Approaching Storm (Alternate Worlds Book 2)

by Taylor Leigh

  The box almost vibrated in her hands, jumping as if on a charge. Sam’s heart went fluttering. She ran her tongue over her lips, unsure of what to do. She didn’t have time to go home and open it.

  ‘You’ve found us! Oh, you are a clever girl!’ the girl gasped.

  Sam frowned. ‘Us? Hang on, how many of you are there?’ Out of all the questions boiling in her brain, she was a little disappointed with herself that that was the first one that came up.

  The voice distorted, becoming more than one. They began to recite together, eerily in order. ‘He has captured many of us over the years; he seeks us out and destroys us in life. We’re forced to live this way. Trapped! But you’ve found us! You can set us free! Hurry!’

  Her stomach started churning in excitement.

  Yet, even as she gazed down at her find, wariness began to creep into her. She knew nothing about what she was getting into. She was dealing with something supernatural, she knew that now beyond a shadow of doubt and she didn’t know how to handle it. Just why were these voices sealed in a box and buried by some ancient king? Assuming that the inscription was indeed true, what had caused the king to do it? If it was left to the Traveller, why did the voices fear him so much, what was he going to do to them? And why the hell was her name scrawled into the front?

  ‘I can’t right now. You’ll have to wait till after school. I’ll see what I can do then.’ As gingerly as Sam could, she slid the old box into her bag and then ran for the school, shoes slapping off the pavement.

  Sam thought school would never end. She had been shifting uncomfortably at her desk the entire day, biting her lip and staring at the creeping hands on the timepiece in growing agitation. She was growing progressively more ill with uneasy nerves thanks to the thing stuffed in her rucksack. Her thoughts were being torn two separate ways: She was desperate to find out who was behind the voices, find out what they knew about the mysterious Traveller, and most importantly, figure out what to do with them. But there was also a nagging, wary fear that told her to stop this right now.

  When she finally made it home—after narrowly avoiding Nelly and Terrance—she still hadn’t made up her mind. Curiosity was willing out.

  Her fingers shook with nerves as she dropped the box onto her bed. She couldn’t turn back. She just couldn’t.

  The box was just an ordinary thing, despite the clinging feeling of caution in her stomach. She felt pity for the fearful voices; but there definitely was something wrong about it. She’d be a fool to think otherwise.

  The inscription on the front of the box ‘…for the Traveller…’ stood out bolder than the rest. She was getting into something she shouldn’t.

  It was as if the box sensed what she was thinking. It jumped, causing Sam to leap backwards.

  I shouldn’t open it…Sam bit her lip.

  But what else could she do? She had no way of knowing where to find the Traveller—assuming, and it was a big assumption that the Traveller was the man she’d met on the shuttle. To make matters even more complicated, she didn’t know if she could trust him. Yes, she still couldn’t free herself from her desire to find him again, but perhaps that was what had happened to the voices trapped in the box. Maybe they had been unsuspecting girls, just like her, and he’d done something horrible to them.

  She didn’t have many options. She had no way of knowing where the Traveller was, and she couldn’t keep the box locked for ever. She’d have to do it on her own, whatever the consequences.

  They didn’t have many tools in the house and it took some ingenuity on Sam’s part, but she finally managed to get the box open.

  She honestly didn’t know what she’d find. She had figured perhaps bones. If she was talking to the ghost of a girl murdered by the man years ago, wouldn’t that make the most sense? Maybe some instructions for the Traveller, after all, how would he know what to do with it?

  She was disappointed to find neither. What she saw was a single small ring, lying inside of the box on a pillow of velvet. She gaped down at it in surprise—and more than a little annoyance. A ring? All of that trouble and panic over a ring?

  Sam pushed the lid open further and gazed down at the thing. It was beautiful, she had to admit that. Two tiny, golden dragons made up the band. Both of their mouths were clamped around a cracked red jewel.

  In the dark shadows, the red stone still glinted with light, which she’d almost be convinced came from within. Sam frowned. Well, that wasn’t natural. It was almost…almost like something was staring back at her. Uneasy revulsion tinged the back of her throat. There was something very wrong about this.

