She reached the bottom of the staircase, finding herself in another hallway. A dim, green glow emanated from the moss-covered walls, giving her just enough light to see, and she began to run. The cries were louder now, she was almost there.
Laice turned the corner, finding another bolted door, but this time the latch moved easily beneath her hand. She burst through the door and froze, inhaling sharply as she stared in wide-eyed shock.
The little boy couldn’t have been more than four years old, and he was curled up on the floor in the middle of an empty room, weeping softly to himself. Relief and anguish flooded Laice’s heart as her arms began to ache.
“Hey there,” she called out gently, slowly stepping into the room. The little boy sat up, his eyes filling with fear when he saw her.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you,” Laice said, reaching her hand out as she approached him. He recoiled from her, scooting back until he was pressed against the wall. He began to scream, and she took a few steps back.
“Shhhhhh, calm down,” she soothed. “I’ll just stay right over here, is that okay with you?” The boy’s screams quieted to a whimper, and he sniffled hard, hyperventilating as he nodded. Laice knelt down on the floor, leaning towards him as she searched his tear-streaked face.
“Why are you crying, little man?” she asked. He let out a muffled wail, drawing his knees up to his chin and burying his face in his arms, and Laice moved a few inches closer. “What’s wrong, sweetie? Please don’t cry, just tell me what’s wrong.”
The little boy drew a ragged breath, then lifted his head and slowly wiped his face with a pudgy little hand.
“I lost…I lost my mommy.”
His voice broke and his tears began afresh, and Laice swallowed her own tears back at the heartbreak that wracked his tiny form.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, it’ll be okay,” she reassured him, trying to keep her own voice from breaking. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you find your mommy.” The child shook his head, gazing up at her with sad, blue eyes.
“My mommy…my mommy isn’t never coming back.”
The conviction with which the child spoke stunned her, and Laice fell speechless for a moment as she stared at the utter despair etched on his little features.
“W-well,” she stammered, searching for what to say. “Well…how do you know she didn’t just get lost? I’ll bet she’s looking for you right now, and she’s crying just like you because she can’t find you. Did you ever think of that?”
“My mommy isn’t never coming back,” he repeated woefully, his eyes distant.
“Well, I’m going to go try to find her,” Laice announced cheerfully, standing to her feet and holding her hand out. “Do you want to come with me?”
The child stood up, his head hanging and his shoulders drawn with sorrow. He swallowed hard and heaved a sigh, then lifted his gaze.
“Yes,” he whispered, nodding as he brushed his soft, black hair out of his eyes and took a tiny step towards her.
“Then let’s go,” Laice said, smiling. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Dylan.”
A sudden flood of emotion surged through Laice’s heart the moment the child spoke, burning into her stomach and stealing her breath away. Her chest heaved as an unexpected cry of grief escaped her lips, and she felt a splash on her arm. Reaching up to touch her face, she was surprised to find tears streaming down her cheeks.
Dylan’s eyes grew wide with concern.
“You’re crying,” he said, pointing. “Why you crying?”
“I…I don’t know,” Laice gasped, quickly turning away. She pressed her eyelids with her fingers, trying to control herself. “I’m okay, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
She turned back and let out a shriek of horror.
Dylan’s face was gray and his blue eyes were clouded over. His arms hung limp at his sides, and long, jagged wounds were sliced deep into each wrist, blood pouring from the gaping cuts and quickly spreading out in a black puddle under his feet.
“Why are you looking at me with that face?” he cried through cold, swollen lips. Laice backed away, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to keep breathing. When she looked again, he was back to normal.
“You’re scaring me,” Dylan whimpered, his face crumpling. “You’re scaring me!” He began to cry, and Laice swallowed her fear as she forced herself to move.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” she said, stepping forward. “I thought I saw…I thought…never mind. I’m sorry.” She reached for his hand, but he pulled away.
