I opened my mouth to scream, and a moist, beefy hand that tasted like salt muffled the sound.
Fear shot through every muscle. I could see the outline of the closely shaved head, square jaw, and broad shoulders.
My hands tried to shove him away only to hit a stone chest that didn’t seem to feel my punches. And I was really trying.
“Let her up, Joel,” a second whisper demanded.
“She’s going to scream,” Joel hissed, looking back.
Rolling my eyes, I could see Claire, her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her stance familiar. Hips jutting to one side, Claire’s shoulders were almost touching her ears.
I shook my head beneath the hand.
“See,” Claire whispered, pointing at me. “She won’t scream. Right, Nora?”
How the hell did they get in here? I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to concentrate on slowing my heart. I had to think rationally. Fear wasn’t going to help me right now.
The suctioned pressure on my face popped, and I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand vigorously. At the same time, I kicked away from him until I could sit up.
Biting my lips together so I wouldn’t lick them, I held up my hands in a truce so he wouldn’t launch himself again.
Looking around, I saw Cooper sitting at my computer chair, watching with wide, excited eyes.
“What is going on?” I snapped in a hushed tone.
“We saw it, Nora,” Cooper accused.
“Yeah, you can stop pretending,” Joel said. “Real good acting there.”
I blinked away the surprise and decided to ignore him. He wasn’t making any sense. “Saw what?” I asked Cooper. He at least seemed somewhat level headed, despite the fact he broke into my house!
Cooper glanced at Joel before his hardened gaze shifted back to me. “We saw a flash of light inside your room.”
My window was closed, the curtains drawn. Well I guess they didn’t crawl through there. The rain still poured outside, and I realized each of them was wearing rain coats, which were dripping all over the carpet. I could only imagine the flood warnings tomorrow morning.
Pointing to the window, I tried to control the anger that was bubbling, teasing. “There’s lightning outside. Couldn’t a bolt reflect off of my window? And you guys all decided to come into my house in the middle of the night and what? Kidnap me? Are you all fucking crazy? Were you just sitting out there watching all night?”
“It wasn’t a bolt of lightning,” Joel said sternly. “It looked like there was an explosion in here.”
Kicking the covers off my bare legs, I stood up on the other side of the bed from Joel wearing my penguin pajamas. At least I wasn’t like Robin and slept in the barest, if anything. “This is breaking and entering,” I warned. “You broke into this house and woke me up to…”
Joel snorted.
“…to tell me that you saw a flash of light?”
“We didn’t break in,” Cooper pointed out and held up a key.
I stared at him in horror. “You stole my key?”
Claire’s appealing features scrunched in distaste. “No, you sent it to him in that note.” She gestured to Joel. “And no, I don’t think you’re his type, honey.”
I stared at her, flabbergasted, before it hit me. Damien lured them here; he must have. Did he need more players for his precious Challenge?
“Get out.”
Joel crossed his arms over his bulky chest and glared at me. “Listen, just tell us what the fuck is going on. Claire says that you’ve been calling her every hour harassing her. I get a friggin’ note and Cooper got this today.” He held up a shabtis.
Swallowing a gasp, I stared at a tiny replica. Wild reddish-brown hair and piercing blue eyes.
“Get out,” I said again, this time using a normal voice, hoping the abrupt sound in the silence would scare them.
Joel leaned forward, his dark, hateful eyes staring me down. “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll scream,” I threatened.
Joel’s eyes widened. In a leap, he was on and over the bed. One arm swung out to catch me around the waist, spinning me like a top. My back collided with his chest as one hand clamped over my mouth. “Scream now,” he mocked. In the scuffle, he dropped the Aidan-doll to the floor.
I did, though. I screamed and writhed in the vice grip that hurt my ribs. It was hard to breathe for another scream as he tightened like an anaconda.
“Joel!” Claire protested, her arms dropping to her sides, eyes wide. “You said…”
“Shut up, Claire. We’re taking this girl outside to talk. I don’t want to risk her screaming her head off when we’re so close.” Joel started to drag me towards the bedroom door.
