Light (19 page)

“How did you…”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t even let her finish the question. I knew what it was and remembered what Leigh said. “I’m sorry. It’s just frustrating that everybody asks me the same thing, and I don’t have the answers. I guess some of my sand got transferred into the bat. I really don’t know, Fox.”

She stared at my bedding, and I could tell that she was really thinking hard about what I’d just said. “It has to be.”

“Anything ever happen to anybody else like that?”

“Not exactly, but the woman that kidnapped you, she had a whip that more or less worked the same way, so I guess it’s a trick that not everyone knows how to execute correctly.”

“A trick?”

“Technique, I like to call them tricks.” She slapped her legs hard and pushed herself from the chair. “You need to get ready, Elliot thinks it’s safe for you to meet Selene.”

“Wait, what? I’m going to meet Selene, already?”

Fox smiled. “That was the deal Chas. You get one test, and one test only. You passed. You’re going to meet Selene.”

ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL TEAM WERE ready to leave with me.

The goodbyes were really awkward since I was still upset with everyone at the Compound.

Max looked better. He wasn’t so tired anymore and tried one last time to apologise.

“Chas.” He took me aside while Tom was speaking softly with Elliot.

“What do you want?” I looked at the wall.

“I had no choice. I couldn’t tell you that it was a test, but I couldn’t let you do that alone either.”

I remembered what Leigh said.

“What do you mean?” I squinted, pretending that it was the first time I’d heard about this.

“I volunteered when Leigh got worried about this test he had to create for Elliot.”

I nodded. “So what, you expect me to say thanks now?”

“No, I just want you to find it in your heart to forgive me. Virtual Realm or not, we’ve been through all of that and I really got to know the type of person you are. Apart from Margot and Stacey, I don’t have a lot of friends. It would be nice when you are done being pissed off with me, if we could hang out some more.”

I smiled and shook my head. “I don’t think that I will come back to the Outer soon. You know where it is I’m going, right?”

He smiled. “Margot and me are joining Revera soon. We’ve got training positions at the Institute. Something that happens from time to time. Our experience is needed when it comes to training new Guardians. Elliot thinks a change of scenery might be good for the both of us.”

“Perfect, then I’ll guess I’ll see your mug soon.” I turned around. It was the best see you later he would get from me.

I knew this was childish, my behavior and all, but I wasn’t used to being betrayed.

Ginny was next as I reached Fox again.

“It was so nice to meet you Chastity, a real pleasure, please feel free to come and visit when you are in the Outer again.”

She sounded sincere and I smiled, I even gave her a hug. She wasn’t technically the one that lied to me, so it was easy to be kind back.

Margot rolled her eyes and disappeared after a ‘heartfelt’ goodbye of a grunt. Ginny just stared after her and shook her head.

“Sorry about that, she doesn’t trust people easily.”

I nodded. I wouldn’t trust people either if I’d seen both my parents murdered in front of my eyes.

“Nice meeting you noodle, It was such a pleasure having you here, and please don’t be a stranger. It’s going to be so boring when Marge and Max leave the Compound.” Stacey grabbed me into a tight hug. “Stay safe and kick some ass okay? Don’t forget about me.” She pushed me away at arm’s length and I just blew out a breath.

“Okay, Stacey,” I said and Ginny smiled.

Elliot was last. “Give this to Selene when you meet her Chastity.” He handed me an envelope that had a crest pressed on top of a wax seal. “It’s my report on your test results.” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I took the envelope from him. It was thick and I put it into a backpack that Stacey had dropped off this morning with fresh clothes that were so not my style.

“I will,” I said and smiled back at him. I walked past Fox and followed John down a couple of stairs opposite the front door. I could still hear Fox and Elliot speaking softly about me, saying that I would probably never forgive Elliot for what he put me through. To be honest, I didn’t care what the man thought. Leigh said he was paranoid and I disliked people who carried that feature. They made people’s lives unbearable and the other part was that I really just wanted to get away from the Outer.

Tom opened a door that led down more steps. The basement jumped into my mind as we entered a dark room.

A light close to John went on and there were four grey walls with a concrete floor.

Tom handed me Henry and he sat on my arm. A long thin line formed on his beak and I knew that the owl was enjoying every moment of it.

I glanced back at Tom and saw him drawing the same markings as he had on the mirror against the wall.

When he was done, he stepped back and a door appeared.

“Is this going to be the same as when we entered the Outer?” I was referring to the fog and Henry just hooted.

Fox’s giggle came from behind me. “No, but it’s just as strange.” She widened her eyes once which made me smile and I watched how Elliot, and Tom opened the heavy door.

colors streamed out of the opening. They were bright and blue, yellow, pink, all sorts of colors you could think of. It was everywhere around us.

Tom took Henry from me and nodded his head once in Elliot’s direction and disappeared into the colors.

Fox nudged me to go next.

“See you soon Chas,” Max said.

I looked at him and saw Ginny and Stacey with him. The first step I took was onto a floor that moved forward. It reminded me of an escalator I’d once seen in an airport when Mom and I went to pick up Tim after he returned from Afghanistan.

The colors never faded and were all around me moving all over the place. I couldn’t stop looking around as they swirled everywhere as if a strong wind blew them in every direction. I lifted my hand up as orange came past us. I needed to know if I could touch it, to see what it felt like. A soft warm breeze blew over my skin and I pulled my hand back. It turned slightly orange and I lifted it back up when the yellow came past. My hand turned a brighter orange where the two colors collided but parts that hadn’t carried color before, were yellow.

