PINELIGHTforkindle (24 page)

A man dressed all in black entered the room with a crown in his hand. Victor. “Don’t make the same mistake as your husband. Kneel and give your souls freely to me. In return, you will live a life like you’ve never known.”

The queen slid Finn’s brother behind her. Through her tears she found the strength to face him. “Our souls belong to the one true God. We will never bow to you.”

Victor stepped up to her and slid his glove down her neck to her chest. She pushed his hands away.

“Such a pity, you would have been a beautiful addition,” he said.

In one swift movement, the end of his sword went through the queen’s delicate gown and out into her son’s chest. They both fell limp to the floor.

“Say hello to your God for me.” He grinned a devilish grin and walked away with blood dripping from his sword. Like puppets, the men followed their master.

Finn kicked down the wooden screen, and we ran to them. But they were already gone.

I could feel the sadness and the hate burning inside of me as I watched through the mirror—helpless once more.

The vision faded to another.

“Take this,” Finn said, closing my fingers around his cross pendant. “I love you, Clara.”

I was suddenly being pulled away from him. Blood ran down his side, soaking his clothes. His hand was pressed to his chest as he stumbled back on a balcony.

“
No! No!”
I screamed.

Finn struggled, but managed to stay upright to face his dark enemy. Victor paced in front of him with his bloody sword by his side, speaking words that I couldn’t quite hear over a ringing in my ears. He forced Finn’s body against the rail of the balcony, so hard I could barely watch, and then, with one fluid motion, Finn was cast from the edge.

Victor dragged me, kicking and screaming, to the grand hall of the castle. Edmund stood in the middle of the room with his hands reaching out to greet me. Victor handed Edmund a crown and shoved me into his arms.

“You did well. You have earned this crown—and here is your queen.”

Victor smiled and then trotted off down a passage in the castle.

“What have you done?” I cried.

I beat at his chest over and over, yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs. His arms were tight around my waist, pulling me in so that I couldn’t escape.

The image dissolved and another appeared.

There was fire everywhere. I ran down the hall of the castle, spreading flames while I screamed for all that I’d lost. I only had minutes before I would start to lose my memory. I had to act fast. Edmund caught me before I could finish the deed, before I could completely destroy everything. He knocked me to the wall as if I weighed nothing. My head was pounding, and my ears were ringing again. This time the pain was so intense that I couldn’t fight back.

Then I was flying through a red door on to a bed. He left me there—he knew I would forget soon, that I would be his. But that was his mistake; I had other plans. I stood on the rail of the balcony now, looking down into crashing water. While my mind clung to the remaining memories of Finn, I stepped off the rail of the balcony and fell through the night air.

The images faded once more. My almost lifeless body was floating to shore. Fergus’s face appeared, leaning down to pull me from the sand. He carried me. He saved me.

His face quickly dissolved in the mirror, until the mirror was back to its original state of blackness. All I could see was my own reflection, now crying.

My emotions soon turned angry—angry for the years I had lost, the love I had forgotten, the life that was stolen away from me. I snatched the candelabra that had been resting on a pillar to the right of the mirror and pounded the metal into the glass. I screamed through the tears as the glass shattered all around me. I did not notice or care about the small pieces that sliced into my skin.

Victor screamed, “Damn you!”

I threw the candelabra at his head, but with one quick motion of his hand, it dropped straight to the stone floor. He made another motion in the air with his hand, and my body lifted and then began to float in the air toward him. My lack of control over my emotions and fear made me his puppet.

 Finn yelled again, “Leave her alone!”

“Isn’t this precious? Young love.”

“Take me! Take me instead—leave her!” he screamed.

I turned my head to catch Finn’s adoring stare. My secret passion grew for him—stronger, and then deeper, as I floated helplessly in the air.

“I wanted to tell you, Clara. I wanted to tell you everything.” His voice faded as Erik pulled at the rope around Finn’s neck.

I could feel a cold air wrap around my chest, causing each breath to become a struggle.

“Let’s get you dressed for the occasion, shall we?”

The cold air coursed the entire length of my body while I was suspended in air. The force of the air spun me around—my clothing and sword fell to the ground. I watched my blurry reflection from the shiny black stone above his throne as a black velvet corset appeared from nowhere. The V-neckline was edged in red velvet and rubies. My pendant lay hidden just under the lining. I gasped as the corset wrapped around my body and air weaved the lacing in the back and fastened the front. Black net and lace emerged over the corset and camouflaged my exposed abdomen. In seconds the netting was sprinkled with sparkling diamonds. As the cool air worked its way down, a bustling of red silk gathered at my hips and dropped just above my knees. The dress was beautiful, yet appalling.

“Stop!” Finn groaned.

“But she is not yet ready.” Victor chuckled.

As Victor smiled, I felt the cold air wind through my short hair. The air tugged and twisted until my hair was away from my face. Then, out of thin air, sparkles dropped down—I glanced up to see the rain of sparkles shape into a diamond headpiece that formed a pair of wings. The wings were placed in my hair, and then a matching choker of diamonds wrapped around my neck. As soon as the jewelry was snapped into place, my skin became paler than I had ever seen, my lips turned blood red, and a shadow fell over my eyes.

“Your fear and your doubt pleases me,” he continued. “Your soul is weakening. I think this calls for a little celebration.”

He waved his hand, and the room instantly filled with hundreds of people dressed in fancy black clothes. There was another gesture of his hand. The curtains from around the room began to drop like flies, exposing dozens of mirrors.

“Look at your beauty—just like your mother.” His eyes scanned my body from head to foot. “You belong here with me.”

