Behind the Third Door: The Innocence Cycle, Book 2

by J D Abbas

  Fasha jerked his head and reared, nearly knocking Bandur to the ground. While Bandur recovered his footing, a warning scream froze in Jaybul’s throat.

  Behind Bandur, a wolflike creature rose up on its hind legs. Its forelegs extended into arms; its paws became hands as it pulled a knife from inside its fur and dragged it across Bandur’s throat. Jaybul’s friend slumped to the ground in slow motion.

  The Ilqazar stomped wildly before rearing again. Jaybul wanted to flee, but his legs felt like willow branches. More creatures rose up around him, transforming into almost human form and brandishing vicious curved knives. Qaman bucked and kicked. Fasha neighed and charged at something behind Jaybul.

  A hand grabbed his shoulder. Jaybul spun. Qaman’s frantic whinnies burned in his ears as the knife slid across his throat.

  He crumpled, and the world went black.

  ~

  Qaman, unsuccessful in warning the Guardians, reared again, bringing his front hooves down squarely on the head of the murderous creature, who appeared to be a shamar but was not. As the Ilqazar kicked and bucked, the other creatures in the pack yelped and scattered into the night.

  Together, the stallions galloped off to warn Silvandir and their Ilqazar brothers that after a century of quiet, the Zakad had returned.

  Chapter 21

  As Elbrion’s song filled the night, Elena closed her eyes and thought about all she had learned about herself since Alsimion. She pondered what Yadar Toreno had said concerning her grandmother and Anakh, about the Alraphim. Was she truly like them? She could shift but not into other things like Anakh, just different forms of herself. She’d had visions, called Destiny when she needed it, been able to take others inside her memories, and created fire to protect herself—fire she couldn’t control.

  Elbrion called her gifted, but she felt cursed. She hated being different, hated the voices in her head, hated that she shifted with her emotions, that she had such a vivid, complex inner world, and could make things from there become real on the outside—like the key. When she’d visited the memory of her brother’s death, the key had only been an image in her mind, but after she came back, it was in her pocket. That frightened her almost as much as the fire.

  What else was inside her? She had seen the event with her baby brother in one room and Gia playing on the swing in another. When her brothers were in Kelach, she had been thrust into the training room but didn’t know where that was located in her mind—

  Elena went rigid. Cold stone burned beneath her bare feet. She slid her eyes open to find herself standing in the vestibule of her inner world. She spun around to go back through the double doors, not wanting to enter the corridors alone.

  The doors were gone.

  A solid stone wall stood between her and the outside. She pounded on it. “Let me out. Celdorn? Elbrion? Help me!”

  Silence.

  Slowly, she turned and studied the large, half-circle vestibule. Chill air wrapped around her. She shivered. Three doors again, all closed. The first door, the one on the left, she had been through. The middle one looked identical, but she had no idea what was behind it. The third door, on the right, was flame red. It throbbed and bulged toward the vestibule like a festering boil ready to spew some purulent evil that lay behind it. Elena slid to the left, her back against the wall.

  With her heart pounding like a battering ram against her chest, Elena tried to slow her mind enough to think. She took a deep breath. Perhaps there was another exit. She didn’t dare try the third door, and the middle one was an unknown. The first corridor hadn’t been so bad. She could do this. This was her mind. She imagined Elbrion would smile at that, and it gave her courage. There had to be some way out.

  She took another deep breath and moved to the leftmost door. It opened easily, and she stepped into the dim, vaulted hallway lined with heavy wooden doors. Children’s screams tore through the air. Her knees buckled as muscle gave in to fear, leaving her a quivering mess. A heartbeat of terror throbbed in the stone beneath her feet, filling the corridor with a steady ominous cadence.

  Elena glanced at the door to her left where she had seen the death of her baby brother. No escape there. She quickly stepped past it. On her right was the door through which Gia had taken her to the “happy place.” She tested the latch. It was secured. The next one was where her baby brother had been hidden. It too was locked. She felt for the key around her neck. Not there. She was still gripping that handle when a chill wind wrapped around her. The door behind her creaked open with an eerie, elongated screech. She turned slowly, using the wall for support. Her legs trembled so badly it was difficult to move.

