"Let me go!" she yelled.
Jack laughed again. "Go ahead, scream. No one is around. No one will hear you."
But she'd heard Pythian when she'd first woken up. Maybe he was close. She tried channeling him but came up with nothing. She wanted to run but couldn't. She felt suffocated as she realized that making an escape in time appeared to be impossible. His dark eyes swirled with a violet glow.
"I can cut your life out at any given moment. Just like I did your mother Carmen’s, and just like your idiot father Clint’s. Be smart about this." He smiled as she shook her head while he approached her. "Let's go on a journey."
He extended his hand high, and they slowly levitated off the ground. They were suddenly sucked up into an opening and devoured by darkness.
Isabella's cohort's voices swirled all around her, but her eyes remained shut in the face of the velocity at which they were traveling. She heard them speak about her one by one.
"Where the heck is Isabella?" asked Xander. "Doesn’t she have to do the countdown in less than an hour?"
"No, idea. It's weird. I haven't seen her all night," said Cleo.
"I don't like this," said Micah. "I don't know why, but I think something's wrong."
"Why are you guys standing around? Is Isabella backstage? I wanted to go over what we’re going to do before the countdown. Does she want us to do it with her or come up after she’s done? That kinda thing." That was Seth. Her heartbeat sped up.
"No. We don't know where she went," Micah said, slightly panicked. "None of us has seen her for hours."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE SHE WENT?"
Seth's voice, strident with primal anger and worry, was the last she heard inside her mind and soul. A howl escaped the tunnel-like portal, as if they were on a fast carnival ride in the dark. The growls of various monsters echoed like they were in some sector of hell, making her chest tighten. In a flash, all thoughts disappeared as her feet slammed onto some hard flat surface, and she crumpled to the ground.
Two pairs of boots landed gracefully beside her limp body. A hand reached down and gripped her, dragging her along the ground. She looked around and saw the stone-walled building where she and Seth had first emerged from the fun-house pool. Isabella tried hard to pull away. Whoever had her pulled her to her feet and pushed her forward through the air. After a fierce struggle against him, she was thrown down some steps.
"Get up. We have another flight to go."
"I hate you," she said.
Jack led her through a door. On the other side was a vault, but it looked different than the Foxworthy vault: It was taller and lined with black metal. "This is the Heel family vault." Jack said, laughing. "Only I don't have a family. Not one I'd ever claim, unless you'd like to join me, Isabella. Join me, and we'd control your Fire together. Our power would be as one."
In a barely audible voice she pleaded, "Please, let me go."
Jack's eyes changed once more. The violet glow was gone, but his irises were still black, demonic, and soulless. He still stood with his hand on the vault handle, tightening his grasp as he watched her. His ominous baritone voice resonated as her heart started to ache.
"Consider this your new home."
Then the door to the vault slammed shut, tightly locking in place.
Darkness. Blindness. Nothingness. All she could feel, think, and see was nothing. Her breath was the only thing that convinced her she was still alive. She could barely feel her body at all; it was like she had disappeared into thin air.
Isabella shut her eyes and focused on retaining what oxygen was left in the sealed chamber. The vault had no airflow going in or out that she could sense. Panic began to set in. She felt like she was going to die. She tried to scream but only a silent agony escaped her lungs.
Did Jack plan to keep her locked away until he gained control of the Fire? Or was he planning to keep her in there forever? Isabella thought about everything she'd lost and would be losing if she didn't get back to the hotel. She would never see her Nano again. She would never see Colin. She would never speak to Theophilus. She cried as she thought about Cleo, Micah, Xander, and Lana. Seth came into her mind and she cried even more. She wanted her life back, and this monster was trying to take it away from her.
"I don't want to die!" The torment devoured her mind. "I don't want to die!" she repeated. "Please, let me go! Jack... Please!" She shook as she screamed.
