Lark, page 22
“What? Why? Where are you going?”
“I just need to think,” he says breathlessly. “I gotta go.”
“Please,” I implore. “Please, just wait. Wait to talk to Isobel.”
He rushes out the door but before I can follow him, Grey stops me.
“Just give him some space. What you just told him...just give him some space. Give him time to take it all in.”
“Oh, Grey. I really freaking messed up tonight.”
“Hey, come here.” He pulls me into his arms and rubs my back. “Shh, it's okay. He'll be fine. Just give him some time.”
For a moment I am comforted in his arms, inhaling his intoxicating smell. But then I realize the only reason he is acting like he cares is because we are alone and as soon as anyone else enters the room, he'll go right back to acting completely apathetic towards me. It makes my stomach flip, and not in a good happy way but more in an I-am-about-to puke-all-over-you sorta way. I pull away as Isobel enters my room.
“What happened?” Her sea-green eyes widen with confusion.
“He knows.”
“Oh my God. How? Why?” Isobel frantically asks.
“They were attacked tonight.” Grey is quick to answer for me. “One of the Dökkálfar spies told him. Mia just filled in the blanks.”
“Where is he?”
“I am not sure. He left to go process everything on his own,” Grey answers again as I can't seem to manage to speak.
“I'll go to him.” Her royal blue dress flares out dramatically behind her as she leaves.
After a few moments of silence, I go to sit on the bed next to Hannah.
“How much trouble am I going to be in for telling her? For bringing her here?” I ask Grey.
“Alberico will understand the circumstances. In fact, I should probably go brief him on everything that has happened.”
“I'll stay here with Hannah if you don't mind.”
“As you wish,” he nods. “I shall return shortly.”
I lay down next to my best friend, letting everything wash over me. I wish she would hurry and wake up so I could talk to her about it. But I also wonder if maybe it would be better to transport her to her house and let her think it was all some crazy dream. That would probably be the kinder option. As much as I wish I could talk to my best friend about everything that is going on, I am not sure I want to put that on her. Do I really want her to be scared and worried about me all the time? Would knowledge of the Light Elves and Dark Elves put her at risk too? I am not willing to chance it. I have almost decided to go ahead and take her home when Isobel, out of breath and scattered, stumbles into my room.
“He's gone!” she sobs. “I saw him leave. He transported! I couldn't get to him in time to stop him!”
I don't need to ask her where he went.
I already know.
“I'm going after him.”
“You can't! Not without help. Alberico is planning the attack for next Saturday,” she reasons. “Maybe we can move up the date?”
“I'm not waiting long enough to find out. I can't,” I tell her. “I know what Dugan is capable of. There is no way I am leaving Jacoby to face him alone. I've got to go.”
“Then I'm coming with you,” she proclaims.
“No. I need you to stay here. I need you to take Hannah back to her home and I don't know, do some of that elfish memory replacement stuff. Get her to believe it was all a dream. Please, Isobel? I'll get Jacoby. I swear. But I need you to do this for me,” I plead.
“Okay. But please, please bring me back my nephew.” She grasps both of my hands in her own.
“I will. I swear it.” I grab a piece of paper and quickly jot down Hannah's address then thrust it into Isobel's hand. “I promise. I'll bring him back.”
“I can't let you do that,” says Grey, startling me. I don't know how long he has been standing in the doorway, but even if he just got there moments ago, I am sure with his elfish hearing, he could have heard us from down the hall. We weren't exactly whispering.
“Grey, I have to. This is my fault. I have to get to him before Dugan tortures, or worse, kills him.”
His expression is pained, but determined.
“Then I'm going with you.”
I am speechless. Grey has never been shy about his disdain for Jacoby but here he is offering to help me save him.
“I'm not doing this for him.” He must have read my expression accurately. “I'm doing this for Alberico. I won't let him lose you.”
For a second there I thought he was going to say he was doing this for me, but I should know better by now.
“Okay, what are we going to do?”
