by Eve Stone
“Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
I was annoyed by Mallory’s opinion on Lance and I. Who was she to judge us? I’d always been good to him. Well…up until last night. Okay, if I was honest, I had thrown him to the side a few times. God, was I that much of a bitch to him? Could there be some serious truth in her words?
“I’m sorry, Gwen, but trust me. I didn’t sign up to sugarcoat shit.”
“Obviously,” I drawled.
“If you want my advice—”
“Not really,” I cut in, but she plunged forward.
“You need to stop worrying about something that’s already happened. You can’t change the past and it wouldn’t do any good anyway. You’d only be lying to yourself. That man loves you and you love him too.”
“Who? I asked knowing damn well who she was talking about. She rolled her eyes at me. I shook my head and she stopped me by raising her hand.
“Go ahead and lie to yourself, but none of us are buying it,” she said harshly. “Pull yourself together, push this to the side and concentrate on Olengally Hall. That’s what matters right now. You can worry about all of this coming-of-age, angst shit later. Right now, we’ve got a book to retrieve and a council to bring down.”
“I wish I could, but all I can think about is how I betrayed my best friend. Could you keep such a secret?”
She sighed. “You going to Lance with this will do nothing but compromise him. We need his head in the game as much as we need yours and Tristan’s. You tell him, and he’ll be as useless as you before you found out you actually have abilities.”
“Ugh. Why do you have to be so rude?”
“Because you’re not thinking straight, Gwen and it’s going to get someone killed. So, do us all a favor, and keep your trap shut about what happened last night.”
I didn’t love her lack of tact with the whole situation, but I agreed with what she said. I was being a melodramatic girl who needed to be slapped and Mallory provided it by way of a word whipping.
I slipped back down against the concrete steps. I needed to heed her advice, and start pulling myself together. Mallory and I were waiting for our car to be brought around. The plan was that we would take two vehicles to the hall, that way, if the council expected us, we’d be coming from different directions and one could act as the decoy. As long as one of the carloads made it in and out, we were good.
As much as I loved Mallory, after the talk we just had, I wasn’t looking forward to the next forty-five minutes in the car with her, but there was no other choice. I drew the short stick. I twiddled with my fingers for what felt like an hour before a loud engine purred. A beautiful red Corvette, with black racing stripes, came barreling around the corner engine revving.
“That’s not conspicuous,” I said.
“It will be,” Clara announced coming up behind me. “That’s why I’m tagging along. I can spell the motor to not make a sound. Unless we need it to.”
Clara had offered to ride with Holly to be of assistance if needed. If the council was alerted to our presence Clara could pull all sorts of tricks, including invisibility.
“Lucky,” Mallory said under her breath. It was clear that Mallory was a car girl based on the lust-filled gaze she wore while perusing the red car. “What do we get to drive?” she said, suddenly perking up. She was most likely hoping that we had something equally as impressive.
All chances of that were blown as a Kia Sorrento came into focus. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she whined. “Of all the damn cars…that’s what I have to drive?”
“Inconspicuous,” Clara quipped, and Mallory practically growled at her in response.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Better than a minivan,” I offered, trying to lighten the mood. Clara nodded, “very true. Dreadful things.”
As the Kia stopped in front of us, Olive got out of the driver seat and kept the door open for Mallory to get in. She threw the keys to Mallory like a seasoned valet. Mal grumbled the entire time, getting in, shutting the door, and buckling herself. I went around to the passenger side, laughing the whole way.
Both of the back doors opened simultaneously, and Lance and Tristan slid in. The air became thick with awkwardness. Just keep busy. I put the visor down, and flipped open the mirror, pretending as though I had something in my eye. I caught Tristan’s reflection through it, and he smiled. I snapped it shut, not needing distractions of that magnitude.
Lance, who was seated directly behind me, bent forward rubbing both of my shoulders.
“How’s my girl doing?” he asked, and I winced, having some idea of the murderous glare being aimed at Lance by Tristan. Mallory looked at me out of the side of her eye, lifting one brow as if to say, “now look what you’ve done.”
“Keep your hands to yourself, Druitt. She’s not your girl,” Tristan snapped.
“She’s not yours either,” Lance growled in retort.
“Boys!” Mallory yelled. “Knock it off. Now is not the time for this bullshit. Leave your testosterone at the fucking door.”
Both of the guys grumbled different curse words, but they followed Mallory’s advice. I glanced at Mallory, mouthing ‘thank you’. She tipped her head in acknowledgment.
The remainder of the car ride was quiet, as we all reflected on our individual tasks ahead. For the whole forty-five minutes, I didn’t think about my issues with Lance and Tristanonce. I was solely focused on what needed to happen when we got to Olengally.
I went over everything that I had learned from Clara and Evie, and even if it was foolish, I was feeling confident. We couldn’t fail in this mission. There wasn’t a choice otherwise.
“You ready?” Mallory asked? “We’re less than five minutes out. The road should be right about…here,” she said, as a dirt path presented itself. A dense pocket of trees lined the path on either side, making me wonder where Holly and Clara would be entering from.
