The Hollows, page 16
“Sold?”
“Yeah,” Kostya said downtrodden. “My mom and dad got in a tight spot with some worse people. I was sold to the Labyrinth to pay a debt. Mind you, I don’t think they actually knew this is where I would be kept, but they sold me all the same. Everyone has a price.”
“I’m so sorry,” She began, but he cut her off.
“Don’t be. I barely knew them. Choosing their relationship over me was an easy choice for them,” He finished as he looked up at the Twins.
Demi walked back and ran his hand through his hair, “Let’s go. Everyone ready?”
There was a grumble of acceptance from the group. Kostya and the rest looked at her when they thought she could not see. Their eyes searching her, or blaming her, or distrusting her. The twins must have told them about Brendon when she was asleep because a few of them were just showing downright disgust. Whatever it was made her skin crawl.
Maybe it was the way the air went suddenly stale or the sudden drop in temperature, but the boys’ eyes all frantically began scanning the alley. Kostya and Demi started to move away.
“Time to move,” Remi said ahead of everyone else. He started walking without bothering to look back. He didn’t need to. They all followed without another word.
The girl trailed behind them, but keeping some distance, not wanting to get too close. Demi and Remi led the pack, talking…more like bickering amongst themselves.
So, what now? She thought. Am I just to follow these guys around until I’m finally hunted down? Look what happened to Brendon, we aren’t safe in numbers. We aren’t safe at all.
The walls started to look like concrete with chipped and old white paint, gradually flaking off. The alley stopped at a dead end. Two doors marked the wall and the boys crowded around them, muttering questions, confusions, and options. Demi looked and traced his hand down the paneling, Remi did the same to the one on the right, shaking his head. They looked at each other for a moment before Remi nodded at the door to the left.
Demi reached for the handle when the girl yelled, “Stop!”
Fourteen shocked eyes stared back at her. The moth settled down on the door to the right behind the oblivious boys.
“Not that one,” She said softer. “It’s the one on the right. We should take the one on the right.”
“And how the hell would you know that?” Remi asked, folding his arms across his chest.
The unnamed girl looked at all the boys and then to the door, “I remember that door. When I was a child, we lived in an older borrow just north of the Flurries’ court. Every day before the Gray showed up, I would run through the halls at night with my friends. The sun was already out by then, but light always flickered from our candlelight. We had a white door with pale blue trimming, a brass knocker shaped in a half circle. That door.” She pointed and all fourteen eyes turned and stared at the door in front of them.
“It could be a trap,” Remi said.
Kostya moved toward the girl, “are you sure?”
Demi put a hand on his shoulder, “No one has seen anything they have recognized from the outside in the Labyrinth since we’ve been here. I don’t understand it any more than you do, but this could be a clue to figuring our way out.”
“We aren’t getting out,” Remi’s voice was venomous. “You know that. They know that. Even she fucking knows that. We’re going to die in here; the only thing we can do is run around and try to stay alive if possible before the hunger takes us.”
Remi turned and pointed his finger at her, “And you think she will help us get out of here? You are delusional.”
“What other choice do we have, Rem? Tell me and I’ll go with it, but I don’t see another option. Maybe it is time to let go of the reigns a little, you think?” Demi said as the two of the stared each other down. The other boys were getting fidgety, looking around at each other and trying hard not to look back at the girl.
Remi took a deep breath and sighed before running his hand through his hair again before thumbing his scar on his left, his nervous habit. She wondered where he had gotten the scar, where the twins were before coming here, and ultimately, what they had done to be put in the Labyrinth. Remi must have felt her eyes study him. He snapped his head towards her and glared.
“Fine,” Remi said. “We’ll take her door. But I swear if you get my brother and the rest of us killed, the Iktomi will be the least of your worries.” With that, he reached for the door and flung it open.
A gust of wind was sucked towards the opening. Demi and Remi, nearly identical matching boys were in completely contrasting stances; Demi calm and inquisitive, Remi crouched and protectively animalistic. The few other boys (the names escaping her memory) huddled close together behind them, shielding themselves from anything that could be on the other side.
The unknown girl was growing exhausted of only seeing black shadows across the thresholds. For once, she thought to herself, I’d like a nice open area with candlelight and something completely not scary as hell lurking on the other side. Maybe a tea party. Or a swimming pool.
She was tired of being cold. She was tired of shivering. She was tired of the dark and gloom and smells of stale, damp air and death. The girl just wanted her dimly lit, comfortable home again, the one full of her dolls and little trinkets she had collected over the years. Her little forgotten jewels.
Something stirred from behind her with the flowing air. The smell grew sharp in her nostrils like the pinch aroma of freshly rotten oranges. The other boys did not seem to notice, standing and staring, not wanting to be the first person through the door in front them. It took most of the courage lined in her chest to turn her neck the other direction. Her eyes followed the air around until it fell on her moth, perched high on the head of a man she was nearly face to face with. He wore a scraggly beard with long matted hair that was tangled with dirt, grime, and something wet. He was missing an eye, newly gouged and still dripping with the extraction. He was smiling, nearly toothless, with black gums and black rags.
