Chapter Twenty-Eight

 

 

 

 

Shade

 

“You fool, get up!”

Aveta’s gruff voice sounded muffled, as though I were underwater. Her curses cleared as my vision did the same. Blinking up into the atmosphere, I saw obsidian dust sparkling in the mysterious light poking through the cavern walls high above.

We were somewhere new, a cave I’d never seen before.

I groaned, sitting up and shaking off the layer of dust growing on my body. Coughing, I pushed off the ground and dusted off my clothes. I was still wearing that heinous red dress I’d worn around Arthas. Shaking my head, I cursed and willed the air to whip about us, removing the dust and glass crystals stabbing into my pores. I even added a dab of magic to change my clothes into practical jeans and a sweatshirt. I shivered, feeling the cold more now that my senses had awoken. I hugged my arms tightly to my chest.

“You look pathetic in that mortal garb.” Aveta frowned as she patted down her long jet-black hair. No thank you for clearing off the dust from her skin and dress. No hint of gratitude. Not that I expected it from her.

“It’s what I’m comfortable in, just like you prefer those ghastly taffeta gowns that announce your approach from miles away,” I grumbled, but Aveta ignored my rant. “What is this place anyway?” I looked around, the ceiling high above us as creatures called out from the darkness, echoes bouncing off the walls. I shuddered.

This place was crawling with evil.

“It’s the labyrinth. It’s the only path to the other side, where the hidden part of Faerie lies. That’s where we’re going.”

“Excuse me, we?” I scoffed. “I don’t think so. I did what you asked me to. You go where you want, but I need to—”

“You need to what?” Aveta snapped, shutting me down with one icy glare. “You have no one, Shade. You are utterly alone. There is no one out there for you, you made sure of that. I know how you Ancients work. You are the most selfish creatures to roam this realm. You abandon all you love and manipulate innocents to your benefit. Do you really think anyone is looking for you now? You might as well see something worth admiring. Something even you could appreciate. I’m sure there is something at the end of this labyrinth even you could love.”

My mouth agape, I felt stinging tears spring up behind my eyes. How dare she? Who did she think she was? I stumbled as my tongue twisted, unable to retort. I couldn’t stand this woman, yet every word she spoke dripped of truth. A truth I hadn’t been willing to face after the Heart of Fire and Ice. I couldn’t. There was no part of me able to face any of it until now, and it all came rushing at me like an avalanche.

I gasped, closing my eyes as I reached out, steadying my hand on the smooth obsidian of the arch I’d created out of the rock. A fit entrance for a place filled with darkness and death. Many had died here; I could hear their souls wailing and whispering into my head, beckoning to me from the inky blackness to enter and become one of them.

I shook my head. I had to keep it together. Ancients are powerful, but even they are not infallible. Even I could not resist the call of the darkness all the time.

I glared up at Aveta, who nonchalantly strode forward, straight into the labyrinth, not waiting for my response. As I contemplated turning around or going on to see a place few in Faerie had ever seen, I straightened, choking on my pride as I took a step forward and decided my fate.

“What lives here?” I asked, my fear bubbling in the back of my thoughts. Swallowing down the dry ball in my throat, I suddenly didn’t want to know what lurked in these shadows.

“Dark spirits; creatures called wraiths. But they are no ordinary fae. They are soul eaters, feeding off your fear until you collapse of fright. You must control your fears and not let them see what vexes you if you wish to walk freely through these halls. If you let your emotions get the best of you, they will eat you alive.”

I cleared my throat, pushing all my thoughts to the side. If that was true, I couldn’t allow my feelings to seep through me. What a perfect time for my human emotions to rise back to the surface. The way this place felt, it would be lethally dangerous to contribute to its dark magic.

“You’ve been here a few times?”

“More times than anyone has ever traversed through here,” Aveta responded. Her voice was emotionless, her eyes constantly darting from side to side, sweeping the area with precision.

“Have you ever been attacked by those dark spirits?” I asked.

“Yes. This is a gateway to paradise, but the price to enter can be everything.”

“What’s at the end?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It must if you wanted to get here so badly.”

