Turning, he looked back to Adriane, who was kneeling in front of the girl. His eyes glazed over white. Simon knew he was not here, and neither was her. She was talking though, having a conversation in her mind with someone. He just didn’t know who at the moment.
‡
“We have to do something,” Moriah said. “This incessant chanting is driving me crazy.”
“What can we do?” Heather looked around warily. “We don’t know what is real and what is not. What if we like fall into a pit or those things in the back room come out to get us and we can’t even see them?”
“What I want to know is who those people in the cloaks are? I mean look at them, what do they have to do with this?” Barnaby asked more to himself than to anyone else. He kept staring at one of them. He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light or another illusion. But the longer he watched the one on the end, he could swear it looked like his mom, but that wasn’t possible, was it?
Simon turned and almost lost his hold. A sharp pain formed behind his eyes. When he regained his position, he refocused on one of the cloaked figures.
Long blonde hair slipped out from under the dark cowl of her hood. His breath rushed from his chest as he stared into an all too familiar pair of blue eyes. He dropped down from the wall. His heart leapt at the sight of her. “Lola?”
One of the cloaked figures stepped forward and broke the circle. She lowered her hood. “Simon?”
“It is you.” He felt like someone just punched him in his gut. He took a step forward.
She took a step backward. Once again, she looked like a deer in the headlights.
“How…” His heart squeezed even more and a glimmer of hope for what once was filled his chest. He reached into his pocket, a reflex, looking for the velvet box.
“No, stay away,” she warned. “You…you…get away from me…” she screamed and looked at him like he was a monster.
Simon stopped; his breath vacated his chest…a bone-crushing sadness closed in on him again, just like it had done all those years before. He couldn’t breathe. “I don’t understand.”
“You made your choice,” she said. “I made mine!”
The hateful words sliced through him like razors.
Everything suddenly became crystal clear. “What did you do?”
“I,” she railed and pointed to her chest. “I didn’t do anything. You made the choice for us.” She shook her head. “Don’t look at me like that. You can’t blame me for what you are now.” She stepped back further and shook her head, looking so much like the girl he used to love.
“But I don’t understand…your mom told me…you…died.”
“Oh, I did,” she spat. “I died the night you told me to you wanted to quit the band. The night you told me you wanted me to become your little Suzy-fucking-homemaker.”
“I…”
She cut him off. “I wasn’t cut out for that shit.”
“No, Lola. I didn’t mean…I don’t understand.” And he didn’t, he felt like his heart was breaking all over again with her cruel words.
“Jesus, Simon, I didn’t die, literally. I died in other ways. I had to make my own way. You were my ticket out of this backwoods town and you ruined it for me. So, thanks a lot.”
Simon shook all over. “Your mom told me…you had a…” Connecting the dots, he looked over at the girl, Moriah. Now he knew why she seemed so familiar. Feeling sick, he asked, “Is she…mine?”
“Oh please.” Lola rolled her eyes. “No. She’s Vincent’s.”
“What?”
“Yeah she belongs to your piece-of-shit friend.”
“Who?”
“Jesus, Simon!” She widened her eyes. “Vincent, your ex-bestie…” She shook her head. “He was actually worse than you. Can you believe it?” A wry smile slid over her face. “I dumped you for an even bigger piece-of-shit.” She flung out her hand. “He fucked me until I couldn’t walk and when I told him I was pregnant he took a walk right out of my life. And you know what he said before he left?”
“No.” He shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. The pain she was inflicting, breaking him piece by piece.
“He said,” a sob tore from her throat. “He said for me to go and look you up…that you were so desperate to have me you might even forgive me and want to marry me. Jesus,” she laughed bitterly. “Even you couldn’t be that fucking pathetic, right?”
Simon felt the weight of her hateful words pressing in on him. He felt like he was dying inside all over again. “This can’t be happening,” he mumbled in disbelief.
“Oh yes it is, Simon. Look at you. You are no better than a dog. You make me sick!” Her voice shook with emotion.
Simon was trapped. He was in the room with her now, but the memories of the past were so clear now, so vivid, he couldn’t see what was in front of him. All he could do was endure the pain she was causing.
“Mom, what are you saying?” Moriah stepped from the shadows, appalled by what she just heard.
“Oh baby.” Her mother’s face changed on a dime and she stepped forward. “What are you doing here?”
“The better question is…what are you doing?’ She looked between her mother and Simon.
“This is not your concern, Moriah.”
“I heard you, Mom.”
Lola glared at her daughter. “Moriah, go home.”
“Ohmigod!” Moriah threw up her hands. “I’m not going anywhere, and why are you talking to him like that?” She pointed to Simon. “He is not a dog. He is…he is…” She looked at him and her stomach twisted. Was her mother fucking insane? Right now, she certainly seemed like she was. Moriah didn’t get it. But it didn’t matter, she had such an overwhelming urge to protect him, to take away the hurt her mother was inflicting on him. She stepped forward and protectively stood in front of him.
“Moriah, get away from him! He is a monster.”
“He’s a monster?” She gaped in disbelief. “You’re the one acting like a monster. I don’t even know who you are right now. What in the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled.