She screamed and fell backward. The other boys jumped.
“What is it?” Kostya asked.
The man was gone.
Chapter Ten:
Save Yourself
“We have to get her out,” I repeated. “We have to help.”
Sevens groaned.
I watched Day for a moment, trying to determine if he was considering helping, or if he was merely playing the stage, allowing for the intensity to grow. I didn’t care, regardless. The look on my face, her face, as she ran away from that creature was carved into my brain and I was afraid it would never, ever be able to be undone.
“I honestly do not know how it can be done,” Day said.
I moved closer to him, “Well, we’ll have to figure out a way, won’t we?” Sevens scooted beside me on his haunches.
“It is more complicated than that, child,” Cassandra sneered.
“I wasn’t aware you were a part of the conversation, old witch,” I said.
Before Cassandra probably could put a hex on me, Day intervened, “No, Cassandra is correct. It is much more complicated than just a simple extraction. There are rules, ones that must not be broken here.”
“I don’t care! We have to help her,” the heat was rising to my cheeks.
“You are acting like a child, hence, the reason I keep referring to you as one. If you’d allow me the chance to explain it to you, then you might understand,” And when I didn’t speak, Day continued. “Everything has a balance. Light and Dark. Good and Bad. Even colors on a color wheel have those that are the most contrast. So think about it this way, what would happen if those scales were completely tipped? I’m not talking about one side weighted down more than the other. I’m talking about a complete and total one-sidedness. The scale would break and topple over unless someone, or something, were to reach out and grab a hold. They would then be a force against the one side. The balance would be completely in their hands.
“So if I were to put you in the same place as your counterpart, there would be two of you. An impossibility. This would cause a paradox shift. You already being here, in this world, is enough to cause the scales to tip to one side. If I were to put you in direct contact with her, breaking the barrier of the Hollows, putting you in the realm she’s in, I cannot begin to understand the consequences.
“And furthermore. The Labyrinth itself is something unpredictable. It was made to keep things in, Serenity. Horrible, terrible, uncontrollable things that are needed to be contained. She’s there for a reason, child, and I believe that reason is because both of you being present here in this reality is, in essence, a horrible and terrible and uncontrollable thing.”
I looked at him as he finished, “So why’d you bring me here?”
He wasn’t expecting that question. I could feel him searching for an answer, one that might subside my inquiries and allow me to forget my reasons for staying.
Instead, I felt him smile, “Because, you are her counterpart. Your world would not be the same if I simply replaced you. No, I needed you here, her there, so that we might have the power to change things. Serenity the child. Serenity the unafraid. Serenity the Hollow’s Savior.”
“What the fuck?”
Cassandra stepped up beside me, “Eloquently put, Serenity, and rightly asked. Day, what the fuck?”
Sevens grunted in agreement.
Day’s shadow shifted and I felt the earnestness within him, “The Hollows need to be changed. There is no one else like you, Serenity. There is no one that is unafraid. The Gray might be mildly fearful of me, and I know for a fact most everything else is, but even I am afraid of something. And, if the Gray were to ever figure that out, even I could be killed. I have come to the belief that there is a small possibility that you can change things. Somehow.”
I cocked an eyebrow, “Somehow. In other words, you have no fucking clue. You know I have no clue. Cassandra is clueless, no offense. So, you uprooted me from my world and shoved that poor girl in hell on a hunch? Is that what I’m to understand?”
His shame hit me like a wave, “More or less.”
“I want you to know something, Day,” I leaned in close. “This is on you. Whatever happens, if I die, if she dies, it’s all on you. This entire fucked up thing is your fault. So, you are going to help me get that poor girl out of there. You are going to send me back after we’re done. And then you are never, ever, going to do such a stupid-ass thing again.”
Cassandra bristled, “Oh, I like it when she’s all demanding.” Something was strange in her voice. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Day stood there, shadow waving in a non-existent breeze, defeated. Before he spoke, I already knew the answer, “Okay, Serenity. Okay.”
“Good. Now, how do we get me inside?” I asked.
“The Labyrinth is an intricate creature. There are only some points of entrance, and even those change and evolve.”
“But you know where, don’t you?”
“I understand her when she speaks, sometimes. I can tell her mood.”
I couldn’t take anymore, “How incredibly fucked up is this place? Her mood? She talks?”
“She doesn’t speak in a language. I am connected to her in certain ways, more so than most in the Hollows. If you can find her, talk to her, and figure her out, there is a chance that she opens her doors to you. I will do my best to find you an entrance, but I cannot tell you where you’d end up. It could take you years to figure out just the first layer. It is an incredibly stupid challenge you are wanting to take.”
“Oh, but bringing a fourteen-year-old to save the entire Hollow, that’s reasonable?”
“Touché.”
Sevens growled and stepped to my right between Cassandra and me. My eyes left days and looked at the witch, “What is your problem?”
Cassandra stopped with wide eyes, “Nothing. I have no shame, I’m not the one to blame. Go on the quest, do your best, but be mindful of the effect of your unrest.”
“I thought you had a control of the rhyming thing. Something is wrong, spill.”
