Page 66 of Castle of the Cursed
I kick my legs and reach back with my fingers to fight off my attacker—
“Shh, it’s me,” says a familiar voice in my ear, and I stop fighting, so he lets me go.
I take a giant leap away as I turn to face Felipe. “What are you doing here?” I snap at him.
“The castle told us to come,” he whispers, lowering his hand to indicate I should keep my voice down.
The castle? The black smoke is la Sombra? “What do you mean?” I whisper back. “What do you remember?”
His face is shaded by the night, but the flames’ red light reflects in his irises, making his amber eyes glow like embers. “Something happened… and a voice spoke through me.”
“It was a message for me. Not you.”
“Well, it showed me a picture of where to go, a spot in the woods I know well. Here.”
I don’t say anything, and I wonder if he’s been playing me this whole time. Is he working with Beatríz? Or whoever this hooded figure is?
“Who is that?” I ask, indicating the person humming by the fire.
“I’m sorry for what I did, Estela,” says Felipe, either ignoring or avoiding my question. “I just thought—maybe if I kissed you, you’d feel it, too. But then once I started, it was like I couldn’t pull away. Some force seemed to go through me.”
I felt it, so I know what he means. And yet his eyes won’t meet mine. Like he’s still hiding something.
“Estela, you need to go.”
“You want me to trust you after today?”
“I’ll explain once we’re safe—”
“Tell me now.”
The hooded figure doesn’t move or stop humming, but I have the creepy sensation they know we’re here. I keep them in my peripheral vision while I argue with Felipe.
“Start speaking, or I’ll scream,” I warn.
“H-he told me to meet you here.” Felipe sounds terrified. “He said if I did well, he would give us his blessing, and I could move into the castle.”
“Who—?”
I flick my gaze to the fire again. The hooded figure is gone.
“Where’d they go?” I ask.
Felipe looks horrified. “There’s no water in the fountain,” he mumbles.
“What are you talking about—?” My question is barely out when black smoke blankets the air, and I can’t see a thing.
“Felipe!” I call out, reaching for him.
Before I make contact, a set of fingers interlocks with mine, too rough to be his.
“Let me go!” I yell, struggling against the viselike grip.
When the hand unclenches, I dart away, arms outstretched so I won’t run into a tree. And as the smoke dissipates, I find myself in the clearing.
The bonfire’s warmth presses into me, its light revealing a stone bench and a clay bowl with strange etchings.
The hooded figure is here. They’re standing over something long lying on the grass.
