Girl Enchanted (Book 2 of The Girl Trilogy) (8 page)

“
You’re better now.” He
smiled lightly as he spoke, running his hand through his dark
hair.

I touched my eye. It felt completely
healed. “Where’s Shaul?” I managed to ask, the words getting caught
in my throat.

He laughed. “That dear boy?” Dimples
formed on his cheeks. To my surprise, in that way he was almost
adorable. I supposed he took pleasure in transforming his serpent
self into the ideal teen heartthrob and my heart was throbbing even
though I didn’t want it to.

“
Yes, that boy,” I said
harshly. My voice was laced with irritation.

He looked almost hurt from my tone.
That surprised me. “I’m not sure where he is.” His expression
turned distant. I imagined he was thinking about his brother. “I’m
concerned about him.”

I was surprised he cared about anyone
at all—he was such a horror. He didn’t have feelings. It all must
have been a ploy to seduce me. But, then, why would he bother with
a seduction when he could easily take me by force?

Some of the community members were
trying to lift the others over the barrier now, but it seemed
endless in height. The lights of their torches flickered in the
night illuminating their surroundings. Others were running their
hands along its smooth surface presumably to see if they could find
a break in the length. But, the shield appeared to continue on
forever.

I was worried that the construction
might collapse and then they could overtake me. As I surveyed the
terrain of fallen trees and dead men on the ground, I began to
wonder who I was more afraid of—Aver or the community members. But,
as my thoughts went in that direction, suddenly the shield
disappeared completely. The men who were touching the shield fell
right through and onto the ground. The others looked stunned for a
moment before President Tratzel yelled out the order, “Get
her!”

My body tensed so tight that I was
surprised it didn’t go into spasms just from fear alone.

“
Oops, the spell broke,”
Aver said humorously as he put his hand on my shoulder
lackadaisically. His gestures were so absurd, but there was no time
to analyze his ways. Everything was happening too fast.

But, then his demeanor changed. He
said, “Here’s our exit cue.” In a quick transition, Aver scooped me
up at once into his arms and took off running through the dark
woods. He was so much faster than the others. I was so stunned that
I didn’t know what to do. It was just unfathomable how ill fated my
predicament had become.

The community followed behind us,
climbing over fallen trees and wreckage and weaving around debris
as Aver leaped through the air gracefully, running full speed. Some
of the faster men shot at us. I heard the loud sounds of mercury
streaming past my head.

Aver was physically masterful. From
his quick dodging of bullets, it seemed almost as if he had eyes in
the back of his head. He didn’t, but he was certainly superhuman.
It was like he detected the streams of mercury before they even
reached us.

I wasn’t certain, but it sounded like
Aver chanted a spell in Latin. At once, the liquid bullets reversed
direction midair, moving back and away from us.

Suddenly, I heard screams of terror
from behind. Aver stopped and turned to look. From his arms, I
strained my eyes to get a sharp focus through the natural setting.
To my astonishment, I saw the streams of mercury had flowed
together into a river of silver liquid that gushed out and down to
the ground away from us. The moon and stars overhead lit it in a
bright shimmer.

The toxic river expanded and rushed
over the men filling their mucous membranes and then solidifying
within their bodies. It looked like the poison filled up their
innards and poured out of their noses, eyes, and ears only to
become hard and shiny like polished metal.

The men who were in the back of the
crowd, including Mazen Tratzel, escaped to the sides of the onrush.
Many of the unlucky victims appeared frozen in place. I wanted to
scream, but I controlled myself. The sight was horrific.

The men’s bodies looked deformed with
the solidified metal pushing various parts of the skin outwards in
massive lumps and protrusions. Their mouths were stretched so wide
that they broke open.

Though utterly appalled, I was
impressed in a sense with Aver’s genius. The idea of combining the
mercury streams of the men’s own ammunition to bring them to their
deaths was brilliant. Though, as much as they deserved it, and
would have done the same thing to me given the opportunity, I
wished he had used a more humane method to stop them.

Hardly above a whisper, Aver mumbled a
spell. Now the river ceased flow and dissolved into the earth
abruptly. The men’s bodies hollowed at once and collapsed to the
ground. Aver turned and ran, now at an increased pace with me in
his arms while President Tratzel fell back between some trees with
the survivors of his army.

After some time, to my astonishment,
Aver stopped abruptly. We were a considerable distance from the
others. I couldn’t even see them now.

Aver was breathing hard. He released
me from his arms. I stumbled backwards just a little as I caught my
balance. His perfect, strong, lean body was crouched over with his
hands on his thighs now. It looked like he was trying to catch his
breath which surprised me. I thought serpent people were nearly
infallible.

“
Can you hear that?” He
managed to say as he looked up at me from his hunkered position.
His chest rose and fell rapidly. The early morning light broke
through the trees giving a gentle glow to his well formed
body.

“
What?” I said. My tone was
almost irritated.

“
The music.” A little smile
crept on his face.

I didn’t want to admit it, but the
song playing in my mind was beautiful. It reminded me of a deeply
romantic theme song from a dome cinema show I had seen once. The
sounds made me feel like anything was possible. It made me yearn
for the lake and to my great dismay, it made me yearn for
Aver.

He put his head back down for a moment
like he was trying to gain internal strength and then he attempted
to stand up right.

I gasped when I saw that he had been
shot to the side of his torso near his stomach. Blood was pouring
out. The music became wild in my mind. In panic, I heard the brush
of leaves and branches breaking in the distance. Mazen and some of
his men must have reunited because I could hear the angry, familiar
sounds moving toward us.

Aver heard them too. I wanted to run,
but he grabbed me at once into his arms, pulling me up against his
body, and kissed me like I had never been kissed. The music was so
blissful it was like the world spun around in a whole new color.
Hundreds of butterflies rushed out of my stomach. This release was
even more intense than the last.

