– Chapter 8

My hands and feet are bound and Toby stands over me. Six others encircle us. Their arms folded and their faces lost beneath hoods.

And a faceless girl holds down my legs as I kick and scream. Her laugh is almost demonic.

I cry out for help. For mercy.

None come.

‘You can’t have a baby, Lilly,’ Toby states with a shake of his head. ‘I can’t let you.’

I try to speak. To beg him to stop. To try and reason with him but no matter how hard I try, I can’t get anything more than a whisper past my lips.

Toby steps closer and raises his boot over my exposed stomach. I peer down at my belly. It’s big. Not the first few weeks of a pregnancy but months in. Little limbs push against my skin and glide across my abdomen.

‘You can’t have a baby,’ he says again. ‘You can’t have a baby. You can’t have a baby.’ His words become slower and deeper, like a record player spinning a vinyl at the wrong speed. ‘You can’t have a baby…’ He raises his boot higher. My bump wriggles and flutters wildly. ‘You don’t deserve a baby,’ he says, his voice still slow and dark. ‘Everything you touch dies. Everyone you love suffers. You can never, ever, have a baby. No one deserves you as their mother.’ He sneers before scrunching up his features, building up his strength and a decent momentum for the blow he will bring down.

There’s a crash. Toby and his faceless companions swiftly raise their heads and stare at the barn door which now hangs off its hinges. Beyond, instead of the wet and wild moors, is a dark and dingy corridor. And in the doorway is a man with tousled brown hair and the most brilliant blue eyes. They narrow on me and turn black.

‘This isn’t real, Lilly. Remember that. Know it. Know that this is all just in your head. Remember the truth. Your purpose. Your family. Who you are and what must be done.’

As his words take hold, I do as he compels and I remember it all. The Arcane Realm. The final spell. All who depend on me. All who love me.

My baby. My husband. My father and my friends.

My family.

I’m Lilly Kendryk, the Arcane Witch, destined to save witches from extinction.

This isn’t real!

‘Gabriel…’ His name rolls blissfully off my tongue.

He turns to those surrounding me. ‘Get the fuck away from my wife and baby,’ he warns furiously.

Toby and his cronies toss back their heads and shriek out a high pitched, otherworldly and evil cry before sprinting at him. Their bodies move in sharp and juddering movements as they crawl across the floor, the wall, and even the rafters above. They’re on all fours like demonic insects, twitching and jarring their contorted limbs, constantly screeching.

Gabriel wraps his fingers around the handle of an old, rusted axe buried into a rotted wooden stump. The corner of his mouth hitches into a smile.

Then, with a playful twirl of his weapon, he says, ‘Let’s play.’

He charges inside the room. His face is full of determination as he runs into battle towards the monstrous men and women. His arms swing with deadly force as he batters them out of his way. He kicks with skill and fury. They swipe at him. Long talons stretch out from the tips of their fingers. He lunges out of their reach, spinning and twirling and dodging as they try to land a blow. Gabriel elbows one in its gut. As it doubles over, he strikes the one behind, sending it flying through the air with its arms and legs trailing in its wake. He ducks low, missing what was just a moment ago the image of Toby Smith, and barrel rolls to the side. Toby has morphed into a twisted creature. His face distorted into a hideous apparition. When he opens his mouth, inches of razor-sharp teeth curve out from his lips and a long slithery tongue whips at the air wildly. Gabriel blinks twice, taking in whatever the fuck he is seeing, but swiftly accepts it for what it is and resumes his fight.

They are no longer people.

They are creatures. Monsters. Unlike anything I have ever seen. Well, except for the ghouls I read about in an old book back at Harry’s.

Actually, they are like the ghouls I used to read about! When I was a child, they haunted my dreams every night.

The monsters continue to fight Gabriel who battles with unrivalled ability and finesse, always seeing where the next attack will be and knowing precisely how to block, dodge or counter it. He swings that axe and hacks off limbs.

I pull against my chains. I heave and I yank and I feel them waning. The more aware I am of my surroundings, that this is all in my head, the more I know that I can fight back. These chains are not iron. They are not real.

I scream as I tug at them, with everything I have.

Snap.

My hands are free and with the sound of screeching, grunting and squelching dismemberment in my ears, I reach down and grip the chains around my feet.

