by Sophia Sharp
Her mind worked frantically for answers, but none came. There was none, save for one.
“You can have me.”
The creature snarled, baring its teeth, and laughed again. But as it did, it kicked Alexander’s body back. He slid toward the pool. Nora watched in horror as his body curled across the floor, slowing down slightly, but not enough. His body slid toward those horrible waters…and stopped right at the edge. Nora sighed with relief. But the momentum of the slide carried his bad arm over, and the limb fell into the water.
His body spasmed uncontrollably, and he screamed again, a terrible sound of pure agony. He struggled to pull his arm out, but it wouldn’t move, as if stuck in quicksand.
“Enough!” Nora screamed. “You can have me!”
The creature stepped toward her. Nora was frightened, yes, but necessity dictated she do something. Anything!
Fear gripped her, but she was a creature of instinct and could not face demise so easily. She also had the gift of Vassiz blood running through her veins. The first feeding had afforded her that advantage. The creature reached toward her, its hand bolting through the air, but Nora was fast. Just as its hairy paw was about to grasp her body, she jumped onto its arm and ran along it, up toward its shoulder. The creature froze in a moment of surprise. Nora moved toward its head, toward the eyes – those would be the weakest point. The fur was slippery and dank, but Nora ran fast, faster than the creature could have anticipated. She had caught it off-guard…
Something hit her hard across her side, and she flew off. She landed hard on the ground, sliding backward. Instantly the creature was on her, its jaw snapping wildly at her face. Its mouth was nearly as big as her entire body, and she could smell the putrid stench that emanated from there. Nora curled back, avoiding the snout, and spittle flew into her face, on her clothes, and in her hair. It was sticky and disgusting. She tried to get up, to get away, but an iron claw sprung onto her, holding her still.
She squirmed, but it was no use. The creature shifted more weight to the paw, and Nora’s lungs emptied under the pressure. She couldn’t breathe – she was being crushed to death! She heard the sound of marble cracking around her under the weight of the paw. With one last desperate effort, she screamed.
Suddenly, the load lightened, and the pressure eased. She didn’t know why. Just then, she felt herself being picked up, carried in one paw like it was nothing. The creature turned back, holding her in that giant disgusting claw, and lurched toward the far end of the chamber. Its steps were uneven, and Nora’s head swung uncontrollably. Her vision blurred, and she started getting dizzy. But, from the corner of one eye, she saw that Alexander had pulled himself away from the pool. Relief coursed through her. But the sleeve of the arm that fell in the water had melted away, and the skin there was a blistering red.
Nora was jerked in another direction and lost sight of him. The creature was running now, moving unevenly toward the end of the chamber. Toward the darkness.
It closed the distance quickly. When it got near, it stopped. The darkness there…it was impossible to see through. It was like a curtain, a solid black shape. There was no transition between it and the light of the chamber. It was just a wall of black.
Nora watched, gripped by fear and uncertainty, as the creature reached toward it with its other paw. It extended a single claw forward, touching the darkness, and…tore…a piece of the black away. It moved its claw down against the shadow, like a knife through cloth. The darkness parted in the spot, and a hole appeared. The hole grew larger as the creature’s claw slid down, until the opening was the size of two men or more.
The hole in the black was stained with a sickening blood red color, like a living wound, and pulsed against the dark. Nora looked at it and realized inside was the mirror image of the place just behind her. But the red hole was no mirror – the creature wasn’t reflected, and neither was she.
Just as that thought formed, Nora flew through the air. She had been thrown – and was flying toward the gap. Desperately, she shielded her face with her arms, trying to twist away from where she was headed. But then she hit it.
She felt the most agonizing pain ever. It was similar, in essence, to coming back from the dream world, but it was so much more real. This time, her flesh was actually seared as she lived a thousand lives. Piercing needles burned her, and every second lasted an eternity. She was trapped in a vacuum of time. She felt pain, torturous agony, but it was worse than that. It was as if she was losing a part of herself. The sun’s blazing heat, the frozen river’s iciness; it was all too real – all too powerful. She felt herself being stretched thin, felt the very essence of her being slipping away. She was being stretched forward and backward, left and right, in a million different directions all at once. She was losing her shape, losing herself, and this time – it was for real. She felt the pull from all sides increase in intensity, until she knew she was going to break under its weight…
And then she snapped back into herself and flew out the other side.
She hit the ground hard and slid a long distance. Her body felt…weaker. She looked up and saw through the portal. The creature on the other side was slicing downward, making the gap even larger, big enough for it to come through. She watched through blood-stained, shimmering glass as the creature slowly began to step through. The portal waxed and waned as one massive leg came through. Its body followed, and then the snout appeared. She had to get up, had to get away.
She looked around and realized it was as she had seen before – the exact same chamber as the one on the other side, except that everything was mirrored. What was this place? Behind her stood the same pool, and farther back, the same exit to the corridor. This one was not blocked, though.
She looked up at the ceiling, and saw the same crystals. Except these gave off a blood red shine, bathing the entire chamber in a sickly red glow. What is this place?
