Cursed av-2 Page 21

  I felt Luna flinch but didn’t look at her. “Can you help us find a way out?”

  Rachel laughed. “In your dreams.”

  “We die, you die.”

  “Doesn’t mean I’m going with you. You found a way in. You find the way out.” She glanced from me to Luna. “Don’t come back.” Rachel stepped back; the darkness flowed over her and she was gone. Shireen had time for a quick wave before she vanished too. Silently and smoothly, the black crystal door swung closed, shutting with a click. The last wisps of darkness faded and we were alone.

  “Well,” I said after a moment. “That went about as well as could be expected.”

  “You’re working with Cinder?” Luna asked.

  “For now … We got what we came for. Time to go.”

  Luna looked around at the doorways. “So where …?”

  I looked down at her, eyebrows raised. Luna sighed. “I get it, I get it. Up to me, right?”

  Luna thought for a minute, then crossed the hall, heading for one of the doors. “But word of warning,” I said. “Finding someone’s dreams in Elsewhere isn’t hard. Leaving is.”

  The door Luna had picked was blue crystal. It opened at a touch to reveal a rounded corridor lit with a pale light. I waited for Luna to step in, then shut the door behind us, taking a quick look around before I did. “You know, if there’s anything else you know about this place,” Luna said as I caught her up, “now might be a good time to tell me.”

  “I don’t know how Elsewhere works,” I said. “Nobody does. There are books about it but they’re not much more than guesses.”

  “You’ve been here before, right?” Luna said. “How did you get out?”

  I shrugged. “Instinct? Luck? I don’t know. There are a few rules that work for me but I don’t know if they’ll work for you.”

  “I think I need all the help I can get.”

  “All right,” I said. “Don’t stray off the path. Don’t strike the first blow. And always look before you leap.”

  Luna looked at me. “That’s not really all that specific.”

  “Sorry.”

  We walked for a little while. The corridor was growing lighter and there were slit windows appearing in the side alcoves, bright light streaming through them. “Maybe there’s one more thing,” I said. “I read a few chapters once out of a much longer book about Elsewhere. The author spent years studying it, getting stories from people who’d been there, and he never found a constant. In the end he decided Elsewhere was shaped by the traveller: What you found there would always link back to you. He found something else as well. How much power a mage had didn’t seem to have anything to do with how well he did in Elsewhere. The ones who did best were the ones with the most … self-awareness, I guess. The ones most comfortable with who they were.”

  “Oh,” Luna said. She thought about it briefly. “What happens if you … don’t do well in Elsewhere?”

  “Nobody knows.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they never wake up.”

  Luna fell silent. We kept walking.

  “Who was she?” Luna asked.

  I knew who she meant. “Shireen.”

  “You know her?”

  “Yes.”

  “And … she was in Deleo’s dreams, right?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Is that supposed to happen?”

  “No.”

  “You … knew her from before?”

  “Luna, I don’t want to talk about this,” I said. “Not now. Focus on getting us out of here.”

  Luna looked like she was about to argue, but she didn’t. It didn’t help me get the same thing out of my head. Why had Shireen been there and what had that shadow been?

  The corridor ended in another door. Luna opened it without asking-

  And we stepped into a city street. Semidetached houses, yellow brick with hedges and front gardens, formed a line in front of us with hatchbacks and sedans parked by the side of the road. Instead of the unnatural silence of Elsewhere or the whispers of before, I could hear the familiar low buzz of city traffic, though the street itself was still. The sky overhead was still cloudy but lighter, the sun glowing through the white canopy. I looked back to see more houses behind us. The door had vanished.

  Looking around, I realised that the city felt like London. It’s hard to say exactly what it was-it’s not as though city houses look all that different-but I’ve lived all my life in London and something about the bricks and the trees made me think of a London suburb, though not one I’d ever been to. “Huh.”

  Luna didn’t respond. I looked to see her staring at the house in front of us. It was three storeys high and had a red door with the number 17 on the front. The front yard had a privet hedge and two pot plants.

