by Anya Allyn
I traced a finger along one of the sketches. “This hill with the tree on top—it looks like the same hill the castle is standing upon on the other page.” The tree was ugly, twisted—and worse, there were people impaled on the branches and trapped in the exposed roots. It reminded me of the pictures Ethan had drawn in his notebook.
“Ugh. Yeah, it does. Wish I could read French.” Molly curled up in a plush chair. Her face was pale and drawn. She always tired easily. After spending years drugged and sleeping most of her day, she napped even more than my grandmother had done. And Molly had pushed herself so hard to find answers these past few months, I’d worried that she was going to completely burn herself out.
She drew her knees up to her chest, shivering slightly. A red streak ran from Molly’s left nostril. She wiped at it and stared at the blood on her fingers for a second, then closed her fist.
“Maybe you need a doctor.” I pulled up a chair and sat beside her.
“Don’t be weird,” she told me. “It’s a nose bleed. No point getting a doctor for that.”
“Please don’t get sick.” The words spilled out, unchecked. I couldn’t bear seeing her ill again. In the underground, she’d come minutes away from dying. I didn’t even know what had happened to the Molly I’d known in my own world. She would have to have gone through the same illness that this Molly had.
“I’m not sick,” Molly told me. “Just tired. The wine... the heavy food—almost drowning a couple of nights ago....”
I nodded. “It’s all so surreal. It’s still hard to believe where we are and what happened to us.” My eyelashes drifted downward. “And how we were betrayed.”
“Stay strong, Cassie. It’s all we have.”
I returned her tight-lipped smile. Her bleed stopped as soon as it started and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. “You should take a rest. Why don’t you stay here and I’ll keep poking around?”
“No way. I don’t want you wandering the castle on your own. I mean... panthers... murder holes... these people. It’s not exactly a place to take a leisurely stroll.” She grinned, but her eyes were serious.
“Okay, okay. I’m staying. Maybe we can check out some of these old books to see if we can find any clue on where we are.”
We kept looking through books—all written in French or other languages. I looked up from the book I was browsing to show Molly a drawing of a young girl, but Molly had begun to doze off.
Quietly, I left the room. I hoped she would be okay here. I closed the thick doors of the library just in case. A single thought entered my head. Get back outside and find a way out of here.
I stole along the corridors back the way we had walked towards the drawbridge. My heart squeezed painfully. The castle seemed to close around me. It seemed to breathe.
Distant sounds and noises knocked through the ancient passages. Half-heard whispering voices rushed through my ears. I sensed evil settling on my shoulders.
I hurried toward the castle’s entry. There was no one about. Mists obscured the view beyond the drawbridge. As I ventured out, the clammy body of the fog seemed to swarm around me. Churning white air sucked into my lungs. Slowly I made my way forward, feeling my way around shrubs and low stone walls.
I stumbled through the blankets of white air. My hands clasped a stone statue. The features of the face felt ugly—wings sprouting from the creature’s back. The sound of trickling water met my ears—a fountain of some kind.
Looking over my shoulder, I gazed back at the castle. Rising from the mists was a soaring tower, its window not more than a dark slit. Perhaps the guardsmen of the original lord had watched for approaching enemies coming from the sea up in that tower.
A figure moved inside the tower. Someone watching me. Someone who hadn’t gone hunting with the others.
Turning around quickly, I kept walking. After minutes, I found myself coming against a high wall. Groping around it, I stepped alongside it, glad of some kind of compass. If I followed the wall, in the opposite direction of the castle, surely it would lead to a way out of here. I could find the way and go back and get Molly.
The next second, a strangeness enveloped me, as though the fog had wrapped itself around me like a second skin. A desperate want grew inside me as I gazed up at the ancient castle walls. It was as though all my life had led to this point. Every day, every moment— ticking away until I reached this place. Ghosts and secrets eddied around me, and I was compelled to uncover their mysteries.
I wandered further along the wall. My fingers found a large brass ring, and then another. A set of high, arched doors stood in front of me. At first the doors seemed locked. I wrenched the rusted brass rings. With a protest, the doors groaned open. Mists stole in like thieves. I took a tentative step. The ground had grown rocky—loose stones skittering underfoot. The stones sounded... wrong—like they’d suddenly fallen away. Like there was a deep hole in front of me.
A hand reached from behind me and roughly pulled me back. “Wrong way. You’re dead on the edge of the cliff.”
The mists thinned over a tall, lanky frame.
7. MISTED EDGE
Ethan stood before me in a long, hooded overcoat—his face bluish in the dim light.
“Ethan?” I gasped.
He pressed his lips into a firm, bloodless line. “The gatehouse doors open onto a sheer drop. Let’s get you away from here.”
Taking the hand he offered, I stepped with him along the inside walls of the castle. My hand felt secure in his, but I knew that it was not. Nothing in my world was secure.
He nodded his head toward a building with narrow, stained-glass windows. “That’s the chapel. We’d better stop here. On the other side of the chapel there’s no wall, and no telling how close we’re getting to the cliff there. This fog is like soup.”
