Mythical (The Mystical Series Book 2) (23 page)

Chapter 27

The witch holds on tight to her broomstick, then pulls me back, forcing me against the ground.

“Alice, what am I to do?” the cat questions, worried.

Alice looks at the cat and then glances at the other witch in the room. “Donovan, if you can’t handle this, you need to leave the room. She doesn’t know who you are. It’s dangerous.”

Donovan is watching me; he is in shock and still. His eyes do not leave me until a shock zaps me. I snarl, my jaws tightening. I realize that my arms are freezing. I chuckle out loud, seeing snake-like leaves constrict around Donovan’s neck.

“Jared, get the serum!”

The zaps from the whip do not bother me, and a sly grin appears across my face. I ready myself to get up from the force that holds me against the ground. Alice leaps in front of me to place her heel onto my chest, pinning me down. I laugh, spitting the dirt out of my mouth. I focus on her and command my leaves to release Donovan. This pathetic witch believes she can stop me. I roll to the side, and as she falls to the ground, I catch her hair.

“You fools.” I glare at her and then look at Donovan. “Aren’t you going to save your poor little friend?”

“Eliza, I know you hear me. I know you see me and know who I am.” He begins to walk.

“I wouldn’t continue if I was you.” I bare my teeth, forcing a smile.

He disobeys me and continues to walk. I grip the witch’s hair, throwing her against the wall. Her body collides against the wood and crashes down to the ground.

I know that the stupid cat is behind me, but I’m too slow to react. It sticks a sharp needle behind my thigh. I glare at him; a syringe is tucked in his mouth. My vision becomes blurry and my head is light. I lose my balance and fall to the ground.

***

My eyes are still closed. I can sense that I am in a new room, one that smells of steel and vinegar. I open my eyes slightly and scan my surroundings. The room I lay in is silver, and there’s a large horizontal window that spreads from the door to the wall. Anyone can see me in here and I can see them. The window must be thick because I can see Alice and Donovan talking, but I cannot hear a word they are saying. If I try to focus I can hear slight mumbles, which helps me make out sentences.

“She is fighting corruption. We have to keep her here until the others arrive. Now get out of my way before you end up like the rest here.”

“Does my last name intimidate you that much?”

“If it wasn’t for the myth in that room, you would be dead by now. You and your filthy little boy gang are a disgrace to all witches.” The female witch’s words slither out, filled with venom. “She could be the end of your brotherhood and Rav together. You better wake up.”

Donovan’s jaws clench and his fists tighten. Jared leaps onto the edge of the window, his back facing me and his tail swaying against the glass.

“You both need to get it together. With the amount of corrupt mystics in the shade right now, keeping Eliza here with them isn’t making anything better. You’re making it worse, Alice.”

Donovan is angry but is controlling it.

“You’re upset, Verel, and well you should be. I wonder what your father Alec would think if he caught you here in the shade, a hospital for mystics on the verge of becoming corrupt. Something your society would kill to take over.”

“I’m different. I’m here for Rose,” he spits out.

“The myth’s name is Eliza, and she’s a corrupt elf.” Alice holds her dagger tightly in her hand. “And if you two can’t get that through your thick heads, I will have to leave you for dead.”

He says, “If only she knew about Daw—”

“Don’t speak of her,” Alice cuts in. “Elves can sense anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she heard our whole conversation. We must go.”

They all watch me cautiously. Alice crosses her arms and flicks her hair from her eyes. Donovan notices that I’m in pain, and so does Jared. I toss my feet over the edge of the bed and plant them on the freezing cold floor. I’m used to feeling frozen now. I stand up and walk to the middle of my prison and twirl around, letting my markings show, entertaining them. I strut toward the large glass window. They know I can’t hurt them.

Since the room is freezing, I breathe against the glass, creating a fog.

“Live…or…die. Make…a…choice. Think…wise,” I write with my finger. At the end I draw a heart and kiss inside it. The others flinch. Going back to my bed I sit, crossing my legs and picking at my nails. I hum a melody to myself. When I glance up again Donovan and Alice are gone. Jared stays. I smile…then beam my green eyes on and snarl.

