Augustus.
My name whistled through the air, a soft whisper that would have brought comfort if it had come from my brother. But Auden did not speak.
Goosebumps spread over my arms and legs, breath evading capture as I slowly turned my head.
The Devil wore a face cloaked in shadow, horns protruding from a nest of brown hair, his body blending in with the dark woods looming behind him.
“Where is Auden?” I demanded, voice cracking.
Who?
He drifted closer, but his features remained hidden beneath a veil of darkness. Snakes slithered at his feet, long ribbons of black scales threatening to swallow me whole.
“My brother,” I answered, fighting the instinct to flee. “Auden. Where is he?”
A heavy silence hung in the air as the Devil watched me. No one moved—not a single breath shared between us. The hunter and the prey.
I opened my mouth to repeat my question, but the words died in my throat the second my feet lifted off the ground and my back slammed against a tree. Pain burst through my spine, vision blurring as the loud crack of bone against bark echoed in my ears. I anticipated a drop, but the earth below grew farther and farther away as my body lifted high into the treetops.
Tendrils of smoke slithered up my body, curling around my neck in a tight embrace. I gasped. Choking. Withering.
You don’t need Auden, the Devil whispered in my ear,I am right here.
“I… don’t… want… you…”
I couldn’t see the Devil’s face, but I knew he was smiling when he said,You will.
“AUGUSTUS!”
My mother’s voice cut through the darkness, the Devil loosening his hold. Warm sunlight chased away the shadows, air slowly returning to my screaming lungs.
“Augustus, what are you doing up there?!”
I glanced down at my mother, her fingers interlaced with Auden’s as they both peered up at me with wide, unblinking eyes.
That was when I realised I was at least twenty branches high in a pine tree, my hands covered in dirt, leaves and splinters.
Confused, I climbed down carefully, my heart thundering as I replayed the last few minutes in my head.
“I lost Auden,” I explained, “I… had to climb the tree to look for him.”
“Auden was right here when I found you,” my mother said, reaching down to pick a leaf out of my hair.
“What?” I looked at Auden, but his eyes were on the tree. Had he really been there? Had he seen the Devil?
“Come on,” my mother said, “let’s get you cleaned up.”
***
A scream tore me from sleep’s warm embrace.
Disoriented, I sat up, fingers massaging my eyes to prepare them for the waking world.
I thought I imagined the scream. But then I heard it again, the sound crawling up to the second floor, bursting into my bedroom with ferocity.
Wood groaned beneath my feet as I stumbled into the hallway, the faint glow of the moon peering through the windows my only guide. Hand on the railing, I descended the staircase, squaring my shoulders to prepare for the scene below.
Auden was on the couch, sandwiched between my parents. Tears poured from his red-rimmed eyes, mouth wet with dribble as he released a river of screams, fingernails tearing through the pale flesh of his arms.
