“Oh, God,” Rose gasped. “How were they hurt?”
The woman paused momentarily.
“Have you come across others of my kind before?” she asked, changing the subject.
“No, you’re the first,” Sofia replied.
The woman nodded again. I could see her mind spinning—whoever this woman was, she wasn’t striking me as particularly trustworthy. There was something about her, beneath the eagerness to help and her woeful tale, which struck me as sly and cunning.
“They beat the children badly. They wanted them as slaves to help them in the trials. So many were taken—snatched from their homes in the other dimension…” The woman went on to describe the trials, but I zoned out. I had heard enough. I didn’t believe this woman for a second. Why would supernatural creatures, who had obviously gone to great lengths to keep themselves separate from the human world, bother to kidnap children just to be sword carriers and punching bags? No, the woman wasn’t telling the truth—and there was something going on here that just didn’t add up.
“Where are the Hellswans now?” I asked, cutting through another sob story about the woman’s plight at the hands of the evil family.
“They’ll be in a castle, one not far from here—Memenion’s palace, or Hadalix’s, Thraxus’s…I’m not sure. One of the royal kingdoms of Nevertide. They left me here to die—they didn’t tell me where they were going,” she added mournfully.
I nodded. That at least sounded like the truth.
“Rose, Grace, stay here with…what is your name?” I asked.
“Abelle,” she replied.
“Stay here with Abelle. Sofia and I are going to discuss what we do from here.”
We made our way to the opposite end of the corridor, entering a deserted room. I shut the door.
“I don’t trust her for a moment,” I stated, waiting for my wife’s reply. I knew that I could rely on her above all else to tell me the truth—whether I was being overly suspicious just because the woman was unknown to me.
“Neither do I,” she replied. “I don’t think she’s being completely honest with us. So much of her story doesn’t add up…especially about the kids.”
I nodded with relief—we were on the same page.
“But,” Sofia added, before I could contemplate chaining the woman back up, “I also don’t think she’s that dangerous. I do kind of feel sorry for her. I don’t think we can just leave her here. She’s going to have to come with us…if she will.”
“I’m not sure I want to give her the choice,” I muttered. I wasn’t comfortable releasing the woman—she had been chained up for a reason, and though her tales of the evil ‘Hellswan’ family might well be true, we couldn’t know for sure until we found out more. The rest of the castle seemed deserted, so there was no way we could validate her story.
“Dad?”
We both hurried out of the room on hearing Rose’s voice. She was where we’d left her, standing by Abelle.
“Abelle has offered to help us get to the other castle—she says the woods are dangerous,” Rose said. I knew my daughter well enough to know that she wasn’t completely convinced by the woman’s authenticity either.
“They are—full of strange creatures that I doubt any of you would have encountered. Nevertide is a dark place, for those who don’t know its ways,” she murmured coyly.
“Fine,” I replied pleasantly. “If you wouldn’t mind, it would be helpful to have a guide.”
She nodded sagely, lifting herself off the floor. When she stood, I was shocked by her height. She was taller than me.
“We should leave quickly. The Hellswan army has spies everywhere. Nowhere in Nevertide is safe.”
As she finished her doom-laden warning, she swept past us, heading back down the staircase. I gestured for Rose and Grace to follow closely, while I hung back with Sofia.
“Do we trust her enough to lead us through the forest?” my wife asked. “I’m concerned that she might lead us into danger, rather than avoid it.”
“She doesn’t know about the Hawks or the dragons. She’s going to get a shock when she realizes we have our own lookout.”
“Good point,” Sofia muttered. Her worried green eyes glistened with faint amusement. “If she thinks there are strange creatures in the forests, wait till she gets a load of us…”
Our predictions turned out to be correct.
As soon as the woman stepped out from the castle and caught sight of the army of supernaturals that covered the gardens of the palace, she staggered back in surprise and horror.
Grace and Rose calmed her down, promising that we didn’t pose a threat, but the sentry didn’t seem convinced.
“Lead the way, Abelle,” I prompted, not wanting us to delay our journey any further. The woman scowled, but did as we asked.
Lucas and I walked on either side of her, with Ben behind. The rest of GASP followed us, except the Hawks and dragons who flew on ahead, checking the areas we were about to enter for any possible danger.
“How did you get here?” Abelle asked, once we’d left the grounds of the castle.
“We found a portal on Earth that led us here. It was locked the first time the team went to investigate—and then, without warning, it opened.” I kept my answer deliberately vague, but hoped she would have some answers as to why the portal had suddenly opened.
The woman smiled softly to herself.
“The Hellswans locked the portal, making sure that no one got out, least of all the children.”
“So why did it open?” I pressed, observing her smile. Clearly she was eager to leave this land, perhaps to travel somewhere the Hellswans couldn’t find her.
“I don’t know,” she replied swiftly. “Perhaps you should ask Tejus Hellswan. I’m sure he knows the reason why.”
“Is he a sentry, like you?” I asked, the word sounding unfamiliar on my tongue. I’d never heard of these creatures in all the time I’d been alive. The inhabitants of this dimension had obviously gone to great lengths to keep themselves hidden.
