Page 130 of Castle of the Cursed
I hear the lack of conviction in his voice as clearly as I heard it in my own. We’re both lying to ourselves. I pretend Sebastián isn’t a bloodthirsty vampire who’s barely restraining himself from making my uncle his next meal. And Teo pretends the Book isn’t real because it’s one of the few Brálaga riddles he couldn’t crack.
That means Felipe never confided in Teo about his family’s legacy. He didn’t share that they were the keepers of the Book.
I opened up to you more than anyone else in my life, Felipe told me. Hard to believe that was just last week.
He may have chosen Teo, but he trusted me more.
“How did you know?” I can’t keep from asking him before I go. “That Antonela would come back?”
“I’ve always felt it,” he says, speaking of her with the same reverence Felipe reserved for la Sombra. “When you alone survived the subway, I knew it had to do with Antonela. I assumed she must be here, waiting for you to come home. So I stayed close to answer your sister’s call.”
“But you didn’t know if she’d forgiven you,” I say, reading between the lines. “And you couldn’t face the possibility that you had been wrong to light the black fire. That’s why you didn’t dare step inside the castle before yesterday.”
I know I’m right by his silence.
I find Sebastián by the gargoyle staircase, eyes wide and expression grim. He waits to acknowledge me, his senses focused elsewhere. When he looks at me, I know what he’s going to say.
“She is near.”
Everything inside me grows brittle at those three words.
Mouth parched, I say, “Remember, we need to lead her to the—”
“I know the plan,” he says, sounding frustrated, “but I insist that we should—”
“I’m not murdering my uncle,” I say, putting an end to that debate.
“Nor should you,” says Antonela in Bea’s voice.
Sebastián and I whip around.
My sister entered the castle without even the shadow beast realizing. How is that possible?
He lunges at her, grabbing Antonela by Bea’s neck. “Big mistake, walking in here,” says Sebastián, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
“If you kill this shell, I will be gone before you realize it,” she says, voice raspy, not sounding upset at all that Sebastián is semi-strangling her. “I am no longer tied to la Sombra, so I will move on to the next person in town, and the next, and the next, until I have murdered them all, and the authorities are forced to investigate. Then I will murder them, too. La Sombra will swallow so many bodies, it will no longer be sated with little drizzles of blood. It will demand entire cities. Now take your hands off me.”
Sebastián looks lethal, his gaze narrowed and top lip pulled back, and I know he’s more likely to snap her neck than let go.
“Please,” I say to him. “Let her go.” If he kills her body now, her spirit will be gone before we can perform the spell.
He drops his hands after only a slight hesitation.
“This is better,” says my sister, fixing the neck of her blouse. She bares all of Bea’s teeth in a smile. “A family reunion.”
Since she’s already inside the castle, Sebastián and I fall back to plan B. “Yes, a family reunion,” I agree, flashing her a grin that’s just as toothy. “How about a game of hide-and-seek? For old times’ sake.”
“Sure, why not?”
She speaks with all the confidence she lacked at the other castle. It is truly as Sebastián—Prince Bastian—said: Antonela is fearless.
“I’ll hide first,” I say, and before she can react, I break into a run.
I don’t hear her following me, and even if she tried, I doubt Sebastián would let her. Not until he’s sure I’ve made it to the purple room.
I run harder than I have my whole life.
When I reach the red rug, Sebastián has already pulled it back for me, and the trapdoor is open. This is our plan B scenario, in case for any reason Sebastián couldn’t transport me to the purple room, and I had to make it here myself.
