Page 7 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)

"My sister…Almira," she managed through chapped, bloody lips that looked like they hadn't seen water in days.

"When her whirlpool failed in Neverland, she went into a rage. She knows I’ve found a way to help you.

No more free to roam in my 5 by 5 cell. I'm now truly trapped with my hands bound, cast in icy darkness.

I mustered all I had left to come to you this last time. "

Had she truly said, ‘My sister Almira’?

If so, that was news to me, although now wasn’t the time to press her on the issue. Every word was a struggle. She sucked in a breath and her lungs rattled, setting off a fit of coughing that doubled her over.

The towns folk were murmuring to one another in low, terrified whispers, and I didn't blame them. This was some scary shit. But my friend’s suffering overshadowed my fear, and I stepped closer.

"How can I help you?"

I winced as she turned her head back sharply, exposing a jutting collarbone that told me it wasn't just water and sunlight she was being deprived of.

“It is I who must help you, one last time, Princess. Time passes differently here, and things have taken a terrible turn. Almira has given up any guise of diplomacy and is killing our people with reckless abandon. You must make it back to C’an Saas before there is no C’an Saas, so listen closely.

” She took a deep labored breath. “When I put you into the book, I placed a spell around each story, shielding them from her influence as best I could. She caught me before I was able to complete the task in Oz. I knew you’d come here to Munsch Kin Land first, and was able to shield this place, but until you reach The Emerald City and your mother’s protection spell, you’ll be vulnerable.

Almira has created an army here in Oz, and, although the process is draining, she can come and go as she chooses.

Staying until her power begins to wane, then returning home until she grows strong again.

Although they don’t call her Almira here.

They call her The Wicked Witch of the West.”

The collective gasp that echoed through the room told me that the people of Munsch Kin Land were well acquainted with that moniker.

“That’s all well and good but first tell me how to help you. We need to get you out of there, Gayelette.” I took a step closer, and James sheathed his sword, grabbing my wrist.

“Tread carefully. Almira could be controlling her right now. This could all be a trap.”

I paused, my brain stuttering in confusion as fear and thistle-grog warred for control. He wasn’t wrong. As much as it made me sick to see her like this, I had no idea if this was a trick conceived by the most cunning, powerful being I’d ever encountered.

“So we do nothing?” I whispered, frozen with indecision.

He ignored me, fixing his gaze on Gayelette. “If what you say is true, why are you still alive at all? Why didn’t she just kill you once she got the answers she wanted?”

“She cannot.” The old woman let out a low gasp. “We were three of a coven, and as such, we are bound. Should one of us take the life of our coven sister, it would be so painful, we ourselves would likely die, too."

The words beat against my temples like a drum.

"Three…?" I asked, already sensing what would come next.

"Me, Almira, and Marin. I'm not the clairvoyant, Princess. Your mother, Marin, was. I've just been leading you to the prophecies she left behind for you to find. The final one lies in the heart of Emerald City. You need to get it before it’s too late. Almira has already found a way to damage the pages, and it won’t be long before she succeeds in destroying them completely.”

"But what about you? I can't leave you like this. Can’t I come home now? I’m strong, and my powers have been?—"

"If you did, you would fail. You still don't have all you need to defeat her." She jerked her head again, and this time, sheer terror clouded her features. "Dear gods…she’s back! Find The Wizard of Oz. He’s the keeper of the final prophecy and has the last item you need to?—"

"You stupid, stubborn cow! Did I sense you using your magic again?" The snarl seemed as if it came from within the orb, but it did not come from Gayelette. And I knew, in that moment, it was Almira's voice…I remembered it from when I'd leapt into the Shadow Abyss…

“I'll get you, my pretty, and your little bird, too.”

It was no less chilling this time.

"I might not be able to kill you,” Almira continued, closer, yet somewhere behind Gayelette, still out of view, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun, does it?"

Gayelette let out an unholy scream as what looked like thin fingers of black lightning pelted her body from behind. Her back arched like she’d been stuck through from heel to head with an iron rod, every muscle standing out in sharp relief against her paper-thin skin.

“No more fucking magic, sister!” Almira screeched.

A distorted shape stepped up behind Gayelette and began to move closer.

“Are you with her?” Almira demanded, her voice dropping to a menacing whisper. “Are you talking to Marin and Alistair’s useless little whelp right now?”

Gayelette’s body contorted in jerky movements as Almira used the lightning like the strings of a marionette to move her to the side and a new face filled the orb. I stopped breathing as our gazes collided.

I didn’t know what I’d expected her to look like, but this wasn’t it.

Long silver hair flowed around a face that could’ve been on the front of a coin.

Regal, with high cheekbones, a strong nose, and one, ice blue eye that gleamed with hatred.

The other, its match but unseeing, as if it was made of glass.

“There she is,” she muttered. “So pretty, just like your mother. I’ll see you soon, Harmony. And what I plan to do to you after all the trouble you’ve caused me will make what I did to your father look like child’s play!”

Almira backed away until she was in full view, and then lowered her hands, sending Gayelette bouncing off the glass and hurtling toward the ground down face first, arms bound.

“No!” I lunged toward the sphere, tugging my whip free and flicking it at the sphere in a desperate attempt to use my magic and catch Gayelette before her face smashed into the floor. Sparks showered along the glass, and catch her I did. I used every ounce of control I had to lower her down gently.

