I knew he was right, but I could feel the souls of the dead reaching out to me, pleading to be released. “We have to go back!” I shrieked, unable to listen to reason as the spirits cried out in my head.
Alaric jogged a little faster down the stairwell. We were five stories up, but no one had even glanced at the elevators. The sane part of me knew that we were taking the stairs so we wouldn't be entirely trapped should the police show up too soon, but the rest of me could only think about the corpses we'd left behind.
I cried in vain as Alaric took the stairs in great bounds. If I fought to go back, I would likely get us all killed, or at least jailed, though something told me James and Diana would not go down without a fight.
We reached the bottom stairwell and continued into the lower parking garage. From my backward vantage point on Alaric's shoulder, I couldn't tell who was leading us, I only knew we were last in line. The sirens grew louder as another door slammed shut behind us, and Alaric lowered me to my bare feet, but my legs buckled. He caught me with an arm under my shoulders before I could fall. I felt like I wanted to cry. We’d forgotten my damn shoes. No one else standing in our little semi-circle seemed to notice.
“They're already outside,” James stated calmly.
“We'll split up,” Diana instructed. She turned her vibrant green eyes to Alaric. “Get Madeline out of here. Without her, our efforts are useless.”
I had one confused moment before Alaric lifted me back up over his shoulder and started running. Everyone else ran in opposite directions. There were several exits to the parking complex that I could see, but Alaric chose one that led to the back of the hotel.
I couldn't decide whether I was happy or sad as Sophie and the others disappeared from sight. Neither I suppose. Mostly I was just worried about escaping the police, and about trusting my fate to the man running effortlessly underneath me.
The door thudded against the building’s exterior as Alaric carried me outside. The cold was a sudden slap in the face, or rear, considering how I was being carried. I pushed away from Alaric's back to get a better view of our surroundings as he sped across the back parking lot. There were no police in sight, which meant that likely only one or two patrol cars had been dispatched to investigate the disturbance. They hadn’t surrounded the place.
Shouts echoed in the distance, followed by loud banging then more shouts.
It was only then that I looked down and realized Alaric wasn’t wearing shoes either. Without hesitation, his bare feet hit the snowy ground past the parking lot.
The commotion continued in the distance as we ran, but all I could think about was the cold and distantly, the souls I’d left trapped in their bodies.
Alaric quietly cursed under his breath as he carried me into a forested area. There didn’t seem to be any businesses or other buildings around, from what I could see. Just shadowy, dense forest. Thoughts flashed through my mind of cops with well-trained dogs hunting us down in the woods. We'd all been seen by the bellhop, so the police would quickly learn how many of us there were, and what we looked like. Of course, none of it would matter if we froze to death first.
I let out a yip of surprise when someone came jogging up to our side, then sagged in relief when I realized it was Sophie. I would have really liked to run on my own, but the no shoes and freezing cold aspect kept me quiet.
“James and Diana?” Alaric asked as they ran side by side, only sounding slightly out of breath.
“I don't know,” Sophie replied, “but I'm glad to be rid of them.”
I sucked in a breath despite the bumping pressure of Alaric’s shoulder against my abdomen. “Don’t we . . . need . . . Diana’s help?”
Alaric and Sophie were both quiet for a moment, then began speaking to each other in a different language, the same one I’d heard them use before we left Spokane. Great, just great. Not only was I going to either freeze to death or go to jail, I was also going to be left out of any planning involved in attempting to prevent either of those outcomes.
Alaric and Sophie continued talking like I wasn't even there. I clung to Alaric, resigned to listen for signs of pursuit. I could no longer hear the sirens, but I almost thought I could hear the souls screaming back in the hotel for me to release them. The sound would probably haunt me until I died, which given my luck, would likely be within the next few hours.
Eventually Alaric and Sophie slowed and I was let down to my feet. I hissed at the cold, tip-toeing to a snow-free spot near the trunk of a massive tree. My entire body ached from cold, and from being held over Alaric's shoulder. Along the way, I had continuously replayed the entire hotel scene over and over in my mind, and still couldn't push the disturbing imagery from my head.
By now, the dead Vaettir would have been put into body bags and carted away by the police. They would likely reanimate, and Norway would be awash with sensationalized stories about a zombie rampage.
Alaric and Sophie both paced, crunching icy pine needles under their feet. Sophie was the only one of us lucky enough to be wearing shoes, and she was fully clothed in her normal black attire. Alaric wore only his black jeans, leaving his dark hair to trail over his pale, bare chest.
I crouched down to cover my legs with my coat, then glared up at both of them.
Sophie glared right back. “What?”
I sighed.“If you both are done ignoring me, I have some questions.”
Alaric stopped pacing and came to crouch beside me. “I'm sorry,” he said, wrapping an arm around me. “We didn't mean to ignore you.”
Accepting his body heat, but not his apology, I leaned against him. “What's going to happen when the dead bodies we left in the hotel room reanimate?”
Sophie moved to stand beside us, her dark eyes scanning the distance. “I’m sure their clan will take care of it.”
“Their clan?” I questioned.
