The Hollows, page 17
Day was uneasy, “A Shade is a very derogatory term meant for those who do harm to children while they sleep.”
“Like the boogeymen,” I said.
“A child’s description, but nevertheless it is the same,” Day said.
“So, you’re The Boogeyman,” I repeated.
Agitation filled the air, “No, I am not the Damned Boogeyman.”
“Don’t curse, Day. Use your words,” I said.
Day’s voice was laced with so much anger, that both Ethan and I took a step back when he spoke, “This is not a joke! The Shade, the boogeyman, myself, we all have the same basic ancestry as most shadow creatures do. But we are not all the same. The Boogeyman steal children. The Shade slit their throats while they are still in bed and feed off the agony and despair of their parents when they find them. I am nothing of the sort. They are disgusting plagues upon your world and ours, a pestilence with which many in both worlds have tried to cure.”
“So, what are you then?” I asked.
Day relaxed, “I know you want the answer, child, but sometimes there is not one. At least not one with an easy explanation.”
Ethan scoffed, “I can. I came across you while I searched for the Woman in Red. If you aren’t a Shade, then you are the Darkness manifested. The cloaked face that everyone speaks of, but is older than light. Am I close?”
“Not quite,” Day said. “But relatively close. It is easier to say that I am a child of that which you speak. An offspring of that Darkness.”
Attention Deficit Disorder must have kicked in as I turned to Ethan, “Wait, the Woman in Red? Are you talking about Cassandra?”
Murder flooded his face, “The Woman in Red. I don’t care what her name is. I saw you speaking with her. Where is she?”
“Probably a hundred years old looking and dying in a ditch somewhere about a mile behind us. What’s the big deal?”
I saw him look sideways, whisper and then shook his head. Then shook it again. Then whispered ‘okay’ and looked back at us with water in his eyes.
Ethan took a few breaths before speaking, “She killed my family. My sister and I are all that is left. You speak of things around here without caring, but you should. Your words have meaning here,” he looked at Day and held up a hand before he could speak. “I know she’s not from the Hollows. She couldn’t be. I knew from the first moment we spoke in the building. You talk to this Shadow as though he’s a joke or something you have been around all your life. But, if you had been, then you wouldn’t be so crass with how you speak. It’s insulting how you act. You speak Cassandra’s name as though the witch was nothing to fear. But, I have seen her, with lust and rage in her heart as she forces your father to strangle your mother with her mind tricks. I watched as he got him to attack my sister in ways that are too horrible to speak. Then I saw him come after me with no feeling or anger in his eyes. Have you ever seen your father dismember a body with a smile? Have you had to watch him laugh while cutting his own throat with the same knife he put in your gut? That is what she is, you ignorant speck. That is what the Woman in Red will do to you, too.”
There were no words, I could not find the phrases. Day had been calling me a child, but I had never felt more scolded until this younger boy’s words hit me.
Ethan’s body was visibly quaking, “She took everything from me.”
“Cassandra did all of that?” I asked.
Ethan nodded slowly, never blinking. His body was shaking and fists were clenched. Then his right arm relaxed and opened, like a hand sliding down and coaxing him back from whatever hellish memories were replaying in his head.
I looked him over, “I am so sorry.”
He looked sideways again at someone who wasn’t there, “I need to find her. There is nothing else.”
I looked down the path from which we came, nothing but a powdered night with caked on fog and empty lifelessness. The prickling on the back of my neck returned. We were being watched. I looked up at the intersection again, just then realizing that there were no signs or landmark names. How anyone could tell where they were in the Hollows in the dark was impressive. I only saw unremarkable, broken down buildings, dead brush, and no discernable milestones which was disorienting at best.
The ground beneath our feet gave a small tremble. I looked at Ethan and Sevens, both looking up from the ground with the same troubled recognition.
“She is growing uncomfortable,” Day said.
“She?” I asked.
