The Beast

by Ally Condie

  Adrenaline flooded Opal’s body. She yanked the door closed and tried to lock it.

  Return to the showroom, please.

  “Come on,” Nico whispered. “Something’s not right.” They passed back through the curtain, joining Emma and Tyler in front of the pedestal. The group stood a full step farther away than before.

  Logan kept his position by the window. “We need a lookout.”

  Unnecessary. I am holding the figments at bay.

  Thing’s expression hardened into something less than friendly.

  Don’t make me change my mind.

  There was a wild hammering on the front door. Monstrous faces suddenly pressed against the bay window, driving Logan back with a yelp. Footsteps thumped on the roof as spindly bodies crowded the skylights. Opal’s skin crawled at so many deadly creatures being so close.

  Logan was breathing fast, his whole body rigid. Tyler and Emma stood with their shoulders pressed together. Nico’s face grew pale. His gaze flicked to the wall panel hiding the Darkdeep. Opal felt trapped between the horrors outside and the little green creature who no longer seemed like a friend.

  And what was that other sound?

  Like waves smashing against jagged rocks. A roiling hum that reminded her of the Rift.

  Oh no.

  Thing’s voice rang inside Opal’s head.

  The Darkdeep is rising, my friends. Isn’t that wonderful?

  Logan shot forward and clamped Thing’s jar in between his hands. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

  Thing smiled without humor, or the slightest hint of warmth. Its beady black eyes drilled into Logan. An injustice that has existed for centuries is being righted, human. Now, step back before you get hurt.

  “I’m not scared of you!” Logan shouted, though his voice cracked. “Quit whatever you’re doing or I’ll … I’ll make you wish you had. You’re just a stupid … Thing … in a freaking jar!” His knuckles whitened against the glass.

  Thing sneered, an expression so hostile Opal shuddered.

  Logan’s hands flashed red and he reeled backward with a screech.

  “Not good,” Tyler breathed, edging away from the pedestal. “In fact, this is really bad.”

  You didn’t think you could hurt me, did you, Logan? Thing’s gaze shifted. Tyler, stop moving. Or you won’t like what happens next.

  Tyler froze. Nico stepped in front of his terrified friend.

  “Thing, what’s going on?” Nico said quietly. “What injustice are you talking about?”

  Emma’s eyes sparkled in the light reflecting off the jar. “I … I thought you were an original Torchbearer?”

  Thing pressed tiny hands against the glass. Fury seeped into its voice. No. I was their prisoner.

  “Prisoner?” Tyler repeated, his brow furrowing. “Come again?”

  “Let’s smash the jar,” Logan hissed. “If Thing is controlling the figments outside, that might make them go away.”

  Thing’s lips curled into a snarl. Try nothing, human. My patience is nearly spent.

  “We’ve been helping you!” Emma snapped, stomping a foot. “Doing whatever you said to seal off the Rift. How can you turn on us now?”

  Again, the horrible chuckle. Opal covered her ears, but that only made it worse. The sound was inside her head.

  Thing eyed Emma calmly. Turn on you? No. You have it wrong.

  Emma shivered. Opal reached out and took her hand.

  The cabinet blocking the wall panel toppled over on its own. The hidden door to the Darkdeep swung wide. A churning sound echoed up the staircase, reverberating to the rafters. Opal heard the ping of liquid lapping against metal.

  I can’t betray those I was never working with in the first place.

  Opal’s breath died in her chest. She watched Nico sag. Tyler blocked his eyes.

  I don’t belong here. I’ve been caged in this world far too long. It’s time for me to go home.

  “Fine!” Logan spat. “Go! Why’d you even come here in the first place?”

  I was curious. Wouldn’t you have been? I wanted to see what was on the other side, but then I couldn’t return.

  Sadness washed through Opal. A painful childhood memory came roaring back—being lost in a crowded amusement park. Being scared and all alone. She hadn’t thought of it in years.

  Yes. Alone.

  But an undercurrent of rage tinged Thing’s next sending.

  Because of the Torchbearers.

