Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,88

into my ear. “The one who can free me.”

“Dinah!” Jack’s call for me nipped at my mind, but I felt a coil of magic tighten around me.

“They do not matter, little one. You are the special one.”

I strode deeper into the cell, the light from the passage letting my eyes adjust to the shadows. My gaze caught on an object against the wall.

A box.

Nearing it, I saw it was a present, but instead of ribbons and bows, it was wrapped in chains. A black tag was tied to the top, silver writing looping over it that read: Do not open until the 25th of never.

“Help me, little one.”

“But…” Doubt gripped my mind like it was trying to clear it.

“I am not to be feared; what locked me up should be. Let me free…”

I squatted, my fingers reaching out, running over the chains wrapped around it. They pulsed as if they were alive, moving and uncoiling like snakes at my touch.

Chains clanked to floor, slipping off the box.

“Yesssss…”

“Dinah! How did you do that? What are you doing?” Blaze’s voice buzzed behind me like an annoying fly. The confident, cocky boy was gone, his tone full of fear. “Don’t touch it!”

“Ignore him, little one. He is nothing.”

“I’m gonna go get Mother,” Blaze yelled in panic, sounding so far away.

“Little one…” The inhuman voice called for me. My fingers stretched out, reaching for the lid, energy swirling around me.

“Dinah, no!” Jack’s tried to grab my arms, pull me away, but it was too late.

I flipped open the box.

Boom!

A surge of power slammed us both back onto the floor, my head smacking the stone, bolting clarity through me, making me feel I had just woken up from a dream.

The space crackled with orbs of light, spinning around the room like when my dog got the zoomies. A deep sinking dread filled my stomach, fear prickling at my skin.

What did I do?

“Dinah!” Jack yelled my name, his hands grasping for me, trying to get me up. “Come on!” My legs shook, I stumbled getting up, falling back down. I could feel his panic as he shoved at me to get up. “Go! Go!”

“Dinah!” Blaze’s cry came from outside the door. He was waving frantically for me to move.

The orbs collided, spinning in a funnel, absorbing into a larger ball. I could feel the magic intensify, the energy crackling and popping at my eardrums like when I flew with my family to Disney World.

“Thank you, little one.” A horrendous mocking laugh crawled into my head, making me cry out.

“Come on! Hurry!” Blaze screamed.

Lurching to my feet, Jack shoved me toward his brother. “Run!”

Blaze clutched my hand, tugging me with him, my little legs barely able to keep up.

“Wait, where’s Jack?” I looked back as Blaze rushed us back toward the stairs. “We can’t leave Jack.”

“He’s right behind. Come on!” Blaze yanked harder, stomping us up the stairs.

Halfway up, a scream shredded through the walls of the fortress, walloping my chest with utter terror. The agony and pain in it burrowed into my bones, almost making me pass out. Fear. It comes in all shades and degrees.

“Jack!” I screamed back. The guttural horror I felt in every molecule of my body marked me with invisible wounds.

“Dinah!” Blaze only pulled me harder as another cry of pain and agony shrieked from the depths. The cry turned into a roar, the sound like nothing I had heard before.

Oxygen sucked out of my lungs, my heart trying to jump out of my chest.

Another eerie howl burst through the castle, sounding incredibly close behind us.

Blaze and I darted down the passages, the labyrinth twisting us up in places, the monster behind us getting closer.

“Come on! Hurry.” Blaze finally found stairs to the tower, our panicked heaving nothing more than loud squeaks. He beelined for the room with the mirror. “Go!”

“What about Jack? What about you?” Tears rolled down my face.

“I’ll be fine. Just go!” Blaze shoved me toward the mirror. I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave my friends. “Go!” Blaze pushed me, and I slipped into the mirror, screaming his name.

But instead of going home to safety, my worry for them turned me back around. When I popped through the mirror again, the room was empty.

“Blaze?” I whispered his name, but I knew he was gone already. I took a few steps from the mirror, wanting to peek out of the room.

A snarl vibrated from outside the door, heavy footsteps hitting the stone floor. Sucking in, I slammed