Twisted Souls

Chapter 9

Everything is beginning to feel like a senseless dream. I'll wake up from this prolonged dream and write down the contents in my dream journal. I'll be shaken for a few minutes but then I'll laugh it off and tell my mom and we'll both have a good chuckle. In fact, it's a little strange that my dream has a plot to it and characters, usually that doesn't happen.
"OK Mallory. You're going to wake up any second. You'll either be laid out in your bed or the backyard. Any second now."
Panic begins to surge through my body. It's when I open my eyes that I realize this is for real.
"No! No, no, no, no, no! I had to have imagined that! This can't be right!"
I'm pretty sure that I'm experiencing something of a mini panic attack. I know this shouldn't be resulting in a panic attack, and for other 'normal' people this wouldn't. But for me this is huge.
"True love?" I'm only just tuning into the conversation still happening between Xalale and the fuchsia haired fairy, or witch or whatever she was.
Xalale doesn't sounded panicked or fearful like me, on the contrary, he's still his calm, level-headed self.
"Yes. She's your true love and you're hers." She explains. "It's just how the universe planned it."
"No, no, no! This is not how the universe planned it, and if it is I want a new set of cards, I haven't been dealt the right ones."
Xalale doesn't say anything in response, he just leans back and thinks to himself. I'm on the verge of bolting as fast as lightning out of here, but miraculously I stay put.
"Your Majesty, if I may have a private word with Mallory, I would need to talk to her."
"Anything you want to say to her you can say in front of me."
She cowards a little and meekly replies,"That is very true, but it's rather pressing that I inform her of this privately."
After a minute of speculating, Xalale gives her a stone cold stare and says,"Only for three minutes."
Surprisingly, a sigh of relief comes from both of us and I make my way towards her. We crowd over to a dark corner as far away as we can without being overheard.
"We must speak fast, so apologies if this won't make any sense at this time." She whispers quickly.
"He's not really my true love, right?" I'm hoping she just said that to appease him.
She gives me a grim look. "The fates, unfortunately, never lie."
My small bit of hope deflates.
"How is this possible?" I hiss. "I'm not suppose to be here. He's not suppose to be my true love. My true love is a blond from with stunning green eyes who shows me the world and gives me an experience of a lifetime." Maybe stretching it there but that's the way it's suppose to be.
She shakes her head. "I don't completely understand it myself. My mother and aunt they predicted- it never could've happened-"
Suddenly she stops and look intensely at me. "Unless-"
"Mallory..." She starts slowly. "You're not from this world, are you?"
"Uh oh."
"No..." I say cringing at my own response.
"There lies the problem. Years ago, my mother and aunt put a curse over the king- one they were sure couldn't be reversed- because of the evils the king has committed. The king will turn to stone on the eve of his twentieth year, and the only way the spell could be reversed is if his true love would kiss him and mean it. My mother and aunt made sure to check with the fates to see if anyone would be able to break the curse. They checked and even looked further into the future to make sure. But they only checked this world."
I facepalm myself. "This is crazy, this unbelievable." I look up. "No. This isn't unbelievable. This is exactly what I should've expected."
She looks at me unsure, but to me it's making sense.
"All my life I've been rewarded the short stick. Ever since the day I was born my mistakes have always landed me somewhere I didn't want to be. All my planning for nothing! The universe or God, or fates, or whoever is running this show, didn't add in the lucky trait when I was being designed. My parents even stuck the appropriate name for me on the birth certificate."
She gives me sympathetic look.
"Do you know how to get back home?" She ask gently.
"If I did do you think I would be hanging around here?"
"I can help you."
I give her a weak smile. "The people who tried to help me out last time got their village burned down because of me. You sure you still want to help?"
"Absolutely." She returns my weak smile with an encouraging one of her own."My name's Sephora by the way."
"That's a pretty name."
"Thank you. I hopefully will return to help you if the king allows me to come back. Until then, I will try to figure out a plan. You should remain here for the time being"
I cringe but agree.
"I didn't get the feeling that you had, but just in case." She gave me a serious yet worrisome expression. "You haven't kissed him yet, have you?"
Biting my lip, I take a second to respond. "It was this strange urging to, like some unknown force."
"Did anything strange happen after that?" Her eyes pleaded with me to say no.
"No, I didn't notice anything strange happen after that."
She becomes relieved. "That good. The moment you kiss him and mean it, things are going to start unraveling."
"Don't hold your breath on that happening."
By this time our three minutes are up and Sephora says her farewells to the king and leaves.
I'm feeling pretty defeated and trapped at this point. I haven't got a clue on how to get home or get around this true love thing (I'm feeling like an ass about this true love idea). OK, so I need to make a mental checklist of the damage done and needing to be repaired. I'll just do what I normally do when I cause a disaster at home.
Well I of course need to find a way home, I also need to fix this 'true love' situation (maybe file a complaint to the fates), I can't forget about Elle and Coxen. I don't know what happened after I was dragged off and I wonder if everyone's ok.
"It's not my longest checklist." I try to think positively. "But...it's definitely my toughest."
Nevertheless I have people trying to help me get home so that's a good start.
"Mallory."
My thoughts are interrupted by Xalale, who is giving me a expecting look.
"You never answered my question."
"Huh?" I didn't even hear him ask one.
"The question I meant to ask you in the garden. Do you want to stay with me for a while?"
"Oh yeah I remember the answer to that. No!"
I instead come up with a more subtle rejection.
"I- I mean, I really don't know if that would work and all. My friends are probably missing me and they worry very easily..."
"I could always deliver a message to ease their worries."
"Oh, um...yeah but I would just get in your way. I don't like being a burden to people."
"You would be no burden to me Mallory. In fact your presence seems to calm me."
Wait. So throwing spears through people is his calm state!?
"Oh, well that's nice of you to say but-" But what? "But my parents told me never to stay at a stranger's house. King or not."
Yeah, I was going with that, even though my parents never said such a thing. Living in a small town where everyone knows each other, you don't really hit on stranger danger as much. Plus, strangers don't come through our town that often.
Xalale is quiet for a minute. He sits in his throne thinking about it before replying.
"Oh well that's very unfortunate."
His voice never changes emotions. It always cool and calm even there should be disappointment or let down- like a normal human being.
After that there's just an awkward silence between us. I don't know whether to leave or stay or say goodbye or something like that, but the silence last for a few seconds.
As I decide to just leave quietly the door to the throne room opens and a guard appears in the doorway.
"Your Majesty, I-"
The sound of an object flying through the air last only for a few seconds before being followed by a sickening crack. The man falls dead with a knife planted square in the head.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Xalale sit back down. The speed of the kill caught me off-guard and staring at the river of blood ooze from the lifeless body freezes me in place.
I didn't even know it was humanly possible to throw a knife with that much speed and accuracy. That was like an assassin kill.
"I would be very honored if you stayed."
I'm startled at the sound of his voice but don't look away from the bloody cobblestone. I don't want him to see the fear in my eyes.
"It would also be beneficial to the both of us seeing how we're soul mates."
I visibly shudder at that word- soul mates. My soul mate, my true love, is psychopath who kills people when he's upset.
A disturbing realization hits me. I'm not just trying to balance for my life, if I do or say something that upsets or angers him, one or more of these servants are dead- and their blood would be on my hands. For now, as my mom would say, I better fly right and stick to the program.
"Yeah, you're right, I'll just stay here for a while. No rush." My eyes are still fixated on the river of blood running down the cobblestone.
"New item on checklist: Don't die."