Evadere (13 page)

I needed to get up and go somewhere to cool off. If I stayed here, I’d only see Emry and Raleigh together, and then who knows what I’d do. I might go off the deep end and do something or say something I would regret. I had to trust him, give him some space. Atavia, Raleigh … they couldn’t come between us.
 

I moved away from the stairs and roamed around the main floor. I tried to distract myself by paying special attention to the artsy detail that covered every inch of this place. Then I walked through a narrow corridor and a strange door caught my eye at the end of it. Then I recognized it. It led down to the dungeon. Jo entered my mind. Surely she wasn’t down there again. She hadn’t been at dinner. Atavia seemed perfectly capable of locking Jo back up behind Emry’s back. I wouldn’t put it past her. Something told me she was down there.
 

I had to pull back very hard just to get the door to budge as it was extremely heavy. I looked backwards to make sure no one was watching when I heard the screechy noise it made as I pulled it open wider so I could fit through. Seeing no one, I closed the door behind me as I made my way down the dark staircase. I could feel the dampness increase with each step. There was a small torch lit along the wall. This place reminded me of something I would’ve seen in a movie. It was creepy, cold and full of shadows. It was different being here for the second time. This time, I was all alone. My breathing became shallow as I grabbed the torch and held it out in front of me.
 

Atavia didn’t hold many prisoners, and from what I could tell of the small dungeon, they didn’t stay here long. I wondered how the whole judicial system worked here. Was there a counsel, or did Atavia just have say over everyone?
 

I held the torch out. It was so quiet, I could hear my own heart beating away in my chest.
 

“Jo?” I whispered. I cleared my throat. “Jo?” I said a little louder. There was no response.

You shouldn’t be down here
, I scolded myself. I held the torch up to the first cell on my left. It was empty. I took a few more steps and held it out to the right. Again, empty. My feet clumsily shuffled along.
 

“Jo?” I called out. “Anyone?”

Moving to the next set of cells, these were the last ones. I saw a wall up ahead indicating this was all that was down here. I held the torch up to the right again. A face peered at me pressed up against the bars. I screamed and jumped back. An eerie cackle escaped from the prisoner’s mouth. I took a deep breath in an attempt to compose myself.
 

I moved closer, realizing I was safe on the other side of the bars, but still feeling the panic zipping within me. I held the light up and squinted my eyes for a moment, trying to focus on the face. What I saw made me gasp and jump back. No, this couldn’t be true. I covered my mouth. It wasn’t Jo, but it was someone I knew … someone I thought I’d never have to see again.

Chapter 9

“What are you doing here?” she growled at me.

I couldn’t see her face anymore as I was standing back, but the glimpse of her face I’d had a moment ago was haunting.
 

“Me?” I said. “What are
you
doing here? I thought you were exiled to Earth.” I stepped forward. The light illuminated upon Mrs. Anderson’s face.
 

“How did you know that?” she snapped.
 

The voice didn’t match the face. She seemed freaked out here, the complete opposite of how composed she had been while on Earth. I had never heard her raise her voice once. I remember it had driven me crazy that she could almost yell with a controlled voice, but now, her emotions were no longer bound.
 

“How dare you be here,” she continued. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you?”
 

I stared as the torch light reflected in Mrs. Anderson’s pupils, tiny flames dancing in her wicked eyes.
 

“I’m dumbfounded Atavia even permits you here. Do you know what she thinks of humans? It’s all your fault I’m here.”

“My fault?” I raised my eyebrows.
 

“This is all about him.”

“Who?”

“Don’t play stupid with me. You know that I mean Emry Logan. You’ve done nothing but ruin my plans to get rid of him once and for all. He’s no good. You have no idea what you’re messing with.” Mrs. Anderson narrowed her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m looking at you here of all places.”

I felt a lump begin to form in my throat. “I don’t understand what you have against him. He’s a good person.”

She chuckled. “Humans know nothing about powers, because they have none. Here everything is about power. Everything is controlled by it. Everyone only strives for more. Emry is Atavia’s child. Atavia is pure evil.”

“She loves Emry.”

“She loves power more. I was trying to get rid of him before he matured into his powers, while he was still clueless of his heritage on Earth, but of course, you had to stick your nose into all of that. Please, enlighten me, Ms. James. How has your beloved Emry been since he’s been here? Has he been as attentive to your every need?” she asked.

I remained silent, biting the inside of my lip so that Mrs. Anderson wouldn’t know she had struck a nerve.

She grinned and pressed her face even further against the bars. “Because he’s power hungry, too. They become obsessed with it. It takes over and controls even the deepest of emotions, even
love
.” She hesitated for a moment. “Atavia doesn’t view Emry as her son. He’s merely another product for her to control, to use at her will to do what she wants. The entire royal bloodline needs to be destroyed.” Mrs. Anderson’s hands released their tight grasp on the bars and fell to her sides. “The task would be completed if you hadn’t interfered. I had him right where I wanted him.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” I tried to sound harsh, but my voice came out as timid.

“No,
you
don’t know what you’re saying. You know nothing about these matters. You’re merely human, and you’re blinded by love, a love that doesn’t even exist between you and Emry Logan.” She cackled again. “You’ll find out soon enough. One thing you’d better get through your head fast, Ms. James. You’re powerless in a world of power.”

“What’s going on here?” a voice shouted out.

I turned around to see the silhouette of a figure headed straight toward me. It was Jillianne, Atavia’s right hand woman. Her eyebrows were lowered as she tromped toward me with her own torch.
 

“You’re not permitted down here,” she shrieked in her annoying, high-pitched voice. She glanced at Mrs. Anderson and then grabbed my wrist and spun me around.

