Dark blood splattered everywhere as his life force drained from him.
It was only once he became still that I realized the gravity of what I’d just done. I looked at Elsbeth, and saw nothing but relief… which soon turned to panic.
“Come with me!” she whispered urgently. Blood stained my skin, clothes and hair. She grabbed my hand. “You must leave this place before someone comes.”
She ran to the bedside table and opened its drawer, retrieving a key. Then she caught my hand and pulled me to the edge of his room, where she moved aside a tapestry, revealing a narrow door. Opening it, she pulled me through and shut it behind us. There was a narrow staircase leading downward. It was dark, and Elsbeth ran forward with alarming speed. It was all I could do to not trip up and fall.
After several minutes, we hit a flat surface. She gripped my hand as she pulled me forward through a series of tunnels.
“Hurry!” she panted. “Faster!”
We ran for what felt like almost half an hour until finally we reached another door. She pulled out a key from her cloak and opened it. We both stumbled into the sunshine of the beach. Blinded by the sun, I staggered around on the sand, trying to scan the coastline.
“I have to leave you here now,” Elsbeth gasped.
“What will happen to you?” I asked.
“I’ll be all right,” she said. “But you must flee. As fast as you can! I don’t know how long I can keep his body hidden.”
I gripped her head and planted a kiss on her rough sweaty forehead before running off along the beach, trying to keep to the trees lining the border of the beach so that I wasn’t in direct view of the mountains.
I ran along the sand until I reached the spot where I had first arrived. I breathed out a sigh of relief to see that my boat was still moored there. I raced across the stony beach and leapt into the boat. Of course, I had no dolphins now. My only option was to grab the oars that were stored beneath the floorboards of the deck and begin rowing.
I rowed for hours, far past the point where my arms felt like they were burning off. I forced myself to move forward until the peaks of the mountains disappeared from view. By this time, I was on the verge of passing out. The oars fell limp in my hands and I lay stretched out on my back, gazing up at the sky which was beginning to darken.
It was becoming cold.
I had no spare clothes—and the clothes that I had were soaked with seawater and blood. I crawled to the cabinet at the front of the boat and breathed out a sigh of relief to find a blanket there. I stripped out of my old clothes and, now completely naked, wrapped myself tightly within the blanket. Then, unable to move my aching limbs anymore, I curled up on the narrow bench in the center of the boat and closed my eyes.
* * *
The sun shone down as we swam in the river. The handsome dark-haired boy surfaced with a small red ruby that he held out to me with outstretched palms.
“Come on, Rhys,” I said, shoving his hand away from me. “You can do better than that.”
He grinned, before diving back into the river and resurfacing with a sparkling round diamond. He took my hand and placed the gem on my palm. Then, still holding my hand, he pulled me into the river with him.
Before I could make sense of what he was doing, he ducked his head beneath the surface and pulled me down under with him.
We both resurfaced seconds later, gasping.
It was nighttime now. The moon shone overhead.
As we climbed out of the river, I caught sight of a group of witches huddled together over a large black metal pot. Whispering in hushed tones. All wearing black.
I tugged on Rhys.
“I don’t like these people,” I said.
He looked back at me. “Are you scared, Mona?”
Pride bubbled up within me.
“No,” I spat. “I’m not a coward.”
“Then come,” he said, tugging me forward until we joined the circle.
I gazed into the cauldron they were all gathered round. Reflected in the liquid bubbling was the image of our teacher—the head teacher of our school in The Sanctuary.
It showed her lying in her bed. One of the witches started whispering a strange spell. I’d never heard it before, but I could tell just by the sound of it that it was a chant forbidden to ever be uttered in The Sanctuary.
“Stop,” I muttered.
“What?” Rhys looked at me. “Just keep quiet and watch.”
Our teacher’s body soon began to writhe until she screamed out in pain as our fellow classmates continued to cast their spell.
The teacher shook violently until blood started streaming from every orifice in her body. She writhed for several more minutes until she became still.
I gasped.
“Rhys!”
He turned on me. “You’re a coward, Mona.”