Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2 (4 page)

When I reopened my eyes I was no longer in Senka's bedroom. I was standing on a pebbled beach.
The sea air blew my hair around my face as the sea waves crashed against the shore line. The sky
was dark and in the distance there was a long pier lit up with fairground rides, a big wheel towered
above the rest in the middle. I knew I'd been here before but I couldn't remember when.
I looked down at my legs and feet which were bare. I was only wearing the vest top I'd fallen asleep
in.
I spun around looking for him. I don't know how but I just knew he would be here. I looked up at
the walk way, he was leaning over the railing watching me. He launched himself over the railing
and landed on the pebbles below and started walking towards me. I started waking backwards away
from him and the mischievous smile on his face grew bigger as he picked up speed. I turned and ran
away from him along the pebble beach. I didn't get very far though he was too quick and I was
barefoot trying to run on pebbles.
He caught up with me and jumped in front of me and lifted me over his shoulder and spun me
around. He carried me back along the beach until we reached the steps where he put me down. I ran
to the top of the steps with him chasing me from behind. I stopped at the top and he bumped into me
wrapping his arms around me in a backwards hug. I always felt safe when I was wrapped in his
arms. It was an instinctive feeling and the only thing that felt familiar to me. He let go and spun me
around to face him.
He was wearing a tatty long sleeve plain black T-shit with holes in it, black scruffy jeans with more
holes and a pair of dirty boots.
I never remembered his name after I woke up from the dreams but
he
was always crystal clear in
my memory.
Jet black scruffy layered hair that matched his dark clothes and eyes so green it made the colour of
grass look pale. His pale skin looked dirty as though he'd been digging down a mine.
A long cut along the side of his cheek bone was visible and his finger nails looked bruised, black
and a little bloody.
“What are you wearing?” he asked looking at the picture on the front of the top I had borrowed
from Senka.
“I borrowed it.” I replied holding the top down.
The wind kept blowing it up revealing the lace panties I had on underneath.
“Well it suits you. Much better than those long dresses I normally see you in. This looks like
something you'd normally wear anyway.”
He made it sound like he already knew me. But I still couldn't remember who he was.
“I can't remember your name.” I said frustrated with myself.
“You always say that.” he said scooping me up into his arms and carrying me as I was shoeless.
“It's Mack. You know me as Mack. So what did you do today?” he asked sounding genuinely
interested.
I had about a hundred different questions I wanted to ask him running through my head.
“Not much. Read a few comics listened to some music. Then I took a nap and woke up here. What
did you do today?” I asked.
“Nothing interesting. General hard labour digging in tunnels.” he laughed.
“Is that why you look so dirty?”
“Yep and that's why it's called Hell and not an exotic island getaway.”
He put me down next to a small wall which I climbed up onto. He stuck his hands in his pockets
and nodded his head towards the pier. I walked along the wall and he stayed on the path close to me.
“So did you find anything out about what we talked about last time?”
The truth was I couldn't remember anything we'd talked about last time and I probably wouldn't
remember this conversation.
“You don't remember do you?” he asked frowning.
I shook my head and crossed my arms over the front of myself trying to keep warm. He pulled his
T-shirt up over his head, exposing his back which was full of cuts and bruises. The two long scars
running the length of it caught my attention the most. They looked identical to Senka's. His wrists
looked bloody as though something had been rubbing on them.
“Put this on.” he said holding it up to me.
“But you have nothing on underneath.”
“Doesn't matter. You're cold. Now put it on.”
I slipped my arms into the T-shirt and lifted it over my head, it smelled like a smoky bonfire.
“How did you get all those cuts and bruises on your back?” I asked with concern.
“Something tells me if I tell you you're not going to remember this tomorrow.”
“What about the two long scars?”
“That's just a reminder of something I will never get back.”
I lost my footing and wobbled over but I didn't fall far. Mack caught me and lowered me down.
“Thanks.” I said waiting for to him let go.
He hesitated at first. I didn't think he wanted to let go and I wasn't sure if I wanted him to let go. He
finally unwrapped his arms from me and I felt a little disappointed.
“Okay back to the main topic in question. Before you said you were living in some sort of
mansion?”
“Yes. The manor.”
“And Cam is there?”
“Yes but he works away a lot.”
“Have you found a way to get outside the gates yet?”
I shook my head. “No. Why am I meant to be looking for a way out?” I asked.
“Yes. You need to find a way to get away from him.”
“The main gates are guarded twenty four seven and the surrounding walls are too high to climb and
there are guards patrolling them.”
Mack stopped walking and grabbed both my wrists inspecting them.
“Good you're not wearing it.”
