Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
Ashley hoped to find an escape route through the door. What she found was a dingy room filled with carved dragons protruding from the walls, their eyes glowing red and menacing. They seemed to follow every move she moved deeper into the room.
The room reminded her of a video game, not something someone from a small town in Tennessee should actually experience. She unconsciously hit the door with her hip, closing it behind her staring at the room that looked like one massive altar. But to whom?
It was a dark, stone-lined room. One with walls that were far too tall, covered in dragon details that jutted out of just about every corner.
The type of room that smelled heavily of smoke and some sort of incense, though Ashley wasn’t exactly sure what the smell was, nor why, the moment that her hips had knocked on the door, the sound in the room had dampened entirely.
All she knew then was that she was truly alone and that that was the last thing she wanted to be in a room like this.
Her heart raced, her blood pounding in her ears far too loud.
And yet, when she turned around to jerk open the door, she found that it was stuck.
The knob wouldn’t turn far enough. It was latched on the other side.
The sort of door that was only meant to be entered and never left.
Fear clawed at her throat and Ashley wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or scream. Maybe both.
Fear threatened to overwhelm her, threatening to consume her in panic. She reached for the doorknob one more time but let her hand fall before she touched it. There was no point in that. “You have to stop freaking out, girl.”
Ashley’s words almost seemed to die before she spoke them, but at least she wasn’t so afraid. “There has to be a way out of here, Ash. Find it. Ned didn’t raise you to be the screaming white girl who dies because she’s too stupid to get out of her own way.”
There were no other options. All she could do was move forward. Because if she stayed in that room, the overpowering scent of the incense might smother her. Plus, Val might come through the door, and she didn’t want to be around him right now either. “Scary room that might kill me for the win.”
Ashley took a deep breath and charged toward the end of the room, willing herself to be brave. Even if that was the stupidest thing she could have done.
Ashley had learned early in life that you had to do things you were afraid of, even terrified of, because if you didn’t, things might not get done, or you might miss out on something that turned out to be amazing.
At this moment, escaping her brother and his friends, even the whole nightmare she was living, meant that she had to forge onward, even if she was terrified of this room that seemed to throb with menace.
Each step she took made it feel like the room got darker and noticeably smaller.
The word dungeon came to mind, but there were no skeletal prisoners chained to the walls, no torturers leering at her from behind black masks.
The room seemed to suck up light, the deeper she went, and she didn’t realize that she was in a hallway at first. When her eyes adjusted to this new darkness, she realized she might be in a dungeon, after all.
“It’s 2023,” Ashley reminded herself, shaking her head vigorously.
Regardless of whether or not the world had ended, and the rest of the shit that started when she woke up in this place, the idea of anyone keeping a dungeon was ridiculous.
She had to remind herself that people had common sense in this world, and no one would want a true prison built inside their home.
“Except my super-shitty brother. He would be just the type to want a torture chamber in his house. Or an altar.”
The last words came out the moment that she reached the end of the long hallway, her eyes falling on another giant dragon statue.
This time the dragon held a bowl that was burning above what seemed to be an eternal flame, one that was meant to keep something within the bowl warm.
Ashley frowned at the statue, standing on her tiptoes in a futile attempt to see whatever it was.
She really hoped it wasn’t blood. That would be so fucking gross.
All she saw was a subtle, shimmering liquid within the bowl that looked like a black, inky substance. An oil of some sort? She wrinkled her nose, unsure which was worse, blood or whatever the fuck that was in the bowl.
“Whatever this is, it’s important,” Ashley said, wishing for the millionth time that she’d wake up, back in her real bed, in the real world, even if that meant no more mysterious Diamond King or charming Jack.
But the longer she looked at that glimmering black fluid she found every single cell in her body longing to touch it.
It was like some spirit compelled her to reach her finger out and stick it in the liquid.
Her brain screamed at her not to do it, but bravery was doing what terrified you, right?
For better or worse, Ashley drew her hand up to the liquid, her fingers desperate to touch its glistening surface.
The oil sat just centimeters away from her, and she could practically feel the heat coming off it on her fingertips.
But before Ashley could actually touch it, before she could figure out exactly what it was and know the warmth of it on her skin, someone caught the back of her collar and yanked her backward.
She knew that she shouldn’t have been surprised when her brother yanked her back, jerking her around so she was forced to look him in the eyes.
There was something about the cruelty in his gaze, the way that he looked unflinchingly down at her, not an ounce of regret in him as he took in her features.
Every breath came out of her brother in a ragged gasp, and Ashley couldn’t help wondering if there was more going on than she would ever know.
When he spoke, there was a certain edge to his voice that spoke of simmering rage.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Val demanded.
Ashley could only flounder, not really knowing the answer to that question.
But really, what did he expect her to say? She wished for nothing more than to touch the glistening surface of that magical liquid that she had found in a dark room tucked in the belly of the castle. That sounded crazy, even to her. Probably best not to say anything at all, then, she decided.
“I love you dearly, sister,” Val said as he dragged her from the room, though, Ashley was very much beginning to doubt that fact. “But you may be far more trouble than your worth.”