“The Labyrinth, yes,” he said. “She is getting stronger, but she’s acting strangely. She knows what I want, but she is struggling to give it to me.”
Ethan’s eyes widened with horror, “The Labyrinth is real? Maggie, can you believe that?”
I looked and saw an empty space next to him.
Day continued, “She is struggling on more than a physical level. It is as if she is in a moral quandary.”
I shook my head, “Well, tell her ass to give in, already.”
He grew grim, “you of all people should know that forcing a lady to do anything outside of what is respectable and of her nature is nothing short of deplorable.”
“Excuse me?”
“That did not come out as intended. All I meant was, I cannot force the Labyrinth to do something she does not want to do. Nor would I ever try to. She deserves more respect and love than that.”
I looked up at him, keeping the immaturity and childishness at bay, “Okay, we will definitely be getting back to your jab at my background in a moment. But you talk about The Labyrinth as though she is a real person. As if she’s a lover.”
“In a way, she is. To know something on a level which surpasses communication, surpasses comfort, surpasses even the need for translation and understand its soul is a truly intimate thing. That which knows your soul can change you. But that which deserves to be that close would never want you to change,” Day said.
I looked up at him with searching eyes, “nothing will ever be that close to me.”
“So, I reiterate, you of all people should understand her hesitancy to trust.”
“Me of all people,” I nodded.
Day’s demeanor changed from solemn to repentant, “I’m so sorry, child. There are things in the past that should never come to light. But you need to deal with the monstrosity behind you so you can defeat the monsters ahead. If they can pinpoint your fear, then you can be defeated. You are the strongest being I have ever met, Serenity. You just need to figure that out for yourself.”
“How could you possibly know what has happened to me or what I’ve been through?” I spat.
Day lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible by Ethan and myself, like letting out a secret that he should not have been telling, “You are sick, child. In your mind and in your heart.”
Heat rose up in my chest before I could control it, “I’m sick? I’m sick! What about the sick fucks that I’ve been around? What about what those monsters did to me? You have the audacity to call me sick? Look at what they did!”
“Your soul is sick because of what has happened to you. Those people did horrible things to a child that is unforgivable. And, eventually, when they die, their souls might end up here in this place, locked away in a type of hell in with which they caused you. You are sick, Serenity. But, in light of everything, I can say with confidence, that it is okay. You are okay. Being sick, being damaged, is far from meaning useless. It is actually the furthest from saying you are not worth something. Sometimes the most damaged people can do the most extraordinary and wonderful things,” Day looked over at Ethan. “More times than not, it is the sick of soul and the damaged that end up being the saviors that other damaged creatures need.”
Aside from the sounds of my tears, there was a silence, deafening and weighted as we all stood there unmoving.
I did not want to think about that. There was nothing I wanted to run away from more than that exact conversation. People have said that before. Well, not really in that particular way, but something close. I wanted to listen to him. I wanted to believe him and hold onto it like a security blanket draped over every inch of me. But, in the end, all I felt was cold.
Ethan shifted his feet, noticing my embarrassment. I couldn’t meet his eyes or look at Day for fear of losing all emotional stability. Sevens leaned against me and put his head in my hand, cooing the tears dry. Without bothering to say anymore, Day turned and began gliding away. Ethan hesitated for a moment and began to follow. My guess was he had nowhere else to go, no other family, and no other ambition other than what was out of his control at the moment. I took one more look behind me towards the darkness, wiped my tears, and then ventured forward.
The narrow street we came to was lined with old doors, much like many of the others we passed, nothing remarkable or new. Day had already walked halfway down the alley, Ethan talking to himself and asking questions intermitted with which Day gave the best answers he could. Every door that was collected in that hallway numbered seventy-seven.
I reflexively grabbed for Seven’s coat as the ground gave a longer and more pronounced shiver, shaking some of the doors against their frames.
A whisper came from behind us, “She can’t. She can’t. The Hollows won’t allow it.”
