by Ann Atkins
The best way to avoid capture—you might say—is not to go there in the first place, but give me a little credit; I’m not a total idiot. I know David will be at the hospital all day and night, so I will have plenty of time to get in and out before he realizes I was even there and before my friends realize what I’m up to.
Once my mind was made up, and the note was tucked safely beneath my pillow, I glanced at the clock. It was only five in the morning, and I knew my brain needed rest to be able to concoct all of my crazy schemes. If I could get at least a couple more hours of shut-eye I’d be good to go, but that was easier said than done. I lay there for what seemed like forever willing my mind to shut off and my body to surrender to sleep, but nothing worked.
I tossed and turned so much that Bella finally abandoned me for Matt. And I kept glancing at the clock, mentally counting down the seconds and minutes to, either, my epic fail or glorious success. There were really only two ways it could go, and I was rooting for the latter.
My eyes grew watery from so much yawning, and I finally became too tired to even toss and turn. I stared at the ceiling until my eyes were too heavy to keep open and my thoughts were too far away to reach. That’s the last thing I remembered until Matt’s shrill alarm clock pierced through my skull.
I’m convinced that there is no sound on this Earth that’s more annoying than an alarm clock, especially when it goes off fifty times, because someone keeps hitting snooze. Apparently, Bella was in agreement, because she had crawled under the bed.
I thought about killing him, but decided that turning off the clock and rolling him out onto the floor was a better solution. I took the quickest route possible to stifle that horrendous sound, which means that instead of walking around the bed, I crawled across Matt.
He opened his eyes as soon as I leaned across him and smiled at me. Then, he reached up and wrapped his arms around me pulling me down beside him. “I thought we talked about this last night, Allie, but if you insist, who am I to stand in the way of your raging hormones?”
I wiggled away from him as quickly as I could and glared at him. “My hormones aren’t the problem; it’s my bleeding eardrums!”
“What?” he asked, looking genuinely confused.
“That alarm! It’s been ringing in my ears all morning!”
“You’re being a little overdramatic, aren’t cha?”
“No!” I pouted. “I’m tired and sleepy and grumpy, and I’m seriously considering bashing you in the head with that alarm.”
“Just go back to sleep,” he said with a yawn. “I think I’ll stay home, too. After everything that happened last night, Mom won’t mind.”
“No, you can’t!” I yelled. And I cringed when I saw his eyes narrow in suspicion.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Well … because … because I just need some time alone,” I said lamely.
“To do what?”
“Just hang. Maybe watch some chick-flicks … do my nails … give myself a facial, and just try to feel normal.”
“You can still do all of that; I’ll just watch TV downstairs or something,” he replied.
“Matt, you really need to go to school today,” I told him, not even realizing that I was using coercion until that blank look crossed his face.
“I need to go to school,” he repeated, like a zombie.
A wave of guilt washed over me, but I was trying to protect him. I couldn’t risk him finding out what I was going to do, so I watched him get dressed, eat breakfast, and leave for school. I felt like a jerk, but at least I’d know he was safe.
Another hour of sleep—after he left—cleared some of the cobwebs from my sleep-deprived brain, and I really thought about what I was getting myself into, but I didn’t change my mind.
As I walked out to my car, I pondered the strange turn my life had taken these past couple of months. If I wasn’t running from danger, I was running toward it, but, either way, it usually found me; so I chose to consider this a preemptive strike.
I wondered if my logic would make sense to anyone else, probably not, but as far as I was concerned, it made perfect sense, which was what worried me. I wondered if I was crazy, but I reassured myself that crazy people probably didn’t question their sanity, so I was most likely fine.
I turned off my doubts and promised myself that everything would go according to plan, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
What Lies Beneath
Breaking into a place that used to be your home is incredibly strange. I spent most of my childhood in this place being raised by a long succession of nannies, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Some of them I had loved, and they’d loved me, too; that was the problem. If David noticed me growing too attached to anyone, he would promptly find some obscure reason to fire them, and I constantly had to get used to new people.
He wasn’t around much, but when he was, he was incredibly cruel; I would have almost preferred a beating than the harsh words; at least the scrapes and bruises would’ve healed. I don’t remember him ever giving me a single hug or kiss—unless it was in front of his friends or colleagues—and if I tried to hug him, he’d always push me away.
He gave me lots of things, though—sparing no expense—but that had nothing to do with loving or caring about me. To anyone on the outside looking in, he appeared to be a doting father who was spoiling his little girl. And that little girl had played her part and kept his secrets, hoping that one day, if she was good enough, he would love her, but that little girl grew up.
After I’d learned what he had done to my parents, every unkind word he’d ever spoken to me had stopped mattering; he’d stopped mattering. And staring at this beautiful house I’d lived my life in did not make me nostalgic; it only made me sick, and I was suddenly seized by pyromania as the urge to burn it to the ground engulfed me, but I couldn’t do that; not yet. So I took a deep, calming breath and reminded myself why I was here.
