Chapter 28
The Flame
I raced through this strange house, my heart hammering in my chest. I could feel every beat pounding against my ribs, making it almost difficult to breathe.
The lights flickered on and off, plunging me in and out of darkness as though they were doing it for their own enjoyment.
Each time it happened, my breath faltered, my heart skipped a beat, and my lungs began to burn.
I could sense Silas behind me, easily navigating the darkness in a game where only he knew the rules, in a house that seemed made for him, bending to his every whim.
I passed doors that I could have sworn were open when I first walked past them, only to find they were sealed shut, the knobs not turning, no matter how frantically I twisted them.
The lights overhead flickered as I rounded another corner, my pulse thundering so loudly I could barely hear anything else. Every instinct screamed at me to move faster, to get as far away from him as possible before the countdown ended and whatever game he had decided to play truly began.
I came to a crossroads—one way leading further into darkness, one leading upstairs, and then the marble stairs downstairs. I slowed slightly, pressing one hand against the wall as I tried to force air back into my lungs.
Think, Isabelle, think!
What would Luca have done here?
Or, what would he have told me to do?
He wouldn’t have let me wait here for long, that’s for sure. He would have told me to take note of my surroundings.
I quickly looked up the stairs and decided that was a no go. I’d seen enough horror movies to avoid attics for the rest of my life. Downstairs felt too close to the basement and a return to captivity. Which only left me with one option—even though I didn’t like that choice either.
But, it was the best of a bad bunch, so I ran forward, doing my best to take note of what I was passing as I did so. The house was blurring into one dark mass in my vision, making it hard to distinguish what I was seeing.
I knew there were endless doors. There were at least thirty rooms on this floor alone. One of them belonged to me. And I had to assume Silas and his grandfather also resided somewhere here as well.
Think, Isabelle!
Which was easier said than done when I was currently running faster than I had ever run in my life.
It would make sense for Silas to place me as far away from his grandfather as possible.
I couldn’t say why I thought that, it just felt right.
He had kept me to himself for too long just to deposit me at the hands of someone who didn’t want me here.
That was just temptation at its finest. And I knew I wasn’t near my room.
So I had a small chance of entering Silas’s room by entering one of these doors.
I liked my odds.
It wasn’t a good plan. In fact, it barely qualified as a plan at all. But it was the first decision I’d made since starting this stupid game that actually made sense. That actually felt clever and not frantic and panicked.
And for the first time since the lights went out, I thought maybe—just maybe—I had a chance of winning.
Deciding to try my luck with the door just before the next corner, only to find it locked like all the others. I took my chance and ran behind one of the heavy velvet curtains covering the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Concealed from passing eyes, I took my opportunity to catch my breath and process what was happening. Pressing a hand over my chest and closing my eyes, I pulled in huge gulps of air, ignoring the searing burn in my lungs as they worked overtime.
“Your breathing gives you away every time, little ember,” I heard Luca whisper—a long ago memory when I had been sulking for one reason or another, and I’d been trying to hide from his cameras.
I’d found a spot in one of the few blank spaces in the house, but I hadn’t been able to stop the angry puffs of breath or the fury-filled noises I’d growled.
But I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Not when the stakes were much higher than simply Luca finding where I was sulking.
I slowed my breathing down, taking a deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth.
“Look for shadows, Belle. If someone is creeping up on you, you’re likely to see shadows before you see them.”
Silas wasn’t behind me. If he had followed me, he would be coming from directly ahead. But the lighting here, the way the overhead lights were positioned, and depending on which ones he had turned off, there was a chance I would see his shadow rounding the corner.
Scooting backwards, I sank to the floor, pressing my back against the wall as tightly as I could, I opened the curtain the tiniest fraction, just enough to see the corner at the end of the hallway.
And then I waited.
Long seconds passed by, and then, something moving across the floor growing larger and larger. A monster formed from the shadows.
