Endless nightmares about my son filled my nights for weeks. Fits of wakefulness kept me from getting any rest. When the alarm went off, I stayed in bed to see if I could catch a few minutes of peaceful sleep. I wasn’t so lucky. I got up and started my day, though my body was exhausted and my mind even more.
The mess hall was buzzing with excitement when I finally made my way there. As I dragged my feet through the food line, I remembered why everyone was so eager to start their day—it was the first day of practice hunts. We had been training with weapons and learning about different creatures and beings of the Darkness for twelve weeks already. Being stuck underground without seeing the light, or moonlight, for that long put everyone on edge. Though the air in headquarters wasn’t stale, I still desired to suck in the crisp, fresh air from outside. My body responded to the excitement and perked up at the prospect of what I might see when we venture out into the real world again.
“I hope we get to hunt a werewolf!” Atticus said, gnashing his teeth and raising his hands like giant claws. He threw his head back and laughed.
“Yeah, right!” Achilles burst out. “You wouldn’t last two seconds against a werewolf, and I’d rather not have to cut up raw meat for you once a month.”
“I hope it’s something rare,” Holly said with a gleam in her eyes and her mouth full of fresh peaches. “Like a hag.”
“The answer to your prayers,” Atticus laughed. “Here comes one now.”
I slumped down into my seat next to Holly. My hair was loosely pulled up into a crooked ponytail with stray pieces hanging down around my face and neck. I hadn’t bothered to apply any makeup to hide the bags under my eyes or the rough patches on my lips where I had been biting them. My jacket was only zipped halfway, revealing the tank top underneath. One of the laces on my boots was untied.
“Rough night, darling?” Achilles asked from across the table.
“Just woke up late.”
“She had nightmares all night again,” Holly chimed in.
I glowered at her and she shut her mouth. I didn’t want anyone to know I had other things on my mind. If my group didn’t think I was ready to go out on the practice hunt, they might not trust my judgement. I had to get my head in the game. The hunts were what we had been training for.
My eyes wandered around the depressing mess hall, with its fluorescent lighting and stark white walls. There were little cut-out paper hearts taped up haphazardly to brighten the place and lift spirits. All it did was mark the passing of time for me, telling me I was that much closer to graduating from training and becoming a full-fledged Huntsman of the Chamber of Darkness.
“I see you’ve noticed the beautiful decorations cupid has hung for us,” Atticus chuckled as he nudged his brother in the ribs. “Do you have a sweetheart for this Valentine’s Day, Miss Paige?”
I snorted and kept my eyes down on the cream-colored tray holding my scraps of food. “Good one. I’m just glad to be getting out of this place for a few hours with you guys and Don.”
“Oh,” Holly said with a grave tone. “Didn’t he tell you?”
My brow furrowed as I glanced from her to the twins and back. Achilles’ face turned down to stare at his food. I shook my head.
“No. What?”
“Don was called away on business, I guess, so Rashne is going to be taking us out tonight.”
I pursed my lips and threw my fork onto my tray with a crash. “Great.”
The others stared at me in silence. When I finally looked up, they averted their gaze to anywhere else in the bustling room. I rolled my eyes, picked up my fork again, and stabbed at the remains of my food.
Everyone else seemed to meet with their mentors every single day. Most days Don was nowhere to be found. Ever since I told him about my dream, it was like he was avoiding me. Oh well. We were halfway through our training—only twelve more weeks to go and then I would be on my own again, just the way I liked it.
After we ate, the group met in the entrance room by the elevator that would take us up to ground level. The twins couldn’t keep their mouths shut as they bantered back and forth over what creature they would most like to see. Holly listened to them excitedly as she paced back and forth like a caged animal dying to be let out. Ryker bounced on the balls of his feet as he whispered encouraging words to himself. Lance Anders stood with his hands clasped in front of him, subtly flexing his dark muscles. Gordon Scott seemed oblivious as he turned in circles with his head craned upward.
I looked at all of them with narrowed eyes and disinterest. Of course I wanted to go outside, but my heart wasn’t in it. It probably had something to do with the awful dreams I’d been having. They wouldn’t leave my head, even after I was awake.
