Chapter Twenty-Six
Grym
Itried to soothe Miles and Joel as best I could. I held them against me, which gave me as much comfort as it did them. At least I wasn’t alone in the dark. “This place is a kind of afterlife.”
“Why aren’t we on the beach?”
“This is Donn’s realm. He creates it, not us. He is manipulating the environment.” Not everything about the afterlife was bad. “There are parts of this realm that are peaceful.”
“Peaceful is a cabin in the forest,” Miles whispered. I could feel his arms around my waist. His body shook, but he distracted himself. It was what I wanted them to do.
“Mine is the beach, smoking the best weed, and a hot guy in tiny speedos.” Joel seemed a little calmer, but there was fear behind his words. His voice shook.
“I want a hot guy, too,” Miles said.
“They’re not Hot Wheels cars, Miles.”
“I just want Elliot. Just him and me. I don’t care where we are.” And I didn’t care which realm we stayed in, as long as we stayed together.
“Do you think we’ll see Elliot and Morgana again, or your brothers?” Joel followed up by rubbing my back. The attempt to soothe me made me smile.
The growling and the rustling of brush grew louder. I thought I’d feel the creature’s breath if it were close enough to take a chunk out of one of us. It stalked us, ready to make its acquaintance in the worst possible way. I couldn’t pinpoint the creature’s location from the sound.
The helplessness wasn’t something I was familiar with.
I’d teleport away from it if I could see where I might end up. The darkness was too consuming. I couldn’t get my bearings. I suspected we were in a forest, but I had no way to be sure. I could teleport us into a tree or into deep water we couldn’t swim out of.
There was nothing I could do but keep Joel and Miles close. My only way to protect them was by proximity.
The truth sounded harsh even to me. “There isn’t much of a chance of getting out of here. We’re in Donn’s creation. The darkness will never end. Even if Elliot were here, it’s almost impossible for him to find us, let alone the door to the way out.”
“It’s the darkness,” Miles said. He might have grabbed Joel’s hand behind my back, since Joel stopped his calming efforts. “It’s effective at keeping us from moving.”
“I suspect we’re in a forest.” Besides the leaves rustling in the breeze and the brush parting for the stalker, I could smell pine and damp earth. Not unpleasant, except for the many unknown factors that held us prisoner.
“What if we feel around? Maybe we’ll find something,” Miles said.
“Like what?” Joel’s grip tightened as the creature drew close enough that I could hear it breathe. “I see its eyes. They’re glowing red.”
“Just focus on the solution. Not the problem.” Miles was a doer, which might have been a good thing if the darkness weren’t so debilitating.
“How am I supposed to do that when I’m about to be a giant creature’s dinner?” The wordgiantwas right. Based on the placement of the glowing red eyes, the creature was a head taller than me, and I was six feet three inches.
“I’m sure it’s tomorrow at home. It’s probably breakfast time by now.” Miles did a better job of keeping Joel from panicking than I did.
Joel sighed. “That wasn’t my point.”
“Let’s just keep each other distracted.”
Joel began to shake. “Something breathed on me.”
The creature had fur. It brushed against the back of my hand as I held Joel.
I stopped breathing, trying to stay as still as a statue. The last thing I needed was for something to bite Joel.
Joel whimpered. His tears soaked through my T-shirt, and all I could do was hold him as close as possible.
I backed us away from the animal as slowly as I could, not wanting to aggravate it with any fast or sudden movements.