  A flicker of movement made me glance up sharply. “Luna.”

  Luna started and seemed to come awake. “There’s something here,” I said quietly. I couldn’t see what it was but my instincts were telling me we were being watched.

  Luna shrank back against me, staring at the door as though it were going to bite her. I stood tense, trying to watch every direction. I was starting to think that the creature following me wanted us to know it was there. The glances I was getting were too deliberate, the disappearances too quick. But this time I couldn’t see a thing.

  I felt Luna jump and snapped my head around. The door with the number 17 was swinging open and people were coming out.

  There were two: a man and a woman. The man looked about fifty with the tanned skin and dark hair of Southern Europe. His hair was greying, but he looked strong and fit. The woman was a little younger and fairer, with Luna’s hair and eyes. As she saw Luna her eyes lit up and she ran towards her. “Luna, Luna!”

  Luna froze. I tried to step in front of her but somehow they slipped by and a second later the woman was hugging Luna while the man stood by smiling. “Oh, Luna!” the woman said. “It’s been so long!”

  Luna stared back at the woman and she looked terrified. She tried to pull away. “You’re … No. I don’t …”

  “Tesoro,” the man said with a great smile. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “I- No!” Luna pulled herself away violently. She kept backing away across the road until she came up against a car. “It’s not you. It can’t be you!”

  “It is, love,” the woman said. If Luna’s reaction bothered her, she didn’t show it; her face was compassionate. “Let us help you.” She began to walk towards her.

  Neither of the pair had reacted to me and they didn’t seem unfriendly, but whoever they were, they were freaking Luna out. I stepped between them and Luna, taking care this time to make sure they couldn’t get past me. The woman kept walking. “Hey,” I said. “Wait a-”

  The woman walked right through me. I felt a shock of cold as her body passed through mine, then she was gone. I turned with a shiver to see her stroke Luna’s hair tenderly. “It’s all right,” she said. “Everything’s all right now.”

  Luna stared at the woman, then at me, then at her, then took a deep breath. She reached up and took the woman’s hand from her hair, bringing it down in front of her. “I–I don’t understand. How are you here?”

  “We came for you, of course,” the man said with a smile. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “But you-” Luna said. “I thought-”

  “It’s all right,” the woman said. She clasped Luna’s hand between hers. “It was hard to believe at first, but once we came … Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

  “Luna?” I said quietly. I’d stepped to one side. “Are these … who I think they are?”

  Luna looked between us, then gave a tiny nod. Now I looked closer I could see the resemblance between her and the woman. She didn’t take after the man so clearly, but there was something there in how they moved. “Cara,” the man said. “Remember what we said?”

  The woman nodded. “Yes. Luna, we’re sorry. For not believing you, for not listening. You were t
elling the truth all along and we should have known. We were too scared.”

  “I-” Luna wavered.

  “They’re not real,” I said quietly.

  Luna’s head snapped around to look at me. “How do you know?”

  I shook my head. “How could they have got here? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “We’re really here, Luna,” the woman said. She didn’t show any sign of hearing me but she answered as if she had. “We found a way into this … Elsewhere, that was what it was called? It wasn’t easy, but …” She smiled and brushed Luna’s cheek. “Well. To do this again …”

  Despite herself, Luna smiled. “Mum, I told you not to do that-”

  “They’re not real,” I said again. “Don’t accept it.”

  Luna looked at me, frustrated. “Give me a second!”

  “The longer you let yourself believe they’re real, the harder it’ll be,” I said quietly. “Trust me.”

  “How are you so sure?”

  “Because it’s happened to me,” I said. “There are things in Elsewhere, Luna. No one knows what they are. They can wear the masks of family, friends, people from your past. Do you seriously believe your parents found a way into Elsewhere? Both together? Is that the kind of thing they’d do?”

  “Luna?” her mother asked. “Who are you talking to?”

