Monstrous (31 page)

“What are you doing?”

“Here.” I offer the reins to him. “We're going to Belladoma. We're getting Delia and the rest of those girls back.”

I LIE NEAR THE EMBERS OF THE FIRE, GAZING UP AT THE STARS LINGERING
in the early-morning hours.

Ren hasn't spoken a word to me since I announced my plan. But he did come along after we rolled the cart behind a grove of trees and covered it with the tarp. The longer Darrell stays hidden and stuck, the better for us. If he gets out, he will probably go looking for Barnabas.

I shiver. The last thing we need is for the wizard to come after us. He may already be on our trail.

Ren slumbers, curled up in a blanket we snatched from Darrell. He looks cold and scared and I just want to wrap my arms around him and tell him everything will be all right.

But touching him is out of the question. He flinched when our hands brushed together while I handed him the
rabbit I cooked last night.

I disgust him.

I don't belong in Bryre. I don't belong in Belladoma either, though Ren might think so. I don't belong with Barnabas, my pretend father, nor Oliver, the real father of the once-me, Rosabel.

I don't belong anywhere.

Ren yawns. I roll onto my back. It would not do for him to catch me gawking. The sun is up now, pushing the last vestiges of starlight from the sky. Neither of us knows how far Belladoma is, but we ought to get going. Darrell used to make the round trip in a few days, so I'm sure we'll reach it soon.

What worries me most is how we'll get the girls out of the castle. Even if we can find a way inside and reach them, they won't go anywhere with the monster who brought them to Belladoma in the first place. And I'm sure I'll need to use all my parts to the fullest to ensure their escape.

Somehow, I will have to convince them I'm on their side. I don't expect it will be easy.

Ren rises and heads into the woods without a backward glance. He pretends I don't exist. He can ignore me as much as he likes; I will help him no matter what he says.

He's changed since Delia disappeared. Lines mar his warm face, giving him a drawn and sullen appearance. His eyes are still bright, but now with thoughts of vengeance instead of mischief.

That is my fault.

After Rosabel—I—died, he must have taken more
responsibility for Delia. Now he's lost them both.

As I put the gear we stole from Darrell together, a thought freezes me. Did Barnabas send Rosabel to Belladoma? Is that where I truly died? He never did say where he took my body when we disappeared from the palace. In light of all the lies he told, his assertion that I died instantly is dubious at best. I shudder despite the warmth of my cloak.

Ren returns, pulling a piece of jerky from his pocket. He chews while he mounts the horse and takes off along the path.

I do my best to keep up with him, but he spurs the horse to move faster every time I get close.

He leaves me with little choice. I will have to fly to keep pace with him. I stretch my wings and take off. I love flying, but I fear I only reinforce the monster in me in Ren's eyes by doing so.

He still will not look my way.

“Ren.”

Nothing. Not even a quirk of the lips or twitch of the eyes. He remains silent, studying the road ahead while I flap my wings beside him and the mare. I veer into the horse's path. It whinnies and rears, jostling Ren about in the saddle.

I hold out my hands imploringly. “You must talk to me. We need a plan.”

He tries to guide the horse, now back under his control, around me. I swerve into his path again.

“If we don't work together, we'll never succeed.”

That, at least, earns me a fierce scowl.

“It's true and you know it. We need each other to do
this. Otherwise, we'll fail.”

He urges the horse onward.

“We'll fail Delia.”

He circles the horse, his once warm face cold. “Fine. What do you want me to say? I'm thrilled I have to work with a monster to get the princess back from an evil king in his disgusting, squalid city?”

I sigh. “I understand you hate me. But I'm doing this for me just as much as for you or any of those girls.”

“For you? What stake do you have in this?”

My heart sinks into my feet. He has no idea who I am. Will he even believe me? A small part of me had hoped he might figure it out on his own. I take a deep breath. “The wizard killed me. I was once a girl from Bryre.”

Ren snorts. “What was your name?” He folds his arms over his chest, clutching the reins with white knuckles.

I steel my nerves. He can't possibly hate me any more than he already does, though that is a small consolation.

“Rosabel.”

He nearly falls off his horse.

“Liar!” He whips the mare and she rears, then lunges ahead. I fly after them, weighed down by fear that any ounce of the trust he had in me may have vanished.

“I'm not a liar. Why do you think I seemed familiar when we first met? Why did Oliver recognize my eyes?” Ren turns the horse to face me.

“Stop!”

“Because my eyes belonged to Rosabel.”

“Stop it!” The mare stamps her feet. The threatening
tone of Ren's voice frightens her. I regret telling him, but it's too late now.

“I know the rest of me doesn't look like Rosabel. But her brain and her eyes are mine. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of her memories, too.” I take a tentative step closer. The expression on Ren's face is unreadable. “That must be how I knew I could trust you, despite Barnabas's attempts to instill a mistrust of all humans in me. You knew Rosabel well, didn't you?”

“She was a lovely, kind girl. You're nothing like her. She'd never help the wizard. She'd do anything to protect Bryre.” He spits.

