I walked over to the bed and sat waiting for an answer.
After a half an hour there was still no answer.
Chase, please.
I closed my eyes.
“Ryan?” I closed my eyes. “Ryan!”
But again there was no response.
They’re not dead. They’re alive. I can just feel it.
In the corner, the boys had made a fold up card table into a desk. Two matching black fold-up chairs were tucked into the table adjacent to each other. Their notebooks and textbooks were sitting on the table in two messy piles.
Walking over I pulled out a chair sitting down. I pulled the notebook from the pile in front of me pushing the rest of the books to the side. I flipped the cover open discovering that it was Ryan’s. Page after page was school work.
We weren’t in school long enough to do all this work were we?
But still, nothing looked out of place; until I got two-thirds of the way through the book. The last written page had Ether’s symbol messily scribbled on top. Underneath was a bunch of symbols filling the other half of the page.
These symbols are the same as the ones from the Tunnels. He knows how to write in this writing? Does Chase?
I grabbed Chase’s notebook, knocking over some of the other books from the pile as I did. I slammed the notebook down on top of Ryan’s flipping it open. I thumbed through it quickly until I came to the last written page. On this page though was Limbo’s symbol scribbled on the top half of the page with the bottom half of the page covered with the symbols.
“What?”
I slid the notebooks beside each other.
If Chase knows these symbols why couldn’t they read them in the Tunnels?
I put my hands on the pages about to rip them out but quickly pulled away. The papers were hot. Really hot.
“What the—”
Smoke slowly began to rise from the books. I jumped when flames formed in the middle of each book. As the chair fell backward in on itself I grabbed the notebooks running down the hall to the bathroom.
“Ouch!” I threw them into the bathtub turning on the cold water running my hands under it. As I stood up straight the books began to hiss, the flames not fading even though they were being drowned in water.
“Come on. Come on!” My voice rose with each word.
The hissing slowly began turning into a horrid scream. The louder it became the higher the pitch became. I pushed my hands to my ears as I squinted at the bright, now red flames.
It was almost unbearable now. I dropped to the floor curling up against the counter. Just when I thought that it couldn’t get any worse the screams abruptly stopped. I took my hands away from my ears, opening my eyes just in time to watch the red flames erupt into a large cloud of black smoke. It started to move throughout the room making me cough. I started to crawl to the door turning into the hall. Continuing to cough I looked back to see that the smoke was following. Stumbling to my feet I ran into the spare room—Chase and Ryan’s room—slamming the door shut. I began pulling every drawer open.
They have to have something hidden in here.
I threw the closet door open.
Nothing.
I picked up Ryan’s bag dumping all of the contents on the floor, same with Chase’s bag. I took a quick glance at the door to see the door shaking as the smoke slowly entered from the crack at the bottom of the door. I dropped down to the floor in front of the pile of clothes. I threw unwanted items to the side until I found the floor again.
“No!”
I jumped to my feet realizing that I was looking in the wrong place.
Mom and Dad’s room. There has to be something in there. Anything.
I ran to the door taking a deep breath before opening the door. I covered my face with my arms as the smoke engulfed me. My arm began to pulse with pain as a feeling of darkness washed over me. I felt along the wall, coughing. I turned the doorknob when I got to their room at the end of the hall. Stumbling into the room I slammed the door shut. The room was clear of smoke, sunlight flooding into the room from the windows. I caught my breath just as the door began to shake, smoke starting to come under the crack of the door again.
Did they even keep anything from Ether?
As the sunlight slowly began to fade, thanks to the smoke, I turned towards Mom’s vanity table in the corner farthest from the door. The mirror must have been older than the house by a good hundred years but Mom would never get rid of it. The mirror was framed in an antique gold faded from the years. The top of the frame around the mirror was a beautiful design of various shapes.
Wait.
I crossed the room to the vanity table staring at the design at the top.
“No way,” I whispered.
The main design directly in the middle was the symbol for Ether. As the shaking from the door became louder I leaned in closer to the symbol.
Removable?
I placed my fingertips around the circle as a tingling sensation ran through my arm. I pulled. I let the symbol fall into the palm of my hand. It started to glow. I turned back towards the door as it flew off the hinges crashing into the opposite wall. The thick moved into the room. I looked down at the glowing symbol. I held it up towards the smoke. A haunted laugh seemed to echo through the room.
Why is it not working? What am I supposed to do with this stupid thing?
I began to cough as the dark feeling and pain returned. I looked back down at the gold symbol in my hand.
Upside down.
