(Skeleton Key) Princess of the Damned (10 page)

L
ANDON HAD EXPECTED, WITH SUCH AN
earth-shattering revelation, that she would change. Maybe become a fearless warrior who would rush into the darkness and kill everything that had ever hurt her or scared her, fight fire with fire. Wasn't that what super tough heroines did?

Not all of them, apparently. Eiress had a smile of quiet wonderment. She sank to her knees and pulled Kaida into her lap, stroking his spikes and staring at the ground. "What does this mean?" she finally asked, her voice hushed like she was afraid if she spoke too loud, she'd wake up and this would all be a dream.

He sat next to her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Without thinking, as if he'd done it a thousand times before, he kissed the top of her head. "I think it means that you can stop them. We just have to figure out how."

She sat in silence for long, long minutes before finally saying, "I blew up a door once. And the chains, when you were being attacked. Elizabeth tried to stop me, but—but I blew them up."

Landon nodded. He'd heard the screaming, but barely. It had been drowned out by his own screams, and the howls from the thing attacking him. He leaned back against the wall of the cave, which was warm from the fire now and not icy cold. Or maybe it was warm from Eiress, because she seemed to be positively glowing.

"I don't know what to do with this." She held up her hands, as if her gift was resting there in her palms.

Landon absently played with a bright red curl and let his mind wander. "What do you do that none of the other princesses ever did? Or Mary or Elizabeth?"

"I survived more than a few days," she murmured, tracing his casted fingers with her own. The pain in her voice nearly killed him, and the warmth in the room slid away.

"Yes. You did. But what else?" He tried to drag the conversation away from the pain. Back toward the light.

"Umm. I sit in my room and knit Kaida sweaters. I have a pet dragon. I go to the ball every night and sit on a hard throne. I open the gates to hell so the evil souls get sucked in." She lifted her head to smile at him. "And I talk to you."

"Yes." He brushed his knuckles against her cheek, stealing the tear there. "You do—Wait. What?"

She blinked. "I—I talk to you—"

"No, before that. You said you open the gates? Mary and Elizabeth don't do that ever?"

She shook her head, smirking. "No. They're the ones who close them every chance they get. They don't want the evil souls to leave them."

"Eiress, that's it. That's what you have to do. I don't know what it was Mary wanted for you, but I know why they're afraid of you. You can explode the gate."

Suddenly, she sat up, so quickly she toppled over backward and nearly crushed Kaida. "No, Landon. That's not it. And I know why Mary always protected me from Elizabeth. She said once—" Eiress shuddered, reliving those memories, "—that they couldn't let me die. My spirit would kill them all. If I die, Landon, maybe—maybe the whole Isle of the Damned dies with me!"

Landon felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.

With a unicorn.

Something in him whispered that what Eiress said was true. Maybe it was her mother, reaching him from the other side of the mirror. Who knew what crazy powers ghosts might have in this place. Eiress was the death of the Isle. To kill her would end Bloody Mary's five-hundred-year reign.

But if she died…if she left him…

"There's got to be another way, Eiress."
You can't leave me. Please don't leave me.

She smiled. "I'm sure there is."

She didn't believe it. He could hear it in her voice.

"Eiress."

"No, I know. There's another way. We'll find it. But first, we have to get you back to the castle, before the moon rises again. If it hasn't already." She bit her lip and frowned, eyes straying to the darkness beyond.

"It hasn't." She had slept, but he had stayed awake to watch her sleep, count her breaths, and watch the cave entrance for nightmares. So he knew very well that the moon hadn't risen yet. Although it was difficult to tell in the Isle. The sun gave off barely more light than the moon did, and the whole place seemed to be swathed in darkness all the time.

"So… what's with the cats? I've seen demons, which I get. Ghosts, spiders, sharks. But kittens?" Again attempting to distract her.

It worked. Her face lost the pensive determination and she grinned. "This place is full of the damned's greatest fears. In a normal afterlife, I suspect it would be full of lost loved ones and watching others suffer, but not here. Here, it's heights, snakes, monsters, and kittens. Apparently fear of cats is a real thing."

Landon laughed. "You learn something new every day."

"Yes. You do. Now stop trying to delay the inevitable. We have to go back to the castle."

"Not yet. Talk to me, Eiress." In case they didn't make it back to the castle. He had to use these moments wisely. He pulled her back to him and she fitted herself against his shoulder. At her touch, his heart took off on a sprint, and again, he was amazed at her effect on him.

"Okay. What's your favorite color?"

"What?" Landon laughed. "That's…slightly random."

"I know your soul. But I know nothing about you." She twisted her head so she could peer up at him with huge brown eyes.

And who was he to refuse her? "My favorite color is blue. Dark blue, though. Not the girly powder blue they wrap babies in. What's yours?"

She blinked the huge brown eyes. "I…don't know. I haven't seen many colors for so long. But I think…" she drummed her fingers on his arm, pretending to ponder, but the mischievous smile gave her away. "I think my favorite color is also blue. But the blue of your eyes. Not that girly powder blue they wrap babies in. By the way, don't they wrap
boy
babies in powder blue?" She grinned like she'd won an entire debate.

"Touché. Your favorite food is corn, I think."

She lit up. "You remembered!"

"Always." He met her gaze and was lost in it. He never wanted to look away.

"What's yours?" Her voice was just a little breathless.

"My what?" For the life of him, he couldn't remember what they'd been talking about.

The grin split her face again. "Your favorite food."

"Oh." He chuckled, running his good hand through his tangled hair. "My mom's spaghetti. No one makes it like she does. Not too chunky, not too tasteless. It's the only thing she can make without burning the kitchen to the ground." The image of his mom battling fires with her handy old fire extinguisher flashed through his mind and he was suddenly hit by a wave of homesickness that nearly knocked the wind out of him.

