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  As pain shot through her tired, aching body, Gabrielle rolled onto her back and tried to will the strength to get up to her feet.

  The new guard was at Gabrielle’s side faster than she could have imagined while the other clasped his face and yelled out in pain. She looked past the guard to the one carrying Heather who had paused in surprise at the commotion.

  Heather hung almost lifelessly on the large man’s shoulders, and Gabrielle prayed that she was all right; she couldn’t handle another loss today. The other officer flung himself at her as her nails found a pathway across his face, gouging him and causing him to yell in the process.

  He whipped the back of his hand across Gabrielle’s face, hitting her so hard that she rolled to her side. She could feel her cheek swelling as she lay there looking at a large wall.

  The wall stood so tall that it blocked the light of the moon from within its borders, making it hard to tell exactly what color it was or what materials it had been made with.

  Gabrielle felt a tug on her side, and then she was being violently hoisted back onto one of the guards' shoulders. Her world began to spin so substantially that she felt like she would be sick. She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing.

  It’s only a dream, It’s only a dream.

  With her eyes closed, and her mind focused on her mantra, time skipped around her. She felt like she had only briefly closed her eyes outside the castle wall, but a moment later she opened them to find that she was in the castle’s courtyard amid well cared for grounds with very little sign of dirt or mud on the clean lawn.

  Gabrielle attempted to raise her head to look out at the yard, but her vision began to spin and blur so she decided to hang her head and close her eyes again.

  A few moments later, she cracked her eyes to see that she was being carried through a well-lit hallway. Sleek and well-cared-for stone covered the floors and walls. She wondered if Heather was still in front of her or if they had separated them, and she thought about all the horrible things that could — and likely would — happen to her within these walls.

  Again, when Gabrielle tried to raise her head to see where she was, nausea overtook her and she slammed her eyes shut and brought her head down again.

  Glimpses of the village, the people, Fionn, William, and everyone that she had seen running through the streets flooded her mind as Gabrielle allowed a tear to escape. With a pause and a jarring thump, she was suddenly thrown onto a cold stone floor.

  She sat quietly in the dark, unmoving and waiting for what terrible things were in store for her. To her surprise, nothing happened for quite some time.

  Hearing a heavy door close a few feet away from her and thinking they were leaving, Gabrielle cracked one eye open. At the sound of footsteps retreating in the distance, she fully opened both eyes.

  As she sat, silt shifted under her legs and she realized that — though it should not have been surprising — the floor was filthy.

  Thick metal bars created a barrier on one side. Am I in a jail cell? she thought as she looked from floor to ceiling craning her neck to see behind her as she tried to take in as much of her surroundings as she could.

  She placed a shaky palm on the floor in front of her and pushed herself to a kneeling position. One slow, unstable movement at a time she tried to raise her body up.

  As she brought her head up to find something to steady herself, she saw a body on the floor ahead of her. Heather!

  Gabrielle stumbled to her unconscious sister’s side, but before she could wrap her arms around her, a stabbing pain erupted from the top of her head and she fell back to the floor. Trying to catch herself, she threw her arms out and heard the sharp clang of her bracelet meeting metal bars.

  The putrid burning of bile filled her stomach and throat as the pain erupted throughout her body. In the dim light, she had not given herself enough time to adjust, and she ran directly into the metal bars that separated her from Heather.

  Bringing her hand up to her head, Gabrielle sucked in slow and deep breaths as she fought the urge to be sick.

  Deciding to take a more cautious approach, she again pushed herself to her hands and knees. Pausing for a moment, her head swimming, she touched her fingers to the lump beginning to form on her forehead.

  Gabrielle winced then tried to focus her eyes on the cell next to her.

  She moved more carefully closer to Heather, gently whispering her name. As she came to the bars that separated the two, she reached for her arm through the narrow gap to jostle Heather awake but she was just out of reach, she leaned her head on the bars, defeated. Her head hurt, she didn't know where she was, she was scared, and the urge to be sick was creeping back up her throat.

  A chill ripped through the still air as she laid on the cold stone with her arm through the bars, still desperately reaching for the unconscious Heather.

  Large, sour tears dripped from her cheeks and plunged to the floor as she wept in silence, desperately wanting nothing more than for this horrible dream to end and to awaken back at home, in her father’s study.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “It’s like this is all some a terrible nightmare,” whispered a small voice from the shadows. Gabrielle withdrew her arm with the vivacity of a cat and sat up to address her newfound company.

  She pushed the still-moist tears from her cheeks and squinted her eyes, straining in the dim light to see her fellow captor.

  “H-hello?” she whispered, waiting a few seconds then repeating with more confidence. “HELLO?”

  Gabrielle pressed the palms of her hands to her cheeks and wiped a few remaining tears from her eyes.

  “I said, this is a nightmare,” the voice whispered again — this time louder and with a sharp edge to it.

  Gabrielle squinted into the darkness and noticed a shadowed silhouette in the bars across from her. Though it was dark, the shape ahead of her did not seem large at all. Slowly, the shape shifted and began to make its way toward her side of the bars.

  CLICK.