I turned towards the mirror trying to draw in clean air. I spun the symbol in my hand placing the symbol in upside down—Limbo’s symbol. The high pitch scream from early returned making me back away from the mirror. The smoke twisted around the room before disappearing into the mirror. I took a deep breath running over back to the mirror. I raised my hand expecting my hand to fall through but just feeling the smooth surface of the glass instead. I turned the symbol back upright. A bright light flooded the room momentarily, blinding me. I blinked a few times regaining my sight.
When I finally could see again the room was completely clean. The mess was gone. Turning to the mirror I could only see my reflection in return. I ran to Chase and Ryan’s room and it was back to its original state too—no clothes on the floor. Next, I ran to the bathroom. The water wasn’t running anymore, just two notebooks sitting in the tub. I dropped to the ground flipping then both open in front of me. I found the last page of work but there was no symbol filled page after it. It was gone. I threw the notebooks off to the side falling back against the counter.
“This is too much,” I breathed covering my face with my hands. “It’s just me. I’m all alone.”
CHAPTER FOUR - ABIGAIL
Darkness had taken over the world for a few hours now and everyone on the street had long since gone to bed. I found a flashlight in Carson’s room and as I took a deep breath I turned it on illuminating the first few steps. I took hold of the railing slowly making my way down the stairs trying to push the thought of the man lying in my hallway out of my mind.
At the bottom of the stairs, I pointed the flashlight to the right wall squishing myself against it so I wouldn’t touch or see the dead man. Once I reached the kitchen I turned on the light setting the flashlight on the counter. I cleaned the bloody knives that sat in the sink, placing them by the flashlight when I was done.
You have to do it at some point and daylight isn’t going to wait for you so you might as well get it over with.
I took a deep breath walking out to the hallway. The light from the kitchen was enough to dimly light the dead man.
“Oh, this is so wrong. So, so wrong.” I knelt down hooking my arms under his shoulders. Slowly I began to pull. The dead weight of the man was much heavier than I expected.
It took me at least twenty minutes to get the man to the door and another thirty to the car, taking great care that there was no one around watching. It took all my strength to fold his body into the truck and be able to close it. Once the t
runk finally shut I ran into the house closing the front door, locking it, and flying up the stairs. I changed my blue t-shirt to a black one. I decided to keep the two straps of knives that fitted over my chest off but put the arm and leg ones on.
Standing at the door, the house was completely dark again. All of the small knives were back in their place. The two chest straps hung over my arm, with keys and flashlight in hand.
“Well here goes nothing.”
***
I drove the car as far as I could into the forest. Shoving the keys into my pocket as I opened the trunk. Turning on the flashlight I held onto it with my mouth starting to pull the man from the trunk. When he finally fell to the ground I took the flashlight out of my mouth, closing the trunk walking over to the passenger’s side putting the chest straps on. Even though they were light, right now it felt as if I had just placed a million pounds on my shoulders. Walking back to the trunk I decided that it was probably going to be easier to pull the man by his feet instead of by his shoulders.
My steps became smaller and smaller the longer my journey became. I ended up putting the flashlight in my pocket. Even though I could hardly see anything when I looked over my shoulder I could see the silhouette of the cracked stone steps.
“Oh, thank God.” I huffed dropping the man’s feet. I turned away from the man only wanting to see him for as long as I possibly had to.
“What am I going to do now?” I whispered placing one hand on my forehead and the other on my hip. “I really didn’t think this through.”
Ether. I need to go to Ether.
“Alright—Where?” I turned to drop both hands to my side. I turned in circles looking up and down. The man was gone. He was nowhere in sight.
Where did he go? Where did he—
I cringed when my arm started to sting. I pulled the small flashlight from my back pocket turning it on. I held my arm out in front of myself moving the light over my arm to see the tree. My breath caught in my chest. The small piece of land that wasn’t swallowed by the black hole was the only thing left under my feet. I pulled the flashlight up to see that it was like that everywhere. Small pieces of land—like stepping stones—were being slowly swallowed by the black hole.
That must have been where the dead man went.
Without another thought, I began to jump from piece to piece.
I have to get to the stairs.
Once my foot slipped, I felt the darkness begin to take over my body as I pulled myself from the black abyss of Limbo. As I got to my feet and jumped again I heard screams.
Don’t look back. Don’t do it.
Flashing the light back towards where I had just come from, black silhouettes of hands were coming from the black earth as the piece of land disappeared. I turned back to see that the stairs were just one large jump away.
There’s no way I can make that.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped back as far as I could on the small piece of land that was left. Again, I heard the screams.
“GO!”
Using the small run off I had, I jumped. Again, my foot slipped. The hands reappeared. I quickly pulled my legs in as close to my body as I possibly could as I curled up on the first and second steps to Ether. As soon as my foot came over the edge of the first step it was like an invisible wall stood between me and the hands. I sat up watching in amazement.