The cat leaps off the edge of the window.

***

The night is silent and pure mystics walk the hallways of the shade. They’re holding their clipboards and checking on several patients. There is a golden light in my room that creates a spotlight right in front of the window. Lying on my back, I trace my markings with my middle finger. Someone is approaching my room, and I sense them coming. A navy blue mermaid wanders past my window, looking down at a clipboard.

My gaze passes his lean body to a room behind him, where a familiar-looking girl fairy is combing her hair with the tips of her fingers. The fairy looks up, the ends of her black hair glowing blue, and makes eye contact with me. It’s the same fairy that led me into Mystique. She then turns around, her back to me.

“You know what to do, my love.”

I look around the empty room.

“Glad to hear your voice again, Christian.”

I rub my forehead from the sudden telepathic headache. The mermaid is still observing me. I toss my blankets on the floor and slit the middle of my V-neck deeper to show cleavage. I blink my beaming green eyes on and lift my gaze to invite him inside.

My throat thickens from the nerves of my plan possibly going wrong. The mermaid walks toward my door and reaches for it. I hope I have this manipulation ability down. I may not be as good as Christian. I grin at the mermaid seductively. The door opens and he peeks through the crack, then steps in. The mermaid walks over to me and I motion him to come closer.

“What’s the clipboard for?” I ask.

The mermaid looks down and tries to re-focus; I can’t let him.

“It gets lonely in here. I’m glad you’re keeping me company,” I say and walk over to him.

I trace my index finger on the side of his neck. He’s pretty tall and not that muscular. I walk in a circle around him.

“What’s the clipboard for?” I ask, unbuttoning his shirt.

“It’s for, um…research.” He gulps.

I take his hand and lead us back over to the bed. His hand gets watery; it’s not sweat. I hear the water drip on the floor.

“You’re wet.” I smile at him. “I wonder what the research is for.”

“It wouldn’t be confidential if I told you,” he says.

“What if I give you what you want and you give me what I want?” I tuck my fingers under his shirt. “You’ve been watching me for five minutes.”

He drops his eyes to my cleavage. I lift mine up and catch him doing so.

“Do it. I know you’re thirsty. You’re not in your ocean.”

The mermaid pushes me on my bed and gets on top of me. His skin is moist.

“Do it…”

He pins my arms down. “Don’t move,” he says.

He reaches for my chest. I slap his hand and shake my head.

“Not so fast.”

He smiles down at me, and I wrap my legs around his back. His lips move along my collarbone and I grip his hair. I take off his shirt and he kisses my chest. His hands are roaming my body, groping me and claiming me as his. His waist is grinding between my legs; I feel the cold buckle on his pants. I scratch his back and then flash my eyes on. I feel them roll back, freezing. I lift my knee, ramming the mermaid’s gut, and he grunts in pain. I wrap my arms around his neck, swiftly snapping it. His limp body falls down on me.

I know I do not have long before he heals himself. Mermaids can’t be killed out of water. I kick his body off of me, hearing his skin slap against the cold tiles. His clipboard is on the floor and I reach for it. The mermaid is wearing a black jacket. I remove it from him, placing it on myself. I unclip the papers from the clipboard, folding them and placing them into the jacket’s pocket.

The fairy I met at Mystique watched me the entire time.

She floats up, flashing a mischievous grin. I wrap my hand inside the jacket sleeve in order to wrap my hand around the handle. I open the door and look to see if any other pure mystics are in the hallways of the shade. I take the clipboard in my hand and throw it above me where the spotlight glows. My room becomes dark, I notice my reflection in the fairy’s window, and my green markings glow. I close the door and strut across to her room. She is watching me cautiously.

“You killed him?”

“What else was I going to do? Actually let him…? No, sweetheart. I don’t do mermaids.”

She chuckles.

“I’m leaving this place. You can come with me or let them run their tests on you.”

“I think I’m going to stay…”

“Why would you want to stay here?”