The creature was coming through. Nora scrambled up, moving away. The creature’s entire body appeared through the portal, and the red surface clung to its back for a second before rebounding back harshly. Waves rippled across the sickly red surface before simmering down.
Immediately, the creature launched itself at her. It was fast, but Nora was lighter – and that meant more agile. She parried left, getting out of the way, catching the creature off guard. It staggered, and Nora used the moment gained to circle around it.
From behind, Nora launched herself at its back, trying to knock it over. She slammed into it and felt like she’d hit a brick wall. She rebounded off, stumbling, and the creature spun around. Again, it launched itself at her, and again, Nora managed to jump out of the way of the attack just in time. It swiped at her, but Nora was now more wary of the arms and avoided them. With a quick few steps, she jumped at the creature’s face – toward its eyes. They had no protection, and if she could just get to them…
The snout came up to greet her, and she slammed heavily against it. The creature jerked its head to one side, sending Nora flying. Through the air she tumbled, far and high, but she managed to regain her balance and land on her feet just before hitting the floor. The creature roared again, shaking the room. Nora felt the reverberations of the noise through the air. Again, small crystal shards fell from the ceiling, shattering on contact with the floor. A few of them landed on the creature’s back. Nora noticed that small tendrils of smoke hissed from those spots.
Wait. Could the crystals be the answer?
Nora didn’t have enough time to think as the creature charged her again. She ran back, pressing herself against the wall. If she could just time it right… The creature was lumbering over, extending one arm as if to grab her, and she stood absolutely still, waiting for the perfect moment.
An ungraceful smile curved the demonic thing’s lips as it realized it had Nora trapped. Just as it was about to smash into her, Nora sprang out of the way. The creature hit the marble surface hard. The entire chamber shook with the force of impact, and more crystals fell. Most shatt
ered harmlessly on the floor, but the ones that touched the creature’s fur, again, created thin smoke tendrils. And Nora saw the spots where they touched were singed with a hint of black.
The crystals…they must have some sort of power against the creature. But why would it bring her here, if it knew about them? Perhaps it didn’t. She didn’t have time to think. It was all or nothing, now.
Nora ran toward the creature, grabbing a shard off the ground. She moved toward its legs, narrowly avoiding its powerful paws, and used the shard to cut at its feet. Despite her aim, she hit a hard part – the hoof! The powerful leg reflexively kicked at her. It connected and sent her flying away. Again Nora soared backward through the air, landing with a hard thud on the marble floor. But she saw, in that split second, that the crystal had made an incision. She had managed to cut the hoof! She had an advantage, now.
Getting up, she turned and ran away. If the crystals could hurt the creature…but there was no time to think. The creature had started racing after her, footsteps pounding the marble tiles. Nora cut to one side of the pool quickly, running along the long edge. Looking back, she saw that while the creature was following, it was careful not to come any closer to the pool than need be. It was wary of the waters – no matter what it said before about being a caretaker.
“You cannot escape your destiny, Nora Colburn!” it roared behind her. “Your destiny is to die and be held here like the rest!”
Ignoring the words, Nora kept running. The creature sprang after her, increasing its speed. Looking over her shoulder, Nora saw that it still avoided coming too close to the pool. Suddenly, she remembered she could jump. Not just jump, but jump high enough to soar across the pool. It would gain her valuable room, especially if the creature couldn’t – or wouldn’t – follow.
Gaining speed, Nora angled herself toward the edge of the pool and leapt across. She flew over the chilly waters, and started coming down. Abruptly she realized she may have miscalculated the distance. She flinched as she started coming down just before the edge. Straining, she used all the momentum she had to shift just the tiniest bit forward…and she landed on the floor, just at the very edge of the pool.
Whoa.
She wavered momentarily, but caught her balance just in time to avoid falling. She looked back.
To her dismay, the creature snarled and leapt right after her, all fear about the pool completely extinguished, replaced by pure determination in its beady eyes. It flew across and landed just behind her. Nora had already dashed forward and changed direction quickly. The creature stumbled – its legs weren’t as agile as hers – and flew into the side wall, crashing hard against it. More crystals showered down, and Nora avoided them as she ran. Again, some more fell on the creature’s back, but it didn’t seem to notice.
Nora’s eyes scanned the floor around her. She needed a bigger piece, one she could use to fight off the beast. But all the shards on the floor were broken and useless. Desperate, she glanced up, looking to where the biggest crystals might be. They were all there, glowing red on that high ceiling. If she could just reach them…they were high, but if she could somehow use something as a springboard…
An idea formed in her mind. It was brilliant, and at the same time ridiculously risky. But it was all she had. She continued racing forward while the creature behind her was recovering from its crash into the wall. Then, when she thought the distance was far enough, she skidded to a halt and turned her body around toward the creature.
And she ran right for it.
Those beady eyes saw her movement, and the thing snarled and smiled wickedly. Its tongue lashed out, a serpent’s tongue, split in two, and the creature’s legs propelled it toward Nora.
