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“Why is there a whole fucking city in the middle of the woods?”
Neither me nor Gracelyn had an answer. If I were tripping off acid, I might’ve been able to come up with something. As it was, her guess would be just as good as mine. Though technically, the city was on the other side of the woods. We still had a bit of distance to cover before reaching it.
At the end of the road was a sheer drop-off, leaving us with only one direction. Right didn’t lead to anywhere but more woods, while left would take us downhill and seemingly towards the city that had become visible.
Melantha crossed her arms, staring down at it. “Now I agree with you, Grace. This is creepy.
“I knew something wasn’t right. Everything about this feels wrong.” She grew quiet and trailed off, leaving her sentence hanging as she toyed with the hem of her racerback.
We needed to keep going, regardless. If Ciaran was right and someone was watching us, who was to say they weren’t lurking in the woods right this moment? What if it was the person who’d shot an arrow, just waiting for one of us to attempt and go the other way?
I know that sounded insane, but at this point I wouldn’t declare it improbable. The only problem was that we had no way of knowing if we were heading towards more danger or safety. I doubted it was the second, but I was trying to be optimistic.
“Let’s keep going,” I said, moving a little faster.
We speed-walked down the path, rounding a bend that took us deeper and deeper between the trees until the view of the city vanished completely. Hearing a twig snap from off to our right, we shared a look and picked up the pace. That was the first thing I’d heard since being back at the gate.
There oddly wasn’t any sound out here. Not a bird. Not a cricket. I couldn’t even hear the wind. There was only silence, a lone moon, and infinite darkness that seemed to be pressing in on us from every direction. Good thing I’d never been afraid of the dark.
Rounding another bend, we nearly plowed into Ciaran and two of his friends. Caught completely off guard, even while expecting someone to be lurking, I gasped and drew back. Gracelyn squeaked, stopping so abruptly she almost fell. Kyrous caught her before I could and managed to keep her upright.
“What are you doing?” Mel questioned angrily, bringing a hand to her chest.
Maverick raised his brows at her tone. “Coming to make sure you three were okay.”
Ciaran reached out and gently took hold of my lower wrist. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I nodded, not wanting to speak until my heart fell back into its normal rhythm.
“Come on.” He skimmed his fingers down to capture my hand. Goosepimples followed in their wake. If he noticed, he did an excellent job of holding a poker face.
His grip was firm and secure.
If I weren’t partial to having somewhat of a guide, I’d have pulled away.
Gracelyn wound up with Kyrous, allowing him to spot her as we began going downhill. He had an inch or two on Ciaran height wise, making Grace seem even smaller than she already was. I wondered if that’s how I looked beside Ciaran.
“What’s at the end of this thing? Is it that city?” she asked.
“Yes, and also something else,” Maverick answered.
“Something else?”
“It’s better if we just show you.”
Could he be any more ominous?
It didn’t take us much longer to reach the bottom and discover what he’d been referring to. There was a sign centered directly in front of where gravel turned to tarmac. The rest of our group was waiting for us in front of it, the apprehension rolling off them stifling.
As we drew closer, I was able to see that a message was engraved into the wood.
“What is all of this?” Mel questioned rhetorically. I don’t think anyone had an exact answer.
When we were within hearing distance, Selena began to read off what the sign said, doing her best to sound out the foreign words.
“Servatis Periculum. Blissful decay. Amorous hell. A place where day is night. Tragic and Twisted fell in love—”
“Something wicked this way comes,” I chimed in.
“How did you know that’s what it said?” Brunette asked, eyeing me with suspicion.
Selena gave her an exasperated look. “Sweetie, it is literally written down right in front of us.”
“Sweetie has a name. It’s Abby.”
Before my hand found a way to her face for being an idiot, I calmly explained.
“It’s also one of the lines we heard on the shuttle.” And I got in a text.
I thought that would’ve been obvious, and not for the first time this evening. Ciaran cleared his throat and let go of my hand, proceeding to read off the remaining portion of words. “Suspend reality and step inside, Goetia will lead you to the Devil’s Playground.”