Isabella collapsed to the ground. As she slowly lifted her head, she noticed a bright blue light shining underneath her fallen body. She sat up and held the source of the light in both hands: It was her necklace. The beautiful gem gave off a magnificent bright light. As she touched it, a soothing sensation evaporated her fears and renewed her hope.
She looked around and cautiously raised her necklace, allowing the light to illuminate her dungeon. She saw nothing but steel walls and a steel ceiling. She held the light over the floor. There was an inscription on it. It reminded her of a type of ink she had heard about: invisible to the naked eye but under the right spectrum of light, it could be seen. She trailed her fingers over the top of the message, attempting to decipher its meaning.
Below is an entrance to the punishment ground,
Where sorrow beholds all those with a crown.
The ruler of hell will reign in its prey,
As the river will drown out those who live by day.
Pain will keep you right up to the end,
From those who are living and those who are dead.
But if you're to beat all of those who attack,
If you've succeeded, memories will be back.
Sculpting a game right into a maze,
Nine stages, six faces, lined up in a deck.
Strength and skill will be challenged on high,
Reach it in time, otherwise you will die.
She studied the words and held onto her necklace and then closed her eyes. The “ruler of hell?” Satan? Or maybe Hades? Yes. He was the ruler of the underworld. The river of sorrow was called...
"Acheron." Thank goodness her father had been obsessed with Greek mythology and that she was good with puzzles.
Isabella shook as she trailed her fingers over the final words of the poem. Nine stages, six faces. It felt like some sort of game. She used to play lots of games growing up. Those of strategy and puzzling she usually won, which irritated people. She'd never been particularly good at hide-and-seek, though. Then the image of a Rubik's Cube entered her mind. She and Lana had loved to play it. In fact, she had several different types in her room in all sorts of colors. Both of them had a collection. It was too much of a coincidence that a Rubik's Cube would be the answer. Unless Jack was playing with her. Unless he knew her that well, had been watching her, fashioning this wild game with riddles based on her life.
"Rubik's Cube!" she shouted confidently.
The final paragraph lit up. "Thank you, Isabella. You now have a chance to go home," said an ethereal voice said. "If you finish the game in time."
Maybe Jack wanted to see her suffer, but she had to take the chance. What choice did she have? Then without warning, the ground beneath her fell away, sweeping her off her feet and sending her tumbling into the darkness.
Chapter Forty-Four
Death Match
A demonic growl rumbled through the darkness as she fell through an abyss-like cavern. She watched the hole she'd fallen from seal shut again and tried to keep calm as Jack's devilish voice vibrated around her.
"FOOLISH GIRL!"
Isabella crashed down onto a grassy surface. As she got to her feet, she found a wide building in front of her. She squinted to see a very small door in the center. Fear thumped viciously in her chest. If the door led her closer to a way out, she was willing to face whatever was on the other side. Of course, she had no idea where it would lead. It could be a trap. But what choice did she have at the moment? Taking a deep breath, she marched toward it. It opened easily.
A second after she walked throu
gh it, the door slammed behind her. An eerie voice spoke, not unlike the voice in the speakeasy room: cool, collected, and seemingly from nowhere at all. "First face. Each room will symbolize six faces just like a Rubik's Cube. But in this game, each face must be solved on its own. Once you solve it, you move onto the next. If you fail one, you die." The voice finished her instructions before melting into Jack's maniacal laughter.
"This is the face of abandonment," the voice continued. "Don't let yourself get left behind." Somewhere in the distance, a loud clock ticked. Something deep inside her told her that it, too, was part of the game, that it marked the time she had left to finish it and that Jack had placed it there to derail her victory.
She stepped forward along the floor of the dimly lit room and heard crying. As she continued further, the walls began to quiver. She dared to run her fingers along the wall to her left and heard a sniffle and a mewing as she touched it. It was then she realized that the sobs were permeating the walls. She wanted to block the sound, but she couldn't. In spite of them, she had to keep her mind focused and remain steady.