‘C’mon you fucker,’ I growl as I pull at them. They stretch out and rattle in my hands. ‘C’mon!’

With a final yell and mustering strength from deep inside, I finally hear that wonderful snap and see the chains crumple to the floor.

Without a second to waste, I leap up onto my feet, ready to fight. Only to find Gabriel standing a few metres away from me, panting, with the axe still in hand and surrounded by twitching body parts.

The sound of our heavy breathing fills the barn. The rain continues to fall. Wind rattles the loose wood.

And we just stand there, watching each other.

‘Are you real?’ I ask him. ‘Because if you’re here to torment me, I beg of you, please, don’t. Not you. Anyone…

but not you.’

Gabriel tosses the axe to the floor and heads towards me.

‘I’m here, Beautiful. It’s me. I’m real.’

‘What colour’s the sky?’ I ask, not convinced. ‘If you’re real-’

‘Pink. The sky is absofuckinglutely pink. Fuck… I have missed you!’ His arms open for me. ‘Come here.’

I run straight into them, slamming into his chest. I throw my arms around his neck and wrap my legs around his waist, knowing that for all the demons in this hell, that finally, I’ve got an angel by my side.

Our lips crash into each other. His hands grip at me in desperation and longing as we hold each other intensely, running our hands over each other, feeling the edges and curves and softness of each other’s features.

His tongue and mine glide over each other. Our lips meld perfectly and I know that I have found my place. My home.

With a long sigh and a nip of my lip, Gabriel looks into my eyes.

‘Beautiful? Do you know where Collins and Connor are?’

‘Collins and Connor? N-no. I don’t. Why? They’re missing?’

He fails to hide his disappointment in my answer.

‘Let’s get you outta here,’ he says, lowering me down on my feet but keeping a tight hold on my hand.

‘How? I don’t even know where the hell I am? How long have I been here? What’s going on in the real world? Is the baby okay? And why don’t you know where the guys are? Are they okay?’

‘You don’t know?’ he asks warily. ‘What’s been happening since you Broke, what you’ve been doing?’ He gestures above us. ‘What been doing, you don’t know?’

‘I… I get glimpses. Apparitions of tiny moments but no.’ I shake my head. ‘I have no idea. I’ve been trapped in here. The last thing I remember is being at the base of that mountain and Amara-’ I swallow a miserable breath down. ‘And then nothing. Have I done something? Have I hurt anyone?’

He rests his hands on my cheeks and tries to show me a smile. But it’s a lie.

‘Oh god. What have I done?’

‘Now is not the time to-’

‘Have I hurt the baby?’ I ask desperately, gripping the collar of his top.

‘The baby is fine-’

‘Have I killed anyone?’

‘Lilly, now is really not-’

‘How long have I been like this?’ When he tries to continue his insistence that now is not the time to talk about this, I interrupt. ‘How long have I been Broken, Gabriel?’

‘A little over three months,’ he admits.

‘Oh God! Three months?’ I whimper. ‘How many have I killed? Oh shit… the chaos I caused last time, and that was a matter of days! Three months?!’ I slam my hand over my mouth when I realise. ‘She’s taken them, hasn’t she? Connor and Collins, has she killed them? Oh God! Oh fuck!’

As I step back, drowning in my horror, he quickly takes hold of me and looks into my eyes.

‘Baby. Now is not the time, okay? Let’s get you back in control and we can figure this out when we’re all safe.’

He turns and heads to the barn door, picking up the axe as he passes it and ignoring the fact that the dismembered limbs are rolling back to each other, rebuilding their monstrous forms.

‘How are you here? What is this place?’ I ask, watching the jigsaw pieces of body parts slotting themselves back together.

‘This is your mind, Beautiful. Your Broken-self has trapped you here in some kind of mental prison. You’ve been locked up in all the worst moments in your life. Moments that all played a part in your Break.’ He leads me out of the cold and damp barn through the broken door and into a long hallway. ‘I’m controlling your mind, forcing you to know the truth. If you remember and if you have a purpose, you can find your way out. Without it, you’re just lost. Unable to distinguish between what’s real and what’s not.’

His explanation is swift, hinting to me that we really don’t have time to waste. But it also makes sense. When I’m in the memories, I have no idea that they are just that. Memories. I forget everything else and just live them over and over, giving my Broken-self all the space she needs to act in whatever devious and dark ways that she has been.

