Chapter Thirty-One

Entry

I am paralyzed in life and fear never standing again. One night, I lost it all in one night. Can I ever make it back to the way I was before then?

Phoenix.

--

The agreement was ten minutes. Daisy gave Cole ten minutes and she lost Lucas after three. Could she find Lucas and make it back in seven? Daisy had no other choice, she had to find Lucas before anything happened- no, she told herself. Nothing would happen to him, no one would hurt a child.

Daisy got up from her hiding spot and went into castle, a castle she only saw now as formidable.

Daisy had the whole palace memorized, but that wouldn't help her find a wandering child. Think! Where would Lucas go? He had to be looking for the others, but did Lucas know to go to the third floor? If Lucas was on the first, then he was away from the Throne Room and likely safe. If he was upstairs, then he was in more danger, so Daisy opted to start her search on the third floor. 

Go where Lucas would be in the most trouble, then work down. 

It was eerily quiet in the castle, only some pacing footsteps and the occasional scream could be heard from the Throne Room. Cole would probably be there to gather information.

Daisy jogged to the Throne Room and was relieved to see Cole leaning up against the closed door, safe. Sobs echoed from beyond the Thron Room's doors. Daisy took a few steps forward, making sure they were loud enough for Cole to hear. 

Cole swiveled from his place.

"What are you doing here? Where's Lucas?" 

"He ran off," Daisy replied, trying to mirror the calm Cole usually wore. 

"He what?" Cole paled. 

"We have to go look for him now and then leave. Now." 

Cole took an audible breath and nodded. Good, he was becoming more rational. 

They both turned to escape. 

Behind them, the door to the Throne Room groaned open.

"Where do you think you are wandering off to, love?" 

Cole and Daisy both spun to see a group of raggedy men pointing guns at them. Behind them sat the whole audience from the party, some were still vomiting. Everyone was frozen still, pinned by guns. 

"Shit," Daisy let out.

"Shit's right," Cole replied, not bothering to correct her adult language. 

Hands grabbed their arms, and the two siblings were dragged into the throne room, which smelled of all things foul. 

#

Cole silently cursed himself for never taking Phoenix's offer to work, to learn to fight properly. 

The way mom wanted him to. Mom. Slaughtered in this Throne Room-

Cole was going to get his siblings killed for his stupidity-

All his siblings, dead, in this same room-

Guns shot until their corpses bled out-

Cole couldn't do this. He couldn't have another family member die. Not again, not here, not here again. Daisy turned to him with a look of horror. 

Through tears, Cole found the courage to look back at her and said, "This is where...I can't… breathe-" 

But he couldn't finish. Daisy stared at Cole, then inhaled a long breath, which Cole tried to copy. Why was Daisy the one soothing him- why-

"I'm the one supposed to-" Cole tried to say. 

Cole felt his chest tighten to the point of suffocation. No air or logic reached him. 

"We don't need people who hyperventilate and mutter nonsense," a voice from behind declared. The man turned to his hostages and announced, "This is what happens when you make unnecessary noise."

He shot Cole in the leg. Cole collapsed to the ground with a scream. 

"You fucking coward!" Daisy spat at him. "You're a monster! No one would listen to you if you didn't have a gun!" 

"And this is what happens when you question my authority," the man displayed to the audience.

A single shot was all it took to take Daisy's life. A single shot to her temple, the bullet entering with precision and grace. Daisy's body fell onto the ground with a light thump. 

"Everyone understand?" the man asked his audience. 

No one dared utter a word. 

"Right then, time to tell the boss we have everyone under our control. I'm sure he'll want to proceed to the next steps." 

Cole couldn't hear him. He couldn't hear anything as his mom's death flashed inside his mind, her face melting into Daisy's in a montage of death. There was no pain in his leg; Cole could not feel much of anything now. 

He could only hope that Lucas made it out okay.