Willing herself not to listen to the weeping, she studied the maze laid before her. It was divided into nine squares, each lined by a very large, very odd, glowing device. Sharpened sticks began to erupt from every one of the walls that lined the squares. "You can only step on each square once," the voice bellowed. "If you try a second time, you will be wracked with the depths of true abandonment once more!" Jack’s intense laugh chilled her bones.
She moved forward, careful not to backtrack, but when a dagger shot out at her, she had to lean back. Her foot planted on the square she'd just left behind. Then a ghostly apparition appeared before her. She gasped. It looked like her mother. It couldn't be. When she tried to reach for it, the entity floated down the maze's hedge-lined path.
Isabella took a deep breath as she ran after the haunting memory of her lost mother, avoiding the sharp knives that shot across her path. "Don't leave me again!" she cried out. Any hesitation at the wrong moment, and Isabella knew she'd be tormented further, or worse, dead. So she let the apparition go and approached the next few squares. She noticed the projectiles were getting smaller yet faster as the maze progressed. She continued running but miscalculated one of the knives and felt a stinging sensation drag across her arm. She watched closely as they shot out from the barely visible walls.
Relax. Think about this. You have to think, a quiet voice whispered inside her mind. It wasn't Mimi, and it wasn't Colin, but she recognized it. It's just a puzzle, whispered Pythian. Nothing is real. You need to solve each step to complete the challenge. Only then will you be free of his dark grip. He's playing with you, and if he wins, he will be able to take your mind and make you his even more. If he loses, then you will be free for now, Pythian continued, his voice thinning. His power is making my connection to you weak, but don't give up. I'm not far. Think about every decision you make clearly. You've saved me twice. Now save yourself, Isabella.
"Pythian," she whispered. Once the familiar voice faded, the world came back into focus, but this time, she was ready. All of the pieces fell into place as she tried to solve the equation that was forming in her mind. "Got it."
With perfect synchronization, she managed to run just in time without so much as another cut. She looked on at the last corridor of squares. Three left. Isabella struggled to keep her breathing steady. She thought about those who hadn't left her when she needed them the most: Theophilus, her grandmother, Seth and the rest of her friends, and, of course, Colin—he had stood toe-to-toe with Jack just to protect her. She wrapped her fingers around her necklace, felt empowered, and dashed into the last section safely. "Yes!" she said, breathless, and then stepped forward to open the next door.
"The second face," the evil voice said. "This is the face of injustice. Will you be destroyed by the failure you've released upon the world?" The silence afterward was more terrifying than Jack's laughter.
Isabella found herself facing a rocky wall with parallel metal bars jutting out from it in a pattern similar to the last room's path, but the bars were dull rather than sharp and went straight across, reminding her of one of her favorite school yard apparatuses: the monkey bars. The flat ground was coated with some sort of bubbling liquid. She tested it with her toe. It hissed, and she knew she could not walk across it. Bringing forward every ounce of bravery she had inside, she leapt onto a rocky ledge close by and then swung herself high enough to grab hold of one of the cool long bars.
A feeling of physical pain penetrated her mind as the sounds of people from all over the world being tortured played over and over. She saw visions of expressionless faces in the stone wall, staring complacently. It was as if they were looking at both her and the tortured souls invading her mind and didn't care. She steeled herself against them as she pulled herself forward through the maze of monkey bars that rose higher and higher from the ground.
"That's what apathy looks like, my dear!" Jack's raspy voice chimed. "It's the way the world is slowly turning, but I'd like to help it along. I don't want to stamp out the Violet Fire. I want to harness it, bring my vision to life. A new world of clear souls with clear intentions. My intentions."
The metal beneath her hands started to burn with a fiery intensity. With gritted teeth, she forced herself to avoid the pain of the burns as each rung lightly seared at her flesh. She pulled herself up to the second row of bars. By the time she got to the third, she was exhausted both mentally and physically. One wrong move and it was over; she had to be at least forty feet high by now, so the fall alone would be fatal.
