Elementals 4: The Portal to Kerberos

by Michelle Madow

  No one answered my question, and I opened my mouth to repeat myself when I remembered—we wouldn’t be able to hear each other in the forest. Erebus never told us why, but I guessed it had something to do with the fog.

  Not being able to see anything or talk to anyone for three hours was going to get boring pretty quickly, but a little bit of boredom wasn’t something to complain about compared to everything else we’d seen in Kerberos so far. At least wasps weren’t trying to sting us and beasts weren’t trying to kill us.

  We continued walking for what felt like an hour, although in the fog, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. Then a breeze rustled through the leaves. It was soft at first, but it got louder and louder, like whispers whistling in the wind. The whispers were all around me, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  I squeezed Chris and Danielle’s hands, relieved when they squeezed back. I might not be able to talk to them, but I understood the message they were trying to get across—they heard the whispers too. But we had each other. We would be fine.

  As we continued, the whispers got louder. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were like insects, crawling into my ears and lodging themselves into the crevices of my brain. They filled my head, whistling and hissing until my mind felt like it might explode from the force of it all. I wanted to let go of Chris and Danielle’s hands and lodge my fingers into my ears to dig out the voices.

  But I didn’t. I held on tighter. Erebus had warned us that nothing we heard in the forest would be real. The whispers weren’t actually in my head. They were figments of my imagination.

  Unfortunately, simply acknowledging that they weren’t real didn’t make them go away. They just got louder and louder, until each little whispering voice surrounded me, closing in on me until I couldn’t hear my own thoughts above their hissing.

  “Shut up!” I yelled into the fog. My friends might not be able to hear me, but maybe whatever lurked in this forest could. “Get out of my head!”

  I didn’t think the whispers would listen to me.

  But they stopped, as if someone had hit the power button to shut them off, and all was silent.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Nicole?” a familiar voice asked, barely louder than a whisper. “Is that you?”

  “Becca?” I stopped walking, searching for where her voice could be coming from. But Danielle pulled me along, forcing me to continue.

  I remembered what Erebus had said earlier—whatever you hear in there, it isn’t real. The voice I just heard might sound like Becca, but it wasn’t her. It was the forest playing tricks on me.

  “Nicole?” my sister asked again, her voice trembling. “Where are you going? Don’t leave me here. Please.”

  I pressed my lips together and continued on, saying nothing. Whatever this thing was that was pretending to be my sister, I refused to play its game.

  But even though I didn’t respond, it kept talking. Repeating my name, asking where I was, begging me to come and find her.

  To find it, I reminded myself. This thing wasn’t Becca. Becca was back in Kinsley, safe in our house. There was no way that she was here. She couldn’t be here.

  But even though I said nothing, that didn’t stop it from talking.

  “Why are you ignoring me?” she asked, and given her tone, I could imagine Becca’s pouty expression when she said it. “I know that you’re special now since you have those powers, but you’re still my sister. Why won’t you come help me? Do I mean nothing to you now, since I’m not special like you are? Don’t you love me anymore?”

  “You’re not my sister!” I yelled, unable to stay silent for a second longer. My breaths were heavy, but I steadied myself, trying to regain control. All I wanted was for this thing to stop talking to me. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re not Becca.”

  “You’re wrong,” she whispered.

  “I’m not wrong.”

  “Are you really going to leave me here?” she asked. “Lost, in this forest? I’m scared, and I’m cold, and I want to go home. Don’t you want to help me?”

  “You’re trying to trick me.” I grit my teeth together, determined to make this creature shut up. “I know better than to fall for it.”

  “What if I told you something that only I would know?”

  I said nothing. Because this thing wasn’t my sister. And nothing it said would make me believe otherwise.

  “Remember that time a few years ago, when I broke Mom’s teapot in the dining room?” she said, even though I hadn’t asked her to continue. “I felt so bad about it—I couldn’t stop crying. But you cleaned it up and threw it in the neighbor’s trashcan. You said Mom would never notice. And you were right—she didn’t notice, until we were packing up to move to Kinsley. She asked what happened to that teapot, and we both acted like we had no idea what she was talking about. We were so calm about it—until we ran into your room, shut the door, and burst out laughing.”

  I couldn’t help smiling at the memory. Becca and I didn’t have much in common, but we did occasionally have moments that brought us together. We still shared a smile whenever we walked by the replacement teapot in our dining room now. We were the only ones who knew what had happened to the original—and since we’d promised to never tell anyone about it, we were the only ones who would ever know.

  So how was she telling me this story now? Was I right to have worried that my family might have left the safety of the house? Did one of the creatures from Kerberos find Becca and force her through the portal?

  She’d been kidnapped before—it could happen again. Had she been brought to Kerberos and dropped into the forest?

  “A monster captured me and brought me here,” Becca continued, as if she could read my mind. “I was terrified, but I remembered when the other monster brought me to the cave, and how you saved me. You’ll save me again, Nicole, won’t you? You won’t leave me here alone?”

  I looked around as Danielle pulled me forward, searching for where Becca’s voice was coming from. All I could see was the white fog. Surrounding me. Blinding me.

