Girl Possessed (Book 1 of The Girl Trilogy) (12 page)

I wrinkled my eyebrows.
“What?!”

“
Command your legs.” He
still looked amused, like he was thoroughly enjoying my
predicament.

“
Abra Cadabra,” I said
sarcastically as I looked at him feeling completely
flabbergasted.

“
Come on…” He was still
smiling at my expense.

I didn’t know what else to do, so I
concentrated for a moment, trying to put my full intention forth
and said,“Legs take over.”

“
Very good.” His eyes
widened in surprise as he spoke.

And to my shock, sure enough, my tail
transformed back into legs.

He kept holding me and this red light
flashed in his silver eyes. His stare became intense, maybe even
wicked and he sat me down.

I realized then that I was entirely
naked. With everything that had happened I hadn’t even noticed. I
was so happy to just have my legs back.

He walked over to the wall and a ball
of light shot out of his hand, apparently unintentionally. At once,
he grabbed it out of the air, nodded his head, and it
disappeared.

I would have thought it was entirely
shocking and weird, but after my puberty experiences today, nothing
seemed impossible. I quickly grabbed my robe that I had washed and
was hanging to dry. I put it on; the wings poked out from beneath
and left a big bulge under the damp fabric. “Why are you here?” I
asked suddenly. “I thought you wanted to stay away from
me.”

“
I do,” he responded
darkly, not looking at me.

“
Then, why’d you barge into
my cell?” His features really were perfect. “I’m dressed now,” I
added.

He turned to me. “It’s better if you
don’t ask questions.” He seemed distracted.

I rolled my eyes. “Ok,” my voice was
sarcastic.

“
Happy birthday,” he said
in a lighter mood.

“
What? How’d you know it’s
my birthday?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I just know
things.” He seemed entertained with his thoughts.

“
Then, can you tell me
what’s happening to me?”

He looked at the stone floor and then
glanced back up at me through his thick black lashes. “You’re a
josephine,” he chuckled.

I shook my head lightly and closed my
eyes. “What’s a josephine?”

He was still smiling. “You have the
powers and the characteristics of both the mermaid and the faerie.
That combination is called a josephine.”

“
And how come you’re not
surprised?”

“
I have to go back.” He
nodded toward his cell. “You can hide your wings through a
command—the same way you did with your legs.”

“
So, you never answered me.
Why did you come here? You want to be friends now or something?” I
looked down for a moment feeling embarrassed.

“
Friends?” he tightened his
lips like he was trying to suppress his amusement. “I can’t stay
away from you anymore. I’ve given up for now. But, I’m not a good
friend for you.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You should stay away from
me.” His gaze was hopeful, almost childlike.

“
You’re not a bad
person.”

“
Is that what you think?”
He laughed and walked back over to the hole in the wall. When he
turned back to me, his eyes smoldered as he gazed at me.

“
What?” I said more as a
statement than as a question.

He shook his head side to side as if
he was waking from a dream. Then he smiled at me with a charming
crooked grin that made me tingly all over and crawled away through
the wall.

19

After several tries, I managed to get
my wings to fold up into my back with a command like Shaul taught
me. My mind was racing now with so many thoughts.

I had numerous questions
unanswered—questions about how in the world I became a josephine
and even more questions regarding Shaul and his strange behaviors.
Nothing made sense and I couldn’t stop thinking about the
mysterious boy on the other side of the wall who seemed unfazed by
the fact that I had turned into some sort of mythical creature, so
I decided to count the stones on the walls. That was the most
boring thing I could do and I hoped it would help me
relax.

It was no good though. I lost track
after about one hundred and fifty, so I gave up on that. It just
depressed me anyway, reminding me that I was eternally locked away
in a dungeon.

In my agitation, I leaned against the
wall separating my cell from Shaul’s. It was strange—once I
positioned myself against the stones, I could swear I felt Shaul’s
heart beating right into mine. The sound and rhythm of his blood
pumping filled my essence. It aroused me and made me yearn to press
my body up against his. To distract myself from the intense desires
that were rising up in me, I moved away from the wall and lay on my
back upon the cold floor.

The unanswered questions flooded back
into my mind. I had to figure out how Shaul was able to produce
balls of light and shoot them out of his hand. Why was he
surrounded in red light that night when he commanded me to leave
him? How come whenever I cried loudly, I heard noise in his cell
first before the earthquakes started? Was he making the dungeon
wave and rumble or was I? Or were both of us producing it
together?

As far as I knew, human beings could
not do supernatural things like he had. Was Shaul not human? If
that was the case, what was he? Was he a josephine like me? For
some reason that made me laugh.

And then I wondered about the music I
so often heard in my head. Shaul was connected to the songs also
somehow. We made beautiful symphonies together in my mind before I
knew he was the singer on the other side of the wall. But, the
tunes also were connected to the forbidden lake. The melodies
constantly beckoned me to its waters. Why did the music draw me to
Shaul and why did it draw me to the lake? What was the connection
and what was the reason? I had so many questions and I desperately
wanted the answers.

I sat on the hard stone floor
examining my new shapely legs and thought some more about it all.
Why did Shaul say I should stay away from him? It seemed like he
wanted to be near me, but he felt compelled to warn me that he
wasn’t good for me. But why?

I thought about taking another bath to
calm myself, but the thought of growing that red mermaid tail
frightened me. At least, now I knew how to get rid of it when I
wanted to. Maybe tomorrow I’d try again and accustom myself to my
new fate, but today another attempt was out of the
question.

