The air seemed to dip several degrees cooler. And for a moment, Avalon saw a half-frozen river running red with blood, and a young Sable snatched up by Balthazar before she could reach the wolves that were frantically devouring Hannelore’s body.
When Sable spoke again, her inner voice was weak; a mere thread threatening to blow away in the winds of her past.She left behind her mortal family—she paused long enough to drag in a ragged breath—and me.
Avalon felt the warrior’s pain—sharp enough that she found them both curling their shoulders in. As if it might keep the broken pieces of themselves together.
Afterward, I stumbled around the Haunted Woods for hours, looking for a way into the Mortal Lands so I could explain to her parents why their daughter would never come home. But I kept getting turned around; the forest looked the same from every direction, and there was no sign of the portals Hannelore so easily traveled through. Eventually Balthazar tracked me down, and I fought him. Screaming at the top of my lungs as he carried me out of the woods. I kept shouting,It should’ve been me.Ishould’ve been there.
A single tear slipped free, warming their skin.
And I should’ve been,Sable concluded.No curse could make me forget it—not for long.
A high-pitched squeal bounced through the tunnels, and their heartbeat quickened as panicked thoughts drifted through Avalon’s mind. Thoughts Sable could relate to—very much.
Find Hadrian,Avalon begged the warrior.Please.
Sable used her blood-soaked sleeve to swipe the tear away and took off into the tunnel.
~
The Skorpios just kept coming. Every time Hadrian killed one, another two took its place. The tunnels were swarming with them, and too long ago the screams of the one that had dragged Avalon off had faded. He liked to think it was because Avalon had killed it, but he feared the worst. If she was dead, he would never forgive himself.
There were times when he found it difficult to kill them, for the House would change their grotesque faces to look exactly like Avalon, and as he swung to chop of a Skorpio’s head, he’d suddenly be staring at the bloodied face of his friend rolling toward his feet. His hands were trembling, and his hair was sticking to his forehead.
He had to get out of here.
Footsteps echoed from the tunnel on his left, and this time it wasn’t the clicking of Skorpio pincers. The sound of a blade cutting through flesh came next, followed by beastly screams and the thud of bodies hitting the floor.
Hadrian ducked, narrowly missing an attack. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a head of rose-gold hair. The strands reflected a bluish silver under the light of the chandelier that burned a cold flame above their heads.
He blinked, and the rose-gold changed to a familiar head of chestnut brown as Avalon came barreling from the tunnel.
“Avalon!” Hadrian called, his voice breaking in relief.
The mask was on her face, the silver reflecting the blue of the flames above. As he continued to battle the creatures that were pressing in on him, the reeking corpses piling up on the floor, he kept his eye on Avalon to ensure she remained unharmed.
In disbelief, he watched as her body shimmered, like a mirage. It melted back into the stranger with the rosy-blonde hair that twirled around her shoulders, catching under her arms yet never hindering her as she expertly took off heads left, right, and center. Her body was slender yet clearly strong, and she wore a black leather suit that fit her like a second skin—a suit remarkably like the one the Wraith always wore.
Sable.
Amid Hadrian’s distraction, a Skorpio nearly took his head right off his shoulders, crumbling the rock behind him. He dropped to the floor, swooping between its legs as he headed for Avalon—for Sable. This was the House of Dreams; he refused to believe Avalon was no longer here.
The words Clarice had whispered in the tavern flooded his mind.Everything in the House is only as real as you believe. If the House accepts your entrance, it will reveal the truth…
“That’s it!” he shouted out loud. He popped up beside Sable as she took off another head, blood streaming down the front of her suit. A pair of gold eyes snapped to his, and he had to resist the urge to flinch.
Sable dove between two Skorpios, snatched Hadrian’s arm, and towed him toward the nearest tunnel. “How distractedareyou?” she fumed, her nostrils flaring. “I could use a little help here!”
“For every Skorpio we kill, another two take its place,” Hadrian panted. “The Clan Hunter said everything in the House is only as real as webelieve.”
“What are you saying?” Sable asked breathlessly, throwing a glance over her shoulder. The eight-legged demons were coming after them, creeping on the walls and dropping from the ceiling. “That I need to not believe in them?”
Hadrian’s hand tightened around her upper arm as he brought her to a stop and spun to face the hoard of nightmares.
“What are you doing?” Sable hissed. “Are youmad?”
The captain chuckled darkly. “Maybe.” He shrugged. “But I certainly hope not.”
The creatures advanced toward them, their legs tap-tap-tapping on the walls, floor, and ceiling, but Hadrian refused to move. He planted his feet firmly and held his head high. Sable was still half-turned in the other direction, ready to bolt, but when she saw the confidence in the captain’s eyes, she stopped fighting him.