  Luna drew in a harsh breath. I could see the struggle in her eyes, trying to decide whom to believe. She looked away, her movements jerky, and I knew with a sudden flash of insight that at that moment she hated me. Not for telling the truth, but for making her believe it when the lie would have been so much less painful.

  “I have to go,” Luna said.

  “Go?” her mother asked blankly. “But why?”

  Luna didn’t meet her mother’s eyes.

  “Don’t you see?” her mother said. “This was why we came. It’s safe here. We can be with you without getting hurt.” She put her arm around Luna with a smile. “Come inside. There’s so much you need to tell us. And I promise you’ll never have to run away again.”

  Luna hesitated, wavering. For a long moment she stared at the house in front of her. Then, gently, she took her mother’s arm from around her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “There are things I have to do.”

  I felt my shoulders relax slightly and realised I’d been holding my breath. Just for a second, I wondered if this was what happened to those people who never came back from Elsewhere. I’d always assumed they’d been attacked. But maybe it had been something as simple as this …

  “Then we’re coming with you,” Luna’s father said.

  “You’re-?”

  “No arguments,” her mother said firmly. “After all this time, you think we’re going to leave you alone again? It’s your choice but we go where you do.” She smiled. “We’re not going to send you away this time.”

  Luna looked from her to me, unsure, but I was caught off guard as well. “Okay,” Luna said at last. “I’d … like that.”

  “Perfect,” the woman said with a smile. “It’s settled, then.”

  “Which way?” Luna asked.

  The woman turned Luna towards the end of the street and nodded. “Right there.”

  Luna looked down the street. Her mother was still holding her arm. She took a step, the scenery seemed to blur and shift-

  We stood in the middle of a mountain village. It was after sunset, that time between twilight and darkness where just enough light is left in the sky to see but only by straining one’s eyes. The weather was dark and brooding, thick clouds covering the sky with only a tiny sliver of grey showing in the west. A mountain peak loomed over the village, a black shadow in the gloom.

  The village looked old, very old, and it wasn’t English. The architecture was different, the houses built in a square-edged style with sloped roofs. Some of the houses had walls of brick, others stone and mortar, and all were dark. No lights showed in the windows, and there was no sign of movement. The village was silent, so quiet it was unnatural; there was no sound of wind or life. As I looked around I saw a few open doors, shutters hanging loose. It felt … dead. Whoever had lived here, they weren’t here any more. As I looked around the silent square, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I looked unconsciously for lines of retreat.

  Luna was a little in front of me, her parents clustered protectively around her. She took a slow look around and something in her eyes made me sure it wasn’t the first time she’d seen this place. “Are you all right, dear?” her mother said. “Do you want to go back?”

  Luna’s gaze settled on the house at the other end of the square. It looked ancient, even older than the other houses, with a ragged roof and crumbling stonework that looked on the verge of falling down. The narrow entrance had no door; there was only a black hole in the wall. Luna raised her arm to point. “There.”

  “Is that the way out?” I asked. I kept my voice down. I had the feeling something might be listening.

  “Yes,” Luna said. She sounded absolutely certain.

  The doorway was maybe twenty paces away. Luna didn’t move towards it and neither did her parents. “What’s wrong?” I said quietly.

  Luna didn’t reply for a second. “You remember when you first brought me into Elsewhere?” Luna’s voice was distant and she gazed at the house in front of her, talking as if to herself. “You told me my curse didn’t work here.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I thought about that, afterwards,” Luna said. “I couldn’t figure it out. I mean, my curse is part of me. I can’t live without it, Arachne told me that. So how can I be here if my curse isn’t?”

  I looked at Luna but she didn’t meet my eyes. “Well, I figured it out,” Luna said, staring towards the house. “My curse is here. Just not in me.”

  The darkness behind the house moved and something stepped out of the shadows.

  It was beautiful.

  Looking back on it, that’s the first thing I remember. There was a kind of perfection to it, a purity. It stood taller than a man, its stance hunched with its arms hanging to its knees, but it moved with a smooth, loping grace that hinted at speed and power. It was hairless, its skin bare and pure white, and the fingers were curved in a way that made me think of claws. The head was wolflike, with a lengthened muzzle and two pure white eyes that glowed with a pale light. Despite its size, its movements were almost silent.