Aveta frowned, silent. I guessed she was done talking for now. Sighing, I turned away from her and studied the dark obsidian walls. The glass reflected my face now and then from the light beams high above. This place had to be hundreds of feet under the Withering Palace, deep in the mountain. How did an entire hidden realm of Faerie exist down here? What would it be like? Was it full of darkness? Was it light and happy? There was no way of telling, but from Aveta’s desperation to return there, it must be something special.

“Shade?”

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned my head to find my mother Jade standing clear as day a few feet away from me.

“Mom?” I whispered, confused. “What… how? How are you here?”

“Daughter, I’ve been waiting for you. How could you leave me behind?”

“I—I didn’t.” Confused, I stepped forward as fingernails dug hard into my flesh. Catching my arm, Aveta hissed beside me.

“It’s not real. Don’t give it your attentions.” Aveta tugged hard against me as I glared at her. How dare she interrupt my mother and me?

“I have to help her. Let go!” I yanked, but Aveta didn’t let go.

“Really, Shade? Are you so pathetically weak you’d let a wraith best you?” Her dark eyes gleamed, filled with amusement more than anger. “I thought better of you.”

Her searing words pressed into me like a bubble of air while drowning. I breathed, knowing she was right. This wasn’t real. My mother was long dead and buried. There was nothing that could ever change that. Not even my new powers could resurrect her.

I stared hard at Aveta, channeling my hatred for her to shove the thoughts of my mother away.

“Shade… Shade! Wait! Don’t leave me here,” Jade wailed behind me as we continued. I felt violated. The wraith imitating my mother’s voice, the pitch, the tone, so perfectly. She’d looked real, solid, breathing, alive.

“You didn’t clear your mind,” Aveta lectured me as we kept on, and eventually, my mother’s voice faded away as though she’d never existed. It was then that I felt cold wetness on my cheeks. I wiped away the tears I’d failed to notice, and Aveta let go of my arm. Small red crescents remained on my skin from her nails.

“How old were you when you first passed through here?” I asked. I had to get my mind off my mother. The only way was to listen to Aveta talk. Not something I’d ever thought I’d want.

“I was but a small child. My maid showed me this place after she realized I needed to escape. My mother was quite cruel and spared nothing to cause me pain. This place was more solace than my life had ever offered. Especially when I reached the end.”

“What’s at the end?” I asked. I hoped it was something I could escape into as well. Why on earth Aveta wanted me to follow her in here was beyond my comprehension. Maybe she wanted to make sure she’d have a way back out. Or maybe she just wanted to offer me up as a sacrifice to some ancient demonic creature lurking at the end of this maze. Neither was quite appealing, but there was the tiny bit of hope that whatever was on the other side would be something awe inspiring.

“You’ll see.”

I groaned but continued through the maze. The terrain wasn’t always smooth; it went down into crevasses then back up and over rock-strewn slopes. I was dirty again by the time we neared the end, where there stood a circle of figures made of the same obsidian as the walls and floor of the maze.

As we approached, the figures turned their heads in our direction. I gasped, jumping back as the massive creatures moved toward us. They could crush us with their fists if they truly wanted to.

“Hello, my dear, old friends. It’s been a very long time.” Aveta held out her arms and circled them around the head of the obvious leader of the obsidian people, who had kneeled before Aveta so that it was the same height as her. It gently passed a rough hand over her smooth hair and then stood back up, turning its eyeless boulder of a head in my direction.

“Oh, don’t worry about her. She helped me get here.” Aveta laughed, but I was far from joining her. My heart was stuck in my throat as my shallow breaths failed to take in enough oxygen. These things were her friends? I’d never seen such gigantic, inhuman creatures. They were massive and impossibly sentient. But this was still Faerie. Even deep underground, magic permeated the world.

It gave her a nod and then helped her up onto its shoulders, Another one, next to the leader, knelt and held its arm out to me.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not riding that thing!”

“Just get on. The trek through to the end is a bit of a climb. This will help us rest and get through faster.”

I groaned, mumbling my protests as I reached out and took hold of the creature’s arm. He—if I could call it a he—lifted me to his shoulders. I let my legs dangle and gripped onto his neck. It was awkward, and I knew that if it had been a normal person, I’d be choking them to death.

Suddenly, a slab of obsidian jutted out beneath my bottom, and two handles bolted out of the thing’s head. I had a seat I could sit on comfortably without straining.

“Thank you,” I muttered to the creature.

Of course it could shapeshift. I didn’t know why I was ever surprised.