Page 61 of Magpie
He continues to grin, crossing the boundary easily, the invisible cage doing nothing to stop him. He draws close until he is all but pressed against me. He grips my face in his hands, pressing his head to my neck and inhaling deeply. I’m repulsed, desperate to run from his touch, knowing there is nowhere I can go to get away from him. A single tear escapes my eye, trailing a lonely journey down my face.
“As much as I am relishing the river of dread you’re drowning in, there is still a ritual to attend to. Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long,” he croons, rubbing his nose up and down my neck as I try not to gag. He pulls back, giving my cheek a few pats. “Do be a dear and wait up. We have so much lost time to catch up on.”
Just like that, he turns and saunters out of the room, the door snicking shut and the lock clicking into place behind him.
I wait until I can no longer hear his boots echoing down the attic stairs before sinking to the ground, burying my head in my knees, and screaming.
Trapped. Caged.
I will never be free again.
I press my hands over my ears, as if I can push the panicked cries from my mind. I should never have come back, should never have assumed I was strong enough to defeat Alister. I let Ronan fill me with false hope, let the luna key guide me down a dark path to my doom—
The luna key.
Slowly, I take my hands off my ears and open my tightly shut eyes. Peering around the room, I find my backpack sitting across from me on the floor. There is no way I can reach it, not from inside this barrier. But Alister crossed the seal. Maybe…maybe something else can, too.
I turn and spy the telescope I dislodged in my attempt to free my hands from the floor. Wasting no time, I grab it and extend it to its full length. Stepping to the edge of the barrier, I hold my breath as I press the telescope through.
It passes over the gray etchings easily, and I almost cry out in relief. Holding the telescope tight, I reach it out as far out as I’m able. It’s heavy, awkward, and entirely unwieldy. I’m sweating by the time I finally land the end on the strap of my backpack. I then begin the agonizingly slow process of trying to drag it toward me.
My arms are shaking with the effort, my heart hammering away in my chest. I don’t know how much longer the ritual will last, and I can’t risk Alister having any interest in the contents of my backpack. I hold my breath for the last few inches, not daring to believe this has worked until the bag is fully inside the barrier.
I don’t spare a single moment to celebrate. I’m far from victory. Dropping to my knees, I hastily unzip my backpack and yank it open. It takes a moment to locate the key, which has traveled to the bottom. It remains dormant, emitting no light, but still, I grab it and hold it tight. The light might have abandoned me, but I am no stranger to the dark.
Alister claimed I nearly destroyed this place by taking my key, and I have been unable to let that thought go. I sit back against the glass wall, holding the luna key to my chest as I watch the door, waiting for his return. Trapped between walls of glass and power, I have nothing to do but think.
And plan.
It’s hard to think back to her.
That girl so desperate to be free that she would lock herself in one cage just for the chance to escape another. The girl who felt so utterly lost and alone, no matter how her friends tried to call to her. Tried to bring her back. I find myself thinking of her now, wondering how strong she could have been if she fought. She didn’t believe in her fight, but Sean did.
And now I do, too.
Sighing, I stand, my legs aching and sore from sitting on the hard ground, propped against the glass wall for so long. Stretching my arms over my head, I turn and look at the sky. The stars wink at me, drifting in and out behind the gloomy clouds that have begun to gather. A flash of light bursts through the sky, the electric streak the first whispered hint of a storm brewing. I continue to trace the clouds, watching them accumulate and grow until the stars are hidden. As if even the night sky doesn’t deem me worthy of light.
Peering down, I open my tightly clenched fist and stare at the luna key.
I think back to the voices of Jessica and Tim crying out to me, frantically trying to pull me back from the edge I willingly walked over. I wish I had listened; I wish I had let them help me. They were my glowing moth, my light in the dark, and I turned my back on them.
I turn and watch the door. Even now, months, years, decades later, their pleas for me to come back have remained. And I do not intend to ignore them this time.
Like a cloud crossing the stars, Alister blots out the light.
I feel that darkness approaching more acutely than anything I have ever felt. I back up until I am standing against the glass wall, gripping the key tightly in my hand. There are no pockets in this dress, and it’s so skintight there would be no hiding it on my person.
I don’t care. I’m done hiding.
He bursts into the room like a plague, his aura supercharged in the wake of the ritual. The very essence of fear drips off him as he strolls in and slowly shuts the door. He turns, swaying slightly, drunk on power. His wild eyes find mine.
“The whole House can feel you’ve returned,” he croons, his voice rich with malevolent energy. “You always were the final missing piece this place needed to truly be whole.”
I don’t respond.
“There was a girl here,” he says, and I remember at the last moment to keep my face neutral.Margaux.“Her fear tasteddivine. I reveled in trapping her inside a room and removing the door. She was petrified.” He laughs, the sound reverberating around the room, too loud, too chaotic. “She begged,begged, to be released. Banging on the walls like a child, screaming that she wanted out. You should have seen her face when I made the walls close in.”
I swallow against my dry throat, trying and failing not to picture the glass walls of this very room creeping in on me. He’staunting me, and I’ve no doubt he inflicted this punishment on her simply because of me.