The road went on forever, winding in and out. A stream of water ran along the right side of our car, but on the other side were trees so thick you could hardly see through them. As we rounded a bend in the road, the woods gave way to a massive hill, which Olengally Hall sat atop. The building was massive and absolutely frightening. The stone structure was three stories high with a large concrete porch in the front middle. Even in the middle of the day, there was no sunlight over the asylum. Ominous clouds shrouded the place in darkness.
We had decided to storm the place by day, hoping that it would be least expected. It was also our idea to have some natural light to help navigate the dark halls and potentially bypass the sinister beings said to be within. No such luck. This place appeared to be in a perpetual state of darkness.
“Holy haunted,” Mallory squeaked. “They warned us, but honestly…I wasn’t prepared for this.”
“It’s…creepy. I’ll give you that,” Tristan admitted.
The good news was that there weren’t any guards in sight. The bad news was that must mean they were hidden and at this moment we could be in a trap.
“Do you think there’s seriously nobody here?” Mallory asked.
“Evie said that it was all hands on deck at the headquarters. Perhaps they aren’t worried about this place with the ghosts as guards,” Lance reminded.
My breathing became labored as a panic attack threatened to rear its ugly head. People I could deal with, but spirits unnerved me beyond reason. Tristan leaned in between my seat and Mallory’s.
“Gwen, listen to me. Breathe, Baby. I’ve got you, but you have to breathe.”
I did as he instructed. Taking deep breaths and concentrating all the while. Panic attacks weren’t new for me, but it had been a very long time since I’d had one. In fact, the last time was the day Tristan left. Forcing that thought from my mind, I went back to concentrating. After a few minutes, my body relaxed, all signs of the impending attack, gone.
I put my hand on top of Tristan’s that was currently resting on the back of my seat.
Squeezing, I silently thanked him for helping me through it. When I turned around to smile at him, I saw a sulking Lance, leaned back, arms crossed over his chest. I smiled at him, hoping it would help him to relax, and it appeared to work as his mouth lifted in his own smile.
“Ready?” I asked looking at Lance first and then Tristan. They both nodded. I was as ready as I would ever be. No matter what, this experience was going to suck, but it was time and we needed to get moving. From this point on, we had to rely on each other and our abilities.
Chapter Nineteen
The foyer of the asylum was cavernous, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. Each floor’s balcony was open to the onlooker below. Heavy red drapes hung over every window, and the dark hardwood floors were bare, with the exception of the velvety red floor runner, that led from the front door, to connect at the base of the entranceway, to the three hallways in front of us.
Three hallways and only four people. Two would have to go alone and I didn’t like that plan one bit.
“You girls go together. Lance and I will take a hallway each,” Tristan commanded.
I didn’t love the idea of them being on their own, but I had to admit it was better than Mallory or I traversing this place by ourselves. “You girls take the one straight ahead. I’ll take the left. Lance, you take the right.”
Lance nodded. “If anyone finds themselves in trouble, yell red bird as loud as you can.” Mallory made a face, “red bird? Where the hell did that come from?”
He grinned, “my secret.”
Knowing Lance, it was a lame attempt to lighten the mood before we all walked into danger. It was something I always appreciated about him. No matter the dire situation, he could always be counted on for a last-minute laugh.
She shook her head, rolling her eyes.
“All right. Let’s find these books and get the hell out of here,” I suggested, and everyone nodded in agreement.
I grabbed Mallory’s hand, needing comfort, and she squeezed back. We took off down the narrow hallway, lined with dark cherry beadboard. Candelabras hanging from the wall gave off a flicker of dim light, but it was barely enough to see a foot in front of us. Mallory and I remained silent, hoping that if we could stay quiet enough, we might not trigger our presence to anything lurking in the shadows.
It was a never-ending hall that didn’t seem to lead anywhere. There were no doors on either side. At least none that we could see. They said this was a place where people were tortured. Maybe it was built to be confusing? Maybe there were rooms hidden in case of raids?
“Mallory,” I whispered. “I think the rooms are hidden. We need to look for levers. Or false walls.” Her eyes widened and she nodded.
We each took a side of the hallway and ran our hands along the wall. I started high up and when nothing was triggered, I went low. Frustratingly, I came up short. I had to be missing something.
“You don’t think it’s as obvious as this—" Mallory started, but her words were cut off when she moved a candelabra slightly. A click sounded and the wall gave out, opening up to a pitch-black space. As the light trickled in, I gasped.
A woman clad only in a long white nightgown was chained to the wall. Her head was bent forward so that her hair was masking her face. She made no sounds and didn’t move a muscle. I walked towards her slowly, not knowing what to expect.
“Umm, Gwen? I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Mallory said from behind me.
I dropped to my knees so that I was level with the woman’s face. My hand reached out toward her, but right before I was able to touch her, her head flew up and a scream tore through my throat.
The skin on half of her face had been peeled away, exposing muscle and sinew beneath. Her eyes were red, whether from broken vessels, or something more sinister, I’d never know. I fell back on my heels as the girl thrashed and growled, trying to get loose from the bindings. Mallory grabbed me by the elbows, pulling me back, out of the woman’s grasp. She was helping me to stand when the woman’s throaty words had us both halting.
