The Red Door Read online

  “Either way.” There was no way I was going to argue the point with a man with a gun. “Both of these men will be treated with respect.”

  Jaco holstered his weapon. “The plan will be carried out no matter who is queen of Rushna.”

  The early morning light made the forest around us appear gray and mysterious. Most of the camp still slept, but I’d been tossing and turning for hours trying to come up with a way to get out of the insurgency’s clutches and get back to the Red Palace.

  Satchel reclined against a nearby boulder a short distance from the camp, smoking a pipe. The smoke drifted through the air around him, floating above his head and dissipating among the leaves. It was oddly hypnotic. His eyes met mine, and he smiled. Crooking his finger, he motioned for me to join him.

  “You don’t desire to be queen.” He leaned back against the rock. He’d emptied his pipe and stored it in a brown, leather bag he had slung around his shoulder.

  “And you’re only figuring this out now?” I didn’t bother to sit beside him. “Do you think the mere fact that you had to kidnap me has something to do with it?”

  He chuckled lightly to himself, stretched his legs in front of him, and crossed one over the other. “Sometimes we have to do what’s right for the greater good. Tell me, Meg, what’s so bad about being the queen of Rushna?”

  My eyes fell on a bird diving from a nearby tree. It dug through the dirt with its beak and yank at a tenacious earthworm. I’d miss my freedom as queen. “You say that the ruler of Rushna is the most honored person, when she’s the right person, but yet, she’s treated like a slave.”

  He uncrossed his legs and drew his knees up to his chest. “That’s what you misunderstand. It’s a great honor to be our leader. Having children is not an obligation, but a duty. Athena, well, she took it a little too far.”

  “You mean by using the pheromones?” What she’d done to her people, to Brek, was sickening to me.

  “Not exactly.” He brushed a smudge of dirt off his pant leg. “The queen of Rushna normally takes volunteers to help her populate her courts, and of course, to produce an heir. She’s not allowed to marry out of fear that a king would try to overthrow her.” He cleared his throat, his face reddening. “Athena didn’t like her selection of volunteers. You see, she’s got taste in both young men and women. Most of the ones who came forward were balding, middle-aged men. Jaco was the top ranked soldier in the Rushna’s capital. When he found out she had Aric, one of the land’s leading chemists, developing a product to seduce the masses, he took those closest to him and defected. He’s been biding his time to find the woman he’s been looking for to take Athena’s place.”

  “But why me?” I lifted my sleeve and removed my transport bracelet. “What makes him think that a foreigner will take the throne?”

  “Because, Meg, it’s been written in the books of our country. The one that will overthrow the hypnotic queen shall be one from a distant land. She shall bear the symbol of her heritage around her wrist as a badge of honor.”

  I raised my hand to my mouth, stifling a laugh. ”Who do you think I am? Frodo Baggins? Dorothy Gale?”

  “Who?” Satchel scratched his head.

  “Never mind. It’s only that there’s no way a washed-up, minimum wage girl from the Dump will be the savior of an entire land.”

  “Although justified at times, you look down on yourself too much.” His eyes drifted to the camp, where the first signs of life began to stir. “Those two men depend on you.”

  “What?” I almost choked. “You mean Carter and Brek?”

  “Without you, each man would be a boat afloat on the ocean with no anchor.”

  Carter. No. He was along for the ride, for the thrill—to see how deep he could dig at his dad. Brek was a different story. We’d come to depend on each other, and maybe that’s why he wanted to play this damn game so badly. With him leaving for college, he’d take a piece of my heart with him.

  12

  Esme walked beside me as we entered the thickest part of the forest. We both remained quiet for a good half hour, at peace in each other’s presence. But the dense nature of the woods became more and more suffocating. Every sound within the thick foliage made me skittish.

  “They’re going to train you to be a warrior.” Her voice cut through the silence of our marching band of riffraff. “As the queen, you’ll be expected to fight, not sit on your butt like Athena.”