“I don’t like you!” he shouted through his tears, stomping his little feet. He was poised to run, and Laice stepped in front of the door to block him in.
“I’m sorry, Dylan,” she repeated, moving closer. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Go away!” he screeched. “I don’t love you anymore!”
“Sweetie, let’s just go find your mommy,” Laice said, trying to change the subject.
“No!” he cried. “I don’t ever wanna see you ever again! I don’t love you anymore!” He launched himself forward and she lunged, grabbing for him as he darted towards the door. He was too quick, easily dodging around her and dashing from the room.
“Stop, Dylan!” Laice cried. She chased him through the door, grabbing for him again and catching hold of his shirt. He collapsed to the ground, shrieking and squirming, and she stumbled as she tried to hold him still.
“It’s okay!” she shouted over his high-pitched screams. “Just calm down, Dylan, I’m not going to hurt you!” The child’s voice fell silent for a single instant as he drew a deep breath, then he twisted around and clamped his teeth down on her arm. She cried out in pain, instinctively letting go, and he seized his chance, screaming as he scurried away on his short, chubby legs.
“Come back!” Laice yelled, darting after him. She ran out into the hallway just in time to see him duck around a corner, disappearing from view, and she followed the sound of his running feet as she tried to catch up. She whipped around the corner, expecting to see the little boy just a few steps ahead of her, but he was gone.
“Dylan! Where are you?”
There was no response, and Laice paused, listening.
Dylan’s echoing footsteps faded, the sound lost among the halls and corridors. She held her breath, straining to hear any sign of him, when a blood-curdling scream met her ears.
“MOMMY!”
Laice sprang into motion, her veins instantly burning with adrenaline as she bolted towards the sound.
“Dylan!” she shrieked, her frantic voice echoing off the wet stone around her. “DYLAN!”
There was no answer.
She ran through the seemingly endless maze of passages, checking behind each door she saw, but the little boy was nowhere to be found. Finally, she found herself at a dead end, and Laice sank down on the cold floor, burying her face in her hands as she began to wail with desperation.
“Dylan,” she sobbed feebly. “Where are you, baby?”
Her shoulders heaved as she drew a shuddering breath, preparing to call out for him again, when the wall behind her opened up, the blocks of stone disappearing into thin air as her body was violently yanked backwards.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Laice slowly came to her senses, her face pressed against the cold floor. She blinked groggily as she sat up, trying focus, only to leap to her feet as the image of a child’s face flashed through her mind.
“Dylan!” she cried, lunging forward. Her head snapped back as her body was jerked to a sudden stop, and she fell to the ground, stunned. She looked down at her feet to see thick chains wrapped around her ankles, and she glanced around fearfully.
A small torch burned on the wall across from her, illuminating the dungeon in which she was trapped. The chains were bolted in place, holding her secure, and Laice’s eyes grew wide with panic.
There was a door a short distance in front of her, just barely visible
in the dim light, and she thought she could see two shadows standing next to it.
“Who’s there?” she called out, her voice cracking. The shadows stirred, moving closer to the light, and Laice’s heart stopped in her chest. It was Dylan, and a tall figure wearing a black executioner’s mask stood beside him.
“I made a friend, Mommy,” Dylan sang proudly, craning his neck as he beamed up at the hooded man. “He’s really nice!”
“That’s great, sweetheart,” Laice managed to choke out, her body instantly flushing hot with terror. “Come here, baby, come talk to me.”
“No, Mommy,” Dylan said, scowling at her. “I don’t love you anymore.”
“But we still haven’t found your mommy, sweetie,” Laice reminded him, forcing an even tone. “Please, baby, come here and we’ll go look for her together.”
“I’m not going with you!” Dylan shouted angrily, rising up on his tiptoes as his little arms stiffened at his sides. “I’m going with my friend!”
