by Lola StVil
I turn on him, throwing his hand away.
“It’s not fucking okay, Kane. How can you say it’s okay? Look at her. Does she look okay to you?”
“I just meant…” Kane says. “Oh, never mind.”
I can see the hurt in his eyes at my rejection of his comfort, but right now, his bruised ego isn’t even registering on the scale of my priorities, let alone hitting the top spot.
“Regal, do something,” Perry snaps. “You’re supposed to be the healer.”
“I’ve healed her wounds, Perry. I don’t know what else to do,” Regal says quietly.
“Well, figure it out, please. And fast,” Perry yells.
Regal kneels beside Langston. He gently moves her shirt up a little so that he can check out her wounds. He’s right. They’re all healed. But they are an angry red color, and they are swollen, rising from her body like angry welt marks.
“What the…” Regal starts.
“I know what it is,” Saudia announces, excitement in her voice. “I’ve seen this before. It’s a slow-acting poison. It puts the victims into a coma, kind of like what happened to Regal. But it’s easy enough to cure. We need the juice from a Nightlock plant leaf.”
She waves her hands around, indicating the greenery surrounding the yellow path we stand on.
“Look at all of these plants. There’s Nightlock out there somewhere. We need to find it,” she says.
The team watches Saudia with horror on their faces. There’s something they’re not telling me.
“What’s with the faces?” I say. “For God’s sake, just tell me.”
None of them will look at me. Eventually, Kane sighs and comes to stand before me.
“When Saudia said the poison acts like the one Regal was given, she left a lot out. It does put the victims in a coma, but that’s where the similarities end. Regal would have only died,” he says.
“Only died? Isn’t that enough?” I snap. “What could be worse than that?”
“Langston is trapped inside her mind. Her worst fears will be playing out in a loop, each scenario worse than the last. If we don’t find the Nightlock in time to save her, then she will be trapped in there forever.”
I take a moment to let Kane’s words sink in. I think of the time Pest sent me into Kane’s mind, into his worst memories, and I think of how he felt in that place. I glance at Langston. She looks so peaceful, but it’s a trick. Inside, she is being tortured, torn apart. We have to move quickly before her mind is destroyed forever.
“Okay, split up. Perry, come with us. We’ll take the right-hand side. You three take the left,” I say.
“Do you know what you’re looking for?” Saudia asks me.
I realize I have no idea what Nightlock looks like and I shake my head.
“I know what it looks like,” Kane says. “I’ve seen Pest working with it before.”
“And you know the dangers of touching it?” Saudia says.
Kane nods.
“Don’t touch anything you don’t recognize. We don’t know what else lies out there, and we don’t want anyone else going down,” Regal says.
Kane, Perry, and I head to our right. Saudia, Tracey, and Regal head to the left.
“Nightlock is exactly as the name suggests,” Kane says. “The leaves are as black as night, and they are shaped like tiny padlocks. You can’t miss it.”
“And the dangers of touching it?” I prompt.
“When it comes in contact with you, it will suck all of the joy out of you. It will show you the worst-case scenario of your life. Some people aren’t strong enough to handle it,” Kane says.
“It sounds wonderful,” I say.
We work our way between the leaves and foliage, checking under the larger bushes. Perry wanders away from us, and I know I should call him back, but I want to talk to Kane. Alone.
“Kane, I’m sorry,” I say.
He raises an eyebrow. “For what?”
“For snapping at you. I know you were trying to make me feel better,” I say.
He smiles.
“It’s okay. I just…sometimes I forget how strong you are, and I maybe treat you a bit gentler than I should,” he says.
I shake my head. “I’m not as strong as you think I am,” I admit.
“Bullshit.” Kane grins.
“Guys, over here. I think I found it,” Perry shouts.
We hurry to his side.
“Is this it?” he asks Kane.
Kane crouches down and peers at the black leaf.
“Yup,” he says.