“Just as I thought. A weak heart, just like your silly mother,” Almira cackled.

“Harmony!” Hook and Duncan shouted my name in unison, but it was too late. The witch was already turning those oily tendrils of lightning on me, striking through the glass.

My body felt like it was moving in slow motion as I tried to dodge. Her magic was too fast, and one single finger of lightning licked at my face. A helplessness so complete…a despair so deep slammed into me, I screamed.

“Get the fuck down!” Hook bellowed.

Something hit me from behind, sending me to the wooden floor in a heap and knocking the breath from my lungs. I managed to open my eyes in time to see the orb tremble for a second before shattering into a billion pieces, exploding outward in a rain of glass.

I covered my head, expecting to hear screams of pain and the tinkling of glass hitting the floor.

But all was quiet except for the harsh breathing and terrified gasps of the party goers.

When I lifted my head, it was to find Hook standing in front of me.

His body blocking mine, hand raised, using magic to keep the glass suspended in the air.

He whipped his head around to scan me up and down, his jaw clenched tight. Then he balled his hand up in a fist and dropped it to his side. The torrent of glass hung for a moment and then fell to the floor.

The room was eerily quiet for a long moment before filling with wild applause.

"Great Scott!” The Earl of Munsch ambled down from the dais, wringing his hands. “That was astonishing. Huzzah for Captain James Hook! Thank you, sir."

Duncan was pushing himself to stand a couple yards from where he’d knocked me down, and even his brows were raised in reluctant awe of the stunning display of Hook’s magic.

"It was hard to see her like that, but at least we have a path laid out for us now.” Hook ignored the applause as he helped me to my feet. "If what Gayelette says is true, we need to get on the road as soon as possible. Surely there's nothing out there more dangerous than what we just witnessed."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Duncan said, closing the distance between us.

"What do you mean?"

The Earl of Munsch let out a weary sigh and made his way over to a large rope with a decorative tassel at the end, which hung from the wall at the back of the room. He gave it a tug, and the ceiling high above our heads split open to reveal a window.

For a second, we just stared up at the starry sky, and I was about to ask what the problem was, when suddenly a screech echoed through the great hall, followed by dozens of others that grew louder and more frenzied. And then, one thud.

Another.

Another.

It wasn't until the entire ceiling had opened up that, by the light of the moon, we could actually see what was happening. And there it was…

The catch.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of flying monkeys hurled themselves against the glass, over and over again, trying to get in. Their sharpened teeth bared and dripping with saliva as they battered at it with wings and fists, doing anything they could to get through.

" That's why we don't go out at night," the Widow Codswallow said as she sidled up to the earl.

"What the fuck are those things?" Hook snarled, looking like he was seriously considering heading out to take them on all by himself.

A memory flooded my brain…the illustration inside one of the fairytales in my book, later drawn on the walls of the amphitheater in Little Alabaster by Gayelette herself.

Hints of the story to come, and somehow, I’d buried it in the back of my mind until now.

But I knew exactly what those creatures were.

“Winged Monkeys. Minions of a witch with green skin.”

I shivered as the earl eyed me suspiciously and then nodded.

Widow Codswallow fluttered her hand against her chest. “Exactly as you say, Harmony. The army of The Wicked Witch of the West herself. They're nocturnal, so aside from the occasional scout she’s given the power to withstand the sun so they can spy on her behalf, they only give us trouble at night. But many have died at their hands, including my beloved husband.”

The earl’s jowls trembled as he let out a harumph.

"Terrible, they are. The bane of our existence. Many of us have family in The Emerald City we haven't seen in years. It's several-days' journey, and to even attempt it would be a suicide mission. As lovely as Munsch Kin Land is, we’re essentially in a painted prison. The woman in the glass orb—she says you’re to kill The Wicked Witch of the West or…whatever she calls herself now. She said that your mother was part of her coven, which means you're a witch, too, and while I’d love to assume you’ve got our best interests at heart, I’ve seen magic abused enough times in my day that I have a question I must ask you, Harmony of Alabaster… and a place called C’an Saas.”

He turned to me, his expression solemn.

“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”

Hell…up until about three minutes ago, I didn’t know I was a witch at all, and the question rocked me down to my crimson boots. Or as the case currently was, my three inch heels.

I swayed on my feet and tried to form a reply. “I?—”

The room spun into a blur, and I stumbled backward, the weight of the task before me suddenly too heavy upon my shoulders as the despair I’d felt when Almira’s black lightning had touched me came back in a rush.

“It’s okay. I got you.”

I let myself go slack as strong arms caught me. A low, familiar rumble hummed in my ear, assuring me that everything would be alright, and I was lifted into the air like I weighed no more than a child.

Something was wrong with me.

Very wrong.

I didn’t think about arguing, or what the party guests—or even Hook—might think in that moment. I just pressed my face close to Duncan’s chest.

Dimly, I could hear voices behind us.

“Why didn’t she answer me?”

“Because she’s half-dead with exhaustion,” Hook shot back. “It’s been a long, trying few days. She needs some rest, and I intend to ensure that she gets it. You have my word that she has the purest of intentions.”

If only I had as much faith in me as he did…

Because once Hook’s voice faded in the distance, and I forced myself to focus on the even, steady beat of Duncan’s heart, it had taken on a cadence of the question I just couldn’t shake.

Good witch. Bad witch. Good witch. Bad witch.

The part that scared me the most, though?

I didn’t know the answer.