  I’d taken Taekwondo when I was seven because my mother didn’t want me to be a wimpy kid, but a warrior… yeah that was out of the question. “Then they’ll be dealing with a remedial student.”

  “Don’t you want to be able to protect yourself?” Esme adjusted the strap on her weapon belt.

  “If I become queen, I won’t tick people off.” I shrugged. It was simple: please the people and earn their respect.

  “It doesn’t work like that here.” Esme’s voice lowered, “There’s always someone who wants to overthrow the current queen, no matter how just she is.”

  The trees around us became even denser, and the trail wound down into a grove that blocked out the sun with its thick canopy. A gray fog rolled in, weaving its way through the forest like a snake sneaking up on its prey. It didn’t bother me at first, but soon we couldn’t see the soldiers in front of us. I whipped my head around to check on the people behind us, but the fog blocked them from view.

  I grabbed onto Esme’s arm in fear of losing her. “What’s going on?”

  Although I could feel her fingers slip down and lock with mine, I couldn’t hear her response. I unloaded my backpack from my shoulder and removed both of the gas masks. I covered my face and shoved the other one at Esme. Billows of choking fog clouded my vision. Even if I held my hand out in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to see a thing. My friend’s fingernails dug into my flesh, but I didn’t let go. There was no way I was losing her in this maddening maze of blind terror.

  I froze.

  Why weren’t the soldiers behind me falling over like a bunch of oversized dominoes? Other than Esme’s touch, there was nothing grounding me in reality. It was as if I could float away on the fog cloud. In a state of panic, I dropped to my knees, praying it would all go away.

  Esme gripped me even tighter and then yanked me back to a standing position. Her shadow drifted through the fog toward me, but her silhouette didn’t match my image of her. I rubbed my eyes as Athena appeared through the mist, her hand in mine.

  “You think you can get away from me?” Her voice was ghostly, drifting through the seemingly impenetrable air. “I will find you and your boys and exile you to the End.”

  I found my voice hidden under layers of fear and confusion and a plastic gas mask. “You can’t hurt us here.” My hand shook uncontrollably in the queen’s. “The rebellion will squash you and your stupid pheromones.”

  Athena’s eyes cut through the endless mist—red and menacing. “The prophecy won’t be fulfilled. This world is mine. The rebellion is being cut down as we speak.” Her voice trailed off into a cackle as she released me.

  The fog lifted, revealing bodies strewn across the ground around me. The men and women who wore gas masks roused from the initial shock of the toxic fog. Satchel cradled Esme in his arms, both of them still wearing their protective gear.

  A hundred yards ahead, Jaco helped Brek to his feet. Someone must have supplied him with a mask. I pushed past the dazed soldiers on the trail, passing through the narrow ravine. The only sign of movement was a rabbit skidding into a hole in the wall to avoid me. My heart constricted as body after body lay on the ground. I checked each fallen comrade, searching for Carter’s dark hair.

  By the time I reached the front of the line, a sob exited my lips. Brek grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into his chest, and I exhaled hearing his heart beat against my ear.

  “We’ve got to find Carter.” I looked back through the canyon, searching the crowd for his familiar face.

  “Maybe he tried to escape the fog.”
r />   Jaco rotated his arm, trying to get his soldiers marching again. There was no time to mourn when there were other monsters ready to gobble us up in the woods.

  In my race to comb the insurgents for Carter, I remembered passing the cave-like hole in the cliff walls beside me that the rabbit used as an escape route. I didn’t even stop to ask for permission. Running upstream through the soldiers, I managed to reach the cave in less than a minute. Behind me, Brek apologized to the people I elbowed and kneed on my way through.

  The cave was pitch black, and the smell of the fog lingered in the crevices of the rock. It wasn’t a shallow cave by any means, so I clung to the wall out of fear of being swallowed up by the darkness. Brek followed me. The jangling in his pocket, told me he was digging for something.

  A dim flame came from a lighter behind me.

  “Thought this might help when I threw it in my pack.” He squeezed my shoulder, encouraging me to move further into the dark abyss.

