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Annabell
Hidden Cabin, Das Unbekannte
My mother and father, alone in the forest, terrified me. Monsters and malady of all sorts roamed the lands, searching for unsuspecting people or animals so they might suck them dry or steal their souls for a sliver of light. But my parents alone in the forest searching for Cole was another matter altogether. I had thought my mother was more sensible than that, then remembered who I was thinking of and shook the thought from my head. Hayden was nothing if not spontaneous and reckless when it came to her family.
I rode my horse harder than he deserved, but I swore I would give him all the sugar lumps he wanted if he would only get to them before Cole did. My promises were of little use when I entered a clearing just north of the castle—one of Cole’s favorite places. I was surprised to see him there considering the last I’d seen him, he was chasing Snow White through the forest—which was another matter to discuss once I secured my parents’ safety.
When I approached and dismounted, Hayden’s head snapped toward me with wide eyes and parted lips. Jack only pressed his lips in a firm line and watched as I walked closer. With each step, I felt my anger toward Cole grow. He had no right, none whatsoever, to drag my family into our centuries-long disagreement.
“Just what do you think you are doing?” I snapped, my brow furrowed. My palms sweat despite the cold.
“I was minding my own business when they approached me, so perhaps you might direct your anger at them,” Cole said, pointing toward Hayden and Jack. “But before you grow too angry with them, you might hear me out first?”
“What could you possibly have to say that would keep me from gouging your eyeballs out right now?”
“I haven’t harmed a hair on their heads, Ellie,” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “And I do not intend to.”
“He hasn’t, Annabell. Listen to him,” Jack said.
“What?” I asked pausing.
“Just listen to him, Annabell. He’s not lying. He has not harmed us in any way. In fact, he’s been quite helpful.”
“I’m sorry, am I to believe you are on his side now?” I asked, the darkness inside tickling my throat. Surely, it would dissipate soon. If not, then all was lost.
“No, but we know something you don’t,” Hayden said. “Annabell, you need to remember what happened when you were young, back in your first life long before you returned the first time.”
“How can I remember something I forgot centuries ago? How can I even be sure this isn’t a trick?” I asked.
“Because it makes sense,” Jack said. “In a world where nothing has added up quite right, this is the only thing that makes any sense at all. And now that we know the truth, we can move forward with a plan that might actually work.”
Adrenaline surged through my veins, bathing me in a warm sensation I didn’t like but could not control. Snow had tricked me, but how could I have believed her at all? How was I so easily tricked by her? Had she really manipulated the prophecy so much that no one knew up from down?
“I see how hard you’re thinking, Ellie, and if you only ask me, I will tell you the truth.”
“Oh, now you will? How noble of you,” I said, trying hard to ignore the pained expression on his face. “Tell me what you told them.”
“I did not want to tell you in the beginning because I knew you would not believe me without proof. That is simply who you are, Ellie. You always give your trust freely, and you must be proven wrong about a person before you will see—”
“Cole, tell me what you told my parents,” I insisted.
He shook his head but did as I asked. “You already know there is no record of Snow’s birth on file in Schwarzwald, as Ethan informed you. That is because she was not born of Heinrich and Tatjana Salien,” Cole said.
“But I thought—”
“Come now, love. Surely you don’t think someone as powerful as Snow would have any trouble infiltrating the royal family? No, no. She simply manifested the memories in their minds and became their daughter.”
“But she murdered her mother because the darkness had...” I paused, realizing that part of the story was also fabricated by Snow. Every single bit of the story had been carefully crafted and placed by Snow, a woman whose patience brought a new meaning to the term abundant.
“She murdered them to get them out of the way for the next phase, only she hadn’t expected me to come to my senses after your death,” Cole said.
“Why would that matter?” I asked, still working to fill the missing link between Snow and Cole.
“This would be easier for you to grasp if you could somehow recover your memory—all of it, and in the right way.” Cole ran a hand through his jet-black hair, and his eyes flamed. He was losing control, but he bit down the darkness and continued. “Ellie, don’t you remember her at all?”