I turned and saw a new face, beautifully striking and pale. Against the night, her skin seemed to glow, bright against the black behind her. Her veins pulsed under the luminescent coating, shining a light on the bricks and doors to their sides. Her hair was wild in curls and flowing in every direction and her deep red eyes bore into us with anger and steadfast resolve.
“Cassandra,” I heard Day speak from behind me, a twinge of worry in his thoughts.
“Doors open, all hope is gone,” Cassandra said, snapping her fingers, flinging all the doors open in the alley. “To hell you belong, to face the reckoning of the dawn.”
My feet left the ground, pulled sideways by an invisible force through the air. My hand, still wrapped around Sevens, clenched tight as we both were jerked through the passageway of one of the doors just before they snapped closed. When I hit the ground, it was already pitch black and I could not tell when my consciousness was cut off from the world.
Interlude V
“Cassandra?” Ethan heard Serenity ask from behind him. He was far enough away that the sound was muffled with the distance, but he knew he heard the name correctly.
For a moment, he was in a trance, not able to walk forward, but not able to turn and face what was behind him. The pit of his stomach gave a painful drop, like just missing a step on a long staircase or the moment you tip back in your chair, but it was an endless sensation coursing through his limbs, radiating from his gut.
Every door opened simultaneously, both the soundless hinges and the old, rusty groans, wakening Ethan from his stupor. When he spun to face the one he had been searching for all these long nights, he caught a glimpse of her power. Serenity and her creature were flung sideways through the air with a snap, hurling them through an open archway. He blinked and took a step back as all the doors around him slammed shut.
Not knowing whether Serenity was alive or not gave him pause, but only long enough to read the serious nature of what stood before him.
“Cassandra, what have you done?” Day asked.
The Woman in Red glowed against the black backdrop, her hair floated with an invisible wind, tangled and stretched in all directions. Her feet hovered from the ground, toes pointed, and arms outstretched. Day walked forward towards the floating witch and Ethan was tight on his heels until they were only mere strides from one another. Dust kicked up, encircling the three of them on all sides, cut off from the exits.
“Where did you send her, Cassandra?” Day asked.
Cassandra, the Woman in Red, lowered her head. Her eyes lacked any white, like pools of blood instead of irises. She hung there, silent and floating, with a smile.
“I sent her away,” She said. “She will not find the Labyrinth, nor disturb the balances. You were unwise to bring her here.”
For the first time, Ethan felt a mixture of emotions, both an enraged fury and a deep, flooding calm. It took time to realize that it was Day’s emotions he was feeling, being transferred to him from nowhere.
Day moved ahead, “That decision did not reside with you. That was her choice and her direction to take. The Labyrinth would have allowed it!”
“And what do you know of the Labyrinth,” Cassandra sneered. “You, the almighty Day. Keeper of the Hollows and its secrets. What do you know of what she truly wants?”
“You do not feel it, do you? The shudders and the quakes are signs of instability. She is dying, just like the rest of the Hollows. Don’t you see that? If Serenity is dead, you might as well have killed us all if the Labyrinth breaks.”
Ethan glared at Cassandra, taking in what he could and letting the anger boil. What was worse is she never even looked at him. She never glanced down and saw recognition or fear. All of this was apparently more important, but not to him, ignoring his very existence. Nothing about the Hollows mattered to Ethan. Not the Labyrinth, not the Gray, not even Serenity. The most important thing in his life was right in front of him still breathing, and it disgusted him. His teeth ground and gut wrenched with both hatred and annoyance. Ethan wanted to be seen. He wanted to be noticed by her. And, above all, he wanted her scared of him.
But Cassandra and Day just stood facing one other in a stalemate, neither moving, but both glaringly ominous and waiting for the other to make a move.
Cassandra whispered something.
“No!” Day shouted and whipped forward.
As he moved, his shadow expanded, like a sudden inflation of air in a black balloon. Ribbons of shadow burst out from his mass, making a hundred snaps through the air, wrapping the tentacles around Cassandra’s arms, legs, torso, and neck. Day brought his hood down level with her face and squeezed.