“Mallory,” the woman croaked, eerily. “Are you going to leave me here to die?” Mallory’s eyes widened in horrified shock. Did she know this woman? “Come child, I won’t hurt you.” As if in a trance, Mallory moved around me, walking to the wall.
“No, Mal. Don’t,” I cried.
Evie’s details of the entities in this house and the games they’d play sounded warning bells in my head. This was the house playing games and we’d walked right into it. I grabbed Mallory’s arm jerking her back. She ripped out of my grasp and spun on me.
“It’s my aunt. I-I have to help her,” she said in a childlike voice.
“No. It’s not,” I said adamantly. “It’s a spirit. It’s trying to trick you. Don’t let it. Fight the pull, Mal.”
She grimaced as if in pain and the woman hissed. I grabbed Mal by the shoulders, forcing her to look at me. “This isn’t real. That is not your aunt. It’s the house,” my eyes bore into hers, begging her to hear me.
“It’s the house,” she repeated.
“No!” the devilish creature howled.
“Go away,” I shouted, pushing a gust of power out of my hands toward the thing.
In an instant, it was gone. Mallory took shallow breaths, trying to calm down.
“It’s okay. You’re strong,” my words were meant to be reassuring and I believe they worked. She nodded. “Let’s get out of here,” I suggested, walking us back into the hall.
I was beginning to believe this hallway was leading us nowhere. Perhaps the house’s games had begun the second we stepped through the front door. Every second I spent in that house had me growing wearier.
“Maybe we should go back and see if the guys have found anything?” I suggested.
“Y-yes, please,” she said shaking.
We walked back until we were in the foyer once more. The front door swung open and we screamed, huddling together in fear.
“Good God, it’s just us,” Holly called. Mallory choked out a sigh of relief but began shaking more violently from the trauma. “The coast was clear, so we thought we’d lend a hand. What’s up with her?” Holly asked, motioning to Mallory who was now rocking back and forth.
“We ran into some trouble down that hall with a spirit,” Holly’s eyes widened.
“That’s true then?”
I nodded. “We came to check on the guys.”
Mallory whimpered and Clara went to her, pulling her into her cloak. “Holly, go with Gwen down that way. I’ll keep Mallory with me for a bit.”
As we walked away, Holly asked for specifics on what had happened to Mallory. I filled her in and she whistled in response.
“Evie didn’t exaggerate then?”
“No,” I said bluntly. “Don’t pay mind to anything but the books. We’re not here to deal with restless spirits.”
“They sound a little more than restless.”
I couldn’t argue with her there. They were evil.
“Do you think there’s anything we could do for them?” Holly asked after a few minutes of silence. I raised an eyebrow. “They’re stuck in the place that they were brutally tortured. I don’t like what they did to Mal, but can you imagine the horror they must have endured to be like that?”
I blew out a harsh breath. I couldn’t imagine. This place was creepy on its own, without the ghosts. I’d heard rumors about experiments that had been done in places like this and they were horrific. Perhaps, once we managed to take down the council, we could speak with the coven and see if there was a way to set the spirits free.
“Maybe. Let’s get the book first,” I said.
This hallway was much the same. Straight without curves. No doors or windows. A maze. This place was one giant maze…or…could it be?
“Holly, did you ever learn how to uncover a glamour?”
“Yeah. That’s pretty straightforward. Why?”
“I think this whole place is one giant glamour. Can you check?”
&n
bsp; She raised her hands and instructed the glamour to lift and it did. Doors appeared on either side of us, but a few paces away, the hall curved to the right. Holly and I looked to each other before taking off down the hall in a sprint. When we took the bend, we came to the end of the hallway. One solid wood door was in front of us.
“What do you think?” Holly asked.
“We don’t have a choice. Let’s see what’s behind door number one.”
She smirked, “after you.”
Flipping the middle finger, I walked ahead, turning the knob without preamble. Better to rip the bandaid in these situations.
“Jackpot,” Holly said, eyes wide as she took in the room full of jewels, ancient artifacts and most importantly, the Souveign and Dowager book of spells.
“Thank you, Jesus,” I shouted in celebration.
They were both behind a glass case that didn’t appear to have an opening. It looked as though they were enshrined in glass, preserved for all time, only to be stared upon. Never to be touched. As I sat there waxing lyrical about books, I knew little about, Holly grabbed a large wooden staff and shattered the glass.
“Get a move on D’Morte. This place gives me the heebies.” She tossed me the Souveign book while she kept hold of Dowager. “Let’s go.”
We were still celebrating our find when we realized something was terribly wrong. As soon as we cleared the threshold of the room we’d just been in, the hallway shifted and we were now in some sort of dungeon, most likely in the basement of the asylum.
“Gwen!” Tristan yelled, running toward me. I practically jumped into his arms, relieved to see he was okay. “Are you alright?” He said, running his hands over my head and face, searching for anything out of place.
“I’m fine,” I croaked. “How…how did we end up here? Where is everyone else?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, lowering me to my feet. His hand went to his head, rubbing at the temple. “I found a false wall. When I stepped through it, everything went black. When I woke up, I was over there,” he said pointing to the far corner where there looked to be a room.