Chapter forty-two—Queen Cecilia and the Mysteries within
Before Sophia could speak anymore of her past and dreams, the grand door of the guest bedroom was opened. Standing there was a dog; a poodle. She was standing on her hind legs, wearing a blue puffed out dress with a tight corset. Ribbons decorated her gown, hair, and matched the blue of her eyes and spectacles. Her nose and ears were pink in fury, and the spiky golden crown upon her head made her look powerful and dangerous; even for a canine.
Abby stood up immediately, and bowed with grace. “Welcome, your Majesty.”
Slowly, everybody stood up cautiously, and bowed as well at the poodle standing there rigid as a slab of concrete. In such a serious situation, I’d never find myself laughing inside at the thought of bowing to a Queen who’s a damn poodle.
“What in the Spiral of insane events has happened here?!” Her voice was rich and shrill, and I forced my head up to see her paws and spectacles shaking in shock.
“You’re Majesty, I…” Abby looked down to her hands. She didn’t know how to explain what happened, just like everybody else.
Queen Cecilia shook her head curtly, disappointed in Abby’s clueless answer. “I want to know from the lady who killed the beast, along with ruining the fine gown I had sent her out of my own generosity.”
I winced, knowing the dress subject would turn up eventually. In defense, I spoke up. “Your Majesty… I had no choice. If I didn’t attack the wolf at that very moment, then somebody would have been killed.”
“Killed? Ha! Not with my guards. You’re just a girl; what makes you think you’re so powerful?”
“I bet that its one of your guards whom provoked the wolf.” I retorted. “They evidently didn’t expect a huge wolf crashing through the ballroom windows, did they?”
“Well, with the parents you’ve grown up with, you would know if somebody was going to be slaughtered or not.” The Queen replied haughtily. “I wou-“
“You know, the parenting insults against me are kind of getting on my last nerves.” I interrupted, and the people in the room stared in shock at my rude outburst, but I didn’t care. “It seems like every dang person I meet thinks I’m as crazy as my father. I am not him, and I will never be him. I’ve never met him in my life until my first days of Ravenwood; if you seriously think that I’m on his side, then you shall reconsider it, because I wouldn’t want to be with a person who wants my head. You can stay out of my business, because I don’t give a crap anymore. I’m sorry I ruined the dress, I’m sorry I saved a life or two, and I’m sorry that I joined this Enforcement facility to be kind, generous, and to save the race of the Enchanted people.”
People were standing and staring at me, with no expression on their faces. The Queen’s eyes were wide, and her mouth was not as pinched. Slowly, cautiously and as though in a dream, she sat down and actually looked like she understood. However, she didn’t say anything to correct her past words, and I didn’t apologize for my outburst.
I was tired of living like a blind person, as though I’m sick inside without a sense of feeling. My mother and sister’s were the only people rooting me down to the ground, and it felt like every time I meet a new person, they cut a little bit of the root. Sooner or later, I’m going to be a hopeless body full of nothing.
While I was staring at the floor, trying to figure out what to say, I glanced at the Queen’s expression every few seconds. I was surprised to see a smile on her face, and her anger was gone. Instead, it was relief. I raised my eyebrow.
“Please leave the room.” The Queen turned her head back to the guards who were walking besides her entering the room, and they nodded. Reluctantly they left the room, and I had a feeling they were right outside the door.
I’ve been wrong about situations like these, but there were words in the back of my head telling me suspicions. I had a feeling deep in my gut that the Queen knew something. I studied the looks on my sister’s faces, and they all had the same face that I believe I had when I realized the Queen was smiling.
“Uh… Your Majesty..?” Nikki’s voice trembled in slight anxiety, but nobody seemed to notice but me. “Whats going on?”
The Queen fixed her sapphire blue eyes upon mine. “You are more like your mother than you’re good for… Stubborn as talking to a wall. Indeed, I am more pleased than I thought I would be. Please, relax, and I shall explain my reasoning on your search.”
“My… Search?” I hesitated, trying to remember a time I told her I was searching for something. Has somebody been filling her in on my duties?
“Your mother traveled here when I was a young canine, and you weren’t even born yet.” I saw the Queen smile slightly, and she fanned herself with a delicate fan. “She was sweet as honey, and nurturing as a woman of life could become. Oh, how devastated I was when I figured out she was dead… Then you popped up in the newspapers! I would have never known.”
“She traveled here?” I asked, surprised. I couldn’t imagine my mother in ball gowns and feasting upon fine dinners and sleeping in lavish beds. “Why?”