My mouth is dry, and I don’t know why. Everything about this fairy is pulling me in.

When she doesn’t respond, I say, “Fine with me.” I place my hands into my pockets and leave her room.

“Wait,” she whispers. “I’ll come with you. Anything but this place.” She walks back into her forest-like room to gather her things.

“Thought so.” I nod. “I’m Eliza.”

“Cloe.”

We look out into the prison’s hallways and step out of the room. There’s a room with a guy who has yellow eyes. I open his door for him to escape with us too. He grins and joins us.

I walk past another dark room, this time red eyes glimmering from its shadows. A dark-skinned girl walks out with black markings along her thigh. She lifts up her lips to show her fangs.

“You guys breakin’ out?” She sniffs her surroundings, her ears twitching.

“Tag along or stay.”

She steps out of her room.

“I smell people coming. We need to get out of here,” the guy growls, then brushes past us all and leads us to an exit.

All of the mystics I freed leave the shade, exiting through the doors. I look down the dark hallway at all of the mystics left, trapped inside their prisons.

“Eliza, we need to go.” Cloe tugs on my arm.

I glance at her and then at the others who wait for us outside the building.

“Where to now?” the girl with red eyes asked.

“Follow me…” I walk by the huddled mystics. If I am right, they are all corrupt.

“Into the forest, my love.”

I love hearing that voice in my head. My markings freeze over, and my eyes tighten. There’s a forest not too far from where we stand.

“Typical elf, going to the forest,” the guy spoke.

I shoot a glare at him, and he steps back. I watch the rest in case they want to speak as well. The gang is quiet.

“Like I said, follow me.”

We stop at the entrance of the forest. I squint my eyes, cracking branches and blowing leaves away to clear an entrance. The mystics walk in front of me and into the forest. I step to my side, looking back down at the shade. I know my eyes have winked off. Christian is standing in the entrance I created.

“Hey, babe.” He’s leaning on a tree, lighting up the darkness around him with his sharp green eyes.

“Hey.”

Chapter 28

My hips sway from left to right as we walk between the trees, their branches clinging to my new outfit. Christian is in front of me, leading our new followers into the unknown. Cloe is the fairy who flutters by my side. She’s always known corruptness was building inside her. Shanel is the vampire who sucked up two humans on purpose after running away from her coven. Her red eyes glance at me as she grins, because she can also feel moods. I smell nothing but a minty scent. Each time I open my mouth, the fresh scent flows out. I lick my lips. The only mystic that’s working my nerves is Drake, the shifter. He keeps trying to be the pack leader of this group. He doesn’t know I’m the myth here and I’m capable of killing all of them.

I chuckle to myself, holding on to Christian’s hand. He stops walking.

“We’re here.”

My eyes land on one tree with a wide, thick hollow opening.

“I remember this place…”

“It’s where you played tag with Emily.”

“Emily…? Oh, I remember that pathetic elf.” I cross my arms.

“Did you say tag?” Drake asks. “Elves only play tag with witches. It’s a game of confusion, only leading them into madness.” His yellow eyes watch me carefully and then bounce to the other elf next to me. Christian looks up at me and then to the others.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him.

“Do you have the mood ring?”

“Christian, I told you I don’t know where it is.” I remember the white cat holding it in his mouth.

“Do you think it’s back in the shade?”

“I told you—I don’t
know where it is.”

The trees rustle in the cold wind. Shanel steps back, crunching dirt under her boots. Christian grasps my shoulder and twirls me back around to face him. He leans down to me and presses his lips against my neck.

My markings freeze. Normally they don’t hurt, but this time the freezing feels like burning. Swirls develop on the side of my right calf; they squiggle up the back of my thigh. I try to force Christian off of me, but I am not strong enough.

“Christian, get off.” I throw my fingers outward, springing up roots from the ground. My eyes aren’t freezing; they’re burning. I flick my fingers, commanding the roots to aim for his back. He calmly lifts up his index finger, prompting them to break in mid-air.

“You would try to kill me?”