She lowered her eyes and shook her head, stepping away and retreating to the far wall. With her back leaning against it, her eyes looked at mine and never left. Never blinked.
“Fear is a powerful thing, Serenity. There’s plenty of it here,” Day said.
We left a few moments later, allowing Cassandra and Sevens to collect themselves. Sevens needed to be scratched along his spine while Cassandra drank what was left of a dark purple liquid in one of her few bottles along one wall. Even from the few feet away I could smell the pinching fumes.
From which the rain came, I couldn’t be sure. There were no clouds in the sky, nor oceans or lakes nearby that collect the rain, as far as I knew. It smelled acidic and made the skin on my neck, shoulders, and legs itch something fierce. I heard the hoot of a night owl from the distance. At least, I hope it was an owl. There was no telling what it actually was, or from which it came. Trudging out into the barren streets, figures moved around inside buildings, shifting away from windows and moving further back to blend in with the shadows. More and more so, I was understanding their reasons for not wanting to be noticed.
Cassandra walked at the back, mumbling to herself and hacking up phlegm in excess. Whatever she had taken made her sway drunkenly and slow. Every few feet Day would stop and listen. I could feel his earnestness, unsteadiness, and false confidence. Feelings that were in complete contradiction to his poise on our first meeting.
The rain was bearing down on us with winds that blew my dress against my chest, nearly knocking me backward.
“Cassandra,” Day said. We felt him motion to the sky and around us.
“Rain and Shadows, wind and shades. Skies and stars must abide. These dark nights must cease its storm. Weather and the heaven must subside,” She slurred out. Her head swayed from side to side and she nearly lost her footing. When the last word left her mouth, it was as if a bubble had been placed around us. Rain still fell, but hit an invisible barrier and slid off to the sides while the wind was halted at a dead stop when it hit the wall.
“Thank you,” Day said. His eyes were off in the distance, keeping his concentration on the empty and gloomy world around him.
I turned back towards the witch, suddenly aware of how powerful she might be, “Yes, Cassandra. Thank you.”
She flinched and dipped her head. The tremble at her chin and the sudden jerks in her muscles made it clear it took something out of her. The witch looked older, then, wrinkles spreading across her eyes.
“Are you alright?” I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder. She jerked away from my touch and hissed, eyes full of rage and insanity.
“Leave her be, child,” Day said behind me without looking back. “Cassandra has spent a bulk of her energy. We will continue until she regains her strength.”
Every few feet I looked over my shoulder to see Cassandra falling behind. She fell against the walls of passing buildings, held on to rotten wooden signs, and slowly digressed back to the elder, feeble lady I previously met. By the time she was hunched over to a near crawl, we were so far in the distance that the darkness hid everything but her silhouette from me. Eventually, she disappeared altogether.
Sevens was pressed so tightly to my side that he kept me from walking in a completely straight line behind Day. I grabbed a handful of fur between his many shoulder blades and caressed him. With my guidance, we fell back into a steady pace behind Day, who for the continuing hour was completely preoccupied with his surroundings. Instilled with a purpose, I felt his mind grow distant, taking his emotions with him. Eventually, I felt nothing from him at all. No warmth, no thought, no fear. Just nothing but a large cloaked shadow floating in the night.
We crossed the street, giving no mind to Cassandra’s disappearance. Like it was just a natural sort of thing. I stopped suddenly with the silhouette of a boy crouching at the end of the wall, knees pulled to his face and rocking on his backside. I recognized the outfit. The lack of clothing, muddy and ruined, dirt caked skin and chocolate colored hair became slowly visible through the night. Day passed unconcerned, seemingly not recognizing the boy who vanished in the building without a trace.
I was forced to stop, “Ethan?”
The boy stopped rocking to a dead halt. He said nothing, just kept himself curled tightly together.
“Hey…” I began.
Sevens was between the boy and me in an instant, pushing me backward. Day was at our side, a wave of emotion that was long gone erupted again, “leave him alone. He’s already lost to the hunger. He will change soon, and you need not be within a good long distance from him when he does.”
“I’m not a part of the hunger, Shade,” Ethan said the last word with a spat.
A new feeling came from Day. Embarrassment? Anxious? Shameful? I was not sure but regardless, the feeling was intense.
“And I am not a part of the Shade,” Day said.
I raised my hand and looked between them, “Um, what is the hunger and what is a Shade? Some of us are clueless here and don’t like being left out of conversations, no matter how awkward they appear.”
Ethan lowered his knees and pushed himself to his feet, “If I were a part of the hunger, my face would be colorless. My eyes would be bleeding from burst blood vessels, and I would literally be trying to eat you. It happens sometimes when you do not sleep for long periods of time, days. You lose your mind and your stomach and animalistic nature takes over turning you towards cannibalism or so angry that you just tear whatever is near you apart. It is a terrible way to die, but I’ve seen worse.”
“So, you become hungry. And angry. You literally become hangry.”
Ethan nodded, “In a way, yes.”
Day was still shifting next to me uncomfortably.
I turned towards him, “Okay, your turn. Shade. Explain.”
