He leans forward again. “Those are passionate feelings.”
She sighs. “Those are bad feelings.”
“You are like the boys who pull the girls pigtails.”
“Excuse me?” She sits up, not surprised that she is once again in the ridiculous nightgown.
“You like me so you act as if you do not.”
Now Keely laughs. “I don’t think so.”
“To feel so strongly about someone, good or bad, you must care something about them in the first place. You detest me, so therefore you must care passionately about me.” He smiles radiantly at her.
“Yeah, there’s a flaw in your logic. I hate our brother. I hate him with every inch of my soul and I do not care if he lives or dies a long agonizing death.”
“But you do care. You would much rather he dies that agonizing death than be free to roam the Earth.”
Keely cocks her head to the side. “I would. You have a point.”
Asmoday grins. “See?”
“I still don’t like you.”
“But I bet you would not want me to die, either.”
“You’ve never really done anything to me so I guess not. But I would be happiest if I never saw you again,” she says honestly.
“We shall see about that.”
Keely shakes her head. “I need to go back.”
Asmoday flips his hand at her. “Then go back.”
She stares at him, bites her lip. She’s been sitting here insulting him and is about to ask him for help. Great. “I don’t know how.”
He shakes his head and laughs. “You are so fun.” He reaches out and messes her hair as if she were a child. “You are the only one who ever sends yourself back. Didn’t dear old daddy ever tell you?”
“Tell me what, exactly?”
He stands up. Stretches, revealing several inches of perfectly sculpted abs. He runs a hand through his honey colored hair and rests his eyes on hers. “You just need to truly want it.” His voice goes all silky at the end and he winks at her.
“O.k. I want it.” Asmoday smirks at her devilishly. “To go back, I mean,” she adds quickly.
He throws his hands out in a shooing motion. “Then go.”
Keely’s eyes are slow to open. The pain is worse in real life. She touches her cheek gently with the tips of her fingers. They’re cold. It feels good on her face. It’s very dark. Wherever she is, it feels damp, musty and cool. She picks up the scent of dirt, and rock, and old stale air. The floor is hard and freezing, smooth and slick. She sits up but cannot see anything. Moves her hand in front of her face, but she can’t see it. There is absolutely no light at all. Moving on her hands and knees, she feels her way around slowly. She quickly hits a wall. Follows it and finds another wall. The next wall isn’t solid. It is made up of a series of thick icy cold rods. Bars she decides. She runs her hand across them until she hits another wall. She’s in jail. Some sort of cell. She wiggles every bar, trails her hands up and down until she finds the door of her cell. Shakes it, but to no avail. She considers yelling out, but that didn’t work out all that well last time. So she falls to her knees and cries.
“Keely?” The soft voice startles her. She stops crying immediately, but there’s only silence. Did she imagine it?
She wraps her arms around herself to keep from shaking. It’s so cold. Her teeth chatter loudly and she tries to gain control of her body.
“Kiem, is that you?”
“Br-Bryon?”
There is a scuffling sound then his voice seems closer, a little louder. “Oh, Keels, they got you too.”
Seventeen:
“Where are we?”
Bryon shrugs his shoulders though no one can see the gesture. “I’m not sure, but I think we’re in the tunnels under Pandora.” He raises his face upward.
“Have you been here the whole time?”
“Yeah, I think so. Time gets a little confusing here. They come down twice a day, bring food and water. It’s my only method of telling time.”
“Who are they?” Keely hugs her legs, scrunching her body up as much as possible to keep warm.
“The Demons.” He runs his hands across the bars. “Dana and another one.”
“And they seem to come at the same times each day?” Her mind races.
“I think so. They come when I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry though.”
Bryon laughs. “I missed you, Keely.”
“I missed you too, Bry.” She thinks of the days he was gone, the not knowing. It may be horrible here, but she’s so glad they found each other again. She hadn’t realized how important he was to her. How much she has come to count on his presence. Unexpected feelings swirl inside of Keely. Feelings she’s kept buried for the past year. That she’s tried to ignore, hoping they would go away. Hearing his voice, knowing she hasn’t lost him, brings them back stronger than ever. Keely licks her battered lips, tastes the dried blood. “Did you see when they brought me?”
“I saw the light. I always see the light right away. It hurts at first until my eyes can adjust. I heard them moving, the cell door open and close, then the light left. I heard your breathing so I knew I wasn’t alone anymore.”
Keely’s eyes burn. It must have been awful for him these past few days. No light except for the couple of times a day when they come down. Stuck in a cell. In this cold damp scary place. Alone. “How long ago do you think that was?”
“Yesterday, or last night. I can’t tell the difference here.”
She really wants a time line though she isn’t sure how it will be of help. Maybe it just gives her something to do. Maybe it’s just an excuse to hear Bryon’s voice.
For someone who doesn’t like the darkness as she does, this must be smothering. People need light. They aren’t suited to spend their lives without it. Not to mention the scariness of it. Not knowing who or what could be right in front of you and you wouldn’t even know it. Eating in the dark while not having a clue what’s on your food. A place like this just seems like it would have big creepy bugs. And the cold, the cold is chilling. She wonders how he isn’t sick.