  “Where are you?” I called into the forest. Maybe I could get the others to come with me to find Becca. Once we got out of here with her and I explained to them what happened, they would understand that I had no choice—I had to save her. “Tell me where you are.”

  “I don’t know.” She whimpered. “It’s foggy, and I’m scared. Come find me. Please. I’ll die in here if you don’t.”

  She sounded so frightened and helpless. I knew we should have gone after the giants and killed them to make sure our families were safe. If I’d stood my ground more, we would have done that. Once the giants were taken care of and we knew everyone was safe, we could have come back to Kerberos to continue our mission.

  Instead, I’d been weak. It was my fault that Becca had been kidnapped. I had to find her. Yes, our mission was important, but I refused to abandon my family.

  I tugged on Danielle, trying to get her to stop walking. But she gripped my hand tighter, pulling me forward.

  I couldn’t let her continue. I didn’t know where Becca was, but she was here somewhere. If we kept walking, we would lose her. So I yanked on Danielle’s hand again, harder this time, determined to make her stop.

  Instead of listening to me and stopping, she curled her thumb inward and dug her nail into my palm—deep enough to draw blood. I screamed and tried to wrench my hand out of hers, but then I stopped struggling.

  Because with the pain came a sudden clarity.

  This thing in my head wasn’t Becca. If Becca were close enough to talk to me—to whisper to me—she would have ran to me and found me herself.

  I held Danielle’s hand tighter, hoping to communicate to her that she got through to me, and continued walking forward. I took a deep breath, centering myself. I had to stay focused. I’d let the whispers invade my mind once—I refused to let them do it again.

  “Nicole?” the voice asked, softer this time. �
�Aren’t you coming to find me?”

  “You’re in my head!” I yelled into the void. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re not Becca. You might be able to access my memories, but I won’t fall for your tricks. What we’re doing is too important. Blake’s counting on me. My family’s counting on me. The world is counting on me. And I won’t let them down.”

  The whispers could say whatever they wanted, but they couldn’t hurt me. And so, feeling more confident than I had since first stepping into the forest, I relaxed and kept walking.

  Then Chris suddenly slipped his hand out of mine, and he was gone.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I reached for Chris, but he was nowhere to be found. And Danielle continued to pull me forward, unaware of what had just happened.

  I couldn’t leave Chris out there. So I did the first thing that crossed my mind—I used my free hand to jab Danielle below her ribcage. The instant she lost her breath, I pulled my hand out of hers and turned around, screaming Chris’s name. Of course he couldn’t hear me, so I held both my arms out and ran back from where we’d come, hoping to bump into him. It had only been seconds—he couldn’t have gone far.

  I stayed on the path, since if I left it, I might never find my way back. Hopefully he’d stayed on it, too.

  If he hadn’t, he could be lost forever.

  “Nicole?” another whisper entered my mind.

  “Blake?” I asked, even though I knew it wasn’t actually him. He was no more real than Becca.

  “Who else?” I could practically hear the smirk in his tone.

  “But I saw the dragons fly you up the mountain.” I wasn’t sure if I said it more for his benefit, or for mine—to remind myself that this wasn’t really Blake.

  “Yeah, they did,” he said. “And I’ve gotta say—being flown by dragons was pretty cool. We need to try it sometime. But don’t you know me well enough by now to know that I could fight off Ethan on my own? I was coming back down the mountain to find you—that’s how I got here—but it looks like you found me first.”

  I wished it were true so badly that it hurt. I was cold, and alone, and scared. This mission would be so much easier if I had Blake by my side. I wanted him to be here, and I had no doubt that the forest knew that, too. That’s why I was hearing him now.

  But I refused to stop looking for Chris. The fog, the whispers, the forest—I didn’t know what kind of creature this was, or what kind of magic it had, but it could somehow get into my mind. It wanted to keep me here. And to do that, it had to separate me from my friends.

  Technically, it had already succeeded.

  But I refused to give up hope. I would find Chris, and get out of here. And maybe—just maybe—I could use the forest’s desires to my advantage.

  “Blake,” I said, wanting to hear his voice again. “I missed you.”

  “You have no idea how much I missed you.” Despite the cold, hearing him speak made warmth rush through my veins. “I fought off Ethan and ran through this hell world to find you. That’s how much I love you, Nicole. Enough to run through hell for you. I love you more than you could ever know.”

  “You love me?” My voice cracked, and a tear rolled down my cheek.

  “Of course,” he said. “And since you entered hell for me, I don’t think I’m going on too much of a limb to think that you love me, too.”

  “Yes.” I tried to wave the fog away, needing to find him. But I had no idea where his voice was coming from. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once. “Of course I love you. I’ve loved you since Greece, and I was so terrified that I would never get a chance to tell you.”

  “You don’t need to worry anymore,” he said. “Because I’m with you now, Nicole.”

  “Where?” I asked, my heart leaping into my throat. “I’m trying to find you, but I’m lost and I can barely see. Tell me where to go.”

  “Turn right, and keep walking straight,” he said. “We’ll be together soon, Nicole. I promise.”