  The sound brought fear into her heart, and she braced the palms of her hands on the floor beside her in preparation for whatever may come.

  “Who are you?” she sniffed, croaking with the last remaining tears in her throat and nose. Placing one arm in front of the other, Gabrielle made her way to the center of her cell on her hands and knees, pausing after each step to look up at the still-shadowed figure in the cell next to her.

  Once at the center of her cell, she knitted her brow to focus in the dim light of a fading torch.

  As if from a scene of a bad vampire movie, a boy emerged from the shadowy recesses of his cell. The light danced over his face as she took to staring at him in silence.

  He had round, soft features and a kind smile, though he was thin. His face bore the signs of a recent struggle, and his clothes that appeared to have once been very attractive were tattered. A faint glint of a silver pendant peaked through a tear in his shirt, as though it were winking at her.

  As she examined the boy's features, a glimmer of light washed over his face and bounced off his eyes. Lavender eyes. Gabrielle could feel her face contort, and her eyes widened in shock.

  The eyes from the woods!

  “My name’s Morrigan,” he stated, a confidence in his voice that Gabrielle wished she had in hers.

  “I saw you. You were watching us run through the woods this afternoon, weren't you?” she demanded. Her emotions rising at the thought of Fionn.

  “He fought well, you know. I saw it. I saw everything. I even saw them take you away. That’s why I’m here. I ran after the guards that were attacking you, but another grabbed me and beat me. The next thing I remember was waking up here.” Morrigan fell silent at the sight of Gabrielle’s crying.

  Realizing that he had stopped talking, she looked up at him and found him staring back at her with an oddly inquisitive nature.

  “Why were you watching us in the woods? Did you see those — those — monsters?” Gabrielle’s face flushed in
embarrassment.

  She looked at Morrigan more intensely as the tears faded from her eyes. She gathered that he was around her age. Scouring his face for any signs of danger, she only found kind eyes and a goofy side smile, and she had to force herself not to smile back.

  She crawled closer to the bars that separated her from her new companion in the cells. Morrigan looked back at her with no fear, quite unlike how she felt.

  Gabrielle found herself mesmerized by his vibrant eyes and she moved even closer to him. He spoke so directly, so sure of himself that Gabrielle wondered if he was much older than he looked.

  “I was not watching you exactly,” he stated matter-of-factly. “I was playing alone when the three of you ran by me. I’m not sure what monsters you saw, but it was just me.” His whispered voice rang from the hard, cold walls of the jail and made it seem like he was all around her.

  Gabrielle turned her head back towards the other cell; she could still hear Heather’s low, deep breaths from behind her.

  “She’s going to be fine, you know. She’s only sleeping.” His voice was soothing, and Gabrielle found herself wanting to hear him talk more.

  “I can see that, thank you!” she shot back, suddenly becoming fed up with being treated like a child. A strange impatience rose from within her that she had never felt.

  The day's events rolled through her head and over her heart, and she grew more and more frustrated with how helpless she was. She couldn’t save Fionn, Heather was hurt, maybe even dying, she was locked in a cage and, worst of all, she had spent the last hour crying in front of a cute boy.

  Gabrielle felt the blood in her cheeks begin to boil as her heart pounded and her fists clenched in anger. Feeling a slight pinch, she brought her eyes to her bracelet, which felt almost hot.

  THAT’S IT! She thought as her body began to shake in the accumulation of all the anger she had not let out. I’m done being a little girl! If I’m going to get out of this alive, I need to grow the hell up! No more crying for my mommy or being scared when I can DO something!

  Morrigan eyed her as she sat here red-faced, shaking in rage.

  “I did not mean to upset you. I am sorry. I just meant, well, that she is OK.” he apologized. He was still watching her curiously, a strange side smile creeping over his lips.

  Gabrielle shot her head up, noticing that he had been talking to her, and let her muscles relax. She was only mad at herself. He was forced into the same predicament, not knowing where his parents were or who was left back in the village for him.

  A deep sadness for him replaced the rage that had once occupied her body. She then slid herself closer to the bars and reached out a timid hand. With an inquisitive glance, Morrigan accepted Gabrielle’s offer and extended his hand for hers. Their fingers intertwined and a warm calming sensation took over her body.

  “It’s all right. I’m sorry that I snapped at you. It’s just, well, this — damn day —” she spat as she forced the profanity from her lips.

  She heard her parents swear when they were angry, and a sense of accomplishment overwhelmed her as she finally thought she sounded like an adult.

  Gabrielle had never sworn before, and the language almost sat sour on her lips. Her father would have scolded her for using the word, but she had to grow up fast if she was going to get them out of there.

  Morrigan didn’t seem as excited about the word as Gabrielle, but a fascination was dancing in his eyes.

  A stirring from behind Gabrielle made her violently turn and release Morrigan’s hand. Heather rolled to her back, and her breathing quickened, but her eyes remained closed.

  “She looks like she may wake up soon,” Morrigan said, breaking her focus on Heather and bringing it back to him. He was peering around the cells, examining his surroundings. She followed his gaze briefly before feeling the overwhelming helplessness creep back over her.

  “What can we do?” she asked, hoping that his longer imprisonment would provide the answers that the two of them needed.