I kicked out my feet to hit something. If it was loud enough, it might wake someone up.
“Cooper, get her feet,” Joel said behind me.
Cooper was standing, arms akimbo, staring in shock. “Joel, let her go,” he said. “Nora, we’re going to leave. Please don’t scream. We’re going to leave now. This was the stupidest idea anyway. It probably wasn’t her that sent the note,” he reasoned.
“Or sent me the phone calls,” Claire chimed in a harsh whisper, not sounding the least bit believable.
Joel growled in response. “I came all this way to get answers, and I’m not letting her go. Get her damn feet or she’ll…” He stopped in mid-sentence.
In his distraction, one of his fingers drew close enough to bite.
Sinking my teeth into his middle finger hard, I thought I tasted blood before his arm finally snaked away from my waist. Releasing his hand and stumbling back toward my bed, I screamed as loud as I could.
Cooper flung himself at me while Claire swung open my bedroom door and darted out.
Cooper collided with me, cutting my scream off short, and we toppled onto the bed in a tangle. “Please stop,” he pleaded over Joel’s shout and Claire’s thundering footsteps down the stairs in the dead of the night.
Considering he’d landed on top of me, I lost my breath and couldn’t scream if I wanted to. There was a fleeting moment where everything went white, when the air suddenly wasn’t there and terror knotted my insides. I wriggled until the air came in pitiful mouthfuls. The weight on me made it nearly impossible, and I flailed to get him off of me.
I half expected to hear running toward my bedroom, but instead I just heard Claire pounding her way down the stairs.
Joel ducked out the bedroom after her.
Cooper started to get off of me. His weight lifting from my chest was a wonderful relief as I took the first deep breath.
Still nothing.
I sat up, and dots danced before my eyes. I grabbed my night table to steady myself.
Was no one coming?
Like a light bulb bursting, I bolted for my bedroom door, past Cooper before he could react. I skidded out into the hallway, my head swimming in a blood rush, and I stumbled into my parents’ bedroom door.
I turned the knob, my shoulder pressed to the cool surface, and flung the door open, letting it hit the opposite wall with a bang.
I half expected to hear Caitlin’s shrill scream from her crib. However, she remained fearfully silent.
The two lumps in the bed indicated that there were people there, at least.
Hurrying to the edge, I could make out their faces. Both sleeping, my mom faced my dad, calm and serene.
“Mom?” I asked the woman, loud enough to sound harsh even to my own ears.
She didn’t move. She was lost in the same numbing world I’d been torn out of. I checked to make sure she was breathing.
Touching her shoulder, I shook her, hard.
Her head flopped against the pillow as I pushed her; it was almost grotesque as her muscles didn’t react, didn’t stiffen. She just flopped, as if boneless. “Wake up!” I shouted, feeling the urgency pounding.
In response, she fell back against my dad’s chest.
“Dad?” I tried the other sleeping figure as I rounded the bed
and shoved his back, but he just flopped into my mom, mouth open as a snore escaped.
A voice from the doorway startled me. “Nora?” It was Cooper. “Listen, we…” he started to whisper when a bloodcurdling scream broke out on the main floor.
The high pitch could only mean that it was Claire.
Startled, I glanced back at Cooper to see both him and Joel in the doorway. They were half turned, bodies rigid.
Joel reacted first, disappearing in a flash.
I heard his footsteps thumping down the stairs.
After a second’s hesitation, Cooper followed his friend.
I glanced back to my sleeping parents. Their breaths were slow and rhythmic, and they were completely oblivious.
“Claire!” I could hear Joel shouting from downstairs.
Standing up, I nearly collided with the crib. Caitlin was fast asleep on her back, arms bent on either side of her head, unmoving. If it weren’t for the rise and fall of her chest, I would have checked for a pulse.
“Claire!” Joel bellowed from below again.
