GISELLE

Rosa was in charge of keeping people from entering Giselle's room. Whoever tried to, she would scream that Giselle was indecent and out of respect for her modesty, Rosa wouldn't let them in. Giselle told Jorge he would keep watch outside the Inquisition Tower, in case someone wanted to wander in. She did a wonderful job keeping Jack out of Giselle's chambers, Giselle sighed. She wouldn't think about that yet, she would never think about it.

She took Jorge by the hand and left Rosa alone in front of her room. They had a lot of work to do. The Inquisition Tower was one of the towers connected to the ramparts of Carcassonne. It was a dark tower, something sinister danced around it. Possibly all the death and torture that happened in there. Underneath the Tower, there was an Inquisition House, one that Giselle could enter from the outside. There was another entrance, but that one was taken by the priests and someone could see her there. Luckily for Giselle, even God's shepherds enjoyed drinking mead and imagining what it would feel like to have a fifteen year old in their lap. Everyone important should be at the ball and all the guards will be wishing they were there, too. They won't be as focused.

Jorge dressed Giselle in servant's clothes, in a brown, icky dress that smelt of humidity. He also dipped her hair in mud and faeces because her golden hair was way too recognisable. Now Giselle had shit in her hair.

Once Giselle and Jorge left the castle, they heard music and clamour from the great hall, where the ball was held. When the darkness fell, it was much easier to reach the Tower and Jorge led Giselle to it. He had refused to come in there with her, claiming that the ladies, as he apparently called witches, wouldn't talk if he was there. So they agreed he would guard the door, watching if anybody exited the great hall.

In her hands, Giselle had one candle and a barrel of water, she needed to bribe the witches with something and they didn't care much for gold.

Every feeling known to men stirred up inside of Giselle's body. She felt her heart beating in her throat, her ears, the palms of her hands. Deep in her stomach, a twisting pain resided, the pain of premonition, the feeling of knowing this is a mistake. She might vomit, Giselle thought. The smell of her hair made it impossible to breathe in through her nose, but the feeling of that smell on her tongue made it even worse. While Giselle was walking towards iron door, it had crossed her mind they are probably locked and all of this was for nothing. In that moment, Giselle felt relief. She wouldn't have to enter, she wouldn't have to learn whatever was waiting for her inside.

But as soon as Giselle touched the handle, the door opened. And a menacing, familiar feeling froze the blood in her veins. All she knew was that she had to leave, had to forget everything she witnessed.

Ignoring the warnings coming from her very core, Giselle opened the door. The sound the door made while being dragged on the ground wasn't creaking, it was purring in tandem to her steps.

First sense hit was Giselle's sense of smell. Decay, death, blood and suffering. It didn't just affect her nostrils but her soul, as well. Darkness ruled inside and the air was so moist Giselle could almost feel it in her mouth, the sweat and blood dripping all around her. That was the only thing Giselle heard beside very quiet cries coming from the depths of the room. She was suddenly very grateful there were no lights inside, all she could see was her next step.

Without a word Giselle put the barrel down and started pouring water into wooden cups. She left them near the bars of cells she came across in the dark.

While leaving one cup next to the bars, a hand reached for it. The whiteness and bloodlessness of it took Giselle by surprise. It wasn't just the colour, the hand was falling apart, it was rotting away. Nails were gone, they were ripped out. The soft skin where nails used to be was dirty and infected. Giselle had to swallow twice to keep down the vomit. She wanted to leave. No, she never wanted to have come in here.

"Come here, child, we have a lot to talk about." Said a female voice located somewhere in front of Giselle. It sounded old, but not as a 90 year old grandma voice. The sound was ancient, as if it belonged to a different time. Almost like it belonged to a different musical scale. Without her own free will, Giselle walked straight towards the source of the voice. Forgetting about everything else, Giselle reached the bars and lit them up with her candle. She couldn't see the person that spoke to her, even though she desperately wanted to.

"Who are you?" The sound that left Giselle's mouth wasn't her voice, it was quiet, scared and squeaky. The voice didn't answer right away, for a while they stood in silence and the only thing Giselle heard was her own heart.

"You are not here to find out who I am." The woman answered. With her heart in her mouth, Giselle came closer, almost leaned onto the bars now, but she still couldn't see anything other than the empty cell.

"Why am I here?" The darkness seemed to want to swallow Giselle, it was so dense and impenetrable that she felt trapped. Giselle had to pay attention to breathing because otherwise she would choke to death.

"Sit, I will tell you a story." The woman said and again, like she had no control over my body, Giselle sat down. The floor was moist and Giselle tried not to think about what she sat in. Finally, the woman came closer to the bars. A face that came to light was a face of an old woman with grey, wrinkled skin and eyes light blue. Her hair was long and grey and it dragged on the floor next to her. Even though her face was gnarly as crocodile skin and she looked as her body barely stands together, her eyes were alive. And powerful. She looked at Giselle's face and body as if she could see through. The woman's body was covered with black robes and she sat on the floor leaned on her hands. Those hands were so thin Giselle wondered how they held her weight. Two large, thick chains rested around her ankles. They cut through the meat of her hands. Giselle tried not to stare at the woman's wounded hands, festered and unhealed.