“How did you fill the time, Bryon?”
He’s quiet for a moment. Keely has a crazy passing thought that he is gone again, just a figment of her underactive imagination. “Slept, mostly.”
She feels across the floor, searching for a rock or anything she could make a dent or a scratch on the wall or in one of the bars with. Her hands run across the floor finding nothing. “Do you have anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have your throwing stars?”
Bryon grinds his teeth together loud enough that Keely hears it. “They took them.”
She sighs. “Do you have anything at all over there? I want to try to mark our time here.”
“Time doesn’t matter here.”
Keely balls her hands into tight fists. “It matters to me.”
“What happened Kiem? How did you get here? Are they all dead?”
Her heart nearly stops. Her stomach flips and she feels as if she might get sick. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about that. “We got separated,” is all she says in a quiet voice.
“They must be dead. They would have been here by now if they were alive.” He leans against the wall he shares with Keely. It somehow makes him feel closer to her.
“Don’t you dare do that,” she whispers.
“Don’t do what?”
“Take my hope. It’s all I have right now. They could still be alive.” She shakes her head. “They are still alive. I would know if Nick were dead. I would know.”
“No you wouldn’t. Trust me.” His voice is barely audible. “When nobody came for me, I was sure—I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you all were dead.” Bryon’s tone grows louder, angry. “I mean, w
hat other conceivable reason could there be for letting me sit here, in this black hole of nothingness, this Hell, to rot?” He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. “Yet here you are, alive.”
What does she say? She can’t tell him the truth, that she wanted to look for him, but his friends thought he was a traitor and wouldn’t even think about it. He was here, all alone, suffering. Worse than that, he thought they were all dead. He thought he was going to spend the rest of his life, however long that would be, in this terrible place.
“We didn’t know where you were. If we had known we would’ve come for you. What happened, Bryon? How did you get here?”
“It’s a little fuzzy still. I wasn’t in the best of moods, so in a moment of weakness I called Dana. I wanted an easy hook-up to get my mind right. I just wanted to take the focus off of my feelings. I didn’t want to think for a little bit. I was being a dick. I knew I was using her and I didn’t care. She made sure I paid the price though.” He laughs coldly.
“I remember meeting her. She knew why I was there. Knew why I was upset. She knew and she didn’t care. She said she wanted to make me feel better.” He shakes his head and laughs again. “I remember thinking how easy it all was and feeling like I caught a break. I wasn’t going to have to pretend with her. Pretend like I was actually into her. No need for the whole show I usually put on. She knew it wasn’t her I wanted, but she was willing anyway.
“Somehow we ended up in her car, I can’t remember that part. It was like I was in a trance. So we’re in the car and she just jumps on me. And I’m thinking this is cool. She’s not really my type, I find her kind of annoying, but she’s still hot. Ya know?” He doesn’t wait for a response, just keeps going with his story remembering more as he speaks.
“She kissed me and it was really good. It did exactly what I wanted it to do. I was distracted, but I couldn’t recall what had been bothering me in the first place, which is what I went there for. Right? But then that bothered me that I didn’t know, I couldn’t remember, if that makes sense. I knew somewhere inside of me that it was important to me. That I cared about it, but then I didn’t all of a sudden and that scared me. I didn’t want to forget anymore. I tried to pull away, but she was strong. I’m just thinking damn, she’s determined. I thought she really, really wanted me. I started to forget again. Forget even that I wanted to stop making out with her. It was when I started feeling foggy and forgetful that it stirred something inside, some feeling. Then I remembered that feeling, recognized it as—well as a feeling that I didn’t feel for Dana. So I tried to push her away again, ya know, gently at first. She wasn’t budging and I started to freak a little. So I shoved her hard, but nothing, man. It was like Dana had super human strength. Just when I started to know something was seriously messed up, she shoved her tongue down my throat. I mean, down. My. Throat. But it wasn’t her tongue. It was her. She was trying to get inside of me. She wasn’t Dana anymore. She was like a wet spongy…pile of pudding. But not good like pudding. Totally disgusting. Leech Demons get inside and take over. They can really mess with you. They don’t just possess you like other Demons. When they get in you, you know they’re there. You’re still you. You still feel, think, hear, everything. But you have no control over what you do.”
Keely cringes as she recalls her moments with the same thing. She realizes that must have been Dana that night at Nick’s. Another cringe shakes her body.
