Theresa Maria

For School

Disclaimer: I do now own any of these characters. The only thing I did was make this scene happen. I do not own this book either. (hint: why it's fanfiction)

I breathed silently, in and out, in and out. The music flooding in from upstairs drowned out the painful and suspenseful throbs from my pounding heart. Moments passed by as the guards crept closer to Theresa Maria and Tobias. A cold panic came over me, sweat dripped down the side of my face. Time seemed to slow as the light of the wandering candle found them. Beady, teary eyes filled with fear and uncertainty stared at the guards. Tobias’ bottom lip trembled slightly. I saw him shrink into Theresa Maria, and his eyes widened slightly.

Said woman had her arms wrapped securely around Tobias, as if the closer he was to her, the less likely he was to get hurt, yet he looked like nothing more than a human shield.

The words spoken from the guards didn’t process in my head as I pushed all things away to focus on an attack plan. I could see the silhouettes of my group slowly creeping close, from each corner. They were thinking of there own plans, but waiting for my signal. I thanked them mentally for their bravery, and loyalty.

With a deep, silent breath I slid the dagger I had cut Tobias’ gag off with out of my pocket and gripped it, again and again, making sure it was secure in my clammy grasp. The pressure of the situation formed a tight ball in my stomach, but I couldn’t let myself think of how real this was. Or how wrong this could go.

With a slow sigh, I spun the weapon in my hand and readied myself, only to stop when an authoritative voice questioned, “Is there some difficulty, gentlemen?” I ground my teeth together, falling back into my corner, stopping myself from attacking the man out of reflex. My actions were copied my men and a pang of relief zapped me for a moment. I paid attention to how things played out, making sure to watch all of the men carefully. To make sure none of them hurt Theresa Maria.

I knew it was my job to protect her and keep her safe, even if Zoltan had not directly told me to. I could tell that Theresa Maria and him cared dearly about each other.

I saw a smug glint in Theresa Maria’s uncle’s eyes as he mewed, “My dear Theresa, really. I thought the gown I purchased for you at a great expense was much more flattering.”

I wanted to snort at his petty words. It was clear that he was shocked at her presence. His tense form was easily hidden under the layers of clothing, but the tight jaw line on his face gave away his fake, calm expression.

I looked back at Theresa Maria, clutching a gun. The gun was something I hadn’t noticed before. It shocked me to see her hold it so calmly, though I could tell she wanted to break and scream. I could tell by the gleam in her eyes she was beyond hatred when it came to this man. She despised him with every part of her being. I couldn’t say I didn’t agree with her opinion on hating him. After the things he had done, it was only fair that this man didn’t get fairly judged.

Her uncle went on ignoring the look, “Your father would have been proud of you, no doubt. He was just a bit too smart for his own good, and it seems he’s passed that dubious quality on to you.” He glanced around at his men and let his eyes settle on one. He commanded to the man, “Secure her!” Then his eyes hardened in an inimical way as he addressed Theresa Maria again. “Your poor mother will be informed that, like so many children in this wicked city, you and your brother were abducted by gypsies and sold into slavery in Turkey.” A vile, sick liquid of anger poured into my gut at his words. I had heard enough of his words, enough of his lies. This man’s mere presence made me a negative mess. A pleasant, single chuckle passed almost soundlessly from her uncle’s mouth before he continued to torture Theresa with words. “She will weep, but with another on the way, I daresay she’ll get over it.”

I diverted my eyes from her uncle just to see Theresa Maria’s eyes glaze over with hate, disgust and anger. She released Tobias, pushing him to the side. Her face was blank and almost an eerie sight to see and she pulled back the firing pin on the gun, and pulled the trigger.

A blinding flash of sudden light zapped the room, momentarily blinding me. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming in sudden shock. A loud growl almost came from her uncle, and the sudden feeling of knowing the bullet had hit him made a joyous feeling wash over me.

It didn’t last long seeing as my men took this as a time to attack, and quickly ambush the guards while they were still dazed.

I kicked one guard that stumbled in front of me in the gut, his eyes widening in shock. I quickly stepped back and balled my hand into a fist, slamming it down on his face. He was knocked out cold the second his head made contact with the stone floor. I scanned my surroundings. The candle had been dropped on the floor, falling on some cloth, lighting the room up. The innocent children cowered in the corner around Tobias and an unconscious Theresa Maria. I growled at the sight of them. Everything was going deadly wrong. We needed to get out of here. Fast!

As I planned what to do, my mind slipped from the fight— a man charged at me, tackling me to the ground. I groaned as I was roughly slammed to the floor with the heavy man on top of me. He swung his arm back, ready to hit me, but I jerked my lower half of my body, making him unbalanced and then shoved him easily off of me, letting gravity do the hard work. I popped up as soon as the man slid off of me, and ran towards Theresa Maria and lifted her bridal style before nodding to Tobias to follow.

I jumped, suddenly a thousand times more alert, as another shot was fired. Luckily no one was hit. But, all of the gypsies were frozen in shock, not sure what to do. The weight of the situation dawning on them all at once. These guards had guns, and other weapons that could easily overpower them. They had nothing. One guard saw them all frozen and attacked the nearest gypsy near himself with a dagger. I felt my eyes widen as a scream ripped from Brishen’s mouth. The poor boy grasped his arm and that was when I knew it was now or never. We had to go.

“Durral! Brishen! Let’s go!” I shouted, dragging my two companions with me as I bolted for the sewer door. I pulled it open with ease, and didn’t close it.

I carefully, but quickly, padded down the stairs, being careful not to bounce too much in my steps with Theresa on my back. The sewer stairs turned, spiraling down and down. I froze at the bottom, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I stumbled on a patch of ice, and waited for my men to come behind me.

“We’re all here,” Durral informed in a raspy whisper. “Let’s go.” With those words, I quickly led them through the sewer, ignoring the disgusting smell that burned my nose.

About forty-five minutes of jogging, we came to a spot where I knew well. I turned to a halt, and stared at my panting men. “Let’s stop. I think we lost them,” I suggested. The men sighed and leaned against the filthy walls, panting and sweaty. I sighed and set Theresa Maria down gently against the wall, feeling her head. I wasn’t sure what kind of medical attention she required, but I knew her head injury was something she could probably sleep off. Feeling she was fine, I sighed and leaned against the wall, happily resting my sore and aching body. My head throbbed as well in a blasted headache that came from thinking about what just happened. Even with the headache, I felt relief wash over me that we were all fine, left with no fatal wounds, for now.

A/N: So, this is something I did for a CA project. The objective of this one-shot is to try and get you to read the book. So, I hope that this interested you enough to read it. I really hope it did. I want an A on this project, and I also get extra points if I get feed back, so please, please, please review and comment. If you liked this, by all means, vote! I'm so excited to post this. I will love all kinds of feed back.

Little information: This is based from the book, "The Musician's Daughter". This is very good book. Lovely plotted, yet this was the only opening I could see that I could write this cute little thing with. In order for you to find out who's POV this was in, you would have to read the book. I promise you it's worth it.