Michael Belmont and the Heir of Van Helsing (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (28 page)

Michael kicked his hand away from her.

“M-my father will never betray Olaf to you.
 
He’ll find a way to help us without giving in to
you
.
 
He’ll be coming for us soon.”

“Really?” Mihnea asked mockingly.
 
He stood and walked to the window.
 
“Not unless he learns how to fly.
 
Come take a look.”

Michael pulled himself up and staggered to the window.
 
What he saw was shocking.
 
The sun had not yet come up, and many twinkling stars could be seen hanging in the distance, but it was getting lighter.
 
Dark clouds swirled around in a frenzy far below, and violent flashes of lighting jumped between them.
 
Michael could only guess how high they were, but it looked like the surface of the Earth was thousands of feet beneath them.

“I’ll have some food brought to you shortly,” Mihnea told him.
 
“After all, I want your stay to be as comfortable as possible.”

“That’s awfully nice of you,” Michael said, wishing he could strangle the man.

“You’d better see to your friends, they look a little cold,” Mihnea told him.
 
“I’ll be in touch.
 
Until then, enjoy your stay!”
 
He jumped from the ledge of the window and flew around the tower out of sight.

Michael hurried back to the girls and pulled them toward the fire.
 
They were soaking wet, and for the first time he realized that he was too.
 
Perhaps it was because much of the water had turned to ice, and his entire body felt frozen and stiff anyway.
 
Magda looked up and him and tried to smile, but she was shivering so much that her teeth chattered.
 

He added more fuel to the fire, and before long the hearth blazed and billowed heat out into the room.

After Abigail stopped shaking, she went to the window and gazed out.
 
“Where the heck are we anyway?
 
This place is like Rapunzel’s nightmare.”

“This must be Dracula’s Castle,” Magda frowned.
 
“We’re trapped.
 
Mihnea wouldn’t have put us up here if there was any way out.”

“There’s always a way out,” Michael told her assuringly.
 
“He just doesn’t think we’re smart enough to find it.
 
Either that or he may not know about it himself.”

“Do you think Mom might have followed us here?” Abigail blurted out.

Magda raised her eyebrows.
 
“What’s that supposed to mean?
 
How could she have done that?”

Michael glanced at his sister reproachfully, then took hold of her and began to stroke her hair playfully.
 
“I think she may still be a little delirious,” he told Magda.
 
“Try and be more careful,” he whispered to Abigail.

“
Sorry
,” she whined back.
 
“I think you’re right though, that flight did make me a bit delirious.”

“Alright,” Michael said, clenching his hand into a fist.
 
“We can’t assume that anyone knows where we are or is planning on coming after us.
 
We’ve got to find our own way out of here.”

“Look, they left all our stuff,” Magda said, going through their things.
 
“They even left our weapons.
 
Why would they do that?”

“I think Mihnea enjoys playing with peoples minds,” Abigail said.

Michael nodded.
 
“He’s trying to tell us how weak we are.
 
He’s daring us to try and use our weapons against him; it’s like a game to him.”

Magda walked back from the window and sat down near the fire.
 
“That makes sense.
 
He was doing the same thing by daring you to shoot at him earlier, in front of that crowd.
 
He likes to lord his power over people, make them look foolish.”

“That’s right,” Michael agreed, “but little does he know I’m going to shove one of these arrows right up his —“

“WATCH IT,” Abigail warned him.

“…Nose,” Michael finished.
 
“But thanks for the warning, Mom.”

“Well
someone
has to teach you manners when she’s not around,” Abigail spat.
 
“You sure don’t seem to have any sometimes.”

Magda sighed.
 
“Do you two constantly bicker like this?”

“Only when we’re together,” Michael told her, rummaging through his pockets.
 
He pulled his faery lantern out and held it before them.

“What’s that?” Magda asked him.
 
“An electric torch?”

“You could say that,” he told her.
 
“It’s a light.
 
It has a way or revealing things you can’t see with the naked eye.”
 
He walked around the circular tower chamber, looking carefully at the stones in the wall and floor.
 
“Come on you two and give me a hand.
 
Six eyes are better than two.”

They followed along beside him.
 
“What exactly are we searching for?” Magda asked.

“Anything out of the ordinary, especially anything that lights up or glows brightly.”

The chamber wasn’t very large, and contained several basic pieces of furniture.
 
There were two armchairs, one still standing and the other scattered across the floor where Michael had landed.
 
There was a decrepit old wardrobe, a large freestanding mirror, and a canopy bed.
 
They looked under the bed, inside the wardrobe, and behind every nook and cranny they could find, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
 
There didn’t seem to be any switches, passages, or doorways.
 
The search didn’t take very long, and they couldn’t find anything that stood out.
 
Maybe they really were stuck after all.

Then Michael noticed that when he approached the window it took on a strange glow.
 
“Are you really telling me that the window is the only way out?” he said to the lantern.

“Don’t tell me that thing talks, too,” Magda asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Don’t worry,” Abigail told her.
 
“He doesn’t have many friends, so he’s learned to talk to inanimate objects.”

Michael leaned out the window and looked around.
 
The stone wall looked rough enough to scale, but he couldn’t imagine how even the greatest climber in the world could get all the way down without falling, and he was no climber.
 
He gazed out into the distance, hoping to see his mother flying toward them, but he could see nothing.
 
He glanced up and far to the left and nearly jumped out of his skin at what he saw above them.
 