  Elbrion’s face flashed before her. “I wish you were here with me, Ada.” She fought back a whimper. “But you told me this is all in my mind. I can control it.” She spoke the words aloud, as if she might somehow convince herself.

  She stepped toward the open door and peeked through it. As her eyes adjusted, a wide field lit by a full moon took shape. Shafts of moonlight reflected off a dozen objects lying low to the ground near a massive weeping willow. Compelled to move toward them, Elena tried not to make any noise. She glanced around, sensing something poised and ready to pounce on her at any moment.

  A child’s muffled screams erupted from the center of the objects, which had now taken on shape and texture. Her breath caught. Tombstones. And the cries were coming from beneath the surface of a newly dug grave. She ran to the mound and immediately burrowed through the loose dirt with her bare hands.

  “Hold on. I’m coming,” she called to the child.

  After what seemed like hours of frantically scooping and tossing dirt up over the sides of the grave, the child’s cries faded. “No, no, don’t give up.” Elena’s words were little more than a sob. Her strength was failing.

  Just as she thought she could go no further, her bloodied hands hit something solid. She brushed the dirt away, revealing the top of a wooden box. Her hands traced around the edges, searching for a hinge or clasp of some sort. When she didn’t find one, she pulled out her dagger and hacked at the center of the lid. Making little progress, she grasped the hilt with both hands and drew her arms back to strike at the wood with all her strength. When the knife came down, it passed easily through the solid wood lid, followed by her hands and arms and then the rest of her.

  Elena’s mind exploded with fear as she dropped onto the bottom of the box next to a terrified child, who shrieked when Elena appeared. The wood above them was again solid and impenetrable as Elena pounded on it with her fists. The little girl screamed louder with each thump.

  “It’s all right. I won’t hurt you.” Elena reached for the little girl’s hand and squeezed it. “This is my mind; I have control. This is my mind; I have control.” She worked not to panic, not wanting to frighten the child further. “Think, Elena. Elbrion said I could push through objects in my mind. If I did it falling in, I can do it to get out.”

  Sheathing her dagger, she put her hand firmly on the box above them and pushed. Her hand passed through the wood and into the dirt, which had somehow covered the box again. Elena shoved her arm upward and pulled herself into a sitting position. Gripping the little girl’s hand, she said, “Hold your breath.” Then pushing with her legs, she forced herself upward through the lid and the layers of dirt on top of it until she stood waist-deep in the fresh earth. Elena tugged on the girl’s arm until her tiny face emerged, coughing and sputtering out the dirt that had filled her airways. Lifting the child into her arms, she waded to the edge of the grave, sat the girl on the solid ground and pulled herself up beside her. Elena’s heart pounded so strongly she thought it would rip through her chest.

  The girl threw her arms around Elena’s neck and kissed her cheek. “Thank you!” she said before running off into the night.

  Stunned, Elena sat and stared at the quiet moonlit scene around her. She wondered who the girl was and why she was in her mind.

  After she caught her breath, Elena stood, brushed the dirt fro
m her clothes and walked toward what she hoped was the way back into the corridor. The doorway reappeared, and she was able to exit. She pulled the door tightly closed behind her, shuddering at what had just happened.

  Elena gazed farther down the hallway. On guard now, she tiptoed, listening beyond the screams for clues as to where another exit might be, while her eyes scanned the walls, ceiling, floor. She focused on the stairs at the end of the corridor from which the cries arose.

  The door at her shoulder creaked loudly. Elena jumped and clasped her mouth, suppressing a scream, as the door inched open on its own. The cries of yet another child spilled from within. She wanted to run away but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she stepped over the threshold.

  It took her eyes half a minute to adjust to the bright light on the far side of the door. Only a few steps in and she was by the edge of a river in the full light of day. A man stood in the water holding a thrashing child under the surface, her pale hair splayed out like a great hand, her tiny feet kicking up spray.