  The four of us stood dead still. The creature kept moving at a steady pace, keeping its distance from us as it circled counterclockwise, its eyes fixed on us. The only sound was the click of its claws against the stone.

  As the creature kept circling, we had to turn to keep it in view. It wasn’t making any effort to hide and its pale shape stood out clearly in the gloom. “What’s it doing?” I said at last, very quietly.

  “I don’t know,” Luna whispered. She was staring back at the thing. Its eyes had no pupils so I couldn’t be sure, but I had the feeling it was looking at her.

  The creature had gone a quarter of the way around us. “Cutting us off?” I said, then shook my head. “Doesn’t make sense …”

  “We should go,” Luna’s mother whispered. She shook Luna gently. “Come on.”

  Luna didn’t move. “It’ll get behind us,” her father murmured. “Run, cara. Quickly.”

  I shook my head. Somehow I knew this thing was faster than we could ever be.

  The creature was almost opposite from where it had started and we’d turned through a hundred and eighty degrees watching it. The doorway was behind us now and we were between it and the creature. We had a clear line of retreat. As if she’d been thinking the same thing, Luna took a step back.

  My hand shot out to catch her. “No.”

  Luna stopped, but she didn’t take her eyes off the thing. “It’s where we’re going,” she said.

  It was true but my instincts were warning me of danger. This thing had started its circle from next to the door. If it had wanted to block our exit, it could have just sto
od there. Why had it moved? Unless it wanted us to-

  A horrible suspicion hit me. I focused, narrowing my eyes, and froze. The creature was leaving a trail of silver-white mist as it walked and the mist wasn’t fading, but staying. I looked about and understood. The barrier of mist started in front of the house, blocking the way to the exit, and it was two-thirds of the way around us. The creature was drawing a circle around us. As soon as it finished, we’d be trapped. “Luna!”

  I heard Luna inhale sharply as she saw it too. As she did, the mist shimmered into visibility, as though by seeing it we’d broken the spell. The mist looked silvery, harmless … just like Luna’s curse.

  I don’t know if Luna’s parents knew what the mist was but they knew what it meant. “Luna!” her mother cried.

  “We have to go!” her father shouted. He ran towards the quarter of the circle still open.

  There was a flicker of movement, almost too fast to see. Luna’s father’s chest came apart in a gout of blood, droplets spattering onto the stone. The creature loomed above, bright red staining the white skin, and snatched the man up in its claws before fading back into the mist, gone before I could move.

  “No!” Luna screamed. “Dad!”

  “Artur!” Luna’s mother screamed. “ARTUR!”

  Luna made as if to run into the mist but I grabbed her. “No!”

  Luna struggled. “Let go-!”

  Something came flying out of the mist. It made a wet thump as it hit the ground and bounced, rolling and leaving a red smear behind it. It came to rest at Luna’s mother’s feet. She looked down and screamed. Two empty eyes stared up from out of it, glazing.

  Luna went rigid, staring in horror. Her mother kept screaming as I looked about wildly. The mist swirled, obscuring the square, and I couldn’t see where the thing was. The edges of the mist had almost closed the circle and only a narrow gap was left, leading towards an alley-way.

  Luna’s mother saw the narrowing gap and ran towards it, still screaming. “Don’t!” I shouted.

  The creature appeared out of the mist before she’d gone five steps, faster and quieter than anything so big had any right to be. Its claw ripped through the woman’s stomach to burst out of her back with a damp snapping noise, and Luna’s mother jerked as she was lifted off the ground. The creature held her weight impaled on one arm without difficulty, its empty eyes staring into hers as her mouth worked, trying to speak, then with a lightning motion it snapped its jaws around her throat and ripped it out. Spurts of blood painted red streaks on its skin as it dragged the body off its arm with a horrible scraping, cracking sound before fading back into the mist.