Everything felt surreal as if the only thing I could trust was my own existence, and even that was transient at best, but I shook my head all the same. “I... I don’t.”
“Ellie... Snow is my sister,” he said. The moment the words left his lips, they fell upon me with a weight so immense I couldn’t breathe.
“But... everything pointed to Snow being the one to help me,” I said. “Even the parts of the prophecy the good fairies wrote, it pointed to a Salien that would... Oh...” I said, running through the Song of the Lost in my mind once more. “Ever beloved Salien bred... It was Elizabeth the song told about when she killed Snow White. It wasn’t pointing toward Snow Salien having your head, but Elizabeth having hers. And the lost verses, the ones written by Thirteen... The princess of snow... not Snow White, but a princess born of snow!” I shouted. “It’s Stella! But how? There’s no way she would have been brought here if Amanda’s death wish hadn’t been granted.”
“Sometimes good wins no matter what,” Jack said. “For whatever reason, things lined up just right.”
“But your mother told you when you died that when Snow came—”
“Yes,” Hayden said, “but she didn’t say whose side Snow would be on, only that when she came, the final battle would begin. We read her message all wrong. Now you, my little light, must work with Stella and the Seven to try to take down Snow before it’s too late.”
I glanced at Cole, who bit his lip to control the darkness long enough that he would not harm Hayden or Jack. I wasn’t sure he could last much longer, so my plan hadn’t changed all that much. After I defeated Snow, I would take his Darkness. Only now, if I was lucky, it wouldn’t kill him, and he could finally just... live.
“Why did you lie to me? Why didn’t you just tell me Snow was your sister and help me remember everything she did?” I asked. My stomach churned and dove every time my mind wandered back toward how well Snow had tricked me.
“At first, I didn’t know what Snow was doing. It was a long time before I... recovered from my grief. Once I realized, I tried to reason with her, but you know how she was. There was never anything that pleased her. She always wanted more and more, so I tried to build my own army against her.”
“What about Scarlett?” I asked.
“Snow had already destroyed the girl. I merely... used her to gain access.” Cole ducked his head and mumbled, something unlike him, considering his great power and ability. “I should not have, but I—”
I ground my teeth and seethed. “Scarlett killed good people, Cole. And you let her!”
“No, Ellie! I overpowered Scarlett just before we entered Schwarzwald, I swear it! Everything she did before she was under my control, she did for Snow!”
“And the Seven now?” I asked.
“I can’t let Snow absorb them. I can’t, Ellie. If she does, then I will never be able to stop her. I’d rather you hate me forever for killing seven people you love, then die knowing she will kill you and everyone else in all the kingdoms—the world if she has her way.”
“She’s your sister, Cole. How can I believe you’re not working with her?”
“Have I ever entertained her foolish whims? She is exactly what she was born to be and nothing more. She has no soul, Ellie.”
“Neither do you,” I snapped. “And I don’t remember anything about her, so anything you say could be a lie.”
Cole flinched but did not snap back at me. “Don’t I have a soul? I love you, so I must have something.” His voice was kind and soft, almost like it had been the day we met. “I must go. I don’t want to lose control,” he said. He glanced quickly at my mother and said, “I thank you for allowing me to explain myself, and I am... sorry for all I have done to you,” then shifted and disappeared into the black sky.
Hayden wasted no time. “Annabell, I think I know a way to help you regain your memory. If the stars are coming to help you, it stands to reason they already know the truth. Once they are here, we can channel their power into a spell that removes mental blocks. I have a feeling Snow pulled a fast one on you, and there’s probably some sort of control on your memory.”
“You believe him? You truly believe everything Cole just said?” I asked.
Hayden chewed her lip, then said, “I believe him when he says he loves you, and because of that, I think he would rather share all his secrets than see harm come to you.”
“But... I... I love Wil, and if I...” I lifted my eyes to my mother, the only one who ever loved me as a mother should. “What do I do?”
