by Leah Silver
“I’m not interested in dealing with you. I should’ve killed you when I had the chance.”
He snorted. “Oh, really? And when was that exactly?”
I jerked my head, hating that damned sack all over again, needing to look into his eyes. “You know when. You’d just taken a boy. We were in his room. I was horrified with what you’d done. I was the only one visible in the room. If the parents came in, they’d blame me. It was the perfect scenario for you.”
“Yes. It really was.” I could hear his stupid self-satisfied smile, making me want to smack him even more.
“In that moment, you believed yourself to be untouchable. And that was your mistake. You left yourself vulnerable. One touch from me, and I could’ve ended you.”
“How?” His arrogance and disbelief showed through his voice. He still thought I was spinning some tale just to hear myself talk. But I wasn’t him. When I talked, it was with purpose.
“Maybe I shouldn’t tell you. I might still use it against you.”
That made him laugh out loud, and the sound echoed through what I was becoming certain was a warehouse. “And how exactly will you do that? Seeing as how you’re chained up, and sadly lying on your side, I fail to see how you’re any kind of threat to me.”
“No. You’re right. You’re untouchable, aren’t you? And that, my uncle, will be your downfall.”
“What?”
“Your arrogance.”
He stood. I imagined him staring down at me with that smug expression on his weaselly looking face. “We’ll see.”
“Indeed we will.”
His footsteps grew distant until I heard the door slam behind him. What was the point of that? And what was the point of him keeping me captive? The answers wouldn’t come. I felt like someone had dumped a thousand-piece puzzle on the floor, kept a piece, and expected me to put it together with my hands tied behind my back. I was more than two steps behind at that point.
I shifted, and the chair moved slightly. I froze, not wanting to undo what I’d just achieved. Could I free myself? I wiggled a little more, and the chair went back to where it was. “Demons’ breath,” I whispered as I wiggled more, but this time in the other direction. The chair slid down, away from my body. I pushed on it with my legs, with my butt, with anything that gave me any kind of leverage. Inch by painstaking inch, I wriggled my way away from the chair. Once I was free, standing was my next challenge. I rolled to my back and rocked forward. Standing up with my hands tied behind my back was harder than it sounded, but I did it. Believe it or not, I had a…rock-hard core.
Once I was standing, I wanted that sack off my head. I’d have a lot more freedom with that damned thing gone. I bent over, and I tried to shake it off. Nearly fell over again doing that little number. Eventually, it fell to the ground. I got a good look at my surroundings.
Unfortunately, it didn’t tell me much I didn’t already know. A concrete floor, sheet metal walls with exposed piping and covered wires running everywhere, a single set of metal double doors off in the distance, and a high metal ceiling all screamed warehouse. Except there weren’t any shelves, equipment, anything. It was totally vacant. Well, except for me and my overturned chair of course.
Standing and absorbing my surroundings left me feeling very empowered. Until I got to my next question—ow what?
I walked to the doors, knowing they’d be locked, but wanting to try them anyway. Maybe they could be forced open with brute strength. Unlikely, but hey, what else was I going to do in that big empty warehouse?
I leaned hard on the left door with my shoulder, but it didn’t budge. At least, not at first. Rather suddenly, they burst open, clocking me square in the face. I took several uncontrolled steps back as my world spun after being hit so hard.
“Ah, good. You’re up.” My uncle’s voice was a rather unwelcome sound as I bent over, trying to make the world stop spinning. “I suppose I should’ve warned you those doors open in.” He shrugged when I glared at him, working to straighten myself.
I was taller than him. Bigger. Without his special powers, I could’ve beaten him easily. But he hid behind them constantly.
Behind him came a whole team of people. They weren’t gargoyles. They were different. Grey-skinned creatures with bright green eyes I’d never seen before. Their eyes were mesmerizing. Almost like snakes.
They brought in a whole myriad of medical equipment, and my uncle smiled through the entire thing. I just stood there and watched dumbly.
“Now the real fun begins,” he said.
Two of the creatures flanked me, and I eyed them. They wasted no time in trying to seize me, and I threw my weight into one of them. He crumpled like a piece of paper, throwing the second off balance. I yanked my arm around to toss the second on top of the first. “Tell me what this is about,” I said to the two on the floor.
Neither spoke. “They don’t speak English, I’m afraid.” My uncle shrugged, as if that was an acceptable answer.
“Fine. You tell me what this is about then.”
“What makes you think I know anything?”
“Your shit-ass grin, that’s what.”
He laughed out loud. “Now, you’re going to get what you deserve for abandoning our family and our way of life. Gargoyles have been taking children for centuries. How dare you defy our lifestyle? These fellows will teach you rather quickly you’re no better than the rest of us. In fact, you’re beneath the rest of us. Seeing as I’m not the one about to be strapped to that table over there.” He nodded to the back of the room, and I could see they’d set up a gurney, an IV pole with a bag of silvery liquid hanging from it, as well as a heart monitor and several other machines that were beeping with each button pushed.
I closed the gap between us. “Tell me the meaning of this. Now.”