“First, we need to decide where exactly in the Underworld we will be transporting to.”
It's hard to focus on the Underworld without the fear creeping in and overtaking my thoughts. There has to be some place that we can transport to that won't attract a lot of attention. I think of the room I first arrived in. I see it clearly, but that probably wouldn't be a very good place for us to just appear. The only other rooms I remember are the cells and the torture chambers. Chills run up and down my spine as I remember the acrid smell of blood and earth mixed together, and worst of all, the screams of the prisoners being tortured. I take a deep breath and try to block it all out so I can concentrate.
“This may be kind of crazy, but I think we should transport into the cell they kept me in.” I eye him reluctantly. The idea isn't really all that appealing to me, but what choice do we have?
“Are you thinking that maybe they will be so preoccupied with Jacoby that they won't notice the two of us just popping in out of nowhere?” He doesn't seem to buy it.
“No, well, yes. I am guessing he won't be in the cell. I am guessing he will be in the torture chambers, and yes, knowing the Dark Elves, I am guessing they will be a little distracted.” The thought sickens me.
“Well, then, let's give it a go.”
I hold out my hand and when he takes it he gives me a quick squeeze of encouragement. I take a deep breath, trying to prepare myself for my return to the one place I swore I would never go back to. At least this time, it's on my terms.
The world spins in typical transporting fashion, only this time I seem to recover much quicker than I have ever before. Maybe I have finally mastered the skill.
We hit the floor as soon as we appear, hoping no one notices our arrival. I quickly scan our surroundings and sure enough, no one is on this side of the dungeon. I hear hoots and cheering coming from around the corner where the torture chambers are located and I immediately scramble up to head in that direction, but Grey stops me.
“We need a plan.”
“Really? Because I was planning on just walking right up to Dugan and kicking his ass.”
“Mia.”
“Fine. What do you want to do?”
“First, let's see if we can sneak over there and get a feel for what we are facing here.”
Always the voice of reason.
“I already know what we are facing. The devil himself,” I hiss, but I follow his lead.
We make our way down the dungeon tunnel towards the direction of a rather large crowd of Dökkálfar gathered around one of the torture rooms. The torches lining the stone walls have been lit and they create an eerie glow as we sneak down the hall towards where I know I will find Jacoby.
I hear him cry out in pain before I can see him.
“You will bring her to me,” Dugan’s evil voice demands.
“I'll never let you get her,” Jacoby declares before he screams again.
“Do you think you, a pathetic little Half-blood, will be able to stop me? I will just continue to overpower your weak mind until you bend to my will. To think, I actually thought you were the prophesied one. But you are weak. Just like your parents. They were easy kills. It’s hardly any fun when the victims don't put up a fight. I thought you might be worthy, but obviously you are nothing. You are completely worthless to me. A waste of years of my time and resources.”
I hear the crack of a whip and I strain for a closer look, but the cheering Dökkálfar are making it extremely difficult. How can they derive so much entertainment from watching someone suffer so horribly? Finally I break through, and the sight before my eyes brings bile to my throat.
Jacoby is tied up in chains and dangles from the ceiling like some kind of animal. Violent red gashes lacerate his chest where he has been whipped repeatedly with a cat'o'nine tails. But that is not even the most disturbing part. No, the mangled condition of his body is nothing less than alarming, but it's nothing compared to the sight of his beautiful face distorted in so much tormented pain. Grey must have sensed what I’m about to do because I feel his hand on my arm trying to pull me back, but it doesn't stop me.
“Stop!” I shout, causing several Dark Elves to jump up in surprise. “Leave him alone!”
“Mia, no! What are you doing? Get out of here!” Jacoby's weak voice cries out.
I rush over to him and try to reach him, but he is much too high for me to pull down.
“Well, well, isn't this an unexpected surprise. How are you this evening, my dear?” Dugan’s pleasant tone contrasts sharply with his malicious intent. “Did you finally change your mind?”
“Yes,” I say making a last minute decision to wing it.
