The Keeper's Curse (22 page)

Emmy,
still with the crest in her hand, pushed it into the proper hole.
It read the badge once again without issue, and the door opened for
them.

Emmy
couldn’t believe it. They had done it. If they hadn’t been in a
hurry, Emmy would have taken the time to break things in Willow’s
office, just for payback against Willow’s abandoning
her.

The girls
slipped into the room, shutting the door behind them. The room
would have been pitch black if it hadn’t been for the labelled
flasks which were placed in a wide array of colors, all of them
shining brightly in the dark.

“
They’re drafts and medicines,” Persephone said.

But that
wasn’t what Emmy was staring at. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark,
and saw the curtain on the left wall. She strode over to it and
pulled it back. The light from the dream downloader blinded her
eyes.

“
Whoa,” was all Jade said.

With all
the adrenaline she had left, Emmy made her way over to the
downloader, pulling out the paper Willow had written in the
palewraith language with her dream on it.

“
I’ll guard the door,” Persephone said. “Hurry up.”

Hands
shaking, Emmy saw the small slot beneath the downloader that was
just big enough for a piece of paper to slide through. She pushed
it through gently, and it disintegrated in the liquid.

Emmy took
a step back as the palewraiths began to split apart and change
shape and color. After a few minutes there was a scene in front of
her, like something on a television screen.

At long
last, Emmy could see the whole dream. She was seeing the scene from
a high vantage point, clearly not through her own eyes. Willow had
been right – she was definitely in an old, stone room, in a castle,
perhaps. There were two people below her; a woman with an open
book, and a smaller body on the ground, in the middle of a
blood-soaked circle. She was too far away to see their faces.
Candles encircled the room. The closest thing Emmy could compare it
to was some sort of Satanic ritual she had seen in movies. But
there was something unpleasantly familiar about this.

The woman
began to chant. The sound that came out was a whispering, and it
did not sound human. Emmy recognized it from somewhere. Where had
she heard this?

The
whisperings began to get louder and the smaller body on the ground
began to squirm.

“
Get closer,” Emmy whispered. “I want to see their
faces.”

Of course
it wasn’t something she could control. She was helpless as she
watched the woman spitting and snarling her strange words louder
and louder, swaying to the rhythm of the words, as the body beside
her began to writhe more and more. The child was in
pain.

And then
she remembered. Of course, the pain. Her eleventh birthday, sitting
in the gravel, hearing those whispers and thrashing.

Just as
she remembered it, the person on the floor began screaming, just
like she had.

“
STOP IT,” the child cried. “STOP IT, MOM, STOP
IT!”

Emmy had
dropped to the floor, remembering it all. What she was seeing
wasn’t her, but the reaction was the same. She remembered this
room, but how was that possible?

The
images began flashing through her own brain at the same time as the
downloader showed it.

She felt
someone touch her, kneeling beside her, just like Jesse had that
day.

“
Emmy? Emmy, are you alright?” Jade cried.

And then
the person’s pain peaked, just as hers had, and there was a flash
of his face, the body on the floor, and her world imploded. The
face was younger, rounder with baby fat, but she knew that face
anywhere.

The body
on the floor was a twelve-year-old Breckin.

Chapter 14

Attack

“
Oh, hell,” Persephone said. While Jade cradled Emmy’s head,
Persephone didn’t show any concern at all. Just horror. “No. No,
it’s impossible, it can’t be
you
.”

Emmy
scarcely heard her. That thin, wide-eyed face. She had been
dreaming about that face for years.

“
I don’t understand,” Emmy cried. “What did that mean?” The
dream had ended and had begun playing itself again.

Persephone continued to stare at her like she was a stranger.
“I should’ve known. The voice you’ve been hearing. It’s Breckin
Crawford’s, isn’t it?”

She was
too weak to argue. “Yes. But why?”

Persephone opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a banging
on the door. All three girls shot up. Bodies slammed against the
door several more times, opening it just slightly. A crack of light
shone through the opening, and weathered, sickly arms mottled with
huge, peeling blisters slithered through the door. Emmy crawled
farther away from the door at the sight of them.

“
I’ve got to get you out of here,” Persephone said, her eyes
darting around the room for something she could use. Her eyes fell
on the window.

Without
hesitation Persephone ran to the bottles on the walls, grabbing
several orange ones labelled “Irritant”.

“
Jade, smash the window and go with Emmy,” Persephone said,
far too calm for the situation. “I’ll stay back and try to stall
them.”

Jade
shook her head. “I’m not leaving you here. What are those
things?”

“
I don’t know, but they’re going to try to kill her,” she
said, gesturing her shoulder in Emmy’s direction.

While
shaking from pain, confusion and fear, Emmy demanded, “How do you
know –?”

The door
was thrown off its hinges. Behind the door stood people, but only
barely. Their eyes were pure black, resembling the pupilless raven
and lion. Their skin seemed to be burning from the inside out,
peeling and red. Through the raw wounds, Emmy saw palewraiths
oozing through the skin, but they were unlike any palewraiths she
had ever seen; these ones weren’t inky black, but ashen, like fire
smoke, and their light had gone watery.

Dying palewraiths
, she thought. If
there was such a thing.

The
bottles in Persephone’s hands rattled. Despite this, Persephone
jolted into action and began throwing as many of the glowing
bottles as she could, even hitting a few of the sub-humans. Instead
of listening to Persephone, Jade began to attack them by
force.

Meanwhile
Emmy tried to open the window, but there was no latch. Without a
second thought she rushed over to the small coffee table, hoisted
it into her arms, and threw it at the window, smashing it into
uncountable pieces.