I leaned my back into the chapel wall—the mossy dampness chilling me through my layers of clothing. “You’ve been here before?”
“Twice. Trying to find out what they’re planning.” He looked directly into my eyes. “I saw you all brought back to the Batistes’ house. I stayed behind for a while to make sure you got away. When I saw you and Molly put into the shadow, I knew where they were taking you.”
“Did you see my mother at the house too? She went there to spend the night with Molly and me.”
“Yes… they put both of them in the basement.”
A cry caught in my throat.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go back and get them out of there.”
Between his collar and messy lengths of his hair, I noticed a long red line—a gash.
“What’s that?” I breathed, touching a hand to his collar.
Closing his fingers around mine, he moved my hand away. “Nothing. Someone came at me with a knife last night, but they were too slow.”
“God....”
His expression became distant. “That’s my life now. It’s been my life for more months than I can remember.”
“You’re putting your life in danger here too. Just like you did at the Batistes’ house. Why? Why are you here?”
“For you. Why do find that so hard to believe?”
"I just don't understand… anything."
"Cassie, it was always you. From the first time I saw you. I tried to fight it because every time I was near you, I felt like I was going crazy. Like I'd lose my mind. But to the end of my days, you're the one I'll never stop thinking of. Maybe you'll never feel about me the way you used to, but please just believe in what I'm telling you."
“You tell me lots of things that are impossible to believe.”
“But you know them to be true.” His jaw clenched.
“What I know is like that fog out there. I can see two feet in front of me. But that’s all. The rest is always hidden from me. Especially you. I can only ever see what you show me.”
“All you can ever see of anyone is what they show you. You’re going to have to trust me.”
“Tell me why I should trust you.”
�
�Cassie, you know who I am.”
“I don’t know who you are. Back in the forest at Devils Hole, you became a stranger.”
He sighed. “I know. But you have to understand… all I could think about was trying to clear Granddad’s name. He was all I had. I’d lost my parents and I had no other family. I was trying to save him.”
He held his hands to his head. “Granddad been slowly losing his mind for those last years. I couldn’t keep staying home from school to look after him. And neither he nor I wanted him to get put away in a nursing home. He started talking to himself, about treasure hidden out in the forest—treasure that his father knew about. An inheritance of a rich family. So I did the only thing I could think of. I went out into the forest every weekend and I searched. I wanted to find the treasure. I wanted to be able to pay for someone to look after Granddad so he wouldn’t have to go away. So that I wouldn’t lose him. When I saw the gold and diamonds in the dollhouse, yeah I took some. But it was for Granddad—not for me. Cassie, I didn’t know about the dollhouse before we found our way into it. All I knew was that there was an inheritance stashed somewhere in the forest.”
My mind flashed back to The Dark Way, watching Ethan fill his pockets when everyone was about to die. All I’d thought were bad things. I hadn’t given him a chance.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be sorry,” he told me. “I didn’t explain myself. My mind was racing. I didn’t want any of you to die. I went to try to find a way out. I didn’t abandon you. Not for a second.”
I met his gaze.
“Please,” he said, “Just trust me. Forget everything else. Forget all the crazy.”
“There’s so much... crazy.”
“I know.” His voice softened. “I came here to get you. But you have to know something first—I can’t offer you safety. Our world is not safe. I’ll let you decide whether you want to come with me.”
I hesitated for a moment. Again, the strange sense gathered around me, the sense that I needed to stay here. Battling with myself, I breathed deeply. To stay at the castle and risk helping these people in their quest for the book was madness. I nodded at Ethan. “We need to get Molly first.”
“No, I’ll go back for her. It’s a lot easier to get you out one by one than together.”
“I can’t leave without her.”
He gazed at me with serious eyes. “Trust me, Cassie. I’ll get her.”
Swallowing, I nodded.
Taking my hand, he ran with me. I felt a sharp tug and stared around anxiously. He was gone. But I was still here, in the midst of the fog.
He appeared behind me, walking out of the mists. “I don’t get it. It wouldn’t take you. Like something here was blocking you.” He cursed under his breath. “This place is blocking you from leaving.”
“Ethan, how were you going to take me to the ice world? Through thin air?”
“Through what I call a refraction.”
“What?”
“You know like when you see wavy light above a hot road? That’s called refraction. I’ll explain it like this. When you were sent to the ice world, as you call it, you were sent through the serpent’s shadow—right? Shadows are what the castle people use to travel through time and space. And anytime someone travels through a shadow, a permanent, invisible tunnel gets left behind. The only way you can find the entrance to one of the invisible tunnels is by locating a kind of light refraction in the air. It looks like heat waves, but a lot harder to see. I’ve taught myself to see those refractions.”
“Do the castle people know about them—the refractions?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. They’re always too busy chasing the book to see something like that.”
I took in a long breath. “For a moment, I thought there was a chance, some way of getting out of here.”
“I’m sorry. But... maybe the castle can offer you something I can’t. Your safety.”
