“We don’t have a lot of time, but before anything else is discussed, I must tell you how proud I am of you.” She floated over to me, her hands cradled my face tenderly.
“Thanks.” I didn’t know what she was proud of me for, but it was nice to hear.
“You rose without hope in your thoughts, against all odds, and are fighting for those you love. I could not have wished for a better match for my Jude than you, Selene.” She hugged me, and even though my power urged me to take her onward, I gritted my teeth and embraced her.
“That boy has a wicked plan for you two. I’ve seen it, but if you keep that faith that’s burning in your heart, you have a chance.” She cupped my cheeks once more, then released me. She floated to the painting, her fingers caressing the canvas of her and her husband, Jude’s great-great-grandfather.
“I wished I could have stopped him, but we can only control ourselves in the end. He was so consumed by the lavish life, a selfish life that he didn’t give in to what nature demanded,” she said remorsefully. The poor woman watched as her husband took a dark path that doomed everyone.
“I was young then. So caught up in the luxury and the parties. My coven pulled me away for a few weeks, trying to connect me back to my roots, and by the time I returned, it was too late. I’ve watched everyone I cared about die and remain in this limbo, drowning in pain.
“But that all changes tonight.” She forced a smile on her lips, then twisted the knob of the closet beside her. She disappeared for a moment, then appeared again with a garment bag in her hands. She gently laid it on the bed, and I walked over, curiously.
“You need something borrowed, and it’ll fit. We were the same size once upon a time.” She winked and worked on opening the bag for me to see Madam Tully’s wedding dress from the painting.
“Oh, no. He wouldn’t.” I wanted to weep from the notion that this dress would be needed. It was cruel for Rudy to make Jude and I marry tonight. I shook my head as sadness caught in my throat. Tears formed even as I tried to hold them back.
“He would, and he is. At the end of the show, Rudy will have you and Jude say your vows with a noose around Jude’s neck.” The grim line to her lips confirmed the truth. To think of this, to force this, only a monster would be so cruel.
But then a little voice inside my mind pushed past the dark hissing of failure and anger. I knew what I had to do. I found my ultimate truth, now that all the puzzle pieces in my head connected. The curse wasn’t a promise to the ghosts that would break it but a promise made in death. One that binds a soul to another. Marriage!
“I’m gonna need help getting in this thing.” With a smile on my lips, my fingers grasped onto the hanger of the dress.
“I never had a daughter to help get ready on her wedding day. I’d be honored to assist the future Mrs. Mallory.” Madam Tully’s devious smile solidified my thoughts, and now I knew what I had to do. She’d been telling us all along that we were the cure to our problem. It was inside us all along!
First, I needed to get ready for my wedding.
Chapter Thirty- Five
Jude
“Don’t forget to meet me at the tower before the show ends.” Rudy slapped me on the back in a brotherly gesture, which earned him a shrug from me.
“So sensitive. All right Mr. Ringleader. Do your stuff.” He pointed toward the open area of the ballroom where I’d begin my last show. It felt bittersweet in a way. All I’d wanted before was this, to go out with a bang, but now all I wanted was Selene and her friends safe.
The crowd had been moved back, giving us enough space for the performances. I glanced at the large clock over the far wall to my right and remembered my orders. When there were five minutes remaining in the show, I was to head up to the tower, which could be seen from here and hang myself as the final act. Poetic, if the people below knew that it wasn’t a magic trick and that I wouldn’t be showing up somewhere else with a dove flying out of my hat.
My main performance partner, Rey the crow, flew onto my shoulder as I walked into the darkroom with a spotlight on my steps. He lived wild on the property but always came when he was needed. I’d rescued him when I was younger, and crows had a sense of justice that could never be forgotten. He used to leave me gifts by the door, so I’d leave it open for him every morning for a few hours. But he wasn’t a house bird despite how amazing that would have been.
“What do you say, Rey? One last show?” I smiled and lifted my hand for him to step onto.
“Welcome toMystical’sfinal performance. Enjoy your last moments in this time as we surround your mind with the fantastical.”
“Prepare to imagine.” Rey spoke, a trick I never worked on with him. A part of me always thought he was a person trapped as a bird, but I could never prove my theory.
Lights came on from the chandeliers above, the opening to the tower revealed between them, and the performers were in full exhibition. The trapeze artist swung from the bars to the hanging crystal lights, then back to each other, flipping as they flew through the air. Lucy walked a tightrope while jumping up and back down, doing a cartwheel while the tiger pretended to lunge for her.
I raced around the room, disappearing with the help of Joslyn, and emerging onto the chandelier like we’d practiced. Without looking and without fear, I jumped. The wind from the wall rattled my clothes and skin, but then I wasn’t falling anymore. I stood on the tightrope with Lucy holding my hand. Everyone was putting on the show of our lives, and I was sad it had to end.
With the clock nearing my final performance, I snuck from the room and walked up the creaky stairs toward the balcony of the tower. Every step closer to my death came with memories of how I had lived my life, the choices I’d made thinking I was doing the right thing at the time. I remembered when my mother and I made cookies before Christmas when I was five. We laughed and got flour everywhere. I pretended I was a ghost covered in the white baking ingredient with the dust following me around everywhere.
From childhood to adulthood, memories flashed through my head like a movie. As soon as I walked past the door to the balcony, I dropped to my knees from the cruel scene before me.
Tears fell onto the dust-covered wood with a splash. My hands instantly went to my lips in disbelief as Selene stood in front of me wearing Madam Tully’s old wedding dress, looking like a Victorian princess with her hair piled on top her head. She was a vision from my deepest dream and horrifying nightmare at the same time.
“I thought you’d be happy, man. You get what you always wanted before the end.” Rudy smiled from the corner of the space, and I had no fight to give him. Sobs ruined me in a way I’d never experienced before. Agony and bliss swirled inside me, fighting to be the dominating emotions.
I didn’t know what to do or what to say.
