AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to go down there, but it was better than running into her. The staircase curved into a spiral and the walls smelled damp like mildew and mold. The further we went down, the greater the stench of rot clung to me.
When Ernest stopped at the bottom, he waved his hand around and made light in the palm of his hand.
It was a dungeon. Chains hung from the walls. There were skeletons in the corners and dead rodents. I kicked one with my boot and held my nose. “Now what the hell are we going to do?” I asked.
Ernest waddled over to an empty wooden chair and sat. “We wait on Josephine.”
My anger soared higher than before. “We don’t know if she’s going to make it back. I told you I had a bad feeling.”
He glared at me. “You need to trust her, Kellan. And me. Josephine is coming with the spindle.”
I screwed my eyes closed and leaned against the wall.
The fear of being in Deidamia’s castle was nothing compared to the fear of losing Josephine.
I sent a prayer up that she was okay. Josephine was smart. She was strong. She had to make it back to us. We had no other choice.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Josie
“Josephine, we taught you better than that,” my father said.
I’d been unable to focus on his lecture for the most part. Jenny’s frightened eyes had lingered in my head.
Fern was on the edge of her seat beside me, while I attempted not to stare at my mother. Her heated glare was on the side of my face. “What did she say to you?” Mother asked.
I cleared my throat. “Nothing really. I was shocked to see her and let her go. I don’t think Jenny is a threat, do you?”
Mother kept her mouth closed, but Father groaned as if he was irritated. He stood and began to pace the floor in his plaid pajamas.
“Josephine, why would you run outside to confront an intruder?”
“She wasn't intruding really. Trespassing, yes. Intruding, no. I don’t know why I did it. Maybe traveling to another realm grew me some balls. I don’t know.”
Father gawked at me, while Mother’s face stayed the same. “Josephine, seriously? Listen,” he said awkwardly. “We need to speak about the other realm. You can’t go around talking about it willy-nilly. Not everyone knows about it.”
“But you two do,” I countered. “Dad, you told me how you know. Mother,” I said. “How do you know?”
“I learned from your father,” she said, looking at her cuticles. "I am his wife. We share things."
Not everything, apparently.
I didn’t believe her for a second. I would have never believed Jenny over my mother growing up. Mother was kind and always there for me. How in the hell did she get the spindle?
I sighed deeply. “This is ridiculous. Why is Jenny sneaking around anyway?” I asked.
Father lifted his hands. “Your guess is as good as mine. The woman has gone crazy. She was rambling on about crazy things. I don’t need that energy in my house. In fact, I want to go to bed. We’ll speak about this and your bad decisions tomorrow morning. You girls get to bed.”
He kissed my forehead and stalked toward the bedroom. I watched as he shut the door, and silence settled over us. Mother stood seconds later, and I did, too.
Walking over because I didn’t want her to know I knew anything, I kissed her cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you,” she said before leaving us alone.
She followed Dad into the room and shut the door. I sighed in relief.
Fern turned to look at me, but I put my finger up to my lips and pointed toward my room.