  “Let her go,” Elena called as she ran toward the bank, drawing Destiny.

  The man looked up, surprised to see her splashing through the water directly toward him, but he didn’t release the child. The current tugged at Elena, but she forged ahead. When she reached him, Elena swung her blade, fully intending to lop off the man’s head, but as the sword converged with his neck, the scene rapidly shifted. Elena found herself under the surface of the water, fighting for breath, now in the place of the child. Destiny fell from her grip.

  The man pulled her head from beneath the currents. “Do you think us fools? Do you think you’re smarter and stronger than we are? You’ll never win.” With that, he forced her head back into the icy flow.

  Elena kicked and flailed. Her skin burned from the cold, and her mind swirled as the seconds ticked by. She twisted and punched toward the man’s groin, but he had a longer arm span. Her feet searched the silty bottom for Destiny. It wasn’t there. She attempted to plunge deeper in order to pull away, but the man’s fingers were twisted in her hair. Dizzy, chest aching, her numb hands grasped for a weapon, anything. Brushing against her side, her fingers hit something solid. She fumbled with the clasp on her dagger’s sheath as her vision darkened.

  The attacker suddenly bent over, gasping for air.

  “No more!” Elena said as she burst through the surface. She yanked her dagger from the man’s chest where she had driven it under his ribs and up into his heart. “No more, you coward of a man!”

  The water around them turned a dull pink as her tormentor slumped over and floated away with the current. Elena waded to the edge of the stream. She collapsed on the bank and sobbed, exhausted and shivering.

  “Enough! What are you doing to me? Why are you trying to drive me mad?” she screamed at the sky. “Can no one hear me? Elbrion? Celdorn? Please help me out of this place!”

  She waited, but when nothing happened, she rose and headed back to the corridor, dreading what other nightmares might await her.

  The hallway was eerily quiet. The screams had stopped. Elena stood still, wondering what was happening. All of the doors were closed and even the gusty drafts that normally chilled the corridor had ceased. The only sounds were her shuddering breaths and the drip, drip of water falling from her clothes onto the stone floor. She braced herself.

  As if on signal, all the doors flung open and children of diverse ages flooded the corridor from every direction, moving toward her, crying out for help. Elena pressed her back against the wall. This can’t be happening. This can’t be real. Make it stop.

  The children grabbed at her arms, clawing, pulling her this way and that. They tugged at her clothes, their desperate cries deafening. She covered her head and slowly slid down the wall, slipping ever nearer to the deep abyss of insanity.

  A sharp pain in her spine snapped her back to reality—or to the nightmare, she wasn’t sure which. Her hand moved toward the pain. Grasping the latch that bit into her skin, she pulled sharply. She stumbled backward into the open doorway, scrambling to recover her footing and close the door before any of the children followed. She set the wood brace in place and prayed it would hold. Little fists pounded on the door and shouts, though muted now, turned to a frenzied roar.

  The room was dimly lit. Elena turned the knob on a lantern that hung on the wall and gazed around her as the amber glow increased. It was a surprisingly ordinary room. A couch hugged one wall and a small table and chair pressed up against another. On the back wall, an ornate oval mirror reflected the flickering light. Elena felt drawn to it, almost as if it were calling to her.

  When she gazed into the mirror, Elena was startled by the young woman looking back at her. She stroked the glass, drawing her finger along the outline of her face. There was a depth in her eyes that had always been lacking. Gone was the death stare. Life—in spite of the recent hardships—had found her.

  Then the mirror began to warp. The frame bent and the metal swirled from bronze to black. Transfixed and unable to move, Elena watched as the frame reached toward her, caressing her, trying to envelop her. Elena broke free of the spell, grabbed the metal arms and pushed back, twisting and ducking as they tried to seize her again. She dove to the floor and rolled to the far side of the room. “Stop it!” she said as she sprang to her feet. The mirror stopped moving.

