Evadere (22 page)

He pressed his lips together into a tight smile. “We’re on high alert security-wise, Ms. James. It’s all under control. If there’s nothing else you need, I have my duties to tend to.”

I shook my head.

“Someone will be up to get you later this evening.”

“Anna James?”

The door opened. I straightened out my long blue gown with my hands and nervously glanced up at the servant who had come to take me out to the castle yard.
 

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I looked in a mirror in the corner of the room. My hair was pulled back in a similar fashion as I had seen all the contributors wearing theirs today. I had found dark pink lipstick and smeared it onto my cheeks and lips. I wanted to look stunning for Emry. I took a deep breath and left the prison that had been my room.

Once in the hallway, there were contributors everywhere chatting and holding up glasses of alcohol. They had been here most of the day, and I assumed they were drunk, laughing giddily and chatting amongst themselves. A couple of them looked my way as I walked past, but they didn’t know who I was. I was just another contributor to them.

My heels clanked against the hard, cement stairs as I followed the servant who kept glancing back at me as if I were going to run away. I could only imagine how tired all of Atavia’s staff must be from tending to all of these people since this morning.

Once outside, I inhaled the sweet, fresh air. I could barely move as everyone stood shoulder to shoulder.
 

“Okay,” the servant said. “I’m supposed to tell you that you’re being watched, so don’t try anything funny.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Okay … thanks for letting me know.” I turned away from her and pushed my way through the people toward the front. I couldn’t see a thing.
 

“Hey, watch it!” a man shouted out as I bumped into him and his overflowing glass of wine spilled all over his shoes.

I ignored him and kept moving through the mass. There were guards perched upon balconies of the castle, weapons in hand, as they overlooked the people and beyond in case any Scaves were to make an attempt to attack. Perhaps they were there for me, too, I thought. Up ahead was a large podium made out of fresh wood as it obviously had recently been built just for this
occasion
.
 

“Ms. James, I see you’ve made it.”

I glared up into the smug face of Treyu. He slurped another sip of his drink and licked his top lip as he grinned at me.
 

“And front row, too. Very impressive to see you in touch with your dark side.” Treyu threw back his head and laughed uncontrollably at himself.

I glared, furious at just the mere sight of him. He stumbled away, grabbing the hand of a woman next to him and kissing it. I was grateful for her distraction so that he was away from me.
 

Music played in the distance, the bass booming over the voices of the contributors. Everywhere I looked people were dancing and eating, laughing and drinking. This really was a party to them. I wondered if anyone had a clue as to what was going to happen. I wondered if death was so nonchalant to everyone on Evadere. To everyone here it seemed as if death was just the means to an end. They could “rid” themselves of someone that way. To me, it was an uncertainty, a permanent stripping of one’s spirit, and if that spirit was taken away by this sort of cruelty, it made it that much worse. Evadere had no court system. Queen Atavia made all the decisions, and she based those on her hatred. I was ashamed to be part of this, but I had to be here to find Emry, to get out of Evadere, and to take Cassie Banesberry with me.

Someone screamed as two guards walked up onto the podium holding Mrs. Anderson who cried out and carried on. The guards could barely restrain her and had to keep grabbing her thrashing arms and legs as she kicked and threw her body in all directions.
 

There was a short, wide pole in the center of the podium, more like a stage at this point, as the crowd cheered louder and louder with each move of desperation Mrs. Anderson made to get away. After multiple attempts, the guards were finally able to bound her against the pole, her hands tied behind her and her feet wrapped together as she continued to lash about, now whimpering as the ropes cut into her frail skin. Some of the contributors were screaming obscenities at her. Then she just stood there, realizing she was unable to escape. I wondered what was going through her mind at that moment as she made acceptance with her fate.
 

Suddenly, Mrs. Anderson locked eyes with mine, her face wild and full of despair. She scowled at me, and I turned away. She had always been so strange to me, even on Earth. She had this dark way about her, yet had been so calm before. Seeing her so on edge was even more disturbing. I thought about how she had made attacks on Emry and wanted him locked up in prison on Earth. She had blamed me then for getting in the way of her plans. I’m sure her scowling at me was just another way of saying she blamed me now for what was about to happen to her.

The music stopped and the contributors seemed to all quiet their voices at the same time. Mrs. Anderson stood up on her stage all alone facing the crowd. Just below the podium, royalty lined up one by one. Treyu saw his family and stumbled as he rushed to get over to where they were. Atavia was in the middle, Emry by her side. He looked so handsome in his white suit outlined in gold trim. He had a small crown on his head that he lifted proudly.
 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little wave. Looking over, I saw Cassie appearing from behind a robust contributor woman. I nodded to her so she knew I saw her, and then she disappeared again as the contributor stepped in front blocking my view.

“Welcome, my dear friends,” Atavia said.

The crowd cheered.

Atavia beamed at their response. “Today we rid our planet of one more evil.”

They held up their glasses and toasted to Mrs. Anderson’s demise.

“And this, dear friends, is your future king, my son, Emry.” She gestured toward him and clapped her hands. Emry grinned and waved to his people who grew even louder with shouting and clapping.

He turned around and looked at Mrs. Anderson. “Do you have anything you’d like to say?” he asked her.

Mrs. Anderson tried again and again to break away from the ropes that held her in place. She gritted her teeth and thrashed her head about.

Atavia looked absolutely delighted in her reaction. “Anything she’d have to say would be mere nonsense anyway.” She chuckled. She glanced up at her guards still watching over the boundaries of the castle yard. She then searched through the crowd, her eyes resting upon my face. She gave me a satisfied look as if saying good riddance to me also, knowing I’d soon be gone and back to Earth.