‘She knows I’m in here looking for you,’ he tells me. ‘And she is trying hard to get me out. I don’t know how long I have until she overpowers me.’ We turn down the hallway, this one has more doors lining the walls. He practically drags me along after him. When I look up at him, he wipes a trail of blood that spills from his nose away with his sleeve.

‘Is this hurting you?’ I ask, jogging to keep up with his pace.

‘I’m fine. She’s just really fucking strong. C’mon, Beautiful. We need to find a door.’

‘Well, there are plenty to choose from, but I don’t recommend any of them if I’m honest.’

He charges on, towards the first door on our left. ‘One of these holds a memory that will undo your Break. We just need to find it. If we can get you into it, then I’m sure that you’ll find your way out.’

‘How sure?’

He stops by the first door and rests his hand on the rusty handle.

He ponders his answer before nodding. ‘I’m pretty sure. I saw it in her thoughts despite her trying to hide it from me. This one perfect memory is enough to bring you back. We just need to find it.’

Yeah. I’m not convinced.

He opens the door.

The harsh hiss and the loud smack of a whip striking flesh meets my ears. Followed by a young Lilly Hooper screaming out in agony.

Gabriel shoves me backwards and slams the door closed.

‘Yeah… it’s not that one,’ he says, looking a little pale at the memory he just witnessed. ‘C’mon.’

And on he pulls me to the next door.

Before he opens this one, he takes a readying breath and gives an affirmative nod before opening it up.

Muffled sobbing spills out into the hallway as he peers inside. I don’t get to see before he shoves me back and hurls it shut.

‘Nope. Not that one either.’

‘What did you just see-’

‘Next one.’

He tugs me on. My feet tripping over themselves as I try to keep up.

Another door. And another. And another!

Each time, the sounds of misery and despair ripple outwards and each time, he blocks my way so I can’t see inside. With each door he closes, I see the effects of what he’s seen taking root in his heart. He grows paler and more harrowed. His grip on my hand becomes painful and he starts running from door to door.

Meanwhile, blood travels in thick streams down his face from each nostril and he grunts against a pain he refuses to let me see. Behind us, at the far end of the hallway, a shrill screaming begins. We turn to see the monsters he hacked up in the barn, reassembled, and coming this way. Their bodies scurry along the floor and the walls like beetles.

‘What the fuck are they?’ he asks, backing up.

‘I think they’re ghouls.’

‘Ghouls?’ he chuckles fretfully. ‘Lilly, why do you have ghouls in your subconscious?’

‘I dunno!’ I insist. ‘I used to be really scared of them when I was a little kid. After I read a storybook about them, they became my first nightmares.’

One lands on the floor with a thud so heavy, chunks of plaster shower down from the ceiling.

Considering this is supposed to be in my head, this all feels very real!

‘Time to move.’

We’re sprinting now, each taking a door, desperately searching for one not filled with suffering.

I hate this. Gabriel is getting front row seats to every humiliation, degradation, moment of torture and anguish that litter my life.

, I tell myself.

When Gabriel closes his door, he’s body-slammed by one of the ghouls. I turn to help him.

‘Find the right door, Lilly!’ he calls, battling with the monster. ‘They can’t hurt me. They want to sever my link with you so you get lost in here again. Hurry! Before they manage to!’

I do as I’m told and turn on my heel, sprinting off down the hall to throw open door after door. I don’t waste time closing them. Soon, with dozens of open gateways into my pain, the hall is deafening with screams and sobbing. Add that to the shrill shrieks of the ghouls, and I’m in the inner circle of hell.

With a glance over my shoulder, I see Gabriel back on his feet blocking their path with his axe. He’s grasping his head with one hand as he groans in agony, and with his other, he swings his weapon. It’s taking everything he has to keep me aware that this is all a trap. His compulsion for me to remember, to distinguish between what is and what isn’t, it’s tearing his brain apart.

And although all I long for is to go to him, to help and comfort him, to fight by his side, I know that the absolute best thing for everyone is to carry on looking for the door that holds a memory which will snap me from this nightmare.

With a heavy, yet determined heart, I leave him to fight alone, before turning the corner to another long corridor lined with doors.

My mother drowning me.

