Bound| Fantasmical 2023

Fantasy: Just My Luck

I squeeze the paperweight in my fist. How ironic, my stupid brain thinks. This thing I was supposed to find would free me from the Devil, not bring me back to him. Am I really this foolish?

I don't know. I drape myself along the bars of my cell in what I suppose is an attempt at being "seductive," though I feel more like a dirty curtain. "Hades," I call, my voice still raspy. And he appears, rushing down the hall like a happy puppy. His eyes are excited and alight. There's a twinge in my chest. Had I not opened that box, would I have learned to love him?

"Can we go up to the surface?"

"Why don't you tour my kingdom?"

"Well, I'm hungry."

"There's a perfectly good pomegranate for you. Why don't you get it over with, flower?"

 I guess my luck is starting to turn. I sink to my knees, giving him big eyes.

"Oh, please." The tears that well in my eyes are surprisingly real. "I just miss the sunlight. Just one more time. I'm begging you."

He sighs at me. "Just this one more time, and then you need to eat down here. I promise, it's just what's best for you."

I nod eagerly and he opens the door. We materialize on the surface, that same grassy knoll, and he loops that same chain around my waist. But I have one last ace: my power. The one, stupid power I never had a use for before.

Shifting is awful. Your whole body falls apart in front of you. Bones snap and twist, your eyes move to different sides of your face, you feel like you're a horror-movie fright before you finally take up your form. Mine, a long-legged fawn.

I bound easily over the chain and race toward the castle in the distance, the mile or so much easier to clear now with my long legs. I hear Hades curse, and then my heart shoots through my throat. Because what do I hear? A growl. A bear's growl. I glance behind me, and my ears shoot straight up. Hades is massive, with a rippling black pelt and large fangs. And he's bearing (har har) down on me fast.

The castle comes closer in sight, and now I can make out the moat surrounding it. I jump it. And Hades barrels over the drawbridge. I'm heaving with exhaustion. So much so that I almost don't consider the people or homes around us. 

There's a woman holding fire. Two kids kicking a ball of water back and forth. Flowers sprouting on a man's hat.

They all scream and scatter.

I look around, desperate. I'm surrounded on all sides by narrow streets and tall beige houses.  I hear whispers of kill it! And I know what I also am as a deer, prey. I rush further into the town, and I hear the clatter of battlements, people preparing their bows from the windows of their homes. I'm running out of energy, but Hades' is endless.

I turn into an alleyway, and I choose to unshift so I can cry out. "Help me! Help me!"

There's a woman in a cloak huddled against the wall, peering at me. "Are you sure you want it?"

"Please!"

Hades rounds the corner, now his human form. Instead of the toga, he wears a crisp white shirt  navy blue plants, and a handsome matching vest hardly contains his chest. Those eyes, though, are still that brilliant, unnatural orange.

She knocks her hood off her head. "Heaven help you if you use it. I'm so sorry."

It's a wooden 'X', each side painted green, red, blue, and white. I squeeze the white side and a gust of wind pushes Hades out of the alley and toward the town square. It's oddly intuitive. Like an elemental steering wheel. I hit Hades with it all: Ice, snow, fire, vines, but he just keeps coming at me.

"You're mine, flower."

I can't escape him. Crowds have gathered around us, though no one steps in. They must know who he is. At last, frustrated, I direct a wall of trees to hide my escape and launch into the group of people. I expect them to part. But they don't. They latch on to me. They yank my arms behind me. They slash the side of my face with their nails.

"Four elements!"

"It controlled four elements!"

"Shapeshifter!"

The person in the cloak passes me. "Someone had to take it from me," she says. And it's clear to my ringing ears despite the wave of sounds and people. Magic? "They were going to burn you anyway with the deer thing."

"Witch!"

And Hades is gone. My heart hitches in my chest. Does he think I'll be easier to keep if I'm dead?

"All four elements! A real witch."

A magical kingdom with witch hunts. Oh yeah. My luck definitely turned.