“It's the whole reason we formed clans to begin with,” Alaric explained, “and why we are supposed to stay within the Salr. It is the Doyen's responsibility to make sure things like this don't happen.”
I closed my eyes against a budding headache. “But whose clan were they part of?”
“That's the part I do not like,” Sophie commented. “They were not from Estus' clan, and James claimed they did not belong to Aislin, either.”
My shivering increased, and it wasn't just from the cold. I didn't understand the world of the Vaettir like Alaric and Sophie did, and I was getting tired of being left in the dark.
“So what do we do now? If Diana thinks the charm is somewhere near here, should we try to find it without her?”
Alaric and Sophie both looked at each other instead of me, like they were passing thoughts back and forth in front of my face.
Finally Alaric turned to me. “We never planned on finding the charm with her. We just needed her help to locate the exact area.”
My mouth formed a little “oh” of surprise that soon turned into a tight-lipped grimace. “You could have let me in on that plan at some point,” I chided. “Here I’ve been worrying over exactly when she and James would betray us all.”
“We didn't want to give Diana any reason to doubt your intentions,” Sophie explained, “but her obsession with you and Alaric has given us pause.”
I exhaled an annoyed huff of breath, fogging the air in front of me. “Stop talking like you're the hive mind. What do you mean her obsession with us?”
Alaric gave me a tight squeeze as Sophie explained, “Her obsession that the two of you be together. She would not do it for selfless reasons, and I highly doubt she's a die-hard romantic. She somehow wants to use that bond, and I do not like it. She's more invested in this than she's letting on. When we were attacked in our rooms, she left James to go after you. She chose you over her own grandson.”
“But there are other executioners out there,” I countered, “Surely I'm not that important.”
Sophie shrugged. “I have no explanation for it, but I vote we leave this place and forget a
ll about the charm.”
Alaric scoffed. “And hide forever? I've no doubt Diana will do her best to hunt us down, as will Estus. Aislin is Diana's sister, which means we'll have the two largest clans among the Vaettir scouring the earth for us.”
Sophie glared at her brother. “We've hidden before . . . ” she trailed off.
I shook my head. “I agree with Alaric.”
Sophie aimed a venomous glare at me. “Of course you do. So what do you suggest, Madeline, since you seem to know everything?”
I would have been offended by her sarcasm if I couldn't feel the fear wafting off her like heat waves. “The only conclusion I can come to in regards to Diana, is that she wants us to find the charm so she can either use it herself, or claim credit for its delivery to Aislin. I vote we find the charm and give it to Aislin ourselves in return for protection. Short of killing Estus, there is no other way to stop him from hunting us.”
Sophie blinked at me, then shook her head. “You don't even know Aislin. What makes you think she'll keep her word?”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
We sat in silence for several minutes before Sophie said, “Fine, but we better get moving if we're going to keep ahead of James and Diana.”
I nodded and stood, though pulling away from Alaric's warmth and re-baring my legs to the cold took way more willpower than I'd like to admit.
After a few minutes of me hobbling on the cold ground like a newborn horse, Sophie even gave me her boots and kept just her socks on, proving she was a much tougher woman that me, which I was more than okay with.
I had no idea how we would find the charm before anyone else found us. My hope was that Alaric or Sophie would be able to sniff it out, but there was one fall-back option. The charm was sealed in a place guarded by the dead. If the spirits still remained within the burial mounds, I would be able to sense them . . . hopefully.
It was a long shot, but at least we would probably freeze to death before Estus or anyone else could kill us.
3
After several hours stumbling through the wintery woods, there was still no sign of James or Diana. There was also no sign of the place we were looking for. My borrowed boots crunched over dead twigs and patches of snow haphazardly as I forced myself onward, feeling numb from cold and exhaustion.
I glared at Alaric and Sophie's backs, moving with graceful ease through the snow. Neither had expressed worry about the implications of being lost in the freezing cold woods without food or shelter, and I had to trust that they would keep us alive. We had other more imminent worries anyhow.
Unable to contend with my burning lungs, I staggered toward a tree and leaned against it. I knew we needed to keep moving, but the cold air and altitude were making me lightheaded. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I passed out.
Likely noticing the lack of labored breathing behind him, Alaric stopped, turned, and walked back to me. Sophie watched us with hands on hips, clearly annoyed.
Alaric moved to lift me into his arms, and I was ready to let him, but something caught my eye in the air beside his head. A slight shimmer disturbed the still scenery. I was about to write it off as a hallucination, then a faint whisper shivered across my brain. Soon, more whispers joined it.
I held out a hand to halt Alaric’s progress. I couldn't tell where the whispers were coming from, but it was obvious he and Sophie didn't hear them. They both watched my changed expression warily.
“You guys don't hear that, do you?” I asked, wanting confirmation.
Alaric shook his head, still watching me cautiously.
“I hear only the birds and the wind,” Sophie added, “and my hearing is likely much better than yours.”
Alaric closed the distance between us and placed a hand on my arm. “What do you hear, Maddy?”
The volume of the whispers increased.
I crouched to the ground, pulling Alaric with me. As I suspected, the whispers grew louder still.