  I sighed as every muscle in my body tensed. “You know, I’ve always been claustrophobic.”

  The whisper of Brek’s lips touched my ear. A tingle ran down my spine. “You’ve got to know that I know everything about you by now, Covington.”

  I wanted to tell him that he didn’t know what color underwear I was wearing or what I scribbled on the sticky notes I stuck in my diary, but I bit my lip and pressed on. Carter was what mattered right now.

  We rounded a curve in the path and I saw them. Carter’s letterman jacket tented over two pairs of legs. I rushed over and threw the coat off of my boyfriend and… another girl.

  “Meg.” He scrambled to his feet and wrapped me in his arms. With his face buried in my hair, he sighed. “You’re alive.”

  My eyes fell on the girl as she clutched her arms to her chest. Her stringy, brown hair clung to the side of her face. Her green eyes stared back at me, surrounded by a sea of freckles. She couldn’t have been much older than me.

  “I had a gas mask. How did you survive?” I asked.

  “The fog crept up on us.” Cater kept shooting looks at the girl on the ground. “She brought me to this cave. She must have magic or something, because she created a force field at the entrance that most of the fog wasn’t able to get through.”

  “And who is she, exactly?” Brek knelt down beside the girl with the flame of his lighter illuminating the space around them. “I’m Brekken.” He turned to me with the light. “And this is Meg.”

  The girl didn’t say a word. She reached over, grabbed Carter’s jacket off the floor, and wrapped it around her.

  “She hasn’t said anything to me.” Carter squatted next to Brek and smiled at her. “Maybe she can’t talk.”

  “Or maybe the two of you freak her out.” It was a reasonable assessment on my part.

  “Were you with the group when we entered Mateel?” Brek used his soft voice, the one he used anytime my mom tried to contact me. That voice kept me from pulling my hair out.

  She shook her head, still buried in Carter’s jacket as if it were a cocoon. She wasn’t budging in the whole no talking stance. I dropped my bag to the ground and dug through the large pocket for my stickies and a pen.

  “Here.” I crouched beside Brek and held the utensils out to her. “Tell us your name.” If she wouldn’t talk, maybe she could write.

  Like a reluctant butterfly emerging from the cocoon she’d built for herself with my boyfriend’s jacket, the girl removed one arm and then the other from under the coat and took the pad and pen from me. She scribbled one word on the yellow paper and tossed it back.

  “Wren.” I held the pen and pad out to her again. “Everyone calls us foreigners here. Where are you from?”

  She scribbled another word onto the sticky.

  Brek took it this time. “Crestone. Where’s that?”

  “It’s the monastery.” Carter leaned against the rock wall, letting us communicate with the girl who saved his life. “The one Aric told us about. But how did she end up here?”

  Wren reached out and took the pad from Brek and scribbled a few words. She gave it back to me.

  “I’m Jaco’s slave.” She pulled her sleeve up, revealing intricately laced black tattoos running the length of her forearm. A silver cuff encircled her wrist, like the one I’d seen on Tyran’s fiancée, Shaol, inside the Green Door.

  Adraria had hidden the key for Shaol’s magical chains inside the Red Door. The cat woman who pretended to be our friend had used a transport bracelet to enter the white corridor. With the distractions of being imprisoned and pheromones working against us, we’d forgotten to keep our eyes open for the key.

  “What does Jaco want with a girl from a monastery?”

  Brek’s question set my mind ablaze as I rifled through the possibilities.

  “I mean, you’re magical, but so am I, and he hasn’t made me into his slave.” He touched Wren’s knee, trying to be his normal comforting self, but her knee flew up and her foot hit him square on the jaw. He covered his chin and turned away. “What did you do that for?”

  “I don’t think she wants you to touch her.” I smirked. This girl had more attitude than I first gave her credit for. “Are you a fairy?” With access to the monastery and being a fairy, she’d have two of the ingredients needed to defeat the pheromones.

  Her eyes met mine and she shook her head. She picked up the pen again and gave me the note.