Harry tying me up with his dogs.

Simmons, slamming his metal ruler over my knuckles each time I miss a note on the piano.

Ryan sneaking into my room.

Ryan pinning me down.

Ryan.

Ryan.

Ryan.

I scream in frustration as I slam closed the door, the images of his body on mine, burned into my retinas.

A loud thud draws my attention to the ghouls scuttling around the corner. No sign of Gabriel. They must have got past him. With a groan, I carry on and continue hurling doors open.

I manage three before I hear the faintest giggle reach my ears. One of joy and love, so much so it makes me tingle and goosebumps erupt over my skin. Breathless, I turn to its direction. To a pristine white door with a shining gold handle at the far end of the hall. I blink and hear the sweet laugh once more. One of youth and hope.

‘That’s it,’ I whisper, turning to face it. ‘My happiest memory. There it is.’

A ghoul grabs my ankle and tugs when I take my first step towards the door. I slam facedown onto the floor and the ghoul swiftly begins clawing its way up my leg.

‘GET OFF ME!’ I scream, kicking it off. A few whacks to the ghoul’s face and I manage to wriggle out from beneath it.

I’m on my feet and sprinting forwards, my eyes on nothing but the sparkling white door up ahead. I run. I don’t dare look, but I know that they’re on my heels, reaching out, trying to grab me. To stop me. I still remember. I still know what’s going on so Gabriel must still be here, maintaining his compulsion over me.

Closer.

The sweet joy of that wonderous laugh calls to me. It fills my head and my heart. Two doors away, I get bundled by countless ghouls that leap from the walls and ceiling. They crash into me and bury me beneath their writhing and punching and clawing.

I see nothing beyond their body-pile. No hallway. No white door.

I attack and I fight. I yell and I scramble. Their hideous wailing is sickening as well as deafening and when I see their faces, they start to morph from the curved fanged menaces to Harry Hooper. Theodore Kendryk. Grayson Kendryk. Toby Smith. Simmons. Ryan.

‘GET THE FUCK OFF HER!’ Gabriel bellows, tossing them off me one by one. His hand reaches through the mangled mass of limbs and I grab it but I’m too swamped.

‘THE DOOR!’ I yell, nodding to the only way out.

With a determined nod, he takes my hand in his and starts dragging me, as well as the monsters still holding me, along the hallway. He yells out in effort and pain. Blood seeps past his lips from his nose and I even notice it trickling from his ears.

I kick at the monsters, lessening the weight he has to pull until finally, I free myself of the last one and can get to my feet.

Gabriel and I run. The monsters clawing at our backs.

‘Gabriel!’ A voice calls out, quietly at first but then louder as we run. ‘Gabriel! GABRIEL!’

Chunks of cement and stone begin to tumble from the ceiling, almost crushing us as we run. Gripping each other with desperation, we just about manage to avoid the slabs of death raining down on us. The whole structure shakes and grumbles. Large cracks travel across the floor.

‘GABRIEL! HE’S HERE! GODDAMMIT, GABRIEL!’

It’s Jensen. He’s screaming at Gabriel in the real world so loudly I can hear him all the way down here in my prison.

But Gabriel keeps running with me, glancing over his shoulder.

A hand wraps around his ankle. Before he falls, he takes hold of me and with all his considerable strength, he hurls me towards the door. I soar through the air and slide several metres along the floor but still too far away.

‘GO!’ Gabriel screams as he’s overrun. ‘HURRY!’

I push myself up to my feet and turn to the door, glancing back at him. Many of the ghouls have crawled above us on the ceiling and now land between me and the door.

‘HE’S HERE!’ Jensen bellows through the ether. ‘GABRIEL! THEO’S FOUND US!’

‘Theo…’ I whisper. The terror at those words reflects in both our eyes. But Gabriel still tries to keep his mental hold on me.

‘GO!’ I yell. ‘Before he kills you!’ There is no way he can fight Theo while connected to me. No way at all.

‘Not until I get you back. He won’t kill me. We’re linked-’

‘No, Gabriel,’ I insist. ‘You are no longer linked by the immortality spell! You can still heal but Theo can kill you now without dying himself, and he knows that!’

‘A-are you sure?’

‘I saw it, now go. GO! KILL HIM FIRST!’ I scream.