Drake pushes himself through the others with a growl.

I turn around, facing him. “I can hear your heart,” I say.

“I can smell the innocence you reek of,” he snorts.

The shifter steps forward toward me, and Christian raises his hand, prompting him to not come any further. The mystic brushes against his shoulder, but Christian pushes him back.

“You would mate with a witch? She is no elf, and I know. I am not the only one who can smell the scent of one of our murderers.”

The others become still.

“I don’t know what he is talking about.” I bare my markings to show to them. “I am elf.” My lips curl back as my words hiss in the air.

Thick veins outline the sides of Drake’s jaws, and his gold markings glow as well as his eyes.

“I believe her,” Cloe says. “She knocked out a mermaid in the shade.”

“Lies, they are mocking our culture!” Drake’s eyes glow a bright yellow, saliva dripping from his mouth. He cracks his fingers, and sharp nails appear from the tips. His growl rumbles in his throat. The muscles in my face tighten. I relax and crook a smile.

“Are you questioning my innocence?”

Drake snorted. “Does this witch really question me?”

I raise my right hand to him, and Christian stops me.

“Eliza, my Queen, don’t. We might need him.”

“We’ll get others,” I say.

The shifter races toward me ferociously. I can feel vibrations from the ground. Goose bumps pop along my skin, and I exhale freezing air. Small, thin vines with thorns on the stems spring up, stopping the shifter in his tracks. Another pair of vines wrap around his ankle, and he roars in pain.

“Worthless wit—!” The thorns puncture his skin; he begins to bleed, falling to the ground. A large leaf and vine slither around his mouth.

“Now,” I step closer, “this is how it’s going to go.” I kneel down. “I talk, you listen. If you ever make me out a fool, I’ll kill you. Question me again, you’ll die. Do you understand?”

The shifter’s eyes look past me at Christian and the others. He then fixes his gaze back onto me, clenching his fists together and forcing himself out of my vine’s grip. He grabs my neck. I let him do this, knowing it would happen.

He shoves me into the dirt, spraying the foliage up into the air. I wrap my legs around his neck and crack it with both of my legs. His eyes roll back before he falls down on top of me. My vines grip him once more, their thorns digging into his skin, ripping his head from his body. He vanishes into yellow mist.

I’ve killed once again…

Taking a life soothes my raging emotions, and a subtle calm comes over me.

“You’re sexy when you kill.” Christian is grinning.

My vines dig back into the earth, and I shoot the rest of the group a glare.

“It’s an elf thing.” I smirk. “I hope all of you learn from Drake’s mistake.” I wipe his yellow dust off of my clothing.

“Extremely dangerous, like a normal elf, but the pace of your emotions changed when you vanquished Drake,” Shanel notes. “The pattern was interesting. It went from calm to rage to…well, unaware and unsure.” Everyone looks up to her while she reads me. “Intriguing.” She nods. “Very intriguing.”

“Shall we, my Queen?” Christian leads Cloe and Shanel toward the tree.

The memory of me falling into it spreads throughout my thoughts. I try to remember why I fell inside the hollow. The flashback scares me. It was the same witch back in the shade. His eyes were glossy as he held me in his warm arms, calling me Rose. Who was Rose? I remember him kissing me and my arms burning. I scan the forest. This is the same place where it happened. I walk past Shanel.

“That’s also interesting. Your mind’s scattered. I wish to find out why.”

I am tickled by her words. Christian clears his throat, prompting Shanel to step forward by Cloe.

“I need you to go inside with me. Get the rose and snap it,”
Christian telepathically speaks.

“You two wait out here,” I instruct. “When the hollow fades into dark green, you may enter.”

I ball my hand into a fist, get on my knees, and stick it into the hollow. A sheer force-field appears. It is light green, and there is a faint warmth blooming on the surface of my hand. The type of heat that if I keep my hand warming, it’ll burn the skin off.

I pull back and look up to Christian. I sense something wrong with this entrance. “We can’t enter.” I take a step back.

“What do you mean?” Christian asks.