  Every molecule in my body wanted to turn right and run into Blake’s arms. Instead, I jabbed my thumbnail into my palm, digging into the exact same spot Danielle had cut into earlier. A fresh wave of pain shot through my arm, cleansing my mind of the hypnotizing whispers.

  Before they could take hold of me again, I turned left, and I ran.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I crashed into Chris a few seconds later.

  “Chris!” I exclaimed, even though he couldn’t hear me. Knowing I had to work fast, I reached for his shoulder and dug my nails into the place where the fox had scratched him.

  His chest vibrated with the force of his scream. Seconds later, he was still. But at least he wasn’t fighting me, which must have meant that the pain shocked him out of the hypnosis caused by the whispers.

  I reached for his hand, ready to guide him back to the path. But he grabbed my hand and turned it over, tracing something onto my palms. Letters. First a T, and then a Y.

  Thank you.

  I did the same, tracing a Y onto his palm, and then a W.

  You’re welcome.

  I linked my hand into his, holding tightly this time. I wouldn’t let us separate again. I’d tricked the whispers once, but now they knew to expect it from me. I wouldn’t be able to do trick them again. All I could do was make sure Chris and I stayed on the path, and that we kept walking until we reached the end of the forest.

  As we continued, I heard my mom, my dad, Kate, and even Apollo. All of them trying to convince me that they were here, and that I needed to come find them. But I kept my fist clenched as I walked, digging my nails into my flesh to remain focused.

  Finally, the path ended. I stepped out of the fog, Chris emerging after me.

  “Nicole! Chris!” Danielle ran up to us, wrapping her arms around us and pulling us into a big hug. “I knew you would make it out of there. Erebus said you wouldn’t, but I told him he was wrong and forced him to wait with me.” She pulled out of the hug and stepped back, studying both of us. “What happened back there?” she asked me. “You were trying to break away from me, and I pinched you to bring you back to focus. I thought it worked, but then you punched me and ran off.”

  “Sorry about that,” I said. “Chris broke away from me, and you weren’t letting me go, so it was the first thing I could think to do to break free.”

  “And you found him that easily?” Erebus asked. I wasn’t sure when he’d approached us, but his arms were crossed, and he watched us with interest.

  “Yeah,” I said, and I quickly explained how I’d let myself believe the whispers, only to pinch myself to remind myself to go against them at the last minute. “I figured that since they could get in my head, the only way to make them trust me was to make myself believe what they were telling me.”

  “Smart.” Erebus nodded. “I didn’t expect that from you. It must have taken a lot of willpower to break away from the delusion on your own. Good job.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, so I said nothing. Instead, I turned back to Danielle. “How did you know to pinch me to force me to get back into focus?” I asked her.

  “I tried to break away from Erebus at one point, and that’s how he brought me back,” she said. “It worked on me, so I figured it would work on you, too.”

  “You couldn’t have told us about that before we entered the forest?” I asked Erebus.

  “I’m only your guide,” he reminded us. “I was hoping you would figure it out for yourselves. But when Danielle tried getting away from me, I did it without thinking. Once it was done, I couldn’t take it back.”

  “Don’t sound too happy about saving my life,” Danielle said, rolling her eyes. “And the lives of Nicole and Chris, since they wouldn’t have known to do that if it hadn’t been for you doing it to me first.”

  “What’s done is done,” Erebus said. “The important thing is that we made it through the forest without losing anyone.”

  “Yeah,” I said, not wanting to think
about what would have happened if I hadn’t found Chris—or if I’d ended up stuck in that fog, too. How long would I have wandered around aimlessly, talking with my loved ones and searching for them even though they weren’t anywhere to be found?

  I wanted to ask Chris what he’d heard that made him run away, but I stopped myself. Because what we’d each heard was personal. I wasn’t ready to share my experiences with them, and it wouldn’t be right to push them to share theirs with me. At least not so soon after it happened.

  So I said nothing, instead remembering what it had felt like to hear Blake’s voice—to hear him say that he loved me. It wasn’t real, but I wanted it to be. I wanted it so badly that it hurt.

  The others were quiet as well. Were they also remembering what they’d heard in the forest?

  “Do you all need to rest?” Erebus asked, breaking the silence. “As a god, it’s easy to forget that humans need to sleep sometimes.”

  “No,” I said, since hearing Blake’s voice had brought about a new wave of energy to find him.

  Danielle and Chris said they were able to keep going as well.

  “Good,” Erebus said, turning to continue on the path. “Because the Whispering Forest was just the beginning. We have a lot of ground to cover before reaching the mountain.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  We didn’t have long to walk until reaching our next destination—a river. The moment the path curved and we saw the water, I sprinted to the edge, cupped the water in my hands, and took a long drink. Chris kneeled beside me, doing the same thing.

  The water was sweet and delicious—like it had come straight from a glacier itself. It was better than any water I’d had on Earth. Which surprised me—because wasn’t this a prison world? It didn’t seem very prison-like to have such delicious water. But it was here, and I was thirsty, so I wasn’t going to complain.

  I drank and drank until I couldn’t fit any more in my stomach, and then I sat back, using my sleeve to wipe the water from my chin.