Distracted, everyone jumped when Rashne appeared out of nowhere and smacked his large hands together in a booming clap. “Good evening, group,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice. “I know you are all eager to get up there and start your first hunt, so without further delay—”
The doors to the elevator opened with a ding and Rashne held out his arms to lead us inside. We filed in one after another and the doors slid closed silently. The space was big enough that we didn’t have to cram ourselves together. I was grateful. All I wanted was to be left alone, but I tried my best to hide that fact from the others.
Unfortunately, Ryker was intuitive. As the elevator rose, he glared at me. “What’s your deal, Paige? You scared?” he sneered and let out a hearty chuckle.
His two friends snickered behind him.
“Mr. Alexander,” Rashne said without turning to look at him.
“Yes?”
“Shut up.”
That elicited hushed giggles from everyone in the elevator. Even I felt a smile creep across my hardened face. Maye hunting with Rashne wouldn’t be so bad.
Once the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, we stared across the lobby out through the expansive windows. The night sky was a velvety black. Thick gray clouds obscured the face of the moon and the twinkling stars. It looked like a vast unforgiving sea just outside the doors. We all hesitated slightly as Rashne moved forward to usher us out into the world again. It was a moment I wished I could have shared with Don.
The cold air hit my face and immediately pulled me out of my funk. I inhaled a deep breath and let it sting in my lungs as I held it there. The fresh oxygen rushed to my head and made me feel dizzy on my feet.
“Follow me,” Rashne said as he headed out across the parking lot. The subtle glow from his body helped to guide the way. “There is a trail up ahead that leads into the mountains. We will follow it to a small dwelling inside a cave where we will start your first hunt. Normally, you would have to do the research on your own to locate a creature, but since this is your first time, I have taken care of that small detail for you.”
He didn’t tell us what exactly we would be hunting. That was part of the fun—not knowing what we would be up against. I took deep breaths as we trudged up the trail. Silently, I ran through all the lessons taught to us over the last twelve weeks. Whatever we hunted, it was most likely going to be some creature or humanoid since we were tracking it to an outside location hidden in the mountains. That was an unlikely place for a ghost or demon to be taking shelter in.
We walked uphill for over half an hour. The balls of my feet were sore from the incline. My calves burned with each step. Filling my ears was the sound of the group’s heavy breathing as they tried to keep up with Rashne’s giant steps. He didn’t seem to feel any discomfort from the long journey he made in his bare feet.
The snow deepened by the inches the further we made our way up. Some of it seeped in through the top of my loosely laced boots and froze part of my feet. Luckily, the cloak trapped the heat in and kept my body temperature from plummeting.
Rashne stopped and pointed at a small opening at the base of a steep cliff. “That is where you will be going,” he said.
Heads turned to look at each other as we all waited or him to cont
inue and explain what it was we would find once we went inside.
“You can come back out only once you have killed all the redcaps that have been terrorizing and killing innocent people in town.”
My eyes grew wide. Holly’s mouth dropped open as she stared at our instructor in disbelief. Ryker let out a nervous laugh and then a disobedient snort.
“A redcap? You can’t be serious!” he said with his hands on his hips. “There’s no way we can take on a group of redcaps. We’ll be bludgeoned to death in there. No human can outrun them!”
“Then, I guess you’ll have to figure something else out besides running away from it,” Rashne said simply. He turned to walk away from the mouth of the cave.
“That’s it?” Ryker yelled after him. “You’re not coming with us?”
The giant Djinn raised one of his swirling blue hands in a wave as he headed out into the woods and disappeared from sight.
Ryker let his jaw hang open as he gave another nervous laugh. He eyed everyone in undeniable doubt. “We can’t go in there,” he said, the panic rising in his voice. “Those things will rip us apart and use our blood to dye their hats!”
I stared into the dark and silent cave as he tried to convince the group to leave. Holly stood firmly at my side.
“What do you think, Kammy?” she asked with her hand on my shoulder and the other rested on the pistol holstered at her hip.
I sighed, took out my gun, and let it rest against my thigh. “I think we go in and kill the redcaps.”
