Chapter 20: Chapter 20

[PRESENT]

Looking left and right, I push them in to a staff’s bedroom.

Gwen frowns at me as I close the door behind her.

“Hey, watch it. What are we doing in here,” She looks around, “Don’t tell me that you’re going to kill us and hide our bodies.”

Estella remains silent as she looks around, her dark red hair swaying around her neck.

“This place is the only place I can grantee that we won’t be eavesdropped on.”

“This place is the only place… what kind of english is that?”

I roll my eyes, “Thank you for noting that, Einstein. Why did you bring her here, it isn’t safe.”

“As long as I am here. It is,” Gwen shrugs

As we argue, Estella slowly sits on the bed and sighs, “This place is really beautiful. It’s a bummer that demons live in it.”

I blink, “What?”

Gwen turns to her, with her face scrunched in confusion, “I am not a demon. I don’t think I have horns but that would be cool. I heard that she-devils are very hot.”

I am tempted to roll my eyes again but I ignore it, “You know very well that the devil is here, then why are you here!”

“I never said the devil. I said demons,” She tilts her head sideways and her hair follows.

“Okay, she’s freaking me out,” Gwen mutters with her lips pulled back in to a wince.

Estella eyes trails to me as she stands on her feet, “I am here to help you escape.”

I turn to Gwen with a raised eyebrow before I look back at her.

“I’m sure Gwen filled you in on my situation and you must know that I can’t step a foot outside the castle gates.”

“I need to see what I am working with.”

“No, you want me to get fried,” I say, “My sister isn’t going to be happy when she hears that I am fried.”

“I’m sure she’ll call some vultures to come get you,” Gwen sniggers, “Get it, vultures!”

I ignore her.

Estella eyes her and ignores her too, her eyes back on me.

“I need to know what he did you you. I think I can help.”

“Please don’t tell me that you’re a witch, I don’t smell any magic on you,” Gwen scrunches up her nose as she inhales, “No magic at all.”

“I’m a werewolf, my princess.”

I frown at Estella’s words, “Sometimes I wonder if she really is a princess.”

“Hey! I will ignore that if we get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps,” Her eyes bounces around the room before she rushes to open the door, “Y’all coming?”

Estella moves out before I do, and I close the door behind me.

“I didn’t feel anything creepy about that room.”

“Well, I did and I am not getting in to any of your strange rooms again.”

“That’s not gonna happen. The next time you won’t be able to feel it because you will be dead!” Gwen glares at me intensely and the goofy smile I have on my face disappears.

“Yeah, that’s how I feel when you barf out stupid words from your mouth.”

“I have never barfed out anything in my life.”

I send her an unconcerned stare, “You should go check yourself then.”

Estella who has been silently walking forward, stops on her tracks and turns to us, “Are you going to show me or not?”

“Show you to her bedroom? She asks, you’ve already seen that.”

I blow out a heavy breath as I turn to glare at Gwen. She shuts her lips tightly when she notices.

“I will do that if you so insist. I don’t want two females nagging at me,” I begin to walk forward, her eyes trails down my neck in confusion.

“The princess told me about the double mark situation but I didn’t notice it until now.”

“Seriously? Her hair isn’t even covering it,” Gwen rushes to me, “She has a bob cut but now it is growing more than that. I kind of like it, yeah, I’ll do that to my hair.”

“Goddess, please stop talking.”

Facing Estella, I begin to speak, “Didn’t you smell him on me?”

She shakes her head, “I can’t smell a thing which is weird. It’s strange but I think the mark is not effective.”

As her eyes move to my face, I frown, my fingers slowly brushing the bite mark on my neck.

A ripple of sparks attack me almost immediately and I pull back quickly.

“Okay. That was unexpected,” I blink, “It is effective. I can feel both of them through it somehow and I feel somewhat like the day I stepped out of that gate.”

Gwen gasps and pulls my hair back, “Do you think that the mark has something to do with it?”

Her breath fans against my neck and I squirm, pushing her away.

“No, I got marked-” I blink at my own words, “Well, I got marked indirectly after that happened.”

“After you got fried?”

I don’t know where Gwen gets a packet of chips but she does and starts crunching on them.

“You know, this place would have been flooded with maids and guards and we wouldn’t be standing here talking about Minerva’s fried body. I think that shock did something to her hair, it’s extra soft.”

Her eyes remains fixed on my hair as she transfer the packet of chips to her other hand and stretches out her hand.

Before she can touch me again, I flick her hand away and her face wrinkles in to a frown.

“That was rude.”

