Monster of the Dark

by KT Belt

  Carmen didn’t think much of it, though. She sighed, and remembering the first time they met, slowly shook her head in a manner that let Artemis know exactly what Carmen thought of her. The girl sneered back, which prompted a small smile on Carmen’s part. She guessed that constituted the last laugh in their little contest. Either way, that supremely rare facial expression lived up to its billing and soon no longer graced Carmen’s lips.

  She sighed again, and then sat…and sat…and sat for hours. Artemis’s handler eventually came. He was quite easy to read. Actually, she didn’t even need to be able to read him to know what he was thinking. He was nervous, if not scared. A suppression team was also with him, and Carmen would say Artemis actually enjoyed the fanfare, as strange as that seemed. Still, the girl didn’t resist going with them. What she did do was give Carmen a pointed glare before she was escorted out. Carmen gave no reaction, other than to hope she wouldn’t have to see her again. Once every other lifetime was more than enough.

  Carmen wondered when someone was going to come by and collect her. She looked for Janus at first and was even worried that he may have forgotten about her when he didn’t appear promptly. She scanned the room for a few intense minutes with every sense she had before she was forced to conclude that she would just have to wait.

  More time passed, and eventually her time came. It was a man who sparked her consciousness from the moment he entered the room, despite her diminished awareness from the handcuffs. He had a suppression team with him as well. He didn’t say anything as he unbound her from the bed, other than that she was to follow him. She did so dutifully. They left without a word, and the suppression team followed them back to her dorm. Throughout the journey, she was tempted to ask where Janus was. She ultimately didn’t care that much, though. He wasn’t here now. Maybe he was busy and would be by to collect her in the morning. It made no difference.

  The man wordlessly opened her door when they arrived. There was a plate of food on a brand-new table inside. The debris from her prior destruction had been cleaned, and they’d even taken the time to outfit the room with some other bare necessities. It was tempting to destroy everything again just because. That would have to wait for tomorrow, though, as she was hungry. She walked inside, hardly noticing the door closing behind her, and sat down to eat.

  The food was fresh and warm. It wasn’t her favorite, but she wasn’t in much of a mood to complain. She took her first bite and then paused. The food tasted like chalk. She looked at it, utterly confused though strangely not surprised. Her meal didn’t seem to be prepared badly. She’d had similar before, and it always tasted just fine. But something was decidedly different. Her appetite seemed to have left her just as her teeth closed.

  She looked around her empty room. Everything seemed oddly dull, almost lifeless. Her body felt weak, probably from the hunger she was not experiencing, or because of, well…just because. Carmen looked at her new possessions. She had crushed her old ones to bits and, just like that, they gave her new ones. She’d been killed and, just like that, she was alive. Worst of all, she was back in this room again—trapped in this room for now and always. It didn’t matter how many desks she obliterated or how many times she was revived. It would never end.

  She looked at the food again and her eyes narrowed. How many times had she had that meal before? She forced herself to take another bite, and it tasted even worse than before. She pushed it away. Then she went to her bed and tried to sleep. If this wasn’t Hell, perhaps she was simply dreaming and would eventually wake up.

  Carmen didn’t know when she finally nodded off. Now, however, her eyes snapped open with a flash. She wasn’t saved by a nightmare, as far as she could recall, she hadn’t set an alarm clock, and Mikayla wasn’t slobbering all over her face. She had simply awoken. But why? Her eyes scanned the room, but she saw nothing.

  Strange, she thought. It felt like there was someone else in the room with her. There quite obviously wasn’t, but the presence was too significant to deny. It wasn’t some great power like Artemis, but it caught and held her complete attention anyway. Now that she was more awake, she realized it wasn’t in the room; it was approaching her room. Carmen sat still for a moment, unsure of what to do. She knew her track record in this place. This wouldn’t be anything good.

  “Lights,” she said. She wouldn’t face this new horror in the dark, but she didn’t bother to get out of bed either. Crushing whatever it was with telekinesis as soon as it got in the door would be less work.

