Page 4 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

With a sigh, I reach up, fingers brushing over the side of the mask, looking for the ties, but… they’re not there. The mask isn’t tied on anymore, it’s melded to my flesh.

It doesn’t come away from my skin. I try to slip a nail between it and my face, but it’s fused to me.

Five minutes of struggle and I’ve got nowhere.

There’s only one place where someone might know how to get it off.

In the mortal world, these ears are out of place and ridiculous.

In the mortal world, they’re a target.

I can’t leave them on.

I can’t stay here.

Hurrying downstairs, I’m desperately glad I don’t keep a staff of guards lurking like Jamus did. The fewer people who see me, the better.

I have to take the convertible Jamus left behind. It’s an ugly white thing that’s too bubbly, and with the mask on, it makes me feel like a badly made cartoon character. But my other option is to walk, and there’s no way I’d make it before the sun comes up.

This isn’t how I planned to return to the old gods’ realm….

Descend to Madness

The old gods’ spire is lit like a beacon against the darkness of the night and I leave the car in the drive, key in the ignition, honestly hoping someone will take it off my hands.

Inside, the creature that ushered me in last time sits at a table, arranging a toy tower of wooden blocks.

It greets me with a rattled hiss and a flick of its backward jointed wrist.

It feels like I’m expected.

Never make deals with the old gods.

They never end when you think they will.

The hiss follows me all the way to the lift. I don’t like that the doors open as I near… or that the hiss morphs into something that sounds like a recrimination for wasting time. But the lift closes, leaving me in that padded cube. I take a deep breath and wait for them to open again.

I wait and I wonder… what will Ester ask of me this time?

For the longest time, it doesn’t feel like the lift moves, and then….

It drops from underneath me.

I scrabble to hold on to something as it descends so quickly I bite back a scream, afraid I’ll throw up if I open my mouth.

When it stops, it’s just as suddenly, and I crumple to the floor, blinking at the wall in front of me, trying to catch my breath. The whole interior is blindingly white now, as if spotlights are fixed on all six sides.

It takes me a second to get my wits back in order and to get to my feet. Once again, I’m wearing heels. I really should know better.

But when the doors open, it’s not to Ester’s domain.

This place is something different.

Something harsher… almost empty.

White sand, white sky.

This realm is leached of all colour.

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