Nothing happens, and the wolves still attack the other Offerings. Gunther tries to hold his leg away from the wolves as Ferdinand crouches next to him. Brahm and I ease our way to our boulder, but the wolves don’t notice us under the red fabric. The wind blows, clearing the fog along the path.
“Can we outrun them?” Gunther asks, holding his leg.
My mind races about the possibilities: running, finding safety, and coming back for each Offering using the cloak as protection. We’ll be slow with Gunther’s injured leg. Before I can devise a clear plan, Willa begins shouting.
“We can if they’re distracted!” She kicks Gunther’s chest, knocking him from the boulder with a heavy thud.
“No!” Ferdinand, Brahm, and I all scream.
The wolves pounce and rip into Gunther’s flesh at once. In a few short moments, his body is shredded to pieces. The blood drains from my face, and I lunge for whatever’s left, but Brahm drags me down the path. Willa sprints ahead of us.
“Ferdinand,” I whisper and turn to Brahm.
We look back to see him collapsed on the rock, shouting at the wolves.
Brahm rolls his eyes. “Go. I’ll get him.”
“Take the cloak.” I slip out of it before he can protest and chase after Willa.
A sharp pain of fury sears through my skull, and I run faster than ever before. Kill her.
I gain on Willa and, when she notices me, she shrieks, “Get away from me!”
“You murdered him!” I leap and tackle her to the ground, slapping her pale face. “He was a good guy!”
“Stop it, you black-eyed freak!” Willa shouts and swats at my hands. “Help!”
I lift my skirt, but Brahm drags me away from Willa before I can retrieve my dagger.
“Don’t. Let’s keep running.” Brahm drapes the cloak around my shoulders, and we all jog down the ash in the wake of the moonlight.
While I run, deep breaths clear the fog in my mind.
Ferdinand glares at Willa from underneath his eyebrows, seething through his gritted teeth as he runs. I turn my head, and the wolves howl.
“Faster!” I shout.
In the distance, a stone castle hangs from a steep cliffside. The tall spires twist from the rocky mountain and blend in with the trees as if part of nature. The grounds are surrounded by a high gate covered in ivy.
“Do you see that?” Willa shouts. “We could escape from the wolves!”
“There’s nowhere else to go.” Brahm holds tight onto my arm as we sprint.
When we finally reach the gate, it’s locked. The ivy covering the iron is thick with sharp, two-inch thorns, so when Brahm tries to climb it, the thorns pierce the skin on his forearms, and he falls to the ground. “Ouch,” he says, rubbing at the bloody scratches.
I help him up and reach to get the snake-leaves from my satchel when Ferdinand grabs my arm.
“Give me that cloak.”
“No.” I toss part of it around Brahm, who puffs his chest out and glares at Ferdinand.
“Gisela risked her life to get it,” Brahm says. “She doesn’t have to give it to you. Try climbing the gate yourself.”
Ferdinand tries to tug the cloak from our shoulders. I clench my fists, but the wolves howl again. The four of us snap our heads down the path. Whatever is left of Gunther floats into the air as ash and blows away with the wind.
Finished with their meal, the wild animals make their way toward us. Ferdinand jumps to climb the gate but gets stabbed with thorns and falls like Brahm. We rattle the gates and yell for help.
A pale man in servant’s clothes, wearing some sort of cage around his upper body, jogs toward us down the castle drive. I gasp and squeeze Brahm’s hand tight. The man isn’t just wearing a cage; it’s a part of him. His uniform is perfectly tailored with tiny, silver grommets to encompass the iron bars protruding from his chest.
The man’s sunken eyes study us before he retrieves a jingling set of keys and unlocks the gates. He gestures us inside. With the wolves nearly at our feet, it’s our only option.
We all shove and filter through the opening. Brahm helps the servant close the gate just in time for the wolves to crash hard into the iron. They whimper and scurry away, disappearing into the forest.
The Heart of Joy
“COME,” THE MAN WITH THE IRON cage says in a weak whisper.
We follow him toward the dark castle. The gravel drive crunches under my boots as sweat drips down my brow from running.
I remove the cloak, roll it up, and hand it to Brahm. “Here, my satchel’s pretty full.” I turn to the bald servant once he’s tucked it away. “Thank you for helping us. We’re Offerings from Bergot Valley.”
“I know.” His ice-blue eyes scan me. “I’m Heinrich, the servant and caretaker for Prince Franz, the heir to this castle, and what was once a lovely kingdom.”
Heinrich gestures at the cliff, where below in a small valley, a village lies in ruins. Crumbled walls of stone along with burnt, wooden posts protrude from the ash.
“What happened here?” Ferdinand asks.
Straining his jaw, Heinrich sucks a deep breath through his nose. “A terrible monster.”
As we near the castle, Heinrich’s empty eyes focus on the starry sky. I can’t help but stare at the iron bars protruding from his chest. How are they in there? Is it part of his body? Does it hurt? A thin smile spreads across Heinrich’s face when he catches me.
“I was once in love with a fearsome woman, much like yourself. She broke my heart so severely, only her benevolent sister could save my life. She fashioned this cage to hold the pieces of my heart together, so it could never again break from sadness. The woman I once loved turned into a horrible monster and decimated the entire village.”
Opening the heavy doors, Heinrich ushers us inside the dim castle lobby. A cobweb-infested chandelier hangs from the high ceiling, and a thick layer of dust covers the furniture and dead plants.
“So much for a caretaker,” Ferdinand whispers and chuckles.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Shut the fuck up. He saved us from the wolves.”
Heinrich leads us past a grand staircase, down a hallway, and into an open courtyard. There’s a large fountain surrounded by an overgrown garden filled with untamed ivy, shrubbery, gazing ponds, and trees. Stars wink at us over the mountain.
Heinrich gestures for us to sit at an out-of-place table near the fountain. “This is where my master, Prince Franz, prefers to eat. He enjoys the water. I’ve been his ward since he was a child—since his parents and people were killed by the same woman who broke my heart. The young man is like a son to me.”
I wonder if his lover was Hexegot as we take our seats. I dare not ask.
Brahm and I sit in the center with Willa and Ferdinand glaring at one another from either end of the table.
“I do apologize Prince Franz won’t be able to greet you. My master is currently asleep.” Heinrich clasps his hands around his cage and tilts his head. “You all must be famished. I will return shortly with food and refreshments. Do make yourselves comfortable.”
With that, Heinrich leaves us alone in the courtyard. I heal Brahm’s wounds from the thorns with the snake-leaves. When I try to hand them to Ferdinand, he doesn’t pay attention. Ferdinand stares at Willa as his face turns bright red.