Before the Dawn (13 page)

"Let's get out of here," she told Trevor.

He nodded and, hand in hand, they walked
until they found the path that led them out of the woods. They
didn't speak much, but they both gazed at the sun worriedly when
they finally came upon a dirt road that wound its way back to town.
In a few hours, day would be coming to an end and the magic would
take hold again. They knew what the night would bring, and they
were both frightened of it.

***

Chapter 13

Trevor and Aline decided to go back to her
house. They had to take the bus again, so it was a good while
before they arrived at her front door. Her cellphone was still dead
and she was imagining all sorts of important calls that she may
have missed from her dad and her friends. She hoped that nothing
bad or worse had happened to any of them while she was off
exploring the woods.

She showed Trevor the way to the bathroom so
he could clean up a bit, then she used their landline to call her
dad's cellphone. She just got his voicemail so she left him another
message asking him to please, please call her back, then she
contacted Meran. Her friend sounded quite angry when she realized
Aline was the one calling her and she demanded an explanation for
why Aline skipped school earlier without telling any of them. Aline
then made some lame excuse and promised to talk to her about it
again tomorrow and hung up before the conversation could get more
awkward. She thought about calling Cassie, too, but ultimately
decided against it. However, she did make sure to check up on Sam
and find out how Gracelyn was doing. Sam said her cousin was in a
coma though doctors couldn't figure out its cause and that she was
getting weaker by the hour, and Aline felt just awful that she
hadn't been able to drop by and see her friend’s condition for
herself. She also felt incredibly guilty because now she knew it
was her fault why Gracelyn had gotten caught in the spell that was
currently threatening her life. She said goodbye to Sam, then she
heard Trevor calling her name and she went to go see if he needed
anything.

He was standing outside the bathroom, looking
quite uncomfortable as he clutched his dirty shirt to his chest.
Aline then realized with a nervous little jolt that he was
practically half-naked and, to her complete embarrassment, she felt
her face turn red.

"Uhm," he said, and his voice sounded oddly
pinched. Then he cleared his throat and spoke in a more normal
tone. "My shirt is kind of a mess. Do you maybe have something that
I can borrow?"

It took a second before she was able to make
a sound. "Y-yeah, absolutely. Just wait here, okay?" Then she ran
for her room as fast as she could. "Holy—" she breathed out once
she had closed the door behind her. She leaned against it for
several minutes while she desperately tried to censor the sudden
porno that had popped up in her head. "So. Not. Happening!" she
scolded herself. "Get him a shirt and get your mind out of the
gutter!" Then she tried to ignore the little mental voice that said
it was a very comfortable gutter, with a big bed and maybe a
fireplace. "Stop it!" she commanded herself sternly.

Keeping her mind carefully blank, she pulled
a black t-shirt out from her closet then went back to where Trevor
was waiting for her. "Here." She held out the shirt to him. "It
should fit you. It's really large and I normally only use it when
I'm going to bed." She bit her tongue as soon as the last words
came out of her mouth. Immediately, her head was filled with images
that would horrify her dad and, judging from the way Trevor himself
reddened, the same thoughts more or less had popped up in his
imagination.

"Thanks," he managed to choke out before he
grabbed the t-shirt from her hand then hurried back inside the
bathroom. She thought she heard a click as he locked the door
firmly shut behind him.

Well, that was really awkward. As if she
didn't have enough trouble already, she now had to deal with all
this tension between Trevor and herself. But she really couldn't
afford to fixate on it right now so, with an effort, she pushed
away the distracting thoughts. "Hey," she spoke loudly so he could
hear her through the bathroom door, "I'm heading downstairs to the
kitchen. Just come down when you're done."

"Okay!" he called out.

