Forbidden Choices by Jen Weddle

Chapter 22

  I wake up to the sound of a crackling fire nearby, the heat radiates on my cheek. I sit up urgently looking around for Riley and Lucin. They’re nowhere in sight. I start to panic.

  They left me… here alone—in this frozen wasteland.

  It’s so cold, entirely too cold for anyone to be able to survive for long. I don’t even have a weapon. I don’t know how to build a fire. Do I look like a damn girl scout?

  I spot two men walking up a snowy hill nearby. They start to get closer, and I see that they both are carrying an armful of fire wood. They wave at me and Lucin drops all of his firewood and begins cursing as he chases it down the rolling hill. I try to stifle a laugh, but I can’t hold it and a chuckle escapes.

  “Hey, don’t laugh at him.” Riley yells. “We went through all the work to keep you warm and you’re going to laugh at him.”

  Lucin stumbles back up the hill and tosses the firewood next to me. He looks angry.

  “Sorry Lucin, it was too funny not to laugh at you.” I continue giggling.

  “I told you I hate being in human form…” Lucin complains.

  “I know you’ve only complained about it the whole ride here. You know we needed someone to take my other horse.” Riley explains.

  “I hate horses.” He replies.

  “So do I.” I whisper.

  “I know.” Riley retorts.

  “How do you know?”

  “Look at you; you do not look like a horse person.”

  “Well, what’s a horse person look like?” I ask.

  “The opposite of what you look like. Plus, I’ve studied humans… they only know how to drive those automobile things.”

  “Automobiles?” I ask. “Have we been transported to a different century, where’s Mr. Henry Ford when you need him?”

  I tease him, and he is about to have some witty comeback but he falls silent.

  “What do you call the automobile machines?” He asks.

  “Cars…” I reply.

  “Cars?” He asks. “What a strange word to describe them.”

  “I’d like to take one of those somewhere one day.” Lucin croons next to us.

  “You’ve never been to the human world?” I ask dumbfounded.

  “No. We’re not allowed…” Riley whispers.

  “But why?”

  “It’s in the agreement with the Elves. Since we started the Great War on the humans’ land, we aren’t allowed to go there. We’re allowed safe passage between the other worlds with the Others, but the humans—they’re off limits to us. It’s been that way for centuries.” Lucin replies. Riley nods in agreement.

  I look at the scenery surrounding us; it’s breathtaking. We’re sitting on a snow-packed hill that slopes steeply downward until it hits a large half-frozen lake and from there you can only see greenery and flat lands speckled with tall evergreens.

  The tiny ice particles in the lake reflect the sunlight upwards and in the distance are a few large mountain peaks covered in blankets of pale white snow.

  “Where are we?” I ask shivering violently. “Why is it so cold?”

  “We are close to Elacia—my home.” Riley answers proudly. “It’s located in the Northern Otherworlds because Wolves are more accustomed to the cold temperatures.”

  I look at him solemnly and notice that he has changed into a red flannel jacket. He looks like he was born to roam the mountainsides. I stare at him as he bends over adding more firewood to the dying fire. I stare into the fire and I think about my own family and the palace. I wish that I could reverse time and return there, I think longingly about the only place I’ve known as home since I’ve been born.

  Riley pulls something familiar looking out of his jacket pocket.

  “Your Grandma wanted me to give you this.” He murmurs.

  “The journal...” I whisper. “I almost forgot it.”

  “Is my family going to be okay?” I ask.

  “I believe so, the vision I had earlier showed that no one was seriously hurt. They did manage to damage your room looking for that journal, but everyone escaped with minor cuts and bruises.” Riley answers.

  “Will I ever be able to go home again?”

  “Maybe, but not for a while I’ll keep you safe until then.” He replies matter-of-factly.

  “But what about Theo?” I muse.

  I really don’t want to hear it, but deep inside I’m longing to know if he’s okay. I look down at my palms glowing with sweat—even in this cold, frigid weather. The chilly breeze lightly blows my hair back. I look up into Riley’s golden eyes imploringly.

  “I need to know.”

  I try to reassure myself that this is actually what I want from him. I feel sick to my stomach and any moment whatever is sitting in my stomach, won’t be there much longer.

  “Please don’t be mad that I didn’t tell you earlier.” Riley begs me.