At first, her eyes fluttered with the lack of oxygen. Then they burst open with shining rubies. Day’s black cloth burst into flame at the points where his shadow touched her skin and cascaded up the limbs to his mass. The Shadow struggled to maintain his hold, snarling and growling like a beast.
Ethan leaped backward from the fire as it engulfed Day’s midsection. Ethan had never heard such a sound from a living thing. It was like six different voices ranging from a low bass to a squealing, dying cat all cried in harmonious pain. Day’s shadow lashed about, then twisted into a cyclone, kicking up dust and cloud while putting out the blaze. In doing so, he was forced to let Cassandra go, dropping her to the ground.
She moved forward and whispered again. Ethan and Day were hit with an invisible blow, knocking them both backward to the far wall. Ethan was pinned, unable to maneuver his arms or legs. He turned his head to an empty spot next to him. Day was like smoke, melting into the darkness.
Cassandra stepped further into the alley, undisturbed. Her head tilted, listening to the shadows, walls, and creaks. She stopped halfway between the exit and where she held Ethan, eyes scanning the brick and dust, then upwards at the sky. As soon as her curiosity ignited, it ended, and her eyes snapped to Ethan. With nonchalant swagger, she waltzed up to him as he struggled against invisible ropes, licking her lips and swaying her hips.
“Well, isn’t this something of a treat? Day left me a plaything,” Cassandra said. Her words oozed out like poisoned cream.
Ethan stopped struggling and looked her in the eyes.
“Well, why don’t you give us a name? Or should I just call you sweets.”
Ethan saw Maggie come out of the dark just over Cassandra’s shoulders. She stepped towards Cassandra’s back with a blank face and soundless steps. Ethan caught her eyes and shook his head no.
Cassandra turned. The alley was empty, “To whom do you acknowledge and shake? To what eyes does your warning take?”
She turned back to face him, “Your face looks, with familiar lines. But reminiscent of someone older and more refined. But that cannot be, you see, for I stuck his gut five inches deep. You are stronger than I gave credit where credit should have been due. I should not have left you to die, I should have ended you, too.”
“Shut up,” Ethan said.
“Oh, are the rhymes too much? They can be, sometimes. I will put it simply. Your father used me at a time I was vulnerable. It was only fair to return the favor. I was hungry and angry. If I had known he had a wife and children, I might not have lost my temper so badly. But, he took something from me, so it was fair.”
“You killed my parents.”
“You killed my parents,” she mocked and squealed and laughed. “Your mother was in the way and your sister was a sad mishap. You shouldn’t have come after me while your father was finishing everything off. You should have heard him cry in his mind as he took their lives. It was cute.”
Maggie was in the middle of the alley once more, her eyes now streaming with silent tears.
“Maggie?” Ethan cried.
“Was that her name?” Cassandra asked.
The shadows grew darker around the corners, blocking the end of the passage and coating it in a dark blanket, then slowly moving closer to the Woman in Red. Maggie stood there out in the open, eyes wet, but otherwise emotionless as the Shadow overtook her. It was slowly making its way to the Witch, foot by foot until it just barely touched her heels.
Cassandra’s head snapped completely around, “Now, that’s not fair play, Day.”
And with the sound of Thunder, light erupted from her skin so bright it hurt Ethan’s eyes. Before shutting them, he saw that the shadows had not given an inch to her.
With his eyes still closed, he fell to the ground. Squinting he saw the Shadows flickering against the light, fighting to gain ground on her. Cassandra must have known that she was not winning. Ethan saw the air around her become dense like a thick fog coming from her feet.
Ethan could not let her disappear. Not this time. Forcing himself to his feet he stumbled forward quickly and grabbed a hold of her left wrist.
Cassandra looked at him with a sneer reserved for bugs and feces. But just before she could whisper a spell to rid herself of him, her eyes widened in horror. She turned to her right with confusion and disgust.
