Anabelle and Arthur started to test the rings, moving to different areas of the castle and using the magic to appear to the other. They seemed to work as long as both of them were wearing the golden bands. If one of them removed their ring, the magic was voided. I felt a great sadness overcome me when I watched Anabelle set out into the snow. Arthur gave her a sword and some armor that his archers wore at Camelot. She looked a bit ridiculous and I didn’t think she would even try to survive a wolf attack if they came at her, but she wasn’t as vulnerable as she would have been without it. I understood her motive. As much as we cared about her, she had a family outside of the cursed walls of Camelot. She didn’t deserve to be there. I was a fool for imprisoning her to begin with for what her father did. We watched until she was nearly out of sight and then returned to the castle. There was nothing we could do but wait. If she returned, we would be blessed. If she decided she didn’t want to return, there was nothing we could do about it. I sat down in the chair next to the fireplace, feeling my heart heavy with concern.
“I can’t go to her.” Arthur held his hand out. “The magic doesn’t work for me now that she has passed the border of Camelot.”
“At least we know it works for her.” Boone held his hands up to the fire. “We have to trust her.”
“I can’t survive on trust.” Arthur shook his head back and forth. “I’m
going to watch her on the mirrors.”
Chapter 20: Anabelle
Leaving the castle and the seven men that were trapped in the curse was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. Nothing tried to stop me when I left. There was no sign of the wolves that attacked us before. It seemed like they only came after us because those that cursed tried to escape. I kept my hand partially clenched, ready to return if anything didn’t seem right. I passed the point where the storm raged and saw Lake Vaughn in the distance. I had left my car near the road, but when I got there, I didn’t see a sign of my father’s car. My cell phone was completely drained of power during my time at the castle, so I started walking.
It was at least five miles before I would even see a gas station, but I had come so far that I wasn’t going to turn back. I walked along the road, which kept my feet out of the snow while I walked on the tire tracks. I finally got out of the wooded area and saw the lights of civilization in the distance. My emotions were flooded with thoughts of the men I left behind and my father who clearly needed to know I was alive. I walked into the gas station and asked to use the phone—it was time for me to return to the world I had been so quick to dismiss.
“Daddy?” I felt my hands trembling when he picked up the phone.
“I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER see you again! How did you escape?” My father’s arms wrapped around me and hugged me tight when he pulled into the gas station parking lot.
“It...” I paused for a moment as I considered my words. “It wasn’t easy, but I found a way back.”
“I told the police all about it. I told them about the castle, the beasts that imprisoned us, and they looked for you—they sent out search parties.” He tightened his grip and I heard his tone turning to one of remorse. “They didn’t believe me. They didn’t believe you were still out there. I spent days searching for you myself, but I finally had to accept that I wasn’t going to find the castle unless the beasts allowed me to.”
“It is okay. I know you did what you could.” I hugged him tighter and he held me for several minutes before he finally started to loosen his grip.
“Let’s go home.” He quickly walked to the passenger door and opened it.
IT WAS STRANGE TO RETURN to my old life. The room I grew up in looked like a memory I had forgotten. The memories came back to me as I crawled into my bed and stared at the ceiling. I had changed so much during my time away from my old life. I was no longer a virgin, no longer worried about finding love, and I didn’t really care much about my sister’s teasing—which they started up again as soon as they saw me. They both still lived with our father, but they were rarely there. Bethany had a new boyfriend and spent more nights with him than she did at home and Cassandra had really started to party a lot more than she previously had when it was the two of them going out together. It was hard for me to look at them and see the state my father had fall into—I tried not to blame them for leaving him alone, even though it was the true emotion I felt. If one of them would have disappeared and he was suffering, I would have been hard pressed to leave his side, even if I didn’t believe what he said. It was clear that was part of their problem. Even though he was telling the truth, they thought he had drifted into some form of madness while he was gone and imagined the whole thing. They just assumed I was dead in the snow somewhere after my foolish quest failed and he came home on his own.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” My father leaned against my doorway and pulled me back from my thoughts.
“With me or with you?” I rolled to my side. “You don’t look well. Have you been taking your medication?”
“I’m fine.” He forced a smile. “I let my grief get the best of me—I imagined awful things and I knew it was all my fault that you were alone in that cage.”
“It probably wasn’t awful as you imagine. They were victims, just like we were.” I wasn’t sure how much I should tell him, but I wanted him to let the awful thoughts.
“They were beasts that locked us up in cages. I would hardly call that being a victim.” He scoffed and his face twisted to a look of disdain.
“They were more than that.” I shook my head in disagreement. “They were kind to me after you left. They were cursed to live an eternity in that castle and tearing that rose from the vine nearly killed Alexander.”
“I’m just glad you finally found a way to escape.” His eyes reflected sadness, even though he had me there in front of him.
“I didn’t have to escape. They let me go.” I shifted my legs and sat up on the bed. “I think I need to take a look at your medication and see how much you’ve missed.”
“I’ll take it now!” He shook his head and grinned.
A DAY TURNED INTO A week and a week turned into two. The ring on my left hand was a reminder that they were still there and I missed them all immensely, but my old life was consumed me. My father seemed to return to his old self. He had missed a lot of work and he had missed more doses of medicine than I could count, but with me there, he was able to get back on track. He let his vices consume him while I was gone, but he didn’t seem to need them with me there to keep him distracted. During the day, I was able to research the witch. I still wanted to find Guinevere, even if I didn’t know how I would actually defeat her if I did. Could a modern gun destroy a witch from her time? Could anything besides Excalibur end her curse?
I wasn’t even sure her death would lift the curse, but it was the only option I could come up with. I certainly didn’t expect her to be reasonable. I found mentions of her throughout history, but the stories were never connected due to the distance between the sightings. They spoke of an emerald eyed witch in the middle ages that fought with magic—most people thought it was just fantasy. Stories of an emerald eyed witch in Salem showed up several times—even one where she escaped the stake when the fire was lit, but the news was dismissed as embellishment or madness.
This is pointless.
Finding a mention of the witch in my lifetime wasn’t as fruitful as finding mentions of her throughout history. It was clear that she took steps to conceal who she really was with the modern age of technology providing even more eyes on everything she could have done. The story from Shane and Braden seemed to reinforce that. She came to them in the middle of a club, yet none of the people around them seemed to notice.
Returning to Camelot would be difficult, but it would not be easy to simply leave again. If my father struggled or didn’t handle it well, I couldn’t very well hike back to the gas station and call for him another time. He would come, but it would be a lot harder for him to understand why I went back. I needed to convince him that the men in the castle were not the beasts he remembered and that we had something special. I had to let the thoughts rest. It was going to be incredibly difficult to explain it to him and after returning to my life, he had been so much better off. Leaving him again was going to hurt the both of us. I let my finger rest on the golden band as a sigh passed my lips.
I miss you. I miss you all.