“Not even after a week of showers,” Isla agreed.
“Come on,” Reid said. “We have to keep moving.”
Avery dropped her hand away from her flame. She brushed her wet hair from her eyes before wiping her damp palms on her wet jeans. The smell continued to cleave to every part of her, but her nausea was subsiding.
“Show off,” Mario said as he pointed at the ball of blue fire before her.
Avery grinned at him before moving her finger around. The ball followed the motion as it danced up and down, then left to right. The others had to remain connected to their fires to keep them going, but she didn’t.
“You love it,” she retorted.
He grinned at her as he threw his arm around her shoulders. “I do!”
CHAPTER 31
Stiff rubber hoses smacked against Avery’s shins and thighs. Ordinarily, she loved this part of haunted houses; it never failed to amaze her that something so simple could make some people scream. However, she suspected these hoses weren’t the innocent pieces of rubber they pretended to be, and her shoulders ached as she remained tensed for an attack.
“Get it off me!” Talia shrieked.
The hose to Avery’s left suddenly bent and flexed. She was looking at it when the hose on her right came to life; it slithered around her leg and jerked her to the side. Before she could throw her hands up to brace herself for impact, the hose slammed her into the wall and slid up to her waist.
Startled cries filled the air before the flames around her winked out. Avery struggled against the hose encircling her, but it was like fighting quicksand. The more she thrashed, the worse her situation became as the hose moved faster. When it encompassed her chest, it crushed the air from her before continuing toward her throat.
“Avery!” Karen choked out beside her.
The black hose reached Avery’s cheek and brushed against it. Cringing from its slimy touch, she turned her head to avoid the rubber determined to destroy her. Her eyes landed on the small blue flame hovering before her and dimly illuminating the monstrous, black tubing.
She focused on the flame as gagging sounds filled the air from the hoses strangling her friends. Avery shoved aside her growing anxiety as she continued to focus on her fire; if she gave into her panic, they would never get away.
Avery’s eyes flicked down as, in her mind, she imagined what she wanted the flame to do. Following her mental picture, the fire dipped to her ankles, and the stench of burning rubber filled the air before the hose slid away.
Unprepared for her sudden release, Avery stumbled away from the wall. Her hand flew to her brutalized throat as she gasped for breath. “Separate,” she managed to choke out as she gazed at the flame.
Six blue flames broke off from the original, and when she directed them to do so, they all raced toward her friends. The burnt stench intensified as sizzling pops sounded before her friends staggered away from the wall. Most of them bent over and rested their hands on their knees as they panted for air. Isla and Talia collapsed with their hands on their throats.
“Is everyone all right?” Avery asked. Her small blue flames had been intense enough to free the others, but they didn’t illuminate much.
“Yes.” The replies were staggered as the others caught their breath.
A silver flame flared to life at the head of the line. When Reid’s eyes met hers, the smile he gave her was filled with love, but she saw the distress in his eyes and the red welt marring his throat. She longed to go to him and throw her arms around him, but the hall was too narrow for her to get around the others to reach him.
Amongst the group, more flames appeared, and Avery glanced around to reassure herself everyone was okay. They were all winded, but they were still alive, and that was what mattered.
“Return,” she whispered, and her small blue flames flew back to bounce before her. With a wave of her hand, she rejoined them.
“It had to be haunted houses,” Karen said. “I can’t believe a witch is scared of haunted houses. What next, Halloween?”
“I love Halloween,” Mario said. “That’s my day. Well, mine and Eric’s.”
Sly grins spread over Mario and Eric’s faces as they exchanged a look. Avery could only imagine the trouble the two of them got into on Halloween.
“Let’s go,” Isla said. “The sooner we’re out of this place, the happier I’ll be.”
“How am I supposed to face this nightmare if we have to go through it continuously?” Mario asked, and the amusement vanished from his face.
“I guess going through it is facing it,” Avery said. “I have a feeling this is the end of the maze.”
“I hope that feeling’s right,” Eric said.
“I’m sure it is,” Sandra said. “We’re almost out of here. Keep thinking happy thoughts of warm food, cold drinks, slippers, and many hot showers!”
Avery sighed as she imagined blissfully hot water pounding down on her while she scrubbed herself raw and doused herself in good smelling herbs and lotions. The happy picture played through her mind as they started walking again.
“There’s something up here!” Reid called out a few minutes later, and her happiness vanished.
CHAPTER 32
Avery saw the light seeping around the corner before she followed Mario through the turn and into a small room. She froze when she saw the grotesque scene on the stage in the center of the room. A wax statue of a doctor stood in the middle of the stage. The light shining down on him highlighted the blood staining his white scrubs. The doctor grinned maliciously as he stood before a surgical table with a bloodstained scalpel in his gloved hand, except this scalpel was far too big to have ever been used in any real surgery.
A sheet covered the man on the table to his waist, and his stomach had been sliced open to expose his intestines. The splatters of vibrant red blood staining the sheet looked almost technicolor beneath the light. The tortured expression twisting his face would haunt her for the rest of her life.