He reaches out to touch the leaf. I think of the dangers he talked about, of seeing your worst self, and I know his will be him at his darkest. I’m afraid he won’t be able to come back from that.
“I’ll do it,” I say.
I don’t give him time to argue. I bend down and pluck up a handful of the leaves. Instantly, the scene around me changes.
I’m in a room with Quinn, but we’re not trying to kill each other. In fact, we’re laughing together.
“I always knew you had it in you to betray Kane. Let’s face it, we both know you did the world a favor when you slit the bastard’s throat.” Quinn beams at me. “Atlas, you chose the right side. You can have everything you ever wanted now.”
The scene fades, and I’m back in the field with Kane and Perry. My body is shaking, and I can feel the warm tears on my cheeks.
“Are you okay?” Kane asks.
I clear my throat and nod. I wipe the tears from my face.
“I’m fine. It wasn’t real,” I say.
“What did you see?” Perry asks.
I shake my head.
“Nothing,” I reply.
Perry frowns at me.
“It’ll help to talk about it,” he says.
“Fine. I killed Kane and joined up with Quinn and betrayed you all. Happy now?” I snap.
Kane takes my hand and pulls me to a stop. He kisses me intensely on the lips.
“I’m happy,” he says as he pulls away.
“I…why?” I say. “Didn’t you hear me? I killed you.”
He nods.
“I heard you. And killing me and betraying the team was the worst thing you could imagine. That tells me everything I need to know about you. About us,” he says.
He looks deep into my eyes, and I see the love shining in his eyes. We hold the gaze for a moment, and then we start moving again.
“Yeah, I mean it could have been much worse, Atlas. You could have become a vegan. The horror,” Perry says.
I laugh.
“Really? That’s the worst thing you could think of?” I say.
He nods.
“Just imagine all of the tofu,” he says.
I shake my head as we hurry back to Langston.
“You’re crazy,” I muse.
“I’ve been called worse,” Perry says.
We reach Langston.
“I’ll go and grab the others,” Perry says.
I crouch down beside Langston. I hold the leaves over the inflamed red welts and squeeze them hard in my hand. A black juice tinged with green runs down my hand and begins to drip onto Langston’s stomach. As I watch, the redness fades and the swelling goes down, and within seconds, Langston’s skin is back to normal.
She sits up with a gasp.
“You’re okay,” I tell her.
She scrambles backward, away from me, and I see utter terror on her face. She jumps to her feet, whirling around.
“Stay away from me. I didn’t do this. I didn’t. I tried to help you. You have to leave me alone,” she screams.
Her voice is so full of fear I almost feel it too.
“Langston, you’re okay. It was just a hallucination. It’s over,” I say, getting to my feet.
It’s like I’m not even there. She continues to look around, the panic on her face clear to see. She swats at an unseen enemy, and then she runs. Kane reaches out and catches her arm as she tries to pass him.
He keeps his g
rip as she punches and kicks him, screaming obscenities. He doesn’t get annoyed or fight back. He lets her hit him, kick him.
“Listen to me,” he says, holding both of her wrists now so she can no longer hit him. “It’s me, Kane. You’re back with us, Langston. It was just a trick of your mind, and it’s over.”
“I…I don’t believe you. You don’t know what it was like,” she screams.
“Yes, I do. Do you know what a Break is, Langston?” he asks.
She is still fighting to get her wrists free, still kicking at him. I know she can hear him, but she doesn’t respond.
“My Break takes me back to my childhood, where I was abused mentally, physically, and sexually for a lot of years by a lot of horrible people. I am back there, and I’m running, always running, but I can never run fast enough. He always catches me. And I’ll spare you the rest. But when I come back, it feels so real, like it happened there and then. But it didn’t. It’s just a trick of the mind. And that’s what this was,” Kane says quietly.
Langston stops fighting him, but she still looks ready to run. She looks all around her, and deciding she’s safe for the moment, she answers Kane.