“You do what you were meant to do, Annabell. You save the world. Everything else is a worry for later,” Hayden said just as a blinding light knocked us all to the ground.
I hadn’t expected the arrival of my aids to be so incredibly bright, but then again, my own fall had been brilliant. Who knew why I expected theirs to be different from mine. Once the light faded, Pieter, Dannie, and Caroline stood before us in all their glory—which was, surprisingly, much more human than expected.
“I have officially seen everything and can never be surprised again,” Jack said. “Wait! Wait, pretend I didn’t say that!”
Hayden rolled her eyes and took in the three stars. Pieter, Parker’s old friend who drowned trying to save Parker and the Reichenbach twins, bowed to us and rose with a smile. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the forest from ground level. I must say it’s a bit colder than I expected.”
Caroline chuckled. “Will I get to see my children? I’ve missed them,” she said, reaching for me.
“I... I hope so. I wanted to thank you for doing what you did,” I said as my small hand slipped into hers. “You saved us that day, and you were so brave.”
“It was the first good thing I ever did,” Caroline said. “And I hope to do many more before going back up there.”
Dannie stared at Jack, whose jaw was slack as he took her in. Finally, she smiled and went to him. He opened his arms and took her in an embrace, reminding me Dannie was a casualty we had not anticipated. Sierra and Cecily’s old roommate was not part of the plan, but when she died, I knew I had to give her a chance to see this thing through to the end.
“We missed you so much,” Jack said. “Will we have time to tell you everything?”
“I already know all there is to know,” she said with a shrug.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot. You always were a know it all,” Jack teased, squeezing her again. “Can you guys help Annabell regain her lost memory?”
Caroline squeezed my hand again. “We can. We’ve been waiting for this moment since we united in the Heavens. We’ve seen the truth, and we want her to see it, too.”
Caroline released my hand and pressed her palms against my temples. I knew the pain to come, but I welcomed it. Whatever I had been missing was necessary to win the coming fight, but there was a small bit of dread, perhaps doubt, that boiled in my stomach. Once I knew everything, I’d have to face my foe, and I had a feeling it was about to get a lot harder than even I had anticipated.
I wasn’t wrong about the pain.
“You there, are you alright?” I asked.
The boy raised his head, his face streaked with mud and tears. “I am lost,” he said. “I am lonely and hungry.”
I moved closer and sat beside the boy, rummaged through my small bag until I found my only crust of bread, and offered it to him. He took it with wide eyes and a shaking hand, then inhaled it as if he had not eaten in years. Once he was through, I offered him an apple, which he also ate half of before returning it to me.
“You should eat, too,” he said.
My stomach growled, but I had already decided my fate. No sense taking a full belly over the edge of a cliff, not when the poor boy needed food. I shook my head and pushed the apple back toward him. Now that he stared at me, I saw he was quite handsome and much closer to my own age than I had initially suspected. In fact, his health seemed to improve drastically with each bite.
“Who are you?” I asked.
The boy offered his hand and a grin. “My name is Cole. And my sister is hiding somewhere in the forest, but I doubt she will show herself until she realizes you are a kind person.”
“What if I am not a kind person?” I asked, settling slightly closer to him. Who knew why, but I felt safer close to him, though it didn’t matter if something ate me in the forest. I had intended to leap from a cliff, so what harm could a monster do? Even so, his heart beat wildly, as evidenced by the pulsing vein in his neck, but he leaned closer to me in kind.
“I believe you are kind. You shared your food with me, and you don’t even know what I am,” he said.
I giggled, although it was forced. “And what are you?”
“A vessel for darkness and evil. So is my sister,” he said, taking the last bite of an apple. I chuckled and tipped my head. “You doubt? It’s true.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” I admitted.
“Oh? Have you heard of all the things in all the world, Ellie?”
“My name is Elfriede, the Princess of—”
“I know of you, and Ellie suits you better. May I call you that instead?”
I shrugged. It was no matter to me, considering I wouldn’t be alive much longer. “I suppose. Who is your sister?”