I pulled a small compact from my pocket, and I flipped it open and stared into the mirror. I had cast a spell that would show me if any rooms in the house were occupied, but my tiny spyglass showed nothing but emptiness. At least all of the rooms that I was familiar with were empty, but the ones I had never seen—had never even imagined were there—were filled to capacity, but I wasn’t surprised. They were the ones I was here for.
When the last image had faded from my mirror, I closed the compact and stood up as I prepared to go inside. I turned around and ran smack into the wall of Matt’s chest. I barely stopped myself from screaming, but I had already flung my arm out and thrown him backwards before I realized it was him. How had he sneaked up on me? I was the absolute worst vampire ever!
He sat up and tried to wipe some of the dirt off of his jeans and shirt as he glared at me. “First of all, Ow, and secondly, if you wanted to spend the day staring at yourself in the mirror, you could’ve done that at my place. You didn’t have to come here and hide in the bushes to do it. Honestly, Allie, this is weird … even for you.”
I was still shaking from the adrenaline that had flooded my system, and my heart was pounding. Thank God, it had only been him! But how was he even here?
“I used coercion on you to make you go to school,” I said accusingly. “So how come you’re here scaring the life outta me, instead of there?”
“Wait! Wait! Wait! Just hold up a minute! You are the one who screwed with my mind, and you’re mad at me?” he asked, incredulously.
“I was trying to protect you, you idiot!” I said, stamping my foot.
“You are the one in need of protection and possibly medication, ‘cause you’ve gotta be nuts to show your face here. Do you have any idea what that man would do to you?” he asked angrily.
“Yes, I do, because he annihilated my entire family, but he isn’t finished. He’s been getting lots of practice while he waited for his chance to get at me, and I can’t just sit back and do nothing; I have to stop it. Don’t
you understand?” I asked pleadingly.
“I understand that I love you and so do Cassie and Eric. And there is nothing, nothing that Sarah and Mason wouldn’t do for you! Why are you choosing to fight alone when there are so many who want to fight for you and with you?”
“Because he’s already taken so much from me, and I’m not letting him take any of you.”
“You’ll be giving him exactly what he wants, because if you walk in there, he isn’t letting you walk back out!”
“I know that, but he isn’t even here, and if you knew what I dreamed last night you wouldn’t be wasting time arguing with me!”
“Then tell me. Please?”
I hesitated only for a moment. “He has a huge underground laboratory underneath the house, and there are cells with bars—like an actual prison—full of vampires, werewolves, unicorns, hellhounds, fairies, chupacabras, nymphs, and gnomes, and about any other magical creature you could think of. Some of them are sick and dying, but if I can get them out—”
“Whoa, Allie, I understand how you feel. I know you want to help them, but something like this takes planning; you can’t just do it on a whim. It’s gonna take time.”
“They don’t have time. He is going to dispose of the ones who are sick tonight, and I will not let him do that!” I said stubbornly.
“You saw this in your dream?”
“Yes,” I nodded as my eyes filled with tears. “Matt, one of the unicorns he has is Snowflake.”
“Oh my God! Allie, I’m so, so sorry, but it’s just too dangerous for you to go in there.”
“So I should just let Snowflake die?” I sobbed.
“No,” he sighed, “and I know I’ll never be able to stop you … so I’ll have to go with you.”
“What? No! I can do this by myself; I don’t need your help.”
“Don’t you? How many are down there? Will you have time to get to all of them? And what about the ones who are dangerous? Are you just going to unleash them on the world?”
“Of course not, but I won’t leave until every innocent creature down there is free. And you are not coming with me; you are going to go home, play your video games all evening, and go to bed. Now go, and do not tell anyone else that I am here!” I had forced every ounce of power I had into coercing him to leave, and I smiled with satisfaction when I saw that glazed look in his eyes.
He took a step toward his car, looked at me, and then looked at the car again. Finally, he stopped and blinked his eyes a few times as if waking up. Then he looked at me and smiled. “Nice try.”
My mouth fell open in shock. What was wrong with me? That should’ve worked. Were my powers fading? I was too caught up in my own thoughts to ask him how he’d done it, but I snapped back to attention when he started to explain.
He pulled two amulets from underneath his Abercrombie shirt. “This one is full of vervain, and this one is filled with wolfs bane. And since I’m wearing them, you cannot coerce me to do anything,” he said smugly.
“Maybe I should just take them away from you,” I said, taking a step toward him.
“I wouldn’t advise it. Sarah spelled them to give a nasty shock to anyone who tries to remove them. Plus, they aren’t very vampire-friendly plants, but if you don’t mind having your fingers burned off, please be my guest.”
I ground my teeth together so hard, I was surprised they didn’t turn to powder. I had already wasted too much time arguing with him, and I couldn’t afford to waste anymore. I was out of options. He would have to come with me.
“Let’s go,” I said angrily as I turned and stomped toward the house. He fell into step beside me, and neither of us spoke again until we reached the basement.
I stared at the boarded up hole in the floor with disgust. I wasn’t supposed to, but I used to sneak down here and play as a child, never imagining the horrors that lurked beneath me.
“Now what?” he asked.
I walked to the wall and pulled a brick out of place. There was a small, rusted, silver button behind it, and I pounded my fist against it. The board covering the “hole” in the floor swung back to reveal a ladder that led far below.