And then, he blinked.
“He’s real!” Karen gasped.
“He can’t be,” Mario breathed.
No! No! No! Her mind screamed as the room spun and the man’s fingers stretched toward them. Avery wanted to curl up in the corner of the room and hug herself, but she remained where she was.
“He is real,” Eric said in a dazed voice.
“He can’t be. Humans don’t survive on this plane for long, and those boots are straight out of the fifties,” Isla said. “And so is that ducktail hairstyle.”
“Maybe he’s not human,” Mario suggested. “Regan looks human, and he’s not.”
“He’s human,” Reid said.
“How do you know?” Sandra asked.
“Look at him,” Reid waved his hand at the tortured man. “His pain is completely human. Do you think Regan would ever look like that?”
“No,” Sandra said.
“How is that possible?” Karen demanded.
“He’s not really surviving though,” Sandra said. “I mean, look at him. If he were alive or normal or still entirely human, he’d be dead.”
“But he’s moving,” Karen said.
“It’s not his body; it’s his soul,” Avery whispered as understanding dawned. “Regan has his soul trapped here. The man died this way, but it was a long time ago. He’s showing us what he’ll do to us if we die here too.”
Mario cursed loudly, and Talia released a hitching breath that sounded like a sob. Before Avery’s eyes, the man faded away to reveal a skeleton with empty eye sockets and its mouth twisted in a scream of agony. Her hand flew to her mouth to suppress the scream that wanted to erupt. For a second the world lurched, and she feared she’d collapse as the flesh returned to the man. His eyes formed last, and in them, Avery saw her horror reflected at her as tears swam in his.
“Can we get out of here?” Talia whimpered.
“We have to… we have to help him,” Karen croaked as tears streaked her face. “We can’t leave him here.”
Avery didn’t want to go anywhere near the stage, but Karen was right. She’d hate herself forever if she walked out of here without at least trying to free the man. Although, she had no idea what she could do for him.
“Oh, crap,” she breathed as she crept forward.
“Avery,” Reid said and stretched a hand toward her, but he was too far away for them to touch.
“I’m going to see if I can do something,” she said.
“I’m coming with you,” Reid said.
“Me too,” Mario said.
But coming with her meant walking three feet forward before she smacked into an invisible wall. Avery staggered back and stared at the wall before placing her hand against it. It vibrated beneath her palm, and she felt the mark of Regan’s power on it.
“Keep walking; the only ones you can save here are yourselves,” Regan said.
Avery glanced around for him, but she didn’t see him anywhere. “What is this? What are you doing with him?”
“That’s none of your concern. Keep walking,” he said again.
“But…” Avery’s protest died off as the man groaned and his hands twitched. She couldn’t leave him here, but how did she get to him? As she felt over the barrier again, she sent small jolts of her power into it while she tested its strength. She didn’t feel any weakness in it, and it remained as strong as before.
“Your time is running out, Avery. You can stand here and lose if you like, but you’ll never get past my barrier.”
She glanced at the others, who were all staring at her from paler than usual faces. “Is he real, or is he another one of your games?” she demanded of Regan.
“He’s mine, and that’s all that matters.”
And somehow, she knew Regan was gone from wherever he’d been. Her eyes fell on the man again as any small doubt she might have had about him vanished. “He’s real, or he was.”
“And now he’s trapped in a version of Hell no one ever could have imagined,” Eric said.
“We can’t stay here,” Talia said.
Avery resisted the impulse to hit her. She didn’t want to be here either, but she couldn’t walk away and leave this man.
“Look at him. There is no saving him,” Talia said. “Even if we could get to him and get him out of here, he’s only a spirit or a soul or whatever. We have no idea what would happen to him if we tried to take him from here.”
“Anything would be better than what he’s going through now,” Karen said.
“You don’t know that,” Talia said. “We can’t help him.”
She was right, but Avery couldn’t walk away. “Maybe if we all use our powers to try and bring down the barrier.”
The members of the coven looked at each other before placing their hands against the wall keeping them from the man. She felt the swell of their power on the air as it pushed against the barrier, but it didn’t waver.
“Avery,” Karen whispered as she rested her hand on Avery’s arm. “We can’t save him.”
A lump lodged in Avery’s throat; she opened her mouth to protest Karen’s words, but she couldn’t. Karen was right. Even if they could somehow break through the wall Regan had created, they had no idea what would happen to the man if they took him from here, something she doubted Regan would let them do.
Lowering her hands, Avery met the man’s eyes again. The knowledge and hopelessness in his gaze tore at her heart and amplified her hatred of Regan. Her nails dug into her palms as her teeth ground together.
“I’m sorry,” she told him.
His eyes rolled back in his head before he went limp on the table.
“Is he dead?” Isla asked.
“No,” Reid said. “He’s still breathing.”
“Can we please get out of here?” Talia asked.
Avery couldn’t look at her as she stepped away from the barrier. With the murderous mood she was in, she might zap Talia to release some of her mounting wrath. “We should go,” she said through her teeth.
