Girl Enchanted (Book 2 of The Girl Trilogy) (5 page)

I loved my mom even with all her flaws
and even with her betrayals. I knew my mother was only doing what
she thought was best. She was dogmatic about her beliefs and she
truly believed that if she left me with Telly, I would be the
catalyst in bringing forth hell on Earth. With that belief, which
in all honesty, could be true, my mother displayed true
heroism.

But, I would prove my mother wrong.
Shaul and I would never take a chance in bringing a baby into the
world. We would never make love. And, with that, the world would
never change for better or worse. Planet Earth would remain the
same, a balance between good and evil.

“
Now that we’ve found each
other,” Telly said, “…we’ll have to decorate your bedroom just the
way you like it.”

“
What!” I said more as a
statement than as a question.

“
You’re only sixteen,
Cordellia. You have to live with your mother.” She stared at me
with a confused expression on her face. “You do want to live with
me—don’t you?”

I started to panic. “I’ve never
thought about it.” I looked at Shaul. He looked as surprised as me.
“I mean, I’ve lived a whole other life and to just move in here
would be so strange after everything I’ve been through.”

Her expression saddened. “Oh.” She
gazed at the baby pictures on the crystal wall. “Patravia really
did ruin my life.”

“
Look,” Shaul said to
Telly. “You said so yourself that Cordellia’s father is calling her
to Azkelon…”

“
Yes.”

“
Well, why doesn’t
Cordellia go to Azkelon to see her father and then come back to you
afterward?”

Her eyes lifted. “Oh?” she mumbled.
Her cheeks were flush.

“
The trip will give her
more time to get used to the idea of living with you. After all,
she had no idea Patravia wasn’t her real mother. She needs time to
adjust to the new information.”

She smiled lightly. “You’re right.”
She set her hand on my knee. “It would be good for you to meet your
father.”

I think she must have kissed me a
thousand times before we left. My mind was so mixed up that I
didn’t know what to feel.

“
Come on,” Shaul said as he
pulled me up into the sky. Silver faerie wings fluttered from his
back. My wings were extended too as we soared hand in hand in the
sky. Though I was awkward in my flight, I was starting to get the
hang of it.

We flew through a group of young
faeries playing a game of soccer in the sky. Sparkly seahorse
creatures with wings held up goals made of bamboo and
phosphorescent ribbons. The faerie boys and girls dribbled a ball
across the blue-grey expanse and a girl with many braids in her
hair and magenta wings that fluttered very fast scored. The ball
shot through the goal just as we passed. Cheers and laughter filled
the sky.

Suddenly, we were greeted by one of
the mechanical unicorns we saw earlier when we first entered Aurora
Springs. I was surprised to see that in addition to his prominent
horn in the center of his forehead, this unicorn had huge white
feathered wings extending from his back.

“
Well, hello there,” the
unicorn said in a dopey, masculine voice. His legs reared up with a
screech of metal against metal.

We stopped midair, surprised by its
greeting.

“
Oh, sorry about my
squeaky, squawky joints. I need a good oiling.” He laughed and
snorted air out of his wide nostrils.

“
No problem,” Shaul lifted
an eyebrow as he smiled wryly. I could tell he found the creature
absurdly humorous.

“
You can’t leave the
faeries without a fanciful thought to decorate your mind.” His
wings were so huge that every time they waved in the air, wind
rushed against our bodies and we were blown backwards.

“
All right then,” Shaul
squeezed my hand. “Shoot.” Our wings were fluttering fast to hold
our positions in the sky.

“
Well,” the lovely creature
tilted its head up and over to the side in thought.
“Hmm…”

After sometime, I crossed my arms
impatiently and Shaul chuckled lightly.

“
I, uh…” The mechanical
unicorn looked at us inquisitively. “That’s strange—I can’t think
of anything to say.”

We laughed.

“
Must be a programming
glitch.” We heard the high pitch sound of light reeling backward as
the animal reprogrammed.

To our surprise, a soft feminine voice
now came out of the unicorn. “Dreamy, the mechanical unicorn, is
sleeping.” The creature coughed as it rolled onto its back. Its
wings continued to wave upside down as if on automatic
pilot.

“
Be cautioned,” the womanly
voice said. “Intruders have breached the border of Aurora Springs.
Strict caution is advised.”

Shaul and I looked at each other with
glints of confusion in our eyes. The unicorn looked ridiculous
suspended midair with its hooves sticking strait above its belly as
it snored.

“
Caution, caution,
caution…” The voice proceeded. An alarm began to sound out of the
unicorn.

My heart began to race fast. I looked
down below to see if I could see anyone on the land surface, but we
were way too high up and could only see the shapes of land
formations.

“
Could it be Aver looking
for us in Aurora Springs?” I said. “Or maybe it’s the community
members.”

“
Come on,” Shaul said, his
voice edged with adrenaline. He pulled me ahead very fast through
the sky.

If the intruders were Aver and his
army, Aver would attack me again and probably hold me hostage so
that if he impregnated me he could take the baby to use to gain
entrance into the Garden of Eden. If the intruders were the
community members, they would either kill us or put us back in a
horrible dungeon where we’d be tortured. Either way, we were in
great danger. That is, if the intruders were after us. We still did
not know. These invaders could be after the faeries
instead.

Thinking of all the possibilities, I
became frightened as we hurried through the sky. But, then
suddenly, we heard a loud sound and my thoughts shifted. We turned
back to look.

In a rush, a giant-sized butterfly net
scooped through the air. The net moved fast, sweeping the sky. Its
pole lengthened and contorted digitally. I noticed the rim of the
circumference that supported the net was lined with detection
eyeballs set in metal lids.