She bits on another chip and Estella eyes her hands,”How did you get that?”

“I always have a snack on me. You never know when you can get hungry.”

She stretches out her arm, “Want some?”

“No, thanks,” Estella bits her lips slowly as she takes the chips from her, “On second thought, yeah.”

“Please don’t eat that. I am really scared, you might contact some of her brain cells. They are carriers of lots of diseases. You can get yourself affected.”

Gwen turns sharply with a glare in her eyes, a glare directed at me,”I’m disease free. Werewolf hardly get ill.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” I roll my eyes and face Estella with a smile up her face.

“Don’t let her discourage you, honey. I’m disease free, I got anti-viruses up in my blood.”

“You did not just say that.”

Gwen shrugs and chews on her last piece of chip, “I did. Now can we go, the guards are on their break.” she looks down at her wrist in thought.

“Er… you don’t have a watch, Gwen and when did the guards start taking breaks that makes them leave their posts completely.”

She rolls her eyes and grabs my wrist,”Since I became obsessed with annoying my brother and that is when I found out you were locked up. I got my plan drafted in my head. A lot of plans.”

She holds me tightly, dragging me to towards the gate. I look around in fear of being caught.

“Are you sure that they are on break?”

Estella shrugs, “I don’t see anyone here so, yeah.”

“Look at that, your friend has a lot of brain cells than you,” Gwen smirks.

“Or you have transmitted your disease brain cells already,” I smirk back at her, receiving a glare as my reward.

“I’m so satisfied that you are about to be fried. That’s one of the most painful way to go.”

“Er… guys?”

We turn to see Estella standing close to the open gate.

“That wasn’t open before.”

I roll my eyes, “Your brain cells are getting in the way of knowing that she opened it.”

“My brain cells are fine, Minerva. Just tell me that you want one of them in to your head and I’ll understand. I’ll probably look for a male to give you.”

“I don’t think there are any males in there and I don’t want any of your brain cells in me.”

Gwen narrows her eyes at me, “That’s alright, my brain cells don’t want to be in your brain.”

“Minerva!” Estella steals my attention again as she points to the gate, “We are wasting a lot of time here.”

“I am a little surprised that no one has caught us… yet.”

“Don’t jinx this for me, Gwen,” I hiss at her even though she is behind me as I walk slowly towards the gate.

Gosh, it looks like it’s mocking me.

“Says the girl who didn’t want to do this in the first place.”

I ignore her but when I hear crunching sounds in response, I face her.

“Are you seriously eating a biscuit now… how did you even get that?”

“I always have a snack in my pocket. Correction, snacks in my pockets,” Her hands separates as she shrugs.

“I really want to hit- Arghh!”

Estella pushes me out before I can even know what is going on.

Immediately, blasts of energy, shock hits my off my feet and I whimper out in hot pain as it devoures my skin, my body.

It doesn’t last long though, Estella pulls me back inside with hast and then she collapses beside me on the ground. At a point, it felt like the energy transferred from my body to hers.

The sound of the gate makes me look up to see Gwen closing them quickly before she comes our way.

Estella’s eyes remain on me, they are widen in shock, “I never want to feel that again.”

“That’s what I said before… I think.”

A sound escapes her lips as she tries to laugh. It sounds like a mouse and a whistle all together.

How weird.

“My body hurts,” I complain.

“Mine too.”

Gwen stares at her hands in both relief and confusion.

“Thank the Goddess, that the gate wasn’t laced with whatever it is that is hurting you two.”

Estella stretches out her arms in Gwen’s direction, “Help me up please.”

“Oh, sorry about that,” She rushes to help her off her feet.

The sound of footsteps invades my hearing for quickly and Gwen panics, in the process, she lets go of Estella’s arms and she drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“The guards are back,” Gwen hurries us up, “Stand up, stand up. I love my head on my neck.”

We stand on our feet and rush in to the castle though leaps and groans. Gwen’s only job is to close the door behind us.

I sigh and look around, “I don’t think this is the safest place for us to be right now. Follow me.”

“It better not be the place we got out from.”

When I open the door to our destination she groans.

“Of course, it is.”

I imagine her rolling her eyes as she and Estella step inside and I close the door.

“Get used to it. Your brother won’t think to check for us here.”

“Girl, you’re kidding. I have disowned that kid.”

Walking to Estella as she sits on the bed, I catch her attention as I also join her there.”

“That actually scared me,” She says.

“Good, so you won’t bother me with that again.”

She breathes out, “I don’t know how to help you, Minerva. I really don’t.”

“Neither do I.”