The three immortals vanished together.
Kinzer must have faked his unconsciousness to keep Janka from suspecting he would make a last-minute attack. But though Hayde was relieved Kinzer had managed to nab him before he got away, Kinzer was in no shape to fight him. What had he been thinking? And where had they gone?
***
“Come on, Maggie, I just need a little help here,” Kid said as he struggled to make his way down the hall.
“I’m trying,” she whispered.
He could tell she was, but she weighed so much, especially for someone who looked like she was about to go on life support.
He couldn’t believe how wrecked she looked. When he’d first met her, she’d appeared tired and worn, but not like this. Whatever Veylo had done to her had really fucked her up.
He felt bad for this mortal he shared an unspoken bond with. They’d only known each other for a single night… and only barely knew each other. They’d hardly spoken… hardly interacted. And yet, they were having such similar experiences. Two Alices trapped in their own Wonderlands.
He sweated profusely as he urged her down the hall.
They were only on the second floor, but they had another hall to enter before they reached the stairwell to the first.
As he rounded the corner into the hall they’d come from, he spotted what he assumed was an immortal heading to the stairwell on the other end.
Shit.
He retreated back around the corner.
Maggie groaned.
He could tell she was trying to stifle the sound, but it was too severe, too painful.
He listened. A pitter patter was coming their way. The immortal must have heard it.
He opened a nearby door and practically threw Maggie inside. He felt bad, considering the state she was in, but he worried if he didn’t get them out of sight, they’d be goners.
He closed the door behind them and locked it.
***
Maggie woke in a dark room. She felt like she’d been sleeping for days.
But where was Kid? And where had the unbearable pain she’d been experiencing gone?
The room was brighter than the one Kid had thrown her into. Though no light came from the window, the room was filled with a blue glow, like moonlight. There wasn’t a door where one had been just moments before, only one on the opposite side of the room. It cracked open, and a hissing sound filled the air as a snake, larger than any snake that could exist, slithered in.
She knew that snake. It was the same one she’d hallucinated in the past. She wondered if this was a product of her baby’s high. Was this one of the side effects of whatever it had pulsed through her bloodstream?
She remained perfectly still, for as much as she knew it was an illusion, the giant serpent was terrifying.
It slithered around the edges of the room, though she wasn’t sure how it could see, as it didn’t have any eyes.
Maggie, she heard. But it didn't seem to come from the snake. It seemed to come from within her.
“What?”
You know who I am.
She shook her head. She had an idea, but that couldn’t be it.
I am your baby’s father. I am the one who created the beginnings of the disgusting place from which you came.
