Chapter 57

VALERIA.

The days roll in, faster than I would have wanted them to be. I still haven’t visited Celeste, and I don’t think I ever can. Because tonight is the Winter Ball, and everyone is busy with that.

I sit in my dorm room, wearing the dress and the shoes that Auric got for me. It’s a bright red dress with matching bright red shoes. It’s pretty just like the necklace, but wearing them right now gives me no joy whatsoever.

It doesn’t help that I haven’t seen Eden in a while again. I think she probably went to visit Jake for the past few days, not really having any interest to go to a ball without him.

Honestly, I don’t blame her. I don’t feel like going either.

The music coming from the Great Hall is audible from here, and I know that Auric would be waiting for me there. For some reason, the thought of him in a tux makes me feel a little sick. Not because I don’t think he would look good, but it’s more so the fact that it’s not exactly him that I want to go with.

I still want to see Stefano. After everything, he’s still the one I want to be with on this occasion.

I shake my head and sigh. I exit the dorm and head straight to the Great Hall. Outside, the students are buzzing about, wearing all sorts of fancy clothes. Dates are walking around hand in hand. Some students are in the corners of the hall making out furiously. I speed up to avoid them, then I bump into Auric himself.

And to my horror, he’s carrying a little corsage of a rose for me.

“Hey!” he says happily, offering his arm to me. “You look absolutely stunning.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” I say, forcing a smile. “Um, shall we head inside?”

Auric ties the corsage around my wrist happily like he didn’t hear my question. “Well, they haven’t started yet. I was thinking we can just have a walk around the garden.”

“It looks plenty toasty inside,” I mutter, gesturing at the Hall.

It’s not a lie either. The place is decorated to perfection, with all the snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and what looks like magical snow raining down and vanishing halfway to the floor. There’s already music playing from some kind of band I don’t know about. There are students inside standing beside little tables and chatting. It looks fun there.

But I have a feeling that Auric wants us to join the kissing couples. I gulp hard. “We should stay inside.”

Something about his expression shifts from determined to relenting. “Okay.”

With that, he loops my arm around his and leads me inside the Hall. I scan the room for Stefano, or any familiar face, but I don’t see anyone I know. Except maybe for the teachers and Professor Blossom, who is also wearing a set of red robes, only his is in the deep color of blood. He watches over the students, and for a brief moment, our eyes meet.

I look away immediately. Thankfully, Auric manages to find us a spot, but it’s the one basically outside. The many doors in the back have been opened to the garden, and that’s where he finds a seat for us.

For some reason, this spot is empty, although I would think that this is a better place for couples making out.

We sit on the bench, listening to the muffled music. I look at him, seeing the lights reflecting from his handsome face. He catches me staring and smiles.

“I was actually going to show you something,” he says in a low voice. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Well, we just got here,” I say, frowning. “I don’t think we should…”

I trail off when Auric suddenly leans over really close to me, leaving me with nowhere else to look at but his eyes. I thought for a moment that he was going to kiss me, but he just smiles and whispers, “I’m getting really tired of this charade. It’s almost time.”

I open my mouth to ask time for what, but something strange happens.

The moment our gazes lock, strength leaves my body. Suddenly, I feel like I’m floating. Weightless. Present but not really here. I try to look away but it seems that my muscles are frozen in place. All I can do is keep looking at him. My mind is blank and it feels like I’m losing control over my body.

It’s that spell all over again. When I passed out in the middle of the conversation and started walking around without my knowledge.

His gaze is hypnotizing and in the least romantic way possible.

“You will take me there, you understand?” he whispers, smiling sweetly. “You will take me to the tunnels. And you will not say a word to anyone.”

To my utter horror, I find myself saying, “Yes.”

“Good girl,” he purrs, taking my hand and leading me back into the Great Hall.

We pass by so many people. I want to scream for help. I want to tell them that he’s taking me back to the place I never wanted to go to again, and my mind is about to explode. Why does he want to go there? What is happening with him?

I can feel my own thoughts start to fade away, replaced by some weird displaced determination to go back. Auric just looks at me and continues to smile, leading me out of the Great Hall and into the trophy room.

The painting in the corner is already removed, revealing the gaping entrance to the tunnels.

He lets me go, and like a marionette under his control, I climb up the ladder and slip into the tunnel.

I can hear him behind me as the slope overtakes me, powered by gravity. I slide down with him behind me, and together we land in the place where Celeste and I landed before, the clearing of some sort, the intersection facing all the paths of the tunnels.

Except this time, it’s not empty.

Chained to the wall spread-eagled is my mother.

Her hair is caked with sweat and dirt. Her face is brown from all the dust, and there are clear streaks across her cheeks where the tears are. There’s a streak of scarlet on her forehead, and I see that there’s a clear-cut festering on there. Her body is emaciated, her bones moving under her skin like live animals.

Mom looks up at me, and the despair in her eyes is almost enough to make me snap out of it.

“Valeria,” she whispers, her voice a mere croak. “Valeria, you need to get out of her. They imprisoned me. They took me. They’re going to do the same to you. Please….”

Tears brim my eyes. Emotions are raging inside me. Suddenly, some things are starting to come together. Why Auric was able to shape-shift into the form of my mother from the first time I met him. Why he stayed by my side even when everyone was suspicious of me, and rightly so. Why he insisted that I was right when I thought of coming back to the tunnels. He might be the murderer all along. He’s most likely the one behind all of this. He was using me.

The only question I want answered now is why.

“Shut up, you wench,” Auric spits out at my mother. “You proved yourself to be nothing but useless anyway. But no matter, your daughter is here and I’m sure she will prove herself more useful. Now, Valeria, take the knife and kill her.”

My blood goes cold. Horror seizes my heart when my body activates without my will, diving straight for the sharp knife that Auric is handing me. I stretch my hand out, prepared to take it and plunge it straight into my mother’s heart. I’m fighting the control, urging it to leave my body, but it seems that the spell is stronger than me--

“Stop.”

The voice in the distance makes all of us freeze. I look up and see a familiar figure approaching from one of the tunnels.

It’s Professor Blossom.

I almost pass out in relief, thinking that we’re saved. I wait for Auric to attack him, or for him to attack Auric, but then he just stands next to him and surveys the scene.

Then, he pats Auric on the back and smiles widely. “You have done a good job, my boy. I will take it from here.”