“I don’t care about my safety. What if they’re able to use me in some way to find the book? I can’t let that happen. I’m better off dead than that happening.”
His eyes grew troubled. “Don’t ever say that, Cassie. I want you safe. But in the ice world, I can’t be there to protect you right now. Listen to me— if they send you back, don’t cross the frozen bay and don’t go to the museum. Both places are dangerous for you. Go instead to a house somewhere and keep yourselves hidden.”
“Okay,” I breathed. “I’ll go to my house.” I closed my eyes for a moment, an emptiness passing through me. Mom wouldn’t be there, at the Miami house. In my real world, she was still in the mountains, in Australia.
“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t go there. They’ll expect you to go there. Just find another house. And take a gun with you, do you understand?”
“Yes.” I paused, my fear rising. “No... I don’t understand any of this. Ethan, why is it dangerous for me and Molly to go to the museum?”
“There are people at the museum who will shoot you and Molly on sight. When you were there with Molly on the stairs, there were a group of people running behind me—people with guns. I had to push you both into a refraction and get you out of there fast. I can’t explain why right now, but you just need to stay away from there.”
“Then can you tell me what happened that my whole world turned to ice? Please....” My eyelashes grew wet. “It’s my world, my earth—I need to know.”
He gazed at me for a moment, as if struggling to find words. “I’m just going to tell you straight. I don’t know how much you already know, but what I’m about to tell you might shock you—and I want you to remember that you’re strong.”
Swallowing, I nodded, feeling about as strong as the mist.
Bending his head, he let his eyes drift shut. “When you came to the ice world, did you see the tunnels everywhere on top of the ice? Tunnels more than three times as tall as you?”
“Yes, I saw them.”
“Did you know what they were?”
I shook my head.
He gazed at me. “The tunnels are shedded serpent skin.... frozen stiff on the ice.”
My skin went cold. “How could that be possible? There were hundreds—hundreds of those tunnels....” The terrible truth closed over me. The pattern on the walls of the tunnels shot through my head—the silvery diamond pattern. “God... no....”
“Henry sent the serpents to our earth. They come from some other planet in our universe. They need cold temperatures to survive, and they’re able to change the temperature of any planet they inhabit. They made our earth freeze. Underneath the frozen bay, there could be hundreds of them alone. Those holes in the ice surface of the bay—they were made by the serpents.”
My mouth went dry, a sharp stone lodging in my throat.
His eyes glazed like dying suns. “Most of the people died in the first months—of hunger and exposure. Then something else came—the rangers. The rangers are people who decided to help the serpents in return for protection by them.”
“Oh God, the rangers are the people in the tanks... aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they have the tanks. And the best weapons. I don’t know how much longer we can hold out.”
“What do they do—the rangers?” A sickness wound through my stomach. I knew what Ethan was going to say before he said it.
“They round people up to feed to the serpents.”
Bile tasted bitter in my throat. “I saw a small girl taken by a tank... when I was there.”
He exhaled a fierce breath. “The bastards. Yeah, I know. I’ve been searching for her... every day. The rangers keep the people in what they call holding bays on what used to be the islands. The holding bays are the garages and basements of skyscraper offices. They keep the entire block of offices secured by an electric fence. When it’s time to feed the serpents, they take a shipment of people out to the bay and let the serpents take them.” A thousand horrors showed in his eyes. “Cassie... the little girl is Frances.”
My knees weakened, my body collapsing into his arms.
“When you come to the other side, I’ll find you. I promise,” he told me, holding my face with both hands. “But I have to go now. The rangers will be turning off the electric fence again soon—and I have to get inside.”
Trembling, I reached to hold his shoulders. “Ethan, tell me one thing before you leave... if you and Sophronia and Frances got out of the dollhouse... did anyone else escape?”
Pain entered his brown eyes. “That depends upon your definition of escape.” He exhaled heavily. “Promise me you’ll stay safe...”
Turning, he walked away into the fog, until the image of him was as faint as mist on glass. His words were gunshots ricocheting in my mind.
High in the tower, the figure stood watching.
8. SOPHRONIA’S SECRET
Two days passed at the castle. Two days where nightmares and reality were indistinguishable from each other. Molly was sick and slept for almost the whole time—developing a high fever.
On the third morning, Henry sent Francoeur to bring me to his den.
Henry sat at his desk, behind mounds of thick books and curios. I entered and stood there stonily.
Henry gestured to me like a kindly uncle. "Come sit by the fire."
I seated myself on one of the two plush chairs near the fireplace.
The orange light of the fire flickered in Henry's eyes. "I hope you've been comfortable here."
"As comfortable as I would be on a bed of nails." I watched the tendrils of fog as they curled and misted outside the window. "As comfortable as anyone would be in a prison."
"There is a bed of nails in the dungeons. I assure you that you would prefer your well-appointed room. And as for this being a prison—well, perhaps it is a matter of a frame of mind. But it is true that there is not a single way for you to leave. The chateau wants you here and it won't allow it."
"You speak of the castle as though it is alive."
