Hidden Realms

by Dean Murray

  “What the hell?” Maddox cried, throwing open his own door.

  Not answering, we ran down the stairs.

  The front door stood open and the window of the sitting room was shattered. Somebody was making a dash for the end of the driveway, while Peter stood in the middle of the room with Diane in the hall behind him. On the floor, a man lay below the wreckage of a china cabinet.

  I gaped.

  Maddox started out the door to catch the figure fleeing toward the street.

  “Stay put!” Peter ordered, barely taking his eyes from the unconscious man. “Noah, call the police.”

  Noah raced toward the kitchen phone.

  “What happened?” Maddox demanded.

  “Intruder,” Peter responded. He twitched his head toward the open door. “Get that closed.”

  Maddox did as he said.

  “Girls, go back upstairs,” Peter continued. “You don’t need to be down here for this.”

  “But who–” Baylie started.

  He looked over at her.

  She swallowed and nodded. Reaching out, she took my arm, pulling me with her.

  I couldn’t take my eyes from the intruder. He was dressed in a black, hooded jacket and dark pants, and he looked like he’d been thrown straight into the glass display case. Blood dripped from a gash on his head and his arm was twisted awkwardly beneath him. In steady rhythm, though, his chest rose and fell, giving evidence that he was still alive.

  Baylie tugged my arm harder. I trailed her from the room.

  Sirens howled in the distance as we climbed the stairs. Baylie slowed when we neared the top of the steps and without speaking, we both stopped at the landing to watch the first floor.

  The police arrived. A detective pulled Peter aside to talk to him, while several officers strode into the other room to retrieve the intruder.

  Diane caught sight of us. “Girls,” she said, hurrying up the steps toward us. “Peter told you to get to bed.”

  A chagrinned expression crossed Baylie’s face. “Sorry. We just–”

  Diane cut her off with a shushing gesture. “I know, but the police are handling this. You don’t need to worry.”

  I hesitated as Baylie walked back along the hall. Over Diane’s head, I looked down at the first floor. The officers emerged from the sitting room, the man between them. He’d woken up at some point, though he still seemed dazed. Handcuffs trapped his wrists, and as the police led him from the room, his gaze swept the area as if he was searching for something.

  And then he spotted me.

  Hatred consumed his confusion.

  “Abomination!” he yelled. He lurched in the officers’ grip, trying to throw them off. “Filthy spawn of a landwalker whore!”

  He thrashed, hurling an officer to the ground. The cops shouted, and several more of their number rushed over to help hold the suspect who’d suddenly gone berserk.

  “You’ll never hide from us all!” He stumbled beneath the weight of the cops wrestling him down. “You’re dead, you hear me? You and the creatures protecting you! Dead!”

  The police hauled him toward the door. He twisted in their grasp, his gaze finding me again.

  And for a heartbeat, his eyes glowed.

  The cops dragged him from the house. Peter slammed the door after them.

  I couldn’t move.

  “What the hell…” I heard Baylie say behind me.

  Peter paused, one hand to the door, and then he looked to Diane. On some unspoken signal, the woman nodded and then turned, reaching up to take my hand.

  I jumped, air entering my lungs for the first time in a small eternity, and the skin of my forearms stung.

  Panic raced through me. Tugging my hand away, I tucked my arms behind my back.

  Diane’s brow furrowed in confusion.

  I was shaking too hard to form the words I needed to apologize. Looking between her and Baylie, I retreated around them both, keeping my back to the wall and my arms as out of sight as I could.

  “Chloe, it’s okay,” Diane said, coming up the stairs after me. “You’re safe. He was just a crazy person. The cops have him now.”

  Baylie stared at me as I moved past her and continued down the hallway.

  “You’re okay,” Diane assured me. “Honey, I promise. You’re safe.”

  I sped up, turning and breaking into a run as the corner blocked me from their view. Hurrying into the guest room, I grabbed at the door and shut it as fast as I could.

  Trembling, I lifted my arms. The spikes were retracting into my skin.

