Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Forty-Two

"Nigel!" Karla and Maxine both said at once as they ran over to me.

Of course. Now they notice.

Maxine hugged my arm, and Karla glared at the huge shadow.

"Oberious," Karla whispered.

The king overheard her and let out an evil chuckle. "It is Emperor King Oberious," he corrected. "You, however, should refer to me as your father, sweetheart. Father."

"Lies and deceit! You are not my father! You never were!"

"I raised you."

"Raising? More like enslaving! I have been nothing more than your slave!"

"I have taken good care of you. I feed you. I clothe you."

"Shadows do not wear clothes!"

"My point is that I have raised you well."

"No!" She clenched her shadowy hands into tights fists. "You killed my father! And my mother!"

Maxine and I looked at each other, shocked by what our shadow friend had stated.

"You have it all wrong, my dear," Oberious said. "I am your father. And you have no mother."

"More lies!" Karla responded. "I know the truth! And stop making references!"

I brushed a strand of hair away from my eyes. Boy, the characters in Forlot have to stop breaking the fourth wall. I have never read a book that tends on breaking the fourth wall as much as the writer of the Forlot series does.

I wonder if there is a reason for it down the road.

"Two years ago. Two years ago!" Karla continued. "The day was Monday. I had school. I was exhausted. Stressed. All of the kids - heck, even the teachers! - bullied me. I also received a ton of homework that had to get done."

My face saddened. I felt so bad for her. She must have had a hard life.

Tears formed in Maxine's eyes, and she gripped on my jacket. She felt sorry too.

And was scared.

"I came home from school that afternoon," our shadow friend explained. "My hair was tied up in knots, and my clothes were filthy. There was a food fight during lunch. That is why." She paused and growled. "I walked to the kitchen...and what I saw...were my parents. My own parents. Kind and understandable. The only people in the world who cared for me. Both were lying in a big pile of ketchup."

Maxine slowly let go of my jacket. "Uh, Karla?" she interrupted. "I believe that the red stuff was blood, not ketchup."

"Nope. It was ketchup. There was a ketchup bottle on the floor, and ketchup was leaking out of it. Also..." She took a deep breath. "...the king of the Nerians cut off their circulations."

I immediately covered my mouth to keep from gagging, and then uncovered it and gently wrapped my fingers around my neck. The nightmare came back to me.
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I turned - and let out a yelp when I saw a shadowy figure.

Its body was all black, like a shadow, and its red eyes stared at me. I tried to run, but the shadow grabbed my neck and hoisted me into the air.

"No! Please!" I cried.

The shadow gripped my neck tightly, cutting off my circulation.

"Noooooooo!"
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I gulped. I could have easily ended up dead like her parents, even if it were a dream.

"It was by accident," Oberious piped in. A line spread across his face.

Like he was smirking.

"Accident?!" Karla snapped. "It was no accident! You meant to kill my parents and sent them here. To Nerquina!"

"So...that means that they are still alive," I pointed out. "They are just shadows."

She looked at me. "No, Nigel. Oberious...killed them."

"I-I do not understand."

"Oberious killed them for his own good. After he killed me, I became a shadow and had no choice but to go to Nerquina. Once I arrived, I searched for my parents, but they were nowhere to be found. I then heard a cry. The cry belonged to my mother. She and my real father were being killed by Oberious. When he was through with them, the shadows of them faded off the face of this world."

Maxine sniffed, and tears ran down her cheeks. I rubbed my forehead, both fascinated and distraught by her story.

I lost my mom, but Karla had it worse. Not only did she lose her parents, but she was forced to be a shadow for as long as Oberious would let her live.

"I will never see them again."

"Yes, you will," Oberious replied. "Until then, you have me and your sister, Katherine."

"You will never let me free! You will keep me in this dark, forsaken place!" She grabbed my left arm and raised it. "The hero will set the shadow people free!"

King Oberious stared at me. "Not if I have anything to say about it. Even after he killed Katherine."

I gulped again. "H-how did you know that?" I asked.

"I watched you. You set Karla and Katherine on fire, and Katherine did not make it. For that alone, you shall pay."

"Nigel tried to help her, but she did not want his help!" Karla said, lowering my arm and letting go of it. "I am glad that she is dead anyway! She was like you! Pure evil!"

"Evil?" Oberious crossed his arms. "We are just doing justice."

"By killing innocent lives?"

"Humans are not innocent! It is their fault that we do not have Forlot as our personal land!"

"That does not give us the right!"

"It is our land by right!"

Maxine and I started taking steps back, and Oberious noticed and reached for us. "Time to die, hero," he said.