“Moriah, honey…please, you don’t understand what you are doing?”
“Oh, I don’t,” she scoffed. “Well here’s a newsflash Mom, at least I am not a mean-ass bitch, which is exactly how you are acting. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” Moriah walked over to Simon and grabbed hold of his arm. “Come on.”
“Moriah, I’m warning you, leave him be…” Lola scathed in an eerily high-pitched voice.
Moriah gaped at her and then shook her head. “Oh, put a sock in it, Mom!”
Simon stood there in a daze. Half in the present and half in the past…feeling so many things at once he didn’t think he would be able to sort through them all…ever. Time stopped and he was the same guy he used to be, for a brief moment. The guy that could have had everything he had ever wanted if he hadn’t met her. Anger spiked through his veins at what he had lost…what he had given up and for what? A soul-sucking bitch.
Once again, the chanting started and Lola stepped back into the line.
Simon shook his head. His vision blurred as he tried to cross the room but each step he took brought him no closer and he couldn’t gain any ground. “Lola, stop fucking with me! You stupid bitch!”
“Yeah, good luck with that, Simon,” she taunted from a distance, her voice warbled. The chants grew in volume. They were deafening, muddling his thoughts in his mind. He fought against them.
“I should have killed you that night! You worthless bitch!” He clapped his hands over his ears.
“You did…asshole!”
57-A DEADLY COMBINATION
Gripping the dagger in my hand, I waited for the inevitable attack. Instead, a gust of warm, sweet breath wafted over me and I thought of Adriane.
The lights popped on and there he was, standing right in front of me. “Is it really you?” I was hoping against hope it was and not the monster dude in disguise.
“Yes, it’s me.” H
e gave me a curious look. “Who else would it be?”
Monster dude, Alistair, Simon, pod-Hanna, the list was really getting long. “Oh, no one,” I lied and smiled up at him, not able not to. It was Adriane after all…well maybe.
“Can I have a sip?”
I looked down. Instead of the dagger, I was somehow holding a bottle of Snapple. Warning bells started going off in my mind. I had a feeling it was the guy messing with my mind again. I squeezed the bottle tighter and felt the hilt of the dagger. It was an illusion. I tightened my grip as my father’s words came back to me. You will need it when the Degaré come for you.
“Sure.” I played it up a bit and acted like I was handing it over to him. When he reached out to take it, I thrust it into the center of his chest.
Gripping the dagger, he took a shuddering breath and collapsed at my feet.
The monster was dead.
58-A RECKONING
A warm, sticky wetness coated the front of my Zombie-killing hoodie and smeared down the length of my second favorite skirt. I lifted my hands. They trembled, coated in the same warm, sticky wetness. The floor was covered with it too…the color red, not black. Why wasn’t it black?
Tears filled my eyes as the morbidity of what I had done sunk in and crushed against my chest. I couldn’t breathe. This can’t be happening.
Across the room, each of my friend’s faces reflected the same thing. They were all looking at me like I was the monster.
I looked back to the floor and waited for Adriane to turn back into the monster I had seen earlier…but he didn’t appear.
Blood poured from the open wound with the dagger sticking out.
“Ohmigod, Adriane!” I dropped down beside him and grabbed hold of his body.
“Adriane!” I shook his broad shoulders.
Blood gurgled out of his mouth and dripped down the sides of his beautiful face.
“What did I do?” I shook him harder. “Adriane!” Tears stung my eyes and blinded me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you.” I grabbed his shoulders and shook his still form.
I looked up at my friends, tears blurring my eyes. “I didn’t mean to do it! I didn’t know it was him,” I defended, looking at my friends, judging me with their accusing stares.
“I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO IT!” I screamed out in anguish.
The dagger protruded from his chest. I shook my head back and forth in disbelief as my tears flowed freely from my eyes and spilled down my cheeks.
“No!” I couldn’t breathe. “Please, don’t be dead.” I cradled his head in my arms.
“This is another illusion. It can’t be real.” He can’t be dead. My stomach lurched as I pulled him closer and rocked him back and forth. “It’s going to be alright,” I told him, holding him closely.
“Please…please…please…don’t be dead. I didn’t mean to do it!” The blood on my hands was now on his face…his beautiful, perfect face. It was another reminder of what I had done. Panicking, I wiped them frantically on the sides of my jacket, trying to get them clean. More blood covered the fabric, reddening my hands even more.
“SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!”
59-REALM OF SHADOWS
Alistair slipped back into the present. He saw Adriane, lying motionless on the floor and the girl’s body wracked with sobs as she cradled his head in her lap. He was too late.
This cannot be happening. It had to be an illusion. He fought against the noise, using every bit of his strength, pushing outward, directing it away from himself as Adriane had done on the landing earlier. Simon was bent over holding his head, trying to block the sound. Alistair focused. “Look at me, damn it!”
Simon felt the push against his mind. He tried to stand and fell forward. His arm throbbed, the searing pain almost as bad as the racket filling the cavern. He tried to stand again. His chest heaved from the exertion. The chants were muddling his thoughts. He pushed harder and concentrated solely on Alistair.