Eventually a few of the pseudo-humans made their way into the
room, all of them heading towards Emmy, who was unarmed. They
completely ignored Persephone and Jade and their attempts to stop
them. It was as if no one existed but her.

Emmy fell
into despair, seeing the monsters spill into the room like there
was no end to them. They were alone, in the middle of the night.
There was no one around, no one there to help them –

She
turned around to look at the dream downloader on the wall; the
dream was playing, the twelve-year-old version of Breckin writhing
in pain on the floor.

Or was
there someone to help her?

Maybe it
was only stark fear, but she had no other option. She had to
try.

Breckin
, she shouted in her
mind,
Breckin please. Help me.

She could
say no more before one of the strange-moving people grabbed hold of
her and thrust her to the ground. Her head hit the ground, stars
forming in front of her eyes. With every bit of strength she had
left she tried pushing him off her, but the adrenaline was starting
to wear off.

But then
suddenly, she began feeling a burning sensation flood her veins
like liquid fire, and the exhaustion she had been feeling moments
ago didn’t matter anymore. She threw the sub-human off her
effortlessly, hearing its body slam into the opposite
wall.

Emmy got
up and began to fight her attackers like her body was disconnected
from her. She was able to fend off every one of them, moving faster
than her reflexes had ever moved before.

Emmy
couldn’t believe it; her aim was perfect. The sub-humans had become
something of a target, and she always hit the bull’s eye.
Persephone was as well. The only miscalculation she made was not
seeing one of them behind her, which cost her. It clubbed her over
the head, and Emmy dropped to the floor for a second time. She
rolled over to face the ceiling, and ended up looking into her
attacker’s hideous, translucent face. Emmy closed her eyes as it
raised its fist, ready to hit her.

She heard a s
mash
from behind her, and the blow never came. Too
curious, she opened her eyes to see what had happened, and there he
was. Breckin stood over her, having just thrown the attacker into
the parallel wall. He looked slightly dazed, but not all that
surprised to see her.

Before
she could tell him what was going on, he took her in his arms, like
the first day they had met, and flung her over onto his back and
began to run. They were out the window in no time.

“
Wait!” she croaked. “It’s not just me, Persephone and Jade
are back there too.”

Without
replying, he circled around back towards the school, Emmy
tightening her grip fastened around his neck. Persephone was still
inside, now throwing violet bottles labelled “Sleeping Draft” at
the sub-humans, but her throws were so haphazard she was only
hitting them at random. Not seeing Breckin, she threw one right
into his chest.

“
No!” Emmy said. “Persephone, it’s Breckin. We have to
go.”

Her eyes
widened and she sidestepped over the sub-humans on her way to Emmy
and Breckin. Before she could protest, Breckin threw her on his
back as well, and began to run at a pace so fast Emmy couldn’t feel
the bumps. Jade saw they were safe and made a run for it, right
behind them. Or so Emmy thought.

He didn’t
stop running until they were at the foot of the living complex. His
legs wobbled and he fell to the ground, taking the girls with
him.

Persephone got to her feet, shaking from head to toe.
“Where’s Jade?”

“
I saw her beside Breckin, I hope just went home,” Emmy said
worriedly. She couldn’t help being concerned about what would
happen to them if they showed up in the lobby like this in the
middle of the night. She got to her knees, noticing that Breckin
wasn’t moving. “Are you okay?” she added, shaking his
shoulder.

He had
rolled himself over onto his back, but had a far-off
expression.

“
I feel really weird,” he slurred.

“
Persephone hit you with a sleeping draft,” she said, wrapping
his arm around her neck to pull him up, which ended up in them both
falling over. He was heavier than pure cement. “Come on, just a
little bit farther. We have to get home.”

He
nodded, and with a sloth-like motion, he eventually got to his
feet, swaying back and forth.

“
Will he make it?” Persephone said.

“
Just hurry,” Emmy said. “If the guards see him, we’ll just
say he’s drunk and we’re taking him home.”

Persephone nodded, wasting no more time, running up to the
entrance. Emmy impatiently hurried Breckin along, who every few
steps asked where they were. Emmy grimaced in the sudden lit lobby
of the complex. Sure enough, the guards were there.

“
He got out earlier and had too much to drink,” Emmy said, as
Breckin wobbled beside them. “You recognize us, don’t you? Can we
just take him to his room?”

As
expected, the guards recognized Emmy and Breckin, and seemed to
vaguely recognize Persephone as well, so they waved them
on.

“
Lana, I don’t think I can make it up all those stairs,”
Breckin said, his voice slow and heavy.

“
Come on, which apartment is yours?” She turned to Persephone.
“Just get back home, I’ll take him.”

Persephone placed a hand on her shoulder. Emmy tried not to
look startled; Persephone had never touched her before. “I need to
talk to you, first thing in the morning.” And she left.

“
I have to go home now,” Emmy whispered. “Can you make it home
from here?”

Breckin
shook his head so slowly it was like a parody of slow motion. “No,
Lana, you can’t go home with those monster things running around.
Come on, stay with me.”

Emmy
tried to protest, but he took her arm and began dragging her up the
stairs. His lethargy clearly did not diminish his strength, which
Emmy was helpless against. No matter how hard she yanked her arm,
he didn’t budge, nor did he even seem aware she yanked at
all.

He finally stopped in the middle of a corridor on the fourth
floor, forgetting that he didn’t have a key. He grabbed the
doorknob and pulled it open with a
crack,
and Emmy realized he had
broken the lock.