“Let’s get you outside for some fresh air.” He’s right next to me, but his voice sounds distant. As if he’s shouting from the other side of a long, empty tunnel.
I can’t muster enough strength to nod my head.
He’s the one with experience. He probably has some tips and tricks that will fix me up right away. And if that means slogging one foot forward after the next, I’ll do it. Slowly and shakily, and while his echoey voice clears our way through the partying horde.
Before I know it, we’re outside. A chilly breeze cuts through the night and covers my exposed skin with a layer of goosebumps. I’m shivering, maybe even convulsing. In the state I’m in, the sensations are one and the same.
We walk further from the noise, away from the party and, slowly, my senses start to return. I’m heavy-headed, but even heavier footed, and I wouldn’t call what I’m doing walking. It’s more like stampeding through Tom’s backyard, trying to find stable ground.
Still, he’s a genius for suggesting we come outside. The cold mixed with the fresh air makes me feel better.
We trudge on for a while. I can’t tell where we’re going, but glimpses of my surroundings tell me we’re heading away from the mansion. We started in the light, and each snapshot becomes darker with every step.
I force my head to look back over my shoulder. Tom’s house seems so far away now. It’s twinkling in the distance like some heavenly oasis in the night.
“Where are we going?” I manage to stutter out the sentence. It takes too long to get the words out, and most of them are broken by slurs.
“Not far,” Tom says.
With what little strength I have left, I lift my gaze to his face. He has his hood up now and all I can see of his face is a lightly stubbled chin.
“Where—“ A salty ocean breeze strikes my nose, and I choke on the rest of my sentence.
“I need you to stay quiet now, Lil,” he says, and his voice is almost drowned out by the sound of breaking waves below the cliff’s edge. Fear mixes in with the swarm of sensations that are coursing through my numbed body. It starts as a pit in my core, knotting and tightening until I feel sick.
I try to scream, but my mouth is locked half open. A whimpering mutter is all that’s able to escape.
In the distance, I see a light. My vision’s too blurry to focus on the source, but it floods me with relief all the same. We must be heading back to his house. A walk didn’t cut it, so he’s going to call an ambulance and get me the help I need…
Like my mouth before it, the rest of my body starts betraying me. My legs grow too heavy to lift, and my arms are too weak to cling to Tom’s shoulders. My eyelids feel as if they’re weighted down by two heavy boulders, andkeeping them open is as much of a chore as running a marathon.
Tom’s pretty much dragging me across the grass at this point.
“We’re gonna have fun tonight, Lil.” I know Tom’s the one talking, because there’s no one else around, but his voice sounds different. Not the same distant sound, but deeper and more echoey.
I have to swing my head to the side to look at him. When I do, the pit in my belly releases a wave of tendrils that coat every awake nerve in my body with fear.
I don’t see Tom’s stubbled chin beneath the hood. Instead, what I see staring back is a blank white mask. The expressionless visage sends a shiver up my spine. Normally that would be a bad thing. But to me, it’s more like a reassuring nudge that says that although I’m not fully in control of it, my body still works.
As we approach the light source, however, I regret feeling relieved. I couldn’t be more wrong about where we were headed. We’re not back at Tom’s place; we’re in the middle of nowhere. What I mistook for the bright lights of his home are really flaming torches, stuck into the ground.
Worst of all, we’re not alone.
The others from the party, who were dressed in the same robes, are also standing on the cliff’s edge. They begin a chant on our arrival, a phrase that’s repeated in a language I don’t understand. My guess would be Latin, but withhow my head’s feeling, I wouldn’t be surprised if English sounded foreign at this point.
Tom leads me behind the men looking over the water, to a stone table that’s behind them. In my state of disorientation, I hadn’t noticed that my surroundings had changed. I’ve moved from being in a garden, to being surrounded by trees, in what can only be described as a flash…
Literally in this case, since that’s all my eyes are willing to take in. Flashes of a world that should be moving freely.
“You don’t have to be afraid, Lil,” Tom says, guiding me onto the table.
He lays me down gently, one hand on my shoulder, theother behind my head. The surface is hard and jagged, and it digs into my skin. If my body weren’t so numb, I’m sure it would hurt.
The others approach us once I’m set down. Tom steps back to give them space. Each one moves to a different corner of the table, their rhythmic chant and unending flurry of sound. Tom begins to motion with his hands. He’s not speaking, but the guys around us seem to understand the message he’s conveying.
They move in unison, closer to me. They stop at the corners of the table as one. They press their palms together in prayer. Finally, they bow down in unison and then stand upright again. Each has something in his hands.
“Know this, Lilith.” Tom’s only ever used my full name once. The day we met, and before I insisted thatfriends call me Lil.