  “I’m not sure if there is anything we can do. I don't think that you should worry about being in this cell for very long; they specifically went to claim the two of you. I only ended up here because I tried to stop them from getting you. I have a feeling my destiny will be far different from yours—” Morrigan trailed off, leaving the still air to illustrate his likely demise.

  The sadness in this place was overwhelming, almost suffocating the two conscious inhabitants.

  “I feel so strange. Like I’m in a dream,” Gabrielle said before she could stop herself. She relaxed her head on the bars that separated the two of them and allowed her eyes to flutter closed.

  “Gabrielle, you are exactly where you need to be. You are so much stronger than you know. Don’t worry, things always work out the way they are meant to.” Gabrielle felt Morrigan’s soft fingers timidly brush across her arm. The touch was comforting. No matter how awkward it was to have a strange boy touching her, it was comforting to know that she was not in this alone.

  Gabrielle sat back and let these words seep into her mind. She reflected on the altercation in the field earlier in the day when Heather spoke of the last girl that was taken and then found.

  Is that going to happen to me?

  NO! I need to think of a way out of here! As Gabrielle schemed, Morrigan sat in silence, looking through her as though she were glass.

  Another stirring sounded as Heather shifted in her slumber once more. In the distance, a commotion could be heard.

  “Your only way to escape is when they come for you,” Morrigan chimed in, bringing Gabrielle back to reality. “You can’t save your sister, but I will wager that if you run, you may be able to escape. We are not far inside the castle. If you run through the gates, down to the village, you could hide there. I don’t think they will try to stop you.” There was a panic in Morrigan’s voice that hadn’t been there before.

  Gabrielle wanted to scream at him for what he just said. Every word stabbed her ears as she heard them. Yet she knew that he spoke the truth.

  A squeezing feeling overcame her heart as she thought about it. A stir came from behind, and Gabrielle spun around.

  Her heart sank as she realized that it was not Heather, but rather the door had been cast open by three men that, even in the dim lighting, appeared to have been in the fight at the village.

  The men stood in silence for a moment, peering into the cells. They were looking for Heather, and she knew it. As she looked to Morrigan, she found him staring back at her. She then threw her eyes back to the men as they stepped toward Heather’s door.

  Time to be an adult, Gabrielle! She thought to herself as she stood in protest and a second man walked over to her cell. The third man stood poised in the doorway as the two soldiers unlocked the cells and made their way in.

  The first man threw Heather her over his shoulder without any protest from the unconscious girl and was out of the room.

  The man that stood before Gabrielle peered at her, rigid from the fight earlier, in what seemed like an attempt to intimidate her. With a grin, he took a step towards her.

  The rage inside Gabrielle resurfaced with an unmatched ferocity as she brought her nails to the face of her captor, scratching deep gouges in his cheek and causing droplets of blood to seep from his skin.

  The man let out a savage and painful scream as he staggered backward, clutching his face. A tapping sound surprised her as she looked toward her feet and saw a rock rolling toward her.

  She looked at Morrigan, who was standing with his arms folded over his chest, donning a smug smile that seemed to reach to his lavender eyes.

  She didn’t waste any time grabbing her new weapon and raising it high above her head then casting it at the man as he still stood clutching his face. His features contorted in pain as the stone bounced just above his left eye.

  Another high-pitched wail escaped from the soldier's lips as his fingers left his cheek and cradled the growing welt on his forehead.

  I
n all the commotion, Gabrielle had forgotten that there was another guard in the room. She whipped herself around just as the second guard gave a quick jerk of his head—causing an ear-shattering crack to come from his neck.

  He looked more savage than the other two. His cold eyes glanced from his comrade to her, and then he charged directly at her.

  Gabrielle pressed her arms out in a feeble attempt to defend herself. She closed her eyes and the next thing she knew, she was weightless, and then she felt the cold stone of the ground on her back.

  A numbing pain grew from the back of her head as she was paralyzed with pain. She looked to the ceiling of the cold room to see that the two soldiers now stood above her. Their faces contorted in rage.

  “I can’t believe you let a little girl get the better of you!” one of the guards said as he pushed the other, causing his body to twist to one side. She turned her head to look for Morrigan, who stood against the bars in silence.

  His hands were wrapped around the cold iron as he looked into her eyes. He said nothing but the life had drained from his face.

  She tried to lift her head from the floor as one of the soldiers picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Her eyes focused on the stone floor as she hung down the soldier's back. She could smell sweat and dirt on him from his stained clothes.

  All Gabrielle could think was to wonder if he had been there when Fionn fell. In a fleeting look, she used all her remaining strength to raise her head and look at Morrigan. He still stood perched against the bars, looking at her in utter silence.

  The guard shifted his weight, bringing her head back down, and blackness finally overtook her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  A jostling woke Gabrielle from her brief slumber. She no longer felt the sharp pain of the soldier's armor in her stomach, nor was she being held so tightly that it was hard to breathe.

  Using the tips of her fingers, Gabrielle roamed the area where she was placed and found that she was back on the floor. She lay in silence for a moment, waiting for the sound of her captors leaving.