I was ashamed for liking the kiss,
ashamed that I didn’t fight to get away. I rationalized that my
attraction for this abomination must be genetic programming. It
seemed as if I was powerless under his spell. Not only Shaul, he
also was my soul mate. As much as I didn’t want him to be, it was a
fact.

We both looked up in the sky at the
butterflies. So many vibrant colors. I think he was surprised too,
but Mazen and his men would overtake us soon if we didn’t run. I
thought about how much I hated President Tratzel for the horrible
dystopian society he had created and for imprisoning me.

Why wasn’t Aver taking me and running
away? Why were we just standing there?

Then I saw that his gaze upwards
became intense. Red light surrounded his face now. Looking away
from the butterflies, he grabbed a stick and drew into the earth a
triangle around us. He pulled out what I thought was a belt from
his waist.

I was wrong though. What I thought was
a belt was actually a live snake! It hissed. I tried to step away,
but he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer to him. Then he
split the snakes head open with his bare hands and pulled out its
brain. My body tensed from fright as I heard him whisper
enchantments. And to my great horror, the butterflies above us
suddenly grew rows of sharp teeth like piranhas.

My eyes widened. What had he
done?

Mazen’s army was in sight now. They
made their way with their torches directly toward us.

But, the insects flew in a swarm now
toward the president and his army. As much as I wanted Aver to stop
the men who were in my pursuit, I didn’t want them to suffer
unnecessarily anymore or even worse, die as the others had. They
had families and people who cared about them, needed
them.

“
Stop!” I screamed at Aver.
“Please.” My face grew hot from emotions. I should have stopped him
before when he sent the river of mercury over them. But, lately, I
felt as if my morals had been wrenched away from me. There was a
streak of the sociopathic in me that was inexplicable.

Aver’s languid demeanor was a striking
contrast to my crazed self—he was playful now. “You’re cute when
you’re angry,” he chuckled.

I was in such shock when I saw the
dread in the men’s eyes as the butterflies moved in that I could
hardly acknowledge Aver’s condescension. The sounds of snapping
teeth and screams of terror filled my ears. They attacked at once
like a school of deadly piranhas.

The men cried out, vomiting and peeing
themselves, as the bugs ate away their flesh. The empathetic part
of me couldn’t stand to see such suffering. I threw myself on Aver.
“Stop, stop!” My voice was hoarse and desperate. “There must be
another way.”

But, before the chaos ceased, Aver
pulled me up into his arms once again and he ran through the woods,
past the boundary line right for the cliff.

I was scratching and clawing at him,
trying to get away, but he didn’t even flinch. “Let me go, let me
go!” I was crying and yelling. In truth, even in my fierceness, I
should have struggled harder, but a part of me didn’t want to get
away. My mind was so mixed up. How could I be drawn to someone so
cruel and heartless?

Then there was this significant moment
that was so odd. He gazed at me lovingly while still running at
full speed and then he touched the tip of my nose with his finger
endearingly. The trees rushed past my line of vision. I felt a
spark of love for him that terrified me.

I thought his behavior was absurd. But
really I was the insane one because, to my utter dismay, even his
madness excited me. I reasoned it was biological, beyond my control
because the feelings were truly horrendous and
unreasonable.

The sparks of light in his piercing
blue eyes mesmerized me. His omnipotence turned me on. It was as if
I was completely out of control. Beyond all logic, I didn’t care
that he was an evil monster.

Huge wings of fire spread from his
back. The heat of the flames was intense. I was afraid I was going
to be burned alive. I didn’t care—I was possessed by the evil
energy of my despicable desires. I couldn’t believe how much I had
changed from the young, innocent humpback into a sexually charged
abomination.

But, just as he took flight off the
edge of the mountain, Shaul leaped into the air and knocked him
with me in his arms to the ground.

8

I fell from Aver’s arms onto the hard
ground and rolled. Small, sharp rocks cut into my thighs and hands.
Fire spread from Aver’s wings to the twigs and shrubbery near the
edge of the cliff. With that, the surroundings went up in flames
with Aver and I in the center of it.

Aver called out in Latin. His wings
fell from his body. He stumbled forward a little. His stomach was
still bleeding. I was surprised how pale and blood drawn his face
looked as he collapsed. His chin hit a boulder where he rolled to
the side. He was unconscious.

The nearby trees ignited like torches.
I moved closer to Aver. The heat was shocking. It was like we were
in an oven.

“
Help,” I cried as I tried
to stand up. My voice lifted to a scream. “Shaul, where are you?” I
couldn’t see him anywhere. The hump on my back hurt something
awful. I must have fallen on it.

Smoke was everywhere and the flames
rose up around us like hell on Earth. I heard a loud roar. It was
like the sound of a gigantic lion. Then I heard a Latin chant like
a song in my mind. The flames disappeared. The ground and bushes
were black and charred, but the heat had subsided.

I saw Shaul beyond the destruction. He
ran toward me. His body was swift in the morning light. My heart
raced. I loved him. He was me. I was him. It was a real love, the
type of connection that was based in mutual caring. I hoped it was
a dependable love. My body ached to be held and nurtured. I wanted
to connect to his goodness. I wanted to be safe.

Most of all I wanted to get away from
Aver because his evil consumed me. It overwhelmed my logic. My
connection to Aver was like pure passion beyond all reason. I
didn’t want that. The world could not exist with only base
desire.

I ran toward Shaul. He ran toward me.
His silver eyes looked at me tenderly. I remembered our first kiss
in the dungeon. My body yearned for that sweet tenderness. My arms
opened to hold him.