  Cautiously, she approached it again. A skeleton wrapped in shadows appeared where her reflection should have been. As she jumped back from the image, the reflection retreated as well. She lifted a shaky hand to her mouth, only to see it matched by the skeleton in the frame. She ran her hands over her hair, as the reflection stroked its wild mass of ebony curls.

  “It’s a lie. Just like before,” she cried. “I will never serve the Zhekhum.”

  “You were born and bred for this,” Anakh’s raspy voice whispered in the air. “I keep telling you, you cannot escape the truth. This is the reality of who you will soon be.”

  “No. Help me. Someone. Anyone!”

  Anakh cackled. “There is no one to help. You are alone. None of your precious Guardians can save you now. This may be your mind, but I control it. You are on my path. No one can reverse your destiny.”

  “Elbrion told me I have control of my destiny. I always have a choice.” She stepped back and squared her shoulders. “Go away!” Destiny appeared in her hand and just as she raised it to shatter the deceitful reflection, a new face appeared. Elena froze and stared at the stranger. He looked similar to Elbrion with his white hair and pale skin, though much older. The light that pulsed beneath his flesh brightened the entire room.

  “You are a very clever girl,” the man said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. His expression shifted to concern. “Oh dear, I seem to have frightened you. I beg your pardon. I am Khanab, an Elrodanar elder from Queyon. And somehow you have found and summoned me.” His smile returned, serene and soothing.

  Elena continued to stare, prepared to have him shift into a horrible monster at any moment. The room spun as fear gripped her throat, choking back any words.

  “I assume you sought me so that I could assist you.” His face grew somber, and he spoke something in Elrodanar—so like the music of Elbrion’s voice—words that soothed her soul. That same strange longing Haldor had evoked ached in her again.

  “I-I found you?” She shook her head slowly. “No, I didn’t. The mirror was here.”

  “The mirror was there because you put it there.” He studied her. “Where are you?”

  “I don’t know. I-I think I’m lost inside my own mind.” She felt as if she were sliding closer to madness. “There are all these nightmares in here, children who need help, and the doors to get out are gone. I can’t find any other exit. And the others don’t know I’m trapped here. Can you help me?”

  “You have amazing gifts, young lady. You have found a way to enter into the Jhadhela in spite of your ignorance as to its power. Fascinating,” he murmured.

  “Fascinating? Are you
mad?” she cried. “This may be amusing to you, but I’m terrified and I want out. Can you help me or not?”

  The man’s hoary brow crumpled over his eyes. “May I ask, what your name is and where you reside?”

  Elena’s eyes flitted back and forth, unable to settle. “I… I am called Elena here. I am from Rhamal, but am living in—” She stopped herself. Perhaps this was a different enemy trying to find out her location. She stared at the mirror, expecting it to shift.

  “I beg your pardon, Elena. I did not mean to make light of your distress,” Khanab said, his face now sober and his eyes heavy with grief. “It is wise that you are guarded with your words for one can never be certain who else might be listening. I must warn you that this mirror is a gateway to more than the Jhadhela. Many things may find you through this portal, so use caution.” He paused and gazed at her with what appeared to be admiration.

  Elena was puzzled. “Elbrion told me that I could control things when I am in here… and I have been able to control some things. But… but I can’t get out. There are all these children, and I don’t know what to do.”

  “Elbrion? Is he with you?”

  Elena froze, not knowing whether she ought to answer him or not.

  Khanab smiled. “I know Elbrion, my dear. He is a friend—to both of us, it would seem.”

  Elena decided to take a risk. “Yes, Elbrion is staying in… the same place as I, but he is not here with me… inside. Not this time.”

  “Ah, I see.” He nodded knowingly. “Well, my dear, there is a power and a will inside you that is very strong. Something or someone drew you to this internal place, and the Jhadhela has allowed it; there must be purpose in it.” He stroked his bushy eyebrows and nodded to himself. “Remember, you are still inside your own mind, and Elbrion is correct: you should be able to control things. If not, then most likely your fear has locked you there. Conquer your fear, and you will find your way out.”