Chapter 64

Ruby

I look up from my spot on the floor where I’ve been crying to see Nancy and Tamara standing in the doorway.

“We heard Edith freaking out,” Nancy says, rushing over to me and helping me to my feet.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, wiping the tears from my eyes as I stoop to pick up the things that fell on the floor when Edith dumped out my backpack. “We have to leave.”

“Why?” Nancy says, looking both confused and upset. “I thought you decided to stay. You promised me and Tamara that you would stay!”

“Atwood and Edith are in love,” I respond, zipping up my backpack and retrieving Tamara’s from the closet. I walk over to my sister and bend down to her height as I slip the backpack straps over her shoulders. She stares back at me with her big eyes, which have tears welled up in them.

“What do you mean, they’re in love?” Nancy says from behind me. I stand and put on my own backpack, kicking off my heels. I’ll run barefoot until I can change into my plain clothes in the forest.

“Ruby?” Nancy says quietly.

Another sob nearly escapes my throat, but I quell it and look at Nancy with as much strength as I can muster. “She said she’s going to sleep with him. I didn’t believe her at first, but… I had a vision of them together.”

Nancy gasps. “But you’ve been able to change the outcome of your visions before,” she says. “Go stop them!”

I shake my head. Tears start to roll down my cheeks. “I’m done,” I reply. “I’m not going to risk dying from this curse or being killed by whoever killed Marisa Elder for a man who would have feelings for someone else.”

Nancy is silent for a moment. Then, she nods.

“Okay,” she says, kicking off her own heels. “Let’s go.”

The music in the ballroom is loud. Everyone must still be inside partying; they probably didn’t hear Edith’s screams. We quietly go down the stairs and head toward the back door.

I stop in my tracks when we reach the bottom of the stairs. The Queen and Alice are both standing there, looking devious.

I start to consider my options. Making a run for it might be the best option, because there’s no way that I’ll be able to talk my way out of this, and dazing only works on the opposite sex; even if I could daze women, the Queen and Alice are likely far too powerful to fall victim to it.

“Going somewhere?” the Queen says in a condescending tone.

“Just run, Ruby,” Nancy says. “We’ll catch up.”

“No need.” The Queen steps out of my way and gestures toward the door. “Go ahead. Leave. And never come back.”

They’re just… letting me walk out? I look over to the door to see that the guard that was stationed there earlier is gone now. The door is just wide open, beckoning for me to run through it. This could be a trap, but I don’t have time to consider that right now.

I grab Tamara’s hand and sprint out the door. Nancy follows.

We run across the lawn and toward the woods. There are no guards anywhere, which is strange but lucky.

As we reach the edge of the forest, however, we start to hear it.

The sounds of men fighting.

Swords clash, guns blast, wolves bark, and bears growl.

I can hear the sound of a man screaming as his body is torn apart.

The Bears are attacking the castle.

“Come on!” I shout, pulling Tamara behind me as we run the rest of the way to the forest. We crash through the line of trees into the shadows. There are no Bears here; we should be safe enough to make it to our meeting spot with Cayden, so long as we’re quick.

As we run through the forest, I’m hit with another vision.

Atwood is in his wolf form. He stands in the corridor outside my room, surrounded by three Bears. The Bears lunge at him. Without my presence, he’s much weaker now.

He’s unable to fight back against the strong Bears. Within moments, they’ve mauled him to death.

I wake up again on the forest floor with Nancy and Tamara standing over me. They both have frightened looks on their faces.

“Ruby, what happened? You have to get up! The Bears are on the back lawn now!” Nancy says, pulling me to my feet. She looks briefly over my shoulder toward the light of the castle, then back to me with a pleading expression on her face.

I nod and we start running again toward the meeting place.

But then, as I think about my vision, I stop in my tracks and drop Nancy’s hand. She stops a few feet away and turns toward me with Tamara by her side.

“What are you doing? We have to go!”

“I can’t,” I answer. I take off my backpack and toss it to her. “Atwood is going to be killed. I… I have to help him.”

“Ruby, you’ll never make it!” Nancy cries. Beside her, Tamara starts to wail out of fear and confusion. She runs toward me and throws her arms around me. I crouch down to her level and take her by both shoulders, looking sternly into her eyes.

“I’ll find you,” I whisper, brushing a bit of sweat-soaked hair out of her face. “I’ll always find you.”

I stand, stepping away from Nancy and Tamara. Nancy runs up to Tamara and grabs her hand.

“Tell Cayden what happened,” I say. “He’ll get you both to safety.”

With a solemn nod, tears in her eyes, Nancy pulls Tamara after her and runs off into the darkness. I turn back toward the castle and start to run.

As I run, I call for my wolf inside of me to take over, which she does gladly. I can feel myself shift as I run, my bare feet turning into large paws that leap effortlessly over tree roots and rocks.

The lawn is covered with Bears and Lycans. I dodge around dead bodies and broken weapons, leaping across the lawn and bounding up the stairs to the castle. Inside, the corridors are covered with broken glass, streamers from the party, and blood. There are screams coming from the ballroom as the guests flee the castle.

I can sense that Atwood is still upstairs, so I run up the steps to the second floor.

As I round the corner, however, I am met with an adversary.

It’s not a Bear as I suspected, but a Lycan.

It’s Edith in her wolf form. Her wolf is a dark brown color, and it’s bigger than me. She raises her hackles and pulls her lips back in a snarl to reveal rows of long, sharp teeth.

“Get out of the way, Edith,” I growl, circling around her.

“You should be gone by now,” she says grimly. “You’re ruining everything, just like you always do.”

I snarl back at her to expose my own sharp teeth.

“You know what, Edith?” I say. “Bite me.”