Precious Anathema (22 page)

“
What have you all done?
What if we can’t get out?” I could hear the panic in my voice as I
pulled away from there embrace. Freya kissed my forehead and
whispered.

“
Ella, listen to me. We
know what we are doing, we found a way in through Xander and if we
don’t get out at least we are all together.” Xander, I had almost
forgot that he was here, and why he was here. I stood up glaring at
Selene and without a word I walked away toward him with my head
high. He began to open his mouth and I hushed him with a
scowl.

“
You will not say a word to
me do you understand? I know why you are here so you have no right
to ask for my forgiveness because I won’t give it, are we clear?”
His eyes filled with tears and before I would let him see my
reaction I turned to call everyone over. Lukin gave me a sad glance
but never spoke as Kali and Carna started introducing him to
everyone. Freya stepped in and looked to the woods we were about to
enter.

“
The Curse is pissed now,
Emma never planned for something like this to ever happen and now
that we are all here she will stop at nothing to kill us off one by
one.” I couldn’t help myself, and gave her a wink.

“
What’s the bad news?” She
glared at me, but if being in here had taught me anything it was
not to let any of it get to me. That’s how it wins. I heard Selene
chuckle from behind her at my smart-ass comment and felt my ears
burn, and knew they had turned red from my anger toward her. I
couldn’t let the curse use it though, for now I had to let it go.
Neither of them was worth dying for apparently and I wasn’t going
to risk it. Freya walked to me and looked me in the eye with a
smile.

“
I know, Ella. I know, but
in time you can deal with this.” She raised her voice so everyone
could hear her. “We will all deal with this once we are safe and
the hell out of here.” She took me by the hand and we sat in the
field, everyone else followed, with Lukin on one side and Eris on
the other to keep me from the vultures. Carna spoke up, realizing
where we were no one wanted to hang around long enough to see who
else would come over that hill.

“
We have to make it to the
woods, we are all here now and even though our powers are useless,
our potions are not. We made up some powerful ones to keep us safe
in the woods, beyond that I don’t know what is coming but we will
be ready.” Pulling jars out of her pocket, Kali and Freya quickly
followed suit to make sure they all made the journey safely. An ear
piercing scream echoed through the sky and everyone jumped to their
feet, staying close in the circle looking in every direction. Blue
skies, no clouds, no Cora could be seen.

“
What the hell was that?”
Eris yelled as she grabbed my hand. The Scream came again and it
shook the very ground we stood on. She was close by, she was trying
to warn us of something and since I had also learned to trust
things that seemed a bit shady I began moving to the wood. No one
followed me at first; turning to them I decided it was time for me
to take my place in this family.

“
She
is warning us because the
tortured
are getting close, she
is
not
trying to
kill us, she is trying to
save
us now move your
asses
!” One by one they followed
suit, and it wasn’t until all of them were behind me that the
screaming stopped from the sky above us. Kali moved ahead of
everyone else and walked beside me.

“
Ella, I know who gave you
the information. I spoke with her as well so I know what we are
walking into here; don’t you think we should really warn the others
of everything we know?” I slowed, but didn’t stop. I only knew that
we were about to experience a mental trial like no other we had
ever been through before, and I had no idea how long we would be
trapped inside, but Kali was right so as we approached the glorious
path inside I stopped and turned to everyone.

“
For this part we won’t
need our physical weapons in the fight. This leg is all about our
minds and trying to break us, no physical threat will be as scary
as the mental one and we all have to work together to get out. I
have a chance to break this part of the curse and get us the hell
out of this hell for good but I won’t be able to do that if we
don’t work together.” Kali looked at me with surprise on her
face.

“
Ella, didn’t she tell you
about the safe zones?” I couldn’t remember safe zones, but it was
all a bit blurry. I shook my head and Kali told us all what Tempest
had told her.

“
The safe zones are the
redwoods, all we have to do is touch them and we will gain mental
control again. As long as one of us is still stable they can get
the rest to the redwoods.” I looked Kali and smiled as I realized
that Tempest knew all along they would come to my aid and she had
faith in us. I started a silent prayer that Tempest and the others
could be released with us; I could use more of this kind of honesty
in my life, as my eyes flashed to Xander and Selene. I looked to
Lukin and held out my hand.

“
Are you sure you want to
keep going? You can always go back now; none of us know what lies
beyond this hell for you.” He knew what I was trying to say, I
feared that he would die once he was out and I couldn’t stand that
thought, but it was his choice to make.

“
I am not leaving your side
Delilah.” With a squeeze of his hand I smiled and turned around to
examine my surroundings a bit more. Now that we were so close up I
could look through the arch and see that the wood looked different
than it had from the field. An archway of linked branches made an
elegant but natural door between the safety of the field into the
darkness of the forest. The greens looked more like a black film
covering everything, even the moss had a dark and murky layer
hiding its clover coloring. I closed my eyes as I took a step
forward, I heard a scream from the sky above and turned to see that
the tortured were getting closer, I didn’t want anyone to worry so
I quickly excused it and walked inside with my head held high and
heart hiding in my shoes. I started to think I was not this person;
I was not made to be the chosen one. I was scared and no chosen one
should be. I felt a hand smack the back of my head and turned to
see Freya glaring at me and then she smiled.