The wings were also a little scary to
me, but I decided to experiment with them a little since I didn’t
have anything else to do. I always wished I could fly and actually
the more I thought about it, the more pleased I became with my new
promising ability.

I really wished I had one of those
pretty girlie faerie costumes with the back cut out for the wings
to push through. Instead, the only clothing I had was this brown
cotton robe. I opted to put it on backwards and leave it open in
the back, buttoning it from the waist down. That left room for the
wings and still kept my body covered.

Standing in the center of
my cell, I called out, “Grow wings grow.” Nothing happened, but I
heard Shaul snickering on the other side of the wall. I guessed he
heard me. I
was
pretty loud. It felt kind of good to have some sort
interaction with someone else even if a wall was separating
us.

But, I wasn’t going to keep yelling
just to get attention and give him more reasons to tease me. So, I
tried the command again, but this time quietly and with more
feeling behind it.

Sure enough, it worked. The wings
sprouted out of my back like a blossoming flower unfolding at a
rather fast pace. I wished I had a mirror to see what they looked
like, but no luck there. This cell was way too sparse and bland for
luxuries like that.

They were pretty large actually.
Bigger than the butterfly wings I’d seen on fairies on the screens
at the dome cinemas, but smaller than angel wings. The edges that I
could see protruding outward were sheer and red. I hoped that
sometime I would be able to ask Shaul what they looked like. I
touched them with my hands and from what I got a hold of, the gauzy
texture felt elegant against my fingers.

Getting the wings to actually flap and
flutter was a whole skill in itself. In a sense, I was like a
newborn baby learning how to use my limbs for the first time. Let’s
put it this way, I wasn’t very good at it.

I hoped it didn’t take a whole year to
learn how to fly like it takes a human baby to take its first
steps. Maybe I was more like a horse who starts walking right after
it is born. That was my desire at least. I knew baby birds took
awhile before they learned to fly, but insects were able to fly as
soon as they grew wings. For the first time in my life, I hoped I
was like an insect.

I tried to concentrate on getting the
wings to flutter. They moved around kind of the way a baby wiggles
its legs in an indiscriminate manner.

Every now and then my body would start
to lift off the floor and this felt pretty great. I really wanted
to fly up to the ceiling and see if I could somehow escape through
the skylight. But, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get myself
more than about five or six feet off the ground.

It was frustrating and exhilarating at
the same time. I kept sliding back and forth between the two
emotions. But, overall, I was happy to have a goal to work toward.
What if I could actually escape through the skylight?!

20

That night while I was lying on my
blanket upon the floor just staring into the black abyss, Shaul
climbed through the wall. I heard a rattling sound which led me to
believe that he was carrying the chain and stone block that was
attached to his ankle with him. Because it was so dark when he
entered my cell, I released a startled yelp.

“
Shhh…” he whispered. “It’s
me.”

My heart fluttered very fast and I was
glad he couldn’t see my face because I figured I was probably
blushing from excitement.

“
Can I sit here?” he
murmured as he sat down next to me on the blanket.

“
Don’t tell me—you can see
in the dark too?”

He chuckled lightly. “I sensed where
you were sitting.”

I could feel the electricity between
us. It was difficult being so close to him. The music in my mind
became erotic.

It was a little strange not being able
to see him in the blackness of the cell, but I could hear his
breathing.

We sat in silence for some time. I
felt embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. I mean, what do you
say after being locked away in a dungeon for so long? It would be
silly to ask, “How are you?” or “How are you liking the
weather?”

Luckily, I didn’t have to ask the
first question because Shaul took the lead. “So, Cordellia…” he
said almost wryly which took me by surprise, “…how do you like the
food?”

I laughed. “Mmn, mmn, sure do like
those grasshoppers!”

He chuckled too which made me feel
normal again. “My favorite’s the stewed eyeballs.”

“
Oh, I know!” I sighed in
humor. “Those are so gross!”

“
What kind of animal do you
think they’re from?”

“
They seem sort of
possessed, so I’m thinking they’re snake’s eyes or possibly bat’s
eyes.”

“
They probably alternate
between the two. I was thinking of scooping out the woman guard’s
eyes and eating them. What do you think?”

“
I’m in on the scooping,
but I’ll let you do the eating.” I smiled, but I’m sure he couldn’t
see me in the dark. I kind of liked that he wasn’t able to look at
me because I figured that I must have appeared so ugly and haggard.
There was no way of knowing how awful I looked because I hadn’t
seen a mirror for so long.

I liked joking around with him
especially after being alone for so many months. The banter gave me
a little confidence and I dared to start asking questions. I had so
many. “How did you get those balls of light?”

He shifted his position and I sensed
that he was uncomfortable with my question. “You’re a curious one.
Aren’t you?” His silky voice sounded amused.

“
I just want to know.” I
paused. “It’s not like I’m going to tell anyone.”

“
So you can keep secrets?”
His voice was teasing.

“
Yeah, I can.” My
expression was pouty, but it was too dark in the cell for him to
know that.

“
I think it’s better the
less you know about me.”

“
What do you
mean?”

He sighed and I could feel his cool
breath on my neck. I wondered if he had any idea how much he
aroused me. “I don’t think you would like me if I told you the
truth.”

“
I like honesty,” I
insisted.

“
I told you before that you
should stay away from me.”