“Like the boogeymen,” I said.
“A child’s description, but nevertheless it is the same,” Day said.
“So, you’re The Boogeyman,” I repeated.
Agitation filled the air, “No, I am not the Damned Boogeyman.”
“Don’t curse, Day. Use your words,” I said.
Day’s voice was laced with so much anger, that both Ethan and I took a step back when he spoke, “This is not a joke! The Shade, the boogeyman, myself, we all have the same basic ancestry as most shadow creatures do. But we are not all the same. The Boogeyman steal children. The Shade slit their throats while they are still in bed and feed off the agony and despair of their parents when they find them. I am nothing of the sort. They are disgusting plagues upon your world and ours, a pestilence with which many in both worlds have tried to cure.”
“So, what are you then?” I asked.
Day relaxed, “I know you want the answer, child, but sometimes there is not one. At least not one with an easy explanation.”
Ethan scoffed, “I can. I came across you while I searched for the Woman in Red. If you aren’t a Shade, then you are the Darkness manifested. The cloaked face that everyone speaks of, but is older than light. Am I close?”
“Not quite,” Day said. “But relatively close. It is easier to say that I am a child of that which you speak. An offspring of that Darkness.”
Attention Deficit Disorder must have kicked in as I turned to Ethan, “Wait, the Woman in Red? Are you talking about Cassandra?”
Murder flooded his face, “The Woman in Red. I don’t care what her name is. I saw you speaking with her. Where is she?”
“Probably a hundred years old looking and dying in a ditch somewhere about a mile behind us. What’s the big deal?”
I saw him look sideways, whisper and then shook his head. Then shook it again. Then whispered ‘okay’ and looked back at us with water in his eyes.
Ethan took a few breaths before speaking, “She killed my family. My sister and I are all that is left. You speak of things around here without caring, but you should. Your words have meaning here,” he looked at Day and held up a hand before he could speak. “I know she’s not from the Hollows. She couldn’t be. I knew from the first moment we spoke in the building. You talk to this Shadow as though he’s a joke or something you have been around all your life. But, if you had been, then you wouldn’t be so crass with how you speak. It’s insulting how you act. You speak Cassandra’s name as though the witch was nothing to fear. But, I have seen her, with lust and rage in her heart as she forces your father to strangle your mother with her mind tricks. I watched as he got him to attack my sister in ways that are too horrible to speak. Then I saw him come after me with no feeling or anger in his eyes. Have you ever seen your father dismember a body with a smile? Have you had to watch him laugh while cutting his own throat with the same knife he put in your gut? That is what she is, you ignorant speck. That is what the Woman in Red will do to you, too.”
There were no words, I could not find the phrases. Day had been calling me a child, but I had never felt more scolded until this younger boy’s words hit me.
Ethan’s body was visibly quaking, “She took everything from me.”
“Cassandra did all of that?” I asked.
Ethan nodded slowly, never blinking. His body was shaking and fists were clenched. Then his right arm relaxed and opened, like a hand sliding down and coaxing him back from whatever hellish memories were replaying in his head.
I looked him over, “I am so sorry.”
He looked sideways again at someone who wasn’t there, “I need to find her. There is nothing else.”
I looked down the path from which we came, nothing but a powdered night with caked on fog and empty lifelessness. The prickling on the back of my neck returned. We were being watched. I looked up at the intersection again, just then realizing that there were no signs or landmark names. How anyone could tell where they were in the Hollows in the dark was impressive. I only saw unremarkable, broken down buildings, dead brush, and no discernable milestones which was disorienting at best.
The ground beneath our feet gave a small tremble. I looked at Ethan and Sevens, both looking up from the ground with the same troubled recognition.
“She is growing uncomfortable,” Day said.
“She?” I asked.
“The Labyrinth, yes,” he said. “She is getting stronger, but she’s acting strangely. She knows what I want, but she is struggling to give it to me.”