“Her name is Snow.”
“Cole and Snow? Opposites, I’d say,” I said, thinking of the blackness of coal and the pristine color of the snow.
“Mmm, I guess, but my name is not spelled the same as the rock. We are opposites, though, in every conceivable way. She likes what we are where I detest it.”
I groaned and leaned my head on his shoulder. “I detest my life, as well. I have powerful magic, but my father will not let me use it. What good is my life when I am a constant disappointment, and I cannot even use my gifts?”
“Magic can be a curse, especially when it consumes you instead of you controlling your ability.”
“But I do have control over it, very much so. I can show you, if you’d like,” I said, offering my hand.
“I might hurt you. I wouldn’t want my darkness to—”
I grasped his hand before he could talk himself right out of it. When I touched him, there was an immediate connection I had never felt with another person, something like a soul-deep understanding that we were meant to be friends from the beginning. I felt his darkness, deep and troublesome, stirring in every part of his essence, but it was no match for the light I had. I drew it in, let it move through me until the light found it, then expelled it with little more trouble than that required to clean a smudge from my fingers.
“I feel... free,” Cole said. “How did you do that? Ellie, the darkness could be in you!” Cole leaped from beside me, and pulled me up, looked me over, then decided I was just fine. “It’s gone. There’s no more of it!”
“I told you,” I said with a giggle. I had no way of knowing at the time just how much Snow hated that giggle or that I had become instant friends with her brother. He had what she wanted—an ability to control the darkness unparalleled by any vessel before them, more than she could control without losing consciousness, and a sense of duty she despised.
“Annabell, you’ll be just fine,” Hayden said. I felt her stroking my hair as the memory faded, but another was on its heels.
“Cole, what are you doing?” I asked as I wove through the trees, searching for him. It was late, and the sun was nearly tucked behind the horizon, but the early evening chill didn’t bother me. I enjoyed the cold, but I did not enjoy wandering the forest searching for my beloved.
“I have a surprise for you, Elfriede, if you can catch me,” Cole said, and a thick spread of underbrush shook before a flash of darkness crossed my path and darted south.
“Oh, I do tire of your games of catch, Cole! Wait for me!” I stomped my foot then decided I had better run if I didn’t want to be left out in the forest all night without my surprise. I darted through the trees again, listening for any rustling and watching for his shadow.
“Over here,” he teased, then crossed my path again with such speed I hardly saw him.
I stopped in my tracks and crossed my arms. “I will not be teased,” I said and tilted my chin upward.
Cole rushed forward and stopped in front of me, strands of his black hair falling into his face. He had grown and filled in quite a bit over the years, and now he was a handsome man whose face occupied far too many of my dreams, not to mention my waking hours.
“Petulant child, they said. It seems they were right about you,” he taunted.
I pursed my lips. “What would they know? They hardly knew I disappeared,” I said and dropped my hands to my sides.
“Petulance will get you nowhere with me, little princess.”
Tears sprung in my eyes, so I turned away from him.
Cole turned me back, pulled me into his embrace, and kissed my forehead. “It is their loss, my love. Come, I will take you to your surprise.”
His hand slid down my arm, where his fingers tangled between mine. I followed him at a pace more appropriate for a human, which I knew annoyed him, but he made no complaints. I knew the path well. We were headed to our special place, a hidden field of wildflowers where we often lay together staring at the clouds. But once we left the thick forest, I was taken by surprise. Where there had once been a field now stood a grand castle fit for the wealthiest queen in all the world.
I gasped and gripped my dress at my chest. “Cole?”
His smile dipped into a single dimple on the right. “Do you love it?”
“For me?” I stared up at the sweeping arches and towers.
“Anything for you, Elfriede. Come, let’s explore your castle, shall we?”
“You built her a castle?” Snow’s taunting voice echoed behind us, her ever-present judgment always enough to ruin any moment.
