AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hated myself for feeling weak. I needed to be strong. We had another day’s walk to the Dark Woods, and then we were going into Deidamia’s castle.
Ernest started toward the Dark Woods without me. I swallowed my pride and followed him toward the darkness ... again.
***
I had another sleepless night. Josephine ran in my dreams like a scared child. Who was she afraid of? What had happened? I’d never wanted to learn dark magic in my life, but during that moment, I wanted to reach out to her somehow.
Ernest kicked my foot. “I’m awake,” I said with my eyes closed.
“Get up. It’s time,” he said.
Dawn lingered nearby. The darkness of the night was subsiding as the sun broke free from its slumber.
I stood to my feet, feeling dizzy from the night, and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms. I felt nasty from the ash the day before and my inability to take a bath. What I would do for a nice hot shower.
Ernest cleaned up camp quicker than he’d moved the entire trip. Deidamia roared, and it sent shivers down my spine. I swung my canteen over my back, along with my backpack, and watched as the darkness began to shadow over the forest. It crawled like a creature sent to suffocate you.
Ernest walked toward the edge of the bayou that separated us from her castle and began to wade through it. “There are gators in there,” I called out.
Ernest and I waded through the bayou. He seemed comfortable enough to do it, though it took him a while to get across it.
I stepped onto the ground and hauled Ernest out of the muggy water and to his feet. He was out of breath. Breaking into this castle didn’t seem like a good idea.
“You can hardly move,” I said.
He huffed and started toward the doors. Stubborn old man. The doors whined as I pushed them open and stepped inside.
It looked the same as the day I saved Josephine. Murky and cold. A true dragon lady’s castle.
The crow landed on the stair railing and cawed at us. For the first time, I didn’t want to strangle him. “Let’s follow him,” I said.
Ernest followed behind me as the bird led us toward two double doors on the opposite end of Deidamia’s den.
I shoved open the large handles and stepped into what I assumed to be her bedroom. It was full of witchy stuff that I didn’t like. There was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in one corner and a four-post bed in the middle of the floor.
A pitch-black chandelier hung over her bed, and two stained-glass windows brought in the morning light.
The crow landed on her nightstand. Her red eyes were curious. I wasn’t sure the bird’s angle just yet, but I pulled the book from beneath her and opened it.
It smelled old, and the writing was small cursive.
“A diary?” Ernest asked from the other side of the room.
“Looks like it,” I said, flipping through the pages. “It dates back to the 1800s. Could she be that damn old?”
Ernest grumbled while opening the drawers of her dresser.
“You looking for her underwear, Pops?”
He tossed me a look.
A picture fell from the depths of the diary. I bent down and picked it up, holding it between my fingers. The little girl staring back at me was smiling. A woman stood next to her with a similar face shape and hair color. On the other side was another little girl that looked very similar. Did she have a sister? Fern hadn't mentioned one in her stories, but that didn't mean anything. Her past seemed to be lost in the years.
The life in her eyes looked full. This was before everything was ripped from her. One of the last moments she’d felt love.
The doors slammed downstairs, and I shoved the picture into my pocket and placed the diary back down.
Ernest looked at me and motioned for me to follow him to the closet’s door. There was a small door in the back, hiding behind clothes and junk. He opened it, and a staircase led downward.