“He is. The cruelest of our kind. My advice to you would be that if you see him, don’t hesitate to end him. Nevertide will be forever in your debt if you do.”
“Did he do all this?” Sherus asked, gesturing to the sky and the fallen trees we were passing.
“In a way, yes,” the woman replied.
Sherus looked at me. I knew he was wondering whether Tejus of Hellswan was the power that had been haunting him—the owner of the mysterious voice that we’d heard in the portal tunnel.
We waited for Abelle to elaborate, but she stayed silent.
I was about to question her again when Lethe flew toward us with the Hawks. They landed, making Abelle jump back in fright. She stared wide-eyed at the icy blue dragon and the winged men.
“We’re heading in the wrong direction,” Lethe stated. “The castle is due east. We’re veering too far north.”
I turned to Abelle.
“My apologies.” She smiled. As soon as she uttered the words, her face changed—the woebegone expression of a prisoner vanished, and her lips curled into a malicious grimace. She took out a vial of liquid from her robe, and smashed it down onto the earth where it broke, instantly covering us all with a foggy, foul smelling liquid. It made me feel dizzy and weak, as if my energy was slowly draining from my body.
A horrific, indescribable pain tore through my head. My vision started to blur as I became disoriented, gray and black dots dancing across the scene before me. Sherus, Lethe and Ben all clutched their heads, bent double in agony. Behind us, I could hear the cries of the other GASP members.
I glanced up at Abelle from the ground. Her figure loomed over me. She was laughing.
Julian
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Ragnhild’s cry echoed across the cove. I didn’t need to be told twice. I was already stumbling over the rocks and sand, heading for the small passage ahead. The feeling that had settled over me on the shore hadn’t left. I still
felt the icy-cold dread creeping up my spine—the sense that there was something dark and unnatural watching me, waiting to pounce.
It felt strange running from an enemy that I couldn’t see, but my imagination had gone into overdrive, and I no longer cared what it was that I was afraid of—even if it was just a feeling. I wanted out of there.
“Julian?” Benedict cried out my name as he ran ahead, pulled along by a guard, checking I was still with him. Yelena was in the other hand of the sentry, the girl slipping and sliding to keep up with him.
“I’m here!” I called back, panting.
Finally, we approached the passage. The guard released them. Benedict rushed through, and I followed, hearing the loud, rapid breaths of more guards behind me. I ran through, scraping my arms on rocks, knocking my shins on rubble, thorns and spiky shrubbery scratching at my face.
Don’t stop. Whatever you do, don’t stop.
It’s coming.
“MOVE! MOVE!” the guards at the rear started shouting, afraid that we’d slow down as we ran single-file up the passage. I couldn’t imagine how the last sentry at the end of the line must have felt. How terrified he would be, with no protection between him and whatever it was we were running from.
I heard the bull-horses before I saw them. They had started to whinny and rear up as we approached. They could feel it too.
The guards pulled on their reins, jumping up on the saddles of the bull-horses as quickly as they could. I ran toward our horse, only to see it taken by another guard, who instantly turned and galloped off into the forest.
Traitor!
“Here, boy.” A guard grabbed me by the back of my robe, flinging me onto the saddle behind him. Ragnhild did the same with Benedict and Yelena, and a moment later we were all cantering into the gloom of the forests.
We should be taking the path!
I had a bad feeling about this. The forest didn’t feel like it was safe territory. It felt like it belonged to the force that followed us, somehow, and we were just running head-first into its trap.
We were being followed.
The guards charged deeper into the forest. The small amount of light that had guided us on the way here was swallowed by the trees, till everything around us became black shapeless forms. The sensation of being watched intensified, and as we slowed down to a pace that the bull-horses could maintain, I thought I saw shadows moving out of the corner of my eye.
“I don’t like this,” my guard grumbled to the other who rode next to him.
“Neither do I.”
The other grunted, turning his head around to glance at the troops who followed behind. “We should be moving faster—this place isn’t safe.”
“Can you see anything?” I asked the guard quietly.
The guard shook his head. “Not a thing. Just the trees…but the shadows…”
He trailed off, dismissing whatever he was going to say with a shake of his head. It didn’t matter anyway—I knew what he meant.
A moment later, one of the bull-horses screamed. The blood-curdling sound was followed instantly by the cry of its rider—an equally horrible howl of pain. The sound came from the back of the line, and instantly the troops broke out in confusion. Some tried to halt their bull-horses from galloping away, while others spurred them on, desperate to get away.
“Stand and fight!” Ragnhild commanded.
The commander rode up to us. My guard was still, holding on to the reins of our bull-horse as it reared and whickered, both rider and animal petrified. I looked around the guard, trying to see what had attacked us. On the floor was the body of one of the other guards, and next to him his bull-horse. One of the trees swayed in the breeze, sending a fragment of light down on the body. He had been disemboweled, his body slashed to ribbons, his insides spilling out onto the dry leaves and soil. His eyes were frozen in horror, wide-eyed and desperate. The bull-horse had met the same fate. The stench of their innards made me heave.
Where is the creature that killed him?