  “You can summon fairies?”

  She smiled for the first time. It lit up her face, and I could tell that with a shower, this girl was a real beauty.

  Carter crouched beside us, his eyes on Wren. “Then, if you can summon fairies, and we just came through the forest of Mateel where the moon flower grows, all Jaco needs are the rocks. Did he get some of those from you?”

  She shook her head.

  “I mean, not that it’s a bad thing to be immune to the pheromones, but to enslave someone to do it?” Carter rubbed his chin. “My trust in Jaco is growing shorter by the minute. This jerk will do whatever it takes to get what he wants.” His eyes met mine in the dim flame of the lighter. “He plans to rule Rushna with you as queen.”

  “Probably.” It’s not like the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. The guy had been second in command under Athena, but he couldn’t control her. “When I’m in power, I can do whatever the hell I want. What kind of power does he hold over me?” I looked at Carter and then at Brek. “Oh…”

  “Yeah, the guy won’t hesitate to use us to get to you.” Carter stood up and paced. “You’ll be his puppet queen, all right. We’ve got to be ten steps ahead of him to beat him at his own game.”

  “And what if Meg ends up dead because of our need to beat Jaco?” Brek ran his fingers through his hair, gripping it at the ends. “I say we go back to Athena’s palace, snatch the jewel, and get as far away from Rushna as we can.”

  “We’re at the mercy of her pheromones. You should know that more than anyone.” I didn’t understand how he buried the pain of what happened to him so easily.

  That was usually my specialty. He was the emotional one in our friendship.

  “Then, we find a way to become immune.” He set his palm over mine. “But I don’t want you to risk your life. If you become queen of this crazy place, I’m sure there’ll be people who oppose you, not to mention that psycho, Jaco.”

  “Can you help us create two more pendants?” I leaned in to see what she would write. The ingredients were difficult to obtain, but it didn’t mean they were hard to create. Aric never mentioned the process.

  Wren wrote one word on a sticky—TIME.

  “No need to shout.” I smiled at her. “I get it. It’s going to take time even with all the materials. Does it take magic?”

  She nodded.

  “Then maybe I can help.” Brek traced his fingers through the dirt. “Like I said, I was gifted the ability to perform the magical arts, although I’m still in the apprentice phase, and my master is indisposed at the moment.” He lifted his hand from the gro
und and clasped and unclasped them in front of him.

  Wren removed Carter’s coat and sat on her knees in front of Brek. She placed her hands on top of his and a warm glow emanated from her fingertips. My best friend’s face lit up as if he had seen things dimly before, but now everything was clear. He stared at Wren as if he were… in love.

  I swallowed. A burning anger filled the pit of my stomach, watching the two of them interact. It was wrong. Brek had always been mine, but I’d pushed him away. My eyes darted everywhere other than the scene in front of me. If I wasn’t going to choose him over anyone else, I had to live with the consequence of those actions. I cleared my throat.

  Brek shook his head, coming out of the trance cast upon him by the she-witch. She’s only trying to help him. Yeah, right. He was a catch, and a magical one at that. I swallowed again, trying to reach for the words that would lighten the situation and keep Carter from suspecting that I was anything but an innocent bystander.

  “So, Wren… are you a Gryffindor, or a Slytherin?”

  “Meg!” Brek shot me an annoyed look. “She’s going to help us with the pendants. She’s on our side and understands that you’re to be the next queen.”

  “Oh, so now you’re communicating telepathically?” It was rich, really. We go to play a game to help me get to college, and Brek finds his soul mate. “Figures,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Excuse me?” Brek understood my moods, and I was sure he knew I was pissed.

  “Do you think we should join the others, or are we going to continue our lovely picnic in here?” I stormed out of the cave with Carter on my heels.

  13

  We followed the path that led out of Mateel after meeting up with Jaco and his remaining soldiers. Carter tried to talk to me as we walked, but I shut him down with my silence. I hated doing it to him because what was going on wasn’t between the two of us. I needed to be alone in my own thoughts.