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My mother opens a drawer in her workspace and pulls out silver injection pen. When she turns back to face me, she smiles.
“Once this is all over,” she says, “you’ll thank me. Then, you can bring Ivy to me so I can do the same to her.”
“Are you doing this just so you can control our every move?” I ask, hoping to delay the inevitable in hopes of a miracle happening to save me.
“Yes.” My mother coughs like she’s choking on something.
It’s then that I notice the smoke entering the room.
“Something is on fire,” my mother says to Mark, coughing again. “Go see what it is.”
Mark leaves the room, running down the hallway back the way we came. I hear a loud thud and strain to see behind me. Smoke is quickly filling the room up. I hold my breath for as long as I can. When my lungs start to burn, I have no choice but to breathe in the acrid air. I begin to cough but not as uncontrollably as my mother.
“You!” She points to someone behind me.
Once again, I strain against my bonds to see what’s going on.
It’s Gertrude. Shakily, she holds the knife from the kitchen in both hands. Mark is nowhere to be seen.
“Mark,” my mother calls out. “Come here!”
“He won’t be coming,” Gertrude says, her face a mask of true anger. “I knocked him out with a chair.”
“What are you doing, Gertrude? I command you to stop this.”
Gertrude’s hands shake as if she’s about to follow through with my mother’s order, but she fights against her basic instinct.
“Untie your daughter,” she orders, flashing the knife at my mother.
Coughing, my mother does as told and releases the straps that were keeping me bound to the chair. Once I’m freed, Gertrude grabs my mother’s head and bangs it against the edge of one of the chair’s arms, rendering her unconscious.
“Get out of here,” Gertrude says, shoving my mother into my arms. “You need her hand to open the doors and operate the elevator.”
“Come with me,” I beg her.
Gertrude shakes her head. “I’m not who I once was. I’m a monster who never should have been brought back to life. Your mother’s grief drove her to find a way to save her son, but she should have loved him enough to let him go. That’s what I’m asking of you. Love your husband enough to let him finally find peace in the warmth of the light. It wasn’t fair of your mother to drag him back from that place. This is your chance to make things right. Leave this place and forget about us. The fire will kill us and finally release our souls.”
“I understand,” I say. “Can you help me get her to the top of the stairs?”
With Gertrude’s help, we walk down the long hallway. I see undead Mark lying on the floor peacefully, but this time I’m able to let him go. I pray that he finds his way back to the peace he found after his first death.
Once we reach the top of the stairs, Gertrude places my mother’s hand on the panel and the door slides open.
I cross the threshold and turn back to Gertrude. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
She nods. “I’ve taken care of Kiah for so long now. Maybe I can do the same in the afterlife. Goodbye, Queen Emily. I wish you a long and natural life.”
The door closes not only on my mother’s secret rooms but also on a part of my life that never felt finished.
I drag my mother to the elevator and use her hand to open its door. As we travel up to the castle, she moans, opens her eyes, and looks around.
“Why are we here?” her eyes bulge as she remembers what happened. “We have to go back.” She scrambles to her feet, but I push her down to sit on the floor again.
“We are not going back down there. Gertrude, Kiah, and . . . Mark, are dead. This time they’ll stay dead because they won’t have bodies to resurrect.”
My mother starts to cry. “How could you, Emily? After everything I’ve done for you and protected you from. How could you be this cruel to me?”
“Cruel to you?” I ask harshly. “You’re the heartless one here, and I intend to make sure you pay for your crimes.”