‘Get to the door!’ he orders. ‘Don’t stop trying. Never stop! Even when I’m not here. Never stop trying!’

‘I won’t. I’ll get to it, I swear!’

I turn to the door, glancing back at Gabriel.

In the outside world, Gabriel is yanked away from me, severing our connection.

I reach out for the handle.

∞∞∞

Jensen hauls Gabriel off me and I see I’m back in the wine cellar. Jensen is yelling in terror.

‘Theo is here! He’s found us. We need to move NOW!’

My head is in pieces. Blood spills from my nose, ears and mouth. Seeing anything at all burns my eyes. As I slump forwards, groaning and barely able to move, I can’t help but notice that the roof’s coming down and the entire room is shaking like an earthquake is tearing the world below to pieces.

Despite that, Gabriel shuffles closer to me, his hand outstretched and a hopeful tone in his words.

‘Lilly? Beautiful, is that you?’ Another small step closer. Blood splatters from his face to the floor, just as it does from me. ‘D-did you get through the door?’

‘Gabriel, we need to move!’ Jensen insists, ‘Let her go free. Theo’s on top of us! If we’re going to survive, we need to go and we need her magic to help us do that!’

Gabriel raises his hand to silence him.

‘Lilly? Is that you? Look at me.’

The walls continue to groan. Lumps of brick start falling from the roof.

‘THEO WILL KILL US AND TAKE HER!’ Jensen calls out. ‘FUCKING LET HER OUT OF THE COLLAR OR SHE WILL BE TAKEN!’

Gabriel crouches before me and rests his finger beneath my chin.

‘Are you with me?’ he asks. ‘I know it hurts, baby. I know it does but just open your eyes. Let me see. Let me-’

I throw open my eyes.

‘BOO!’ I yell, laughing like a lunatic as he falls on his ass and scurries back, shocked by my still lilac eyes.

‘No! NO!’ he cries, grief-stricken at the realisation that once more, he’s lost his beloved Lilly.

‘You nearly got her. So. Close. But sadly, you’re still stuck with me.’ I look up as the whole damned roof starts being ripped off. ‘Theo’s on the other side of that you know. And he will take us all, tear us to pieces and he will never stop making us hurt until we tell him exactly what he wants to know.’

Gabriel flinches as a chunk of roof shatters on the ground beside him.

‘He’ll ask you where the Descendants are,’ I continue. ‘Because the more of them he kills, the stronger he becomes and you, dear husband, along with Collins and Connor and Daddy dearest here, have done such a good job at hiding them from him. And me, he wants me to read him that spell. If I don’t, he’ll do one of two things.’

Jensen falls to his knees and starts trying to get the collar free from my neck, even though he obviously doesn’t have the key.

‘The first,’ I say. ‘He will use this body and the baby it is carrying to convince me to talk, or two… he will wait and take the kid, raise it as his and then simply ask his adopted child to help him. It’s remarkable, isn’t it? How a child can be brought up to believe all kinds of shit about what’s right and wrong. So.’ I gesture to the collar. ‘What’s it going to be? Let me go so I can save our asses? Or leave us here.’ I take his hand and rest it flat on my stomach. ‘To die.’

‘Will you take us with you when you materialise out of here?’ he asks.

‘Guess we’ll find out.’

‘It doesn’t matter!’ Jensen barks at him. ‘If we die here, then we die here but she doesn’t. Unlock her restraints!’

Gabriel hesitates and Theo is so close now, I can almost taste his hatred.

‘I promise you, I will not kill you,’ I offer. And that is all I will offer. ‘Let me go. Don’t let Theo catch me.’

Gabriel takes a breath before giving in to the only real option that he has. Quickly, he pulls out the keys from his pocket and unlocks the collar, just as the roof rises high into the night sky. Plaster and brick fall like deadly rain until the roof hurtles to the side with a roar and lands with an almighty crash in the distance. Gabriel and Theo each take hold of one of my arms and helps me to my feet. My magic is returning to me. My ability to heal sets to work, but perhaps it is not as effective on Mental injuries because blood still drips from my nose and my head continues to pound violently. As I stand, everything spins. They each tighten their hold on me, keeping me up on my feet. We’re all at a loss for words as we stare up at the enormous hole above The sound of footsteps making their way through the rubble above grows louder, until Theo peers over the edge of the hole. His face illuminated by the moonlight.