  “The Torchbearers are good!” Nico shot back, eyes blazing. “Without them guarding the Darkdeep—and the Rift too, I guess—this world would be in constant danger. We’ve seen it ourselves!”

  The Torchbearers are not who you think they are.

  Yvette Dumont found me and placed me in this jar, which I admit saved my life, however inadvertently. We worked together to preserve this realm from destruction, but then she made me her captive. I’ve been trapped here ever since …

  A pause. “How long?” Opal whispered.

  Centuries. Yvette refused my repeated pleas to return home, as did those that followed in the Torchbearer order, decade after decade. All claimed it was for the greater good, but at what cost to me?

  Opal felt Thing’s immense sorrow again, but anger crackled through it twice as strong. Anger that had been bottled up and held in, held close, because there was no place for it to go.

  The Torchbearers needed my unique skills to control the Darkdeep and keep the Rift sealed. The Rift is a terrible wound between our dimensions—a broken way to pass back and forth. The Taker you and Nico battled inside the Darkdeep—there are thousands more like it, waiting on the other side. They want to come through. They want this world.

  And I’m done saving it for you.

  “Wait,” Opal said, curious despite her fear. Down the staircase, the rushing sound was getting stronger. “You tried to help us seal the Rift. We went to the platform like you said. We threw the iron mixture in. We did everything—”

  Thing laughed in their minds.

  You didn’t help me restore the seal, child. You helped me tear it open. The amount of iron you added to the water annihilated the delicate chemical balance on which the barrier relies.

  Tyler winced, squeezing his eyes shut. “Ah, crap. We did the legwork for you.”

  Yes. Thanks to you, little Torchbearers, everything is ready. The seal is irreparably broken. A way through the Rift has been cleared. All it needs now is a push from our side.

  The pounding on the door, window, and roof grew louder.

  This group of figments is mine. I pulled them from the Darkdeep myself.

  “Even the Beast?” Tyler sputtered.

  Thing shook its tiny head. I didn’t lie. The leviathan is not a stray thought. He’s a being of my world. He’s lost, too.

  Opal heard hungry shrieks outside. Every bit of her wanted to cower and hide, but Thing’s icy stare kept her rooted to the floorboards.

  Opal. You were the first to listen. Hear me now. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will if you get in my way. I am going home.

  “You said the Rift is a … wound.” Opal pressed a hand to her temple. “That the Torchbearers imprisoned you here to keep it contained. Why did they need you?”

  That is no longer relevant. Just know that my presence kept the Rift neutralized, though a few things did slip through from time to time. But none of that matters now.

  Logan grunted. “So if you go back, what happens?”

  My passage will rip open the gateway. You won’t be able to close it again.

  “But then those creatures from your world will enter ours!” Nico shouted. “We won’t be able to control them without you. You’re dooming us!”

  That’s not my problem anymore. And you cannot stop me from leaving.

  Opal heard the front door crash open. The curtain flew apart as a mob of figments sauntered into the showroom. Gnomes, horned devils, a dragon with smoke curling around its neck. Slash cackled as he rode atop the shoulders of an e
normous troll with insect eyes.

  Into the basement, please. You will remain there until I cross over. After that … good luck.

  The figment mob pressed closer. Suddenly, Emma’s hand whipped out, a Torchbearer dagger flying from her fingers. The blade passed straight through the insect-troll’s head, thudding against the far wall and dropping to the floor.

  Thing scowled. That won’t work against the army I’ve created. And now my patience is gone.

  The creatures moved forward again. Opal and the others fled into the stairwell. The Darkdeep was down there, but at least Thing’s figments wouldn’t be. Nico closed the wall panel and bolted it from the inside. Figments started beating on the wood, howling and laughing. Some of the laughter was Thing’s.

  A ball of rage sparked in Opal’s gut. They were trapped. Below them, at the base of the steps, the Darkdeep’s swirling water filled the chamber. Opal looked at the others, huddled on the slowly flooding risers.

  She knew the awful truth, even before Thing spoke it inside her head.

  You’re my prisoners now.