  ‘Oh, to be beyond our dark prison! You’re so close to setting us free, oh, girl, thank you! We’ll finally be at rest! If you put it on then we’ll be able to communicate better, more fully! We are too weak to continue to speak to you as we have. It’s taken us so long to work up the energy. Our strength is growing thin…Hurry.’

  Sam swallowed. Her natural curiosity warred with her wariness. After all, how often did one come across something as unusual as this? Certainly not her, certainly not something this interesting. She chided herself. She couldn’t just let her fear get in the way simply because she didn’t understand it. Her habit of ignoring what she knew was clearly bad for her was once again getting the better of her. She wondered how many more time this would have to happen before she’d learn. Not this time, apparently.

  ‘Hang on, I need answers! Why’s it got my name on it?’

  ‘Because we wanted it there.’

  A chill wrapped through her. This thing could do that? And not break locks? Just what was this thing? ‘Who are you? Who is the Traveller, what did he do to you?’

  Dead silence.

  ‘Oi! I’ve done a lot for you; I’ll not put on that thing till you give me some straight answers.’

  Nothing.

  Sam sat back, wrestling with herself. She didn’t know what to do.

  How did anyone handle finding an old, small ring, buried in a box and carrying disembodied voices from beyond the veil? This was something new, something supernatural and for some reason it had picked her. Out of everyone on the planet, it had wanted to fall into Sam’s hands. It was a thrilling thought.

  And then there were the instructions written across the front of it: “To be left for the Traveller.”

  The Traveller…Her companion on the shuttle. This was what he’d been after, what he’d been come to this planet for. And now she had it. This strange ring, this ring that spoke to her and ate into her brain, this ring could be her key to finding him again. The realisation sent an excited flutter alive in her. She had to admit, she found the idea disturbingly appealing.

  She looked down at her reflection in the jewel and scowled. What she did not like was being manipulated, and it was blatant that that was what these voices were playing at. What would the Traveller do?

  Sam picked up the ring and turned it over in her hands. The ring—or whatever was inside the ring—had gone stubbornly silent. She wasn’t going to get any answers if she didn’t put it on. But what would be the price if she did? And what of the Traveller? Was he friend or foe?

  Sam continued to spin the ring through her fingers, turning the problem over and over. His face, the girl’s voices. Good and bad. The cold metal brushed against her skin. Distantly, she felt the band slipping down her finger. Sam jerked in surprise as she watched her thumb, in its own action, slowly slide the band down her finger. She had had absolutely nothing to do with that! Sam took hold of the ring and tried to slip it back off, but to her horror, it didn’t budge.

  Oh, gods, it’s stuck! No, no!

  Sam stood up in a panic, but was immediately barraged by a flurry of voices and dark emotion, swirling in her head in a dizzying, dark cloud. She staggered under the weight of it all and crashed back down to bed, dazed. Her vision blurred. The voices rose to a tumult, drowning out everything till Sam thought her head would explode. She clutched at the edges of her duvet in inexplicable rage. />
  How many were trapped? Sam was lost in the voices, no longer able to find her own thoughts in the midst of them. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and could only drown beneath the overwhelming waves.

  ‘Isn’t this better now, Sam?’ the soft voice was changing, shifting into something dark and unnatural and inhuman. Something bestial and evil and massive. It crunched in on her mind like sinking claws. ‘We have been trapped for so long. So cramped and so hungry. And now you understand us and our need. You’ll be the one, Samantha Turner, to do this for us.’

  Her limbs began to weaken. Her very eyelids fought against her. Sam was suddenly feeling very tired. Her body couldn’t hold out against this overwhelming new force. Tears of helplessness welled in her eyes.

  ‘I won’t,’ she whimpered. ‘I don’t know what you want from me but I won’t do it. I’m gonna find the Traveller and he’ll know…he’ll know what to do. He’ll stop you…’

  Nothing but an enraged black filled her mind, so twisted, so different from the sweet voices; wrapping itself around her like a constricting snake. She felt drugged.