Cole turned to see his sister, who stood against a tree, eating an apple. Her black hair curled around her face and spilled over her shoulders in waves. Snow had been jealous of me from the first moment, but she seemed to tolerate my presence if only because I made her brother happy—or perhaps because I limited his power by siphoning his darkness, leaving her the more powerful of the two.
“What do you want now, Snow?” Cole asked, biting his cheek.
“I was merely checking in on my brother and his pet.”
“She’s not a pet!” Cole sprang toward her, but I caught his arm and pulled him back toward the castle. Once we were inside, he would forget all about his sister and her jabs. I hoped one day she would see that what I offered Cole was peace, and in that came a certain quiet the forest had never seen before. If she would only let me offer her the same, then perhaps she would be happy as well.
“Touchy, touchy,” she teased. “Well, I must say this is a grand castle, but it will never make up for the things you do behind her back, brother.” With that, Snow darted away with the same speed Cole possessed, only she left confusion and sadness in her wake.
I had always wondered what Cole did when he was away, and if Snow was to be believed, it was not pleasant. I swallowed with great difficulty but let him choose how and when he would explain his sister’s accusations.
His dark eyes melted me in place, always so comforting and loving, but I held up my defenses as he opened his mouth. “I found a small village just beyond our usual absorption location. There is a young girl there, one who—”
“Another you love?” I asked, my lip trembling.
Cole scoffed and took my hand. “Do not let my sister point you toward false truths, Ellie. I love only you, and no other will ever take your place. The girl in the village, she is a beacon for darkness, and I was only trying to help her.”
“By absorbing it? That is why it has taken so much more to dilute yours?”
“It is. I am sorry I did not tell you, but I feared you might be upset with me for wandering farther than we agreed,” he admitted.
“She is happy and lives a good life with your help?” I asked.
“She does, but it is thanks to you, Ellie. I merely bring to you what she calls to herself.”
“Then we shall both go to her, and together we will find a way to cure her malady once and for all.”
I tried to sit when the memory faded. Bits of what happened later fell into place—how we became friends with the girl, helped her to focus her energy to defeat the darkness she called toward her, and how she vowed to always stand by my side. Then Snow killed her just to spite us both.
“I know it’s painful, darling, but you will survive it,” Jack said, then his voice faded into the next memory.
“Snow has lost all control!” Cole screeched as he, himself, started to lose his grip on the darkness. The amount of it that poured from poor Lisel’s body as she died was more than I could manage at once, forcing Cole to do what he was meant to do. He held what I could not dissolve, at least until I had recovered enough to consume more.
“Perhaps it was a mistake? Could it have been—”
“You always try to see the best in my sister, but there is nothing redeeming about her. When will you see she is nothing more than this... this thing we are?” Cole’s voice rose, and his eyes flamed with the evil inside. I hated seeing his eyes that way—consumed with the thing we both detested. When he held that much, he was not the Cole I loved. He was mean and angry, and he often did things that disagreed with my sensibilities, such as murdering an entire field of cows so that his frustration would not be misplaced upon the villagers or me.
“I am only hoping to see a better reality, but I suppose you are right. I’m well enough to take more, Cole. Please, let me ease the burden for you.”
I reached for him, but he pulled away. It had happened before when he had absorbed so much of the darkness that he almost forgot who I was or that he loved me, but I knew I could coax him toward me with a sweet smile and kind words.
“Come, Cole. Let me help you,” I whispered, then let my fingers slowly intertwine with his. He relaxed and fell into my arms.
“I promised her we would never let any harm come to her, Ellie. I lied.”
“You meant what you said. It was not a lie,” I said as I let my light draw the darkness from him. The familiar charge made us both a bit light-headed, so we sat beside one another on the floor in front of our favorite fireplace. He leaned into my touch, sighing with relief so great I felt it in my own heart.
“I love you, Ellie. I am sorry this is what our life must be.”
“Do not be sorry, Cole. We are the balance between light and dark, between good and evil, but at least we have each other to love.”
“Will you always love me?” he asked.