Taking that as my cue, I burst out into the hallway and down the steps. I rushed into the living room where Joel was looking out the patio window. Upon my arrival, he stalked toward me, his body tense and eyes blazing. I shrank back, certain that he was about to hit me.
“Where’d she go?” he demanded instead.
“How should I know?” I cried, lifting my hands defensively. “I was upstairs!”
“She ran down here, and now she’s gone. What were you telling her on the phone?”
Cooper intervened, stepping between us, his tall frame blocking Joel’s face from my view. “Maybe she ran outside,” he suggested.
“The patio and back door are locked.” Joel’s eyes never wavered from me.
Claire is gone, I thought frantically. She’s been captured. It was too late for her, but what about for these two? I could almost let Joel walk right into the Demon’s Grave out of spite, but I knew I couldn’t do that.
Stepping out from behind Cooper, I said, “Get out of here. I bet she’s outside. She could have run out the front door when she got scared. You weren’t fast enough. Go, go!”
Joel eyed me, unbelieving.
Eager to go along with whatever got him out of the house, Cooper swatted Joel’s tensed arm. “She’s not going anywhere. Let’s go outside and check.”
I nodded, and peeked furtively around the living room for the wandering shadow. Was it coming for me now? I wanted to run outside with them, but I held still.
Joel started shaking his head and glaring at Cooper, pushing past both of us and into the entry. He was heading back up the stairs. “Where is your family, Nora?” he called back, no longer afraid of keeping quiet. “Why isn’t anyone up?”
I held my tongue, trying to think up a believable lie. The truth was too far fetched despite what they’d seen.
Cooper blurted, “They’re home. They won’t wake up. I saw them upstairs.”
Joel glanced between us before bolting for the stairs. I saw him move to Mona’s room.
“What the hell, Cooper?” I shouted and started to run for the stairs. “Leave her alone, Joel!”
Cooper was close behind me. We didn’t make it two steps when a string of curses caused us both to freeze.
“Joel?” Cooper called, no longer afraid of keeping his voice low. At this point, we all were hoping someone would come storming out into the hallway and demand to know what was going on.
Joel never replied. In fact, he was very, very quiet.
Cooper looked to me, wide-eyed and uncertain. “What’s happening?” he asked.
I shook my head at him. “Please, leave,” I said. “Just go outside. Find Claire and I’ll go get Joel.”
“No,” Cooper said, suspicion thick in his voice. “I’ll get Joel. You get Claire.”
I swallowed but again didn’t move. Cooper paused before he started running up the stairs, his gaze flickering back over his shoulder several times at me.
Alone in the entrance, I looked around me. Understanding turned in a panoramic view. Claire was alone when she disappeared. Joel was alone when he started to shout.
If I followed Cooper, I would delay the inevitable, and I needed to get back to the Grave. This would be the fastest way, with or without them. Why couldn’t they have just left well enough alone?
I could hear Cooper’s footsteps above my head. He’d be in Mona’s room right now.
My eyes shifted toward the shadows near the window as they lengthened—stretching toward me in slow certainty.
I blinked, and they appeared normal again, undisturbed and stationary.
I tried to control the rising fear that tickled my muscles. I wanted to run, every instinct screamed for it, but I couldn’t.
Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back, feeling my tangled hair falling down my spine. I would have preferred to be wearing something a little more protective than pajamas, but it was too late now. “Come and get me, Damien,” I said out loud, my eyes remaining closed.
I heard Cooper’s frantic race around the upper level of the house. It distracted me enough so that I didn’t focus on every tiny creak and shuffle that would make me flinch.
“Nora!” I heard Cooper shout, his voice strained and frightened.
I couldn’t answer him. He’d be taken soon, just like me. I tried to separate myself from the situation, to not get caught up in the panic, but it was hard.
“Nora!” he screamed, louder.
Wincing, I held back a reply. A tang of guilt and relief mixed in some crude concoction when I didn’t hear his voice again.