  ‘Traveller…’ she managed to choke out between tears. His brown-eyed stare pierced through the haze, achingly comforting. She pressed balled up fists to her eyes to hold it there as slowly all strength failed her.

  ‘Yes, sleep now,’ it was purring, shaking her insides. ‘Sleep and let us draw from you the energy we need. You will need this rest for what lies ahead.’

  And she did.

  Chapter Five

  Sam groaned and rolled out of bed, bleary eyed. She glanced over at the timepiece sitting on the bedside table. Six-fifteen. She sighed. Well, at least she’d gotten about two hours of sleep. All things considered, she was surprised she’d gotten that much. Every time she’d been close to drifting off, something would jolt her awake. In the dark, for the first time in her life, she’d been terrified to close her eyes.

  The thing in her ring did not speak, but coiled in a contented heap, mentally imposing its presence on her. As weak as she was, the thing must still be draining her energy.

  The night’s memories came back gradually. She pressed her face into her pillow with a miserable groan, revulsion filling her. The entity woke enough to crush down, incredibly dark. It had a maddening effect on her, imposing emotions more dark and angry than she thought anyone was capable of feeling.

  Sam wasn’t sure how she’d be able to motivate herself for the day. After every horror dream she’d suffered through, facing long hours of classes was enough to make her cry.

  But after her cry, she still had to face her situation. She had to pull herself together somewhat. As much as she wanted to do nothing, she couldn’t just give up. She’d somehow been tricked into putting on the ring, yes, but Sam still had her will and she couldn’t go down without a fight. She still had one weapon left to her. And she’d be damned if she didn’t at least try to find him.

  As difficult as it was, after several long minutes of motivational self-talk, Sam finally found the courage to sit up. She almost crashed back down again, for stabbing pain shot along her back. She saw white spots as the room swam. She had to blink and rub at her eyes to make it stop.

  Sam pushed herself up despite the pain and stumbled across her cluttered floor and reached her wardrobe. Pain was beginning to steadily roar up her back. She cast a glance out of the window on her way over to help her decide what to wear, ignoring the growing pain. It was going to be a cloudy day. No sign of her comforting planet in the sky.

  Her back prickled, feeling stiff and raw.

  She pulled the cracked door open and scanned for anything that was in decent shape to wear. There wasn’t much to choose from. Sam noticed a pair of not-so-dirty jeans on the floor and bent down to grab them.

  Sharp, stabbing pain rocked down her back, catching her breath, making her straighten. Her hand slipped under her shirt, shaking, and she traced her fingers tentatively along her bare skin. It was hot.

  Slowly, reluctantly, she turned round to see her reflection in the mirror and began to roll her shirt up. Her insides curled with it. She didn’t want to see. Didn’t want to know. Whatever was there hadn’t been the night before and she didn’t want it to be real. The sight made her suck in her breath.

  Red stripes, five of them, were carved into her flesh in vertical lines. It was as if someone had taken a dull knife and repeatedly sliced…a knife, or…claws.

  Oh…oh gods…

  Sam swallowed and backed up slowly, staring wide-eyed at the dried, bloodied wounds. It wasn’t just a dream. She glanced down at the ring on her finger and her hand came back in surprise. The jewel was no longer cracked, but a round bright red ball. It glowed with a stunning light that sent her stomach tumbling as she gazed at it. Watching. Warning. Hungry. Alive.

  Her fingernails were crusted with dark red beneath them. Surely she hadn’t done such a thing to herself in her sleep!

  She traced her fingers over her back, feeling on the verge of being sick.

  ‘What the hell did you do to me?’ Sam had to fight to keep from shrieking.

  ‘You dreamt too deeply of the Traveller. Do you not know what will happen to you when he finds you? It is in all of our best interest for you to forget him. If you attempt to find him, if he finds you, the consequences will be severe. He would not spare us to save you.’

  The red ruby glinted in the light, reflecting the worry on her face. Something from inside twisted, making Sam’s stomach heave, like she was watching a maggot in an apple.