“Lark, what are you doing?” I am alarmed at how weak Jacoby sounds even when he is speaking inside my mind.
“Saving your ass, what does it look like I am doing?” I retort a lot more confidently than I feel. I hope that Grey is taking advantage of Dugan's preoccupation with me and is doing something useful.
I guess we really should have planned better.
“This is unexpected.” Dugan sounds surprised, but I can tell from the look in his eyes that he is suspicious.
“I'll help you. I know how now. But you have to let Jacoby go first,” I demand.
“Unfortunately, I just don't think that will be possible my dear,” he says much to the delight of the Dökkálfar. “You see, we are having way too much fun teaching this traitor a lesson. Who am I to deny my people their entertainment? I may not to be able to inflict pain on his mind like I am accustomed to with my usual victims, but this may be an even more entertaining method.”
He cracks his whip again. Jacoby screams in agony and then goes limp. The hall erupts in cheers and applause and it makes me sick. I see Brian’s face in the crowd and I feel the anger start to boil deep inside me. I have to do something.
Don't be a victim, I chant to myself. Be a hero.
“Free him and I'll break the curse, but if you don't, well, I guess you better just forget about ever seeing the light of day again,” I threaten, knowing that if I show the slightest sign of weakness, he will pounce. “That's the deal. Take it or leave it.”
“That is where you are wrong my dear,” he says as he folds his hands together. “You see, you will break the curse for me. I am afraid you don't have a choice.”
“There is always a choice,” I say as I brace myself for the attack.
Then all hell breaks loose.
The earthen walls suddenly begin to crumble, collapsing onto the crowd of Dark Elves with a tremendous, ground-shaking crash. Before I can even grasp what is happening, blazing balls of fire appear, whizzing furiously around the dungeon, and I gasp in shock as I see powerful gusts of wind blast the Dark Elves down left and right, sucking the very air from their lungs. Terrified, I look around to try to see what is happening. At first I think it’s an uprising among the Dökkálfar, and for a moment I think that maybe not all of them were evil after all. That’s when I notice that Alberico, Isobel, and about twenty other Light Elves have suddenly appeared by my side.
“How did you know how to get here?” I ask Alberico.
“I've got a few tricks up my sleeves. Which you would have known had you actually waited for our planned attack. Duck!” he yells, and I do just in time to narrowly miss a rather large boulder that was aimed for my head.
“Ah, brother, I was wondering when we would meet again,” Dugan sneers.
“Little brother, why don't you just give up while you still can,”Alberico replies regally.
Dugan just snarls in response and Alberico winces in pain briefly before he regains control of himself. Suddenly there is a wall of fire roaring towards Dugan, and he responds with an attack of his own. I instinctively move to help my father but he doesn’t seem to be affected by Dugan’s second mind attack. Unfortunately, the other Light Elves aren’t quite powerful enough to block Dugan from their heads and about half end up on the grounding writhing in pain.
“Mia, watch out!” Grey shouts, and I turn just as one of the Dark Elves' spies tries to hit me with a whip. I'm not fast enough to fully react, so he nicks my shoulder, but Grey steps in to take care of him by causing another avalanche which collapses on top of him. “Go Mia, help Jacoby!”
While Grey is busy doing his thing, I try to figure out how to release Jacoby from his chains. The powerful blasts of cold wind whooshing around me cause my hands to shake and the ash and soot filling the air due to the Fire wielders make it hard to see, but I finally manage to free him. He is in pretty bad shape. I drag his bloody, unconscious body off to the side, away from all the commotion. Without even trying, the healing magic starts to swell up inside me and I feel the tingling sensation in my fingertips. I try to focus on nothing but healing Jacoby. He appears lifeless and I’m worried I might be too late.
“C'mon Jacoby,” I plead. “Please, don't leave me now.”