I squeezed him tighter, holding him in my embrace. “I always will.”
I felt tears slip from my cheeks as I remembered that moment. As each part of my life built on the last, I began to see the pattern. When I left Cole, I broke him. He had no one, and without me to stabilize the darkness, he had to take more and more. It made him—but wait!
I sat straight on the bed, a single moment of clarity taking my mind from the memory recall.
“Annabell?” Hayden asked as Caroline released her grip on my head.
“Cole was... he wasn’t the one that killed Little Wil,” I whispered, but it was too distorted for them to understand. I shook my head and said, “Snow... she... I must remember more. Please, Caroline.”
Caroline obliged and placed her palms on my temples again.
“Why my brother wants you to drain his power is beyond me,” Snow said as she observed her image in my mirror. I had tried to appeal to her for Cole’s sake, but it seemed Snow, and I had nothing in common.
“It gives him peace, Snow. That is all,” I said, fidgeting with the hem of my sleeve. Cole would return soon, and when he did, he would be angry that I let Snow into our home. Even so, I had hoped we would find common ground, and upon his arrival, he would see I had been right—but I was not, and now I had to figure out how to get his sister out of our home before she caused more trouble than her presence was worth.
Snow chuckled. “Peace indeed. I wonder...” she said, then slowly turned to observe me. Her flawless face held minimal expression until her ruby lips curled into a grin. Before I could move, she grasped my arm and dug her nails into the tender flesh. I felt the familiar feel of the transference, but it was such a surge my light could hardly contain it. Soon, it could not.
“Snow, you’re hurting me,” I said, but she only smiled more.
“I wonder if my brother will still dote over you when you’re all filled up with evil? It’ll be worth weakening myself to see what you become when the darkness invades your soul.” Snow tightened her grip, and the full surge of her power hit me. I was unconscious within seconds.
A jostling woke me, but only slightly. We were outdoors among the beautiful colors of the forest, far from our home.
“Just hold on, Ellie. Not much longer,” Cole said. He carried me, barely clinging to life until he reached the outskirts of a small village where we often watched the people carry on their daily tasks. Once we arrived, he gently placed me on a bed of thick leaves and perched beside me, his eyes trained on the village.
One of the baker’s daughters, a sweet girl with gentle magic that made the flowers bloom, entered the trees in search of something to occupy her while her bread rose. She hummed a melody that drifted toward my ears, but the darkness inside cringed. It surged forth, grasping my mind as she passed within a few paces.
Cole pressed his hand on my chest, keeping me in place. “I’ll do it,” he said. In a flash, the girl was by my side, screaming for her life.
I reached for her, grazed my fingers over her cheek, and whispered. Her screams ceased as her light soaked my soul with a brilliance that swallowed the darkness. Just a little... just a little more... until finally, the darkness was gone, and I could breathe again. I sucked in the air and let my eyes settle on Cole’s face.
“Thank goodness,” he said and pressed his forehead against mine. “I thought I lost you. I cannot lose you, Ellie. You’re all I have.”
“You won’t lose me, Cole. We must be more careful, that is all,” I said.
My eyes settled on a shadow in the distance—a wolf. I jerked upward, almost smashing my face into Cole’s. The baker’s daughter was pale, but she was alive. Cole reached for her to remove the darkness she had absorbed to save me, but before I could utter a word, Snow darted forward and lunged at him. Cole rolled away, unable to help the girl as he fought with his sister.
I scrambled toward her, hoping to absorb back enough of the darkness to save her before it took her entirely. Once I was over her, her eyes went wild with fright.
“Shh, it’s okay. I am sorry this happened to you, but I will help you.” I hadn’t meant to steal so much of her light, but Cole had never flooded me with as much darkness as Snow did, and I was unaccustomed to such power.
The girl let me grip her hand, and the transference began, but Snow was determined to have her die. Snow was too far gone to save, but those observations did little to help me. Cole had been knocked down a hillside, but he scrambled back toward us. He was too late. Snow knocked me away from the girl and sank her teeth deep into her throat. The baker’s daughter let out a single strangled cry, then her head rolled to the side.
