Astrid

“Someday, I want to author a book or two,” I admit to Isabelle one night as we lie on the cool floor of her chambers, wrapped in blankets.

Out of the corner of my eye, she nods.

This is what I like the most about her. I can tell her that I want to attach wings to my ears and take off to fly amidst the stars and she would accept it as a probable reality. This very trait of hers is what brought her here in the first place.

“I don’t know what I want to become,” she says. “Sometimes, I think I should get into science, you know, ‘cause it’s real interesting. Other times I want to become a pilot.”

“What is a pilot?”

“Oh,” her fringe falls to one side when she turns her head to face me. “It’s a person who drives an, uh, an aeroplane? Or a jet? Like, machines that can fly.”

The memory of one of those contraptions that frequently flew across the sky during our visits through the mirror comes to mind. I nod and say, “Yes, I know what you speak of.”

“Yeah. I guess it would be pretty great to take in the view of the clouds and the never-ending sky. I love being on planes. My mom always takes my brother and me to Philadelphia to visit our Gramps.”

She then proceeds to tell me about her family without much prompting from me. I listen with as much attention I can give at this time of the night after a long evening of caring for my father.

“What of the people who defamed you?” I question after she finishes her stories of how her parents separated from each other, and how her brother fits in more with the people at her school than she does. “Are they your friends?”

She briefly goes quiet.

“Some of them were,” she says.

I feel a little remorseful for bringing this topic up, so I say, “People back at home didn’t like me very much, either.”

“Really? How strange. You’re such a nice person.”

The idea of it is almost laughable. “Thank you, but I will admit to being rather cold towards most of my peers. I used to think the girls…” I pause, heat rushing to my cheeks. “They envied me for my, ah, beauty. But it could be commonly – and rather expressly, most of the time – agreed that my education has warranted the greatest amount of jeers from everybody.”

Isabelle blinks. “Your...education?”

“Yes. It is uncommon for a lady to be educated where I am from, you see. And to be unmarried at my age, though not uncommon, also puts one at a disadvantage.”

“Aren’t you twenty?”

I nod sagely. “Upsetting, I know. People seem to think women are only good for becoming homemakers and nothing else.”

“Upsetting? It’s ridiculous!” Her nostrils flare in anger. “I mean, I get that education isn’t a thing for you guys yet, but why ostracize anybody who’s trying to just do their own thing?”

Never once have I received this reaction before. Isabelle’s outrage begins to uncover an emotion I have long tried to quell inside.

“Do you get to learn about anything you please?”

“Quite. It took everyone a while, but now education is a right. At least it’s supposed to be. Of course, there are still a few exceptions in certain places, but we’re working on it.”

I glance at my hands.

“Fight for it,” my words come out hushed. “Always.”

She looks me in the eye. Mutedly, she nods.

We talk for a bit more until I start to yawn, and then she starts to yawn, too. I check the time.

“It is nearly midnight,” I say. “Best not to push our luck.”

She steps out into the corridor with me to walk me to my room. It has become a custom for us to do so. Tonight, the autumn air is chilly and she wraps herself tighter in her thick wool blanket.

Crash!

We both jump.

Someone is throwing things about the castle downstairs. I can hear objects shatter against the floors and walls.

Another crash comes again, but this time it is louder. Someone cries out.

“What was that?” Isabelle’s voice has dropped to a whisper.

My toes grow cold. A chill runs up my spine even before we both hear it.

A roar. A hateful outcry. That low, guttural sound. It sends a tremor through my bones and simultaneously pierces my eardrums with its volume.

“Astrid -”

I have already spun on my heels. Her mouth hangs open in a mixture of fear and perplexion, but I cannot wait to explain. I shove her into her room.

That thing starts bounding up the staircase.

It will come for us both. Imogen’s story about the beast attacking her husband while they were in their chambers rings in my ears, nearly as loudly as the second, bloodthirsty growl that makes the hairs stand on the back of my neck.

“Lock the door,” is all I can say to her before I slam the door shut in my own face.

The beast stops on our floor. Out of the corner of my eye – I do not dare to look directly at it – its shadowy mass builds slowly in height as it rises to its hind legs. I do not have to be able to see its every detail to know what it looks like. Can it see me in the darkness?

It growls.

My eyes scan the walls until they settle on an old, unlit torch. I reach for it.

As soon as I turn, the creature falls on all fours and lunges in my direction.

“Fire!”

A burst of light nearly blinds me. Fire erupts from the torch, blazing into an uncontrolled shield. The beast falls back and screeches in pain. The smell of singed hair burns my nose.

“Astrid!” There is wild pounding on Isabelle’s door.

“Stay inside!” I bark my order. “Be quiet!”

She instantly stops, much to my surprise.

The beast distractedly turns its head towards Isabelle’s door, so I take the opportunity to plunge the burning edge of the torch into its neck. Its outrage is deafening. Its talons scrape over its skin in a desperate attempt to put out the burns.