  The world starts to spin, but I loved Theo. He can’t be dead. He’s dead. But the world is going to feel so empty without him. The world starts to fade and Riley grabs my shoulder tightly and looks at me. I stop thinking about Theo.

  “No one was hurt, Ali. I said that. Theo isn’t dead… but he might as well be.” He says, with a certain callous emphasis on Theo’s name.

  “Theo’s father is Mathew—he doesn’t know yet. Theo was forced to kidnap you but he failed in accomplishing that and since then he has disappeared. No one knows where he is—or if he’s alive. I’m the only one who knows—who saw—he’s still alive. His father has him.”

  “Theo’s gone?” I whisper, feeling much more emotional than I thought I would, especially after he attempted to murder me. But this is worse. Much worse, Theo is my Soulfire and he’s gone… and his father wants him to kidnap me. I feel like I’ve been ripped into a thousand pieces.

  One part of me deeply loves Theo but the other part of me is angry at him for considering bringing me to his father. I mean if he really loved me, he’d be able to have free will. Right?

  “Mathew implanted false memories into Theo when he was a baby. It might be the case that Theo has never had free will?” I question.

  “I’m sure that he’s had some free will.” Riley replies. “He’s only been told certain things by Mathew… I couldn’t hear everything that he inserted into his mind but I think that him being part of the King’s Guard was part of it. And kidnapping you was definitely part of the fabricated memories.”

  “Theo might be a jerk, but I also saw that he would never intentionally hurt you.” Riley says, surprising himself. Lucin looks over at him with an astonished look but remains silent playing with sticks and making intricate patterns in the snow while we talk.

  “How do you know all of this?”

  Riley tosses another log onto the fire, but then he becomes alert. Lucin stands up with him. They both sniff the air. Lucin transforms into the giant bird and Riley puts his arm out for him to sit on.

  “Be my eyes.” Riley whispers and Lucin is off spiraling into the air going higher and higher until he’s out of sight.

  “What is it?” I ask. Theo puts his finger up to his lips in a quieting gesture.

  I grow increasingly alarmed, as I think about the giant hulking shadow in the forest right before I made it to Newhollow. Who knows what kind of creatures this place has. Lucin lands in front of me turning back into a man.

  “Nothing for miles.” He replies out of breath.

  “No. Listen.” Riley says.

  As I listen closely, I start to hear a rustling noise in the nearby treetop and my heart thuds loudly in my chest. I’m sure Riley and Lucin can hear it from where they’re standing back to back.

  They both draw weapons from their pockets. Riley has a hunting knife, a long black gleaming knife that is sharp enough to do some serious damage. Lucin has a tiny spear that’s shaped like an arrow at the end: Pointy and dangerous.

  The invisible thing moves swiftly and quickly above us. It jumps from the tree, landing gracefully on his t
wo feet. I think I’m going to have a heart attack. I close my eyes and the sounds stop. I open them to see that he’s stopped moving at incredible speeds, a small boy stands in front of us. His hands on his hips in a Superhero pose. The boy stands inches from Riley’s face floating in the air and giggling.

  “Big brother!” The little boy exclaims gleefully. He jumps on Riley’s back, which makes him drop his weapon. It falls with a loud thud to the ground and the snow melts beneath it. All three of the boys are on the ground rolling and laughing hysterically.

  I stand above them and raise my eyebrows curiously.

  Riley stands up, lifting his brother up easily. They both wear the same sheepish grin on their faces. I stoop down to get a closer look at the little boy. I realize how very similar he looks to Riley. They both have golden-flecked eyes, but the boy has short black hair. Riley has hair that is a little longer and wavier, with hints of golden blonde in his light brown unkempt hair. Their cheeks are rosy. The little boy has his hands in his pockets just like his older brother.

  “Is this the Princess?” He coos, staring at up at me with big doe eyes. “She is beautiful.”

  “I guess I haven’t introduced you yet.” Riley muses.

  “Princess Alison, meet my younger brother, Lucas.” Riley says, patting his brother on the head. Lucas fights trying to escape Riley’s hold, and when he finally manages to escape he runs up to me with his hand outstretched.

  “Nice ta meetcha’ ”

  “Lucas. You know mom told us to speak more eloquently. We’re Royalty.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting. It’s very nice to meet you, Princess. Our family has been eagerly awaiting your arrival.”