When the woman finally looked her in the eye, Giselle realised her eyes were young and clear. Somehow, Giselle knew in her bones the woman was much older than Giselle dared to imagine.

"I will tell you about the day the sky opened. The day four figures went through the sky, way too powerful for the world they found here. To keep the balance intact, the figures had to dim down everything they were. The first figure bound by blood to the life itself, the second cursed to roam the woods, angry and strong, half a man and half a beast, the third banished from the town, condemned and tortured, unable to use the power from within." She recited it like she had been repeating it in her head for a while.

Giselle didn't understand anything the woman said, but then again, she didn't even know what she was doing here.

"What about the fourth figure?" Giselle whispered. The old lady laughed and showed her yellow, sharp teeth. Giselle began to sweat. Everything about this woman bordered on human and something else, but her teeth finally threw Giselle off. They weren't human, they looked like spikes, like fangs of a dog.

"The poison in your blood, I can get it out." The woman said at once. It was the realisation that this cannot be good, that this woman cannot be good and that Giselle would do what she wants anyway, that made Giselle question her entire existence.

"How?" Giselle asked and the woman smiled, she looked like a wild animal, dancing around her prey, knowing that Giselle will do anything she wants. For a moment, she reminded Giselle of a demon painted in all the books she wasn't allowed to read.

"Your mother made sure you came here, eventually. She knew you needed to meet me. And out of respect for her, I will remove the curse your mother put..."

"Wait, wait, what?" Giselle interrupted her quite rudely, as if she remembered that she is her own person and she can talk whenever she wants to. The old woman smiled, mischief sparkling in her icy blue eyes.

"Well, well, you don't know. That changes things quite a bit."

"Listen, lady, I am risking my life talking to you right now, because a strange poem led me here and I do wish I could find out something useful while I'm here."

"You have the key, don't you?" The woman asked. Giselle did have the key, it was in her pocket, but she didn't say anything. "Good," the woman said, "keep it on you, never tell anyone you have it. Now, I will remove the curse and I will unlock what's been tamed. But the poison, oh, I'll have something in return for the poison. You will sacrifice something for me."

"No, I won't, that's..."

"Wrong?" The woman interrupted. "Is it wrong, Giselle. Do you have a conscience? Letting Adam believe he's guilty for you not having a child. Making Jack O'Neal believe you've been mistreated, convincing him you would want nothing more than a child. You know he'll fall for it, you know he'll get you out of Carcassonne. What will you do then? Is this conscience?"

"How do you know all of this?" Giselle asked, her voice trembling. She had already gotten used to the constant beating of her heart, she didn't know how much more scared she can get.

"I know every single dirty, evil desire that lives in your head. I know how much you crave danger because it makes your parts tingle. I can see you moaning to the touch of the servant that's killed the innocent Giselle." The woman began imitating the moaning sounds, she was so loud Giselle felt uncomfortable and exposed. Giselle's entire body shivered, the eeriest feeling she has ever experienced coursing through her spine.

"Stop that!" Giselle shouted, forgetting that nobody should find her here.

"You drank the poison to prevent getting a child. Now, you shall find a child and mark it for me, you will put a drop of your filthy blood into the mouth of a babe. And this child shall be mine." The further the woman went on, the madder she looked. She laughed hysterically and hit the bars with her hands.

"Why do you want this?" Giselle asked, unable to grasp her mind around whatever the woman wanted of her.

"Just like you, I crave to be a mother. And I will be a good one, believe me."

"I won't do it." Giselle protested.

"Then you shall die. And I will come for your corpse, simply to laugh over it."

"I won't hurt a child." Giselle cried out. Tears filled up her eyes, she suddenly felt cold and alone.

"You won't hurt it," the woman crooned, "you will simply mark it."

She's lying, Giselle thought. Of course, she is lying. But the idea of a life without this poison, or this curse, whatever it was...

The door opened abruptly. Only thanking the light outside the Tower, Giselle recognised Jorge.

"Rose, out, out, now!" He shouted, his voice much louder than it should be in a place like this. The moment Giselle turned to walk away, the woman grabbed her by the neck. Her festered hands twisting Giselle's neck, the smell of rotting flesh filling her nose and her mouth. It hurt and Giselle screamed. The woman was stronger than anything Giselle has ever felt.

"Sanguis sanguini." The woman said loudly. "Sanguis sanguini, sanguis sanguini." She caught Giselle's eye and Giselle stayed there trapped in those clear, old eyes. Unseen darkness crept through Giselle's body and she felt it, the power, it loosened up, opened up. The familiar grasp on Giselle's soul sent sensation through her body. This passed in a blink of an eye and Giselle fell on the ground, landing in blood, stale and what seemed to be parts of a human body.

