CHAPTER 46 MILI
I land deep in the forest, hoping I’m close enough to the spot Kar first fell from the sky for him to sense me here. A few leaves crunch under my feet, a small sign of Autumn fast approaching. Normally, the sensation of walking over fallen leaves brings me joy. Today I feel nothing but fear and anger.
I’m worried about Kar, of course, but I’m almost more worried that the shifters won’t forgive me for sneaking away this morning. Max’s and Port’s faces flick through my mind, their expressions warped into horrible scowls. I imagine them turning from me, swearing they’ll never trust me again –or maybe they’ll just leave before I return.
Then I imagine Cory. I feel my face twist into an anguished frown as an image of Cory staring at me, all love gone from his face, fills my mind. If he can’t forgive me for putting myself in danger ... no. I can’t afford to think about that right now.
Still, the visions persist despite my best efforts to dispel them. I growl in frustration and spin in a circle.
“Kar!” I shout. “Come out, you wicked little–”
“That’s not a very warm welcome.” A whisper comes behind my ear.
I gasp and whirl to face the sound, but there’s only open forest. The voice comes again, this time from my left, and whispers in a terrifying sing-song, “Dear fa-a-a-ery!”
My head whips to the left, and I’m met with nothing but empty woods again. I stumble backwards, a terrified whimper escaping me as the voice calls out again.
“Milica?” it sings. “Stop running away, now, don’t be silly.”
How is he doing that? I wonder in a panic. The sort of illusion work he’s doing is extremely rare; I’ve only heard about it in legends and myth. Ordinary wizards and warlocks can’t access that sort of twisted power.
If he has access to that sort of magick, I can’t even imagine what else he can do now. The realization hits me all at once that if I stay, he might kill me. Then I open my wings and try to fly.
“Milica!” Kar screams. I yelp as a firm pressure, with the strength of several pairs of hands, clamps my wings together and pins them to my back. “Stop running away!”
“Where are you?” I shout back, my head spinning as I try to find a way out. I can’t fly, and I can’t escape the clutches holding me, because Kar has my wings.
He has my wings.
I scream, as loud as I can, “Cory!” and an invisible force clamps down on my mouth. I writhe against the iron grip restraining me, shrieking as hard as I can for help. The sound gets completely muffled against whatever’s covering my mouth, and I start kicking viciously behind me.
I make contact with what feels like a shin, and Kar’s howl of rage and agony sends a wave of energy through the trees. I yank out of his clutches, ignoring the sudden numbness in my right wing, and try again to fly.
A moment after I lift off the ground with a leap, I plummet to the ground. I channel the blinding fury coursing through me – the brute damaged my godsdamned wing –and fling myself to a standing position.
Kar’s foot collides with my back, and my sparks explode in my vision as a bolt of blinding pain shoots through me. I scream as loud as I can, but he grabs my shoulders and flips me over again.
I can see him now, so either I broke his illusion magick when I kicked him or, more terrifyingly, he wants me to see him kill me. I realize there are tears of rage and terror streaming down my face, and I cough out a shrill sob as he smiles coldly down at me.
“Ah, Milica. Stupid faery.” He bends down towards me, and I glare at him through my watery eyes with as much determination as I can manage. Kar pats my face as you might do to a child, smirking cruelly all the while, and I lunge for him before I’ve thought through the action.
I watch, as if in slow motion, as my hands reach to hit him in the face. I think to myself, Kar has turned me into a violent being . Then he shoves me, hard enough for me to fall back onto my broken wings again. I let loose a feral growl as he puts a foot on my shoulder, pinning me once and for all to the ground.
I hiss out, “What did you do to Aurora?” and he laughs.
“It didn’t take much convincing. The heart is such a fickle beast, no? Easy to wound, easy to trick ... easy to mold as necessary.”
“She would never have tried to hurt Ethelinda. You did that –not her.”
Kar sighs, smiling blankly. “Her hands broke the dam, did they not?” I start to object, but he pushes his foot harder into my shoulder and my vision explodes into stars again. “It’s been delicious seeing the havoc you wreak, and even more delightful to manipulate it as I need. The Moon thanks you, too.”
I force myself to focus and pant out, “You know the shifters will find me. They’ll kill you.”
“That’s an interesting point,” Kar says, his head tilting to the side as if in thought. After a moment he winks, grinning widely. “Thank you for bringing that to my attention!”
Then his eyes roll back in his head, and his jaw hangs slack as he murmurs some dark incantation, mouth moving faster than should be possible. I whimper with fear and try to claw backwards, out from under his boot, but he pushes me further into the ground. I gasp in pain just as everything turns white.
There’s a moment where I feel no pain, no fear, nothing. I’m suspended in Moon- beams, limbs light as air.