Aline glanced at the clock once she reached
the bottom of the stairs, and she was a bit alarmed when she saw
that it was seven minutes past five already. Night was drawing
nearer, and she still had no clue how she was going to fight off
the Prince once he tried to magic her into being his long lost
Princess again. She did feel sorry for the guy because of what he
had gone through, yes, but not enough to give in to him. As far as
her feelings were concerned, especially when the enchantment wasn't
currently working on her, he was just this sad person who didn't
know how to let things go. But then, whenever she was dancing with
him, there was just the feeling that he was someone familiar and
dear. However, she wasn't ever going to acknowledge that. Rosamund
may have loved him, and she may be the dead Princess’ reincarnation
or whatever, but she was different. Her life was different, her
heart was different. Now if only there was a way to make the Prince
understand that.

She was ordering some Chinese takeout for
dinner when Trevor finally came down and showed up in the kitchen.
Then she realized that she didn't even know if he liked Chinese
food, so she put the woman she was speaking with on hold for a few
minutes to find out. Fortunately, he was okay with her dinner
selections and she quickly finished ordering the food. Aline then
called her dad again after that and still got his voicemail, but
she didn't bother leaving a message anymore. At this point, she was
starting to get the feeling that it was hopeless. Trevor correctly
guessed that she was upset about it and he said some comforting
things they both knew were ineffective, but she appreciated the
effort he made anyway. Then he asked if he could take a look at her
feet.

"What? Oh. Oh, yeah," she nodded. "We keep
another first aid kit in that drawer over there." She pointed to
the right spot and he went to get the supplies. He knelt down
before her as she sat on a stool and tensed in anticipation when he
slid off the soft shoes she was wearing and unwound the bandages on
her feet.

They both grimaced when they saw the dried
blood that had crusted in ugly streaks and spots on her skin. As
Trevor began to gently clean off the blood, he said, "I can't
believe you can still manage to walk around."

"Well," she shrugged, "it hurts all the time
so I guess I've built up some kind of tolerance for it. If I don't
think about it, I can almost not feel anything anymore."

He just frowned and, for the next few
minutes, he was silent as he tended to Aline’s feet. After he had
applied fresh bandages on them, he glanced up at her. "Now your
hand."

"Oh, but it's fine. It hardly hurts," she
protested.

"All the same, I'd like to take a look at
it," he insisted. So he checked on her hand, too, and he gave a
little approving grunt when he saw that she was right and it was
healing along nicely. Of course, after he had done all those
things, she just thought it would be fair to offer to help tend his
wounds or cuts as well. Soon, all injuries the two of them had were
taken care of just in time for the food to arrive. Trevor carried
the bags into the kitchen and she laid out the different dishes on
the table then refrigerated her dad's share. Before they started
eating, she tried to call her dad again and still got no
answer.

"Is he normally so busy that he doesn't
answer his phone?" Trevor asked quietly.

"Just sometimes," Aline replied. "But he
always lets me know if there's something big going on in the
office." Left unsaid was the fact that he hadn’t done so this
time.

"What does he do, by the way?" Trevor asked
to distract her from this thought.

"He's some kind of consultant. He works for
this printer manufacturer and he specializes in creating these
really great proposals that get them big clients. He used to work
from home, but when I turned thirteen, I insisted that he didn't
have to hang around all the time, so he moved back into his old
office." She choked a bit, then she made herself say it. "What if
something has happened to him? What if the Prince has hurt
him?"

Then she finally told Trevor the full story
she had learned from Raven. When she was done, he looked really
grim. He reached out across the table to take her hand in his and
he said, "I promise, Aline, I'm going to do everything I can to
help you beat this. You're going to be okay, along with your dad
and everybody else."

"This is all just crazy," she sighed. "Things
like this aren't supposed to happen to people, you know. All this
magic stuff and crazy dangerous fairy tales. They're all just
supposed to be things in books that I stopped reading years ago."
She took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm scared what's going to
happen tonight. What if he wins and I'll lose everything?"

"He's not going to win," Trevor assured
her.

"Why not? He's got all the power."