"Rose, leave, now, out. Now!" Jorge's voice sobered her up and Giselle lifted herself from the floor. She ran towards the exit, hearing those words ringing around her, resonating from the walls. Amongst those words, an echo of a laughter followed her outside.

Jorge and Giselle fell on the ground in front of the Tower and she almost ate the dirt on the ground because it smelt so good. When she lifted her gaze, it collided with a pair of blue eyes, mean and satisfied, looking at her from afar. Two eyes that have just gotten a proof that Giselle is a witch. Amalia.

Plain, raw panic washed over Giselle. The feeling that she must leave right away, took over her completely. She grabbed Jorge by the hand, got off the floor and ran as fast as she could. Giselle's entire body hurt, but she was stuck on this stupid idea that if she ran now, Amalia might not notice her.

The need to clean the blood and faeces was stronger than anything else on Giselle's mind, especially since her hysterical tears washed it all straight into her mouth. Giselle fell on the floor in front of her room and started sobbing like a child. Helplessness she felt was stronger than the earlier fear. All Giselle really wanted was a bath, and a blanket, and her mother.

But when Giselle entered her chambers, she found Rosa sitting on the floor, staring straight ahead. Her face was pale white and her eyes empty. Out of pure despair, Giselle cried out again.

"Rosa, tell me what happened?" Giselle asked.

Rosa's face was an expression of horror and Giselle knew whatever scared her would push Giselle off the edge. She wasn't blinking, Giselle was pretty sure she wasn't even breathing.

"Jack." She whispered, letting out a breath she was surely holding.

"What happened with Jack?" Giselle asked, unsure whether she could take it, but someone had to keep it together. A thought crossed Giselle's mind, that she had scarred this poor girl for life and all she wanted was a best friend.

"I was looking for you, to tell you Amalia came here, pushed me away and saw the room was empty. She went to tell Lord Beaufort and I didn't know what else to do, so I went to find Jack." Rosa said, her voice so, so cold. Jorge sat next to Rosa, looking surprisingly worried.

"Alright, Rosa, what happened?" Giselle asked again, everything in her soul hoping she would tell her something that wasn't a problem. Giselle would take anything, for the love of God, she'd take Jack sleeping with a castle guard.

"I found him with a maid... Giselle." Rosa cried out, "he was... he was, oh, dear God, so much blood! He drank her blood! She was so white, barely alive! He, he drank, he drank from her!"

At first, Giselle thought she didn't react, she thought she handled it well. But then black dots began appearing in she field of view. Giselle vacantly stared at Rosa while things in the background began taking on all sorts of colours, black, red and yellow dots. Giselle's heart beat so loudly she didn't hear anything else. The feeling of nothing, emptiness took over her.

The last time Giselle felt that way, she ended up with a noose around her neck.

She got off the floor and left the room without a word. Giselle ran up the stairs, so fast she had been hitting the walls with every turn. She is dying of mercury poisoning and she would die anyway. It's better to surprise death than to wait for it to patiently take you. Amalia will accuse her of witchcraft and they will burn her alive. She brought this on herself, Giselle thought. She always brought everything on herself. It is her fault, if she could've simply accepted her life, none of this would've happened. She hurt so many people, her father, Rosa, Adam. She even pushed Antonio away, she pushed him away and he left. He never came back. Never, never, never.

Before Giselle realised, she was at the top of one of the highest towers in the castle, looking at the rocks underneath. The sharp, deadly stones called her name from the bottom and one single step separated her from ending it all. Her exit, her dear, sweet exit from this meaningless existence. Why? Why couldn't I just leave? Why wouldn't they simply let me leave?

But she can leave, Giselle thought. One step and she's gone, she's gone forever and everything she had ever lived through wouldn't have to haunt her anymore.

Lightning struck. Giselle stared at the mixture of darkness and clouds. The clouds collided with some faraway mountains and behind those, there were some faraway places and consuming stories.

And for a moment Giselle imagined there was no Heaven, there was no God and there was nothing after this painful life. All she had was right in front of her. This life, as it is, is all she would ever get.

And she realised she can walk, and if she can walk she can take a step, and if she can take a step she can take another. All she would ever build, she would build for herself, every chance she took, it's hers and only hers. Nobody can ever take it away from her.

All she has is herself. All that's been given, has been given to her. And if she loses it, if she loses herself, nothing exists anymore.

And to hell with the clouds, and mountains, and skies because her eyes would never see it all again. And if she dies, everything stops happening for her. Because if she dies, the lightning stops striking, the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining.

Hands, strong but soft, took her off the window. Through the sound of the raging storm, Jorge took Giselle in his arms and somewhere far away. They were going somewhere.

And that is the only thing she could do, she could go somewhere.