A second later I crash back into reality, landing onto a slab of cold, hard stone. The impact knocks the wind out of me, and I gasp as I try to fill my lungs again.
Kar laughs from above me. Footsteps echo hollowly through the air, reverberating against cold walls; we’re in some sort of cavern. A chill runs through me as I realize Kar psychically transported us here.
I’ve heard of this magick, but it’s extremely taboo –practically forbidden in most magickal circles. If Kar can psychically transport ... he must have the power of Evil Sight.
With wide eyes, I turn to see Kar smiling coldly down at me. He’s dragged a chair over to me, one of only three in the cavern. The chamber is a sort of large stone room, like a dark version of the volcano’s entrance. The walls are rough and angular, and flecks of rock reflect small sparkling stars of the light from several hanging oil lamps.
“Sit,” he commands.
There’s no other choice, is there? I crawl gracelessly to my feet and sit warily in the chair. As soon as my spine hits the chair’s back, another invisible force restrains me. I cry out as it constricts tightly, reducing my breaths to nothing more than shallow gasps of air.
Kar pulls up a chair facing backwards and sits in front of me, slinging his legs over the sides and resting his head on the top of the chair back. He smiles crookedly, his cheek pressed to the pale wood, and sighs. I watch him, helpless, until he speaks.
“Well, I have some new powers.” I scowl at his flippant words; new powers? This is dark magick . He ignores me and continues, “Oh, and welcome to my new home. The Den of the White Warlock.”
The force holding me to the chair tightens further as Kar twists his fingers; he hardly moves them at all, but the restraints grow suffocatingly taut. He smiles as I bite back a groan of pain.
“You’ve heard of the Chasm Ritual, I presume?”
My blood runs cold. “You couldn’t have performed it,” I huff out. “You need the Sun and Moon both to help you. It’s impossible.” The Sun and Moon don’t work together, ever . The Moon’s wickedness and capricious nature is abhorrent to the noble and steady Sun. Kar is certainly bluffing.
Kar shrugs, eyes hardening as his smile widens. “Not impossible. The Sun needed a little favor; the Moon cashed it in. Isn’t it funny? Sometimes things are so simple.”
A little favor? The Sun should want for nothing, so there should have been no reason for the Moon to be owed a favor. How, then, does Kar suddenly have these powers?
My mind races as he continues, “When I first performed the Chasm Ritual, I was worried it would be for naught. I fell from the Moon, my beloved Moon, terrified and hollowed out. To lose a part of yourself in favor of the emptiness of pure chaos ... well, it’s a challenging transition, as you might believe. Imagine my delight, then, when upon my descent to this Realm I met you . Powerful, silly faery that you are –you’re too good hearted to anticipate maliciousness. You didn’t see me for what I was, did you? Not the parts of me missing and warped, nor the parts of me crooked and cruel. Lucky day for a White Warlock.”
Then Kar stands, swinging his legs over the chair in one smooth motion, and drags it over beside me. I writhe against the forces binding me as the chair legs screech against the frigid stone floor, but they grow tighter until I can’t move at all.
Kar sits beside me, facing me, and brushes a finger over my cheek. I gasp for air and try to pull away from his touch, but he grabs me by the chin and forces me to look at him.
I whimper despite myself as he continues, “You’d hate someone to take part of you away, wouldn’t you? Clip your wings ... cut your hair.” Cut my hair ... like my nightmare all those months ago. My panic grows as he smiles and says, “You’ve been afraid ever since I first sensed you –only now you know that I am the cause of that terror. The Moon guides me, but I alone will bring chaos back to this Realm. You believe in peace, in order? Milica, you are a fool! Chaos will balance the Realm, will give me the foothold to grab what I need and take it. It’s all so simple, isn’t it? Everything within my grasp.” I struggle as hard as I can against my restraints, eyes welling with tears again as he whispers the one thing I dread the most.
“Even you.”
A true sob escapes me, a vicious choke breaking loose from my throat, and Kar’s smile morphs into something more sinister, more vicious. His teeth shine like bared fangs as his eyes roll back in his head, and he holds my face as he chants his cursed spell:
You are powerless to me, you are my pawn. By the time of Night, you are mine.
Your parts are part of me. Your self belongs to me. Your essence will fill my chasm.
You are my kind, you are my pet. By the time of Night, you are mine.
I feel tendrils of freezing light wrap around my psyche, his spell working its way into my mind, my soul. Gasping for air through my terrified tears is all I can do, and I fight, I fight against the invisible force holding me.
I will not be beholden to Kar. I won’t.
I will , an unfamiliar voice says.
No! I won’t. I am my own.
I am not my own.
I start to hyperventilate as I think back: Stop it! I am not Kar’s. I don’t love Kar, I won’t be –I can’t be his. I’m not.
I am Kar’s .
Then I wake up, screaming, on the forest ground.