Her lifeless eyes stared back at me, hollow and accusing. I gasped and leaped to my feet. “She’s dead!”
Snow licked her lips and charged into the forest before Cole reached us.
I turned on my heel and vomited, but even that did not ease my nausea. I had done it, the one thing I swore I would not let happen. It was the reason I let Cole take my light on occasion, to stem his own darkness so that he would not kill others. But I had instead. Too much of my own light was doused in darkness, and my body fed on it like a starved animal. And then... then I weakened the girl so much she could not even save herself from the wretched Snow.
“What have I done?”
“We had no choice. This was not your fault, but Snow’s. If you had not—”
“No.” I shook my head. “NO! I cannot excuse this!” I ran back toward our home, determined to find Snow and end her once and for all. I was not keen on murder, but when it was due punishment for such crimes, then... well, it was justice and not murder.
“Ellie!” Cole screamed behind me, but even he could not stop what was to come. No... when I saw Snow again, her head was mine.
I sucked in another breath, aware of just how well Snow had twisted my memories. She not only erased herself, but she twisted the story so that Cole was always the bad guy. He was not innocent, of course, but he was not the monster I believed he had turned into. The only thing I didn’t know for sure was how I had died. Had I really ended my own life, or had Snow helped me along?
“I’m not afraid of you, not anymore!” I shouted, but Snow kept pushing and pushing, testing my resolve. I had no intention of yielding an inch, but she was strong. “You must be stopped!”
“You won’t be the one to do it, little princess,” Snow scolded and pushed against me with her power harder with each word.
Hunting her had been difficult, especially since Cole sought to stop me at every pass. His concern that his sister was more powerful than me had been correct, but what Snow lacked was an unselfish reason to fight. Her only drive was to further her own agenda, to gain more power for herself, and to own everything she laid eyes on. But I wanted something different—a world where Cole could stop making up for his sister’s wrongs and live unencumbered by her ever-darkening tantrums and abuses of power.
I fought back, pushing my own light magic toward her. It clashed with hers in a thunderous explosion, but it was not enough once again. The moment I decided to retreat and regroup was the same moment a small child wandered from the forest and into Snow’s vision. The small boy gasped and tried to run, but he was caught in her crosshairs.
“No!” I screamed and lunged toward them. I toppled the boy and took the brunt of Snow’s steady stream of magic—darkness that sent a frigid chill and a bolt of pain straight down my spine. I cried out, but my scream was drowned by the earth opening beneath me. The boy fell with me, deep into an abyss with no end.
I managed to thrust my magic upward, pushing the boy back toward the surface. If he could run, he might escape Snow, but if he continued to fall with me, he would die. It was then the realization of my future came to me. I was weak and had only enough energy to save the boy or save myself. I chose the boy.
With one final push, the child reached the edge of the ever-widening crevasse and climbed over it. I heard no screams above, so I could only pray he managed to escape unseen by Snow. I, on the other hand, plummeted deeper into the darkness until I saw nothing, heard nothing, sensed nothing but the emptiness of death, reaching her clawed fingers toward me. And then... nothing.
I fought to bring myself back to the present, but there was one more thing the past wanted me to see. I had suspected my memory was wrong already, but my mind forced me to relive the scene just to be sure there was no mistaking the truth—Cole hadn’t killed Little Wil. It was Snow White.
“Dominic!” I screamed, dodging a bolt of lightning that shot from the sky like a bullet. Snow was in rare form, but we wouldn’t get another chance to end her once and for all, so I had to move fast. Even though half of our family had died when Hayden’s darkness took her, we still had a lot to fight for, and I wouldn’t go down without giving it all I had.
Dominic limped toward me but pointed down the half-lit street. The town was all but destroyed, but that was the least of our worries if Snow got away.
“Hurry! She took Wil! Hans went after them, but he needs help!” Dominic shouted.