  A sob choked me.

  I wanted to go home. For the first time in my life, I wanted to be home more than anything in the world.

  The spikes disappeared. My skin sealed over the spaces where they’d been, leaving no trace.

  I closed my eyes.

  “Chloe?” Baylie called from the other side of the door.

  I tensed. Beyond the wood of the door, I could hear people talking, their voices too low to understand.

  Seconds slid past.

  “Chloe?” Baylie tried again. “We don’t have to stay here, okay? Peter and Diane are–”

  She cut off as I yanked open the door.

  “What’d you say?” I asked.

  She blinked, taken back. “Uh, we don’t have to stay. They don’t want to, I mean. Everybody’s pretty freaked out, so Peter wants to call your parents, tell them where we’re going, and then just board up the window and spend a few days at the family cabin till things get fixed up.”

  I stared at her. “Where?”

  “About an hour or so from here.”

  “A-away from the ocean?” I struggled to get the words out.

  Her brow furrowed as she nodded. “In the mountains.”

  A breath escaped me. “When?”

  “Soon. We only need to–”

  I was already heading for my bag.

  “Are you alright?” Baylie asked as she followed me into the room. “I mean, not alright, but…”

  I couldn’t answer. I just needed to get out of here before the horrible compulsion to stay caught me and made it impossible to leave.

  At my silence, Baylie sighed. I glanced back to see her heading for her own things.

  “You can talk to me, you know,” she said without taking her eyes from her luggage. “I’m just saying.”

  I swallowed. “It’s… complicated.”

  “How?” she demanded, looking back at me. “How is it complicated? Did you know that guy or something?”

  “No. I just…” My fingers rubbed at my forearm. “A lot’s happened this week.”

  She waited. From the first floor, the sound of hammering rose.

  “You ever feel like you’re losing your mind?” I whispered.

  She paused. “How so?” she asked cautiously.

  “Like there are things happening to you that you can’t control? That you don’t want… but they won’t stop?”

  “Chloe, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

  “It’s just… you remember what happened with the boat? Well, when I fell over, there was this guy. In the water. And, um, I could hear him… like, talking to me and–”

  I cut off as Diane came around the corner.

  “You girls ready?”

  I looked to Baylie uncomfortably.

  Baylie sighed. “Yeah.”

  Diane headed for the stairs. Baylie picked up her bag and followed, pausing as she passed me.

  “Lots of people see things when they’re in trouble, Chloe,” she said quietly. “It doesn’t mean you’re losing your mind, okay?”

  I closed my eyes as she left the room. I wanted to tell her. To explain. And maybe I could, just as soon as we reached the cabin and were somewhere the others couldn’t hear.

  Fishhooks started to bite into my skin. Gasping, I hefted my bag and rushed for the stairs, trying to stay ahead of the feeling.

  Chapter Twelve

  Zeke

  Hours had passed and every
one of them had been too long. The guards had changed in shifts, watching me and smirking and holding onto their weapons without ever coming close enough for me to do anything about the situation. Kirzan hadn’t returned, and neither had most of the others who’d gone with him, though the men who’d stayed looked more and more satisfied with every shift.

  And it was really hard not to worry about what that might mean.

  In all the hours I’d been here, I’d argued with myself over what to do if I got free. I could go after Chloe and warn her about the freaks who were hunting her, or I could go to Nyciena.

  Because everyone needed to know these psychos were still around.

  And because fact was, I’d need help to keep the dozens of Sylphaen from doing whatever the hell it was they planned for her. Yet, just like the last time the bastards had tried to catch her, it was entirely possible they’d do something terrible to her before I even got out of here, let alone returned all the way from Nyciena.

  And so I chased myself in circles, knowing that the only solution lay in finding the nearest communication relay station, getting in touch with Dad, and then doing what I could to help her while hoping Ina, Niall, and Ren stayed safe.

  Even if breaking free was looking less and less likely with every goliath dehaian Kirzan sent to guard me.