“Hey!” I yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Jillianne continued to sink her nails into my skin, forcing me to leave the dungeon. “I’m taking you straight to the queen to inform her of what you’ve done.”

“What I’ve done?” I asked, my legs clumsily following the short, pudgy woman as I tried not to trip over her.

“Oh, the
queen
,” Mrs. Anderson hissed. “Do tell her I said hello.”

Once on the main floor, Jillianne shut the door to the dungeon and clamped onto my arm again.

“Stop,” I said. “That hurts. I’m coming.”

She glared at me and pointed to a door on the side of the corridor. “There. Go.”

The room was very bare with a lush rug in the center and a small desk in the corner. Large windows from the floor to the ceiling were blocked out by wooden shutters.
 

“Wait here,” Jillianne instructed me. “And if you move …”

“What exactly are you threatening?” I asked, walking into the center of the room.

Jillianne huffed, turned on her heels and left the room.

I stared at the open door. Should I stay here? I was in trouble, but for what exactly? What was Atavia going to accuse me of? I rubbed my forehead and shut my eyes for a few seconds. Seeing Mrs. Anderson felt uncomfortably similar to what I had gone through when Emry was in prison. Instead of our bad luck ending on Earth, it had followed us to Evadere where again we were faced with a whole new group of people who didn’t want Emry and I to be together. I felt the frustration overwhelm me. I had to remain calm. I had to think things through. I didn’t know what I was up against. Everything was brand new. I couldn’t let them make me be out to be the bad guy. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes right in time to see Atavia and Ben Hanley rushing into the room, Jillianne trailing behind.

“What is the explanation for all of this?” Atavia asked.

“Tell her,” Jillianne said, her squeaky voice only increasing my agitation. “Go on,” she insisted. “Tell the queen what you were doing.”

I stared at them for a moment. Ben wasn’t looking at me directly. He was running his fingers along a piece of artwork on the wall. He was either distracted or bored. I couldn’t make up my mind which one.

“I was in the dungeon,” I said.

“Yes, yes she was.” Jillianne put her hands on her wide hips.

“Why were you there?” Atavia asked.

I sighed.

“Listen, I have guests to tend to,” Atavia began.

“By all means, please go back to what you were doing,” I said. “Tend to your guests.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. I saw a muscle on the side of her face twinge as she clenched her teeth together. “I knew you were going to be a pest.”

“Excuse me?” I snapped, shocked she was being so forward.

“Let me be perfectly blunt. I don’t like you.”

“Well, that’s obvious,” I said. “Because I’m a human.”

“Among other reasons,” she snapped. “You’re distracting my Emry.”

“
Your
Emry?”

She ignored me. “Why were you conversing with the prisoner?”

“Mrs. Anderson?”

“Witch Hanley,” Jillianne corrected me.

I glanced Ben’s way. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “I didn’t even know she was down there,” I blurted out. “I was looking for Jo.”

“Jo?” Atavia asked, raising her eyebrows.

Anger zipped through me. She hadn’t even taken the time to know her name. “Yeah, you know, the Scave I brought along with me.”

Atavia and Jillianne glanced at each other, confusion on their faces.
 

“Why would she be down there? You know Emry released her at your request.” Atavia glared at me. She couldn’t stand the fact that Emry had an ounce of affection toward me.

“I just assumed that’s where she was.”

“She has a room upstairs, like you. I convinced her not to come to dinner,” Atavia confessed.

“Why did you do that?” I asked.

“This is
my
castle.” Her eyes grew dark in fury. “I do not have to
ever
explain myself to you.”

“Can barely stomach a human at the dinner table, let alone a human and a Scave,” Jillianne mumbled.
 

“If it wasn’t for Emry,” Atavia said. “You’d be in that dungeon right alongside Witch Hanley.”

I frowned. “There’s no surprise there, Atavia.”

“Queen Atavia!” Jillianne bellowed out.

I took a deep breath. “Can I go to my room now?”

Atavia folded her hands in front of her as she made an attempt not to flip out on me. “We need to have a little chat about the prisoner.”

“Why is she back here, anyway?” I asked.

“The less you know …” Atavia began, but Ben butted in.

“She’s my sister, Anna.” Ben turned toward me in a gentle voice. He wore tan pants and a matching shirt that made him seem less tense as I had only seen him in suits. “We have the same parents. That’s the only link. She’s a monster. She has done nothing but stir up Emry’s life. You saw what she did on Earth.”

“Where she was exiled …” I said.

He nodded. “You see, she and I are from the protector contributors. There aren’t many of us, but we have powers to protect royalty. She decided to use her powers to try black magic and all kinds of things she shouldn’t have gotten into. She was warned, and still she pursued works of evil and the death of royalty.”

“Why does she want to hurt Emry?” I asked, trusting him more than the other two.

He spun around and turned his back to me. “She’s just not right mentally. You know how people on Earth can become mentally sick?”

“Yeah …”

“Well, that’s how people here can become as well. She’s not right in the head. She is impulsive and at times, very out of control. She couldn’t be trusted, not here, so she was exiled to Earth. But then, somehow she found Emry there, too. I’m Emry’s protector, and my very own sister was creating havoc.”

“If you must know,” Atavia continued. “I decided Witch Hanley can’t be trusted no matter where she is. She just won’t give up. She’s so fixated on destroying Emry. We brought her back and she’s now … under investigation.”

“What does that mean exactly, under investigation?” I asked.
 

“I’m going back to the dining hall,” Atavia said, ignoring my question. She pointed at me with her jeweled finger. “Stay out of the dungeon. Stay out of my way,” she warned.