Defiance

by R. S. Broadhead

  “Izzy. Please…it’s still me,” I tried to reason with her, but my voice was still different.

  She turned away from me at the sound of her name, seeking comfort from the jagged bark.

  A frustrated sigh escaped, only loud enough for me to hear. What was I going to do? I looked around, spotting a flower. I plucked it from the stem, and slowly made my way over to her. Within a few feet I stopped and dropped to one knee. “Princess Izzy, I know I look different, but I promise you I’m still the same Cade you knew before. Trust me.” I held out the flower and dropped my head, unable to see if she rejected my offer. I was out of options. The only thing I could do was sit and wait for her to come around if that’s what it took. I had no idea how long I would look like this. Maybe forever. Although Grim had changed, I hadn’t learned how to do that yet.

  The flower lifted from my grasp as a warm hand ran up my arm. “Oh, Cade,” she said.

  I looked up at her, relief flooding me.

  She reached for my face, wavering just a bit before touching my cheeks. “It feels so funny.” She crinkled her nose, tracing the contours just under my eyes. Heat pooled at my core and raced up and down my limbs. I pushed back slightly as she gasped. Veins and tendons started to rebuild, linking as blood rushed through. Muscles and tissue wrapped around the bones. Lastly, the skin grew back, returning me to my former self. I looked up at Izzy a split second before she threw herself at me. I fell back, laughing as she nuzzled her face into my neck.

  “Thank God. I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to look at that for long. It was kind of scary.”

  “I can imagine.”

  She stopped laughing and looked at me. This couldn’t happen. She should be afraid of me. Hell, I was afraid of me. I had no idea what to expect with the changes my body was undergoing. I had no way to control them. I rolled to the side, causing her to fall to the ground.

  “We really need to get moving,” I said, holding a hand down, but unable to look at her.

  She grabbed it and pulled herself up to me. “Why won’t you just kiss me?” Her eyes were wide, waiting for my response. She appeared to be holding her breath.

  I racked my fingers through my hair, fighting the many different things I could say bouncing around in my mind. “It just isn’t a good idea.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Give me a legitimate reason. I’m not letting you take me anywhere until you tell me.”

  “You do know all I have to do is drag you through that door, right?”

  “You better be prepared for a fight then. Hope Mr. Skeleton man is ready to come back out because it would be on like Donkey Kong if you did that.” She swiped a finger across her nose, before rolling her shoulders back and popping her neck.

  “Stop playing. We need to go.” I reached for her arm, which she swiftly jerked out of reach. This was exhausting on so many levels. Why did humans have to be so complicated? “I don’t know what’s happening to me, and I don’t want you to be in the middle of something that might hurt you. Besides, even if everything was normal, we still wouldn’t be able to see each other. We’re from two different worlds, so why make things weird for us?”

  “Well, weird seems to follow me. So I’m beginning to get use to it.” She sauntered up closer to me. “Nowhere in any of that did I hear you say you didn’t want to though,” she growled.

  Before I could stop her, she wrapped her fingers around my neck and jerked me toward her. Those pouty, moist lips I craved crashed into mine. For a second I wanted to push her away. The cautious, good guy in me screamed to do that. But the bad guy, well, he just wanted a taste, and I let him win. I laced my fingers through her hair at the base of her neck, tugging it slightly as I explored her mouth with the tip of my tongue. It was an intensity and longing I hadn’t expected. A small moan escaped her lips, making me push tighter against her. I pulled back, grazing my lips across hers, savoring the sweetness of their taste, before giving in all together. It was over. I belonged to her. I knew it. Pulling her urgently to me, I didn’t want to just test the waters, I wanted to dive the entire fucking way in.

  After an earth shattering few moments, I released her, fighting the impulse to pull her back. She fought to catch a breath, her chest heaving as she reached up to touch her lips. “Now can we go?” I hoped my face wasn’t as flushed as hers. I didn’t want this to look like it had an effect on me. This didn’t need to happen again.