“I tried to fight her off, but once she started worming her way in and turned all…gooey, it was impossible. I couldn’t get a grip on her. I went for my stars, but they were gone. I don’t remember taking them out, but then I saw them sitting on the dash board. She must have done it while we were kissing or something. I could see them, but I couldn’t reach them. It was like my freedom was right there, right out of my grasp. I couldn’t breathe. And it tasted so bad man. I just wanted to die. Then it was over. She was gone. It was just me. I picked up my stars, got out of Dana’s car and got into my own. Drove myself downtown. I just got out of the car and started walking. I walked for probably two hours. I didn’t know where I was going, but I did at the same time. I know that doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it was. I walked right up to a house and went inside. There was another Demon there. She knew him so I knew him, but I didn’t really. He’s the same one here that comes when Dana doesn’t. She knew him as Geryon. A Demon Guard. From there, everything’s a blur. The next thing I clearly can recall is waking up here in the dark and freaking out. I screamed and yelled. I begged and I prayed until I lost my voice. I made my fingers bleed trying to rip at the bricks. I tried to get out until I was too exhausted to try anymore. Then I just gave up. I thought I was going to die here alone. I made peace with it. Then you showed up.” He smiles at the darkness. “It was like total relief followed by complete panic. I was so happy you were all right, so happy I wasn’t alone. You were alive. We were together. But this place, this fate…I don’t want this for you, Kiem. Not for you. You can’t die. Not here. Not like this. Not ever.”
The silence lingers between them. She can hear the heavy intake and release of his breathing. “What happened that you got separated from everyone?”
Keely clears her throat several times trying to find her voice. “We went to Pandora to meet Apophis. The plan was to meet at eight o’clock and exchange myself for my parents. I mean, that wasn’t really the plan, but that was what we agreed to with Apophis. We got there and he wasn’t there. Then Dana came.”
“Did she hurt you?” Bitterness leaks back into his tone.
“No,” she lies. “She did something, or somebody did something. I don’t know what happened exactly, but one second we’re standing there and everything’s fine, then the next… It was like everyone was losing it. Like they saw something I didn’t. It was just a rush of scared kids trying to get out all at once. I was pushed to the ground and I haven’t seen Nick since.”
“What about the others? Dustin and Lila?”
Keely hesitates. She doesn’t know if she should tell him about Dustin. Doesn’t know what she thinks about Dustin. Would she have done the same thing if it were Nick? If it were Bryon? Would she turn on her friend? Sacrifice someone else to save the person she loves?
“I don’t know,” she says slowly almost to herself. “We can’t count on anybody else to save us. They can’t know where we are, we don’t even know where we are for sure. Between the two of us, we can think of something to get out of here.”
He snorts. “We can’t even see. Maybe if we could, maybe if we had a weapon, maybe if we were together in the same cell. I don’t know. I don’t want this for you, but I don’t know what to do.”
“Think. We can do this.”
He stands, grips the bars. “That’s all I’ve done since I’ve been here. It’s all I can do. They have us, Keely. There. Is. No. Way. Out.”
“They took away your stars, your freedom, and your light. Don’t let them break you too. They’ve already taken enough. They want you to give up. They want you weak. They want another feeble follower. Don’t give into them. They have taken too much from us, Bryon.” She lets her head thump against the wall that separates them. “Bryon? Are you with me?”
Bryon touches his forehead to the wall as well and takes a deep breath. He can almost feel her on the other side. Keely. He won’t let this be her end. Bryon flashes a cocky smile to the black nothingness around him. “Let’s start a riot.”
***
The stairs stretch before her endlessly. A soft yellow light spills across the first few steps. They look as if they could crumble away at any moment. The first step into the unknown is always the hardest. Always the scariest. She doesn’t get scared though. At least, she isn’t supposed to. She is brave, tough, and smart. At least, she is supposed to be.
So why is she having such a terrible time picking her foot up and placing it on this stupid stair? The stairway to her freedom. At least it’s supposed
to be.
Given the source, she couldn’t blame herself for disbelieving. And there was something else. Like taking these stairs was running away. Like she would be a coward if she took that step. But maybe she’d be a coward if she didn’t. Confusion rolls over her. Indecision. Hope. Panic. One emotion after the other as her foot hovers in the air waiting on her to tell it what to do. She stomps it to the ground and curls her hands into fists. Her rings push painfully into her fingers. She stretches them out. Cracks her knuckles.
She’s been standing here so long, staring up this dilapidated stair case. It’s a wonder she hasn’t been discovered still hanging around. Her head turns from the bright view in front of her to the darkness behind.
One way seems to lead to safety. Yet, somehow, her heart pulls her to the darkness. To the pitch blackness and dank smell. Why? Why would her head disagree with her heart? Why would her heart face her this way?
Her bright pink flats squeak on the damp ground as she pivots to look full on into nothing. Her hands relax at her sides. She squares her shoulders, standing up tall, mind determined. Her father always taught her to follow her heart. “It will never steer you wrong,” he said.
One step leads to another then another until the light has completely disappeared behind her, closing her up in a suffocating black blanket. She runs her hand along the wall so she doesn’t lose her way. Something tickles her arm and she tears it away with a gasp. Wipes her arm several times and shakes her shirt out just to be safe. She decides to hit the wall every other step as she begins moving again. She keeps count in her head. One hundred and sixty-eight steps to the first fork. She takes the right automatically because her heart tells her to do so.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Footsteps pause her counting, quicken her pace. She runs blindly because though she didn’t need it, her heart tells her to. Screams at her to get away. At the next fork she doesn’t even see it coming. She has stopped hitting the wall in her hurry to get away. She doesn’t have a clue it’s coming until she rushes it at full speed. She slams, face first into the brick wall. She notes the taste of blood and the smashed nose just as she feigns unconsciousness.
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