“Just listen to me, sweetheart,” Laice pleaded. “Please, come here. I just want to talk―”
“You left me, Mommy!” the child suddenly shrieked, interrupting her. “I don’t love you anymore!” He glared at her for a moment before reaching up and grabbing hold of the hooded man’s hand. The man looked down at the little boy, then gently prodded him towards the door.
“No!” Laice screamed. “NO! Come back, don’t take him away! Don’t take my baby!”
The moment the words left her mouth, an explosion of memory burst through Laice’s mind, shattering through the darkness to call forth a thousand snapshots of a time she knew was real, a time before the camp and Seph and this hell.
She remembered.
In her mind’s eye, Laice could see herself cradling and caring for the black-haired, blue-eyed baby boy. She could hear the music of his laughter and feel the warmth of his little arms wrapped around her, and her heart began to wail in agony. She was his mommy, he was her son.
The man opened the door and ushered her child inside, then slowly turned to face her. His yellow eyes gleamed through the slits in his hood, and Laice could see the silvery glint of a sharp blade attached to the man’s belt. He reached down and took the knife in his hand, brandishing it menacingly, and horror flooded through her body at the thought of what lay in store for her helpless, innocent little boy.
“Who will protect him now?” the man hissed. “Who will stop me from making him mine?” He chuckled as her face turned white, then he stepped through the door and quietly pushed it closed behind him.
“NOOOOO!” Laice shrieked, straining against the chains. “Come back, please don’t hurt him!”
Dylan’s scream of pain rang out a moment later, piercing through the door to impale her heart. Laice whimpered with desperation as she began frantically ripping at the chains, tears streaming down her cheeks as her child’s cries filled her ears.
Panic blinded her as she tore at her skin, ripping her fingernails as she fought to slip free of the chains. Blood streaked her hands and face as she tried to use the chain to cut through her ankles, the grating sound of metal against bone reverberating through her soul and mingling with her son’s weakening screams, but the wounds healed before she could break free. It was no use.
Laice collapsed on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably as she ripped at her hair. A river of blood streamed out from under the door, slowly trickling towards her and pooling beneath her body. Dylan’s cries had all but ceased, and her chest ached with a pain greater than anything she had ever before experienced.
Then, as she lay there trembling with heartbreak, she heard the sound of a creaking door, and she looked up with bleary eyes to see a new kind of horror.
Behind the door, in the middle of an empty room, was the silhouette of her son, his tiny body hanging from a rope and suspended in space. His bulging blue eyes were locked on hers, his mouth open in a silent cry, and Laice’s scream was cut off by the sudden wave of vomit that rose up in her throat.
“Aren’t you proud, Laice?” a simpering voice whispered, and she managed to turn her head in the direction of the sound.
In the shadows, slinking along the edge of the light cast by the torch, was a skeletal creature on four legs. A triangular, feline face hovered low to the ground, its pale, gray eyes fixated on her as it circled her.
“Aren’t you proud?” it whispered again, its slender jaw stretching wide as it bared its fangs in a sickening grin. “He wanted to be just like you!” Laice’s heart stopped beating as the creature’s words sank in, and she knew they held a meaning that was too much for her to bear.
“No,” she choked out. “You’re a liar!” Her mind reeled as another memory tried pushing itself through the cracks in her consciousness, a thought too horrible to entertain, and she screamed again as she beat at her head with her fists.
“But you know it’s true,” the creature sneered triumphantly. “You know it’s true!”
“NO!” Laice wailed. “I won’t listen to you!”
A menacing cackle burst from the creature’s throat, and its narrow ears flattened on its horned head.
“And now it’s too late!” it howled gleefully. “Your time is up!”
Time.
She stopped breathing; was it really too late?
Laice clawed at the pocket of her trousers, her hands shaking as she pulled out the watch. She snapped it open to see the hand hovering just a hair before the final number, and, for a moment, a flicker of relief and hope burned through the despair in her heart.
“Eli!” she cried, lifting her tear-streaked face towards the darkness above her. “If you can hear me, please have mercy on me!”