“Or what? You’ll head-butt me? Seems to me you’re in no position to be threatening me.” He looked at me with pity, and it pushed me right over the edge. Who was he to think he had any right to pity me? I was so mad I spit in his face. He was right. I had no recourse. I couldn’t defeat him. Not at the moment, anyway. But spitting on him did make me feel better. Quite a lot better, actually, since he frowned deeply when he wiped my loogie from the end of his nose.
“My mouth was open,” he said.
I chuckled. “All the better.”
Once the equipment was all set up, all the grey-skinned creatures descended on me. “You can do this one of two ways,” my uncle said, his voice now cold. Apparently, my spit had stolen the joy out of this moment for him. Good. The damned cum-swilling cave newt. “You can just go with them easily and get this show on the road, or you can fight them and they’ll win. Either way, you’ll end up strapped to that table.”
“And what will they do to me once I’m there?” I asked, watching the six creatures close in on me. The two I’d knocked down had gotten up and joined the party.
“Why, they’re testing the plague on you. of course.”
Nope. That was a whole lot of nope with a capital N. In that moment, my world grew smaller. I saw the six creatures getting closer, one with a syringe in his hand. Did the others have syringes? Four of them had at least one hand hidden. The last one had nothing but open palms as he approached me. Taking a more peaceful approach, apparently.
I decided he was my safest bet and charged. Barreling right through him, I nearly went down myself. He fell back much easier than I expected him to. The others tried to get their hands on me, but I was through their comrade quickly and running for the door, which they happened to have left open. Freedom. I could almost taste it.
When I stepped over the threshold, I stopped, shocked I’d made it out of my prison. They’d actually let me go.
“Stop him,” my uncle shouted from inside the warehouse. It echoed around the huge building in a rather comical way. Like he was a cartoon baddie and I was just a meddling kid.
When I heard the footsteps of the six creatures pounding after me, it spurred me back into acti
on. I took off running down the dimly lit hallway. It was entirely too grey in there, cement floors, metal walls, no windows, and no way for me to know which way was out.
Still, I ran. Anywhere but behind me, that was all I could think of. One foot in front of the other as fast as I could go, until there was nowhere left. I rounded the corner and came face to face with a wall of stone gargoyles. They were each at least as big as me, standing legs apart, ready for a fight. I turned my foot to stone and stomped hard, crumbling the cement beneath them and making them all go down like bowling pins.
“Strike,” I said. But there was little joy in the victory. The hallway was so narrow I had no way to get around them, even if I had knocked them down. As the grey creatures approached, I decided I didn’t have much choice. I vaulted over the pile of gargoyles.
For one small second, I thought I was going to make it. I could see clear ground behind them. And even a door beyond that. A door. As long as I didn’t know exactly what was behind it, it held endless possibilities. It was the Schrodinger of all doors. It could’ve led to another trap. But it just as easily could’ve been the key to my freedom.
Unfortunately, I’d never find out. I was close enough I could almost feel the door against my shoulder when one of the gargoyles I’d toppled grabbed my ankle and yanked, bringing me down hard. Considering my hands were tethered behind my back, my face was really getting a pounding that day.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, a victorious smile on his face.
“I was hoping anywhere but here,” I said.
“Can’t say I blame you there,” he said, surprising me.
I scrambled up as quickly as I could, leaning in close to him. “Did you know they’re planning to test the plague on me? Us? You could be next for the Mother’s sake.”
He frowned. “Not a lot I can do about it now, brother.”
“Leave,” I almost screamed at him. “Get out of here. Go to the council. Tell them what’s going on here.”
He laughed. He started guffawing. “It’s cute you think they don’t know exactly what’s going on. How do you think we got a hold of you so easily? We knew exactly where you’d be.”
“What?” I took a few steps back, the wind knocked out of my sails yet again. Part of me knew they must’ve known about this place, based on Charles’ willingness to let me go. But they’d orchestrated my capture? They’d aided in expanding the plague to other species? Who was the real enemy here?
“Come on.” The gargoyle took the top of my arm, beginning to usher me toward the grey creatures.
I couldn’t process anything as they shuffled me back to my prison. I’d run quite a long way, and it took a while to walk those narrow halls back to the gurney. Right before the gargoyle forced me down onto it, I looked up at him. Bright blue eyes that seemed like they might care gazed down at me.
“If you change your mind, let me know. I think, together, we might be able to get out of here.”
He shook his head when they strapped my arms and legs to the table. “And do what?” he asked, his eyes sad.
“Win,” I said as they tightened the strap around my head.
“Brother, I don’t know what winning looks like to you, but we’re a long way from that.”
Those pink elephants are a bitch
I turned to stone. I thought if they couldn’t stick my skin with needles, they couldn’t get anywhere, right? Wrong. They had special needles to accommodate dealing with gargoyles. They’d been planning this for quite some time apparently.
My uncle hadn’t stayed to watch, surprisingly. I thought he’d want to see me writhing in pain. But he wasn’t in the room when they brought me back and strapped me down. Nor did he come in at any point.