  His tone instantly becomes more formal and I shake his hand but he looks at me strangely. He takes my hand and places a quick kiss on it. “Girls don’t shake the hands of men around these parts.” He says, trying to impersonate an old western cowboy’s accent. He takes off an imaginary cowboy hat and bows before me.

  Riley playfully taps him with his fist on his shoulder, Lucas cries out in mock pain. The mood in the group suddenly turns serious.

  “Does mom know you’re all the way out here by yourself, Lucas?” Riley asks, crossing his arms and looking fiercely down at his younger sibling.

  “Yeah…” Lucas trails off. He looks up at his brother with a sheepish grin and his eyes widen. Everyone in the group knows he’s lying.

  “Aw. Fine, you caught me. Mom doesn’t know I’m out here. But I started getting my superpowers. I’m going to be just like you!” He exclaims. His brother’s moody temperament shifts instantly. Riley picks up the little boy and squeezes him into a bear hug. He swings him around at dizzying speeds, they’re moving so fast that it makes my own head spin.

  “You have powers?” Riley asks. “So what are they?”

  “I’m a Seer, just like you! Isn’t that great?” He says beaming happily.

  “That’s fantastic.” Riley replies, sounding distracted and looking worried.

  “Well we should start heading towards the palace before the night creatures come out.” Lucin says. I almost forgot he was there, he’s been so quiet.

  Riley grabs Lucas’ hand and drags him to our horse where he hoists him up onto the majestic horse.

  “Do you mind riding with Lucin?” Riley asks. “I didn’t think we’d have an extra person.”

  “That’s fine.” I reply. Lucin holds out his hand and helps me up.

  “Actually, I’m going to fly instead.”

  “But, I’ve never ridden a horse before.” I groan.

  “You’ll be fine.” Lucin replies, winking at me as he turns into a mist of evaporated air. He soars out of sight and into the darkening gray sky.

  I grab onto the horse reigns tightly. The horse bolts forward and I let out a scream. Riley and Lucas aren’t far behind me. Riley is screaming something, but I’m still too far ahead to hear anything. Lucin has come down from his place in the sky and he’s flying beside me.

  “Let go of the reigns a little and stop digging your feet into the horse’s side. Loosen up and relax a little.” He caws out commands. I do as he says, and the horse starts to slow down a little. Riley and Lucas burst out laughing and I look solemnly ahead ignoring them.

  I realize I don’t really like horses. This is my first conscious experience with riding a horse and it isn’t turning out very well. My stomach feels queasy and I’m trying not to vomit all over this gigantic beast, who probably wants to stomp me to death already.

  As we start to gallop out of the snowy hillside and toward the grassy fields, snowflakes begin to fall around us. They shimmer in the sunlight and I look to my left as we pass the lake that I had seen from the top of the hill. It sparkles as the snowflakes land on top of it, covering it in a thin layer of translucent snow.

  As we make our way closer to the lake, I start to see shadowy figures dancing beneath the icy waters making it move and swirl in a rhythmic motion.

  “What are those?” I ask pointing a finger toward the lake.

  “Demon souls.” Riley replies seriously.

  “Sure.” I say smirking, imagining that he’s just trying to scare me again.

  I watch Lucas as he casts a wary eye toward the lake and realize that maybe Riley isn’t lying. They do look like those shadows that attacked me at my old house and right before we got into the Kingdom of Newhollow.

  I decide not to look at the Demon Soul filled lake, and I look ahead mesmerized. I gasp as my horse stops in front of a giant concrete stone wall. It’s very unlike Newhollow; Elacia has sprawling city skyscrapers made out of black reflective glass and concrete material. The city bustles with life behind the wall and every building is lit up with lanterns like an evil enchanted fortress beckoning for trouble.

  This could easily be a city in the human world… except for the not human sounds and smells coming from behind the wall: like horses’ hooves and eerie shrieks of laughter, strange languages and even stranger smells.

  The stench of the city slams into my nostrils making my head spin. It's a mixture between dirt, blood and a sewer. It's awful and I want to lean over my horse but I pull my jacket up to cover my nose and try to breathe normally.

  Hot steamy breath meets my face and it smells like a rotted swamp. I cry out and hold my jacket tighter to my nose, I know something is towering high above me, but I’m too afraid to look. I close my eyes tightly; they’re closed so tightly that they’re starting to hurt.