‘Ahhh… there’s my lovely daughter in law. I have been looking everywhere for you.’ He smirks and manifests his lightning on his hands. More figures appear, all with guns and flashlights. ‘Need I ask if you are going to come quietly?’

‘You’re not taking my daughter,’ Jensen warns.

Theo laughs. ‘Oh, my dear friend, I wasn’t talking to her.’

‘Get us out of here!’ Gabriel murmurs, stepping closer to me. ‘Now, Beautiful! Before he takes you and our baby! GET US OUT OF HERE!’

Theo reaches out and uses his Telekinetic power to crush Gabriel’s windpipe before landing on his feet directly in front of me with his smug, self-assured smirk. The collar of his long black coat is turned up, and his blonde hair is styled in the same spikey, ruffled way it was last time.

As Gabriel crumples to his knees, clawing at his throat, Jensen stands between Theo and I with a gun pointed at Theo’s head. With a flick of my wrist, I send Jensen’s gun across the wine cellar far from reach, and when he turns to look at me, confusion etched over his tired and aged face, I punch him hard. With the force of my Physical magic back, he goes down easy. His eyelids fluttering and his nose broken.

‘You took your fucking time,’ I scorn, wiping the blood clear from my face as I try to shake some equilibrium back into my head. ‘Another minute and you’d currently be being killed by a very Unbroken Lilly Kendryk. Look at me! The prick had in me in chains while he tore my head apart!’

‘You look just as lovely as you always do,’ he mocks. ‘Better, in fact. Butchering the humans seems to be agreeing with you.’

I look up at the gaping hole in the roof. ‘Just as murdering your own kind seems to be agreeing with you. Seems you’ve had quite the power boost.’

He lets his lightning shimmer over his hand proudly.

‘With each death, my link to the Arcane Realm grows stronger. And I have been killing a lot of Descendants.’ He seals closed his fist, the lightning fading before he raises an unamused stare to me. ‘But not enough because I can’t find the Descendant camps that Gabriel, Jensen, Collins and Connor are protecting! Where are the others? Connor, Tobias and Collins? We agreed for all of them to be delivered. If you expect me to keep my end of the bargain-’

‘I don’t expect you to keep your word. Not unless I force you to which is precisely what I am doing. Half now.’ I gesture to Gabriel and Jensen. ‘The other half when I get what you promised me.’ I step closer to him, head held high and blood staining my lips. ‘Don’t forget who you’re talking to, Theo. I could pop your fucking head like a zit.’

‘And if you do, my Hunters will tear you apart limb from limb before you even get close to that Bloodstone. We made a deal. You are free to do as you wish and none of my men will stop you, hurt you, or get in your way. I will leave you be entirely. You can perform your spell at the height of the Blood Moon, which is in less than twenty-four hours, and in return, you give me Gabriel, Jensen, Collins, Connor and Tobias. As well as the spell in the journal. I’ll keep my end if you keep yours. But I only see two of the five men you promised me.’

‘Tobias has his orders. He’ll bring the other two to the stone and I will hand over the spell when I am satisfied that you have met your end to its fullest.’

Gabriel takes hold of my ankle and looks up at me with betrayed and oxygen-deprived eyes.

‘Lilly… Don’t d-do this…’

‘Easy now, husband.’ I kneel down and brush the hair from his face. ‘The more you fight him, the more painful this will be for you and the people you care about.’

‘Why… How could you…’

‘This world, and everyone in it, deserves to burn, Gabriel. So I’m going to go. Me and this little sprog of yours. Our future lies in the Arcane Realm and if you tell Theo exactly where the Descendants are hiding, Theo can kill them and gain the power he needs to bring back the love of his life. Do that, and I’m sure Theo will be merciful to you.’

‘K-kill him…’ Gabriel garbles.

‘And then what? The Hunter’s mark will continue to spread even if Theo dies. The only way it stops is if the spell is complete and Theo has made clear that he won’t allow that. To be honest, his deal is pretty sweet. I hand you all over and he lets me go on my merry way.’

‘What about us? A-all of u-us?’

‘To be honest, Gabriel.’ I get to my feet and shrug. ‘I couldn’t give a shit.’

And with that, I slam the sole of my foot into his face, knocking him unconscious.