  I grimaced, watching the stone-faced guards. With military precision, they’d kept their distance, giving me no chance of grabbing them or somehow getting the key from their hands. Every attempt I’d made to goad them closer had been met with silence as well, and in the past half-hour, I’d nearly given up.

  A pained curse came from the tunnel, and then two dehaians swam into the cave, one of them rubbing his arm and tossing a glare over his shoulder at the rock walls.

  My eyebrow twitched up. Unlike the pair of men watching me now, these two were younger. Smaller. Maybe five years older than me, or my brother Ren’s age at most. One had a mop of brown hair, curly even under the water, and the other was pale enough that his blond hair blended with his skin and his watery eyes barely showed up on his pasty face. The other guards looked incredulous and disgusted in turn at the sight of them both, and one scoffed.

  “Wisdom Kirzan sent you?”

  The brown-haired guy’s expression turned surly. “Yeah, well, it got complicated. He asked us to do this while you and the rest go to Plan B.”

  “Asked you,” the man sneered. “Right. Just don’t screw this up too, eh?”

  Barely concealed fury twitched across the mop-headed guy’s face at the words, but he didn’t respond.

  The man laughed and handed the blond guy the key to my shackles. Together, he and the other guard left the cave.

  My brow drew down. The curly-haired guy turned back, catching sight of my expression.

  “What?” he spat.

  I paused. He was already angry. If I could rile him up enough to get him to come closer, maybe I could grab him and make his buddy unlock these restraints.

  “What’d you do?” I asked.

  “Shut up.”

  I ignored him. “That bad? What, you forget to bring Kirzan his dinner or something?” I scoffed. “You all obviously aren’t the top of the pecking order around here, so…”

  “He said shut up,” the pale guy snapped. He glanced to his buddy. “Ignore this scum. He’s not worth it.”

  “Obviously I’m worth it enough for you two reschiatas to be assigned here rather than out on the real mission,” I chuckled, throwing in an Yvarian insult for good measure. “And your buddies barely seem to think you’re worth doing this.”

  The brown-haired guy’s face twisted with rage at my words, and he swam closer. I braced my hands on the wall, getting ready to grab him.

  “You want to know what I did?” he growled. “I bashed that bitch’s head in. I would’ve gotten her bloody little body here too, if her stupid friend hadn’t managed a good shot with some pepper spray.”

  My amused look couldn’t sustain, overwhelmed as it was by the memory of what Chloe had looked like in the hospital.

  “You were the one who did that?” I asked, my voice going cold as I realized who this was. Jesse. The guy Chloe had mentioned. The one from the bookstore.

  He smirked.

  My heart was pounding. “You nearly killed her.”

  “Wait till you see what we do to her later,” Jesse sneered. “A little of our special neiphiandine, a few knives…”

  I could feel myself shaking and it took everything I had to push the rage down and make myself keep breathing. Stay focused. Not imagine what I could do if he came just a bit closer.

  “Is that right?” I commented quietly. “Well, aren’t you the big man when you’re faced with one girl? One girl you couldn’t even catch.” I looked him over, my disgust anything but feigned. “No wonder they think you’re so pathetic.”

  Jesse’s nostrils flared. “I could show you pathetic,” he warned, tapping the net-launcher against his palm.

  I scoffed.

  His doughy face turning red, Jesse swam toward me. “Now you listen to me, you cocky little–”

  He came within reach. Twisting in the shackles, I lunged upward and wrapped my tail around his head.

  His weapon rising, the blond guy started forward, his eyes wide.

  “Don’t,” I warned, squeezing in on Jesse’s head. In my grip, he thrashed, unable to breathe, and his fists pummeled at my scales. I gritted my teeth, hanging on. “You shoot that thing at me, he’s dead, understand?”

  The blond guy hesitated.

  “You want to explain to Kirzan how your buddy died?” I snapped, tightening my hold as Jesse kicked and twisted. “Drop the weapon and unlock these damn restraints!”

  For another moment, the guy didn’t move. His gaze darted between me and Jesse.

