Embellished With Lies

Chapter Twenty-Four

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM. PLEASE READ.

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"Shoot," I muttered, shaking my head back and forth. I pressed my back up against the cold cement blocks of the castle. Glancing over at Molly, I realized that she had not been planning on them being there either.

"They are not supposed to be there," she noted. "They are supposed to be at the front. Oh goodness, what are we to do now?"

"We take 'em out."

"What?"

I shrugged. "As much as I don't want to hurt anyone, we gotta do what we gotta do if I want to go home, you know?"

"I assume," she replied. "Let us move, shall we?"

We gotta take them out, my brain kept reminding me. We have to kill them. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

"Tessa," Molly began, staring down at my little sister. "I do not want you to do anything quite yet, alright? We will give you a signal when we want you to come with us, when it is safe."

She nodded. "Okay," she squeaked.

"Come on, Matthew," Molly urged in an extremely hushed tone. "Do you have your knives on you?"

I glanced down at the satchel that Lady Tremaine had made me wear; all my knives were stashed there in a messy heap. "Yeah, why?"

"I want you to throw it at the left one."

"The left one? The left what?"

She rolled her eyes and looked like she was about to strangle me. She probably would've too if it wasn't for our situation. "The left guard, Matthew. You must hurry up; we have not the whole night."

I grabbed one of the knives out of my bag and gripped it in my hand, the soft leather rubbing against my palm.

I really didn't want to do this, but I knew that I had to.

Without second thoughts, I aimed and heaved the knife as far as it would go; it left my hand and pierced the guard's chest.

"Hu!" He choked, holding his heart.

My mouth went dry.

"Pierre, are you alright?" the other guard questioned, standing by the fallen man's side. "What is happening?"

The man, Pierre, had stopped breathing.

I had killed a man.

"Move in," Molly ordered, gesturing for me to follow her. She tripped on a branch, though, causing her to fall onto the ground with a large thud.

I was surprised, actually, that it wasn't me being the one who had fallen over. I was usually pretty coordinated - hence the reason I play baseball - but this was the most pressure that I had ever undergone. I honestly had no idea how I wasn't the one to screw things up.

"Who is there?" The other guard looked around, extending his giant spear towards our direction.

Molly looked at me; it was game time.

The two of us rushed towards the guard, grabbing our weapons.

"Really? On my first day on the job," he muttered, holding out his spear. "Come here, if you dare."