Page 35 of Cherry Moon

“I’m flattered. But there’s only one of me.”

“One of you with the blood of them within you,” she returned.

“But still one.”

She stared me down for several beats. I considered my next move, coming up empty. This bony hell didn’t break easily.

“Did you bring me using the magic in the air?” I tried.

“There is not a hope or a prayer for you now,” she said, breaking the silence. “We are beyond the touch of the tenshi.”

I took that as a yes.

Not good.

Sand poured into the bowl through the hole, coming down like a heavy waterfall of pink. I fell back, spine slamming into the wall.

“Fuck it!”

The particles quickly filled the level part I’d been standing in.

“These are the sands of time you fear. Be lost to them. Die in them. Confirm to yourself how much of a burden love is.”

Panic set in a little, but so did an idea. Ride the sand all the way to the top. Use the walls as leverage as best I could, try not to sink, and then climb out of the hole.

Done. No death for me.

The hole closed over, cutting off the moon. All the light followed, plunging me into darkness. But the sand kept coming. Tenshi knew how, but it fell even harder, the whooshing sound hurting my eardrums.

Uh-oh.

Only the twin lights of the woman’s eyes remained, burning into me from her perch. Waiting for the death show.

Right, panic seriously set in, my breath freezing in my lungs for five painful seconds.

“Goodbye to The Taker,” Bony Hag triumphed. “Hello to the rise of The Nine.”

I want my G… my mind sobbed.

I pushed myself up, slipping against the wall. Sand battered against my legs, rising quickly.

“Remember who you are.”

I wouldn’t die like this in the dark. No. Not after everything, not when I was meant to be married.

“This ain’t the end of me,” I declared, albeit weakly.

Bony Hag didn’t say a word.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The sand was past my knees now. Fine and soft, possibly not firm enough for me to ride to the top.

Defo a deliberate move.

Dammit. There had to be a way out of this.

G…

As a last resort, I tried to send my babies beyond the walls to find anything that might help. They tried, bless them. Searched for an out, sniffing and pawing at the walls, the sand, but found nothing.