Page 43 of A Serpent in the Garden

And It said the only thing guaranteed to make my blood run colder: I’ve never heard anything like that before.

Don’t move, It said, as I fumbled through the dark for a blade from my belt.

Another tap against the boulders, another wave of panic that threatened to pull me under.

It knows we’re in here.

I can tell, It retorted. If it wants you, let it rip the blockade away and take you. This is not a time for offense. If it can’t get around the rocks, the two of you can wait out the dawn and leave this place come morning.

A blood-curdling screeching noise bled through the cracks. Serich’s grip on me doubled, though I’d made no move to investigate further. What is it saying? I asked It, a tremble in my thought.

I don’t know. How the fuck should I know? It probably wants you to come out.

And you have no idea what it is? How can that be?

How much time do you think I spent in these woods? Its temper was beginning to smolder. I didn’t live in them, I came here as a child. I remember the general layout and can make educated guesses on what we might meet where, but I don’t know every single thing that ever has or ever will live here. It’s so cold in this part of the wood that I’d assume few creatures would prefer it. I have no idea what this is, and if it can’t get in then so much the better.

“What is it?” Serich breathed into my ear, making me jump. “Does It know?”

Something scraped against the boulders. Talons, a blade, fingernails filed into points. I had no earthly idea but my imagination conjured plenty of potentials. “He doesn’t have any clue.”

“How can that be?”

I’m not some all-knowing, ancient sage, It said. You want my advice? Stay put. Shut up. Wait till dawn.

“It says to wait till dawn,” I whispered into Serich’s ear.

So we did. I felt Serich’s heart thrash against my back every time we heard another inquisitive rap against the makeshift blockade; I felt It tense and pace just before the window of my eyes.

But nothing happened.

Foggy dawn eventually trickled through the cracks. Serich knocked me behind him as he kicked out the boulders and peered around the wood, but nothing except the fogs awaited us, not even a track or disturbance in the earth to prove anything had lingered in the night.

Get going, It said, the first time he had spoken in hours.

We left, alcerin racing through our veins. In the back of my mind, It muttered at the fogs looping and winding about me, but he offered no comment.

Our feet sank and slid as the frosts of the wood melted into gritty shades of black and green and gray. Fallen leaves became waterlogged little ships scattered about the earth. As the temperature grew warmer, our breath no longer trailed about our lips like toxic clouds. The bulk of the fogs drifted back into the ground, and Serich and I cut quickly through the wood like animals who’d been born to it when the earth grew firmer.

Still, the silence persisted. It felt deceitful, cunning. Whatever had tapped so curiously against the blockade in the night could still be lurking, watching. Waiting for the right moment.

You forgot sleeping. Which is the most likely scenario. Most everything in this place is nocturnal.

“What do you think Hell looks like?” Serich slapped at some evil-looking nettles that had latched onto his cloak. “A great flaming cauldron of screaming souls?”

It snorted so loudly I rather thought he’d rupture something.

I started to tell Serich what It had told me, though I had few specifics and It did not seem to feel inclined to share any more, but I had barely begun to describe the gates and antechamber when Serich shuddered.

It laughed unkindly at that.

“A whole room full of damned souls milling about.” Serich held up a bent branch so I could duck beneath it first. “It’s ghastly.”

“You don’t have to come inside with me if I make it.”

“What shall I do then, wait outside the gates?” A half-smile lifted one of his cheeks. “I wouldn’t make you face that alone.”

I wouldn’t be alone, I almost responded. I am never, ever alone. But when I opened my mouth, the only words that came out were thank you.