Ethan’s eyes widened with horror, “The Labyrinth is real? Maggie, can you believe that?”
I looked and saw an empty space next to him.
Day continued, “She is struggling on more than a physical level. It is as if she is in a moral quandary.”
I shook my head, “Well, tell her ass to give in, already.”
He grew grim, “you of all people should know that forcing a lady to do anything outside of what is respectable and of her nature is nothing short of deplorable.”
“Excuse me?”
“That did not come out as intended. All I meant was, I cannot force the Labyrinth to do something she does not want to do. Nor would I ever try to. She deserves more respect and love than that.”
I looked up at him, keeping the immaturity and childishness at bay, “Okay, we will definitely be getting back to your jab at my background in a moment. But you talk about The Labyrinth as though she is a real person. As if she’s a lover.”
“In a way, she is. To know something on a level which surpasses communication, surpasses comfort, surpasses even the need for translation and understand its soul is a truly intimate thing. That which knows your soul can change you. But that which deserves to be that close would never want you to change,” Day said.
I looked up at him with searching eyes, “nothing will ever be that close to me.”
“So, I reiterate, you of all people should understand her hesitancy to trust.”
“Me of all people,” I nodded.
Day’s demeanor changed from solemn to repentant, “I’m so sorry, child. There are things in the past that should never come to light. But you need to deal with the monstrosity behind you so you can defeat the monsters ahead. If they can pinpoint your fear, then you can be defeated. You are the strongest being I have ever met, Serenity. You just need to figure that out for yourself.”
“How could you possibly know what has happened to me or what I’ve been through?” I spat.
Day lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible by Ethan and myself, like letting out a secret that he should not have been telling, “You are sick, child. In your mind and in your heart.”
Heat rose up in my chest before I could control it, “I’m sick? I’m sick! What about the sick fucks that I’ve been around? What about what those monsters did to me? You have the audacity to call me sick? Look at what they did!”
“Your soul is sick because of what has happened to you. Those people did horrible things to a child that is unforgivable. And, eventually, when they die, their souls might end up here in this place, locked away in a type of hell in with which they caused you. You are sick, Serenity. But, in light of everything, I can say with confidence, that it is okay. You are okay. Being sick, being damaged, is far from meaning useless. It is actually the furthest from saying you are not worth something. Sometimes the most damaged people can do the most extraordinary and wonderful things,” Day looked over at Ethan. “More times than not, it is the sick of soul and the damaged that end up being the saviors that other damaged creatures need.”
Aside from the sounds of my tears, there was a silence, deafening and weighted as we all stood there unmoving.
I did not want to think about that. There was nothing I wanted to run away from more than that exact conversation. People have said that before. Well, not really in that particular way, but something close. I wanted to listen to him. I wanted to believe him and hold onto it like a security blanket draped over every inch of me. But, in the end, all I felt was cold.
Ethan shifted his feet, noticing my embarrassment. I couldn’t meet his eyes or look at Day for fear of losing all emotional stability. Sevens leaned against me and put his head in my hand, cooing the tears dry. Without bothering to say anymore, Day turned and began gliding away. Ethan hesitated for a moment and began to follow. My guess was he had nowhere else to go, no other family, and no other ambition other than what was out of his control at the moment. I took one more look behind me towards the darkness, wiped my tears, and then ventured forward.
The narrow street we came to was lined with old doors, much like many of the others we passed, nothing remarkable or new. Day had already walked halfway down the alley, Ethan talking to himself and asking questions intermitted with which Day gave the best answers he could. Every door that was collected in that hallway numbered seventy-seven.
I reflexively grabbed for Seven’s coat as the ground gave a longer and more pronounced shiver, shaking some of the doors against their frames.
A whisper came from behind us, “She can’t. She can’t. The Hollows won’t allow it.”