It was fast, but so was she. They ran toward each other, the gap between them closing with alarming speed. Suddenly, Nora angled herself toward the wall and jumped up. Using the wall as a boost, she pushed off it to propel herself right at the creature. The creature swung a hairy arm at her, at the spot she had been on the wall, but Nora avoided the punch. Its fist hit the wall, sending more crystal shards raining down. Nora saw some land on its arm, and where they did the fur melted a little, like a burn, but again the creature didn’t notice.
Using her momentum from the push, Nora landed on its shoulder and took one step before leaping onto its head. And with all the strength she had left in her legs, she leapt up, off the beast’s head and toward the ceiling. Toward the crystals that might save her life. She flew through the air, getting closer to the top. She reached out with one hand to grab a single crystal that was sticking out. Her fingers brushed against its sides…
And just then she stopped. For a second she seemed to hover, frozen in mid-air. Then she felt something around her foot. She looked down and saw in horror that the vile beast’s tongue had wrapped itself around the bottom of her leg, like some sort of lasso, and was pulling her back. For an eternal moment time seemed to stop as despair gripped her. She had been so close!
Nora thrashed against it, but she was being pulled back. Right into the mouth of the beast. Panic held her, but she realized that in one hand she still held that small piece of crystal from before. She slashed down at the tongue, connecting just before reaching the creature. The creature cried out in pain, a horrible sound, and flailed to the side, sending Nora flying into the wall.
She had no time to balance herself and crashed heavily into the marble. Pain radiated across her back, horrible pain, and her lungs expelled all the air that had been in them. Then she slid down. She looked up and saw with horror that the creature was flying through the air right at her. She didn’t have enough time to move.
“You will pay for this!” The creature crashed right on top of her, crushing her with one giant paw. Its claws extended out, curling around Nora’s body. She felt the marble beneath her cracking again. She felt the heat of the creature’s breath on her. And she felt the massive weight pressing against her body, crushing her slowly.
Suddenly, Nora was in the air – she had been thrown. She flew fast, and didn’t have the strength or the time to regain her balance before she slammed heavily into another column.
Her vision blurred. She felt dizzy and weak. And again, the creature bounded up to her. Nora reached weakly for something, anything to fend the beast off. But there was nothing. Again, she felt the crushing weight of the heavy paw pressing down against her ribs, robbing her of breath and movement. Suddenly her fingers brushed against something slick, something like glass – a crystal shard! The creature was on top of her, looking at her through those evil dark eyes, taking its time to crush Nora slowly. Weakly, Nora’s fingers wrapped around the hilt of the crystal piece. If she could just get it in her hand…
“What are you looking at?” The creature snapped its head back to where Nora’s arm lay. It let out a guttural chuckle and kicked the crystal away disgustedly. And Nora’s hand fell to the floor, empty. She was going to die.
Slowly, the creature moved its massive snout close to her. She could feel its breath, hot and heavy and putrid, across her entire body. She was trembling with fear. There was nothing left – she could do no more. This was the end.
The creature’s jaws opened menacingly, and Nora turned her head away just as they began to close onto her. She shut her eyes tight and waited for the end.
But it didn’t come.
Instead, Nora felt the vibrations through the air as the creature snapped its jaws at her just inches from her face. It picked her up again, and threw her across the room.
Nora flew, over the pool, and hit the far wall. Again. She slid down slowly. From the other side, she could see the creature peel its lips back in a vicious smile. It was toying with her! It knew it had her beat, and was taking its sweet time. Weakly, Nora tried pushing herself up – and fell back down. She was too weak to fight anymore. She looked up, and saw the creature walking slowly around. Taking its time. Enjoying the moment.
Determination gripped Nora again. She did not want to lie there helplessly
and wait for her demise. She pushed herself up, forcing her body to respond. Her legs didn’t want to listen, and her arms didn’t want to listen, but she made them. She got up and started to run. It was a weak run, a pathetic run, as she stumbled over her feet and nearly fell on every second step. She was exhausted – her body was weakened – but she knew she had to get away. She ran, lurching forward unevenly, limping even, but it was no use. She didn’t have the same speed as before, and the creature was just behind her. Something slammed against her side – the creature’s paw, most likely – and black sparks flickered across her vision as she flew to the other side of the chamber.
Again, she hit the wall. This time her head recoiled back, slamming the unforgiving marble with enormous force. She slid down and collapsed at the bottom. She didn’t even try to move. She knew she couldn’t. Her legs and arms felt like jelly, and horrible pain radiated from the back of her head. She watched as the creature looked at her and began walking around the pool again. Coming toward her slowly, taking its sweet time.
She knew she should be scared, but she was beyond fear, now. Her body felt useless and broken. She was coming face-to-face with death and was too exhausted to care.
Instinctually, she willed her feet to move, willed her body to respond, but it didn’t. Nothing happened. She felt herself start to drift away. The pain from the back of her head had spread across her entire body, so that every breath brought a horrible mixture of anguish and vertigo.
The creature was on her side of the chamber, now. It was getting closer, still taking its sweet time. It licked its lips greedily with that broken tongue.
Nora tried to watch, but her eyes drifted shut. She was in total darkness for what seemed like eternity.