“Wearing what?”
“The bracelet with the small black stones. Whatever you do don't put it on. It's how Cam finds you.
It's made from black rock from the tunnels. Black rock has a special powerful energy and I think he
linked himself to it so he could find you whenever he wanted.”
I was still digesting what he had said thinking about the small bracelet back in my bedroom. But he
continued before I could ask any questions.
“Now we need to talk about your escape plan. Have you seen anyone with blonde hair and blue
eyes, tall, skinny and tattoos on their neck?”
“No I haven't seen anyone that looks like that. Why? Who's that?”
“Micah. He's a friend of mine and he's probably still looking for you along with Seth.”
“Who's Seth?”
“Ruby he's your brother. You still can't remember him?”
“No I was told I was an orphan.”
“That's complete bull! Who told you that?”
“Cam told me but it's not just him everyone says it.”
“Well it's a lie you grew up with your brother and your mom. Cam must be messing with your head.
He's done something to make you forget and now he's got everyone else playing along with it. Ruby
you need to get away from him.” His voice echoed and sounded distorted.
“You sound strange.” I said taking a step back.
“No not yet.” he said stepping towards me.
He put his hands on each side of my face. They felt rough from hard work.
“Ruby listen to me. You need to get away from Cam. You need to find a way out of there.”
He looked into my eyes and I thought he said 'don't go' but no sound came out of his mouth. Then
he pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me holding me tightly against his chest. It felt so
real making me question whether I was really dreaming or not?
The sound of sea waves disappeared and was replaced by loud rock music blaring in my ears.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was back in Senka's bedroom. I sat up feeling hot and
sweaty pulling the earbuds away from my ears.
I threw the covers back and jumped down from the bed. I pushed hair off my face trying to cool
down. I needed a drink. I left the bedroom and walked to the kitchen.
It was a plain kitchen with beige cabinets and orange lino floor tiles. It was the most plain looking
room in the manor.
I went straight to fridge looking for bottled water but all I found was green energy drinks and a few
alcoholic drinks. I picked one up and pressed it against my forehead letting the cool air from the
fridge filter out to cool me down.
“It was just a dream.” I said quietly to myself.
I leaned against the fridge and dropped the bottle when I realised I was still wearing Mack's long
sleeved T-shirt.
I pulled it off and threw it on the floor noticing my arms were covered in black chalky stuff rubbed
off from the T-shirt. I looked at the bottom of my bare feet, they looked dirty from walking
barefoot.
What had happened? I was so confused trying to figure it out I hadn't seen Alex walk into the
kitchen. Alex was good friends with Senka but didn't really like me hanging around up here. He was
tall with dark hair shaved at the sides with a long bleached mohican running along the top of his
head and down the back which flopped over to the side.
I shut the fridge door, turning to look at him. He was staring back at me with his wide hazel eyes.
He picked the bottle up off the floor, unscrewed the cap and drank some not taking his eyes off me.
“Please tell me you two aren't having sex?” he said scrunching his large eyebrows up.
“What! No.” I said a little shocked at his blunt question but that was what Alex was like.
“Then why are you half naked in Senka's vest?”
“Senka isn't even here. I borrowed this to take a nap in.”
“Okay that answers that question but why are you covered in black stuff is that soot?” he asked
reaching over and rubbing his thumb down my check inspecting it.
I quickly picked up a paper towel off the side and wiped at my cheeks exactly where Mack had put
his hands that had been covered in black stuff.
“I was cleaning the fireplace.” I blurted out pulling the vest down lower to cover more of myself.
“I thought you said you were taking a nap?”
“I was. I mean I did and then I cleaned the fire place because I was really bored and it looked like it
needed a clean.”
“And you decided to do that half naked in those rather see through lace panties?” he asked.
He knew I was lying. He bent down and picked up the T-shirt I had chucked on the floor. He held it
up by the shoulders.
“This belong to you?”
“Yes that's mine. I was wearing it while I was cleaning.” I said snatching it from him and hurrying
to the door.
“Ruby,” he called after me.
I stopped in the door way and looked back at him.
“They're all looking for you downstairs. I think it's your dinnertime or something.”
I rushed back to Senka's room and cleaned myself up in the bathroom and quickly changed back
into my dress. I threw Senka's vest into his dirty laundry basket and rolled Mack's T-shirt up into a
ball and hurried back down the large staircase and back to my room. I shoved Mack's T-shirt down
into the bottom of my chest and put Senka's key in one of my jewellery boxes for safe keeping.
Then I went downstairs to the dining room. I walked passed a few servants carrying empty trays
which meant everyone was already eating.