I turned and saw a new face, beautifully striking and pale. Against the night, her skin seemed to glow, bright against the black behind her. Her veins pulsed under the luminescent coating, shining a light on the bricks and doors to their sides. Her hair was wild in curls and flowing in every direction and her deep red eyes bore into us with anger and steadfast resolve.
“Cassandra,” I heard Day speak from behind me, a twinge of worry in his thoughts.
“Doors open, all hope is gone,” Cassandra said, snapping her fingers, flinging all the doors open in the alley. “To hell you belong, to face the reckoning of the dawn.”
My feet left the ground, pulled sideways by an invisible force through the air. My hand, still wrapped around Sevens, clenched tight as we both were jerked through the passageway of one of the doors just before they snapped closed. When I hit the ground, it was already pitch black and I could not tell when my consciousness was cut off from the world.
Interlude V
“Cassandra?” Ethan heard Serenity ask from behind him. He was far enough away that the sound was muffled with the distance, but he knew he heard the name correctly.
For a moment, he was in a trance, not able to walk forward, but not able to turn and face what was behind him. The pit of his stomach gave a painful drop, like just missing a step on a long staircase or the moment you tip back in your chair, but it was an endless sensation coursing through his limbs, radiating from his gut.
Every door opened simultaneously, both the soundless hinges and the old, rusty groans, wakening Ethan from his stupor. When he spun to face the one he had been searching for all these long nights, he caught a glimpse of her power. Serenity and her creature were flung sideways through the air with a snap, hurling them through an open archway. He blinked and took a step back as all the doors around him slammed shut.
Not knowing whether Serenity was alive or not gave him pause, but only long enough to read the serious nature of what stood before him.
“Cassandra, what have you done?” Day asked.
The Woman in Red glowed against the black backdrop, her hair floated with an invisible wind, tangled and stretched in all directions. Her feet hovered from the ground, toes pointed, and arms outstretched. Day walked forward towards the floating witch and Ethan was tight on his heels until they were only mere strides from one another. Dust kicked up, encircling the three of them on all sides, cut off from the exits.
“Where did you send her, Cassandra?” Day asked.
Cassandra, the Woman in Red, lowered her head. Her eyes lacked any white, like pools of blood instead of irises. She hung there, silent and floating, with a smile.
“I sent her away,” She said. “She will not find the Labyrinth, nor disturb the balances. You were unwise to bring her here.”
For the first time, Ethan felt a mixture of emotions, both an enraged fury and a deep, flooding calm. It took time to realize that it was Day’s emotions he was feeling, being transferred to him from nowhere.
Day moved ahead, “That decision did not reside with you. That was her choice and her direction to take. The Labyrinth would have allowed it!”
“And what do you know of the Labyrinth,” Cassandra sneered. “You, the almighty Day. Keeper of the Hollows and its secrets. What do you know of what she truly wants?”
“You do not feel it, do you? The shudders and the quakes are signs of instability. She is dying, just like the rest of the Hollows. Don’t you see that? If Serenity is dead, you might as well have killed us all if the Labyrinth breaks.”
Ethan glared at Cassandra, taking in what he could and letting the anger boil. What was worse is she never even looked at him. She never glanced down and saw recognition or fear. All of this was apparently more important, but not to him, ignoring his very existence. Nothing about the Hollows mattered to Ethan. Not the Labyrinth, not the Gray, not even Serenity. The most important thing in his life was right in front of him still breathing, and it disgusted him. His teeth ground and gut wrenched with both hatred and annoyance. Ethan wanted to be seen. He wanted to be noticed by her. And, above all, he wanted her scared of him.
But Cassandra and Day just stood facing one other in a stalemate, neither moving, but both glaringly ominous and waiting for the other to make a move.
Cassandra whispered something.
“No!” Day shouted and whipped forward.
As he moved, his shadow expanded, like a sudden inflation of air in a black balloon. Ribbons of shadow burst out from his mass, making a hundred snaps through the air, wrapping the tentacles around Cassandra’s arms, legs, torso, and neck. Day brought his hood down level with her face and squeezed.
