What the hell is going on?
The stragglers, including me, shared mirroring concern before looking over our shoulders for escape, only to be pushed through the door.
We all winced as it clanged shut and the twang of locks slammed home.
* * * * *
This place was too lavish to be real.
Tucked tight with the group of women as clueless as me, we inched our way into the grounds, our jaws on the floor at such decadence. Which was saying something as my family home wasn’t some two-bedroom apartment in a decrepit high-rise. I’d been born into a sprawling mansion with servants and nannies and not one swimming pool butthree.
Yetthisplace?
In the distance, the palace rose before us, looming and imposing and impossibly grand. Black stone towered above, veined with golden traceries. Window arches gleamed with gold leaf and the roof was a mismatch of curves and slopes and turrets—its slate tiles glittering with flecks of mica.
As we followed the main pathway, flanked by hedges and rose bushes, our heads swivelled left and right, drinking in the dozens of extra buildings all spilling out from the main hall.
Fields existed between each pavilion, granting privacy and distance.
Exotic in their design, the entire area, as far as the eye could see, was littered with intricate stone bridges crowning babbling crystal streams, all cutting through the emerald grass like arteries flowing from a pumping heart.
Koi carp swam in the rivers, stone walls and circular archways beckoned into private gardens, while open-air, roofed corridors linked each pavilion, decorated with lattice panels and woven with every flower imaginable.
Floral perfume permeated the air like a drug, making it feel as if we’d stumbled into ancient China where threads of wisteria clung to pillars and gazebos rested on the edges of a sprawling lake filled with snow-white swans.
Every corner whispered of wealth so extreme, it warped reality.
“I...I don’t know what’s going on,” the woman closest to me whispered, almost in tears. Her long red hair was tied in a thick ponytail, her black dress far fancier than my scruffy jean shorts.
“Me neither,” another woman muttered. “It feels like we’ve been shoved into a monster’s cage and any moment now we’re going to get eaten.”
That wasexactlywhat it felt like.
“Let’s join the others,” the redhead whispered. “Safety in numbers and all of that.”
We picked up our pace and attached ourselves to the crowd of women who’d already arrived at the white marble courtyard outside the sprawling black stone palace.
The entrance borrowed East and West architecture, blending the double doorway with English oak trees and snarling oriental dragons.
Evelyn marched up the six sweeping steps and boldly rapped her fist against the huge doors.
We all held our breath.
Time ticked on, cranking our heart rates.
My headache grew worse and soon, I wouldn’t have a choice but to rest. My body would force me to sleep by helpfully knocking me unconscious.
I stepped back a little, ready to flee to a nearby pavilion, but the doors finally cracked open, gliding apart as if manipulated by ghost butlers.
“Hello?” Evelyn called into the dark interior. All I could see from my place at the back was a chandelier dripping from the ceiling, sending rainbows all over the girls in the front. “Mr. Ashfall?”
“Mr. Ashfall?” the redhead next to me asked. “Who’s that?”
“Hush up.” One of the girls who seemed to know why we were here spun to face us. Pressing a finger against her lips, she scowled.
And that was when the screaming started.
Chapter Five
