Page 43 of A Castle of Broken Memories

Dark times, indeed.

“If you’re all quite done being idiots”—I gave Tenebris a pointed look—“we’ll begin.” I stepped off the dais and settled cross-legged on the grass, placing the decanter in front of me. “Now, obviously, this would work better if I had something from the original curse. A remnant from whatever was used to cast it.”

“Obviously,” Calum muttered facetiously, and I bit back a sigh.

Eh tu, Calum? I shouldn’t have left him alone with Ten-Ten so much. His personality was apparently contagious.

“And just to be clear, you have no idea how this all started?” I asked, glancing briefly in Jack’s direction without actually making eye contact. My body was still humming from our almost-kiss, and the last thing I needed was to get all flustered before attempting the spell.

“All I know is that it was like this when Noah and I got here,” Jack replied. “And from what Harp’s told me, it was cast about fifty years before that.”

“The same time the barrier settled over Mondue, cutting off access to the castle.” All of which we knew already. I took out my spell brush and tapped it against my thigh while I stared at the crystal decanter. If only I had something to place inside it, something to help draw the curse in. “If wishes were fishes,” I murmured, shaking my head as I reached for the potion pot.

I’d just have to nail the wording and hope for the best.

Closing my eyes, I pictured the monstrous creature in the foyer and the feral bats that beat against the shelter at night and envisioned them melting into shadows that flowed inside the decanter. With a slow, steadying breath, I dipped my brush into the potion and began to write over the diamond-cut crystal: maledictum, qui hoc castrum ligat, dimitte tene et intra.

Curse that binds this castle, release your hold and enter.

I scooped a pinch of spell sealant and blew. Please work.

No one spoke a word while we waited, tense-lipped and hyper-alert, for something to happen. Seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness, and we exchanged nervous looks, none of us knowing what to expect as the silence drew on.

But then the decanter started to rattle…

… and the ground began to shake.

27

Shards of crystal flew in every direction when the decanter exploded, a thick sliver wedging itself into my leather bracer as I threw an arm in front of my face. I immediately dropped it in favor of assessing Mariana: a streak of blood trickled down her cheek, but she looked more shocked than pained. Tenebris and Calum seemed to be in a similar boat, judging from their stunned expressions. Our hope of containing the curse had literally just shattered, and the earth was revolting beneath our feet, jagged chunks of sod and stone pushing up from the ground while it rumbled.

“We need to go,” I said, sounding calmer than I felt. “Now.”

“The invisibility spell—” Mariana reached for the satchel hanging from her belt.

“No time.” I pulled her out of the way of a falling tree branch. “This room’s collapsing.” Let’s hope it’s not the entire castle.

She clenched her jaw with a terse nod and grabbed Tenebris’s hand. “Stick close, Ten-Ten. Calum, if things get crazy, just shift and get to safety. I’ll carry Tenebris on my back if I have to.”

“How about we all stick together, and you don’t ask me impossible things, like ditching my pack mates?” Calum retorted.

“Calum.” Alpha command vibrated through the single, sternly-spoken word, and Calum winced. Mariana’s face was tight with worry as she looked between him and Tenebris. “I need to know you’ll be safe.”

“They’ll be safer once we’re out of this room,” I interjected, herding them toward the door while branches and leaves littered the breaking ground around us. Lowering my voice, I nudged her forward with a hand on the small of her back. “They’ll be okay. We just need to retreat back to the room before this one, and then we can regroup.”

She looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it when the earth rolled beneath Tenebris’s feet and sent him pitching forward. Her hand on his arm kept him from falling on his face, but the resulting jerk cleared the indecision from her expression. “Right. Let’s go.”

We barreled out the door at full force, veering right as soon as we hit the stairwell—and straight into Gregar’s hand. He scooped us up like a handful of wriggling worms, and I struggled to free myself while his fingers tightened, cold fear icing my veins. The very thing I’d been dreading all these years had finally happened—only worse, as I wasn’t alone.

If she dies…

“Ten-Ten!”

Mariana’s frantic voice pierced my building panic, and I whipped my head around to see her hanging from the monster’s fist, one hand clawing desperately at its flesh while the other stretched below, holding Tenebris’s hand while he dangled in the air. The monster moved its arm around, and Tenebris screamed bloody murder as he swung out over the foyer, the hard, marble floor twenty stories below waiting to shatter his bones on impact.

“Really fucking wish I could still teleport,” he yelled.

“Hold on,” Mariana gasped, sweat streaming down her face while she strained to maintain her one-handed hold on the monster. “I’ve got you.”