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I won't let the machine take her.
Sarah leads me down the corridor to the entryway, but she hesitates there.
"What's wrong?" I ask. "Are you feeling the pull of the machine too?"
"No. But I hear something. Don't you?"
I tip my head to the side and listen, letting my jaw fall open a little, just enough to enhance my hearing slightly. It's enough.I detect the sounds she must have heard, but I can't tell for sure what they are. It sounds like a combination of noises—grinding, dragging, groaning, huffing, and even shouting. Echo creatures? If so, I doubt they've come to wish us a happy trip back to Earth.
"Wait here," I tell Sarah. "Let me take a look out there first."
She hugs herself and nods.
I approach the big doors and ease one side open a few inches, just enough that I can peer outside. But it's dark now, and I have trouble spotting any creatures that might wait out there. I see writhing shadows, but that's hardly proof of an impending ambush. Damn, I wish I had a pair of night-vision goggles. But I don't, so I need to trust my instincts, and they warn me that something bad is going to happen.
Shutting the door, I try to think of a way to bar the entrance, but I have nothing that would accomplish that feat. The castle is full of empty rooms. Nothing in our backpacks would help either. I have a gun and extra ammo, but not enough to fend off Echo creatures. They're too strong and too vicious. Only a strike to the center of the heart will take them down for certain.
"Grant and Erin teleported themselves out of the dungeon," Sarah says. "Maybe we could use our powers to zip out of here."
"Do something we've never done while being stalked by vicious creatures in a creepy castle that wants to pull me into its web. Yeah, good plan."
"Got a better idea? We did bring our backpacks to us."
That's true. But for some reason, I don't want to try teleporting. No, I'd much rather walk into the throne room again and touch the machine.
Oh, shit. Its magics are still slithering around inside me.
Sarah grasps my face in her hands. "Snap out of it, Gabriel. Your eyes went glassy, and your jaw went slack. You're under the machine's spell again, aren't you? Fight it, Gabriel, fight it hard."
The vehemence in her voice does the trick. It severs the magics from me, at least for now. But we need to get the hell out of here fast.
"Better teleport quick," I say. "Don't think I can keep fighting the machine for much longer."
She throws her arms around me, her cheek against my neck, and holds me tight. We concentrate on transporting ourselves to another place, away from the castle, away from the influence of the machine. It seems to take forever, both of us concentrating on the task so hard that my head starts to hurt, and my jaw aches too. I'm clenching my teeth and fisting my hands, even though I have my arms lashed around her. I must be crushing her, but she doesn't complain. I feel like I need to glue myself to her to stop the machine from sneaking inside me again.
The castle interior vanishes, replaced by the comforting environment of the stronghold and the bedroom where Sarah and I had made love earlier today. The sheets are still rumpled, and the scent of sex fills the room.
My entire body goes slack, with Sarah's arms holding me up. At last, I'm free of the machine's influence.
But will that freedom last?
Our backpacks lie on the floor. Sarah rushes over to them and digs out the journal, flipping the pages in a rush.
Right before we teleported away, the journal had been on the floor in the machine room, where I vaguely remember dropping it when the mechanism powered up. Sarah must have willed it into her pack.
"We've already been through the journal," I say, sounding wearier than I should. I haven't done anything strenuous, like running from monsters or fucking Sarah. I shuffle to the bed and drop my ass onto it, then rub my forehead. "What are you looking for now?"
"More information about the Brain."
"There isn't anything more. It's useless to keep searching."
She stops in the middle of rifling through the journal, while kneeling on the floor, her wide eyes trained on me. "The machine must still be influencing you. Why else would you give up? That's not like you at all."
"You met me yesterday. Maybe I'm a coward at heart, and exactly the kind of jackass who would give up."
"No, Gabriel, that's not true. You're brave and strong and selfless. Giving up isn't your style, and that means the machine still has a hold on you."
"Let's have sex and see if that helps."