I scramble towards the door of my room. My hands close around the cold brass knob. But before my trembling hands can twist it, the beast’s weight is already bounding across the floor. I pull my door open and stumble inside.

A weight crashes against the door. The edge of the wooden surface collides with my temple. For a moment, I see white spots.

Claws enclose around the edge of the door and the doorframe. A violent force pushes the door repeatedly against my chest. My breath is stolen from me as jagged fangs snap dangerously close to my hands and face.

My heart hammers against my ribcage. Tears run freely down my cheeks, but my body knows it cannot afford a millisecond of hesitation. The creature’s insidious snarls are nearly as thunderous as the blood rushing in my ears.

It takes my clambering thoughts seconds to register the fact that my strength is barely enough to hold the might of the monster.

The door itself inches closer and closer to pushing the beast out.

From behind me, objects fly from the wardrobe, the drawers – everywhere. They miss me completely and instead pummel the creature’s head.

One of the objects hits the beast in the eye, and it falters momentarily. A surge of adrenaline and magic propels my body forward. I slam myself against the door.

The beast is forced out.

My breaths come out in rattles. My back slumps against the door and my knees give way to the floor.

Imogen. Eli. Bayorn. Are they hiding? Did the beast get to them? Images of the monster tearing a hall full of people apart flash before my eyes. Hot tears blur my vision.

And then something slams into the wood directly beside my head again.

My scream rips through the air.

Its teeth snap at my hair viciously. I scramble out of the way.

“Hold it!” I holler at the door. “Keep yourself closed!”

It obeys, but it can only do so much against the beast’s strength. The wood chips with every snap, every tear. First I see its claws, and then its teeth.

Then I see its eyes.

They are yellow orbs narrowed into serpentine slits, cold and vile. Nowhere near the soft blue of the person who once was. They locate me instantly; I tremble and scream at the door to hold.

The holes in the door enlarge. The beast rams itself into the door, and I hear the lock break.

There is no room for thought. I barrel my weight into the side of the door before it can give way. My feet slide against the floor uselessly, but adrenaline keeps me upright. But just barely.

The door is going to give way at any moment.

“Kieran!” my shriek is hysterical.

The beast’s fangs sink into the side of the door. A portion of wood chips into splinters.

“Kieran, listen to me.” Tears are streaming down my cheeks. I can barely formulate words on my tongue. “Listen to me. It’s me, it’s me, it’s Astrid. You know me. I’m -”

My body is suddenly thrown onto the floor.

The door gives way to the beast’s claw, but still it fights relentlessly for me. I stagger to my feet. My right arm stings, but I cannot afford to look now. I simply clutch at the moisture that trickles down my skin and brace to steady myself.

I will not die now.

“Wren. Wren.”

Its eyes widen. The claws constrict.

“I know who you are,” my voice comes out in tremors. “Your name is Wren. Kieran. Listen to me. Know my voice.”

The beast throws its head back and howls. The hairs on the back of my neck stand.

My scattered thoughts struggle to find a memory. Any memory.

“One night we were in my room, lying -” It throws itself against the door. More wood splinters. My words are interrupted by another panicked gasp.

Alone. All alone.

“W-we were lying on the bed, remember?” My lips are trembling so much, I can barely speak coherently. “You were...you lay over the covers, and me under. You told me about your family -” my voice breaks at the end when its full head breaks through a hole in the door.

It’s coming.

“You told me about your family. Your sister’s name is Anna. You said the only time you did not feel the burden of the throne upon your shoulders is -”

Half the door breaks free. I flee to the other end of the room. Every object in the room comes soaring through the air, hurtling towards the beast.

“Is when Anna gave you music lessons!”

The monster hears me. He must, because those sinewy limbs freeze mid-air. He turns his head sideways, distracted.

“You- you hated it. Kieran, you hated it. But you loved her. So you pretended to practice very hard whenever she was looking, but as soon as she got distracted, you set the instruments down.”

The creature backs away. Snarls. Lunges through the broken door and into the room.

My scream catches in my throat. Instead, more words spill out.

“Kieran, look at me.”

It screeches in uncontained fury. In horror, I watch as its neck snaps so far back. Every muscle on its body is exposed.

“Look at me!”

He looks at me.

Those eyes are no longer slits. They widen into deep blue orbs.

“Kieran, please,” I whimper. “Listen to my voice. You know me. I can see you.”

He drops on all fours again. For a moment the only place my mind can go to is the imagination of which part of me he will devour first.

Then he turns, and flees.

My knees give way. The ground thuds under my face. I lie limp and trembling like a leaf in the storm.

Outside, the sound of thudding and crashing continues. Inhuman cries fill my ears, over and over again. It echoes all over the castle. I should run, hide, look for everybody else, but every muscle in my body is paralyzed.

An eternity passes.

Before the sun comes up, the thunder ceases.