The Nutcracker King (Coming From Darkness #1)

Chapter 5 Part 3: Marie

The Nutcracker was late again. Marie lay in bed, a churning feeling in her stomach. No, she told herself, this was not like the other time, when the Nutcracker was late because he killed Princess Pirlipat, who he said deserved it anyway because it was for her sake, because it was her fault. No, he was simply late.

Finally, she heard footsteps. Marie quickly jumped out of bed, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the Nutcracker. The Nutcracker was completely red. With his purple jacket a ruby red, and sword dripping stains all over the floor again, he looked as though he had been dropped in a bucket of red dye.

"Put your hands down, Demoiselle Marie," the Nutcracker said wearily. "Doing that will just make the smell seem worse. I'll shrink you down now." He waved his hand to start the spell.

"No!" Marie cried, removing her hands from her face. The Nutcracker's eyes widened, and Marie hastily added, in a softer tone, "I mean, what happened, Nutcracker? I thought everything ended with Princess Pirlipat."

"There was another traitor."

The Nutcracker shrugged, trying to act nonchalantly, but something about the set of his shoulders made Marie want to pick him up and hug him. But before she moved forward, a thought struck her.

"Nutcracker," Marie whispered, "who was the traitor?"

Please let it not be Godfather Drosselmeier. Please let it not be Godfather. Please let it be anyone but dear Godfather Drosselmeier. I don't even mind that he embarrassed me at dinner the other day. Please, let it not be Godfather.

"It was my uncle Drosselmeier."

"You killed Godfather Drosselmeier? What did he do to you?"

"Dear Marie, I've explained, he was a traitor. It was necessary." The Nutcracker stated flatly. He wasn't a hero, Marie realised, he was cruel. "Now come along. We have no time to waste."

"No, go away, I never want to see you again!" Marie grabbed the nearest object, in this case her slippers, and hurled it at the Nutcracker. The Nutcracker moved forward, and for a moment Marie thought he was going to drag her to Marzipan Castle to 'talk' to her, but then came the stomping of blessed footsteps. The Nutcracker must have heard them too, for he vanished, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind. Marie bent down to scrub it away, but all she did was smear the floor.

"Marie, what's wrong?" Her parents burst into the room. "We heard you scream."

"I..." Marie wanted to tell her parents what had happened. But why would they believe her?

"Why is Marie screaming again? I have to join my regiment tomorrow and she's disturbing my sleep." Fritz came into the room complaining. Of course, he never lost a chance to remind everyone about the Hussars. "You know, Marie." Fritz added, "most people have the decency to scream only once per nightmare."

Marie latched on to the lifeline Fritz unwittingly threw her. Twisting her hands, she said, "It's nothing. I had a bad dream that something terrible happened to Godfather Drosselmeier. I'm sorry."

Her parents smiled in relief while Fritz scoffed.

"I knew it. I can't believe you kicked up such a big fuss over a silly dream. Don't disturb me again." Fritz marched out of the room, leaving Marie with her parents. Marie wanted them gone, so she could wash the bloodstains. But her mother looked down at the floor, and her face changed.

"I see," she said, "yes, that does cause mild hysteria in young ladies, doesn't it?" Mother nudged Father, discreetly pointing to the blood.

"Oh, uh, yes," father said. "I, er, I'll be going now. You two will be fine on your own?"

"Yes, yes," Mother said, shooing him out of the room. She turned back to Marie with an indulgent smile, "your father may be a doctor, but he still can't accept that his daughter is all grown up. Now, go wash up, and I'll make sure Cook has a hot drink ready when you come back. We'll clean up that stain in the morning."

Chapter 5 is finally done! Please let me know what you think of the story(: