid I’d spoken to the other day.
“Hey,” he said in greeting.
I blinked. “Is this where you hang out?”
“I hang anywhere I want to. But I kind of like it here. This is where they put things that are broken in the hopes that someone will have the time to fix them. You like broken things, too.
You think you can fix them.” His gaze moved past me to Michael, who was still scanning the room to find who I was speaking with. “He can’t see me.” I didn’t understand what he meant about me liking broken things. “Can you show yourself to him?”
“Not right now. But maybe someday.”
“Princess...” Michael said. I felt the comforting yet distracting heat of his hand pressed to the small of my back. “What’s going on?”
“It’s okay. I’m just going to have a few words with my not-so-imaginary friend here and figure out what his deal is.”
He shot a concerned look at me. “Just be careful.”
“Always.” I turned my attention back to the kid. “That rock you gave me...”
“You put it to good use?” he asked.
“It brought me back here. Even though I was in the human world at the time.” He nodded. “Yup. It would do that.”
“How did you know a piece of this castle had the power to do that? Can the whole castle do that if you chip pieces off?”
“No. Just the ones I want to be special.”
I was so confused. “What’s your name?”
“I had a name. It’s been forgotten. A lot has been forgotten over the years. You can call me whatever you like.”
I frowned at him as he took a seat in a chair with a broken arm. “You’re telling me you’re not a Shadow. But that would make the most sense. You’re like a ghost around here. Nobody sees you because you don’t want them to see you.”
“I’m not a Shadow. But I’ve watched over Shadows. I’ve watched over demons. They come here, they live here. Some are nice, some are not. Some are up to no good. Some aspire to be good. Some miss what they once found but lost. Some are broken like toys no one wants to play with anymore. But they’ve all forgotten, Princess. Every last one of them.”
“Forgotten what?”
“I can’t tell you that, sorry. There are some rules even I have to follow. Not all of them, but some.”
I just stared at him, feeling my head spin more with every moment that passed. “You gave me that black rock and told me that it was a piece of you.” He just watched me. “Uh-huh.”
“A piece of you,” I repeated, trying to work it out in my head. “I figured that you’d had the rock for a while, like it meant something to you and it was difficult for you to part with it. But you meant it more literally than that, didn’t you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Did I?”
He was incredibly frustrating to talk to. “You said that you’ve watched them, Shadows, demons. Over many years. How many years?”
“Since the very beginning.”
“I don’t know how long that is. Since time began?”
“Not quite that long and not as you see me now. But close enough.”
“And you can read their minds, the people who live in this castle. Tell me why.” He stood up from the chair and approached me, peering at me curiously. Hi
s black eyes glittered in the semi-darkness. “You’re getting closer, Princess. And your mind—clear the cobwebs away and I think you might be able to see everything clearly. I know about the false prophecy—saying that you will be the destroyer of worlds. When Kieran was here to visit your father a couple weeks ago, before your visit to the Underworld, I could clearly see his thoughts.
It wasn’t a prophecy that was totally made up, you know. But he did embellish it.” He paused.
“Still, you are definitely dangerous.”
I bristled at even the suggestion of that after everything I’d done to show it wasn’t true. “No, I’m not.”
“You know what makes people the most dangerous? Truth. Knowledge. It’s pure power, Princess. It’s the most powerful thing of all.”
“A piece of you,” I said again, straining my brain to figure it out. I thought he was trying to confuse me so that nothing he said made sense and I wasn’t any better off after this chat than I’d been before. But I knew I was close. If he’d given me a small black rock, which he’d said was a piece of him...and if I were to take that completely literally instead of trying to read some real metaphorical meaning into it...
And if he’d been here since the very beginning...in this castle...
My eyes widened. “No way.”
He just studied me serenely. “Maybe you will be able to fix what’s broken. It’s up to you now, the girl with a foot in each of two worlds. Only you.” When I sent a shocked glance at Michael for a split second, then looked back at the kid, he was gone.
He’d disappeared into thin air.
“This is impossible,” I whispered.
“What is?” Michael asked.
I turned to face him. “The kid...he gave me the rock and told me it was a piece of him. He said he’d been here in the castle from the beginning, watching, observing. He can only show himself to those who currently rule here.”
Michael watched me expectantly. “And...?”
“This is going to sound completely crazy, but...” I swallowed hard. “But I think...I think he is the castle.”
Chapter 14
Michael stared at me. “You think the invisible kid you’ve spoken to a couple of times is the Shadowlands castle.”
I deflated. “Well, when you put it that way it doesn’t make much sense, does it?” He stared up at the walls, as if trying to see hidden messages etched into them. “Actually, it is possible.”
I gaped at him. “Seriously?”
“Sure. Some buildings, depending on who built them and how much magic was used, could form a guardian spirit to watch over them.”
I continued gaping at him. “A guardian spirit?”
He grinned. “Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes, actually it is. So somebody died and got trapped here—”
“No, they never lived. The sentient personality was born of magic and represents a specific location. I’ve never seen anything like this before, but I have read about it.” I nodded slowly, deeply stunned by this possibility. But it made sense. Crazy sense. “All right. So I met the guardian spirit of this castle. And he gave me a piece of himself so I can travel here in spirit. Why? So I can guard it too?”
“No idea.”
“He said that I might be able to fix things that are broken.” I glanced around the room. “Did he mean this furniture?”
