The Cursed Lycan's Beloved

Chapter 17

ALPHA LUKE’S POV
They were all bent, old hags, walking around, chattering to themselves, as they went about their chores.
We looked back, and they were beautiful maids again, smiling and laughing.
But in the mirror…
We stepped back together.
“Don’t make a noise.” I said to me, and I nodded slowly.
Hags were cunning and deceitful creatures. Everyone knew that. Nothing good could come out of them. They were jealous, conniving and dirty creatures always seeking to bring others down. Apparently, they had given themselves, glamour.
We walked away from the mirror, and tried to find our way to the entrance door, walking casually, and pretending we weren’t suspecting anything.
Some of the maids greeted us, and we greeted them with smiles.
Unfortunately, upon getting to the large double doors that would lead to the outside, we saw they were barred and chained thoroughly.
It was evidence that something was terribly wrong. I took the map from Ariana and tucked it into my pocket, even though I was fairly sure it was a fake.
We went around, looking out for more doors, and windows, but they were all barred. They had sealed up every medium of escape.
“We’ll be late! Hurry up, slow idiots!” We heard a lady say, and I dragged Ariana to hide behind a large golden knight statue.
Ladies emerged from a corridor, walking quite slowly for young bloods.
“Those two idiots have been walking around all morning, talking and smiling to everyone. They seem so happy.”
“Well, we owe them that.” Another said, and they all chuckled, as they all walked past us.
“You’re right. They deserve to be happy right now.”
We watched them look around, before pushing a large door open. They all went in, and when we were sure no one was coming or going out, we went to the door, hand in hand.
They were all laughing.
“Lady Genevra. You are a genius!” One of them screamed.
“Of course, I am. For the next three days, you must serve them a banquet. Give them everything they need, and desire. Give them even if they don’t ask for it. Don’t you think they are too thin?” The voice of the white-haired lady we ate breakfast with, asked haughtily.
“Of course, they are.” A hag replied, in a whinny tone.
“We won’t get much out of them.”
“I was thinking the same too.”
“I’ll tell the cooks to double the portions they’ll serve them, and make the food ten times sweeter.”
“They need to be fattened up.”
Then the leader spoke, “And when they are all fattened up, we can finally have our feast! We can finally eat. It has been so long since I tasted human flesh!”
“I’m salivating!”
“I can barely hold myself!”
I tugged on Ariana, as I heard footsteps approaching.
We immediately walked away from the door, and I touched her hair lovingly, and whispered nothing into her ear with a smile.
She got my cue, and played along, hitting my chest, with a laugh.
We whispered crazy nothings to each other while laughing. Then we turned to see a few maids smiling at us while they held strangely colored liquids in bottles.
“You both are so in love. You’re all over the place.” One of them said, and Ariana blushed.
“I’m just so happy.” She replied, and they giggled.
When they turned around the corner, I held onto Ariana’s hand.
“Let’s follow. Those things seem like potions. If we are lucky enough, we’ll find one that can blow through a door.” I suggested, and we followed the maids quietly, trying so they wouldn’t notice us.
Just then, they opened a door, and went in. We followed, and waited a while before opening the door. The place was dark, and there were long flights of stairs.
“Hurry up with these. We’ll need them in time for the feast.” We heard one of them say, as they climbed the stairs.
“How could they be so happy, and not suspicious?”
“Of course, they heard that only few made it here, so they think it’s some kind of paradise. Of course, few made it here, but none made it out of here.” Another said, and they chuckled irritatingly.
Ariana and I went up the stairs stealthily, and were surprised when we came to a kind of library, with lots of potions, on different shelves.
“Luke.” Ariana called me as she moved to one immediately. I followed her, and saw a potion as clear as water.
“As visible as air.” I read, and looked at Ariana. It was an invisibility potion.
“It wasn’t a dream. I had really seen a scary creature over me. Thinking back on it, it was a hag. The old baggage used the potion, so we wouldn’t see her.” She spat venomously, and we took the potion.
It read:
-A little amount to the tongue,
and through crowds, unnoticed, you’ll roam along. -
We took the potion with us, and just then, I spotted an open window.
“Come!” I said, taking Ariana with me. The distance below was high, but we had to try. There were several balconies on the way down. “We just have to be very careful. I’ll go first.” I said, and climbed through the window. I jumped down to the first balcony, and landed safely. “Jump. If anything goes wrong, I’ll catch you.” I assured her, and although she looked scared, she jumped.
“I’m very brave, why would you catch me?” She asked, and I laughed at the way her voice trembled.
“Alright, brave lady.” I replied, sarcastically/
I went over the balcony, and swung myself down into the next one. Despite her saying she was fine, I still stretched out my hand just in case.
Just like that, we jumped from balcony to balcony.
When we hit the ground, I felt relief hit me. I didn’t know where we were going to go, but I knew we weren’t going to keep staying there.
“Oh my God!” We heard a maid scream, as she looked at us.
“Run!” I said to Ariana, jerking her arm, and she followed.
“The food is escaping!” The maid screamed in a shrill voice. Ariana and I ran as fast as we could, and I took out the map, hoping it would somehow work for us in our desperate moment.
It didn’t. It remained as blank as ever. In seconds, we could feel the arrows raining down on us.
How could hags shoot arrows? I turned, and saw the arrows flying at us themselves. Luckily, they weren’t arrows that followed after us. Once they missed the target, they fell to the floor.
“We have to run faster! We can’t keep dodging these arrows. It’s the end if we get caught by these hags!” I shouted.
“I know!” She shouted breathlessly in return.
Just then, she let out a scream, and I looked at her. She had been hit by an arrow.
Her blood spilled out.