Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
SERAFINA
I trudged after Penelope, or rather, the ghoul.
It was easier if I didn’t think of her as a person.
Whatever The Dark One had done, she was no longer the spoiled girl I’d served.
Her clothing hung in filthy rags, her pale skin mottled and torn.
On the back of her head, a patch of her scalp was missing, greasy bone peering through her scraggly hair.
Ironically, her outsides now matched her rotten insides.
The ropes we’d used to restrain her were missing.
Her lifeless fingers circled my wrist, the touch of her icy flesh making my skin crawl.
Our plan had almost gone to hell, Thorne ready to pull the plug on the whole thing once we realized the ghoul wouldn’t lead three scary-ass men into the tunnels, only me.
Even in death, Penelope still managed to get her way.
And so, I followed her, solar crystal held aloft, dagger tucked into the belt on my pants.
Somewhere behind me, Thorne and crew followed, out of sight.
I found myself glancing back, hoping for some glimpse of them to reassure me.
At least Thorne could track me through his flame if things went wrong.
Flarking Penelope. This was not the plan. Had I realized I’d end up following a ghoul into the tunnels alone, I may have reconsidered. I only prayed she was leading me to the prisoner holding cells, not to The Dark One.
With nothing to look at but the oozing wound on her skull, I began to wonder if any part of Penelope remained.
“Penelope, where are your mother and father?”
“You,” she groaned, her dragging steps scuffing the soil.
“And The Dark One? What is his plan?”
“You.”
I huffed an irritated exhale. Clearly, the ghoul had been programmed for one response.
“Penelope, who is the fairest damsel in all the land?”
“You.”
“Fabulous.” My lips pulled into a tight grin, despite the fear that threatened to send me bolting back to the entrance.
“And who did you abuse because you’re a selfish, spoiled brat?”
“You.”
I barked an uneasy laugh, angling my solar crystal higher. On the side of the tunnel was a dark archway. The ghoul stalked past this passage, as she had several others. I held my breath, peering into the offshoot. Nothing stirred. Where the heck were the prisoners?
With little to distinguish the tunnels, it was difficult to tell if we’d gone in circles or continued to move deeper under the earth.
Groans sounded. Feet shuffled.
My breath caught. Those inhuman noises had echoed from the depths of the tunnel. Not prisoners. Something else.
I tugged against Penelope’s grip. “Hey. Hold up a minute.”
She hissed, her hand tightening.
Footsteps scuffed ahead. Claws scrabbled at the walls. My pulse spiked.
Stupid ghoul. Did she even know where she was going? Leave it to Penelope to get lost. Or maybe she was taking me home for—gulp—dinner? Heck with this. I planted my feet and wrenched back on my arm. My guide jerked to a stop, her head whipping my way.
She snarled, baring blackened teeth.
“We’re done here.” I dropped the solar crystal and palmed my dagger, stabbing it into the ghoul’s forearm.
The creature glared at me, showing no reaction to the wound. Gah! She isn’t a person. Isn’t a person. I slashed at her wrist, severing tendons. Her grip loosened, and I tore free—just in time.
“You,” several gravely voices groaned. Glowing eyes flashed from the tunnel depths. The dragging scrape of their feet quickened. At least a dozen.
Heart in my throat, I scooped up the crystal and spun, racing in the opposite direction. Which way? Which way!
Clawed fingers snagged my ankle. I crashed to the dirt.
“You,” Penelope snarled.
She yanked me onto my back and straddled my hips, her bloated frame pinning me. Yellow pus dribbled down her chin. Rotting teeth snapped an inch from my face, spattering drool across my chest.
“Get off me,” I screamed, thrashing.
The groans grew louder, dragging footsteps drawing closer.
The others would be upon us any minute. Penelope’s icy grip tangled in my hair.
Snarling in my face, she pounded my skull against the ground.
Pain fractured my mind. I grasped her forearms, fingers squelching into her knife wound. Bile burned the base of my tongue.
Again, she slammed my head. Lights twinkled in my vision.
I absolutely refused to die at the hands of Penelope Flarking Richwell.
For years, she’d mocked, tormented, and made my life a living hell.
Well, no more. Rage surged up from my center, then shot from my palms in a searing blast. Bright light blinded me.
The ghoul shrieked, her bony frame flying back from the explosion.
I rolled to my side, clutching my throbbing skull.
As my vision cleared, an impossible image took shape. The ghoul looked at her arms as if mesmerized. The purple blotches beneath her skin were gone. Her head swiveled, and she peered at me, her blackened eyes fading to green. Pink tinted her pale features.