As she approached the top of the wall, her limbs were numb, and Isabella wanted to give up but remembered that the portal was closing soon. She needed to get out before then. She forced herself upward to the final set of bars, allowing ambition and power to swell within her. She needed to escape this place, solve this puzzle, and maybe one day stop Jack from destroying empathy. She knew that was her purpose, maybe for a bigger reason than she realized. As she pulled herself up to the next door, she turned the knob. An entirely new maze opened before her. Here, it seemed like the world had flipped around.
"The third face," Jack narrated. "This is the face of one's deepest fear. Don't let your deepest nightmares get the best of you!" She blocked out the taunting laughter until it subsided. She saw nine squares laid out before her with a green light glowing from each tile on the floor. She assumed she should approach one, so she stepped forward. A strange noise hissed. She turned and came face to face with the most freakish bug-like creature she had ever seen. She remained completely silent, however; she was too petrified to scream. The thing appeared to be sleeping. It had ten small heads, each with fangs, and one long, serpent-like tail.
Six pairs of yellow eyes stared at her curiously. She noticed a spotlight on the center of the wall and figured this was her destination. Isabella ran without thinking twice. The bug followed. Webs from the monster spit out of its mouth and pierced the walls next to her, melting every spot it touched into a liquid that smelled like bleach, feces, and liver. The nasty smell nearly caused her to gag. The creature was about to lunge forward and strike when Isabella made a sharp turn. The monstrosity lost its footing and shrieked in anger, making loud gasps for air as its slimy body slid along the ground. Horrified, Isabella had to continue through each square.
The creature wailed and snapped at her with its claws as she jumped from square to square in a wild game of hopscotch. Sweat trickled down her forehead as the creature got closer and closer, webbing lines to trap her and opening its mouth to grab her. Without haste, she gripped her gem and thought about the illusion-weaver she had met. Xander was an illusionist. She remembered him conjuring the image of her cohort running in an opposite direction. She tried homing in on the emotions she'd felt from him as he'd made it happen. Thoughts fluttered through her mind, and emotions tugged at her nerves; a syrup-like taste sprung onto her tongue. The necklace glowed as light poured from the gem and generated a
copy of Isabella: an illusion. It dashed toward the creature, attracting its attention just long enough for Isabella to disappear into the third door of light. She felt like her powers were back, at least somewhat.
"The fourth face. You're getting close." The ominous voice was back, but not for long, as she heard Jack speak next.
"That's all you get for this one, my dear. There isn't much to know about what is unknown!"
The room flipped around as she fell on what used to be the ceiling. The new floor had piano-like keys that stretched through nine squares, divided three in each section. She wasn't sure of the time but knew there wasn't much of it left. Not clear what to do there, she felt a strange urge to play something. Then she remembered something that Jack had said once about Beatrice.
This piece belonged to Beatrice once upon a time. His words replayed in her mind. Isabella stared at the piano, going back to their waltz together, lingering on his words. I wrote it for her, you know.
The music that they’d waltzed to began to play in her head. She was somewhat good at playing by ear. So she began with her body, note by note, playing the nine bars of the song that had been composed for her aunt. She didn’t hear any music, but she that did not deter her from continuing through the entire melody. As she pushed the final note on the key, the haunting tune played aloud, and a doorway appeared, leading to the next challenge.
"This one is the fifth face. Betrayal. Who can you truly trust, Isabella? Choose your allegiances wisely!" the evil voice whispered.
Unstable in her steps, she entered the next face. Despite completing the prior stages of the game successfully, she felt infected by the haunting voices and agonizing screams of emotion engulfing each face; they made the next challenge even harder than the last.
She heard the maniacal laughter of demonic beings: heartless souls who had bullied people or stabbed loved ones in the back with malice, and those who had shown no remorse when they’d caused pain to others. She stayed on the edge of the face of betrayal. A long tarp floated a few inches above her, stretching vertically to another door across from Isabella; below it were nine empty square spaces divided into three sections. Otherwise, between Isabella and that door was emptiness.
The Lost Heir Page 36