The one who stuck me looked down at me with those bright green eyes, and I thought I saw a flash of it again. Pity. But this pity wasn’t the same as my uncle’s. It wasn’t born out of arrogance. It was genuine. He felt sorry for me.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
A hissing sound was the only answer I got. The one on my left’s head shot up, and he eyed the one who’d tried to communicate with me, as if warning him. Were they prisoners as much as I was?
What the actual fuck was going on here? I didn’t have a lot of time to contemplate it before I started feeling something cool flowing into my arm. It wasn’t cold to the point that it made my arm ache, but it was uncomfortable.
When I started to shiver a bit, they put a heavy blanket over me. “Thank you,” I said in a knee-jerk reaction. What was I thanking them for? Killing me?
The one with the blanket paused. One standing at the heart monitor narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head. The first frowned and walked away, going about his business.
These creatures didn’t want to be here, doing this to me. So how could I use that to my advantage? How could I get them to my side? They had the power to infect me, so they had to know how to undo it.
“Listen, guys, let’s work to…geth..er…here.” My words grew slurred. The more I spoke, the heavier my tongue felt. I blinked, but that took a long time, too. Darkness surrounded me, and I almost liked it. But fear made my heart race, and I opened them again. “What…” I didn’t get to finish my question before the darkness took me for good.
I was in a bedroom. Blue walls. Drawings done in crayon hung on them. Sheer white curtains fluttered in the nighttime breeze. I stared at the ceiling, only to see a face grinning down at me. But it wasn’t friendly. It scared me. My tiny heart started pumping fast. That was probably about the time I realized I was human. A boy, in fact. I pulled the dark blue covers up around my chin. It never occurred to me to call out to my parents. They’d probably never believe me, anyway. It was a dream. Just a dream.
I repeated the mantra over and over in my head as I watched the grin disappear. Slowly, my heartbeat returned to normal, but I was a long way from going back to sleep. I sat up in bed and went to the window, staring out at the city below. All the windows around me were dark, although smoke rose from several of the chimneys. One drunk soul sang at the top of his lungs a block or so over. His tune traveled to my window, and I smiled.
One, three, two, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, eight, nine, seven, ten,
Then I let it go again…
His mangled version of the tune made me giggle, and I decided to leave the window open. I went back to my bed feeling better, having almost forgot the face.
I happily drifted off to sleep, listening to the drunken fellow try to finish the tune that morphed into another well-known song.
But my happiness was shattered when the grin returned. My eyes were closed, but he was there. I knew it. I couldn’t open my eyes. Why not? I panicked, but somehow wasn’t moving at all. His face was in my head, and there was nothing I could do to get him out. My heart raced as I raged against my own mind. Breathing became more and more difficult, making me panic further.
Soon, the grin turned to a laugh as he won. The nightmare I’d been plagued with over and over and over all week long was coming true. And in the end, he won.
My vision shifted to another scene. I wasn’t human anymore, but I wasn’t myself either. My father stood at the doorway. He turned to me. “Wake Cecily and the others. Take them to the roof.”
“Are you sure? There’s no way out from the roof.” It was a woman’s voice. My mother. I was my mother.
“I’m sure.” I believed him. His eyes were steady. He knew what he was doing. He would save us from this.
Fear pulsed through me when I ran to my siblings’ rooms, waking them up one by one. “Come. We’re taking an adventure on the roof to see the stars,” I said to the youngest.
I didn’t lie to the oldest. “Let’s go,” I simply said. He saw the fear in my eyes. In our mother’s eyes. He didn’t question or fight her. He followed, taking the middle sibling by the hand and leading them to the roof. I doubled back for my father.
He was standing at the door, his back to it while someone on the other side pounded relentlessly. “Go,” he urged.
Instead, I ran, adding my own weight to it. I turned to stone and stood there, bracing the door.
“We can’t keep them out, June.”
A tear trickled down my face, but I refused to give him an answer. Refused to give in to what stood before us. Nothing but hate and death. I wouldn’t freely accept that for my children. I found myself thankful Oscar was away this night. As a mother, I’d been sad when he left me, but he would be safe from this. One of us was sure to survive.
I held onto that as I moved away from the door and faced my husband. The man I’d loved for so many years. In that moment, we both turned to stone for the very last time.
The vision faded, and I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. Were they real or just fragments my own mind was piecing together? The time between these two visions was much longer than the last, and I lingered in the darkness wondering if this was it. Had they’d killed me, and I was trapped beyond the void? It seemed very quiet for that. No souls gone before me lingered about. Perhaps each person had their own version of the void.
“He’s not responding well to this version. Bring him back and try this one.” It was a man’s voice. Very authoritative.
“Why, sir?” A woman’s voice now. Soft, almost meek.
He grunted. “Well, he’s much too peaceful. The plague isn’t bringing him enough suffering.”
“What difference does his suffering make? He’s still dying.” A bold statement for how meek she sounded. Perhaps she wasn’t quite as cowed as she seemed.
“What difference does it make?” The level of his voice raised about two notches, and I would have flinched if I could control my body. “It makes all the difference in the world. We came to bring suffering to the other races, before we eradicate them. You’d do well to remember that.” Silence. “Do as I say.” More silence, and then the door slammed.
“Why do you push him?” a man’s voice asked.