“Drew came to me. But he was dead, Kane. His skin was peeling off him, missing in places. He told me it was my fault. That I killed him. And that I’m a horrible person because I’m letting him go, and each time I let him go, another part of him drops off. He tried to hold me, but I couldn’t let him. He was rotting in front of me. I…I…”
She stops then, her body shaking with gut-wrenching sobs. She seems to fold in on herself, and her knees buckle. Kane catches her and holds her against his chest as she sobs.
“It’s okay. Everything’s okay,” he whispers to her. “It was just a hallucination brought on by the venom when you were attacked. That’s all.”
She pulls back a little and looks him in the face.
“It might not have been real, but it’s still true, isn’t it? Drew died because I couldn’t save him. And now I’m letting go, and it’s breaking him,” she says.
“Was Drew a bad person?” Kane asks.
“No. He was the sweetest person I ever met,” Langston says. She smiles through her tears. “Whenever he saw me, he would tell me I was the most beautiful girl in the world and that he would always love me. And whenever I was down, he would know just what to do to cheer me up again.”
“Then you know that none of what you saw is true. He loved you, Langs. He doesn’t blame you for what happened. He would want you to be happy. He would want you to let go so you could both move on,” Kane says.
Langston nods and embraces Kane again. The embrace is quick but intense. She wipes her face.
“Thank you,” she says. “I…I think I’m okay now.”
“Are you sure about that? Because you’re kind of a mess.” Perry laughs.
I was so fixated on the scene before me, I didn’t hear the others come back. Kane opened up, and he helped Langston.
Langston pulls a compact mirror from her pocket and gives a quiet shriek when she sees the state of her mascara-streaked face. She wipes frantically at it, but all she succeeds in doing is smudging it around. She sighs and puts the compact away.
“Not a word,” she says to Perry.
She looks at the rest of us.
“Well, are we going or what then?” she says.
I shrug and follow her. What else can we do?
Perry pulls out his phone and snaps a quick picture of Langston, who is still looking at Kane.
“Stay on your guard, everyone. There’s some sort of fox-like creature here according to Loom,” I say.
I can’t help but feel like foxes can’t be that dangerous. But in this valley, things are never what they seem to be, and if we do encounter them, they won’t be like any normal foxes. Of that, I have no doubt.
As we walk, I become aware of movement in the foliage on both sides of us: subtle noises, rustling in the leaves, that kind of thing. I don’t see what is following us, but I know it’s there. As long as it stays out of sight, I’m okay with that.
“Guys, look,” Tracey says, pointing.
I turn my attention to where she points, and shock spreads through my body. A woman sits on the path, her head in her hands.
“It’s a trick,” Perry says. “Just ignore her.”
I nod as we go to walk past the woman. She looks up from her hands as we get level with her.
“Oh, thank God,” she says. “My son. A demon took him and brought him here. Only the Seeker can save him. Are you the Seeker?”
I open my mouth, but Perry answers for me.
“Nope,” he says.
The woman nods resignedly.
“I knew it was hopeless.”
She looks up into the sky, and I follow her eyes. A baby, no more than two years old, dangles from the beak of a vulture. His cries fill the air.
“We can save him easily,” I say. “We just need to shoot down the vulture. Someone catch him.”
I raise my palm.
“Atlas, stop, it’s a trick. Look,” Langston shouts.
She points to the woman, and I see it. The way she shimmers, not solid. I know Langston is right, but it’s too late. I’ve shot the vulture.
The baby vanishes into thin air, and the woman morphs into a large, furry fox. Her face elongates and becomes cunning and cold.
“That was almost too easy,” she purrs.
She claps her hands and the creatures that have followed us all along the path emerge from the foliage, slinking towards us. They are indeed foxes, but they are not like the foxes I’ve seen before. They don’t cower back from us. Instead, they advance, surrounding us. Their teeth are bared, and salvia drips from their chins. They growl a low sound that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Feed, my beauties, feed,” the fox woman shrieks.