I looked around, squinting into the depths of the forest, cursing the absence of my glasses. I couldn’t see a thing, but I could still feel it. Cold, dark, evil. Something was waiting for us.
Another scream went up. This time it came from ahead, from one of the guards who had been prepared to flee.
“Ride!” Ragnhild yelled, changing his command. “I can’t see the enemy, we’re surrounded. Ride!”
We charged off again, more haphazardly this time, as no guards wanted to be last in line. As we thundered through the trees, I looked behind me.
I didn’t know if it was my fear-induced imagination, or the lack of twenty-twenty vision, but I could have sworn that I saw shadows moving across the forest floor—black shapes moving toward us, reaching out to take us into their lightless void.
“Faster!” I screamed at the guard. “Ride faster!”
The shadows were gaining on us, inch by inch.
Another rider went down, to the left of us. I watched as the shadows reached out, first grasping at the hind leg of the bull-horse, pulling the creature down with a thump onto the earth. The guard flew backwards. Then came a horrible ripping noise as he was swallowed by the murky shape. I turned my head away. I didn’t want to see anymore. We rode on, the screams of the guard still ringing in my ears.
What was that?
I started to hyperventilate, my breathing coming in ragged gasps. We weren’t outrunning this thing, whatever it was. We were being hunted down, picked off one by one.
Another sentry screamed up ahead. I looked around for Benedict and Yelena, seeing them about a yard away, their faces ghost white and terrified. Horses reared and screamed, and a second later ours did the same.
“Swords at the ready!” commanded Ragnhild.
The bull-horses started to back up, moving closer together as we slowly became surrounded. The guards looked out into the forest, the darkening pool of the shadow slowly closing in on us with every moment that passed. All I could hear was the short, adrenaline-fueled panting of the guards.
We’re going to die.
“Benedict, Julian, Yelena.” Ragnhild’s voice was low. “I want you to slowly get down off the bull-horses. We’re going to charge, and when we do, I want you all to run. You don’t stop till you get to the castle, and you don’t look back. Do you understand?”
“I-I-I understand.” I trembled, looking over at Benedict and Yelena. Benedict gave me a small nod.
“Hurry, boy!” the guard whispered. “Save yourself, and tell the others what’s coming!”
I scrambled down from the bull-horse, grabbing Yelena and Benedict by the hand as they rushed toward me. We stood by the edge of the encroaching shadow, waiting for Ragnhild’s command.
“On my mark!” Ragnhild called out. “CHARGE!”
The guards stormed forward, the circle of shadow moving from where we stood and racing to meet the oncoming army. I heard the first scream.
“Now!” I yelled, dragging Benedict and Yelena behind me as we rushed into the forest. My legs felt like jelly as I ran, falling and sliding, and then pushing myself up again, terrified of slowing down for a second. The howls and cries of the guards echoed through the forest—not just cries of pain, but of sheer, complete terror—sounds I’d never heard before in my life, and never wanted to hear again.
We kept running. I obeyed Ragnhild to the letter, not looking back once as we headed in the direction of the castle.
“They’re gaining on us,” panted Benedict a few moments later, “I can feel it.”
“I know,” I replied, running faster than I thought was possible. “I know.”
I sensed the change in the air. It became stale and rank. Horrible goosebumps rose at the back of my neck, turning my blood cold.
Then the whispering started.
Ruby
I looked around me. I must have dropped off to sleep at some point, but I had no idea how long I’d been out for. I walked through to the bathroom, splashing my face with the
icy-cold water from the faucet.
Everything felt dream-like, and for a few moments, staring into the mirror above the sink, I wasn’t sure whether I had dreamed the proposal or not.
I smiled.
It was real.
Which meant I had something important to do. There was no point prolonging my answer to him. He’d told me to give it some thought, that he didn’t want my answer right away, but why wait? I had no idea what the next hour, the next day, would bring.
Rushing out of the room, I slammed the bedroom door shut behind me, wondering where in the castle he’d be.
“There you are!” Hazel was a few doors down, and came hurrying toward me. “Have you seen Benedict, Yelena and Julian? I spoke to Jenney and she hasn’t seen them…have you?”
“No, I haven’t seen them since yesterday…”
Actually, I hadn’t seen them since we arrived. Where the hell were they?
Hazel rubbed her forehead in agitation. There were blueish circles under her eyes, and I got the impression she hadn’t had much sleep.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find them.”
Ash could wait. I didn’t want the boys wandering around. I didn’t know how effective the borders were —having them too far from the castle just wasn’t safe.
“When was the last time Jenney saw them?” I asked.
“She said it was when we arrived.”
That isn’t good news.
“Okay, let’s try the kitchens and work from there.”
We thoroughly searched the castle for over an hour, calling out their names. We were both getting increasingly desperate. None of the villagers had seen them either, and the guards standing at the entrances to the castle all said the same thing—that they hadn’t seen them since we arrived.
“Let’s try the scary hound things?” I suggested. The likelihood of the boys being fascinated with the deadly-looking wolf creatures seemed pretty high.
We walked over to the stables, and found Ash and Tejus talking to a few of the ministers.