“Err Ruby hold on a minute,” Shelley called from behind me.
I turned around to see her walking towards me with a tray of bowls full of various relishes. She
caught up to me and bent down near my dress. I wondered what she was doing pulling at my dress,
then I realised it was tucked up at the back with most of my underwear on display.
“There you go.” she said straightening up.
“Thanks that would have been really embarrassing.” I said still faffing around with it.
I walked into the smaller dining room where Roman, Ryu, Tallen, Shasta and Kenzie sat already
seated at their own table. I walked through to the larger adjoining dining room. Cam sat at the end
of the twelve seater dining table sipping on a glass of wine. Emmett and Grayson sat two spaces
down on the left of Cam. Emmett raised an eyebrow at me while chewing on a bread stick. I sat
down in my seat two spaces down on the right of Cam opposite Emmett. Shelley placed a few
bowls down on our table and lifted the serving lid off my starter.
“You're late.” Cam said. Placing his glass down.
“I'm sorry I fell asleep.” I said picking up my fork.
I turned to my right and saw Kenzie sticking his tongue out at me which made me giggle. I looked
back at Cam who didn't look impressed. I quickly shoved a mouthful of salad in my mouth to
distract myself.
This was the chair I always sat in. We never changed seats and the others were not allowed to sit at
this table. To Cam they were still his workers and shouldn't be seated next to him. He was very
formal like that. No one else ever ate dinner with us, it was just us four at this table and the other
five in the adjoining room. Six o'clock on the dot every night even if Cam wasn't here the rest of us
would still eat at the same time. Sometimes some of the others would be missing from dinner but
tonight everyone was here.
I looked at the grandfather clock behind Cam. I was fifteen minutes late, they must have waited for
me. I had never been this late before.
“Ruby, Grayson tells me you missed your classes today.” Cam said picking up a piece of bread and
a butter knife.
“Sorry I must have forgotten. I was in the garden all day, why didn't you come and get me?” I said,
playing innocent.
“That's strange because I checked all around the gardens. I even sent a few of the servs out to look
for you.” Grayson said watching me.
Grayson looked to be in his late thirties, he was tall and acted like I expected an old man to behave.
He sat around drinking cups of tea and reading books all day and he loved crosswords.
He had curly light brown hair that always looked an untamed mess curling just below his ears,
brown eyes and he always wore the same long penguin type waistcoat that was a deep plum colour.
He was friendly to everyone and a nice man but he still reminded me of a funny looking wizard.
He also liked to keep me busy with too much extra homework. He was always saying 'it's good to
keep the mind active', but with the amount of homework he piled up on me after class my mind was
anything but active. The phrase bored to death sprung to mind. I would rather clean out the dirty
horse stables than have to sit through an hour of calculus homework.
“Well I was in the gazebo most of the day. Did you look there?” I asked prodding at the salad with
my fork, wondering what kind it was.
Some of the vegetables looked so weird to me, I was scared they were going to jump off the plate
and run across the table.
“Yes I checked there more than once.”
“Well maybe you weren't looking properly. I like to nestle myself right into the middle under the
cushions. You probably didn't see me.”
“I'll remember that for next time. So make sure you remember for tomorrow. Nine o'clock sharp in
the study room.” Grayson said waving over a servant to top up his wine glass.
I picked up the wine glass in front of me, sniffed it and immediately wrinkled my nose.
I hated the stuff and especially red wine. I was allowed to drink whatever I liked, whenever I liked
but all they ever had down here was mainly wine and whiskey which is all Cam ever drank. I much
preferred the stuff on the third floor. Those guys knew how to stock a liquor cabinet. I had spent
many nights up there sampling all the different coloured bottles most I mixed with lemonade. They
also had normal stuff like beer bottles and soda up there. I felt like I was living in the middle ages
when I came back down here. But I had found out I needed to drink a lot for it to have any effect on
my body.
I looked over at Kenzie he was walking two potatoes across the table using his forks. I tried not to
laugh but it was hard. He was like an overgrown child and always made me laugh at the most
inappropriate times. Kenzie grinned at me and started making the potatoes dance.
“Is there somewhere else you would rather be sitting Ruby?” Cam asked watching Kenzie and I.
“No. I'm good.” I replied taking a sip of my wine and nearly gagging.
“Can I get some water please,” I said to the nearest servant who walked over with a pitcher of
water.
I finished my starter and soon after a chicken casserole was served. For pudding it was a choice
between pumpkin or cherry pie. I chose pumpkin and hurried to finish it, watching the clock the
whole time. It was nearly 7.20pm and I knew Senka would be back by now. Everyone else had been
dismissed which only left Cam and I still seated.