  Closer and closer it came. Her brain shifted through the ether, and eventually she determined this thing had to be a Clairvoyant. The person’s dynamism couldn’t be pinned on anything else. Carmen looked up as whoever it was reached the door. Her breath even caught as they turned the handle.

  There was a long pause before the person entered the room, and one of Carmen’s eyebrows rose when she finally saw her new company. It was a woman maybe a year or two younger than Janus. She was Asian with raven black hair, cut short, and tidy. She wasn’t very tall—perhaps only a few inches taller than Carmen, if she had been standing. And while this woman wasn’t all too much shorter than Janus, for some reason she had none of his overbearing, ogreish presence. She was almost twig-snappingly skinny, which probably had something to do with it, but it was more in how she carried herself. There was a quiet, nearly arrogant style of fierceness to her movement, like her every action was a laughing, face-slapping challenge. There was so much grace to it, though, that she seemed downright gentle if not serene. Carmen had never encountered an energy like it before.

  No one said anything. Carmen could read her—not well, but it could be done. At first pass, this person was nothing that gave her pause. Still, it was hard to tell exactly what she wanted. Carmen’s mouth opened to more directly satiate that curiosity, but at the same moment, the woman looked at her sidelong and raised an eyebrow. She shut her mouth almost instantly. Then the woman turned and walked out the door without saying anything. She didn’t even beckon for her. Despite that, Carmen felt prompted to follow. Her shoes were on in seconds, but there was no time for her to change her clothes, nor was there time to tie her hair in a ponytail. She just got off the bed and out the door as soon as she was able. After walking briskly to catch up, Carmen was walking side by side with her like she used to do with Janus.

  The woman, however, still didn’t say anything. Carmen stared at her, which was met by a quick glance. “If you are wondering who I am, my name is Kali,” she said.

  “Are you my new handler?” Carmen asked.

  Kali smiled for a moment. “I prefer to think of myself as more than that. But if you want to consider me your handler, I have no problem with that,” she said.

  Her words fit together in the same effortless, gear-like fashion as every other Clairvoyant Carmen had ever met. Yet there was a welcoming if not warm aspect to her voice that Janus could never match. It caught her off guard.

  “I don’t want to fight anymore,” Carmen muttered.

  Kali smiled again, but she didn’t say anything. Carmen didn’t know exactly what that meant. Why was this so weird? She opened her mouth to protest, but Kali raised a hand, silencing her. Her new handler said nothing, though, and simply walked on. Carmen stopped in place. She was tired of being led who-knew-where to do god-knew-what.

  “I said no.”

  Kali didn’t stop walking, choosing instead to slow her pace. She casually glanced at Carmen over her shoulder with a bemused smirk. To Carmen’s surprise, she didn’t look angry. She didn’t even seem annoyed. If anything, she seemed expectantly patient. She said no words. In fact, all she did was turn forward again and continue walking.

  Carmen just looked at her. An argument was coming—it had to be coming. Part of her was even steeling for one. But now she was so deflated that she actually gasped. How could she respond to that? She’d never been at this point with Janus before. He usually just said something she only barely understood and then went on with whatever she was
protesting against. Kali skipped the explanation. She didn’t even give any indication that she would wait for whatever Carmen decided to do.

  Weird, she thought as she considered her options. Her reticence continued for a few seconds longer before she decided to follow…for now, at least. Besides, she was a little curious about Kali. There was something so alluringly different about her manner that Carmen would be hard-pressed to say she didn’t enjoy being around her, if just for the contrast.

  The two of them got in the elevator. Carmen didn’t see what button Kali pressed, but it didn’t matter anyway. She had little doubt as to what floor it would be. The fight rooms, always the fight rooms. Her mind ran in circles, trying to figure out how to avoid the painfully familiar place. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. The appropriate floor came…and then it went. The elevator didn’t stop. Carmen glanced in Kali’s direction. Her new handler made no reaction. It was at this moment that Carmen noticed the floor for the fight rooms wasn’t selected; it didn’t seem to be a mistake. Janus never made mistakes. Kali seemed at least as competent.