  PART FOUR

  THE RIFT

  25

  NICO

  Inky black water was creeping up the staircase.

  “We have to get out of here!” Nico shouted, switching on the electric lantern they kept tucked in a wall niche by the entry panel. Beyond it, he could hear figments laughing and snarling, mixed with occasional ripping and smashing sounds. The houseboat was filled with deadly creatures, and they seemed to be having a party.

  “Is that the Darkdeep?” Tyler yelled, eyes wide as he stared at the flood, which bubbled and fizzed like a shook-up soda can. “Or is the houseboat sinking? Or is the houseboat sinking into the Darkdeep?”

  Logan swallowed. “Oh man, I never thought of that.”

  Opal chewed her bottom lip, her eyebrows forming a worried V.

  They couldn’t go back through the showroom—not with dozens of monsters waiting to rip their heads off, and Thing sitting in its jar like a king on a throne. But what was in the surging liquid below? Could they still pass through the Darkdeep and reach the pond? Even if they did, what was waiting for them out on the island?

  The water level had risen to the middle of the steps. “Should I touch it?” Emma said.

  “No!” Tyler shouted, waving his arms back and forth.

  “There must be a way to escape,” Opal said urgently, flexing and squeezing her fingers. “We can’t let Thing get away with whatever it’s planning. We have to stop the Rift from breaking open before it’s too late.”

  “Did you see outside?” Logan said. “It’s already too late! Even if no more figments appear, how can we possibly stop the ones here? And they don’t even respond to our daggers!” Logan gnashed his teeth, seemingly on the verge of a total meltdown. “They’ll find a way off the island eventually, and then Timbers is doomed. Some of these creatures can swim!” He paused, visibly trying to get ahold of himself. “It’s Halloween. Kids will be out trick-or-treating, and these monsters are real!”

  Opal paled. Like Nico, she seemed to have no answers. How were they supposed to stop an army they couldn’t fight?

  Tyler snapped his fingers. “The figments! They belong to Thing!”

  Nico blinked at his friend. “Thing said it created them, but what difference does that make?”

  Tyler shrugged, eyes wide. “No idea, but we’ve seen how the Torchbearer daggers don’t work anymore. Maybe Thing made, like, a different type of figment. Since its an alien or whatever.”

  Opal clamped a hand onto Tyler’s forearm. “Yes! These figments don’t come from human imaginations, so they don’t act like the ones we created before. That makes sense! We just have to figure out how to dispel them.”

  “Great.” Logan threw his hands up in frustration. “How do we do that?”

  Emma’s eyes suddenly bugged in the dim light. “Wow, tonight is a really bad time for a figment breakout. Bridger is planning something. If we don’t—”

  The water below them geysered in the center. A dark wave swept around the room, forcing them up a few steps. The simmering ceased and the flood went still, dropping the chamber into an uneasy silence. The breaking sounds beyond the door had disappeared as well.

  “Something just happened,” Tyler whispered.

  Logan cautiously unbolted the wall panel, but found the way firmly blocked. “The door’s jammed. I can’t open it.”

  The water gurgled, then settled smooth like obsidian. The flood had stopped rising but they were trapped.

  Nico balled his hands. He had to make a decision. There was only one choice to make.

  “I’ll go first,” he said, moving past the others to the edge of the water.

  Are you the Darkdeep, escaped from your well? Am I going into the void again?

  “Uh-uh,” Tyler snapped, reluctantly joining Nico on the last dry step. “No one goes anywhere by themselves.” He inhaled deeply, then spoke in a thin voice. “Even in … in that. I’m with you, Nicolas. We’ll do this side by side. The two of us.”

  “You can quit it with that macho stuff,” Opal said curtly, crowding onto the riser behind them. “If you’re going, I’m going. That’s not up for debate.”

  Nico glanced at her, ready to argue, but Emma spoke before he could. “Same here. Torchbearers stick together.”

  “Like when they bottled Thing in a glass prison for hundreds of years?” Logan said sarcastically, but he wilted under Emma’s stony glare. “Fine. Sure. We all go.” He grimaced at the murky flood below Tyler’s feet. “I’m certainly not staying here by myself.”