“Okay just cause I was late doesn't mean you have to hold me back until last.”
“I thought we could go for a walk together in the gardens.”
“What now?”
“Why is there somewhere else you have to be?” he asked finishing his drink.
“No.”
Yes
.
But I wasn't going to tell Cam I wanted to hurry back upstairs to see Senka.
We walked downstairs and along the corridor. Cam was taller than me with naturally dark hair that
was dyed blonde. He always dressed slightly different to everyone else, his clothes looked like an
older style. He usually wore black long sleeved tops rolled up at the arms they were normally vneck, skinny black trousers and black boots. Finished off with a long black cape, which was the
only way I could describe it. It hung down to his knees and had a hood which he wore up most of
the time. Many people that worked for Cam wore black it was like a non stop funeral parade round
here or maybe some weird dress code.
The male servant posted at the front door held it open for us and I followed Cam outside.
“So I was talking to Emmett earlier. He said your memory loss has been upsetting you recently.”
I shrugged. Annoyed with Emmett for telling him.
“Only some days. It's just annoying not being able to remember anything about growing up here. It
still all looks so....so....I don't know, not quite right to me.” I said looking over at a hedgehog with
blue spikes running across the grass.
He nodded listening carefully.
“This place takes a little getting used to,” he smiled. “Emmett said you haven't been spending as
much time with him as you used to.”
Was there anything Emmett didn't tell him? Emmett was a sneaky little weasel and every day I grew
more and more distant from him. I didn't like talking to him and I didn't trust him and I was sure he
had been spying on me for Cam.
“Emmett gets bored of listening to me. He thinks I whine too much about my memory loss so I
don't want to bore him anymore. I prefer spending time with the horses on the meadow that and
they don't choke me with second-hand smoke.” I said hoping he would drop the subject.
“So who else do you talk to?”
“I dunno I don't keep track of the people I talk to,” I replied a bit hastily. “Um I spend a lot of time
with Kenzie when he's here. He's a lot of fun.”
“Emmett said he's seen you going up to the third floor.”
I clenched my fist. I would love to punch Emmett in the face right now.
“Yeah I've been up there but only a few times. I like the pool tables. But I don't go up there much
it's a bit noisy and smoky for my liking and the boys are quite loud.”
“Anyone in particular you play pool with up there?” he asked digging for information.
“No not really. I can never remember their names there's so many different faces up there. I know
one of them is called Alex I've played pool with him before.”
It wasn't a lie I'd played pool with Alex a couple of times. And I did remember many of their names
because I spent more time than I liked to admit up there. Lucky for me Emmett didn't follow me up
there. Senka had once told me that Emmett wasn't welcome on the third floor. Not many up there
liked him and I'd heard many of the guys upstairs joking that Emmett was Cam's obedient little
minion and dogsbody. So I knew it was a good place to hide from him and Cam never went up
there. Senka had said it was none of Cam's business what everyone got up to up there it was their
own private area. I felt kind of special knowing the guys didn't mind me up there, well except for
Alex.
That's why I had given Alex's name to Cam, I knew if he questioned him Alex wouldn't say
anything because he was friends with Senka. He may not like me very much but he wasn't going to
rat me out because he knew Senka was friends with me. I didn't like to think about what Cam would
do if he knew I played poker with the guys and did shots at the bar. I would probably be banned for
improper behaviour. Ugh! Cam was so old fashioned.
“You know it's your nineteenth birthday soon.”
“Is it?” I replied dryly not really bothered by this new information. I had other things on my mind.
“You missed you eighteenth because you were sleeping. I thought we could do something special
for you for your nineteenth.”
“You mean like a party?” I asked.
“Yes. There are many people that would like to meet you and with you waking up we have even
more reason to celebrate. What do you think?”
“Who are these people and why haven't I met them before?”
“Just distant relatives of mine. You've never met them before because they haven't been over here in
a long time.”
He had said
'a long time'
. I thought it was strange seeing as I had apparently been here nearly
nineteen years. I thought I would have met Cam's relatives before now.
“Sure, whatever.” I said noticing he was waiting for my answer.
“Don't be too enthusiastic about it.” he joked but he looked hurt.
“Sorry. But I don't like the idea of going to a party full of strangers that I don't know and I'm the
main focus point.”
“Well I think you'll enjoy it. Think of it more as an autumn ball. You might even make some new
friends. I've already spoken to Shelley she's in charge of catering and decorations. If there's any
specific food you want you can tell Shelley.”
It sounded like I didn't really have a choice about this party. It was going to happen whether I
wanted it to or not.
“How many will be there?”
“Probably between two to three hundred.” he said casually.