(Skeleton Key) Princess of the Damned (8 page)

At the window, Kaida whined, clawing at the shutters. Tentatively, Eiress walked toward her little dragon, checking over her shoulder to watch the mirror. It had never seemed so lifeless before. So devoid of hope.

Had she lost him completely?

But no, she could still feel him. He was alive.

Unless he wasn't. And he was here.

Shaking her head so hard her red hair swirled around, she growled. No, he was good. His soul was good. Had he died, he would not be here. This was the Isle of the Damned. Good souls did not venture here.

The commotion from the hall distracted her. Elizabeth, in a screaming fit, demanding the blood of a virgin. "He can't see me like this!" she wailed, her voice coming closer and closer.

Coming to Eiress's door.

Because Eiress was the only one left. They'd killed all the others.

Mary will never let her kill me. They need me.

But Mary was strangely silent. Her vicious laughter didn't follow Elizabeth's screams. Only Vlad's monotone pleading.

Across the room, the door handle shook.

Kaida clawed more frantically at the shutters, trying to light them on fire when he couldn't break through. Frowning, Eiress backed toward him, unable to tear her horrified gaze from the handle.

The door swung open.

Elizabeth stood in the doorway, illuminated from behind by the hallway candles, her face bathed in shadows except for her glowing red eyes.

"Mary said we weren't allowed to touch her," Vlad said, stopping behind Elizabeth. "She'll destroy us all—"

"I don't care what Mary says!" Elizabeth shrieked. "Mary's not here, is she? I am the Queen, and I say it's time for you to taste her blood. It's time for me to bathe in it."

Vlad's red eyes glowed bright with hunger.

Kaida squealed, throwing his tiny body against the shutters as Elizabeth and Vlad advanced. Stifling a scream, Eiress stumbled backward, away from them. As Elizabeth's claw-like hands reached for Eiress's throat, Eiress grabbed Kaida, tucked him against her chest, and threw herself backward.

Out the window.

She expected to feel free, as she fell. She'd always thought falling to her death would be the best way to go. But she didn't feel free. Her body twisted over and around, tumbling through the air, and as she fell she saw in the distance a light.

A light, being smothered by the darkness.

And Eiress knew she had to fight. She could not die—not now.

She had to save the light.

Suddenly, somehow—she didn't know how, even when she thought back on it later—but the shadows devouring the bright light exploded. The darkness seemed to rip apart at invisible seams, and the light was suddenly free and running.

Running away from her.

And she never figured out how, but Eiress was suddenly no longer falling. She was on her feet, Kaida wrapped around her arm like a shaking bracelet, and then Eiress was running. Running away from the castle and toward the darkness and the nightmares and the lost souls.

Toward the light.

She was yanked clear off her feet, though, as her chains caught.

Her chains. She'd forgotten all about them.

She whirled, felt them tangling around her ankles and wrists, up her legs. She teetered and fell to the ground, her head bouncing against a rock. Eiress struggled to remain conscious as blackness blurred her vision. Elizabeth stood at her windows, pulling the chains, pulling Eiress back toward the castle.

Beyond the edges of the courtyard, the light had fallen again. Hungry shadows fought over it, as they'd fought over Kaida, and she thought she could hear screaming, but she couldn't be sure it wasn't Elizabeth.

She could not go back to the castle. She had to save the light.

She had to save the light. She had to. She had to.

Her chains exploded.

They burned her skin, scorched her skirts. Elizabeth screeched, falling backward and out of sight, her face and hands afire.

Eiress was free.

She wasted no time. Struggling to her feet, she kicked her bedraggled skirts out of the way and ran, barefoot and cold, as hard as she could go toward the light.

L
ANDON HAD PLAYED FOOTBALL HIS WHOLE
life. He thought he'd known what pain was.

He was so wrong.

Shadows he could barely see, attached to claws and teeth and glowing eyes, monsters he remembered living under his bed and in his closet, they tore at him. Somehow, he'd kept his throat intact, but the arms and hands that protected it were torn to shreds. He wasn't going to make it.

But at least he'd freed Eiress.

He felt his hands slipping away from his throat, his broken hand more useless than before, as his eyes fell shut.

Her voice echoed in his mind, begging him to stay with her. Begging him to hold on, she was coming.

And then suddenly, the monsters were gone.

His eyes opened, he struggled to see through the pain, and then soft, cold hands were sliding over him, checking injuries. Warm puffs of air tried to thaw the ice from his veins, and he could just see the little dragon next to him, doing his best to help.

But he couldn't see
her
. The only thing he'd ever seen when he'd looked into a mirror, and now he was here and she was hidden behind the blood and the pain. "I came all this way…" he mumbled, his eyes sliding closed.

"No! No you don't. Stay with me, my friend. Please stay with me."

He heard cloth ripping—it sounded like the time his uniform had been torn right off his shoulder during football. And then cool cloth was being placed on his wounds, and dabbed at his eyes, and he blinked twice as the blood was wiped away.

She was there.

She was right there in front of him.

She was there, taking care of him.

"Eiress," he breathed.

Her hands froze and in the still of the frozen night, he could hear her heart pounding. "You—it is you—I knew! I knew I recognized your soul!" She kissed the knuckles she had been wrapping. "First, we must bind your wounds. When you're strong enough, we will talk. For now, save your strength." Although worry still creased her brow, a small smile played around her lips.

He'd made her smile.

"Your chains—you're free. I unlocked them." His voice was barely a whisper. Not quite the way he'd wanted to make her acquaintance.

Her eyebrows shot up. "You unlocked my chains?" Then she looked at Kaida. "That would explain why Elizabeth was trying to hold on to them. So I couldn't escape…"

Landon's head fell back and he let his eyes close. "You're free."