  “Rodger!” Riley shouts with glee. I open one eye as I hear a deep-bellied chuckle coming from the thing standing above me. It looks like a tree.

  Is it a tree? No, it’s walking and talking… and laughing.

  It certainly looks like a tree though—it’s made entirely out of old bark, its facial features are made out of moss. Big hollow eyes stare at us and it smiles revealing sharp pointed wooden teeth covered in moss. I look at its fingers and they’re made out of a lighter carved wood. He towers above us at thirty feet and I want to cry. His big hulking muscles are made out of tree limbs. He’s holding a staff with a big purple gem at the end, but the rest of the staff is made of wood with four spirals meeting at the top in a curving formation.

  “Rodger, how are you?” Riley yells.

  The tree leans forward, limbs moaning under the extreme weight of his body. It doesn’t have legs but it moves as if it’s part of the earth… more of a glide than a walk. He stands above Riley now.

  “Greetings, Master Riley.” It groans. “And young Master Lucas, I see.”

  The tree bows but looks as if he’s going to fall over as he steadies himself, leaning on the intricate staff once more. A tiny hobgoblin moves out from behind the tree man. He has cysts growing out of his forehead and green, gooey lacerations as he extends his hand toward me and grabs mine. He kisses it, leaving slimy green slobber behind in the shape of lips. I want to scream… or die… or both.

  My mind is whirring and I can feel myself drifting from this
place. I can feel it leaving and it’s starting to get really dark. It’s happening; it’s going to happen again. Goodbye sun—goodbye sweet Riley. I try to mumble something, but I become paralyzed and the darkness starts to set in.

  “Dammit!” Riley shouts as he jumps off of his horse, catching me right before I fall to the ground.

  “What a wimp.” Lucas says between fits of laughter—and now a strange tree man and a disgusting hobgoblin are laughing at me… and I’m pretty sure I’m just dreaming. I look into Riley’s eyes for some sort of reality.

  “Riley.” I moan. “P—Please don’t make me go in there.”

  “I’m sorry, Princess.” The hobgoblin says pleading. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  He starts to sob uncontrollably and his tears shoot from his eyes like some sort of strange cartoon hydrant—I’m not sure whether to laugh or feel utterly horrible.

  “It’s okay.” I manage to splutter out. Riley strokes my hair and looks into my eyes longingly.

  “I probably should have warned you about the city first—but I was certain you wouldn’t come with me.” Riley says, winking at his younger brother. He holds me tightly in his arms.

  “Boris is my name.” The hobgoblin says after he has stopped sobbing. “And Boris is very sorry for hurting you.”

  I’m not going to let them see how cowardly I am… I can’t believe Riley thought that I was so shallow that these scary creatures would make me not want to come with him. I mean they do frighten me but I’m not a coward. I straighten myself up. Oh no, if this is what guards the City… I don’t even want to know what kind of monsters are waiting for me inside.

  “Keep up the good work.” Riley says holding his horses reigns as he salutes the tree man and the goblin.

  Lucin swoops down in front of us and turns back into his human form.

  “So you made it without fainting Princess?” He asks laughing.

  “Of course I did.” I say standing a little bit taller on my horse.

  “Good. Just wait until you meet Gryph, now he’s something else.”

  “Who?” I ask.

  “Nothing.” Riley and Lucas say in unison.

  I gulp suddenly realizing that whatever Gryph is, it might just be worse than the countless warlocks, witches, trolls, zombies, dwarves, vampires, ghouls, goblins, ghosts and anything else that my mind can conjure up in my nightmares. I’m pretty sure the Abominable Snowman just strutted past me, grunting a greeting and leaving behind an icy trail.

  I’d like to go home now.

  “Would you two mind taking Alison with you?” Riley asks suddenly. “I have some unfinished business to take care of in the City.”

  The two boys nod in agreement.

  “I don’t want to go with them.” I argue. “I want to stay with you.”

  “I have something I need to do. You’ll be fine. No one is going to hurt you.” He replies. He hands off his horse to Lucin and Lucas throws his hands up gleefully as if he’s on a rollercoaster.

  “I’ll go with them.” I reply exasperatedly.

  “I knew you would.”

  He turns and walks with an ever quickening pace away from us, my heart sinks as I feel the magnetism between us slowly fade away into the distance. I look over at Lucin and he gives me a sly smirk.

  Is this already home? Why do I feel so empty when he’s gone…?