The crash forced me to open my eyes. Joel tumbled down the stairs, hitting the landing with a thud, and I heard a wheeze as the air rushed out of his lungs. Startled, I realized I thought he’d be gone by now. What if I was wrong? What if they could still get out and Claire was outside right now?
“Where’s Cooper?” I asked.
Joel was lying on his back, his arms up as he focused on the ceiling. “The closet…” He struggled sluggishly to his feet and peered up the stairs, holding his spine. “The closet door in your room shut.”
“And where were you?” I snapped, shoving him in the shoulder. I wasn’t sure what made me think shoving a guy three times my size was a good idea.
Joel spun to face me. “Something up there tried to grab me! No thanks to the two of you, I was trying to get away. And I found this.” He held up the golden ankh. It was glowing, illuminating his hand in pale light.
“Life,” I said before I could stop myself.
Joel glowered at me and started for the stairs again.
I grabbed for his arm. “They’re gone. Don’t you see? It wants life. You…”
Before I could finish my sentence, Joel whipped around. His elbow lifted and went wild. I don’t think he was aiming, but it hit me in the side of the head. A jarring dizziness wrapped around my head, throwing me off balance. Staggering away from him, I fell against the wall, grateful for the minor steadiness. But it was short lived.
The room began to spin. Faster and faster it went, throwing my world out of control until not even the wall could steady me.
Black dots danced, growing bigger, and the edges of my vision were closing in on me. The world collapsed in on me until there was only darkness.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
My eyes flew open to see the shabtis swarming me.
Their painted, familiar faces peered down, expressionless and cold despite some of the smiles.
For some reason, I was lying on my side, arms behind my back and shoulders aching.
The dolls were in front of me, moving around my body—no, floating. They hovered a few millimetres from the carpet, seemingly with some purpose in mind.
This wasn’t a dream. The pain in my shoulders was a sharp reminder. I was still in the entryway of my house, the stairs just a few feet away.
I wish I hadn’t woken up to this, to see each doll hard at work with ropes t
o bind me.
They didn’t even have arms, but somehow they commanded the ropes to snake around my ankles when they drew closer.
I could feel the uncomfortable tugging and grating against my skin as they worked feverishly, smiling and wooden. My wrists were still being tied together behind me, my ankles barely had rope on them, and my mouth hadn’t been covered.
I was intuitive enough to know that screaming would do me no good, but…
I jerked my arms with a start, writhing as the fear sparked to life. My forearm hit one of the dolls hard, and I heard a thud against the wall.
The ropes loosened around my wrists.
I shouldn’t have to go like this. I’m willing! Why torment me with ropes and the faces of my friends?
I worked my hands and rotated my shoulders until I swung one free arm in front of me. Lifting myself up, I pulled my other arm from behind my back.
Peering over my shoulder, I saw the Phoebe-Doll nearing the loose rope behind me. Her determined, narrow gaze—which was a common expression of hers—only enhanced the shabtis‘s intentions.
I swatted at the wooden representation of my friend. My swing just missed her, and she floated back.
My friends definitely weren’t in these dolls. They wouldn’t do this to me. Would they? I thought of their expressions when they saw me in the last dream.
Using the wall, I managed to get to my feet, ankles still bound. The dolls, though effective to a point, were slow moving. I couldn’t see Joel or Cooper anywhere as I bunny-hopped out of their range.
The soft glowing ankh stopped me in mid-spring near the banister. It floated in the middle of the stairs, several feet off the ground, glowing brighter than it had before. The ankh brought the dolls to life, I realized.
Reaching down, I fumbled for the ropes still tangled around my ankles.
Behind me, I heard a series of thumps. Glancing between my knees, I saw the wooden pursuers flop over, lifeless. Their eerily lifelike depictions, all stared at me. Their stillness sent chills up my spine.
Standing to my full height, I heard the rustling behind me.
Turning too fast to intercept it, I lost my balance and fell onto my butt. The pain stabbed up my tailbone, but I held back the cry as I searched for the noise that could be life or death.
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