“I doubt it. Guardian spirits are said to speak in riddles. He probably meant something else.” I’d deal with Dread later—he said I could call him whatever I liked, and I’d called this place Castle Dread since the moment I’d first seen it. All he’d done was confuse me even more than I’d been before. “Let’s have our talk now. And I want some real answers from you.” He raised a dark brow at the abrupt change in subject matter. “Should I be scared?”
“Very. You took your amulet off outside. Was it because you wanted to see how long you can go without wearing it?” His expression darkened and he wouldn’t meet my gaze, so I said his name sharply. “Michael, answer me.”
I hadn’t commanded him, but the tone of my voice had to let him know that I wasn’t messing around here.
He shrugged. “Wearing the amulet is like wearing an anchor. I first saw how it could be with Jonas. He took off his amulet and he became more powerful than anything I’d ever seen before.” I grimaced at the memory. “You mean, when he murdered the guard?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t look happy about that, which was a relief. “It showed me that I could gain strength by taking it off. And I can. I’d been raised to believe that I should never take it off. Ever.
And when Elizabeth stole it from me, it nearly killed me. But it doesn’t always have to be that way. Only, I’m the one who has to be in control of it.”
“And these dreams you said you’ve been having...what do you remember from them?” He shook his head. “It’s like the memory is being erased even as I try to recall what they were about. Like someone has a cloth and they’re wiping it all away. All I know is that in my dreams, Shadows are not servants.”
“What are they?”
He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. “I don’t know.” He was telling me the truth. He was just as confused as I was about all of this. “I’m going to get that book from Rhys, and you’ll be able to read more about your history. It’ll all be in there, I just know it.”
“I hope you’re right.” He scrubbed a hand over his forehead. “It’s amazing, actually, that he’d even agree to help out with this. It has to be obvious to him that you’re not asking for yourself.”
“He realizes that.”
“And yet he’s still doing it?”
I hesitated. “I guess he’s more generous than I thought he was.” He looked at me. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I cleared my throat. “Nothing.”
“Princess,” he said firmly, “you want me to be honest with you and tell you things even if they might not always be what you want to hear. I want the same from you in return. What aren’t you telling me about King Rhys?”
I walked to the other side of the storage room with my arms tightly crossed before I turned to face him. He studied me intently, every move, every word. Having his eyes on me so much made my skin feel very warm. “You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“He made me a bargain. He’d get me the book, but I had to agree to do something in return.” Michael waited, but when I didn’t continue right away, he prompted, “What?” He wanted the truth. I wasn’t going to start lying now; I owed him that much after everything he’d shared with me.
“He gets the book for me and...” I cleared my throat. “And I’m supposed to kiss him again.” Michael didn’t react for a moment.
He didn’t react for another moment, either.
I silently cursed myself for being so blunt about this. I didn’t have to be honest about absolutely everything. “It’s really no big deal. It’s not like I’m interested in him like that.” Michael stayed silent, his jaw tight. “So you agreed to this deal.” My face felt hot. “Yes.”
His gaze flashed with sudden anger. “Of course he’d ask for something like this. It’s like he’s rubbing it in my face.”
My nervousness was replaced with frustration. I could never predict Michael’s reaction to anything I said or did. “I’m surprised you even care.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I thought that when we’d said good-bye before Christmas that we understood each other. I thought that we were, I don’t know, together. But not together. It’s kind of hard to date someone who lives in another world and I’m forbidden to be with because of stupid demon rules.
Someone who doesn’t seem to want to kiss me anyway.” My throat hurt. Admitting it out loud, showing my supreme neediness when it came to Michael, didn’t make me feel very good or confident about myself.
Michael hissed out a breath and finally spoke. “So because you’re feeling neglected, you start kissing other guys?”
He was a
ngry with me. But I knew, if our positions were reversed and I’d just found out he agreed to kiss a girl— any girl—I’d be reacting exactly the same way. Or worse. “I haven’t kissed anyone else. Not yet.”
“All of this because I haven’t been paying you the proper attention, Princess?” He cocked his head, his gaze heavy on me, like a weight. The air felt electric between us and I couldn’t look away from him. “Is that all it would take so you wouldn’t become fascinated by this king, who has suddenly decided that he wants you?”
“Rhys doesn’t—” I began, but he didn’t let me finish.
“Does the lowly servant boy have any chance against competition like that? Don’t forget, I saw the two of you under the mistletoe. You didn’t seem to mind then, either.” His accusation twisted into me and I couldn’t help but flinch. “I don’t know why I even said anything if you’re going to be a jerk about it.”
“I know why. Because you’re feeling sorry for yourself.” I gasped. “That’s not fair.”
“No?” He drew closer until we were only a foot apart, his attention fully focused on me. I could feel the heat from his body. “I haven’t grabbed hold of you and kissed you every time I’ve been face to face with you. So now you’re agreeing to kiss the first guy who asks. One you just so happen to be prophesied to marry. How convenient for the both of you.”
“Excuse me?” I snapped. “I agreed to this because it’s the only way I could get your Shadow book. Maybe you should be careful what you wish for.” He winced at the reminder. “You wanted to make me jealous.” He closed the distance between us so we were only a few inches apart. “Congratulations. It’s working.” I faltered. Be careful what you wish for, indeed.
It was just a kiss I’d agreed to with Rhys. Just a stupid, meaningless kiss.
A kiss I’d been thinking about more than I’d ever admit to anyone. Especially to Michael.
He sighed and some of the anger finally left his gaze. “I know you wanted me to come see you, Princess. I wanted that, too. But you had the power all this time to come here yourself.” He took hold of my wrist, circling it with his fingers. “You figured out how to use your dragon’s tear without any coaching from me.”