“ALWAYS,” Eli’s voice instantly boomed through the dungeon, and Laice felt a hand grab hers.
In the blink of an eye, she shot up through the ceiling, passing through miles and miles of earth, until she found herself standing on the bridge that lay above the mountain of Laeen. She glanced down to see the gaping maw of the ravine miles below her, and her mind flashed back to her dream.
Eli stood before her, his eyes full of pain.
“Take my hand, Laice,” he said, reaching for her. “Your time has run out.” The watch was still clutched tightly in her grasp, only one tiny movement left in its hand.
The image of the child in the dungeon filled her mind, and her face crumpled with grief.
“My baby,” Laice gasped, her eyes brimming with tears. “I saw my baby!”
“He isn’t here,” Eli answered. “You must hurry, Laice, take my hand.”
“SHE’S MINE!”
Laice whirled around to see Seph running towards her, his face contorting with rage.
“She’s mine! You can’t take her from me!”
His features began to melt, his glittering, gray eyes narrowing as he glared at her. His bones shifted as his arms and legs buckled, and he threw himself forward onto all fours as he ran. A gurgling roar burst from his throat as his skin turned to transparent moonlight, transforming into the creature that had blocked her path to the cave, and Laice’s mouth dropped open in shocked disbelief.
“It was you,” she breathed, anger instantly rising in her heart.
He barreled forward, his skin rippling as he began to change again, and one by one Laice saw him take on the form of each of the monsters that had tortured her along her journey: first the creature from the Pool of Avah, then Pernao, then the three-eyed beast from the mountain, and finally the man in the executioner’s mask and the demon-faced creature that had taunted her in the dungeon.
“It was always you!” Laice screamed, her eyes bulging with fury. “You tried to destroy me!”
“You’re MINE!” the narrow jaws of the demon roared, and its body began to change once more.
Leathery wings burst from its back, fashioned from the skins of a thousand screaming, tormented faces. Thick, curved horns grew out of its wide, blackened skull, and maggots dripped from the fur of its rotting hide. A scaly, serpent
ine neck burst forth from between broad, spiked shoulders, its collarbone adorned with millions of gold pocketwatches, their chains braided into a thick chest piece that swung back and forth as it thundered towards her on two hooved feet. It snapped at the air with gleaming fangs, reaching for her with bent fingers that sprouted from a dozen clawed hands.
“YOU’RE MINE!”
Eli put his hand on her shoulder, gently turning her around to face him.
“He can’t touch you,” Eli told her. “This fight has already been won.”
His words echoed in her heart, and her anger instantly evaporated. A strange calm washed over her, and she realized that she trusted him this time.
Laice turned to look back at the beast Seph had become, and the moment her fearless, unwavering gaze met his, she saw his many eyes open wide with terror.
“Leave me!” she shouted, pointing her finger at him. He skidded to a stop, throwing his head back in an earth-shattering howl of rage.
Eli stepped in front of her, his soft brown eyes suddenly burning with white-hot flame. He lifted his hand, and the creature screeched as it instantly fell to its knees.
“SHE IS NO LONGER YOURS.”
Eli’s voice thundered through the air, and the monster began to wail in pain, collapsing onto the bridge and writhing in agony. Its skin began to crack, bleeding fire, and a swirling mass of dark, roiling clouds materialized in the air above it.
Long, terrifying screams resonated from within the clouds as tendrils of smoke stretched forth, each one twisting into the form of the red-eyed shadows she had seen in her dream and the field of burning corpses. They reached out with clawed hands, wrapping themselves around the creature and suffocating the flames that poured from its veins.
Then, as the being roared with one final, bellow of fury, both the clouds and smoke evaporated, leaving no trace of the beast behind.
A low rumble rose up from the earth and the bridge started shaking, the sound of fracturing rock splitting the air. Laice glanced down to see pieces of stone start breaking free from the bridge, and her mind flashed back to her dream.
The Moments Between Page 11