It wasn’t fair for me to push these kids, who were younger than me by a few years, into something they didn’t feel ready for. I, on the other hand, had nothing to lose. Either I would kill the redcaps inside and come out a step further in my training, or they would rip me apart and I would be put out of my misery of living with the guilt of the death of my son.
“I’ll go in first,” I said.
I raised my gun in both hands and held it out in front of me as I stealthily walked into the cave. Darkness encased me. I couldn’t see an inch in front of my nose. “Can someone give us some light?” I whispered behind me.
With a quick flash, the cave lit up. Holly stood close with a small flashlight held at the top of her pistol. Her hardened face told me she was with me one hundred percent. Ryker walked all the way in the back, hiding behind the tall frame of Lance and the wide frame of Gordon.
The cave was narrow, but the ceiling raised higher the further inward we went. It never moved in a straight line, but in sharp twists and turns. A few times we had to decide between two directions, hoping we had chosen the one that led to the redcaps. I also hoped we would be able to find our way out, a job I entrusted with Achilles.
Up ahead came the muffled shuffling of feet. I stopped dead in my tracks. Holly bumped into my back and then steadied herself as we listened. I turned on my heel to look at the others. They were as ready as they would ever be. There was no turning back. We had found the redcaps and we had to kill them before they killed anyone else.
A high-pitched laugh pierced my ears and filled my entire body with dread. The shuffling of more feet grew in volume. They were getting closer—and they knew we were in their home. Holly kept the dim light trained forward as we waited for the beings to step into the yellow glow. Only then could we make our move. It would be suicide to attack in the dark.
“The second we see them, we need to strike,” I whispered as quietly as I could over my shoulder. “Holly, you keep the light on them. Achilles, Atticus, you two hang back with your swords. Lance, Gordon, you guys charge after I do. Help if it looks like they’re overpowering me. Ryker, you’re our best shot, you try to take them down with your gun, but be careful not to hit any of us.” I narrowed my eyes and gave him an untrusting scowl. Giving him the job of shooting in such a small space might not be wise, but it was the only plan we had. “I’ll run at them with my knife first.”
Everyone nodded and readied their weapons as the echo of maniacal laughter and the thudding of heavy feet came closer and closer. And then, all at once, the cave fell silent. I kept my eyes forward, searching for any sign of the small, deadly beings. From the shadows, a tiny human-like creature in rags and a red hat leapt through the air at me.
My breath skipped as I saw its talon-like hands and large, sharpened teeth. In its left hand was a pikestaff, ready to plunge through my flesh, straight through to my racing heart. There was no time to be afraid.
I charged forward with my knife gripped tightly in my fingers. There was only a split second to decide my move. Instead of trying to stab it with my knife and risk getting the sharpened end of its pikestaff caught in my chest, I threw my arm across my neck and over my shoulder. When the gap between us closed I plunged my fist through the air and struck the redcap across its abdomen. It fell to the ground and rolled across the dirt.
There wasn’t a moment to revel in the sight of the still thing, with the face of a disfigured old man and blood dripping down from its soaked cap. Two more ran at us from the shadows. One whacked me in the shin with the blunt end of its pikestaff, while the other threw his aside and tried to climb my body. Its long clawed fingers dug into my legs. I let out a cry as it tore through my flesh.
The twins ran forward with their swords raised to take on the last three that came out of hiding while Holly attempted to pull the one from my leg. The harder she tugged, the deeper its talon sank into the meat of my muscle. I cried out as I pushed it away.
Holly sat down on the floor, put her feet up against the wall of the cave, and used the leverage to tear the thing away. She fell back once its grip broke free. Pieces of flesh went with as a river of blood ran down my leg.
I heaved through the pain. These things were relentless and brutal. I didn’t know if we would make it out alive. The twins, Lance, and Gordon were taking on two at a time. Holly sat up from the ground and reached out a hand for me to help her up. Before our fingers could interlock, one of the small man-like creatures came up behind her and whacked her across the back of the head with its pikestaff handle.
She fell hard. Blood ran down the side of her face and onto the dirt-covered ground. The tiny thing laughed, showing its ragged, sharp teeth stained red. Fire built up inside me. My jaw clenched together in a blind fury.
