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Breathing hard, I glance up the stairwell, which seems to go on forever, bending and turning.
My heart sinks knowing we have so much farther to go before we reach Barnabas. If we can reach him.
I'm certain that's the bastard's plan. Wear us down before we face him, whittle my monster's nearly impenetrable defenses down to nothing.
"This reminds me of a video game from the before times," Creep says with far too much enthusiasm as he appears out of nowhere, popping into existence in the shadows next to me. "We're working our way up to the big boss fight."
He’s grinning and his posture is relaxed because he hasn't climbed every single stair thus far. No, he's just portalled along, sailing through space like it's nothing.
Jerk.
I may be a little bit grumpy.
Possibly hangry.
"What the fuck is a video game—" I start to ask, but Creep's in his own world as he rounds the landing and takes the stairs in front of me, Uni at his side.
"I remember those," the water monster announces. "Love them. Except the electrical shorted out a lot. Water monster hazard."
They share a laugh.
"Wish we had a cheat code," Creep murmurs.
Uni stops walking, and I nearly smash into his spine. He turns sideways on the stairs, mouth twisting as his head tilts, almost as if he's listening to something. "I don't like it."
He doesn't like what?
Immediately, we all tense, eyes scanning, hands extended to blast magic at any new threat. But nothing's there. There's literally only our little group in the empty, white stairwell.
I take a step down and share a concerned glance with Creep. A glance that says,Ummm, is this guy losing it? I mean, more than usual?
"Fine. FINE, I said. But you'd better—" Uni cuts off his imaginary argument and stomps the rest of the way up the stairs to the forty-first floor, leaving the rest of us gaping at his back.
"What was that?" I ask Creep in a loud whisper.
"No clue." He shakes his head.
Tesq's warm hand comes up to touch my spine. He's been walking behind me the last few floors, offering every so often to carry me. I haven't given in yet because I don't know if I could bear the smug look on Chase's face if I did. He doesn't look fucking worn down at all, despite fighting at least thirty monsters himself. As a full human. Or human/poltergeist. Semantics.
"Stay by me," Tesq intones. "Just in case."
I nod. I may be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. If Uni's brain has gotten waterlogged, lava is the best way to counter his powers.
We head up the stairs in a tight cluster, my mates boxing me in. But when we reach the next floor, I'm shocked to see Uni kneeling on the floor, ignoring the monsters rolling in his direction as he carefully sets his precious dolls down and straightens their little skirts. And I'm even more taken aback to see them remain standing when he pushes to his feet and then backs up.
What the hell?
Though their faces are as placid and porcelain-looking as ever, though their eyes don't blink, their chests don't move with inhales and exhales…somehow, the two dolls start to walk forward stiff-legged. Two tiny, eighteen-inch-high porcelain dolls heading straight into a room swarming with giant egg-shaped monsters.
Holy shit! They're alive!
The revelation smacks me across the face with all the potent sting of a slap and makes me reevaluate my judgment of Uni as unhinged for a moment.
But that's before the dolls slowly raise their ceramic arms and Uni shouts, "Fuck, Brittany, I love your ass in that dress."
Ew.
Wrong. That's just so wrong.