I knew that before the Economy Crash,
the United States military used synthetic eyeballs on their jet
cruisers to scope landscapes and airways for relaying visual
information back to the bureau. I imagined these devices were of a
similar sort. That made me wonder again who was controlling this
gigantic net and who or what were they trying to catch? And for
what purpose?

Moving quite fast, the metal
circumference supporting the net clanked against the head of the
unicorn causing him to spiral through the air.

I gasped. The way it hit the animal’s
head, it seemed like a careless mistake.

But, all at once, a blast of fire shot
up from below, hitting the unicorn. The poor thing exploded in a
visually graphic violence. The fire was so hot that he
disintegrated quickly. It was a shocking sight to see such intense
destruction. But, even worse was the recognition that at any moment
we could be the next victims.

“
Let’s go,” Shaul said as
he pulled me swiftly through the clouds.

I heard the swish of the net behind us
as it swept the sky.

I couldn’t see anything but a fog of
white. Then, suddenly before us, the net contorted, recoiled and
then scooped again just missing us. We made a sharp turn to the
left. From the sound of it, the net made its next sweep to the
right. Apparently, it couldn’t see Shaul and me through the white
mist.

“
Can’t you do a spell to
stop it,” I yelled out to Shaul.

We were moving fast. “I tried…” he
responded, his breath caught in his throat,” “…but it has light
energy coursing through it. The devil’s powers are defenseless
against light energy which is part of the Omnipotent
Force.”

“
Omnipotent Force?” I was
confused.

“
It’s the power from the
side of Good.”

“
Good?”

“
As opposed to
Evil.”

My adrenaline raced when I heard the
sounds of the metal pole’s extension right above us. “Move right,”
I screamed to Shaul.

But, there was no time. The net lifted
straight overhead. For a split second, I could see it over us so
close that the clouds didn’t obstruct my view. It came down fast
just missing our feet.

Shaul pulled me into his arms and took
an unexpected, angular dive downwards. He stopped midair inside a
new cluster of clouds out of the path of the net.

“
With that visual take,” he
said, “whoever is controlling the net has detected us.”

Was he giving up? “Can’t you create a
barrier around us for protection?”

He took my face into his hands
tenderly. “Light is all powerful. It can penetrate any of my
machinations.”

“
Can’t you make us
disappear or vanish to another location?” My voice was
desperate.

“
Serpents don’t have that
ability.” I noticed a glint of ferociousness in his eyes. “We are
not omnipotent.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen anyone harness
light against the serpents.”

My body trembled. “Are they going to
catch us?” I didn’t want to die.

His expression was serious, loving.
“Stay strong, Cordellia.”

My body tensed.

He ran his fingers over my lips. His
voice was inaudible as he whispered something.

It must have been some sort of
soothing spell. I immediately relaxed.

There were sparkles in his silver eyes
that reminded me of the stars. He pulled me closer to him. I could
feel the sensual rise and fall of his chest. And I surrendered to
him. He kissed me like we were one. His lips were so soft. His
breath was warm. He kissed me like the world was ending.

I never wanted the kisses to end. But,
then, suddenly, all at once, he stopped.

“
Cordellia, you must fly
away.” His voice was edged with determination. “I’ll distract them.
They can’t catch both of us if we are separated.

“
I’ll never leave you,” I
said. “I’d rather die in your arms than live without
you.”

“
Go,” He said forcefully as
he pushed me away. But, then the net came down upon us and we were
thrown back together into the netting.

5

We fell violently to the bottom of the
gigantic butterfly net. I tumbled on top of Shaul. He let out a
scream and I was thrown by the quick, jerking movements of the trap
to the side.

The apparatus stilled for a moment.
With my face pressed against it, I realized the netting we were
trapped in was made of thin metal spokes. We struggled to gain
secure positions. Once we were flat on our backs and could breathe
for a second, tiny little strings of metal wrapped around our
torsos, cocooning us beside each other in separate encasements like
mummies. It was a horror.

“
At least our heads are
free,” Shaul looked at me as he spoke. His smile was wry. Blood
trickled from his face. Apparently, he was initially thrown face
down into the net and cut himself on the sharp edges.

I struggled to free myself, but as I
threw my body around in the encasing, my thighs and armpits
thrashed against the metal cocoon and caused me terrible pains.
There was nothing I could do. Whoever was controlling this
mechanical butterfly net had trapped us completely.

“
Whatever happens to us…”
Shaul said, his voice scratchy in his throat, “…I am with you in
the music of your mind.”

I looked at him. His face blurred in
my eyes. The sky above us spun as the net moved in a twirling
motion downwards.

Suddenly, I felt tiny, thin metal
spokes piercing my skin beneath the encasing. I screamed. I
couldn’t help it. It was a cold sharp pain like needles were being
inserted into my body all over and all at once.

Shaul’s voice was tight, strained as
he struggled to free himself. “If we are separated, we can
communicate through the music.” Even though he was right beside me,
his voice trailed off, the sounds turned muffled and distant. I
thought he was chanting in Latin, but I wasn’t sure.

I felt a tingling sensation throughout
my body. “I don’t know how to do that.” I took a jagged breath as
my torso shuddered. “I don’t know how to communicate through the
music.” My voice was a scratchy whisper. Tears welled in my eyes,
but when I wiped my lids with my hand, I saw that the tears were
not water, but blood.

At once, I tried to lift my hand again
to wipe away the blood, but now my arm felt heavy and I couldn’t
raise it. Thoughts of terror rose in my mind. What was happening to
us? Struggling, I tried to move my body parts, but nothing would
move. My body was paralyzed. The needle like spokes must have
injected something into my system that caused paralysis.