  Where is she taking me? Carmen wondered.

  There was no way of knowing. When the elevator opened again, Carmen was quite certain she had never been on this floor before. The unlikelihood of a mistake was confirmed when Kali stepped out of the elevator without a second thought. Carmen followed.

  It was dark here. The lighting was minimal and, as was usual for this place, there were no windows. The hall stretched on for a respectable distance as a kind of dimly lit tunnel. A door was at its end. Carmen could make out a sliver of light from under it even at this distance. She looked at Kali, who unsurprisingly had no reaction. Carmen looked at the door again, not liking whatever her prospects were on the other side of it.

  “Where are we going?” she asked hurriedly. Her eyes had adjusted to the point that she could make out Kali’s smile.

  “Nowhere in particular,” her handler said simply.

  “What’s through that door?”

  “That’s completely up to you.”

  “What?”

  Kali sighed softly. “It’s difficult for me to explain now. But you’ll find out.”

  Carmen stopped in place. “No!” she said. The words flew out of her mouth with such force that they may as well have been a punch.

  Kali didn’t say anything, but she did stop walking. Then she turned slowly. Carmen swallowed hard. She was going to get it now. She took a few hesitant steps back and subconsciously balled her hands into fists. Kali didn’t look angry, though. She had that same serene air about her as when they first met. Janus wasn’t a madman. He’d never even raised his voice at her—sort of. But Kali was just…odd in her calm. It was off-putting.

  “Edge,” she said, looking down at her charge, “there is nothing I can say to you to make you trust me.” She paused before she spoke again. “I don’t even expect you to. But trust me when I say I will never do you harm. I will never hurt you. I will never do anything—anything—that isn’t in your best interests.”

  Kali was right. There was nothing she could say that proved she was sincere. Carmen knew that better than most. People mixed the truth and lies together so effortlessly that they may as well have been ingredients for a cake. Even so, Carmen could read her handler well enough to know she was telling the truth, for what that was worth. There was no conscious prompt on Carmen’s part, but the knowledge made her defenses fall.

  Her handler saw as much, and she smiled and then nodded at the sight. “You asked me what’s behind the door. And I’ll tell you I honestly don’t know. It’s up to you. But, if you’ll let me, we can face it together,” she said, holding out her hand. Carmen stared at it and stepped away. Kali only smiled again as she pulled it back. “Whatever you like,” she said simply. Then she began walking again.

  Carmen followed slowly. All she could do was stare at her. Eventually, they were walking side by side, and she continued to stare. Who was this person and where had she come from? One thing was certain: she didn’t belong here. Kali was like a flower in cow manure or a snowball in Hell. But as Carmen stared at the impossibility before her, the less and less she questioned its existence.

  After a while, Carmen tired of studying her new handler and instead looked toward their destination. She took a deep breath. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate, on some level, Kali’s offer, although it was just as unbelievable as Kali herself. It was more likely that unicorns would run in and carry her to safety, all things considered. In any case, if her fate was solely up to her, she wondered what it would be. Nothing immediately came to mind. If it came down to what she wanted, however, she guessed she could look forward to some peace…for whatever form such a thing would take.

  As Kali’s hand went to the door handle, Carmen’s tension rose to the boiling point. The door opened, and the girl’s mouth dropped and her eyes grew wide. She was outside! Her mind went blank in that instant, and she couldn’t move. As a reflex, she raised her arms to shield herself from the long-forgotten rays of the sun. Her eyes didn’t hurt when they adjusted to the brightness, but the warmth on her skin felt like acid. There was no time she could remember being overly hot or cold. She wouldn’t say it was hot now, but the sensation was so strange that the only thing she could think to do was suppress it to avoid being overwhelmed.

