Page 47 of Madness Behind the Mask
This is a room of innocence. Of the bubbling words of a baby learning to speak, of them finding delight in the little things we’ve all forgotten to croon over. This is a room of peace, of inner sanctuary. Of children too young to know the horrors of the world.
And yet, there is Uncle David…
Standing in front of her crib…
With his hands…
His fucking hands!
Below her naked waist.
And Olivia is still screaming, her face bunched up inblotchy red pain, but I can’t hear her over whatever magic he is using to keep her quiet.
My stomach drops as I throw out my hands without coordination, grasping at anything around me to hold me up.But instead oflatching on tothe door frameor knob,my fingers twist and curl in front of me,magic shootingout ofthem, uncontrollable in my rage.
David twists, his eyes widening as his arms come up, erecting a blue wall of energy to counter the red flames of mine. They shoot towards him and slam into his shield, but the force throws him back hard into the wall behind him.
“Get away from her!” I scream as I hit the floor on my knees. Scrambling to stand back up before him, I struggle to control my magic. But it has been thirty years since I used it, and the last time I did, I couldn’t control it either. It rushes away from me, greedy in its desire to see him bleed, and my heart slams in my ears as I fear for my little girl getting caught in the crossfire.
The red magic rushes to her, splintering apart her crib until each wooden slat explodes at once. I scream as I watch her get embedded from all sides in my mind, and I stumble forward, praying that I can make it to her before she passes away. I can heal her. I’m a healer! I can save her even though I’ve never saved anyone before.
My legs shaking, I trip over something on the ground.
But then I realize I’m not falling. I’m sinking.
Sinking into unnatural shadows as they wrap around my body and pull me under.
I flail for a purchase in this world, but David’s shadows wrap around me, pulling me into the realm of darkness even as I scream for him to stop. He is the only person who can get me back out of the Plane of Monsters, my family the only ones capable of controlling its portals, and I do not trust him to do so.
“Please!” I beg as they twist around my neck. I try to tapinto my own power, try to command them as is my birthright, but they do not listen to me.
He does not listen to me.
He simply stands over me, his eyes cold, blood trickling out of his mouth.
And then I am gone, sucked into anightmare that will end all others…
Worst for the fact that I’ve left my baby girl with a monster of her own.
Seventeen
HER
DAYS DO NOT EXIST HERE
It is pitch-black in all directions.If only it was quiet too. But there are animalistic screams and the sounds of ripping flesh coming from right in front of me. Something thicker and warmer than water sloshes around my hands and knees as I kneel in this new world.
My pulse slamming inside of me, I jerk my head up, but my eyes can’t pierce the complete darkness. I tremble despite knowing that the pact an ancestor made with a djini long ago keepsus Shadowssafe in this place. No one knowsor perhaps cares to remember what the exact deal was or if it was ever collected. Perhaps it still might be, and my time will soon be up, a debt ripped from my flesh by whatever monster is in front of me.
Breathing as softly as I can, moving just as quietly, I shift backwards under the cover of the screams of its prey. My magic doesn’t work here. Whether a part of the deal withthe djini or just the limitations of this plane, I don’t know. Nor do I care to think about it.
I just want to get away from this monster.
Get away from Antonio’s golden eyes looming at me from its position in my mind.
And get back to my daughter.
Olivia…
