My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 242: Caught in Limbo

Nina

Somehow, I managed to daze all of the guards at once.

But Enzo and I didn’t have time to stand around and try to figure out how I did it. There was no knowing exactly how long this spell of mine would last, and for all we knew Selena had already been alerted to our location. We seemed to have an unspoken agreement to run as fast as we could, and that was exactly what we did. We ran across the large lawn that led up to the mansion, weaving through the stupefied guards, and bolted up the steps to another door that was slightly off to the side. We could reuse the same entrance we had used before, but we also couldn’t simply walk in through the front doors. Instead, we used a small wooden door that was tucked into the corner of the mansion; and, much to my surprise, it opened to a set of stairs that were going down.

With one last apprehensive look at each other, Enzo and I shut the door behind us and began our descent.

The stairs led to some sort of old root cellar. The floors and walls were all made of cobblestone, and when I flicked on my phone’s flashlight, I noticed that there were rows of shelves containing all sorts of weapons.

This wasn’t a cellar; it was an armory.

And it was a packed one, at that.

Enzo walked over to a shelf that contained a large amount of swords and picked one up, inspecting it in the light of my flashlight.

“Damn,” he said quietly, turning the blade this way and that. “It looks razor sharp.”

I swallowed nervously. “Put it back,” I said. “We need to move.”

Enzo nodded and slowly put the sword back on the rack. I never explained to him the premonition that I saw in the portal about my life being intertwined with Selena’s, but I had a feeling that he knew something about it. But now wasn’t the time to talk about it.

I had to push away the thought that we might not ever get to talk again after tonight. If I was going to die, then I didn’t want Enzo stopping me. Selena had to be stopped for the sake of both realms, and if Enzo knew that I was potentially marching to my death, then he would let the world burn instead of letting me do it.

All I could do to keep myself going was hope that what the old man said was right; that no one needed to die.

But, of course, those were just the ramblings of an old man.

Enzo and I quietly made our way through the armory, which branched off into several tunnels. The longer we walked, in fact, the more I realized that there must have been an entire tunnel system under the mansion.

“Hey,” I said, peering into one of the dark tunnels. It went so far that I couldn’t even see where it turned. “Do these go under the entire mansion?”

Enzo shrugged. “Probably,” he replied. “It would only make sense; the first royal family that built this mansion probably had all sorts of escape routes. It’s probably how your father and Selena escaped when the Crescents tried to assassinate you.”

“Just thinking about it makes me sick,” I said with a shudder. I wondered what had happened that night; how did it come to be that the Crescents only managed to steal me and kill my mother? Was it just pure luck that my father got Selena out?

“It’s alright,” Enzo replied gently, squeezing my hand. “You don’t have to worry about that now. There are bigger things to think about tonight.”

However, Enzo’s words didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, they only made me feel worse.

I couldn’t hide it anymore. A thick, choked sob caught in my throat and echoed through the damp tunnels. I clamped my hand over my mouth, but there was no stopping it at this point. The tears were already flowing.

Enzo stopped and pulled me close, hugging me tightly while I cried. His chest muffled my uncontrollable sobs, but it wasn’t enough to silence me completely. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Hey, hey,” Enzo whispered, pulling away just enough to bend down to my level and hold me by both shoulders. “Shh. Talk to me.”

I shook my head, but Enzo’s gaze never wavered, and I knew that I couldn’t hide it anymore.

“I’m afraid,” I whispered. “I’m afraid that I’ll need to kill Selena tonight. And when I was in the portal when we came to rescue you, I…” My voice faltered. I couldn’t continue any longer, and another sob escaped my lips.

“I know,” Enzo replied. “I’ve heard the legend. But it’s just that: a legend.”

“But what if it’s not?” I cried. “What if I don’t have a choice?”

Enzo shook his head. “Do you trust me?” he said.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. “W-What?”

“Do you trust me?” He spoke slowly, deliberately. Even in the darkness, I could see his soft brown eyes fixed unwaveringly on me. I nodded, biting my lower lip to stop it from quivering.

“Yes,” I replied. “I trust you.”

“Good.” Enzo stood and took the flashlight out of my hand, then began to lead me further into the tunnels. “All you have to do tonight is trust me. Nothing else.”

As we continued to walk through the tunnels, Enzo’s words echoed in my mind. They mixed with the words that Frank said earlier; was that all I needed to do? Have faith that things would work out? But there were so many things that could go wrong. How could I have faith when my entire soul was filled with nothing but dread?

At some point, we reached the end of one of the tunnels. There was a wooden door at the end. Enzo put his finger over his lips to indicate for me to be quiet before he slowly pushed on the door, then peered out for a few moments. Once it seemed that the coast was clear, he pushed it open the rest of the way and ushered me out.

There was a set of stone steps in front of the door with a heavy tapestry blocking the way. I slowly pulled the tapestry aside, keeping an eye out for any guards, but no one was there. In fact, I quickly realized that we seemed to be in some sort of enormous dining room. The room was dark and empty, and when Enzo stopped beside me and spoke, even his whispers echoed throughout the massive arched ceilings.

“The banquet hall,” he whispered. “It makes sense that there would be a tunnel entrance here. Assassins love the chaos of parties.”

I swallowed nervously and nodded as I looked around. I could only imagine the terror that would come along with discovering that someone at your own party was poisoned or killed in some other way; the screaming, the people running around, the crying children… I tried not to think about it.

As I looked around, I noticed that the walls were painted with ornate depictions of what looked like werewolves and humans. I took a step closer to get a better look.

The first panel depicted humans and wolves running together with the light of the full moon over them. The wolves were enormous; three times the size of any of the humans. But some of the humans rode on the backs of the werewolves, weapons in hand, as though they were allies.

I took in a sharp breath when I saw the second panel.

The humans became violent. A man stood over one of the wolves with his spear plunged into its chest and his foot on its head, looking victorious. The other wolves scattered and fled. If I closed my eyes for a second, I felt as though I could picture it.

The third panel depicted the wolves, walking solemnly through the forest. They seemed to be following some sort of faint light. But I couldn’t make out what it was, because the next panel was torn to shreds.

“The fourth panel was ruined when the Crescents attacked twenty years ago,” a female voice suddenly said from behind me.

Enzo and I both gasped. I dropped my phone onto the marble floor and spun around, feeling my heart drop when I saw who was standing behind me.

“Selena.”