Page 22 of Blood Red Woes

I sigh as I walk toward the tiny window in the room, on the wall near the desk. It’s big enough I could jump out of it, if I wanted to, no metal bars to stop me and no glass to be seen. I think about it. Of course, I do. I want to get out of here like nobody’s business.

At the same time, Frederick might be the only person who can help me get home. If he understands how portals work, maybe he can figure out a way to open one without the need for magic, like with a potion or something.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part and I’m totally screwed. Either way, I have to find his dad’s stuff before I’ll find out.

I lean against the windowsill and stare at the clear night sky. The night is silent, the wind nonexistent. There must be less pollution, even with the woes, because the night sky is made of a multitude of stars you just don’t see back home. I swear, when I look hard enough, I can even see slight swirls of colors, like I’m staring at a galaxy or something.

It’s stunning. It really is. I imagine everything here used to be way more beautiful before the woes hit. It really is a shame.

As I look at the sky, I think of my dad. I wonder if he’d be proud of me, what he’d do in this crazy situation. There are so many things I wish I could ask him, so many answers I want.

But you can’t talk to the dead. That’s, like, rule number one.

I push away from the window and move to the bed. I kick off my shoes and crawl on. With a full belly, I’m suddenly so exhausted. It’s like the weight of it all hits me right then, all at once. I’m stuck in a new world where magic exists and its rulers are MIA while dangerous woes ravage the land and its people.

It’s only after I lay down and curl on my side that Rune lights up on my wrist. “At least the man seems genuine.”

“Yeah,” I whisper.

“Perhaps his father’s research will contain the answers we need.”

“Maybe.” It almost feels like too much to hope for, though, like the doubt in my mind won’t go away. It keeps nagging me over and over again, telling me nothing is ever going to be okay again.

Rune’s voice carries no trace of his typical annoyance or haughtiness. He actually sounds empathetic when he tells me, “Everything is going to be okay, Rey.”

My eyelids fall, my breathing slows. My last conscious thought is that I hope Rune is right.

Chapter Seven

I’m surrounded by blackness. Blackness all around. It coils around me, trying to pry me open, but I resist. I don’t let it inside. I might not know what it is or where it came from, but I know if I open the door and welcome it inside, I’ll lose everything I am.

So I deny it. I fight it.

And that’s when a deep, dark, melodious voice speaks to me.

“Interloper. False prophet. You think you have what it takes to resist me? You will fail as the others failed. No living being of this world can resist the inevitable.” The voice is so low it hurts my ears—although I’m not sure I’m really hearing it or if it’s just being spoken in my mind. It’s almost like a dozen voices all talking at once, merging to form a single deafening tone. It crawls against my skin, peeling away at me in the same way the shadows do.

“Who are you?” I don’t know if I say the words or merely think them. Everything confuses me, but I know one thing in my heart of hearts: whoever, whatever this thing is, I must resist. If I don’t, everything will be lost.

“Your bravado is pointless. Your strength will fail,” the shadow tells me. “I am madness. I am that which comes for every living creature. I am the undefeated. I am death, and I will come for you as I came for them. They could not stand against me. They believed their power was enough to defeat me, but they discovered, as you will, that you cannot defeat death itself. My name is irrelevant. You will fall to me as infinite have fallen before.”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

The voice breathes out, like it is simply scolding a petulant child instead of having a conversation with an equal. “Yourdenial does not make you unique. They all denied me at first, and yet one by one they fell. You will fall with them and in doing so I will have accomplished my purpose.”

I want to say more, but right then I wake up.

I come to with a start, and I sit up and hold a hand over my heart, feeling some kind of way. My heart beats fast, and a cold sweat lines my brow. I try to remember my dream, whether it was a nightmare or something, but it’s all a little fuzzy.

“Is something wrong?” Rune asks, lighting up on my wrist. “You seem… out of sorts.”

Swallowing hard, I say, “I don’t know. I feel weird, like something just happened, but I can’t remember what it was.” No matter how hard I try to think back, it’s all black.

“Hmm. That is odd. Perhaps a bad dream?”

“Maybe.” I swing my legs off the side of the bed and slip my shoes on. I get up, stretch, and push out of the bedroom to find Frederick leaning over the table, packing a bag.

The moment he sees me, he straightens out—and knocks an apple to the floor in the process. “Oh, sorry,” he apologizes as I bend over to pick up the apple. I rub it on the cloak that still clings to my shoulders and take a bite. “Did you sleep? It sounded—”

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