"I'm free of the castle. You are my hero." He could hear the smile in her voice without opening his eyes, which was good, because it hurt too much.

"We just—just need to find a mirror and go back out—"

Her voice was infinitely sad when she spoke again, several quiet seconds later. "I can't go back out."

This time, he forced his eyes open. "Yes you can. I unlocked the chains. With the key."

She smiled, placing her hand against his cheek. "There are rules."

Behind her, there was a growl.

Landon had never been a hunter, but he'd always been fascinated by animals. Especially predators—wolves, bears, lions, cheetahs.

This growl, it was like all of those and none of those at the same time, rolled and permeated with evil.

His heart stopped. Eiress froze, her eyes widening in horror. He could feel the pulse in her wrist jump against his jaw. Kaida raced up her arm to her shoulder and hissed into the darkness.

"We need to run," Eiress whispered.

Right. Landon couldn't even open his eyes without wanting to scream like a little girl. Running was out of the question.

But Eiress didn't seem to realize that. She was pulling on his arms, trying to heft him to his feet—good hell, she was trying to lift him over her shoulder as Kaida scampered out of the way—

Not trying. She did. She lifted him over her shoulder.

And then she ran.

They didn't make it far, but it was farther than they would have made it if Landon had been in charge of moving them. She collapsed between a huge tree and a solid black wall, and carefully slid him off her shoulders. "I'm sorry," she whispered, peeking around the tree to see if they had been followed.

Landon forced himself to sit up, leaning against the icy wall. He could still hear the growling, but it wasn't as close, now. Past Eiress's head, he could see the red, glowing eyes. Everything in this awful place seemed to have red, glowing eyes.

Except Eiress. She turned to him, worry creasing her brow, and he saw for the first time that her eyes were brown. He'd never seen her so close before. "Friend?" she asked when he didn't blink.

He'd gotten lost in the beauty of her gaze.

"Landon."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He cleared his throat and tried again. "Landon. My name is Landon."

She smiled, so sweet it broke his heart. It was the only light in that world, but it was enough to melt the ice and chase back the shadows. "Landon."

Kaida hissed, racing up one arm, across her shoulders, and down the other arm. He blew puffs of smoke at the darkness, like he could possibly chase away the monsters.

"We need to get somewhere safe," Landon said. "So we can come up with a battle plan." Because clearly, winging it had worked so well already.

She smirked, patting his unbroken hand. "There is nowhere safe, Landon. Not on this side of the mirror."

The Isle of the Damned. It had been fittingly named.

"If you listen, you can hear the moans of the lost, trapped here with their greatest nightmares, too afraid to go to the ball, too afraid to go to hell. If your world saw this place, spent a day here, or even an hour, they would change their paths."

Landon nodded. It was all he could do. He had no idea how long he'd been here, but it was far too long. "Tell me the rules."

She had been keeping steady watch around the tree—something Landon didn't dare to do. He was sure he'd seen some weird sort of serial killer/werewolf combo the last time he'd searched the darkness. But Eiress did it fearlessly. "There's no time now. We need to move. Away from the castle. I think Vlad is sending his forces."

Away from the castle seemed the most terrifying choice possible and going farther from the mirrors seemed counterproductive, but Landon said nothing. He was finally able to see straight, the blood clotting under Eiress's bandages. His mom was going to have a conniption if he made it back out of this hell hole.

When. When. When.

Not if.

Eiress helped him to his feet. Kaida curled around his shoulder, blowing hot smoke against the wounds. Cauterizing them, Landon realized belatedly. Eiress looped his arm around her neck, supporting his weight, and they started moving. It was slow progress, but at least it was progress.

It took all his concentration, all his will, to remain upright, so there was no time to talk. Eiress, too, seemed to be focusing entirely on the area around them, although what tiny little she could do against the nightmares in the darkness, Landon had no idea.

Very soon, though, he realized that the monsters in the night steered clear of Eiress. They, like Mary, like Vlad, even like Elizabeth, seemed to realize that Eiress was very dangerous. Landon had known there was something that protected her—not an outside force, but Eiress herself—that kept her alive. Some inner strength or—or hidden power or something.

"Do you know where you're going?" he finally panted.

She grinned sideways at him, shoving her bright red hair away from her face. "Not really."

Landon was so astounded by that smile that he forgot, momentarily, how frightened and hurt he was. He'd seen her smile a thousand times, but the mirror dimmed its brightness. Here, in this place, it was enough to chase away the very shadows. "I've…seen…lost souls talk at the balls, sometimes. About a solace in the mountains. Maybe a cave or something. I'm—" she panted, caught her breath, and continued, "—I'm searching for that."

"Can you see in this?" Landon had to ask, because he could barely see
her,
and she was mere inches away.

She nodded, dark brown eyes still scanning what Landon could only assume were mountains in the distance.

Kaida puffed, and Eiress nodded. "Yes, there. I see it, too. Can you climb, Landon? With my help?"

He wanted to ask her if
she
could climb, under his weight, but she'd just carried him through the forest on her shoulders, so there was little she seemed unable to do. Instead, he saved his strength and nodded.

The ground was rough. It seemed a place made for those with a fear of height. Suddenly he could see, but only enough to realize they were walking across very thin mountain trails, trails that fell away abruptly on both sides, into the darkness hundreds—or maybe thousands—of feet below. He swallowed hard and hoped Kaida's little wings could hold them all up.

"Don't look down." Her voice was soft, but he could hear the fear in it as well. Her hand on his tightened, and she trembled.

"Right. Don't look down. But I have to watch my feet or I'll take a wrong step and—"