She frowned. “Serafina? What—”
Hands shot from the dark, ashen and skeletal, clutching her arms and legs. Penelope’s scream pierced my ears. From the darkness, a dozen faces emerged. Eyes lifeless, mouths gaping. They reached for her, clawing at her newly restored body.
“No!” The terrified woman shrieked. “Stop! Get your hands off me, you filthy heathens.”
A bedraggled figure pushed forward, crowned with a gleaming tiara that clung to her matted hair. Her gown, once silk, now hung in rotting strips.
Lady Richwell? My jaw unhinged, ice sliding through my veins.
“Mother,” Penelope sobbed, terror cracking through her usual venom. “Mother, please. Help me!”
The corpse’s lips peeled back, revealing blackened teeth. She leaned close, her voice a guttural rasp. “One of us.”
She sank her claws into Penelope’s shoulder. The girl screamed, not the shrill tantrum I remembered, but the cry of a daughter betrayed.
For years, I had wished Penelope gone, but not like this. Not devoured by the woman who once kissed her goodnight.
The eyes of my tormentor locked with mine. “Don’t stand there, you idiot. Do something!”
Sparks tingled in my fingertips. “Penelope!” I lunged toward her, and strong fingers sealed over my mouth. Arms banded around me, dragging me back. Panic surged until Thorne’s smoky scent filled my lungs.
“Don’t. It’s too late,” he whispered in my ear, voice rough. “I won’t let them take you too.”
Penelope’s screams echoed down the tunnel as Lady Richwell dragged her into the dark. “No, Momma. No!” Penelope cried. “Let go of me, you old bat.”
I went limp against Thorne’s grip, tears scalding my eyes.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He set me on my feet. “This way. While they’re distracted.”
My hand snug in his, he led me away. Once we stopped, I threw my arms around his neck and held tight. “I’m so happy to see you,” I mumbled into his chest.
He gripped the back of my shirt, arms tightening as if reluctant to let go. “I felt you, your terror, and regret. I feared the worst.”
A voice cleared, and I raised my head.
Drazen peered at us. The crystal he held cast his face in a soft glow. “Sorry to interrupt, but Kronk thinks he found something.”
“Now that we are underground, I can sense a great many things.” Kronk pressed his hand against the dirt wall and closed his eyes. “Down this tunnel, there is a large open space. It could be where the prisoners are kept.”
“Or more monsters.” I shivered.
“This way.” Kronk took the lead.
We followed him in silence, Thorne keeping my hand tight in his grip, our arms brushing.
After an eternity, Kronk swung out his arm, blocking us from going further. He turned, raising a finger to his lips. On silent feet, he inched toward an opening in the wall and peeked around the corner.
A putrid scent wafted in the air, threatening to expel my breakfast, and I dragged my collar over my nose and mouth. Whatever he’d discovered in that tunnel wasn’t alive.
Please don’t let it be Speck.
Thorne crept closer, peering inside.
“What is it?” I leaned into his shoulder, whispering in his ear.
Slowly, we slipped through the entrance. Inky darkness greeted us, and I clung to the back of Thorne’s shirt, blind to what waited in the void. Golden light from a solar crystal pierced the veil.
“Blessed flames.” Drazen’s hissed curse thundered in the silence.
Even Kronk was speechless for once.
Curiosity scratched at my insides. I shoved between them, peering into the cavernous void. We stood at the top of a ridge, the room a dome-shaped space. Below, the floor rippled and rolled like water.
My brow scrunched, my eyes straining. The harder I looked, the more the ripples turned into lumps. The lumps into heads. The heads into blackened, skeletal bodies.
Wait. Were those…?
“Wendigos!” I gasped. Hundreds of them. My bladder loosened, my muscles quaking.
Thorne spun me away, walking me out of the room. “The Dark One has rebuilt his army.”
I gaped at him. “They were merely standing there like brainless statues.”
Drazen’s ruddy expression paled. “They await his orders. He’s preparing for war.”
“That’s why they’ve been hitting the villages,” Thorne added. “Feeding their hatchlings.”
“There’s another large space nearby,” Kronk’s deep voice snapped with urgency. “Let us investigate quickly, then leave.”
“Agreed,” Drazen said, and we set off.
Minutes later, Kronk held up his fist. We froze as he peeked into an opening, then beckoned us forward. One by one, we slipped in behind him, crystals raised to cut the dark.
The chamber was smaller than the last. Dozens of iron-barred cells were carved into the stone walls. The foul stench of unwashed bodies mixed with decay hit my nose, and I drew the fabric of my sleeve over my nose.
Keening noises rang out, along with the telltale scritch, scritch, scritch that made my knees wobble. The cages were occupied.
“Monster or man?” I whispered.