As one, the foxes, which have us surrounded, pounce. My instincts kick in, and I begin firing at them, blowing them away. I jump and duck and dodge the foxes that get past my shots. There are so many of them, I know we’ll be swamped in minutes.
The others are following my lead, firing at the foxes and trying to avoid being bitten. The foxes are agile, and they can jump a lot higher than I thought they would be able to. They don’t bite at our legs; they aim for our throats.
The fox woman hangs back, cackling with delight as she watches us getting pushed back, into a gap that is getting smaller and smaller by the minute.
One of the foxes gets too close to Regal, and although he swats at it, he’s too late. It clamps its jaws on his throat. Saudia sees his struggle, and she rips the fox away, taking a good chunk of Regal’s flesh with it.
The fox woman moans with pleasure.
“Delicious,” she says.
That’s when it hits me. The fox woman is linked to these creatures, and if we can take her down, I have a feeling the others will leave us alone.
I up my firepower, blasting the critters left, right, and center, my sole focus on getting through the crowd of writhing fur and getting a clear shot at the fox woman.
I duck and spot my chance. I fire through a gap in the foxes and take my aim. I fire at the woman, and my shot catches her in the chest.
“Not so fucking easy now, is it?” I taunt her as her hands rush to her wound.
Her hands fall away, and she gives me a devilish grin.
“Go,” she commands.
As one, the foxes that remain alive flee. The dead ones fade out of existence. All except one. The one who bit Regal’s throat.
The woman raises her arms and gives out an unearthly roar. She morphs again, and this time, she is all fox. Except she’s more like a large, vicious wolf. Saliva drips from her overgrown fangs and her forehead creases in anger. Her lips peel back as she snarls at us, baring her teeth.
She takes three elegant steps and leaps into the air. We’re all firing at her, but our shots seem to do nothing. Langston throws up a shield.
She make
s a noise that I think is a laugh as she bursts through the shield and collides with Tracey. Tracey falls to the ground as the fox lands with her paws on Tracey’s shoulders. We keep firing, and she keeps ignoring us.
Kane pulls his sword out and runs at the beast. He sticks the sword hard into its side. A rush of warm blood spurts out, splashing me. Kane pulls the sword back out, but she doesn’t fall dead. Instead, the wound knits itself neatly back together, and I don’t think she even noticed the impaling she took.
Tracey has both arms beneath the fox’s head, pressing against her throat, trying to hold back her snapping jaws. I can see it’s a fight she is losing. I step closer and take careful aim for the eye.
I fire. My shot is right on target, but it doesn’t penetrate the eye. Instead, it rebounds off it and comes back at me. I duck, and it grazes my shoulder, and I feel the pain I inflict on others. It’s excruciating.
Regal suddenly runs forward. He shoves his fist and half of his arm into the woman’s mouth. I watch, not understanding what I see as she roars and bites down. Regal screams at the pain of her teeth biting through his flesh and scraping his bones, but he doesn’t pull his hand back out.
She clamps her jaws closed again, and I think Regal will lose his arm. But then, she flops to one side. She staggers, whimpering as Regal finally pulls his mauled arm away. He collapses to the ground at the same time she does. She collapses on her side, and with a final whimper, her eyes shut, and her tongue lolls out of her mouth.
“What the fuck just happened?” I ask through gritted teeth.
My shoulder is still red-hot agony. Saudia comes to my side as Langston and Perry go to Regal.
Saudia hands me a small pot of salve. I take it gratefully. Kane walks over and applies the mixture inside to my shoulder. The pain recedes immediately, and I give the pot back.
“I never expected friendly fire to be a problem,” I joke as I get to my feet and go to Regal. The others are all crowded around him.
“In my pocket,” he says through gritted teeth. “There’s a mixture that will heal my arm.”
He is panting, his breath coming in short bursts, and his face is almost gray. The blood pouring from his arm shows no sign of stopping, and I feel my stomach clench as I see the white of bone through his tattered flesh.