Fire Princess

Chapter Twenty-Two

Agatha was on edge. Since the attacks had gone on for days on end, the Elders were moving Sophie to a place that was safer, but the Elders hadn't given Agatha any details. Sophie had promised her it'd only be for the weekend, but Agatha wasn't too sure.

The problem with living in a graveyard is the dead have no need for light. Besides the flittering torches over the gates, the cemetery was pitch-black at midnight, and anything beyond just an inky shadow. Peering through her window's broken shutters, Agatha caught the sheen of white tents down the hill, pitched to house those left homeless by the attacks. Somewhere out there, the Elders were about to move Sophie to safety. All she could do was wait.

"I should have hidden near the church," she said, and licked a fresh scratch from Reaper, who still acted like she was a stranger.

"You can't disobey the Elders," said her mother, sitting stiffly on her bed, eyes on a mantle clock with hands made of bones. "They've been civil since you stopped the kidnappings. Let's keep it that way."

"Oh please," Agatha scoffed. "What could three old men possibly do to me?"

"What all men do in times of fear." Callis' eyes stayed on the clock. "Blame the witch."

"Mhm. Burn us at the stake too," Agatha snorted, flopping into her bed.

Tension thickened the silence. She sat up and saw her mother's strained face, still staring ahead.

"You're not serious, Mother."

Sweat beaded on Callis' lip. "They needed a scapegoat when the kidnappings wouldn't stop."

"They burnt women?" Agatha said in shock.

"Unless we married. That's what the storybooks taught them to do."

"But you never married-" Agatha sputtered. "How did you survive-"

"Because I had someone stand up for me," her mother said, watching the bones strike eight. "And he paid the price."

"My father?" Agatha said. "You said he was a rotten two-timer who died in a mill accident."

Callis didn't answer, gazing ahead.

A chill prickled up Agatha's spine. She looked at her mother. "What did you mean when you said Stefan suffered worst of all? When the Elders arranged his marriage?"

Callis' eyes stayed on the clock. "The problem with Stefan is he trusts those he shouldn't. He always believes people are Good." The long bone ticked past eight. Her shoulders slumped with relief. "But no one is as Good as they seem, dear," her mother said softly, turning to her daughter. "Surely you know that."

For the first time, Agatha saw her mother's eyes. There were tears in them.

"No-" Agatha gasped, a red rash searing her neck-

"They'll say it was her choice," Callis rasped.

"You knew-" Agatha choked, lurching for the door. "You knew they weren't moving her-"

Her mother intercepted her. "They knew you'd bring her back! They promised to spare you if I kept you here until-"

Agatha shoved her into the wall-her mother lunged for her and missed. "They'll kill you!" Callis screamed out the window, but darkness had swallowed her daughter up.

Without a torch, Agatha stumbled and tripped down the hill, rolling through cold, wet grass until she barrelled into a tent at the bottom. Mumbling frantic apology to the family who thought her a cannonball, she dashed for the church between homeless dozens stewing beetles and lizards over fires, wrapping their children in mangy blankets, bracing for the next attack that would never come. Tomorrow the Elders would mourn Sophie's valiant "sacrifice," her statue would be rebuilt, the villagers would go on to a new Christmas, relieved of another curse...