As if the chaos around me isn’t distracting enough, the ground starts to quake underneath my feet, and I know that there is no way I am going to be able to concentrate on healing him properly. I know we have to get out of here if I am going to save Jacoby. Half of the Light Elves are still incapacitated from Dugan’s mind attacks, and are lying helplessly on the ground contorting wildly in pain. I just can’t leave them all down here alone. These are my people now. I can’t just stand here and watch Dugan continue to torture them.
My heart is breaking as I look around me and realize that the outcome of this battle is bleak at best. We did not have enough time to train. We hadn’t even begun to teach the other Light Elves to block out Dugan’s mental attacks and as a result we are losing. My friends and loved ones are suffering. It was foolish and reckless of me to barge in here without a plan, before the Light Elves were more prepared. They followed me here to help me save Jacoby. I know that they have had their doubts about me, but the fact of the matter is, they are here, trying to help me, and now they need me to help them.
I take a deep breath and gently kiss Jacoby's cheek.
“I'll be right back,” I whisper softly to him as tears sting my eyes.
I know what I need to do to help end this battle.
I am the Half-blood daughter of King Alberico of Álfheimr, blessed by Sól, the goddess of the Sun. I summon all of my energy and focus on pulling from the light within me. I did it once before when I was being tortured by Dugan. I hadn't realized what I was doing at the time, but now I have control over my powers. Now I know what I am capable of. It might not be much, but hopefully it’s enough.
At once, my hands are glowing as bright as the sun. The heat of the fierce light pulsates out from me in waves. Dugan’s eyes widen in fear, and the thrill of satisfaction I get from his terror makes me smile and gives me strength. The light forcefully shoots out of my fingertips and I project it outwards until the light completely encases me. The Dark Elves, petrified from fear, have stopped fighting and everyone is focused on me.
“I warned you,” I tell him as I continue to focus on the light streaming from my fingertips. I concentrate the beams into a single, blazing ball that I suspend between my hands. I can sense Dugan’s fear as I look him straight in the eye and use all of my energy to aim the ball of light directly where his heart should be. Suddenly, Brian appears out of nowhere and dives in front of Dugan taking the hit. The light explodes all around him with a deafening crack, then he is gone and the smell of burnt flesh fills the air.
I incinerated him.
“No!” shrieks Dugan as he tries to wrap his mind around what he just saw. What I just did. “You will regret this, Mia Carrington!”
Then he vanishes. The remaining Dark Elves fall over each other trying to scramble away and their human slaves follow suit. Soon only the Light Elves are left.
Grey isn't too far from where I stand, and he is looking at me with what I think may be pride, and perhaps a little awe. But I’m not proud of myself. I feel sick to my stomach. How could I do that? I killed him without thinking twice about it. What kind of person does that make me?
“Let's get back before they have a chance to regroup,” Alberico says quickly.
“We need to free their human prisoners. We can’t just leave them down here,” I plead, as I continue to project enough light to keep the Dark Elves away. “They will need to be healed and their memories should be altered.”
“We’ll take care of it, Mia. You just get Jacoby back to the castle,” he says sternly. He looks frustrated, and I’m suddenly afraid that I have made him mad or disappointed him in some way.
“But--” I am desperate to get Jacoby to safety to heal him but I am afraid to leave without everyone else. What if the Dark Elves come back?
“Go. We will be right behind you,” he promises.
I nod, then grab Jacoby's hand and transport us back to Álfheimr where I know we are safe. We appear in my room a second later and I’m pleased to realize that transporting doesn't even faze me anymore. I guess practice makes perfect.
Hannah is no longer lying in my bed, so I assume that Isobel kept her word before joining the battle in the Underworld. It doesn't matter anyway since I can’t lift Jacoby into the bed by myself, so I just lay him gently on the floor. Nobody else transports back into my room, so we are alone for the time being.
I check his pulse and find it very weak. His breathing is shallow, but at least he is breathing on his own. I take a deep breath and try to heal him again. This time the magic is stronger, and I can feel it pulsing into his limp body. I close my eyes as I focus all of my energy into healing his wounds.
