Thick fog curled over the castle gates. Winding, twisting, slithering. It whispered around the edges of the ground, a crawling calm yet something lingered beneath. Ill intentions brushed my hair as I took a step toward it.
A dream, or so it had to be.
In a moments breath, the fog ignited. Sweeping silvery clouds lit ablaze to flames that licked the sky. The shadows of the castle walls burst to dancing chaos between the reds and oranges.
The air felt thick and though the breeze was cold, the pain beneath my fingertips was burning hot and when I glanced down to make sure I myself was not on fire, I was met with a familiar white tether of light. It crept from my chest and wound around my wrists like cuffs before threading up over my knuckles and between each finger.
As I lifted my eyes to the flames I found a world seemingly glazed over, blurred and disfigured. The flames dancing in distant recital.
Flashes of red.
Flashes of orange.
Flashes of green.
Green?
The air smelt thick of something between burning embers and pine trees.
"She has done everything."
Somewhere beneath it all, a deep voice snarled.
I blinked rapidly in desperate attempts to clear the glaze from my vision, to wipe the edges of the dream so that I might see it more clearly.
The tether of light pulled tighter against my wrists, a strand stretching down
down
down
until it wound itself to the earth.
I was bound to it.
"Too far."
The same voice sent a chill along my spine and my gaze up from the ground, snapping to a figure standing silhouette ahead of the burning fog.
Solomon Sallow.
Red and black glinting magic traced the toes of his boots.
Time to wake up. Come on come on come on.
Bits of the path below my feet cracked harshly, splitting along stone and swallowing itself whole. I gasped, trying to jump to safety but the tether of white bound me to my spot, magic cuffs burning to my wrists.
Solomon stepped toward me
again and again and again.
The ground beneath me crumbled
more and more and more
until an entire rectangle of space had fallen around me, leaving me stranded between it all on a single raised stone. Leaving me standing over a shallow grave, chiseled headstone now rising from the remnants.
My shallow grave.
"No more." Solomon boomed. The echo of my memories taunted me, tortured me.
He stepped one final pace, the flames behind his form parted and crept closer until the heat singed my cheeks and finally illuminated his face and
piercing,
glowing,
white eyes.
"No." My voice sounded not my own, choked and feverish. "No, no no." I pulled at my restraints, willing my magic to relinquish its grip.
The wind picked up, flames stretching upwards only to be whisked around in burning chaos dancing in front of my vision until the heat was too much and I squeezed my eyes shut tight.
A whisper, the voice of a familiar woman stilled my bones and my eyes snapped open once more.
Solomon was gone.
"Take a breath." Isidora pleaded gently through the smoke and soot though I didn't see another figure.
Bright white light burned through the flames, disappearing as quick as it had come and leaving the grounds in smoldering embers and soot.
Her whisper in my ear the last sound before I was ripped back to reality. "It is a source of strength- of focus."
I woke gasping, the curse just inside my stomach stabbed between my ribs, fighting alongside the heat of ancient magic. I pulled a hand to my chest fisting the fabric there while the other clutched anything it could find in an attempt to anchor my heart to my body,
nails digging into Sebastian's hand.
Sebastian.
Sebastian.
His cheeks reddened and puffy, his hair plastered to his forehead, droplets of sweat glinting in the candlelight.
And the terror in his eyes.
His voice, riddled with exhaustion.
"That's it." Anger crept between the waver in his voice. "We are going to talk to the Keepers. Now."
He rose swiftly, pulling himself from my grasp and I realized just how hard his hands were shaking.
My own hand shot out, seizing his wrist with far more fervor than I had intended.
"No!"
He looked back at me, the tips of terror tracing his tongue but I spoke before he could let them loose.
"We are going to talk to Isidora."
YOU ARE READING
The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)
FanfictionWelcome to the sequel for Me and the Devil. This book will take place immediately after the final chapter in MatD and carry us through an entirely continued story. On a quest to learn the depths of ancient magic and reverse a curse, our quartet is d...
