Lucky and the Killer ✔

We're Leaving Now

It was quiet by the time Lucky was brave enough to open the door. She stayed outside until the guards came and went. The lights were off. The room was dark. Everyone was gone. She would never see the blood stains. They were gone. Her toes were numb from the cool air outside, and her hands were still shaky.

She padded her way into the bathroom and turned on the light. She plucked up the old skirt she'd worn and the hoodie. It was still a skirt, not blue jeans, but better than the night gown she'd been shoved into earlier. She had to get to the West Hall, wherever it was, and she had to wing it once she got there.

"I'm coming, Sarah," she whispered to herself.

She turned the lights off and stepped out into the open room. She could hear voices in the hallway. She wasn't sure what would happen when she stepped out of her room, but she had to do something. King wasn't the only killer around there, and Bella was gone just like that.

"Here goes," she sighed and swung the first set of doors open. The little space between the two sets of doors was lit dimly by an over-head chandelier. Light seeped in from the hallway, and she could see shadows moving. "Bella, where are you?"

She opened the door. The burgundy hall greeted her, and for the most part, it was empty. Guards stood on the opposite end of the hall way. They were whispering among themselves with their backs turned. She took the opportunity to slip past: left and then right. It helped that they thought she wasn't in her room and so were not focused on her room.

She didn't have time to stop and look around, but she couldn't help but notice more of the place as she went. The hallways held paintings on the wall like tombstones in neat lines. They hung in gold, ornate frames—one after another—like dead men. The doorways were curled and carved with delicate patterns, and it was all very beautiful. It was all very new, too. It wasn't supposed to be new to her. How was she going to find Sarah like that?

"Hell," she whispered beneath her breath, "where do I go?"

Bella said she needed her to remember, but she didn't know how to remember. Whenever she tried, she would see flashes—like visions. But, that was it. She saw colors, eyes, and maybe some smiles. Nothing else came—just little waves of unlinked, stupid  déjà vu all over again.

A little bit of movement came from around the side of a corner. It whispered in and out like a ghost—or like a cat's tail. In such a fancy place, its tail curled around a door frame and disappeared. Out of every possible direction to go, she decided to follow the cat.

"Sure, let's follow the cat," she shrugged to herself. "What was your name again?"

She remembered Zee talking about the cat on the way into the gateway. It must have been her cat. He said it missed her. She could go for a cat right about then anyway, but as much as she wanted to smother her face into its fur, she had a job to do and a little girl to save.

She pawed her way behind the new cat and down the next hallway. It slunk by doors and trotted as if it knew the way around the place, and it probably did. Maybe it'd recognized her.

"What if this is the wrong way," she groaned. "I'm following a cat. I've been reduced to following a cat."

The cat turned around and eyed her as if it understood, and resented, the statement. It stopped, licked its paws, and sprinted off until Lucky lost it completely.

"Great," she sighed. "Useless cat. Now what?"

The place was enormous and eerily empty. Didn't they usually keep jails in basements and stuff? She thought to herself and kept walking. She was thankful for ballet flats and carpet. At least she could get lost quietly.

"I can't do this," she mumbled. "Why me? What was so wrong with working at a print shop? What was so wrong about getting coffee in the evenings? Ugh!"

She stopped walking and slid down against the wall. She sat and stared up at one of the windows down the way. Moonlight slipped in. It invaded the air without noise and splattered onto the floor. There was something about the way it shone. It was bright like Sarah's eyes. She was Sarah's future self, huh? She remembered the way the little girl flew into the room. Sarah was nothing like her. That little girl was brave. She wasn't. She'd always just been a shadow—at least, she thought, a lost shadow.

She pushed herself off of the floor and ducked around the corner. A voice flitted past the moonlight: a voice she knew. It was Zee. He was close, and he was speaking to someone—looking for her.

"No," she whispered and ducked behind a column.

"There's no way she's outside," Zee said, and it was clear he was tired. "I can't check the normal places. She wouldn't know herself well enough to even go there."

Lucky shut her eyes tight and slid to the floor behind one of the large, purple plants that lined the hall. He hadn't seen her, so she listened without moving an inch. Bella's words rang over in her head: your brother is bound to kill you. He saved her. Why? Why would he kill her? Part of her wanted to just get up and ask herself, but the other part of her told her to stay down and shut up.

"What about the dungeon?" a woman's voice echoed beside her brother as they walked.

"Doubtful," he said. "When we find her, confine her to my chambers. I won't let her get away again. The ceremonial moons will be here in a week, and we've lost her. Besides that, I'm worried about her. I swore on my father's grave I would set things right."

"Understood," the woman said, but her voice sounded sad. "Can I ask you something?"

Their shadows stopped walking. Zee's shadow turned to the woman's smaller shadow with a sigh. The woman took Zee's silence as a 'yes' and started to speak.

"We're all wondering, you know," the woman said. "Why? Bella was one of us. How could...why did you do that?"

"How could I have her killed?" Zee asked. "I didn't want to, if that's what you're thinking."

"But to make Felix...," she started and then stopped.

"You're out of line," he said dryly and started to walk again. The woman followed him—quiet and more sober.

"Bella...," Lucky whispered, and as quickly as the name fell from her lips, their shadows passed. Zee and the woman were gone.

So, it couldn't have been either of them that found her then. A hand covered her mouth fast. She reached up to grab it and started to kick at whoever was behind her. The castle walls were filled with monsters, and none of them had to be any good.

"Shh!" a familiar voice called out to her.

Lucky's body relaxed, and she turned to face her in confusion, "Bella?"

Bella crouched beside her like a ghost—only she was very much alive—contrary to what her brother just said. Her brown, wavy hair was blowing in the small, air-conditioned breeze. Her cuts were cleaned but still there, and she was wearing a man's white shirt.

"I was one of the emperor's guards," she winked, "and Felix is one of yours. Do you honestly think we'd go down like that?"

"How?" Lucky stammered. "Zee just said. I didn't know what happened, but they said you were killed. It got so quiet after that. I was scared to even go back inside."

"I shot the gun, but I didn't shoot anything but the bed. Sorry, by the way. I'm a guard. Besides, what better way to slip from the radar?" she said with her teeth glowing in the ever-present moonlight. "Did they really not check the balcony?"

"Apparently not," Lucky shrugged.

"Makes sense," Bella said to herself, "that was where you used to meet King. That door isn't supposed to open. He probably didn't think to check out there. Works for us."

"King?" Lucky gasped. "How do you know him? Wait. Where I used to meet him?"

"Talk later," Bella said and tugged on her arm. They stumbled into movement as they crept further down the little stretch of hallway. Bella tugged on her again and held onto her tightly. "Felix is distracting the guards down by Sarah. Let's go."

"Right," Lucky nodded.

"We're coming, Sarah," she whispered. "As soon as we get her, we're leaving."