My palms felt hot around my makeshift weapon. Performers or not, humans shouldn’t ever look like this. It was unnatural.
A mimicry of life.
“What do you want?” I asked, my voice uncontrollably shrill. “My father and mother are the Absolvers of Norhavellis. They’re somewhere near.…” I didn’t know where to look. They were everywhere, forcing me backward. Where were their eyes? “Get away from me—getaway!”
One performer stalked forward, growling out puffs of air from slits in the mask’s nose. I lurched backward and tripped, collapsing to the ground. They were wretched. Absolutelywretched. My head was burning. White dots sparked like fire across my vision. I shut my eyes tight.
Then I realized. Remembered.
I wasasleep. I wasasleep, and this was adream.
My eyes flew open. These men weren’t performers. They were demons, grinning at me with maniacal glee.
Dragging myself to my feet and picking a direction at random, I ran for my life.
Do everything in your power to escape the demons.
Do not fight the demons. You cannot win.
If all else fails, surprise or harm your body enough to force yourself into consciousness.
The voices of my parents rang through my head, echoing each rule and every deadly warning just as the trees shifted around me, branches gleaming like iridescent fish scales as they opened to a wide, crescent-shaped expanse dotted with blue flowers. Overhead, a purple sky dusted with silver-bright constellations slowly began to darken.
Beautiful.
I nearly laughed. No one had told me that damnation could bebeautiful.
“Girl.”
I stiffened. They’d found me.
“Girl,” repeated the demon, voice jagged and strained, like rusted metal groaning in the wind. “You do not reek of demon flesh, and yet here you are. Perhaps you desire what we seek. Perhaps we are one and the same.”
“I don’t desire what you seek,” I snapped furiously, wielding my branch like an ill-suited sword. My stomach churned at the thought of Eden and Mother being stalked by these creatures before succumbing to Corruption. “I am nothing like you.”
One of the monsters, filthy and grotesque, stepped into the clearing. It looked as though it had recently clawed its way from the depths of hell, digging through layer upon layer of earth until it had finally broken free. Thick cords of gray hair wilted from its scalp, hanging at crooked angles, and mud dripped stringlike from its body. A tattered piece of embroidered cloth clung to its shoulders, trailing into the grass behind it, and its eyes matched the state of its hair, gray and sagging.
“Look around,” the figure said, stilling itself. “Do you see? See, and you will be free.”
The demons surrounded me, forming a loose circle within the glistening trees.
Terror clogged my throat. What did I see? I saw demons. I saw ugliness. I saw filth.
But I also saw a crescent-shaped glade bursting with shimmering trees and flowers. I scanned the space again, finally settling on something in the distance that was murky and irregular.
“You have found it,” the creature sighed.
The massive shape ofsomethingunfurled before me like the husk of some newly discovered creature. Its form slipped in and out of focus, sometimes taking shape, other times whisking away into the air as though it were nothing.
Breathe.I needed to breathe.
I took a lungful of perfumed air, willing my mind to clear, then I examined my hands, staring until the skin sharpened. Once I was satisfied with the clarity of my fingers, I took a final breath, steadying myself. A castle loomed overhead, casting shadows across the landscape. It was a Goliath of lofty spires, obsidian walls, and sculptural work that was beyond what my mind could understand. Stars dappled the expanse of dark purple sky just above it, reflecting in the stained glass arches of the upper floors and illuminating walls that were either partially broken or fully caved in. I could feel the power the castle held; so deep within the gilded woods, it seemed to foretell a presence that waited in silken, shadowed corners andwatched.
When I finally tore my eyes away, I was alone.
The demons were gone.
I walked through the castle’s sprawling courtyard, unable to keep from admiring its uncanny beauty. Lush floral arrangements bloomed from sapphire vases, dipping into starry water that poured from stone fountains. I ran a hand along a vase, alarmed that it felt so real. I could touch the surface, glossy and dark, and feel the twilight air upon the glass.