“Well, would you look at that,” I stood to realize that the feeling of darkness seemed to fade into heaviness and sadness. I took one more look at the black ghostly hands before I turned the flashlight to the other step heading up towards Ether.
As the upper steps began to come into focus so did a heavy fog. By the time I reached Ether the fog was so thick that even with my flashlight I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of myself. I took each step with extreme caution. Not being able to see an attacker—if there was one—worried me. But what worried me, even more, was the uncertainty of the state of Ether.
Is anyone going to be there? Will Chase, Ryan, and Michael be there? Owl? Will Ether city even be there anymore?
When my flashlight revealed the stone wall and door a moment of relief washed over me. I lifted the flashlight to see if the rest of the wall remained but due to the darkness and the thick fog, I couldn’t see much. As a test, I lifted the massive knocker on the left door. Taking a step back I waited to see if anyone would call or open the door. But no one did.
Strike one.
Temporarily placing the flashlight in my pocket, I pulled on the right door.
“Well, the doors must still be intact. They’re still as freaking heavy as they were before.” With a grunt, I pulled the door open just enough to slip through. When I pulled the door closed I took the flashlight back panning it around.
Stupid fog.
It seemed even thicker inside the walls.
“Hello? Is anyone there? It’s Abigail,” After I said my name I realized that it might not have been the greatest idea, but I needed to know if someone was here—good or bad. But I didn’t receive any response.
Strike two.
I walked through the city by memory. Halfway to the Palace, I realized it was completely pointless to have my flashlight on considering I couldn’t see but also I had no idea how much longer the batteries would last.
Reaching the center of the city I heard the sound of something dripping.
The fountain?
I turned my flashlight back on walking over to the noise. I ran into the fountain before I had a chance to react. Taking a step back I bent over to feel the stone. I sat down on the edge reaching down. Where the water should have been was nothing but air. I stepped in walking to the middle of the fountain feeling the smaller tier, there only a small puddle of water remained. I lifted the flashlight up to confirm.
No water? Hasn’t the fountain run for centuries?
Stepping out I walked back to the main doors of the Palace. Holding the flashlight close to the doors I traced the symbol on the door to see that the symbol was still shifted to the right. “Interesting.”
Wouldn’t it be completely shifted if Limbo had taken over? If Ether... where is everyone then? Maybe they’re all safely hidden in the Palace? That could be a possibility, right?
Pulling the door open the sound seemed to echo from every corner. Slipping through I closed the door behind me.
“And it’s dark. Where’s Ryan when you need him. I bet he has a list full of jokes for a moment like this.” I bowed my head for a moment realizing how real this situation was.
Without any torches lit it was complete darkness. “Where’s a Flasher when you need them?” I chuckled.
That’s still funny.
At the second set of doors, I slipped through but it was still dark.
Maybe the torches aren’t lit for a reason?
I nodded panning the flashlight back and forth. I began down the cold, dark hallway.
“Hello? Is anyone here? Anyone at all? I’m Abigail. Is anyone here?” I yelled at the first intersection of halls.
“Anyone?” I moved the flashlight from hall to hall until the light began to fade.
Strike three.
***
Somehow I made it to Michaels’ office and found matches to light a torch with. None of the lamps or lights that I came across worked. So very carefully I began to root around. The few pieces of paper that lay on top of Michaels’ desk didn’t mean anything to me, same with the papers that were in the desk drawers. The only drawer I couldn’t get in was the one in the center.
Locked? Why would someone lock the pencil drawer?
That’s always what Dad use to call the long skinny drawer on his work desk when I was little. I shrugged, walking over to the bookshelf closest to the door. All of the walls in Michaels’ office were bookshelves except for where the door was and where the window was on the parallel wall. Slowly I examined each book while the flame flickered.
Halfway down the right wall, I pulled a book out. I flipped it over and back and che
cking the inside before replacing it. I went to pull the book next to it out but halfway off the shelf it stopped. I pulled on it but it didn’t move. I stepped back waiting for a secret door to open but nothing happened.
Okay?
I pushed it back in at the same time hearing a click. I turned. The torch swooshed through the air as I checked the area.
Nothing.
I looked back to the bookshelf.
“Okay, Michael, what are you hiding?” I stared, waiting for the answer to jump out at me. “What are you—wait a minute.”
I looked over to the desk then back at the book again.
Hm.
I pulled on the book until it stopped. Quickly I turned. A knock echoed from the desk then suddenly, without warning, the long skinny drawer in the middle—the pencil drawer—popped open hitting the dark oak chair. “Well, would you look at that?”
I walked over to the desk pulling the chair out, opening the drawer fully. I sat down in the chair leaning over the drawer. “This looks like a pencil drawer.”
There was a worn leather notebook, a few bottles of ink, a quill—
The Divine Fallen Page 2