  She nodded without saying a word.

  I led the way to the tree, pulling out the key. The casing started to deteriorate the closer I got, soon leaving only a small piece of bone. It floated up from my palm and darted toward a knot in the surface of the bark. Blue lines burst from sides and inked through the wood. I backed away, watching as it traced through, leaving a glowing, visible trail. Movement from behind us caught my attention. Bodies. Countless bodies of children crawled out of the water toward us.

  Drip. Drip. Drip.

  The water beaded off, rolling down their pale skin. Izzy shrieked, pulling me close. Their movement was unnatural, dragging and popping as they sluggishly walked past us to the tree. One by one they climbed on top of one another, heads in the bends of knees, arms wrapped around legs, molding together, making an archway.

  “Who are they?” she asked.

  “No idea.” After a moment, an opening appeared. I looked back at Izzy, standing a few feet behind me. Her shoulders were rigid, anxiety clear on her face. I had it too. It was knotted in the pit of my stomach, gnawing. There was nothing we could do. This was our next step. We had to go through this door. Too many questions needed to be answered now. Not to mention it wouldn’t be long until more Reapers were here if Paradan knew our location.

  Izzy nodded. I turned back, walking up to the black entryway. I gasped as something yanked me inside. Izzy screamed and barreled in after me. My wrist ached as it let go, sealing the opening, leaving us in the dark.

  “I can’t see anything,” Izzy said. We were both hunched over. The inside was considerably smaller. Tears ran down her face. She looked in my direction. “What’s that?” She lashed out toward my face, hitting me in the eye.

  “Ouch! That’s my eye.” I closed them, holding the one she hit with my hand.

  “Well why didn’t you tell me your eyes do weird shit in the dark? All I saw was two glowing purple things and thought something was about to attack us. Not like I can tell what anything is.” She slumped down, resting her hands on her head, rocking back and forth. “I can’t stand this.”

  I couldn’t either. As soon as the door closed behind us and left us in the dark, my mental state took me back to the years of being locked in the prison cell. One side of me felt relief since that was what I was most familiar with, but another side panicked. I didn’t want that life anymore. I opened my eye, rolling it around a few times, trying to ease the pain. “I guess I should have mentioned it. At least I wouldn’t be half blind now.”

  She glanced up in my direction. “Sorry. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I can see in the dark, hence the weird shit going on with my eyes. I’m going to take your hand so don’t freak out.” I reached down, grabbing her hand, and pulled her up to me. “You’re going to have to trust me to lead you. Is that okay?”

  “Yes.”

  Together we trudged through the small dark tunnel. It was eerily silent, which made me uneasy. That never meant anything good. I wasn’t sure how long we had been walking, but my back ached.

  “Do you want to rest?”

  Without answering, she dropped down, grimacing as she massaged her lower back. I sat across from her. “How long can this tunnel be? I don’t know how much longer I can take. My back is killing me.”

  Something stopped me from replying. Off in the distance there was a faint ticking. “Did you hear that?” I kept my voice as low as possible with her still being able to hear me.

  She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head.

  “C’mon. Let’s go.” We jumped up and started walking, making sure
to be as quiet as possible. The ticking was growing louder the farther we went. Something on the ground caught my eye. “Wait here.” I dropped her hand and walked over to it. It was round and cool to the touch. I flipped it over to find a clock, the hands going crazy, spinning in all directions. I slapped the top to make it stop. The walls started shaking, sending pieces of rock to the ground, and showering us with dust.

  “What’s going on? Cade, where you are?” Izzy shrieked.

  I dropped the clock. I needed to get back to her to keep anything from hitting her. Before I could reach her outstretched hand, the floor she was standing on caved.

  She disappeared through a circular hole. Suddenly, my feet dropped. I barreled through a tunnel. Flashes of light caused me to wince, the pounding laughter surrounded me. I jerked around a curve, sending my face crashing into the wall. Warm blood splattered me in the face, dotting me like freckles. I tried to stop myself, or slow down, but the walls were too slick. I only seemed to be picking up speed the longer I went.

