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“Don’t worry. I’ll find him.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Pearl
I had no idea what I was looking for when I entered the second room. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, the darkness felt sinister. The fine hairs all over my body stood on end as I struggled to draw a breath through the danger that hung heavily alongside the air. My wolf squirmed under my skin, wanting to fight as much as she wanted to flee.
I raised my arm, hoping the light I possessed could displace the shadows that hung in the air like curtains. Swirls of shadow reached out like fingers, seeking the beams shining from the markings on my arm.
A deep rumble shook the floor, and I stumbled sideways, wondering what was causing these shakes. Then, I heard it. A deep chuckle rocked me to my core, it was the same one I’d heard earlier.
The sinister feeling morphed into something much darker. Violence floated through the air like fog, causing panic to bubble up and my muscles to tense.
What, or rather, who was chuckling?
Ledger and I had never been friends, but I never associated him with something downright evil. He always seemed high and mighty, with a swollen ego and arrogance that barely fit through the door. What I sensed now was the opposite of that.
Gathering my courage, I took a step farther into the room than another. The darkness weighed down on me like a blanket trying to suffocate me. I gritted my teeth and moved forward, determined to figure out what this was.
I lifted my arm higher, ignoring the burn from my muscles as I tried to see what was in this room.
Just when I thought there couldn’t be anything here, the light glinted off of something else metal. Was it a cage? Taking a final step, I arrived at the edge of a cage that was identical to the one holding the boy in the other room. I tried to make out what was inside but didn’t see anything.
Slipping my arm through the bars, I held it aloft, searching the small lit area for whatever the cage held. Something glinted in the darkness, making me stop and stare in its direction. Two round pinpoints appeared to be floating in the air. I swallowed, my heart speeding up when whatever was moved. I could barely make out the creature’s outline, but I knew instantly that it was a wolf.
“Hi,” I greeted it, flinching when my voice seemed to echo through the room like a gong. “The boy in the next room sent me here to… help.”
I wasn’t sure how I could help. The boy’s cage had no discernible door or any obvious way of getting out. Instead of exploring around this cage, I decided to treat it differently.
The wolf prowled from one end to the other, making no sound except for its soft padded footsteps. I wracked my brain, trying to come up with some way to get it out of here. I had a hunch that this was Ledger’s wolf. He was locked away just like the boy was.
Wrapping my hand around the cold bar made me shiver, and my arm began to burn.
This cage isn’t right.
Why would there be cages in someone’s mind? Both parts of Ledger were imprisoned, and I had no clue why.
“Why are you in this cage?” I wondered if Ledger had somehow created them, but I had a suspicion that this wasn’t his doing.
A deep chuckle came from the darkness, and I realized it wasn’t the wolf laughing but something else entirely.
“Who are you?” I asked the room, doing my best not to show how creeped out I was.
“Who are you?” a voice asked back, sounding oily and unnatural.
“My name’s Pearl.” I hoped that by answering, the voice would respond.
“The light bearer,” the voice rumbled, sounding like rocks tumbling over each other. “There is nothing for you here.”
“I’m not here for me.” I fought a shudder.
“For the boy and his wolf?”
“Yes.”
“They are mine. You cannot have them.”
“What are you doing to them?” Gripping the bars, I considered whether my wolf and I were strong enough to bend them.