“Which is what Barnabas convinced me I was doing! Saving Bryre's children from the wizard.” I wring my hands, feeling awful and indignant all at once. “You must understand, Barnabas was all I knew. He brought me back to life and suppressed my memories with his magic. I had no way of knowing what he told me was a lie. Not until I met you did I begin to question. Now I question everything.”

“I don't have to understand anything.” Ren heads down the path again, this time at a more reasonable pace. He's angry, that much is clear, but perhaps I've gotten through to him a little bit. At least I tried.

He trots silently and I walk beside him for another half hour before Ren gives in and speaks. “Did you really believe what Barnabas told you about Belladoma? That it was a paradise?”

I grimace. “I did. He made it sound like the most beautiful place in the world. I begged him to let me go there
when our task was complete.” My face darkens. “He said he'd be happy to take me to Belladoma as a reward. He meant it, too, just not in the way I thought.”

Ren grunts. “Belladoma is nothing like that. My grandfather used to trade with them years ago when Bryre and Belladoma weren't enemies. King Ensel was just a baby. His father was a kinder man. Perhaps it was beautiful then.” He pauses. “Anyway, my grandfather once told me about an entrance to the city that didn't pass through the main gates. He used it when he was in a hurry and didn't feel like getting accosted by the guards or waiting in line. Catacombs carved into the cliff run beneath the city. Belladoma overlooks the ocean, so the only ways in are through the main gates or to find the entrance to the catacombs.”

Ocean
. A vast body of water. Salty. I can't picture it, but the air around us has taken on a saltier quality. We must be close.

“I've never heard of the ocean until now,” I muse. “Barnabas never told me about that part.”

Ren shakes his head. “Belladoma is famous for its location and its ravenous sea monster. The latter is why King Ensel has quite the penchant for throwing people off the cliff when he tires of them. His courtiers are notorious for their short life spans.”

“Then why would anyone want to be his courtier?”

“Because their families are the only ones in the city who eat on a regular basis. He only allows one hundred of them. In order to get the position, someone needs to be thrown off that cliff.”

This is where I sent those poor girls. “That's insane.”

Ren nods. “It is. The rest of the city is stricken by poverty. People will do incredible things to feed themselves and their children. To the king it's all a game.” His face pales. “Now Delia and the other girls are part of the game, too.”

The thought chills me. He is right, of course. I must stop it.

“Anyway, if we can find the entrance to the catacombs, we could get into the city unnoticed and decide how to proceed from there. My grandfather said the entrance was at the base of two huge trees twining around each other, in the woods outside the perimeter of the city walls.”

“Perfect. There can't be many trees like that.”

Ren says nothing, only rides onward.

WE FOUND THE TWIN TREES LAST NIGHT, HUDDLED TOGETHER LIKE TWO
children trying to keep warm on a cold winter's night. The hollow looks like an animal den, but the stairs just inside the entrance reveal its true purpose.

We enter the catacombs shortly before dawn. The guards who line the high ramparts don't see us under the cover of the morning fog. Water drips around us, and the drab stone floors are slick beneath our feet. My tail is tense and ready. Ren leads. He claims he knows where this tunnel will take us, and I don't see much of a choice but to believe him. Walking in the front gate would not be a good idea. As we gathered from a caravan of traders we eavesdropped on last night, the city is closed to all outsiders except those known to King Ensel. They were turned away
at the gates, and none too happy about it.

King Ensel is preparing for war and fears his enemy will learn of his plans. The “enemy” must be Bryre. If we want any chance of getting close to the castle, let alone inside, we have to take the sneaky route.

We walk in silence through the winding dark and shadowed damp for some time, until Ren signals for me to stop.

“Wait here. I'll be right back.”

I frown as he jogs ahead, but remain where I stand. He returns quickly.

“We'll need to camp out here for a while. The exit is a few yards ahead of us, but we're bound to get caught if we go out in broad daylight. It lets out in the middle of the square and, if it's anything like Bryre, it'll be filled with people until late afternoon. When they start to go home to their families, we can leave.”

I settle on the damp floor of the tunnel and lean my head against the wall.

“That's a good plan.” I can't deny it even though I wish we could act now. I hate waiting. “Have you thought about what we will do once we're in the city proper?”

Ren shrugs. “A little.”

“Really?” I say, surprised. “It's all I can think about.” I stretch my legs out in front of me. “I have an idea. But first I need to know more about this sea creature. What is it? Why is it ravaging the city?”

Ren settles down across from me on a patch of semidry rock. “They call it the Sonzeeki. It's an ancient creature, a
relic of a time long past. They say it has a huge impenetrable shell, like a turtle's, but a hundred times larger. It has tentacles that can rip a ship in half, and a beak sharp enough to pierce any armor.”

“It sounds ferocious.”

Ren laughs bitterly. “Yes, and ravenous. If it isn't fed a girl on the full moon, it spins and spins in its underwater lair until the water rises and floods the catacombs and city streets. And it will only go back beneath the cliffs if it's a girl that's offered. Ensel could toss all the boys and adults he wants over, and the beast would still flood the city.”

I remember the time I fell in the river and nearly drowned. I don't want to imagine the streets and homes filling with rising seawater, but now I can think of nothing else. My stomach turns. “What could Ensel have done to anger such a creature?”