Air forced my floating body to the wall of mirrors; sadness filled my heart as I saw a reflection of myself dressed in the garments of his taste. He stood behind me looking pleased at what he had created—he smiled while he hooked diamond earrings into my ears. It was hard to recognize the pale face looking back at me in the mirror. I felt lost.

I looked to Finn. He was pulling at his throat, trying his best to keep his composure. Gorgeous women danced freely around him, smiling and laughing as if he were not there. There were men juggling knives—and a few exhaling flames high into the air. But then, I looked back to the mirror, and I could see their true reflection.

The room was filled with sad, soulless creatures. Their image of beauty had been erased long ago and was replaced with the reflection of disfigured humans. The men and women who were dancing had gray and withering skin and were twisting and turning about in burnt shrouds. Both of the men jugglers were missing their noses, and the men who breathed fire, well, they were missing their eyes. They were all his broken puppets.

I stared hard into the mirror at Victor and watched as his reflection of beauty began to fade. I watched his flawless skin turn gray and scaly, his pearly teeth turn dull and pointed, his eyes turn black and angry, and his long locks of hair turn white and wiry. I tried to pull away

His flaky lips smirked. “So it
is
true? Why…this is quite delightful. You can
see what others cannot. I can see why Edmund wanted you for himself.” He yanked me around so that we were face-to-face. Now I was staring at a gorgeous face—the face of seduction.

“You will make a great dark angel.” His hand grazed across my cheek.

“I will never turn!”

“Never say never, little nightingale.”

He made a sweeping gesture through the air with his free hand, calling forth the two women from his throne. They immediately obeyed; throwing the shawls from their faces, they stepped forth to expose their true identities. Bleach-blonde hair tumbled from the first cloth, framing the slender face of a tall female. Her eyes were darker than usual, but her face still held the same proud smirk I had seen many times.
Lydia.
Behind the other dark shroud was the redhead who had chased me through the swamp.

“I should have known you were evil!” I shouted to Lydia.

“You should have known a lot of things,” she replied smugly.

Victor snapped, and then both girls strutted past to one of the dark halls.

Soon, I heard the sound of rattling chains. Lydia and the redhead reentered the room dragging two reluctant caped figures into the light. The first chained prisoner struggled underneath the long black material and suddenly fell to the hard floor. Lydia forced the other prisoner to join.

Victor glided to the first broken human and lifted the heavy hood. I weakened when I saw her face.

“Mom?” I whispered. Her eyes moved from the floor to me.

She was beautiful—a blonde angel, exactly how I had imagined her. Wisps of delight were followed with spurts of fear. She was finally here, finally real. I could almost touch her. The remains of anger still lingered inside of me, but I could no longer act on it. I began to walk to her, but stopped in my tracks when Victor lurched over her with his silver blade.

“Where is your God now?” he questioned with the most sinister and evil look in his eyes.

“Clara.” She was on the brink of tears when she spoke.

“A soul for two souls,” he said. “You become mine, and I will let your mother and aunt go.”

They say your whole life flashes before you just before you die. Now that I had everything back, now that I knew what I would see, I wasn’t going to let him take it from me. Not again. Not without a fight. I looked back to his hard face and stared deep into the eyes of a monster.

“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” I whispered.

He looked satisfied with my statement. He held his hand out to his side, and all of his puppets froze. I could tell from his reaction that he thought I was bowing to him, that I was giving in to his power.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Nooo, Cl—!” Finn tried to shout, but Erik would not allow for it.

Victor walked over to me, leaving my mother begging for me to stop.

“I have a gift for you,” I said, trying my best to sound submissive.

The air that had rendered me helpless softly dropped me to my feet. He had released his grasp—I was finally free to move. I ripped the cross pendant from my neck and took a few steps closer to him. I knew that this might be my only chance. I could hear Fergus whispering in my head,
“The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.”

I felt embraced in a strength that I had never known—a power that was far beyond this world and the next. It filled my soul. God was with me, even here in the darkest of places—my God gave me strength.

“The sword of the spirit is the word of God,” I whispered. I understood now. My faith was all I needed; it was all that I ever needed. I shouted over the music and the laughter of his people. I shouted loud and strong. “My faith is strong—you will not reign over me!”

“We shall see about that.”

He raised his hand and made the same motion that had lifted me into the air once before, but nothing happened. He waved his hand again in the air—nothing. I quickly tightened my grip around the metal cross, and the pine needles began to glow brighter than I had ever seen. The metal extended, wrapped in a vine of bright blue fire. A dagger. The answers had been with me all along.

I slashed at his chest, grazing the black vest that fit tightly around his shirt. He floated backward through the air to his throne, growling. He pulled a black sword from the stone wall and glared at me.

“You are no match for me, my dear. Grown men could not defeat me!” He laughed a dark laugh. “Your own father fell short.”

I ran at him, attacking with an anger I had never felt. I lunged, aiming for his throat. The dagger hit his dark blade—sparks flew. I pressed all my weight into the dagger, but he was much stronger than me. I stumbled back to the floor under the pressure. I heard my name in the far background. I knew Finn was screaming, but all I could hear was a whisper through my thoughts.

I wanted Victor dead.

“Yes, yes. Strike with all your anger. I love it! You should be angry—your God has abandoned you, left you, just like your father. Oh, that is good, really good.” He chuckled. “If you only knew how your father ran and hid like a coward. He would not fight me. He would not fight for your family! Doubt is an infection, sweet nightingale, and I feel you are infected.”