When their minds finally connected, Alistair felt the click. “What is going on?” he pushed out through the hidden barrier.
Simon felt Alistair’s thoughts when they hit him; he crashed into them, absorbing them into his mind like a wave. He pushed back mentally. “She did it!”
No! Alistair couldn’t believe it. It had to be an illusion meant to turn them against one another. He had seen these tricks before. The Degaré could make you believe things that weren’t real.
His chest constricted watching her, holding on to Adriane like he was her lifeline. But he was dead.
Dead! No! How could he be dead? He was an immortal, or he would have been…
The Degaré couldn’t harm him themselves…but she could…
He looked around the room. He spotted Dythius and Sybarite crouched on their pedestals. Dythius was in a white sleep and Sybarite was clapping and laughing like a child.
He had to get her out of here before it was too late.
60-UNBREAKABLE
“Please don’t die.” I held onto Adriane and rocked back and forth. I no longer cared what happened to me.
He was gone and I never even got to tell him how I felt about him…this was not my happily-ever-after. No! This was a nightmare. One I created. I shut my eyes and lowered my mouth to his and tried to breathe life back into his lungs.
Again and again, I blew every ounce of air I held inside my body into his. His lips were soft, not cold. Pulling away, I looked at his face intently. His beautiful eyes stared sightlessly ahead…still human.
A glimmer of hope filled me.
Why wasn’t he stone? Something wasn’t right. Shouldn’t he have turned back to stone? Wasn’t that what was supposed to happen? I could barely breathe. There was so much sadness inside of my body—I felt like I would shatter in a million pieces. Focusing on him, I choked back my tears. Closing my eyes once more, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.
I felt a slight breath, warm against my own lips. It was faint, threadbare at best, but it was something. I didn’t imagine it. With my eyes closed tightly, I ran my hands over his body. I focused on what I should see, not what someone else wanted me to see.
His hand twitched.
“Oh, God!” I opened my eyes once more. He still looked…dead. I bit back a sob and jerked him upward into my arms. His head lolled to the side. “I know you’re in there!” I smoothed his hair away from his face. “Wake up!” I shook him.
Alistair stumbled forward and grabbed my hand. “Let go!” he rasped. “He’s gone…”
I batted his hand away. “No, he needs me.”
“He is dead.”
“No, he isn’t!” I cried. “I felt his breath on my lips.”
“You’re imagining it.” Alistair looked at me sadly. “He’s gone. See my arm, the…” He blinked, and ran his hand over his arm. It still glowed, a vibrant blue. He shook his head. If his arm was blue, Adriane’s lifeblood still ran in his veins. It was not like he got a rulebook on how to be a gargoyle but he knew what the blue meant, it tied them to one another. Alistair crouched down in front of her. “You have to let go.”
“What?” I jerked away. “He needs me, I can’t let go,” I cried.
“You will kill him if you don’t let go!”
“What?” My eyes widened in horror.
“Listen to me,” he said. “I have to get him to the Cragmire.”
I shook my head back and forth. “You can’t take him there. That is what they want…don’t you see?”
“You have to!” He ripped Adriane’s body from her grasp.
I stood up. “Don’t touch him!”
“Evie…please,” he begged. He reached out and grabbed my shoulder and shook me roughly. “If you don’t let me take him, he will die!”
“I can’t…I….” I stared at Adriane’s still form, hanging limply in Alistair’s arms, somehow hoping he would wake.
“Just do it!”
I reluctantly let go.
Alistair hoisted Adriane’s limp body into his arms. Moria
h appeared and placed her hand on his body. Then Heather appeared and did the same thing. One by one, my friends appeared from nowhere. Each one reached out to lay their hands on Adriane’s lifeless body and then they disappeared.
Instead of hysteria, a feeling of calm washed over me like a blanket. Seductive chants still filled the cavern. The blanket of calm I had been feeling quickly transformed into something heavy…suffocating…pulling me down.
Thump… Thump... Thump… My heart slowed. I tried to fight against the pull but it was so strong…so captivating, and I was so very tired. My eyes rolled back in my head and I floated off into oblivion once more.
61-SOME MONSTERS LIVE IN YOUR MIND
The strange murmur from the chanting washed over me, crashing like waves. With no small amount of effort, I turned and looked in the direction of the sound. The cloaked figures stood in a semi-circle.
“Leave me alone!”
The figures shuddered and the lengths of their cloaks flew backward. A familiar face appeared for a moment. Was that Kingston’s mother, Marion…the bitch? I blinked hard and when I reopened my eyes, the figures were gone. I had a feeling that they were still there, watching…waiting…
It may have had something to do with the fact that I could still hear the unintelligible gibberish being repeated over and over in my mind, making me crazy.
Fear crawled over my skin like tiny insects, eating their way through my flesh. And just as I thought it, I looked down and there were hundreds of insects on my body.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” Frantically, I swatted the shiny, hard-cased bodies from my own…but there were too many.
Voices thundered around me, delving deeper into my mind just like the insects that burrowed down deeper into my skin. Every time I knocked one away, another crawled up in its place. Blood oozed from the wounds and covered my exposed skin. The chants grew louder…
Briarcliff Page 30