I did it with all the colors that passed by and found John and Fox just enjoying my little experience on our journey to Revera.

Henry stared at me too, sitting firmly on Tom’s arm. The owl looked as if it was ready to take a nap and not as if it was surrounded by something out of this world, something that humans would only find in fairytales.

The colors eventually started to fade as we moved along but didn’t disappear. A million doors rushed by so fast that it made my ponytail flip backwards. I felt Fox’s hand clutching mine and after a couple of seconds the doors slowed down.

I gave Fox a look filled with horror as I knew what these doors were used for and I didn’t see any platforms appearing in front of them.

“All of them lead to various parts of the world, just like the door we came from a couple of minutes ago.”

“What, that door was moving just like those doors?”

Fox nodded with a smile plastered on her face. I knew she found this new astonishment of mine fascinating and entertaining, but never in a million years did I think anything like this actually existed in the real world.

A loud rushing noise appeared out of nowhere. I covered my ears, not knowing where it came from as nothing was remotely close to us that could make this sound. I felt Fox’s hand on my arm again and I turned my head slightly toward hers.

“You see that door?” Fox pointed at a red one, standing right next to a green door.

“Which one, the red or green?”

“The yellow one, right there.” I followed the direction Fox pointed at and saw a tiny yellow door coming into view. It was right behind the red and green door. “We are going to run, as we near it and then jump when we pass it, the door will suck us in.”

“What?!”

“You’ll be fine, Chastity, just follow my lead.” Fox smiled again as my heartbeat felt as if it was running a race. I watched as Tom released Henry and the owl flew away in the door’s direction. It opened as he neared and swallowed the owl. When it closed again Tom started to run. John was next. He took off his hat, which hid a bald spot on his head and folded it into a long tube and clutched it firmly in his grasp. He ran too. I returned my gaze to Tom who was very close to the yellow door. He picked up his pace and when the door seemed as if it was going to pass Tom, he took a dive and disappeared through it. It felt as if my heart was going to stop.

“Follow my lead, you’ll be fine,” Fox said again and started to run.

I had no choice, not unless I wanted to stay behind, and who knew where I would end up then?

It felt weird running on something that was moving in the same direction as the path you were taking. It made you feel extra fast.

When Fox started to sprint, I did the same.

This is a bad idea.

I watched with horror as Fox dove for the door and my heart sounded as if it was inside my ear as the door came nearer. Then I took that leap of faith, or dive.

The door swallowed Fox. Her feet were the last parts that vanished right in front of me.

The door was going to open and swallow me next. I waited for it.

The door opened but where I should have gone forward, turbulence grabbed me and blew me back. The door vanished, and the wind took me further down the colored doors.

I found another door, it looked slightly blue, almost black. My insides twisted as the door came closer. It was cracked, old, and the surface looked like it was dripping sulphur. Then it opened and swallowed me inside
.

THE SOUND OF LOUD DRUMS FILLED MY EARS. IT mimicked my heartbeat and with my eyes shut it resembled the darkness that was manifesting inside of me. Wind blew in my face so hard that I struggled to breathe. Another horrible sound filled my core, and the fear emerging from deep within me made me want to scream out, wanting this to stop.

I tumbled around in the air like a twig in a breeze.

When I landed on something, it wasn’t a hard surface, the wind stopped and so did the sound. Air filled my lungs again, and I took deep breaths making sure that I got enough air to calm my beating heart. I opened my eyes and the only thing I could see was a soft golden glow shining from above. I looked up, but couldn’t see where the light came from. It was so bright that I had to look away, yet it only lit up such a small surface.

I looked back down and couldn’t see anything past the glow. It was pitch black.

I had absolutely no idea where I was or if I was going to ever get out of here. Then out of the darkness images of my life with Mom and Tim appeared. They emerged from blue, white and black dust, like I was watching a movie created by sand specks.

The scene played out a fight I had with Tim a couple of years ago. It happened in the kitchen.

“You’re not my father!” I yelled, as I rushed up the stairs and slammed the door so hard that the windows rumbled. The look on his face wasn’t anger or frustration, it resembled pain.

It faded and right across from that one another scene started. It was of a snow day, which was a good day, and I was about ten years old.

The scenes played for what seemed like hours. They showed me the good times and the not so good times when Tim lost his temper.

It was strange seeing it through another perspective. It looked dark and nothing like the way I remembered it. My heart beat more as the sound of something evil came again. When I started to run the golden light followed me. It led to a wall, a dead end and I started running next to the wall. I hit another wall, another dead end. There was no escape and I slid down in the corner as the sound came nearer. I covered my ears with both hands and hid my face.

Light flashing on the floor made me look up, and a scream left my mouth as a bright flaming hologram of a skull flew into me. The air vanished and I gasped frantically. Only when the skull vanished, could I breathe again.

The shape of an evil dragon was next. It wasn’t on fire but I could make out a light around the darkness of it. Evil crept into my soul and I grunted and felt ice cold as the dragon hit me with force. It went straight through and all the darkness he brought with him flew through every organ inside of me.

I experienced being set on fire, and heard screaming like I’d never experienced before. My heart felt as if it was going to explode.

When the dragon vanished, it felt as if I was going to lose my sanity.

The holograms of pure evil changed into more images of things, bad things.

Men hurting women, women hurting children, children hurting animals. I didn’t want to watch anymore as their screams and cries made me want to lose my mind. I buried my head in my knees and started to pray, pray for this nightmare to end.

“Please, I need your help,” a woman’s tired voice said.