  Nico was touched, but in this instance, his friends were wrong. He had to make them understand.

  “Guys, I’m going first, and I’m going alone.” He held up a hand before anyone could disagree. “We don’t know what this water is, or whether the Darkdeep still works at all. We don’t know if this way even leads out to the pond. There’s no point in five people getting tangled up underwater.” Or everyone getting sucked into whatever horror might be waiting down there. But he didn’t say the last part out loud.

  “Why should you take the risk?” Opal said immediately. “I’m a great swimmer. I can do it.”

  “You’re a better swimmer than all of us, but I need you ready to launch a rescue mission. In case I pop out of the pond to a giant figment barbecue on the field, and they make me its main course.” He tried to smile, but knew it was forced. “If I’m not back in five minutes, don’t come after me. Break through the wall somehow and try your luck against Thing.”

  Nico could feel the others hesitating, though Logan seemed relieved and was trying to hide it. The water had stilled to a glossy mirror that stretched wall to wall across the basement.

  “Let me do this,” Nico said softly. “It’s my turn to lead.”

  Opal’s face wobbled, but she nodded. “Okay, Nico. Show us the way.” Her next words spilled out in a rush. “But I’ll be right behind you if you don’t come back fast so you’d better hurry and get the job done.”

  Nico snapped a nod. He felt Tyler squeeze his arm, even as Emma crushed him in a hug from behind. Logan tapped a fist on his shoulder. Nico shrugged out of his jacket, and, after a moment’s reflection, took off his jeans as well to avoid any extra drag. His ears burned as both Emma and Opal whirled to face the wall. The room’s chill hit him like a physical blow.

  No point drawing this out.

  Taking three deep breaths, and holding the last one, Nico dove into the black pool.

  The icy water nearly paralyzed him. Nico immediately coughed out all the air in his lungs, struggling to see through the lightless flood. He swam downward, aiming for where he thought the hole in the floor should be. Where the Darkdeep had been contained before it overflowed.

  His limbs began to lighten. The cold faded from his bones. Was he going numb? Succumbing to hypothermia? Nico kicked harder, stretching down into the darkness.

  Colors flashed in his mind. Sparks of violet
and red, mixed with yellow streaks. He knew this wasn’t normal water. His fingers brushed the floorboards, and he swept his hands in a circle. Caught the lip of the well. Lungs burning, he pulled himself into its mouth.

  The colors intensified. Odd tones echoed around him.

  Braver than I thought, a voice said, sounding close and far away at the same time. But you shouldn’t fully enter the Darkdeep right now. Things are getting … electric. Plus, my figment army has found something new to divert them that might interest you. The citizens of Timbers are in for quite a night.

  Ignoring the voice, Nico swam through the hole in the floor. Was he underneath the houseboat? Inside the Darkdeep’s limitless void? Where did this world end and the other begin?

  He was out of air. Light filled Nico’s eyes. He gasped and drank in salt water, his mind reeling in panic.

  Nico began to sink, screaming soundlessly in the depths.

  No.

  He was being pulled …

  Some force gripped Nico around the waist. It was cold and powerful, and filled with menace. He tried to squirm away, but was dragged farther down, his oxygen gone, his strength slipping. The acrid taste of sulfur enveloped him.

  Nico was sucked closer to a freezing … presence below. His head spun. The was different from when he’d entered the Darkdeep’s void with Opal. This was stronger. Older. His body thrummed at its withering touch. Gathering the last of his strength, Nico kicked and slithered, fighting to break free.

  The ruthless drag released him.

  He floated up, without the will to resist.

  Nico felt a blast of heat.

  His brain blanked and consciousness slipped away.

  Nico awoke on the edge of the pond.

  He rolled and puked a gallon of dirty water onto the grass, hacking and spitting. His teeth chattered uncontrollably, Still Cove’s frigid air prickling his skin. I need to get my jeans back on. But he was alive. He’d exited the well into the pond, like so many times before. But what had he encountered down there in the black? What had pulled at him?