Off in the distance beyond the top of their tower he could make out the form of another, even taller tower.
 
A large chain hung between them like a humungous, rusty clothesline.
 
There was another window in the tower just above the chain.

“Well,” Michael said, turning toward the girls.
 
“I think I found a way out of here, but I
don’t
think you’re going to like it.”

“I REALLY, REALLY HATE YOU SOMETIMES YOU KNOW THAT YOU BIG PSYCHOPATH!” screamed Abigail as she swung through the air.

“Grab onto my hand, and stop screaming.
 
It’s not helping anything.”
 
Michael reached out and grabbed his little sister, drawing her back by the jacket.”

“I don’t know WHY I ever LISTEN TO YOU!”

“It’s the only way out of here.
 
Now try again and stop freaking out.
 
That’s
why you keep falling.”

It hadn’t been easy to get the rope around the tip of the tower.
 
First they pulled out as many threads as they could from the blankets on the bed, tied them together, and then tied the strings to the rope Michael had in his backpack. Michael then tied the other end of the string to an arrow and had to wait until the wind was just right so he could shoot it up over the tip of the tower, and then retrieve the arrow as it came swinging back around on the other side.
 
This had taken many frustrating attempts, but eventually they succeeded.
 
And now the rope was tied around Abigail’s waist.

She began the climb again as Michael pulled the rope taut.
 
“Just go slowly and don’t look down.
 
There’s plenty of rock to hold on to.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” she said softly, trying to calm herself down, “you’re not the one out here.
 
My hands are cold and covered in sweat!”

She climbed slowly and much to everyone’s relief, made it up to the top and carefully pulled herself onto the stone tiles of the roof.
 
The wind blew her hair out horizontally from her body as she carefully untied herself and lowered the rope back down.

“Got it,” Michael called up to her as he reached out and took the rope.
 
“Okay, it’s your turn,” he said to Magda.
 
“It’s going to be dark again soon so we need to hurry.”

“You’re not tying that thing around me.
 
I’d feel like a worm on a hook.”
 
She pulled out her daggers and climbed out onto the wall, thrusting them into the crevices and using them as grips to pull herself up.
 
Michael watched her admiringly as she went.
 
He was amazed at the way she flew up the wall without fear; she’d obviously done this sort of thing before.

Now it was his turn.
 
He tied the rope around his chest and climbed carefully out onto the ledge, and then he reached over and took hold of a jagged looking rock.
 
This can’t be that hard
, he thought to himself.
 
Abby did it, and she’s a lot more afraid of heights than I am
.
 
He cautiously pulled himself out and began to move up the wall.
 
His hands began to sweat, and he suddenly felt guilty for pushing Abigail along so hard.
 
It
was
more difficult than it looked, especially with sweaty hands.

One hand over the other, jagged rock to hidden crevice, he pulled himself up until he reached the top.
 
Almost there
, he thought to himself as he reached up and caught hold of one of the stone roof tiles.
 
He strained to pull himself over the edge, and the heavy tile came loose, sliding off and catching him in the chest.
 
He gasped in surprise, as his remaining hand was knocked free.
 
He saw the shock on Magda’s face as she reached out to grab his arm.
 
She caught the tips of his sweaty fingers, which slid through her hands as he fell away.
 
He heard her scream; Abigail screamed as well, and time seemed to slow down as he watched their faces disappear over the edge of the tower.
 
Moments later a jolt of pain shot through his body as the rope broke his fall.
 
He heard a snap, and was terrified for a moment as he thought he’d broken his back, but soon realized the sound had come from the rope, and he was falling once again, watching the tower window fade into the distance above.

Well, this was it then, he was going to die, Michael realized.
 
His thoughts turned to Abigail and Magda, what were they going to do now?
 
He’d gotten them up to the top of a tower thousands of feet high and then left them there to meet whatever horrible fate awaited them.
 
Abigail must be terrified.
 
She hated heights, and losing him would make it even harder to go on herself.
 
He only hoped that Magda would take care of her, she was a lot tougher than she realized, and if they were smart they could both make it out alive.

Michael turned his body to watch the face of the earth as he fell.
 
If he was going to die, he might as well confront it bravely.
 
He might as well meet his maker head-on.
 
Was he ready to meet God?
 
Liam had always been more religious than him.
 
He wished now that he’d given more thought to it when he’d had the chance.
 
Now, whatever would be would be.

He thought of his parents, and how they’d miss him.
 
He felt guilty and sorry for that.
 
At least they’d still have Abby, if she were able to make it through.
 
He felt the worst for his mother.
 
She’d already gone through so much pain in her life, and now she’d have to deal with this as well.
 
Would his father hate him for causing her more pain?

Michael passed through the dark swirling clouds, he breathed the damp air into his lungs with his mind set on enjoying the smell of rain one the last time, and his thoughts turned to Magda, and how they’d kissed amidst a downpour of rain.
 
He’d wondered if it had been a good sign or a bad one.
 
Now he had the answer.
 
Perhaps they would have been good together; perhaps he would have even married her one day.
 
Now someone else would have her.
 
He felt jealous.

Soaring through the air, he remembered how happy he’d been when he and the others jumped from the airplane less than a week before.
 
He’d enjoyed free falling through the sky then, but having a parachute strapped to your back made a huge difference.
 
How he envied his mother, who could soar through the sky on her own wings.
 
What that must feel like!
 
How wonderful it would be.