  “Come on,” Kali said over her shoulder, not slowing her pace.

  Carmen did her best to comply. She even took a moment to lower her arms. She probably looked a bit ridiculous with them held up, but no one was watching. She looked and looked and looked, but there was no one else around. The shock almost pinned her in place again. If she ever managed to escape—and she’d planned as much more times than she could count—she expected at least one if not several armed guards to intercept her the moment she stepped outside. Kali gave no reaction, so Carmen assumed the present circumstances weren’t unusual.

  Armed guards or no, the facility did have defenses, though. A relatively imposing concrete wall seemed to ring the compound. It was also topped by barbed wire that faced outward. She remembered there being a metal fence when she was younger, but she couldn’t see it now. Perhaps the wall had been an upgrade, but it wasn’t much of one if that was the case. To her or really any Clairvoyant, it was about as impregnable as a sieve. She could fly over it without a second thought. If she had the time, she could just burn through the concrete. She glanced at Kali and felt the strong urge to choose option one. Kali glanced back, seemingly knowing what she was thinking. With that, Carmen put the fermenting plan to bed.

  They passed a corner of the building, and Carmen received another shock. Just a short ways away were other children. They were about her age, certainly no younger, and were Clairvoyants. They weren’t in the middle of some escape attempt, though; they were just quietly playing some game she had never heard of. Frankly, she thought they looked very awkward. Sure, they moved with all the grace and poise one would expect from a Clairvoyant, but it was like they didn’t know what they should be doing, and it had nothing to do with their game. They glanced in Carmen’s direction for a moment before once again paying her no mind. She did the same, moving on to study the more interesting trappings of her surroundings.

  The compound was larger than she’d ever thought. She had only seen it from the outside once, and that was years ago. The fact that the facility extended several stories underground only added to that mass, and Carmen was immediately reminded of her lessons about icebergs. On the outside, it didn’t resemble a prison as she expected it would, concrete wall notwithstanding. People moved freely. There was a calm if distant atmosphere to their demeanor, more from the students than from the handlers. If pressed, she would even admit the place came across as open, if such a thing could exist in this horror.

  Behind her, in the far distance, loomed the skyscrapers of a city she didn’t know. Local geography was never in her lesson plans, and she always assumed it was a calculated play to limit her options if she ever
did escape. If so, it had worked. She had no idea where she was or even her orientation. The facility, for all its size, was an insignificant speck compared to that metropolis, and that was all she knew about it. The sight was impressive. Just looking at the middles of the buildings disappear in the clouds only for their tops to reappear and then stretch on and on made Carmen nauseous. Even so, she had never been one to be all too interested in brick and steel, especially after being submerged in it for most of her life. And it was now that she relaxed enough to become reacquainted with an old friend.

  She sighed contently, but even that couldn’t do what she was feeling justice. It was hard to believe she’d almost forgotten. The big burning ball in the sky bathed her with energy, and every fiber of her Dark soaked it up, letting it course through her and playfully letting it go only to absorb yet more. Locking a Clairvoyant underground was like blinding an artist or hobbling a Thoroughbred. As far as she was concerned, it was another in the list of crimes she was a victim of.

  Kali kept her same pace, which was another crime. Carmen had so much energy under the sun that she could run a marathon on her hands while singing opera. In due time, though, they crossed the courtyard and exited one of the gates in the wall. Carmen looked back at it. She’d dreamed of this moment—the day, the exact second, she was finally out of that place. Yet it passed with no ceremony, even on her part.

  She looked forward without a second thought. There were no more buildings in front of her. The air was moist and warm, and as they went, she began to hear an odd noise. It was rhythmic and gentle, but there was a dull crash every now and then. She’d never heard the ocean before, and she could even feel that great body of water churning. They followed no path, despite their track being a straight line. The land was tended here, just like in the compound, leading Carmen to think it was all the same property. She groaned softly. I still haven’t left. But she knew, as she always did, that they were almost to their destination.