  I could feel Jesse getting weaker. His fists still punched me, though the blows were half as strong as before.

  And on some level, I found I couldn’t quite care.

  The pale guy let the weapon fall as he rushed forward. His fingers fumbled with the lock, and then the shackles dropped from my hands.

  I shoved away from the wall and flung Jesse aside, sending him tumbling into the pit at the center of the cave as I took off for the exit.

  Pods of nets shot past me, splattering against the wall, and I could hear Jesse shouting choked curses as he scrambled from the pit. Kicking hard for extra speed, I darted into the tunnel. Rock surrounded me, twisting and turning with shadows and infrequent light. I swore, racing as fast as I could for an exit that never seemed to arrive.

  Jesse’s shouts echoed through the tunnel as he tried to chase after me.

  I sped around a corner, and the endless rock opened up into blue water. Letting out a breath of relief, I cast a swift look around and then left the tunnel behind, swimming like hell for a relay station where I could warn everyone that these bastards were back again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chloe

  It was long after midnight by the time we reached the cabin.

  “Okay,” Diane said as she pulled the sedan to a stop. “Well, here we are.”

  I looked out the window. The darkness was thick and, shadowed from the moonlight by the trees, the cabin was hard to see. Logs formed the walls, and the entire building looked vaguely like a two-story triangle with a porch attached. The Delaneys rented the house to tourists most of the year, but for this week, it was empty.

  Diane pushed open the car door while, up ahead, Maddox and Noah climbed from the other sedan with their father.

  “The cleaning crew should have put blankets on the beds,” Diane continued while we got out, “but if they didn’t, everything’s in the closet. The sleeper couch is broken, though – we were going to have a new one delivered this week – so you’ll have to share the upstairs room with the boys. I hope that’s okay?”

  She glanced back to us. One hand on Daisy’s collar and the other stifling a yawn, Baylie nodded. I just swallowed uncomfortably, and t
hen trailed them both to the door.

  The smell of pine surrounded us as we came inside, and as Peter turned on the light, I could see that wood made up a good portion of the décor. A carved mantle hung over the fireplace in one corner of the living room, and the furniture was all framed by polished wood as well. A cathedral ceiling rose above the front room, and the landing of the stairs on the second floor overlooked the space.

  “Okay, well,” Diane said, “the bathrooms are by your room and then just past the stairs down here, and Peter and I will be in there,” she nodded toward a door on the opposite side of the living room, “so just let us know if you need anything, alright?”

  She smiled, though it seemed a bit forced. “Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see.”

  I tried to smile in return, failed miserably, and then followed Baylie upstairs.

  In the second floor bedroom, Noah and Maddox had already set their bags by the bunk bed near the door. Baylie glanced to me questioningly, and when I shrugged, she crossed to the other side of the room and tossed her bag up to the top bunk there.

  I hesitated, and then took my backpack into the bathroom to get changed.

  The guys were in bed by the time I returned. While Baylie headed to the bathroom to put on her pajamas, I slid beneath the blankets, grateful that they didn’t feel too scratchy against my skin. I seemed to be doing okay thus far, even at this distance from the ocean, though I was still so tense my muscles ached. But I hadn’t felt like running out the door or stealing the car or anything, which I counted as a minor victory, given how things had gone the last time I left town.

  Baylie came back and flipped off the light switch by the door. The bunk bed creaked as she climbed the wooden ladder and then got under the blankets. Pulling the floral-patterned quilt up to my chin, I shifted around on the soft mattress and then closed my eyes as silence fell over the room.

  The ocean was waiting.

  I tensed as the water enveloped me. I didn’t want to be there, but unlike the night before, I couldn’t snap myself back to consciousness. I was too tired, and the pull of the water was too strong.

  Shivers ran through me as the current carried me along. It was warm, more comforting than anything at that depth should have been, and seemed to sink into me, giving me energy. I could feel my skin try to change in response, and I gasped, fighting to hang onto who and what I was.