(Skeleton Key) Princess of the Damned Read Online Free Page A

too, if she hadn't been afraid of running into a wall.
    Her breaths came in short, terrified pants by the time she'd fled down from her tower, through the entryway of the castle, and up into the opposite tower. Thankfully, she couldn't be heard over the screaming.
    And of course, as always, there were the chains.
    She hardly noticed them anymore, She'd worn them for so long, but when running, they held her wrists back, like they knew she was trying to do good, and were desperately trying to stop her. They rattled and tore at skin and tangled in her long skirts, but she jerked free and ran harder, up and up and up the winding staircase until she finally skidded to a stop outside the thick, black door.
    This one had bars over the windows and a heavy lock on the handle. Eiress's did not.
    She jerked on the door, pulling for all she was worth, but that stupid lock wouldn't budge.
    I need a key. I need a key. I need a KEY!
    No key magically appeared, but the door in front of her burst open, tearing from the bottom hinge, hanging awkwardly and smoking.
    She froze.
    On the other side of the door, the screaming faltered.
    Thank goodness for that, at least.
    She shoved the remains of the door open, expecting blood-spattered walls and torn, broken bodies. She'd seen worse in her years with Elizabeth.
    But there was nothing except a girl, younger than herself, standing at the window.
    Eiress frowned, chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath, thinking half-crazily that she might want to strangle this new princess. The girl's soul swirled in viciousness, with barely any light at all, and terror nearly overwhelmed the girl's heart completely. Eiress, for the life of her, could not figure out what there was to be so frightened of.
    And then she remembered.
    The castle. The Damned. Mary. Elizabeth. This life.
    And then she realized more—the new princess was staring out the window at the nightmares.
    "Hello," Eiress said, holding her position at the door.
    She turned, eyes wide and face pale, but not as pale as Eiress. "Who are you?"
    Eiress sighed. "I'm the Princess of the Damned."

 
    A PALE HAND FLASHED ACROSS HIS face. "We have to help her. Please help her."
    Landon didn't remember screaming, but apparently he had been panicked enough to drive the voice and the cold away and bring both his parents running.
    "Landon! Landon!"
    He whirled in a circle, searching for the voice, the hand he'd seen, anything, but he was alone in the hallway, spinning like a maniac. He heard his parents, could see them in front of him, felt them grab at him and let them pull him close, but it was all from a distance.
    "He wasn't feeling well earlier…"
    "He was fine at dinner!"
    "He doesn't have a fever."
    "Landon? Honey?"
    When he'd first told them he saw Eiress in the mirror, all those years ago, they'd been terrified. They thought he was seeing things, hallucinating. They'd taken him to a psychologist. They'd made him draw pictures of her and theorized what his lapses in sanity meant. The medications they'd put him on had nasty side effects. He'd finally learned to play along, to pretend she was an imaginary friend.
    So, of course, he couldn't tell them now that he was also being stalked by what seemed to be a ghost.
    "It is awfully cold in here. Maybe turn the heat up?"
    They could feel it, too. It wasn't just him.
    "I thought—I thought I saw a spider," he finally had the sense to mumble.
    They both froze in their worried examinations of him to stare. "A spider?" his dad asked.
    "But—but you killed that one for me yesterday." His mom frowned. "And it was huge."
    Landon had always been a horrible liar, but he tried his best. "I—I know. It dropped down right in front of me, but then I lost it, and I was looking for it…"
    His voice trailed off while they both scoured the walls and floor, looking for the made-up spider. "I don't see anything," his mom said.
    "Maybe it ran into the vent." His dad nodded, laughing uncomfortably. "Just got a