Chapter 6 #3
A chill ran through me as I turned in a circle. Elise’s laughter echoed, and I couldn’t trace the sound. I ran to my left, then a sharp right, but I had already lost my way. Each statue seemed to watch me, hundreds upon hundreds. I passed more and more faces filled with fear and anguish.
Then, the mist stirred above.
Click.
Clack.
Click.
The Letheling emerged from the greyness, spiralling down a column on an insect-like body of large, rounded segments.
It was just the carving from the iron door, only bigger than I could have imagined, and unlike any creature I’d ever known in my living world.
Its skin had a blue-green bioluminescent quality, and I almost didn’t spot its pincers protruding from its head.
Its many legs scurried over the stone, leaving a slick path of mucus in its wake.
It stopped before reaching the ground and suspended itself. Its head twisted around while long antennae probed the air. Its jaws snapped open, and the roar that burst free was the kind that told me to run.
“Elise!” I shouted, though I knew she wouldn’t come. She’d brought me here and lured me into this trap. I turned to scamper from the creature and stumbled straight into a statue. It clattered to the ground, shattering on impact.
The smashing of stone rattled through me.
A shriek echoed off the walls.
A thousand pieces of rock exploded across the floor.
I was disoriented for a moment and stared down at the ruby fragments at my feet.
I swear the statue was made of white stone . . . not red glass.
My shaking hand picked up a ruby shard. It reminded me of . . .
Blood.
I suddenly felt very aware of a looming presence. My eyes lifted slowly, and eight jet-black eyes stared back.
My stomach dropped.
I was going to die – a second time – and Tobias would never even know.
Whispers caressed the corners of my mind. “Leave, or fall.”
What are you? I screamed back.
“We are what remains.”
I slammed my eyes shut and thought of my brother. I could see him sitting in our cottage, shivering against the chill. He couldn’t survive life in the village without me. And I didn’t trust the Cunning Folk to save him. It was up to me to get back to him, or he’d suffer.
I spun on my heel, agony shooting up my hip. But I pushed the pain away and bolted through the maze of statues. The Letheling roared, and the ground shuddered.
SCREEK!
The sound split the mist, and I ran on shaking legs. My elbow clipped the arm of a tall statue, and I stubbed my toe on its outstretched leg.
A torturing throb surged up my leg and through my hip.
I toppled backwards, knocking over statues, and clattered to my back.
“Leave, or fall.”
The whispers pierced through the chaos, tangled between the violent impact of shattered stone.
Red shards exploded all over the floor. I pushed back, boots slipping and stone splintering beneath me. The Letheling smashed through the statues, its huge head drawing back before it struck.
I struggled to my feet, clenching my jaw, shoving the pain deep inside of me. The creature shrieked again.
SCREEEKKKK!
A low hum emanated from the Letheling, and something gripped my mind. Like claws splitting open my brain.
“LEAVE, OR FALL.” A hundred voices cried the words, clawing through my mind.
I needed to escape, but my limbs had seized. An icy sensation entered my veins. My adrenaline dissolved. I tried to wiggle my toes, but I was stiff.
I felt as solid as a statue.
Panic flooded my mind.
Could it be . . .
No . . .
The ruby glass shards were not glass . . .
These statues weren’t statues at all.
These were once souls, before they were the Letheling’s prey.
And I was to be its next meal.
“Not like this,” I hissed through gritted teeth, forcing myself to take one step back, then another.
The hum grew louder, wrapping around me like a warm, suffocating embrace. My vision blurred, and I couldn’t help but dream of home: Tobias’s laughter, the warmth of our cottage, and my yearning to return.
The creature loomed closer, its glowing antennae reaching for me.
The whispers returned, and somehow, they knew exactly what to do. “Remember her words.”
I staggered back, my breath shallow.
“Whatever you need will come to you.”
Did this domain respond to desires and needs? Would it work here in this . . . graveyard?
I closed my eyes, my heart hammering. “Listen to me,” I whispered, my voice shaking, though I didn’t know who I was talking to. “I want out of here.”
Nothing.
And the creature was close. So close.
“Whatever you need will come to you.” The whispers urged.
I closed my eyes again and steadied my breathing. I didn’t want to die, not like this. “I want to leave this place.” I willed it with every inch of my body.
When I opened my eyes, there was a door set into the far wall.
But could I trust it?
Could I trust anything in Hell?
The Letheling shrieked, the sound rupturing through the hall. I bolted for the door. Antennae lashed out like a sea monster’s tentacles. I bit back a cry, forcing my legs to move faster.
The exit was just within reach.
I lunged, seizing the handle as the creature’s drone built to a shrill, ear-piercing screech.
Wherever it led, it had to be better than ending up as the Letheling’s personal version of taxidermy. I wasn’t ready to be immortalised in stone. Not today.
So I took my chances.
I hurled myself through the door and slammed it shut behind me. My lungs heaved breath after breath, and my heart thundered in my chest. A promising sign, I was, in fact, still breathing.
I slumped against the door, fingers fumbling with the strap at my hip. Pain gnawed at me.
I just sat there for a while, dragging in air, waiting for my breathing to relax. When the adrenaline finally drained away, my thoughts cleared enough to land on one brutal truth.
Elise had tried to end me.
Rage erupted inside me. My blood pounded in my veins. I hated her. I hated them all . . .
Hating them was easy. But wishing them dead felt as useless as asking the sun to drain the sea. Imagine my delight when I remembered every soul in Hell could, in fact, die twice.
And if you’re going to kill someone, you damn well make sure it sticks. Otherwise, they’ll crawl back to bite you in the arse.