Ghosts danced in mid-air with masks adorning their faces, lost to the shrill of the music sweeping them higher into the air of the grand ballroom. We came to a stop at the head of the staircase. The music died, and the ghosts turned their attention to us.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your host, Silas,” Ebony shrilled from above, floating between us and the residents, then straightened her hand, “and his lovely guest of honor, Valeria McCallister!”
She wore a capped-sleeve dress reminiscent of a cloud dancing among the blue sky. She, too, wore a mask of glittering silver, and her hair swirled around her as if she was submerged in a grand river.
The room erupted with a roar of applause as ghosts hollered in delight from all directions, and the music began again.
Silas squeezed my hand, guiding us down the steps and onto the ballroom floor.
“Ready?” Silas said, voice low and seductive against my ear. With a hand, he braced my back, and heat swelled like wildfire ready to consume me on the spot.
Bewildered, I said, “For what?”
Silas swept us into the waltz, our bodies moving together in synchroneity. The intoxication of the music spun us around, blurring the crowd of faceless ghosts behind us as our steps quickened. The melody roared loudly with delight, shrilling of violins danced with us, constant bursts of energy as we twirled higher and higher. Our feet hardly touched the ground, meeting the ghosts high above the air with such ease as Silas held me with such care.
It was one, then two—and three waltz Silas guided me into, never straying for a single stolen touch. Each spin fanned the fire budding in my chest outward. The desire for more grew with burning intensity.
I squealed with delight as Silas tossed me up into the air, my skirt blooming as a rosebud, catching me with grace and ease. Breathless and hungry, I threw my head back and laughed as the music crescendo into a soft piano forte.
When the dance came to an end, Silas’s eyes twinkled, kissing my hand softly before escorting us offthe dancefloor and out onto the terrace overlooking the garden.
The bloodred moon kissed the grounds of the castle, illuminating the mist in crimson floating about in licking whips. The snow-covered bushes in thick clumps. The snow dusted the petals and fell from the shrubbery, weightless as if it was raining roses upon the snow-covered path into the gardens.
Silas ran his thumb over in my hand, wearing a tense expression overlooking the scene.
I cupped his face in my palms and kissed him softly. “You’re tense.”
“I am not.” He pressed back against my lips. Silas wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. The music began to play a soft serenade, mournful in its melody as the bows of cellos lengthen their notes to curl in the midnight air. “If this were to be my last night on Earth, then I hope it is this one.”
I stroked his face, trembling as I pictured what life would have been had I met him sooner. What future would there be for us in the end, trapped behind decaying walls and a curse at its end?
“Don’t,” I began, “say things like that. I haven’t given up. The answers are here, that I am sure of. We still have time to...”
Silas’s lips captured mine, cherishing tenderly each gentle gasp. His hand on my neck wandered down the length of my body resting upon my hips, pulling me in tight against the furnace consuming us whole.
I wrapped my fingers into his suit coat, draping over his shoulder nail and raking his back. Breathlessand enraptured, the Earth began to shudder to life as the music came to a stop. Chunks of the roof collapsed into the garden, rose petals scattering into the winter night.
Ebony flew in and whispered in Silas’s ear.
Silas turned from tense to pensive, worry laced thick upon his brow as Ebony departed. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “It appears we might be. But let us not dwell on that. Tonight is about you, Little Dove.”
The structure resettled, and the music continued on unhindered from the small shake that rocked it. The castle was slow to succumb to its illness as much as I had been at the start. It was slowly dying, which meant Silas and the other residents had a shorter time than what we thought.
There was no more time for dancing and sweet kisses.
I needed to find his name before the stones collapsed down on us and buried the truth with it.
I relinquished my hand from his as if for the last time. “Silas, this is not the time. Where else haven’t we...”
Out in the distance, fire light burned beyond the gates. Shouts and hollering traveled up from the gravel road. The wrought-iron gates clanked against the night air in earnest as the shouts grew closer. The torches flared in the night, beckoning the mob.
“Silas,” I wavered from the balcony, “the villagers—they’re armed.”
“Quickly.” Silas shuffled us inside as the first gunshot rang out. We ran for the back entrance of the castle. I tripped over broken stones, knees scraped from the impact. “Valeria!” Silas gathered my skirt, lifting me to my feet in a single motion.
“I’m fine. We need to get—”
Banging reverberated on the doors against the hushed moans of the spirits above us. The door splintered upon impact, the victorious cheers resounding from outside.