"Tell me about her?" Eiress asked softly, her voice barely reaching him over the snapping and popping of the fire.

"My mom?"

Eiress nodded.

"She's amazing. She did her best to raise me well. I remember when I was little, and she'd pick me up each time I fell, every time I got knocked down. She'd chase down my bullies." At Eiress's raised eyebrow, he added, "I wasn't always the strapping knight in shining armor I am now."

She giggled.

"Every day when she'd drop me off at school, she'd yell, 'Be kind!' and everyone could hear her. But I didn't care. She'd sing me to sleep every night and burn my breakfast every morning. She believes in chasing dreams, risking everything, following your heart. She says these corny things like look for the helpers and be the good and don't give up and no matter how many times someone says you can't, they're wrong. She's the reason I had the courage to come here." He traced a path across her fingers, memorizing the scars. "Do you remember anything about your mother?"

Eiress tipped her head, watching his hand. "I remember a lot. The memories of my mother are what kept me from giving up so many times." She laughed softly. "Mothers, huh? I remember a song about the sunshine. She'd sing it when I was sick while she would stroke my hair away from my face. Her hands were always cold. She could never get them warm. I remember she hated ice cream but loved frosting. And she worked all the time. But she was still there when I needed her. Almost always." Her smile died. "The night I was taken, she was at work. The babysitter was asleep on the couch and my sister thought…she thought it would be fun to try this thing everyone was talking about at school. After—after I was taken, my mom kept calling—at the—at the mirror. I had to keep going to her before Mary did. Mary would have killed her. I tried to tell her to move on. But…but I guess she didn't."

"She never stopped fighting for you, Eiress. Everything she did, everything she's done, it was to save you. Your mother will not give up until you make it back." He brushed the tear that was soaking its way down her cheek.

Eiress nodded silently and leaned back against his chest.

"Back to our conversation," Landon said, twining her fingers through his. "Funniest thing Kaida has ever done?"

Eiress scrubbed her eyes and nodded. "Okay. Yeah. Umm…Oh! We were racing down the hall. There are no mirrors out there, so you couldn't have seen. Kaida wasn't watching, and he missed the corner and smashed right into the wall." A half-hearted giggle escaped her. "He folded up like an accordion. Once I made sure he wasn't broken, I couldn't stop laughing."

Landon laughed with her, relieved that she was smiling again.

"Do you have pets?"

He shook his head. "My dad's allergic to all types of fur. I had a tarantula for a while, but it scared my mom to death. She didn't sleep the entire time I had it. We finally took pity on her and got rid of it. Truthfully, I'm not a fan of spiders, either."

"Your dad wouldn't be allergic to Kaida. No fur." Eiress tickled the little dragon under his chin. "What do you do for fun? On the other side of the mirror."

"Fun. Fun. Well, I play football every chance I get. I'm the wide receiver on my high school team."

"Wide receiver?"

"Oh. Yeah. Wide receiver catches the ball and runs like hell." He winked and she blushed.

"What else?"

"Well, homework because my parents seem to think I should get good grades and go to college, you know. Make something of myself." He leaned his head back against the rough wall of the cave. "Also, I work at my mom's antique store, which mostly means I dust stuff. A lot. There are a lot of creepy dolls that come through there." He shuddered.

"Hey!" She practically squealed. "There are creepy dolls that come through here, too!"

"And you thought we had nothing in common."

She shrugged playfully. "Now that we've discovered
that
, we have to go back to the castle. We're out of time, Landon." Standing, she winced a little and grabbed her wounded head. Then she gathered herself and reached her hands out to his.

"Are you sure? I kinda like it in here. No bad guys trying to eat me, no cliffs to fall off. And," He winked, taking her hands, "you're here."

She rolled her eyes. "Very funny. You aren't going to stay trapped in this land forever. You have a way home and—"

"I meant it, Eiress. I came here to rescue you, and I'm not leaving without you. I promised your mother, and I keep my promises."

She sighed. "Of course you do." But it was an endearing sigh, and he loved her for it.

Landon rose to his feet and held a hand out for Kaida. The little dragon scurried up his arm, across his shoulder and leapt to Eiress. She smiled up at Landon. "He likes me."

"He's not the only one," Landon said quietly.

She sucked in a breath, her eyes dancing. "Good."

L
EAVING THE SAFETY OF
the cave was hard. In the cave, she'd had Landon. He was there with her, a light, a warmth, and he was all hers. But leaving the cave and going back to the castle, to Elizabeth and Mary and Vlad and the ball, the gates of hell, and her newfound destiny…

It was terrifying.

And she could lose him at any second. Eventually, she
would
lose him. Somehow, she had to come to terms with that, because he was going back through the mirror, and unless they pulled someone else through to take Eiress's place—a reprehensible act that she would not do—she could not go with him.

But his journey had not been worthless. He'd freed her of her chains, yes, but he'd also given her beautiful memories to hold on to when she couldn't stand the darkness anymore. When he was gone.

She held tightly to his hand this time, as they made their way back down the mountain. The sun sank in the sky, too quickly. Unless they ran, they wouldn't make it, and that was assuming there were no nightmares to attack them along the way.

The only problem was Landon. He was in no shape to run. He could barely walk steadily.

You'll never make it. He'll be trapped here. With you.

And would that be so bad? Even this place, with Landon in it, could be a home, couldn't it?

She let herself dream of that until they made it to the valley floor, and then she had to give it up. She'd lost her family. She couldn't ask him to give up his. He had parents who obviously loved him—and whom he obviously adored, as well. The smile on his face when he spoke of his mother told her that well enough. He had an innocence, like he'd not been exposed to the horrors of real life. His parents had protected him, and she couldn't take him away from that.