Chapter Text
Julia tripped on a branch, and fell nose first into the dirt, and there she curled.
She didn’t want to get up. She didn’t, she didn’t, she didn’t! The forest they were running through was nothing like the places she loved playing in: it was spooky, and cold, and the noises of animals that reached her were screechy and not familiar at all. A chill ran through her body, trembling from the hunger. The air all around her smelled nasty, it clung onto her arms and no matter how much she rubbed them the bad feeling wouldn’t go away.
She wanted to go home. Even if everyone was angry at them.
But her brother didn’t care. He found her hand, and yanked her on her feet with enough force to hurt her shoulder.
“What are you doing?” he yelled over her yelp of protest. “Get up, hurry! If we can get through this forest, we should get there before morning.”
“But I’m so…”
“C’mon, be strong! We’re so close!”
Julia wasn’t even sure what ‘there’ meant. She only knew that her legs hurt so bad from all the running, and she could no longer see the sky above them, and Isaac’s eyes had a wild look to them that she didn’t like one bit, not at all. She still hadn’t asked why he came back home covered in blood.
But even if she had nothing else with her, she had her trust in her big brother. He promised her that they would be safe and happy, and Isaac never ever broke his promises. This, Julia could lean on.
Isaac stepped on the branch that hurt her to snap it, and they ran again. They ran and ran, in the scary darkness that grew thicker and thicker, careful not to slip on the wet leaves or hit their head. When Julia’s legs began to burn, Isaac allowed her to climb on his back; she felt bad that she was slowing him down, but as long as she could hide her face on her brother’s shoulder and close her eyes, everything would be fine. It had to be fine. She was cold and her teeth were rattling and her fingers tingled with the effort to hold on tight but Isaac would protect her and maybe she could do the same—
Julia jolted when Isaac stopped.
Her heart stopped too.
She had always dreamed to travel and see a real castle, like the one her dad would often muse about, as soon as she grew up. What towered before her, illuminated by a terrible, giant full moon that stared at them like a big angry eye, was not like any castle she could have imagined. It didn’t make sense. The way the towers would twist and turn and float in the air couldn’t be real. It seemed like it had no beginning and no end, like the more Julia stared at it, the more spires and spikes it would grow until one would reach and stab her.
It stank badly, too, like a potion forgotten in the cupboard. Julia couldn’t imagine a place that screamed more that it didn’t want any intruder.
Then, why was Isaac wearing a wobbly smile on his face?
“We found it… The Devil’s Castle!”
At that, Julia started. “The D-devil…?”
“The witches say that this castle belongs to an undead beyond human understanding, a pursuer of black magic.” Isaac spoke weirdly, and his eyes were so big and shiny, like the moon itself. It sent shivers down her spine. “The great vampire Lord, Count Dracula…”
Julia had no intention of meeting any devil. Yes, she was a witch and all witches were bad and against God, but she wasn’t ready to… cross the beyond, or whatever would have happened to them if they entered that castle.
“Are you scared?” Isaac asked, with a soft voice that was the only familiar thing in the whole forest. She nodded with vigor until her whole head shook; she only stopped when her brother pressed her on his chest, where finally, she felt warmth all through her.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said, petting her head. “They say that the Count is generous towards people like us who violate God’s law. Look...” Julia followed Isaac’s arm, lifted to point at the giant castle entrance. She fixated her stare on the big skull on top of it. “The trees, the air, and even the stone statues at the gates are filled to the brim with magical power.”
That was true. Julia could stretch her hand and almost touch it. It wasn’t as pleasant as the magic that surrounded their old home, soft and tingling. This one made it hard to breathe.
She had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Really, really bad, deep in her tummy. It was like something was whispering in her ear that if they walked on that drawbridge, their lives would never be the same again, and something awful would happen to both of them.
Isaac ignored her tugging at his sleeve. He only tended his hand, open and inviting, in the same manner as when Julia played in the woods and fell and Isaac was always there to check if she got hurt.
“This is the very place I’ve been looking for… It’s the only place we can go,” he murmured. “A cursed castle, for two cursed beings. C’mon, Julia. Do you trust me?”
Cursed. Julia thought to all the people who threw mean glances at her and Isaac. The kids who pulled her hair and tried to tear her books before Isaac rushed to defend her. The priest who always shouted something about Hell and made her cry, who Isaac hated with a passion, who vanished a few days prior…
Her legs were still petrified on the ground. But it was only because the castle was so scary, right? Julia had to be brave. She had to be, for her brother, the bravest boy she ever knew.
So she returned Isaac’s smile, although it hurt her cheeks, and hand held tightly in hand, they walked forward, to their new life.
As long as she could hug Isaac, she had nothing to be scared about.