“Because, my dear.” The Queen was now referring to all of us, regarding the look in her eyes. “She was searching for the same thing you are searching for now. Of course, she would never tell me, but she helped kidnap robbers and solve crimes, and she always had a small piece of evidence that meant the world to her.”
“She did all that?” I gasped. I would have never guessed my mother was a… Crime fighter?
“How do we know you’re not lying?” Sophia spoke suspiciously, eyeing the Queen. “What is in it for you?”
The Queen bit her lip. “Well, I suppose that is an acceptable answer, considering the danger you are all in constantly.” She sighed, and put her paw on my arm. “But if you must know, we made the citrine amulet that you are wearing right in Marleybone’s finest factories, Mary.”
I touched my amulet gently. “You did?”
The Queen nodded. “It was a special request from Sylvia. She ordered it to be unstoppable, undeniable, and guaranteed to help one in battle. How is the sword?”
“It… Works fantastic.” I raised my eyebrow, now knowing she is no traitor. “I’ve never fought with a sword before these times, and with the amulet’s transformation of a sword, I feel like I’ve been practicing for eternity.”
“So, you’ve made Mary’s amulet.” Nikki played with a string on her corset. “So what?”
“Well, do you trust Sylvia Drake?” The Queen asked softly.
“Of course I do… Why wouldn’t I?” Nikki replied stubbornly.
“Then you shall trust me, because she trusted me as well.” The Queen answered curtly, and I believed that my sisters trusted her as much as I do. How else could a person know that my amulet is also a sword, but the maker itself?
“Why are you here, your Majesty?” Abby asked, cocking her head to the side. “Besides telling us that you knew Mary’s mother.”
“Well, it’s quite devastating, really.” The Queen spoke heavily. “It appears that the Mysterious Woman is not… Sophia.”
So, apparently the Queen knew about that. I figured she must have spies all around; how else would she have gotten the information?
“B-but that’s impossible.” Sophia exclaimed. “I was there for all the Mysterious Woman crimes, but it was the wolf that killed those people.”
The Queen shook her head. “The murders are still continuing, and people are still seeing a woman in black on the rooftops. However, this time, its not a wolf’s doing.”
I frowned. “Maybe you should tell us what the Fates told you, Sophia. Perhaps it relates to that.”
Sophia shook her head. “The Fates told me nothing of these certain events. They only told me that we will go to the Marleybone Museum
Abby’s half-state, I thought. A mystery that’s hard to solve.
“You said that they told you a lot of things.” Abby reminded, and Sophia nodded in agreement.
“They also told me a prophecy. Its rather chilling, I must warn you.”
“What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me this before.” I stated irritably.
“I can’t tell you anything when we are being bounty hunted by a huge wolf that wants to rip your face off.” Sophia retorted softly.
I nodded numbly. “Continue.”
“The prophecy was given to me by three ravens. The Fates sent me in an allusion state, where there were trees and snow and stars. There, by a huge willow tree, were the ravens. They each told me at the same time, with their voices as shrill and mysterious as anything could be.” Sophia crossed her arms, as if cold. “They stated this prophecy:
Cross your soul and kill the light
Good or Evil, it’s still a lie
Every witching hour you shan’t fly
Thy shall bleed
Shards of thy too sharp to connect
Shards of thy too big to never matter in the blood of an Angel’s breath
Thou refuse the drink of a spirit’s well,
You shall look the seers in the eye, and cross the death of thee of a lover’s promise.”
We sat there, silently in shock. The prophecy was of love and death.
“Oh my,” Nikki gasped. “That’s quite intense. Which one of us was the prophecy for?”
“They didn’t tell me that.” Sophia spoke with sorrow. “But we must not trust anybody, even if you fall in love with them. Evidently a promise is broken or something and somebody dies because of it.”
“Does it have to do with anything of the clock tower?” Abby interrupted, her lips pursed tightly. Her skin was paler in the moonlight than I’ve seen for a long time. She looked like a spiritual black witch, with her dark satins and contrast of her raven hair and moon skin.
“I don’t know.” Sophia’s head perked up and I saw Nikki look around as well. “But I think there is somebody on the roof.”
“What?” I stood up, and walked out into my balcony. Looking up, there was nothing but a polluted starry sky. “There’s nothing out here.”
“I heard it, too.” Nikki said strangely, walking outside besides me. Sophia and Abby stood in the doorway and the Queen sat on a settee with a worried expression.
“It was probably nothing.” Abby decided, and she walked back in.
However, I was already climbing up the brick wall of the building when I heard the piercing scream of a girl.
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