  ‘I don’t care!’ she found herself growling defensively. ‘And I don’t really care what it takes. I’m finding him and he’s gettin’ rid of you as soon as possible, so don’t get comfortable!’

  ‘Do not tempt us. Scratches are the least of what we’re capable of.’

  Sam clenched her teeth. ‘I wouldn’t threaten me right now. I’m not in a very good mood.’

  The ring wasn’t going anywhere for the time being and she needed to get ready for school. The prospect of heading back into the prisonlike building after a late night of tossing and turning wasn’t very appealing, but Sam didn’t want to think about what her punishments would be for bunking off.

  Sam was hardly conscious of what she grabbed to wear and paused only briefly to examine herself in the mirror before darting out of her room and down the stairs. She was sure she looked like hell. She certainly felt it. She was growing more aware of a sickening feeling building in her stomach and quietly hoped she would be ill. Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to go to school at all.

  Her father was already cleaning up his dishes from his morning meal when Sam made it down to the kitchen. ‘Morning, love. How’d you sleep?’ he asked sunnily.

  Sam tried her best to look alive. ‘Morning, still trying to get used to a new room. How are you?’

  Brock picked up his jacket that was draped over the back of a chair and glanced at his timepiece. ‘Good. Plenty of work today, though.’ He made a face. ‘Feels like everything was just waiting to break down till we moved here.’

  ‘What time do you think you’ll be home?’ Sam tried to disguise her disappointment. The whole safety in numbers idea was feeling all the more true now. She shuffled over to the black cupboard and poked around looking for something decent to eat. She decided on a box of dried fruit and grains with little enthusiasm. She was not exactly hungry with the state her insides were in.

  ‘Probably too late for dinner. Don’t bother cooking something for me, I’ll just order some takeaway.’ Her father reached the door and turned back to her with a pained expression on his face. ‘Sorry things have been so hectic lately. It will settle down soon enough.’

  Sam nodded, trying to ignore the dull ache from her back, branching down to her ring finger. It was sort of hard to believe him with that as a constant. ‘I know, don’t worry about it. See you later.’

  Her father gave a wave and a big smile. ‘Good luck today. Love you!’

  Sam wished him the same
and turned back to her bland meal once the door had closed. She had half an hour till she had to begin her morning trudge to school.

  Normally she would be debating on what to wear. Instead, she sat in growing fear. Her determination and strength were dwindling rapidly. It wasn’t a natural emotion for her. She by now was convinced the entity was imposing it on her as punishment of some sort. She wasn’t sure how much more she’d be able to stand without going insane. She was about ready to break down as it was.

  She drummed her fingers on the table and watched the alien object curled around her flesh. It was easy to become lost; Sam wasn’t sure how long she sat there, simply staring at the ring, feeling sickening waves of revulsion and anger wash through her. Not her own. Much too powerful.

  Before she knew it the timepiece above the sink was chiming the half-hour. She let out a curse and pushed herself away from the table, swallowing the last few bits of her breakfast on her way to the sink.

  After a mad dash upstairs for a wash and to grab her bags, Sam was out the door and tearing down the street.

  Moving had been uncomfortable in the state she’d been put in. Running was agonising. Each step spiked with pain; a reminder to Sam of her overwhelming desperation to find the Traveller. And yet, she had no way of finding him. Yes, she had spotted him twice in the city—which was a bizarre coincidence— but the chance of finding the Traveller was depressingly small.

  She had no idea what the voices had in mind for her, but she doubted it ended with her still breathing. The problem of how to rid herself of it before they had a chance to act was all she could obsess over. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind very quickly.

  It didn’t seem fair. Until recently, she had completely dismissed any belief in the supernatural. Now she was expected to somehow fight it—and she didn’t even know what she was dealing with. She blinked back tears of despair.

  She did not realise she was making her way back to the property till she was trotting up the hill towards it. With the poisonous cloud bound tightly round her she shouldn’t get her hopes up. Beyond asking Hamill’s crew if they’d seen the man again, she could do nothing. Sam braced herself for the inevitability he had not.