At first, her eyes fluttered with the lack of oxygen. Then they burst open with shining rubies. Day’s black cloth burst into flame at the points where his shadow touched her skin and cascaded up the limbs to his mass. The Shadow struggled to maintain his hold, snarling and growling like a beast.
Ethan leaped backward from the fire as it engulfed Day’s midsection. Ethan had never heard such a sound from a living thing. It was like six different voices ranging from a low bass to a squealing, dying cat all cried in harmonious pain. Day’s shadow lashed about, then twisted into a cyclone, kicking up dust and cloud while putting out the blaze. In doing so, he was forced to let Cassandra go, dropping her to the ground.
She moved forward and whispered again. Ethan and Day were hit with an invisible blow, knocking them both backward to the far wall. Ethan was pinned, unable to maneuver his arms or legs. He turned his head to an empty spot next to him. Day was like smoke, melting into the darkness.
Cassandra stepped further into the alley, undisturbed. Her head tilted, listening to the shadows, walls, and creaks. She stopped halfway between the exit and where she held Ethan, eyes scanning the brick and dust, then upwards at the sky. As soon as her curiosity ignited, it ended, and her eyes snapped to Ethan. With nonchalant swagger, she waltzed up to him as he struggled against invisible ropes, licking her lips and swaying her hips.
“Well, isn’t this something of a treat? Day left me a plaything,” Cassandra said. Her words oozed out like poisoned cream.
Ethan stopped struggling and looked her in the eyes.
“Well, why don’t you give us a name? Or should I just call you sweets.”
Ethan saw Maggie come out of the dark just over Cassandra’s shoulders. She stepped towards Cassandra’s back with a blank face and soundless steps. Ethan caught her eyes and shook his head no.
Cassandra turned. The alley was empty, “To whom do you acknowledge and shake? To what eyes does your warning take?”
She turned back to face him, “Your face looks, with familiar lines. But reminiscent of someone older and more refined. But that cannot be, you see, for I stuck his gut five inches deep. You are stronger than I gave credit where credit should have been due. I should not have left you to die, I should have ended you, too.”
“Shut up,” Ethan said.
“Oh, are the rhymes too much? They can be, sometimes. I will put it simply. Your father used me at a time I was vulnerable. It was only fair to return the favor. I was hungry and angry. If I had known he had a wife and children, I might not have lost my temper so badly. But, he took something from me, so it was fair.”
“You killed my parents.”
“You killed my parents,” she mocked and squealed and laughed. “Your mother was in the way and your sister was a sad mishap. You shouldn’t have come after me while your father was finishing everything off. You should have heard him cry in his mind as he took their lives. It was cute.”
Maggie was in the middle of the alley once more, her eyes now streaming with silent tears.
“Maggie?” Ethan cried.
“Was that her name?” Cassandra asked.
The shadows grew darker around the corners, blocking the end of the passage and coating it in a dark blanket, then slowly moving closer to the Woman in Red. Maggie stood there out in the open, eyes wet, but otherwise emotionless as the Shadow overtook her. It was slowly making its way to the Witch, foot by foot until it just barely touched her heels.
Cassandra’s head snapped completely around, “Now, that’s not fair play, Day.”
And with the sound of Thunder, light erupted from her skin so bright it hurt Ethan’s eyes. Before shutting them, he saw that the shadows had not given an inch to her.
With his eyes still closed, he fell to the ground. Squinting he saw the Shadows flickering against the light, fighting to gain ground on her. Cassandra must have known that she was not winning. Ethan saw the air around her become dense like a thick fog coming from her feet.
Ethan could not let her disappear. Not this time. Forcing himself to his feet he stumbled forward quickly and grabbed a hold of her left wrist.
Cassandra looked at him with a sneer reserved for bugs and feces. But just before she could whisper a spell to rid herself of him, her eyes widened in horror. She turned to her right with confusion and disgust.
