Page 80 of The Beast of Ashwood Manor

“It’s too run-down,” Edgar said. “Besides, I’m getting out of here. We’re back in this world, and I’m never stepping foot back into another manor again. No offense, Gil.”

Gil smiled and looked down. “I don’t blame any of you for wanting to leave, but let’s think about preparing before we set out anywhere. Don’t worry about the curse. Once it breaks, it remains that way.”

“Tolburg is five miles north,” I told them. “It would be a good place for all of you to go.” Though, without money, I wasn’t sure how far they would get to buy food and shelter.

This seemed to put their minds at ease, and they all broke away to gather their belongings from their rooms and pack any provisions, if there were any.

I spotted Annie nearby searching the ground for something. She fell to her knees when she found a dirt mound, and I knew she was thinking of Royce, no doubt wondering if his body had made it as well.

Coming up to her, I bent down and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and looked over at me, tears in her eyes, but when I smiled at her, she relaxed and looked back down.

“I’m just afraid . . .” she started. “That he didn’t make it.”

“If the curse was broken and we’re all here,” I told her, “then it sent usallback. I have a feeling he’s here.”

For the first time that I could remember, Annie smiled at me, though sad. She clasped my hand and cried, and I squeezed her shoulder affectionately.

“Thank you, Cale,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

After she’d made her peace, she joined the others, and I went with Gil up to his tower, which was full of dust and cobwebs. He’d been worried about his writings, but sure enough, there they were, still on the desk, and so was Dyna, who had been scratching at the door.

I picked her up and scratched her, nuzzling my face into her fur. “I’m so sorry, Dyna. The window wasn’t open up here, was it?”

“I suppose we need to visit your mother,” Gil said as he collected his papers. “I’m sure she’s worried sick about you.”

“It’s been months.” I nodded. “Yes, I need to see her. But what about your father?”

“I long to see him, but part of me is afraid to find out what’s become of him.”

A strange feeling gripped my stomach. We were no longer in the cursed world but the real world, the one I knew to be true, but despite having to remain within the manor grounds in another realm, a part of me missed it. I was equally afraid to go back to my home village. The thought of bringing Gil into a place where others had spread nasty rumors, and the thought of bringing him into my mother’s home, made me feel sick.

Gil was a lord after all. What would anyone think when they found that out? Would he still want me after it was all said and done? All it would take was one visit to my mother. He could decide he didn’t like her after learning she was a witch, as someone who shared such a name had placed this curse over him. And then he would go back to Remsburgh, and that would be the end of us. But there was also the fact that Gil might not have a father or home anymore, and that alone was terrifying to think of.

“What is it?” Gil dropped his satchel and came up to me. “You look bothered by something.”

“Nothing." I beamed at him, though it was hard to know what the future would bring for us. There was no telling how this would all pan out, and the sudden change of it all gripped me much harder than I thought it would.

By noon, the others gathered outside the manor, and we all said our goodbyes.

I embraced Natalie and Eugenia, who still carried her bow around. Then I hugged Edgar.

“Take care of them both,” I told Eugenia, and she chuckled and hooked an arm around Natalie’s, and Natalie took Edgar’s hand.

“We’re sticking together,” she said.

When I came up to Annie, she looked down. “I’m sorry, Cale, for being so cross with you at times. You’ve been nothing but kind since the day you dropped in uninvited.”

Laughing, I said, “It’s all forgiven.” I embraced her, and she squeezed me warmly.

I came to Mary, who stood beside Gil. She looked up at me as I approached, and I wondered where she would find herself in the next year.

“I’ll be going to Tolburg with Annie,” she told me. “I hear they have an opening working the kitchen in the tavern.”

I smiled, and she took my arms, and we hugged each other for a long moment.

“Thank you, Cale.”

I opened my mouth to tell her, all of them, that it wasn’t just me, that had Gil not uttered the words too, the curse would still be over them. But I only nodded.

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