“
That is one reason
why
you
are
the chosen one, now
come on.” Keeping pace the once bright blue sky had turned to a
deep grey blanket over us, it allowed no light to sneak through and
it was already messing with my head. The trees seemed to scowl at
us; every broken branch looked like a snake on the attack. The
falling leaves from the dead limbs moved down our backs as a spider
would, and the air smelled of decay. I noticed a root that had been
pulled up by something, it was huge and from where I stood it
looked like it had eyes that stared into my soul. I turned to run,
half expecting to land on Kali, only as I turned my panic grew, and
they were all gone.

TWENTY ONE

. I closed my eyes and
counted to five as I heard a deep sound behind me, I squeezed
Lukin’s hand, not just for comfort but as a guarantee he was still
at my side. Opening my eyes slowly I turned and watched as the tree
lifted itself from the ground. It had the body of a large redwood
tree, it’s legs were branches and a head made from the roots, as it
stood before us, not allowing room to pass I watched as it spread
its glorious wings of spider webs and dew. It let out a series of
low melodic cries and then opened its eyes to see us. I began to
chant in my head
, this is not real, this
is not really happening
, as it lowered its
head to get a better look at me.

“
Large, funny looking fairy
you had better hope I am real.” I jumped back, clinging to Lukin
and screamed, followed by complete silence as I let go and stepped
forward. This was either going to kill me or help me and I had no
other choice but accept it. Standing face to face with what I could
only imagine to be a dragon from a tale my mother told me as a
child my whole body shook out of fear, my heart raced but I didn’t
run away. “I say again, whatever you are. Do you believe in me or
not?” His voice was deep and wise; he spoke very slowly and clearly
as he looked into my soul. The deeper we got into this hell the
more amazing and beautiful it seemed to become. I took a shallow
breath and spoke through trembling lips.

“
I do, I believe in you.”
The dragon seemed to smile as he rested himself on the ground with
his head raised like a proud dog.

“
That’s better Delilah; now
that we are clear I have to thank you for coming and releasing me.
I have spent ten lifetimes waiting for you.” I perched on a stump a
bit closer to him while Lukin was not as sure and backed up a
little.

“
Thank me, how did I
release you?” He turned his neck to the left and then the right
letting out a deep sigh himself.

“
You have no idea do you; I
believe you have met Tempest already. Like her I have been trapped
here and your light has awakened more than you realize, not all of
it good either.” As he spoke his eyes scanned the area with fear
behind them. What could a dragon be afraid of?

“
Where did my family go?” I
found myself still looking for them, even Selene and Xander as much
as I hated to admit it.

“
Only those in the Curse
can move on outside the Fields, Chosen One. You and Lukin must do
the rest on your own. I hope you asked the right questions while
they were here.” Questions, I didn’t really have time to ask them
anything. I thought they were here until we got out, I thought I
had plenty of time to ask, and like my mother they were gone and I
was left to wonder what I should have asked, or done with the time
I had

“
Will you tell me, what is
your name?” He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

“
I have longed to hear
someone ask that, my name is Ailen and it was my name that trapped
me here as you see me.” I thought of what his name could mean, and
then I thought that by now I would have started forgetting what I
was supposed to be doing, but nothing beyond our numbers seemed any
different.’

“
Ailen, can you explain to
me what the Forgotten Forest really is?” Resting his head on the
ground he sighed.

“
I am very tired but I will
tell you. The forgotten forest was part of a spell once, one that I
had no part of. The spell was mixed with other spells and it
created the world you see in front of you and what you have walked
to get here as well. Since you have been here I have heard the
world around me waking up, the good and the bad.” Saying the words
again made him look around, with what looked like fear behind his
eyes.

“
Ailen, can you come with
us through the Forest?” The large rooted animal lifted a wing and I
saw that he was part of the ground beneath us as he shook his
mighty head. I felt scared, more scared than I had been on this
wild goose chase, I still didn’t have any clue how to get out or
what was in store for us on the other side of this wood, I put my
arms around Lukin who stayed perfectly and horrifically frightened
as I sobbed.

I had been asleep, that must be it.
Fairies and dragons do not live in the real world; they live in
books and tales my grandmother would tell. I Had been dreaming all
of this and soon would wake up in my mother’s arms telling her
about the nightmare I had just lived in my dreams, but as I looked
around with everything moving in slow motion before me I knew I
couldn’t be in a dream. My body ached from constant running, my
arms and legs were still burning from cuts I received when the
un-garden tried to kill me, and Xander had shown up in the field to
confess his sexual betrayal with Selene. This was no dream; even my
nightmares couldn’t make up something so dark and scary. I found
myself looking at everything as if I weren’t here at all, a movie
playing in my head but this movie I couldn’t turn off. I thought
losing my mother would be the rock bottom of reality, but sitting
here now I saw that it was just the beginning of the rock and the
worst was yet to come. My mother, her death is what started all of
this. I turned to Ailen and felt my face turn red with anger and
rage, my hands began to sweat as I walked closer to him and my
heart raced as thoughts began a battle through my mind.

“
Ailen, tell me the truth
right now! No games do you understand?” He raised his massive head
and neck above me, but I didn’t move from my spot. “All of this
started because my mother died, how did Emma know that my mother
would die and I would come here?” Some questions you shouldn’t ask,
and not because they are dumb, or wrong, but simply because you
never really wanted to know the answer in the first
place.

“
Delilah, this place, this
curse is greater than you or I, it’s bigger than Emma and it has a
plan that continues now as we speak. Do you think that Emma would
have done any of this if she thought that one day you wouldn’t be
here talking to me?” I stood and walked to him, reaching my hand
out to touch his snout.

“
Ailen, did Emma know that
my mother would die?” He closed his eyes and nodded his
head.