  The tunnel ended, and I went airborne a few feet before plummeting down. My arms and legs thrashed around, desperately trying to find something to latch onto. A pile of feathers finally caught me when I reached the ground. I lay, staring up at the dark red sky, trying to catch my breath and wrap my head around what had just happened. “Izzy,” I said to myself. I jerked up, looking to my right and left for any sign of her. She was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t call out for her. I had no idea where I’d ended up or what might be out there. The feathers stuck to me, causing me to itch. I pulled one away. It left a stained red spot. I glanced down at the blood covered white feathers, feeling sick. It reeked of vile, decaying creatures. I crawled through them until I was able to stand on the charred grass. I swatted at the remaining feathers still clinging to my skin. I was surrounded by tall objects that somewhat resembled a tree one side, and a stonewall on the other side. After searching the immediate area, and not finding Izzy, I headed in the direction of the unusual forest.

  “What the hell?” I said, eyeing everything. Trees were lined up like giant pillars on each side as if making a wall to shield an outsider’s view of the other side. In the middle laid an unnaturally shiny black and white checkerboard path. The roots sat on top of the ground, moving side to side, curling in and out. These led to a massive trunk, which twisted and jutted out in several directions. The boughs covered the path from above and stretched across, intertwining with the tree on the other side. Red vines dangled low, floating from some invisible breeze that I couldn’t feel. I forced my feet to move, although apprehension practically had them feeling as though they were made of lead.

  “He’s funny looking,” a faint voice said.

  I looked back seeing nothing behind me. A cold sweat ran down my spine, even though the temperature was quite cool.

  “Who’s there?” I finally called.

  “Who isn’t therrrrrrrre?”

  I jerked around to find a creature sitting on a large stone. It resembled a mouse from the human world, with thick, fine baby blue hair. One top of its head sat a cone shaped hat and it wore something that looked like a diaper. It pulled out a long pipe and put it to its puffy lips, causing the whiskers to wiggle. Suddenly, music echoed through the trees. It was a haunting sound that freaked me out. I took a step toward the creature, which made it pause and study me with its huge black eyes.

  “Watch yourself, Reaper. This place isn’t for the weak,” it said.

  “Where am I?” I asked.

  It started laughing. To my horror, the fur started to fall out patch by patch as a dark substance bled through. Its head split in two as tiny bugs with pinchers poured out running into the woods. I don’t know how long I stood there staring in the direction they went. I wasn’t sure I had just witnessed what I did. How was Izzy holding up in this? I hoped she made it through okay. The thought of her lying somewhere, hurt, made my chest ache. I needed to find her. She was probably freaking out.

  “Is he froze?” came the same tiny voice as before.

  I jerked around again, this time stomping over to a tree and looking behind it. I did the same to several others only to find I was alone. I know I’d heard something. Didn’t I? I pinched the bridge of my nose, massaging it gently, trying to regain the sanity I had left. I started walking again, this time with more determination that I wasn’t going to let mind games stop me.

  “Cade …” someone called. A woman’s voice, but I didn’t recognize it.

  I stopped and listened. “Lead him to the dark.”

  Agitated, I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists.

  “Lead him.”

  “Why don’t you come the fuck out here and lead me yourself?” The base in my voice rattled my chest.

  “Cut yourself, Cade.” The tiny voice was so close, I jumped back. A little girl, skin ghostly white, stood in front of me holding a knife. Her eyes were sewn shut with ragged stitches. Stringy, matted hair swayed as she stepped closer to me, offering the blade. I took it from her, staring at the foreign object with repulsion. I kneeled down on one knee and gently rubbed across her cheek. She shrunk back as though I might strike her.

  I paused, taking my hand away. “I’m not going to hurt you, and you shouldn’t tell people to cut themselves. Can you tell me where we are?” She stood as if frozen, her mouth slightly hanging open as her bottom lip trembled. “Please.”

