Everland Read Online Free

was unable to join the festivities. Cupped in my small hands, I offered her a shiny green apple from the Forbidden Garden. Unbeknownst to me, a lethal substance lay within its peel. It was the last time I recognized the boy who reflected back at me. It was the last time my right eye ever saw her gold, bladelike fingernails that I once admired as they glittered in the sunlight. I never stepped foot into the orchard again.
    Happy birthday to me.
    I continue farther into the palace, until I reach a steel door. The tumblers click as I turn the key in the lock. When I enter the lab, a fine mist bathes me, washing away any outside contamination. The white walls, floor tiles, and countertops appear orange under the lantern light in the sterile room. Cabinets line the walls, their glass doors revealing bottles of medicine and other medical supplies. A single hospital bed sits against the wall. The stainless steel sink reflects the twinkle of lamp fire.
    The Professor doesn’t flinch as I step inside the room. She doesn’t startle like she did during the early days of her imprisonment. Instead, she simply refuses to acknowledge my presence and studies her notes in a spiral binder, her auburn hair pulled back from her face. I often wonder if she’s become comfortable with my company, or if she’s so engrossed in her studies that she doesn’t hear me enter. Either way, I can’t help but find myself staring at her, infuriated by her lack of interest in my presence.
    She is the same age as my mother, but other than that the Professor is nothing like her. As dark as my mother’s hair, eyes, and heart are, the Professor is equally the opposite. She possesses wild hair, bright eyes, and a nurturing demeanor with the kids my men bring to her. Her kindness to the children both maddens and intrigues me.
    “Pack the lab up. We’re leaving Everland for good,” I say.
    The Professor’s gaze flicks toward me and she does a double take, suddenly noticing me. Her eyes become wide and glassy.
    “Leaving?” she asks.
    “I’ve done what I came here to do. We will return to the Bloodred Queen tonight!”
    She shakes her head and presses her lips together. “I am not going anywhere with you.”
    “Trust me, I’d leave you here in a heartbeat. You’ve accomplished nothing close to finding a cure. Consider it an act of mercy that I don’t abandon you in Everland,” I say, tamping down a burst of fury. I head to the door, afraid to turn back. Afraid she’ll call my bluff. Even after all her failures, she’s still the best chance at finding a cure.
    She follows behind, grips my arm, and spins me toward her. “We can’t leave yet. Your soldiers are dying, along with the remaining children of Everland. This virus is bound to kill all of us unless I find a cure. I have to stay!”
    Her defiance stirs a burning ember within me, threatening to erupt into an infernal rage. No one challenges me and lives to tell about it. I slam my hand onto the counter. She takes several steps back.
    “You’ve had months to figure it out. The best you’ve come up with is a means to treat the symptoms. All this time you’ve searched for immunity in the kids and you’ve come up with nothing! I’m tired of this forsaken city. We go home now!”
    She glances down at her scarred and scabbed hands, evidence of her own infection, which she’s managed to keep at bay. For how much longer, I am not sure. I start again for the door.
    “Wait!” she says, her voice hitching. “If we leave today, there will be no hope for any of us, not without a cure. I know how to develop it, but what I need is here … in Everland.”
    “Why?” I ask, meeting her gaze. “What’s here that you so desperately need?”
    The Professor bites her bottom lip.
    Fury explodes within me and before I know it, I have stormed toward the Professor, peering down at her. My hands grip her shoulders and she whimpers. “Tell me!”
    She hesitates. I dig my fingers into her flesh.