It wasn't often that Eve had the chance to sneak away from her sisters, but when she did she always went to the same place. Down in the dungeons, that's where he would be, that where he would always be. The boy, Arthur, would be waiting for he. He did every night, hoping for those few when she would come see him. Tonight was no different. He sat there, staring at the bars of his cell, waiting for her. When he saw the glint of her red hair in the moonlight he perked up, leaning against the bars to get a better look.
She knelt down in front of him, hands grabbing his. "You're awake." She smiled, gently caressing his cheek.
"I knew you'd come tonight, I could feel it."
"I don't have long. They'll wonder where I've gotten to." She whispered as she ran her fingers through his thin hair. "I think I've figured out how to get you out of here."
"Us...right?"
"Yes, together, but I don't think you're going to like it very much." She looked down at his hands. They were bony, bloody, skeletal, gaunt. She gently touched them and he winced but didn't pull away. He was dying, she was sure of it, she needed to get him out.
"Anything." His white lips were cracked and stuck together as he spoke. He met her eyes, sensing the concern on her face. "What is it?"
She didn't meet his eyes. "I think the only way to get you out of here it to....make you...undesirable to them."
He narrowed his dark eyes at her. She still kept her eyes on his hands as she gently stroked them. He didn't quite understand what she meant but he had enough of an idea to really think about what she was offering. "How?" He finally asked. She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "How do you do it?"
She stared at him for a moment. She hadn't expected him to agree that the fact that he was even asking was shocking in and of itself. "A spell." She finally said. "It took a long time to find, I don't think they even know it exists." She said, her voice low. "But if done properly then...." She trailed off, looking down the derelict hallway.
"What does it do?" His words were clear as he reached through the bars to grab either side of her face, forcing her to look at him. She met his eyes again.
"It separates you."
"Separates?"
"You and the wolf. It makes you two. You'd still be connected but you wouldn't be one. If you weren't one then those powers that they feed off of, they would be gone."
He thought for a moment, glancing back at the small hole in the wall that showed the sky outside, the only bit of light of the moon was just barely a sliver. He took in that but of moonlight and then looked back at her. "Do it."
"What?" She hadn't expected him to agree.
"Do it." He affirmed. "Please." His voice was weak but she knew he was trying to sound stronger.
"Okay." She nodded curtly. "On the new moon. That's when it's easiest."
"Three days?"
"Yes." She nodded, standing up and looking back down the hallway. "I have to go." She started down the hallway but turned back to him for a brief moment to offer him a small smile. He slid back against the cold dirt wall, his face just barely illuminated in the moonlight and closed his eyes. He had to do this. He needed to be free.
*
At midnight on the new moon, Eve sat outside of the dungeons, just next to the hole that was Arthur's window. He could just barely see her but he knew she was there, her being close was a comfort. As she sat there, surrounded by earth and stone and starlight, she muttered words that he didn't understand. But as she spoke and the words quickened and smoke around her started to billow he could feel it, he could feel something inside of him changing.