  “I can’t. She’ll be mad at me. It’s never a good thing when she’s mad. She’s watching us right now,” she whispered.

  Without making it noticeable, I searched everywhere, straining my eyes through the limbs. Nothing. “Who’s watching?”

  Her head jerked to the side as a whip came out of nowhere and struck her back. Blood splattered me in the face, momentarily blinding me. I rubbed my eyes, desperate to regain my vision. Her wails were all around me, the constant snap of the whip causing me to flinch. I blinked a few times and she was gone. The only reminder that she was there was a pool of blood staining the white of the checkerboard path. I dropped down, sitting, and brought my knees up.

  A loud sound caught my attention. Another child, a boy, was bent low picking up small shiny objects. His mouth moved as if talking to myself. He had the same pale skin as the girl. It draped over his bones like a thin sheet.

  “Hello,” I called, looking around as if the invisible being would suddenly make an appearance.

  He stopped, looking up toward me. Fresh cuts ran down his cheeks, on top of already bubbled scars. Clearly panicked, he increased his speed, snatching up the objects. With one last looked, he turned, and started to run.

  “No! Wait!” I jumped up, running as fast as my legs would carry me.

  He darted into the woods between a hole just big enough for him to fit through. I reached for him, my fingers barely grazing his tattered shirt. I pushed harder and harder to squeeze through the hole. My body started to morph, becoming slimmer, my bones bending unnaturally. I popped out on the other side, falling on all fours. My body moved, snapping back into place. It was an unsettling sensation.

  “It always does that to people on their first time,” the boy said. He came over to me, taking my elbow to help me up.

  “Don’t do that, Britz!” a little girl, no older than seven shrieked. She ran up behind him, followed by several other kids around the same age.

  Britz smiled at her, motioning a hand down. “Keep your voice down. She doesn’t know he’s here with us. It’s okay, Letty.”

  The girl still seemed a little on edge, but didn’t say anything else.

  “Cade?” the boy asked, looking up at me. One eye was milked over, the other a beautiful shade of green.

  I nodded, casting a glance over the rest of the kids who all wore the same scars as him. Some were much worse, missing limbs even. Who would do this to kids? “Yes. My name is Cade. How did you know that?”

  He laughed. “That’s not important. Can you tell me how you got here?”

  I told him about going through the
door, tunnel, then falling through the hole.

  “So, you didn’t die?” he asked after I finished.

  I shook my head. “No. I’m trying to find my way to Nekroun Earth. I have to get to Grim.” The small crowd gasped.

  “Grim? Are you a Reaper?” Britz asked his eyes wide with awe.

  I nodded.

  “Maybe you can help us.”

  “Are you crazy? Reapers are the ones that put us here. They’re the bad guys,” Letty said. She crossed her arms, scolding me. “I say we let her have him. Why should we get punished for helping the enemy?” She turned to the crowd behind her, looking for rallied support from the other kids. They glanced between the two of us.

  “Maybe he can help us,” another one said.

  She rolled her eyes and grunted.

  “First off, little ladies and gents, I need to know where I am.”

  “You don’t know?” Britz asked.

  “Of course he doesn’t. He just reaps people and sends them on their way,” Letty said.

  Britz looked up at me his expression a mixture of disbelief and amazement.

  “Go on and tell him then,” she continued.

  Britz walked in front of me, motioning me to follow. Despite serious insecurities about what I was on the verge of finding out, I willed myself to follow. There was no way I could back out now. These kids were the best chance I had at finding Izzy. We climbed a hill until slowly a sight I dreaded became visible.

  We were in Purgatory.

  To be continued…

  About the Author

  R.S. Broadhead is the author of the Realms of Darkness Series, the Reaper Series, and the Urban Legends Series. When she's not hard at work writing you can find her ghost hunting, taking a nap, or surfing the web for creepy stories for inspiration on her next novel. R.S. writes New Adult Paranormal and Supernatural Thrillers.