Fearless Blood (Completed)

Fearless Seventeen*

Fearless Seventeen

Chapter three

The familiar ache of my back on the hay bed is not what woke me for once. I open my eyes and look at the ceiling confused. It's not the familiar white swirls, it's a curved wooden panel.

I sit up and look around. Nadia lays across from me, her hair in a loose ponytail, "Nadia!" I whisper.

She opens her eyes slightly, "What, Val?"

I point to the ceiling. She looks up and her eyes widen. We look at our surroundings; it appears we're in a wagon.

"Siamo al castello, signore," a gruff voice says from the front. I look through a crack and gasp.

"What? What?" Nadia pushes me a little to see. Her jaw drops.

The big wagon is being driven on a black road, through a gray gate. In front of us is a castle, towering over all the trees surrounding it. Just when I start to look away, I see a girl.

She's sitting on the top floor, looking out the window. She has long, black hair that flows in perfect ringlets. Even from this far I see her skin is as white as snow, and her eyes…Yes! There's something... wrong with her eyes.

"What did he say?" Nadia whispers in my ear.

I snap out of my trance, "Something about we’re at the castle... sir."

She gives me a confused look, but goes back to her bed. "What c-"

"Children." Maria stands at the back of the wagon, holding open a big door. "Come."

Without hesitation all of the kids follow. The nine of us walk through tall grass, itching at our legs. Don't they ever mow this? She opens a side door of the palace and leads us in up a flight of wooden stairs, up, down, down, down. Finally she opens the last door.

The walls are cement, the ceiling cement, the floor... you guessed it, cement! Nine metal cells line the walls, each holding a mattress. She makes us line up against the wall. Why do they have nine cells?

"Antino, cell one." she points to the first cell. Now we get it.

She orders us each into our own cell. "Nadia, this one," she opens the door to the next one.

Nadia looks back at me, wrapping her arms around my tiny body. She doesn't know what's going to happen, but even a fool would know it’s not good.

"I love you, Val," she mutters in defeat.

"I love you too, Nadia." I whisper when she pulls back, her cheeks are wet with tears. She walks into the cell and turns her back to me.

I feel tears starting to fall down my own cheeks, but I ignore them. After Marco and the last girl, Anne, go into their cells, Maria pushes me into the last one.

"Good luck, Val. I mean it." I know what she means. I give her a small smile and sit on the mattress. We've had our differences, but we still like each other. "If you’re lucky, you'll be first." I watch a single tear fall out of her eye before she leaves.

Luckily, I am first.

When I'm feeling tired and ready to go down for a nap, I hear people talking.

"Sweetie, could you please bring one up for Sofia? Being down here makes her sad!"

"Yes, my love."

Without looking, I hear the door beside me click open. "Not her, she looks like she'll put up a fight."

I look up and see two people looking at me. One is a woman with scarlet hair that falls to her shoulders and is wearing a dark red dress that sweeps the ground. But it’s her eyes that catch my attention. I can't take my eyes off hers, they’re blood red.