I waited for the executioner to get up on the podium. I wondered if Mrs. Anderson was going to be beheaded, hung or shot, but nothing was happening. Then all of royalty joined hands.
 

“This is bigger than you all!” Mrs. Anderson cried out. “They’re going to control all of you! Murderers! Murderers!”

Atavia looked at the rest of the royal family. They all laughed and mocked Mrs. Anderson.

“I told you, nonsense,” Atavia said, smiling.

They resumed holding hands and lining up. Their backs were toward the podium. Mrs. Anderson was still screaming out trying to get someone to listen to her. I looked around for Ben. He was nowhere in sight. I looked over at Cassie again who was staring at Mrs. Anderson, her mouth open. At least one person here didn’t find joy in such a public display of disgust.

I watched Emry close his eyes along with the rest of his family. They began concentrating. Almost instantly as soon as their eyes closed, Mrs. Anderson began shrieking. This time it wasn’t screaming from being bound to the pole, it was one of extreme physical pain.
 

I stared at Emry, at Atavia’s face. I went down the row of royalty, seven in all. They stood strong, joined together. They were using their powers to kill her. Mrs. Anderson’s body twisted and trembled as she continued to cry out as if she were being burned alive. I felt a burning in the pit of my stomach.
 

“Emry, stop this!” I yelled out, but I doubted if even the contributor beside me had heard. The crowd cheered and screamed as Mrs. Anderson’s pain increased. Her cries were so shrill, they rose higher above the crowd. Some of the contributors laughed. Others looked outraged that she wasn’t dead yet.

“Die, witch, die!” they chanted.

The burning in my stomach increased. I felt a pain radiate from my toes up my legs. My knees buckled. I fell to the ground. The burning in my stomach reached my lungs. I struggled to breathe. Then an intense throbbing entered my head. My eyes felt as if they were bulging and about to burst. I reached in the air for help. One of the contributors beside me stepped on my other hand that had been on the ground. I forced my head up to look at Mrs. Anderson. She was convulsing now, her head rattling back and forth as if it could roll right off her neck. She was still shrieking. I looked at the royal line again. Everyone’s eyes remained closed, except one. Atavia. She was staring directly at me. My skin prickled as if on fire.
 

Atavia’s using her powers on me. She’s going to kill me. No one even knows what’s going on.

Her eyes were fierce and full of disgust. She loathed every inch of me. This was perfect. Emry was distracted. Everyone was distracted. No one would even notice what was happening to me until it was too late.

My body curled into a ball on the ground. I felt the tremors come on. Every inch of me felt like it was blazing. My eyeballs continued to swell. I knew I had to do something.
 

Scream, you idiot. Scream like Mrs. Anderson.

So I did. I let the pain escape from my throat. It hurt so bad. I wasn’t going to be able to take much more. I cried out a long, shrill screech. Still over my own cries, I could hear Mrs. Anderson. Her pain was even greater than mine. She had everyone else using their powers against her. I only had Atavia, and still it was unbearable.
 

Now my insides felt as if they were melting together, like I could dissolve into a puddle on this cursed ground and evaporate into nothing.

I felt someone’s hands on my face. They seemed very hot.

“Anna! Anna!” someone cried out.

I struggled to open my heavy eyes. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to see. My arms contracted in at my sides. I could barely make out a face. It was Cassie.

“What’s going on?” Cassie covered her mouth in horror as if she was figuring it all out. She stood up and stared at Atavia. “Stop!” she yelled. “Emry, stop it! She’s killing her! Atavia’s killing Anna!”

My head turned towards the podium. Mrs. Anderson hung limp, still tied to the pole. Royalty still held hands. Cassie now ran full throttle toward them. The guards blocked her.
 

“No!” she screamed. “Anna’s dying! Let me through to Emry! Emry, please!”

The crowd quieted down.

Emry squinted his eyes to see Cassie and what she was pointing at, which was me still in a ball in severe pain. My muscles contracted harder. He tried to let go of his mother’s hand, but she wouldn’t let go of him. Her face twisted up in pure hatred as she intended to finish what she started.

“Stop!” Emry yelled at her.

Royalty looked around at each other, everyone in confusion about what was going on.
 

“I said, stop!” Emry had that look on his face. It was one of both despair and anger as he realized that everything I had assumed about his mother had been true, and now she was destroying me, getting rid of me so I’d be out of her precious son’s life forever.

Everything went blurry. I heard someone else cry out. It sounded like Atavia. Then all of a sudden the pain stopped. I felt full amounts of air enter my lungs as my chest heaved and lapped the oxygen around me. I was alive. My muscles that had been contracting were now humming with a dull ache from the violent movements they had been forced into. I opened my watery eyes. Someone wrapped their arms around me and picked me up off the ground. It was Emry. He looked down at me. Now fatigue took the place of the pain. I tried to open my lips to say something. He pressed his finger to my mouth so I wouldn’t try to speak. His eyes were full of compassion and relief.
 

“You were so right, Anna. You’re always right. Why couldn’t I have just trusted you from the beginning? She was out to get you, both of us,” he whispered.

Then a loud cackling laugh was heard from the direction of the podium. I made a poor attempt to move my head to see who it was coming from. Mrs. Anderson? No, she was still lifeless at the pole.

Atavia threw back her head in a smug manner and laughed again.

“Oh, my dear, dear son, you have so much to learn yet.” She took a few steps closer to us. “You actually tried to use your powers on
me
?” Then she chuckled again. “Your powers are mundane compared to what I can do.”

Emry huffed at his mother as he huddled me closer as if he could protect me by being my shield. “Leave her alone, mother. I love her.”

“You can’t love a human,” she said mockingly. “Being raised on Earth has made you soft. Let her go. You’ll find someone else suitable here.”