Allie POV
Raised voices and clanging metal stirred me from my sleep. I felt like I’d only just put my head on the pillow. However long it was, it wasn’t anywhere near enough time to recover from the previous day’s events. My eyelids felt heavy and refused to stay open, and my entire body ached with fatigue.
“Get up! Time to work!” came a shout from outside the cell, as the key turned in the lock and the door swung open.
I struggled into a sitting position on the bed and slowly tried to focus my eyes. I suddenly wished I’d kept them closed, so I didn’t have to see my prison for the first time.
The floor was hard, compacted, reddish-coloured dirt that seemed to cling to my boots, which I hadn’t taken off to sleep. My bed was a bundle of cut logs, with a very thin
Allie POV **Trigger Warning: Briefly mentions pregnancy loss. Skip chapter if you do not wish to read.** “We’re going to deliver these,” said Gladys, holding up a stack of clean linen. “We’ll be back soon.” It was just Mulberry and me, and in the silence, I slowly managed to calm my breathing. It wasn’t as quick as when Josh was helping me through it, but I did it on my own. “How were you captured?” I asked quietly. Mulberry took a deep breath before replying. “I was out hunting with my father and grandfather. My father is the chieftain of the Ivory elves and my grandfather is one of the elders of the elf community,” she said, lifting her head as she said it, the pride showing in her voice.
Allie POV There was a noticeable change in the air the following morning as the guards released us from our cells. They were much more formal, standing to attention and barking orders in an almost professional manner. Mulberry and I exited the prison building and made our way to the laundry, but were stopped at the door by two more guards. “The Obsidian King has ordered us to bring you to him,” one of them said, looking directly at me. My whole body tensed. I wasn’t ready for this. “Good luck,” said Mulberry, trying her best to sound reassuring, but I noticed she didn’t meet my gaze. I quietly followed the guards out into the village towards a large, open area just past the animal enclosures. My eyes darted around the wh
Allie POV Mulberry and I were in a dangerous predicament. We needed people to help us when the time came to break free, but we also couldn’t risk telling the wrong people–people who might dob us in. For now, we’d decided to stick with the Ivory elves, as most of them had already established a sense of respect for Mulberry because of her lineage to the chieftain. We had let some of the men tending the gardens and animals in on our plan. They were nervous and a little sceptical at first, but eventually our determination and enthusiasm won them over. So far, over the last couple of days, they had managed to stow away some broken tools to use as weapons. They were also finding branches and pieces of wood to sharpen secretly and hide around the place.
Josh POV Damn it all to hell. Yet again, I’d fucked up. My brother told me not to go. Dad had warned me not to go. And what did I do? Snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to join the battle. I hadn’t even taken my phone. Where did it get me? To the Jade Willow Forest. Almost to the brink of death, twice. To Allie. Unlike last time, she wasn’t with me when I opened my eyes again. I remembered how worried I was when she disappeared. I remembered the shock and disbelief when she stabbed me. That could never be Allie, and it wasn’t. I remembered the blast of water as Tatiana knocked the imposter backwards and the boggart’s disgusting face was revealed. Running, swimming, Tatiana, the waterfall, the rocks b
Josh POV I raced over to the cell door just as she appeared in front of it. The relief and worry that hit me simultaneously almost made my knees buckle on the spot. Allie was trying to communicate with her eyes, and I followed her gaze to the guard stationed nearby. She wanted me to be quiet. She approached and held out the breakfast tray, but didn’t release her grip on it. “Did you attack me?” she whispered. What the fuck? The boggart. “No, but a boggart disguised as you stabbed me,” I whispered back. She lowered her eyes and a look of guilt swam on her face that felt like a punch in the gut. “Allie, how could you think I’d do that to you?” “I didn’t want to believe it, but it was so real, Josh,” she said quietly, those
Josh POV We raced outside. There was an eerie, foreboding sense of calm that encircled us. Prisoners had broken free, but now they were outside, they weren’t sure exactly what to do. Several elves charged out behind us, and I clutched Allie by the waist and manoeuvred her out of harm’s way to let them pass. They reached behind the large bushes in the raised flower bed across from us and pulled out handfuls of roughly made spears and began passing them out. “What now?” one of them asked, turning towards Allie and the ginger elf next to us. My eyes scanned the darkness, trying to get my bearings and formulate a plan. The Obsidian elves hadn’t been alerted yet. They’d retired for the evening, leaving only a few lookouts in this section of the village. When we move
Allie POV After the dullahan left, we slowed down and walked. We were all fatigued beyond sense and needed a reprieve. The dullahan had put me on edge. I’d read about them before and Mulberry was right, they were always a bad omen. I wasn’t sure if the others had noticed, but I felt its gaze linger on me longer than them. I wondered whether that meant I was the target. Was it predicting my death? Josh and Mulberry cared about me, but then I cared about them, too. Could it mean one of them would die? I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t think about it. Mulberry was like the best friend or sister I’d always wanted, and now that I’d found Josh again… ugh. I knew it was going to end badly. I knew it was going to end with me heartbroken, watc
Allie POV It felt as though we were giants walking through a tiny village. The buildings were unlike anything I’d seen before. All reds and earthy hues and exquisitely built from clay and brick. The level of detail would have taken my breath away, except there wasn’t much left. The tunnel had opened up into a large underground cavern which housed the village, and small waves of claustrophobia nagged at me. I had to take a few deep, steadying breaths to try to stay calm, but they were only delaying the inevitable. There was nothing but earth above us, and the thought of it caving in, along with the ever present potent smell of earth, made me feel ill. My breathing increased, and I felt the familiar flutter of panic. But this time, Josh was right there behind me,