I screamed and ran toward it, plunging my knife down through the top of its head. It froze where it stood, its mouth still open with laughter as its red eyes glistened with wetness. Black blood oozed from the wound and ran down from beneath its red hat. When I yanked my knife out, the thing fell to the ground. It didn’t get back up.
There was another cry from someone in the group. Four redcaps surrounded Atticus and Achilles. The clawed humanoids slapped the handles of their pikestaffs in their hands as they closed in. Why wasn’t Ryker shooting? Where was he? Lance and Gordon tried to help, but their hands were full.
I ran past the twins at the edge of the light that shone from the ground by Holly’s still hand. “You all get Holly out of here! Find Rashne! I’ll distract them!” I shouted as I bounced on my feet and waved my hands in the air. “Hey, you! Yeah, you! Come on, ugly. Come and get me!”
“Kamlyn, no!” Achilles yelled after me, but it was too late.
I took off into the darkness with the redcaps at my heels. Somehow, I was able to stay a few lengths ahead of them, directing my way through the blackened cave. I didn’t know where I was going or if I would ever make it out, but at least the others had a chance to reach safety.
Behind me, there was the stomping of heavy boots and the scraping of claws on the cavernous walls. I ran as fast as I could. The adrenaline that pumped through my body stifled the pain in my ragged, wounded leg. I knew once I stopped, it would be unbearable. But I couldn’t think about that. I had to keep going. There had to be another way out.
The longer I ran, the more distance grew between me and the malevolent creatures. I knew that was impossible. No human could outrun those things. But somehow I was. Maybe the group had wounded the
m in the initial attack and they weren’t able to keep up. They had to be in worse shape than I was to be moving so slowly. Their maniacal laughter faded behind me and the sound of their lead feet were distant echoes.
My heart skipped when I saw a small opening ahead. Sweat poured down my face and the contraction of my lungs felt like a knife stabbing me with every breath, ut I didn’t stop. I burst through the opening hunched over and straightened up once I was safely outside. My legs kept going as fast as they could.
The woods were dense and the moon was still nowhere to be found. I slowed my gate as I jumped over fallen branches and small bushes. I wanted to get as far away from that death cave as possible. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I saw that the coast was clear behind me.
Before I had the chance to face forward again, something solid slammed into me and knocked me to the ground. I sat there, dazed, assuming I had run head-first into a tree. A glowing blue hand reached down and yanked me up to my feet.
“I was just coming to search for you, Miss Kamlyn,” Rashne said in a calm voice.
I, however, was not feeling calm. The moment my eyes landed on his, the anger rose inside me again.
“What the hell was that? How could you send us in there alone like that? We almost died!” I yelled at him, standing on my tip-toes, though it didn’t seem to make a difference against his massive frame.
“But you did not die, did you?” was all he said with a small grin on his otherwise solid, tattooed face.
I glared up at him with fire in my eyes. What was I supposed to say to that? I shook my head as my words failed me. Behind him, I saw Ryker standing next to Achilles and Atticus, each supporting Holly with their arms. She was still unconscious.
“And you!” I turned my attention to the one who left us when we needed him most. “Where the hell did you go? You were supposed to shoot them if it looked like we needed help!”
Ryker stared at me, his lips moving but no sound coming out. He was shaken from the incident. I wouldn’t get any answers out of him.
I stomped over to where the twins had Holly and shoved Atticus out of the way so I could help my roommate back to the hospital ward with Achilles. We left Rashne, Ryker, Lance, Gordon, and Atticus in bewilderment.
I fumed the entire hike back. I wanted to unload my anger on Achilles, but refrained. How could Rashne have done that? Was it possible he was hoping none of us would come out of there alive? I snuck a peek over my shoulder to see the instructor following with the others behind him.
His face was stern and unflinching as he stomped his massive bare feet into the cold, hard ground. The smoke beneath his blue skin seemed to swirl with more intensity than usual. His ice-blue eyes never left the back of my head, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. It was a different side of the instructor, and I didn’t like it one bit. I finally understood what Don had said about the Djinn.
The Dream