“I hear voices,” I explained distantly, utterly absorbed.
Alaric cleared his throat. “You know, that's what crazy people say . . . ”
I bit my lip, trying to think of a witty reply. I opened my mouth to speak, then the air began shimmering around us, distracting me. I inhaled sharply as I finally realized what I was feeling. Spirits. Or at least their energy. The air felt alive with it. It was clear Alaric and Sophie still felt nothing, even as my own sense of things increased.
I scraped my bare hands across the icy ground, clearing soil and dead pine needles near the base of the tree. I still couldn't get a direct sense of where the voices were coming from, but I knew they were somewhere below us. I could feel their heavy presence reaching out to me.
Alaric watched me for a moment, then began clearing more of the hard soil away. Sophie stood back and waited.
The whispers became almost unbearable, seeming to egg me on. With a sigh to let us know how irritated she was, Sophie joined us in our digging. The pulsing energy was thrumming so desperately that it shook my bones as my hand ran across a small, metal ring amidst a yellow clump of grass. I dug my fingers into the grass and pulled the loop free. It hinged upward, connecting to something in the ground. I attempted to tug on it as Alaric and Sophie came to crouch on either side of me, but it wouldn't budge.
With a look of wonder on his face, Alaric took the ring from me, then gave it a pull, using his knees to lift with more force than I had to offer at the moment. When it still wouldn't budge, I wrapped my hands around his wrists while Sophie grabbed his waist, and the three of us pulled together.
A large trap door pulled free from the earth. I fell onto my butt and Sophie toppled on top of me. Quickly righting ourselves, we moved around the now open door to crouch in front of the opening. I leaned over the edge and looked down, but it was dark. Damp and rot filled my nostrils as the voices filtered back in through my mind, louder now.
“How on earth did you find that?” Alaric asked breathlessly, peering down beside me.
“I could hear them,” I replied cryptically.
I reached my hand into the cavern, searching for some way to climb down inside. The trap door was wide enough for two of us to fit down at once, but the straight drop down made it a less than practical mode of entry.
I continued patting around the inner lip of the entrance until my fingers scraped across a bar of rough wood, hopefully the top rung of a ladder. I turned around and stuck a foot into the darkness, ready to climb down, trying not to think about the dangers that might lurk within. Alaric wrapped a hand around my upper arm to stop me, worry creasing his brow.
He opened his mouth to speak, probably to suggest he go first, when a dark shape barreled into his back. Alaric and I fell with our attacker into the darkness.
I landed, hard on loamy earth, with a squirming weight on top of me. I’d distantly registered the echo of the trap door slamming shut, sealing us in darkness. I strained to get up, thinking I had injured my back, but then whoever was on top of me rolled off and I was able to sit up with a groan. I didn’t think it had been Alaric, they weren’t big enough.
Banging and shouting above us let me know Sophie was still outside. The sound of her shouting suddenly moved away from the door, but I could still hear her, like she was shouting at something, or someone, else. I wanted to call out to her, but I hadn’t entirely regained my senses.
“Maddy?” Alaric whispered.
“I'm here,” I groaned, wanting to stand and move toward the sound of his voice, but the darkness was so complete, it held me immobile. Plus, whoever had landed on me might still be nearby, and I didn't want to accidentally run into them instead.
I jumped as a hand landed in mine.
“It's me,” he whispered.
I nodded, then realized he couldn't see it as he pulled me to my feet. Standing gave me an overwhelming sense of vertigo, and the smell of mildew and damp earth made me feel like I might throw up.
“Someone is in here with us,” Alaric whispered
, pulling me against his side.
“I know. Whoever it was landed right on top of me.”
I became further disoriented as we began to move. Even with my free hand held out in front of me, I felt like I was going to run my face into something at any moment.
“What about Sophie?” I whispered. I could no longer hear any commotion from above ground, and I was worried something had happened to her.
“Sophie can take care of herself,” he replied. “Plus, I think she's probably safer than us at the moment. Now we should probably stop talking. Try to step lightly.”
I ran my hand along the damp, rough wall, feeling the varying pits and grooves of natural stone.
I knew I should be silent, but questions burned within me until I quietly blurted, “Do you think this is the right place?”
Alaric tightened his arm around my waist. “Don’t you?” he whispered. “Or did you have some other reason for pawing around in the soil, then trying to climb down here without even thinking about what might lie below?”
My hands slipped across rough wood mounted in the stone corridor. A doorway. We stepped through, then turned a corner, following a faint illumination in the distance.
“What is that?” I whispered.
“There's only one way to find out,” Alaric whispered in reply, removing his hand from my waist to my arm.
We crept toward the light. While the small amount of light eased some of my tension, the feeling of eyes on my back gave me chills. Why would someone push us into the cavern, only to hide in the dark?
The light intensified as we neared, revealing a hunched form, sitting in a rocking chair with its back to us. Surrounding the chair was a rather cozy room complete with upholstered furniture, and a large woven rug. The cozy scene was thrown off slightly by the surrounding darkness. I couldn't tell where the light was coming from, but it should have touched that darkness. Instead the black was like a solid wall.
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