The shadow spread across the floor until it was too large to contain, spilling up the wall… and then his shoe as he rounded the corner. His silver mask as he stared down the corridor.
I tightened my lips and shrank back further, forcing every part of my body to remain still.
His footsteps echoed as he walked toward me. Slowly. Methodically. With all the time in the world. He never looked anywhere but straight ahead, so certain in his choices. So confident he would find me.
The lights turned off, and all I could see was his silhouette reflected in the moonlight on the odd occasion he passed through a stream of light from a window before he was gone again.
I closed my eyes, hearing him walk closer and closer, and when I dared open them, he was right there, on the opposite side of the curtain.
I waited for him to stop. Waited for him to reach through the curtain and drag me out.
I held my breath, déjà vu washing over me, remembering the office, remembering how he knew exactly where I was. I pictured the silver mask peeping around the curtain, zeroing in on me, pinning me to the spot with one look before he seized me.
But none of that happened.
Instead, his footsteps kept walking. He was moving further down the corridor, taking one of the corners to the right.
Away from me!
I held my breath a few seconds longer, and then I was gone, scrambling out from the curtains and flying down the hallway Silas had just vacated, retracing my steps.
I could have sworn I heard his laughter echo behind me. I could have sworn I heard footsteps walking back towards me. I didn’t look back. It didn’t matter. I would not focus on where Silas was. I needed all my attention on my own movements.
Still running down the hallways, I took a turn left, a sharp turn right, pivoting around the corners without any thought. I figured this would lead me back to my bedroom eventually, and I had nothing else to trust other than my gut.
But somewhere along the way, something inside me changed. My heart started skipping a beat for entirely different reasons. I replayed that laugh in my head, and it didn’t seem scary. It didn’t seem intimidating.
It sounded fucking thrilling.
It stopped feeling like I was running from danger, and was instead running towards something.
I couldn’t escape the thought that I wasn’t heading to my bedroom for safety, but rather leading Silas there.
As though there were an end to this game waiting for us there, an ending we both knew was inevitable.
Somewhere along the line, I had stopped seeing this as something to be feared. I was being hunted, and that appealed to me. I wanted him to chase me. I wanted to be his prey.
Dear God, what the fuck is wrong with me?
I rounded the next corner and then, for reasons I couldn’t even begin to fathom, I stopped.
With shaking hands, I gripped the corner of the wall, peeping around to see where he was. To make sure he was still following me.
Why? Why did I want that?
When I heard the click of his polished shoes on the laminate floor, I grinned wickedly to myself and set off running again, almost laughing to myself.
Cameras, Isabelle. There are always cameras in your world.
Of course there was. My dad had cameras. Luca had cameras. Silas had “borrowed” Luca’s. Of course he had cameras here.
So how could I use them to my advantage?
“Most people avoid cameras. I like how you perform for them. For me.”
Luca’s voice whispered in my ear, and it got me thinking. Is that what Silas wanted, too? Did he want me to perform for him?
And if so, what performance was he expecting?
A memory came to the front of my mind, reminding me how he had reacted when I was under the sofa.
He’d told me to be quiet. He’d told me to stay hidden. But he knew I was there.
Just like behind the curtain. He had known, but he didn’t want this to be over.
He wanted me to keep running.
He wanted to chase me.
It was that thought that had me running down the marble stairs rather than back to where I thought my bedroom was.
It was that thought that had me heading towards the huge, heavy wooden doors, pulling them open and racing down the concrete stairs and into the woodlands surrounding the manor.
I laughed, feeling as though I had won the game, feeling as though I was victorious for once, and not the helpless victim of men who were more powerful than me. Who knew more than I did.
This time, I felt in control.
I knew I was going to get caught. I knew Silas would never actually let me leave. But I was controlling when. I was controlling how. I was controlling where.
At least I thought I was.
I made it to the end of the stone path before two large arms wrapped around me, one hand clamping over my mouth, heaving, smothered breathing in my ear.
Silas.