Shuffling sounds came from ahead as Reid led the way out of the room.
CHAPTER 33
“How is it possible the man on the table was still here?” Talia asked.
Avery tore her attention away from her scrutiny of the hall. It had been at least five minutes since they left the man behind, but no one had spoken.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Regan can do whatever he wants in this realm, and he wanted that man’s soul, and he wanted him to look alive to us.”
“But why? What did that man do?”
“I think he made the mistake of finding his way here,” Isla said.
“What do you mean?” Mario asked.
“Do you remember the turnstile at the beginning and the numbers on it?”
“Yes,” Talia answered.
“I believe those numbers were the number of actual people who have entered this house. Just like he brought Avery into his Nightmare world last time, I think Regan has brought others here too,” Isla said. “And that, over the years, he’s ensnared people who were playing with things they didn’t understand and shouldn’t be messing with, like séances and Ouija boards.”
“So when those people accidentally called forth a spirit, Regan answered the call,” Eric said.
“But with as old as he is, he could have brought thousands of people here!” Karen cried.
“I was five thousand six hundred sixty-six,” Avery said.
“And that’s just the people who have entered this house,” Isla said. “You guys experienced something completely different the last time you came through here. He could have countless others trapped in an infinite number of places.”
Avery’s step faltered as the true horror of what Isla was saying sank in. Throughout his extraordinarily long life, Regan could have tortured countless innocent victims, and he would abuse so many more if she ever went to him. No matter what he did, no matter who he tormented or killed, she could never give in to him.
“Did all of those people remain trapped here?” Talia whimpered.
“I’m sure some of them were strong enough to survive,” Sandra stated.
“Here we go again!” Reid called back to them.
Avery took a deep breath to prepare herself for what they were about to face, but she could inhale all the oxygen in the world and still never be ready. Reluctantly, she stepped into a new room with a stage to her left.
When she saw what was on the stage, bile rolled up her throat. She wanted to look away so badly, but her gaze remained locked on the gallows—each of the twenty ropes dangling from the wooden structure held bodies in various stages of decomposition.
Some had leathery, brittle gray skin peeling off their skulls. Others had only bones for hands or legs, and beneath a few of them were small piles of bones littering the ground. Their clothes had decayed from age and time but were from different periods as one wore a pork pie hat, another a tie-dyed T-shirt, and two were wearing Nirvana shirts.
The ones not as badly decomposed were the worst with their bloated faces, bulging eyes, and lolling tongues. Their expressions revealed the suffering they endured at the end of their life.
The reek of death permeating every breath of air made Avery yearn to be sloshing through the muck again. The thin thread of control she’d maintained was beginning to unravel. Avery couldn’t stand seeing any more people suffering or dead; if she didn’t get out of here soon, she was going to snap.
“We have to go,” she said.
The group edged forward, and she inhaled a shaky breath when they stepped free of the small room. She trembled as she desperately tried to regain some of her composure; she couldn’t afford to lose control now.
“I… I… can’t…” Karen started before releasing a small sob.
Avery reached back and took her hand. “I know,” Avery whispered. “I know.”
CHAPTER 34
Avery jumped back when a red light blazed to life to reveal the window on her right. She opened her mouth to scream, bu
t it came out sounding like a bullfrog as a blue, bloated head bashed into the glass. The dead man’s mouth was twisted into a grotesque mockery of a grin, and his pale blue eyes rolled obscenely in his head. The head bobbed in a milky liquid while the tendons in his neck swayed in the fluid.
There was a vague spark of life within the man’s eyes, but it was a rage-filled spark. Avery had a feeling that, when alive, he hadn’t been a pleasant person. Still, she felt sorry for him.
“I am really beginning to hate Regan!” Isla spat.
“Beginning?” Mario asked. “Where have you been for the past twenty-three hours?”
“Binding was too good for him,” Sandra snarled. “I’m going to kill him with my bare hands.”
“Not if I get to him first,” Eric said.
Avery knew how they felt. If she got her hands on Regan, she would gladly tear him limb from limb. She was tired of being petrified, tired of seeing death, and especially tired of the heads that had been popping up for the past ten minutes. By now, she should be used to their sudden, gross appearance, but she still jumped every time a light went off and one of the heads bashed into the glass next to someone.
If she saw one more bloated, free-floating head, she would lose it. The heads were worse than the torture scenes. At least she knew when those scenes were coming, but these things popped up out of nowhere.
“What time is it?” Mario inquired.
“Eleven fifteen,” Reid replied. “And here we go again.”
Avery braced herself for another one of Regan’s twisted torture scenes before stepping into the next room, but the scene still stunned her.
It was completely harmless.
Two mannequins standing before a small grave with their heads bowed and their hands clasped in prayer. They each held a perfect, red rose in their hands and were wearing jackets, pants, and shoes that were straight out of the eighteen hundreds. Avery searched for something more than this scene, but they were the only things on the stage.
“What is this?” Mario demanded.
“I don’t know,” Avery said.
The Maze (The Coven, Book 2) Page 17