“I can’t explain.” I hover my palm above the dirt. The foliage lifts up in the air, my eyes freeze, and my tattoos glow in the dark. I hear the leaves and branches shoot toward the entrance. The foliage glues on the entrance. I walk over to the glowing hollow, rubbing my hands on the bark. The foliage falls to the ground, and a loud boom blasts through us. The group covers their ears.

“Ready?”

“Always.”

Christian falls into the hollow first. I follow right after.

***

I land on moist dirt. I allow my eyes to wander around the scenery. There are fairies dancing along to the beat of music. They’re acting their normal drunk selves…I know they’re pure innocent fairies. How could mystics be so pure? It disgusts me.

A caramel-skinned guy floats toward me, holding up a martini glass with rainbow fluid swirling around inside it. His eyebrows are arched perfectly, and his eyelashes are as long as a woman’s. I see a ring on his ring finger, reminding me of the ring the white cat had in its mouth.

The guy looks up at me.

“Where’s the rose?” I ask, trying not to act too conspicuous.

“The man you want is Warren Vasaloff, the King of Fairies.”

“Fairies this pure, in such an evil atmosphere…” I chuckle.

Christian’s hand freezes mine, but I don’t mind. We walk over to the bar where female fairies dance on top. Warren flies over to me. I look him up and down.

“Nice to see you again, Eliza.” He takes a sip from his glass and gives me a nasty stare. “I thought I told you to never come back?”

“You can’t keep me away, Warren.”

I bare my neck to show my new markings, and I can feel my eyes freeze up, showing him how emerald they are. His mouth drops open and he places his glass down.

“I knew you were a myth. Everything about you gave me signs.” He glances at Christian.

“I’ve come for something, Warren.” I smirk. “I was hoping you could show me a book or two in your room.”

“Taking myths into that room is a foolish thing to do,” he replies.

“I would
die
to learn more about…
our
culture.” I smile.

“So you’re a fairy-myth?”

“
Without
wings.”

I take his glass and brace myself up on the edge of the bar, kicking several other glasses onto the floor. I bend down and dance in front of him, swaying my hips to the thudding beat. I grab a fairy that is next to me and grind on her.

Christian looks away from me. I scan the ceiling, noticing vines with leafy lightbulbs dangling from them. I flash my teeth at Warren, working my way to the end of the bar’s edge, holding his glass.

Bumping into a fairy on purpose and as smoothly as I can, I trip her. She collides with the other dancers and falls down onto Warren. Swiftly, I break the glass lightly so that there are still shards on the tip. I reach up at the main line to the lights above us, slicing the string. The bulbs fall, shattering.

The music is still playing, and now rainbow tattoos light up the room. Everyone screams, shouting with excitement. The tattoos aren’t light enough to recognize anyone’s face, and with my sense of awareness I leap off the bar, strutting my way toward the king’s tunnel.

“Smart.”

“I’m on my way to his room. Keep watch.”

I try to remember where the tunnel is located. I mute all of the noise around me and proceed to walk. It’s black, and I know that I am not dreaming, but a lady with red hair is staring at me.

“Eliza, listen to me, dear. Don’t break the charm. Fairies are uncontrollable. You’re asking for an evil to be unleashed that you will have no control of. Please hear me out. Do not break the rose.”

“Who are you? Get out of my mind.”

“Lauren…your grandmother.”

Lauren the mermaid-myth who killed her husband? My grandfather?

“I know all about you, Lauren. You of all people should know how I’m feeling.”

“I do, and it’s a terrible feeling that does not need to be unleashed. Please do not trust the elf that you are with. Go back to Jared.”

“Who’s Jared?”

“Your brother.”

“Go away.”

I’m at the entrance of the tunnel. Strutting toward the last room in the tunnel, I push the door open. Lauren’s voice fades away. I see the gleaming gold rose.

“My Queen, I could not stop him. Warren is on his way.”

I walk toward the rose, reveling in its glowing beauty. Its pure innocence sickens me, but every rose has its thorn.