“Wow,” he said, “under any other circumstances this would be majorly cool.”
A small smile touched my lips. I wasn’t happy about him being here, but there wasn’t much I could do about it now, and I knew he was probably thinking about Batman or Spiderman or something like that, but unfortunately, this was the villain’s lair, not the hero’s hideout.
I reached out and squeezed his hand as we gazed down into the darkness. “C’mon Matt, let’s go be super heroes. With your amulets and my magic mirror, how could we possibly fail?”
An uneasy sound that might’ve been a laugh was my only answer. I knew he was just as nervous as I was, but I hoped a little levity would keep us from being paralyzed by our fear.
He started down the ladder first, and I was right behind him, but I stared up at the light the whole way down as I descended further and further into darkness.
They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and that it exactly how I felt, as if I were climbing down into the mouth of Hell. The sounds that were coming from the darkness did nothing to disabuse me of this notion; in fact, they only strengthened it. Growls, hisses, grunts, and wails were the first sounds I heard as my feet touched the floor, and with shaking hands I fumbled for a light switch.
My eyes adjusted to the light in only seconds, though, and I found the switch and quickly flipped it on. I sighed in relief as the room was flooded with light, but when I looked around I was almost tempted to turn them back off.
A long hallway with cells on both sides stretched out before me, and they were filled with monsters way scarier than anything I’d ever seen in a movie … because they were real. They were real, they were here, and they were all staring at us.
I swallowed and took a step backwards, reaching for Matt’s hand. The cells were small and dirty, and the walls were made out of rough stone. Some of the creatures were chained and shackled, while others snarled and shook the iron bars that held them in. The hallway between the cells wasn’t very wide, and if they reached out for us, they might actually be able to touch us, and I honestly didn’t know if I could force myself to walk between them.
Another alarming thought occurred to me as I struggled to breathe, and I tightened my hold on Matt’s hand. Most of these creatures were probably strong enough to break through the bars. Some of them could probably even pass through them or teleport, so why didn’t they? How was he holding such powerful supernatural creatures against their will?
There was only one explanation that made sense; he had done something to this room to block their powers, which meant that mine wouldn’t work either. The one thing I had been counting on to keep us safe had just been snatched away from me, and suddenly, I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. What had I done? Why had I come here? Why had I brought Matt in here? What was wrong with me?
“Mattie, I’m so sorry,” I whispered as I looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes. I had seen it all in my dreams, sure, but that didn’t even come close to comparing with the reality of it.
“Why? I’m the one who insisted on coming down here with you, but we aren’t going to accomplish much by just standing here, so let’s get going,” he said, trying to sound brave.
“I can’t,” I whimpered.
“Yes you can. You can do anything. You’re not a quitter. Look around, Al. Do you really want to leave Snowflake down here with them?” he asked, gesturing toward the cells.
“No, but I don’t know how I’m going to get him out of here. Matt, look at them; they’re strong; they have powers. So why aren’t they using them?”
He looked confused for a moment, but then a look of understanding crossed his face, quickly followed by fear.
“Then we’d better move fast. We’ll help as many as we can as quickly as we can, but we’re not going to be able to save them all. Without magic … it’s ju
st not possible.”
“I know, but I have to find Snowflake, I can’t let him die. He crossed through worlds for me; the least I can do is walk down a cell block full of living nightmares for him.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.
His faith in me had supplanted my own; I just hoped my borrowed courage was enough to get me through this. I squared my shoulders, stiffened my back, and swallowed the fear that was cutting off my airway.
I placed one foot in front of me just as the door overhead slid closed. Matt and I both jumped in surprise, and I immediately pulled out my mirror, and said, “Basement.” I repeated it several times, but nothing happened; unfortunately, this confirmed my earlier suspicions. Magic wouldn’t work down here.
I took a step back and heard a small click. I glanced down to see that I had stepped on a little button next to the ladder, and I sighed in relief. No one was up in the basement; I had triggered the door myself.
I felt like I was going to throw up, pass out, and pee my pants all at the same time, and it didn’t help that the first cell I passed housed a trio of slobbering, snarling hellhounds.
I faltered for a moment, and one of them crouched with its glowing eyes burning into me and pounced at the bars. One long paw reached through to swipe at me, and I screamed and stumbled backwards—straight into the bars on the other side. I could hear lots of hissing behind me, and as I turned around I saw something that made the hellhounds in the opposite cell seem downright cuddly.
A large three-headed lion stood behind me, with slitted yellow eyes and rows and rows of long, thin, needle-like teeth, but that wasn’t the scariest part. Where its mane should have been, were dozens of hissing snakes, and Matt barely managed to pull me out of the way as one of them struck out at me.
The creature in the next cell was one I recognized. “Is that a chupacabra?” Matt asked with morbid fascination. I nodded as I watched it hop around its cell like a kangaroo. It looked no less terrifying than the others, though, with its greenish-gray skin, sharp fangs, and forked tongue—not to mention the row of razor-sharp spines that ran down the center of its back. Unlike the others it did not try to attack; it simply watched us cautiously from large, orange eyes.