"He didn't win the last time either,
remember? We'll find a way to stop him somehow."

"Promise me something, okay?" she said,
sounding quite desperate. "When I try to go to him tonight, stop
me. Do whatever you have to do, but don't let me leave this house.
I never wanna go back to that ballroom." She was starting to sound
hysterical. "I don't want to forget myself and become some Princess
who died a long time ago. Promise!"

His hand tightened on hers. "I promise," he
said.

After dinner, they sat together on the couch
in the living room. Her dad had not called her back and he had not
come home either, and Aline was now certain that something dreadful
had happened to him. She felt defeated when she hung up the phone
for the last time and Trevor enfolded her in a hug. They didn't
even bother turning on the lights as the night became darker and
darker. Trevor pulled her close and continued to hold her in his
arms without a word, and she clung to him. They stayed that way for
a long time before they realized that they could hear music.
Silently, Aline began to cry.

"No," Trevor whispered urgently. "Don't
listen to it, Aline. Ignore it. Just don't listen."

She tried. She really tried. But even when
she covered her ears with her hands, the music was still there. She
could hear it thrum all throughout her body.

"Trevor!" She gasped out in despair when she
could no longer resist the pull of the enchanted music. Before she
completely lost herself, she felt him hold her as tightly as he
could and then give her one last desperate kiss.

***

Chapter 14

"You look ever so lovely, my dear." Aline
felt cool metal settle against her skin as soft hands clasped a
necklace around her throat. A woman then took hold of her hands and
turned her around to face a mirror that covered the entire wall of
this strange room she found herself in. It wasn't like any mirror
she was used to, however. For one thing, it colored everything it
reflected with a pale, golden glow and there were swirling floral
designs on its surface outlined in shimmery dust.

There was a woman standing beside her. She
was wearing a delicate-looking mask of black lace and pearls that
covered most of her face except for circles cut around her eyes.
She was dressed in a silken gown of the richest, darkest red with a
skirt that had so many layers it was a wonder she was able to stand
close enough to place her smooth cheek against Aline’s face. Her
jet-black hair was caught up on top of her head and arranged in a
waterfall of curls, some of which mingled with Aline’s own dark
hair as they both looked at their reflections.

If the woman appeared both gorgeous and
wanton, the best word Aline could use to describe her own
appearance was pure. Virginal even. Her hair had also been curled
but it was brushed back to frame her face and then allowed to
cascade downward in waves. There were white roses and lilies woven
through the dark tresses. Meanwhile, the dress she was wearing was
white with a square neckline and long sleeves, and the fabric
gleamed with silvery highlights. In her hands, she was clutching a
small bouquet of flowers that were similar to the ones in her hair.
Finally, around her neck was a chain of silver from which dangled a
single leaf made of the same shiny material.

"You know what this is, don’t you, dear?" the
woman said. She had a secretive little smile on her lovely mouth.
"Remember, as long as you don’t give in, it will have the power to
protect you. But let me tell you a secret not everyone knows." Her
husky voice dropped to a whisper. "Even if you do surrender, as
long as you have this little thing, you never completely lose
yourself." Then she tucked the silver leaf in between Aline’s
breasts. There was a hiss of heat and smoke, and Aline cried out in
sudden pain. However, when she looked down at her bosom expecting
to see a horrible burn, nothing but smooth skin greeted her eyes.
The woman then laughed and held a finger against her lips. "Don’t
tell," she said.

Aline was silent for several minutes as she
just stared at herself, ignoring the woman, but her mind was
desperately struggling to remember something that she knew was
incredibly important. She frowned when the right thoughts she was
looking for wouldn't come to her, and the woman pouted.

"Oh, you defiant little dear." She tittered
and squeezed Aline in a brief hug. "So stubborn till the very end.
But then it's to be expected. Which is why His Highness made
preparations for this instance. Come," she suddenly tugged at
Aline’s arm quite insistently. "Come now. There is something you
must see."