“Where are the others?” I screamed over the sound of thunder. The wind whipped so hard it stung my face.
“On their way! Go!”
I raced down the darkened street as the last streetlamp flickered and died. Pelted by heavy rain, I pushed on until I saw a lump ahead of me. The red jacket was familiar—Hans. I fell to my knees beside him and checked his pulse. He was alive, only a little banged up. I shook him awake but darted down the street again once his eyes opened.
Snow had a significant head start, but I was determined to catch her before she made good on her threat to kill Wil, the only person I loved as much as I had loved... I shook my head. I couldn’t think of Cole anymore. He was gone, and Wil was not.
Ahead I saw two figures, one a bit taller than the other, with his hands up. Wil backed away but did not get far as Snow raised her hands. She thrust them forward and moved a pole toward Wil. I pushed my own light toward them and managed to shove Wil to the ground before it impaled him, but Snow was angrier than ever.
She turned on me and grasped her hand into a fist, magically strangling me. I clawed at my own neck, but it was useless. I had to focus my energy on her, and then she would be forced to release me. My mind settled on the task, and I focused on concentrating my energy into one steady assault on Snow—but nothing happened.
I felt the familiar tingling of a magical transference and realized too late that Snow was siphoning her darkness into me, weakening my magic. Before long, there was nothing I could do but dangle in her grip, nothing more than a bested mediocre princess capable of little more than watching people she loved die at every turn.
Snow dropped me, then turned her attention back to Wil. He ran toward me, but he never reached me. Instead, he fell on his knees with wide eyes, then fell forward. The pole jutted at an angle from his back.
I screamed and shot up again, this time fully awake. Hot tears sprang from my eyes as I remembered the agonizing moments after Wil’s death. Hans had reached him first, then Dominic and the others as I lay there, half-unconscious. I willed death to take me, to rip my life from my body and toss me away like it had all those centuries before, but it wouldn’t. Instead, it mocked me for months until I found the spell that would send me back again, once more to try to make things right. And now, as I sat staring into Caroline’s kind eyes, everything was slipping from my grasp again.
“Annabell?” Hayden’s sweet voice interrupted my misery.
“It was Snow that killed Wil, not Cole,” I said.
“Then... why did he taunt you about it? You said he took glee in—”
“It’s the Darkness. He’s spent so many centuries absorbing everything he can,” I said. “He’s barely hanging onto the man he was when I loved him, and the man Snow wanted him to be is just beneath the surface.”
“Uh... yeah, no, that doesn’t make any sense,” Jack said, scratching his head.
“Snow found a way to erase my memory of her and to overwrite them with her own versions, then insinuated herself into my spell. When I returned, she weaseled her way in with false prophecy and all manner of tricks and trials.”
“So... are you trying to say Cole is a good guy?” Jack asked.
Dannie settled her hand on her friend’s arm. “Not exactly good, but not all bad either. He’s not much different from us, cursed by darkness we fight each day.”
“And... everything about the Seven and the prophecy and all we have done through all these years is... a lie?” Hayden asked, her voice laced with a tone that said she felt everything I did—betrayed, tricked, and pushed to the brink of fury the likes of which only Snow’s head on a platter would abate.
“No. Our family and everything we built, that’s not a lie,” Jack said.
“And the Seven are not a lie, either. Their power does offer a balance for Cole, but it would offer something different to Snow,” I said.
“What’s that?” Hayden asked.
“If Cole absorbs them, it is merely a way to bring himself back to neutral. If Snow does, it is so the greatest source of power in the world is eliminated. Once the Seven are dead, there is no one to stop her.”
“But won’t she be weakened by absorbing that much light?”
“Yes, but only for so long,” I admitted, knowing what that meant for Cole as well. “But I don’t intend to let anyone absorb them. I’ll take all the darkness myself. Once I do—”
“No, Annabell! This is too much for one person. I know what that felt like, and if you do this, then it will kill you!” Hayden grasped my hands and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her in return, but I knew my place. I knew what I had to do to save everyone.