Chapter 11

Eleven

Despite the brightness outside, I couldn't help but notice just how gloomy this bedroom was. It was as if the sun's rays didn't dare creep too far past the windowpane, like it was scared of shining its light into this place. I could see, sure, but the shadows in this room remained deep, and thick.

There were even times when I thought they were watching me.

That was stupid, obviously. Shadows couldn't watch a person. Still, I rarely felt like I was entirely by myself in here. Last night, after arriving, I had been so exhausted by the ordeal that I had passed out without question. Now, having spent a few hours by myself in this room, I was starting to notice these oddities.

One thing which caught my attention was the weird pocket watch Carla Diaboli had thrown at me last night. I'd forgotten I had it until I caught a glint of sunlight reflected off its shiny surface. It was small and ornate, and almost entirely made of glass.

Why had she given me this thing? Picking it up was a trap, surely. Why else would I want this small, strange trinket? There are worse monsters in these halls. Those had been her words when she gave me the pocket watch.

Just hearing her voice in my head was enough to give me the chills.

Curiosity was what drew me to pick it up. It was the worst thing about being a mage, that need to investigate, to know. It had probably gotten a lot of mages killed. It was probably going to get me killed, too. But now that I'd felt the itch, I had to scratch it.

The pocket watch was cold to the touch, and small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. Lacking a chain, or any kind of visible inner mechanism, it looked more like a compact mirror than a watch. I scanned its exterior for runes, or markings, but I found none.

What little sunlight was able to touch it cast prismatic reflections all over the bedroom, spots of colorful light that shifted and danced as I moved it around in my hand. My curiosity intensified as I noticed the little object's lip. I had found the way to open it.

I wasn't sure what would happen when I did, but I did it anyway, carefully placing my hands around it just in case it tried to scream or shriek like those voices had last night; ready to snap it shut at a moment's notice. I gently pulled, and I felt a click. Carefully I peeled the watch open, only to find it wasn't a watch at all.

It was actually a mirror; a mirror with an engraved edge filled with strange runes I couldn't possibly recognize or identify.

I saw myself, saw the reflection of my eyes in the glass.

Then I saw it.

Everything happened so fast. I had barely panned the mirror to the left an inch or two before the creature standing behind me came into view. It was a horrifying, dark shape, there only for an instant. Its red eyes widened, its huge mouth opened, its jaw distending.

It screamed.

I screamed, dropped the mirror, and fell off the chair I had been sitting on.

Scrambling, I turned around and backed against the wall, my heart hammering inside of my chest. I scanned the room, but I was alone. There was no trace of whatever I had seen in the mirror's reflection. The weird mirror lay there like a washed-up clam, barely a few feet away from where I was sitting.

I saw myself reflected in it, I saw the wall at my back, the pallor of my face—but no monster.

"What the fuck," I said, panting, trying to recover, "What the actual fuck."

There was no reply.

Whether I was expecting one or not, nobody cared to explain to me what in the world I had just seen. That only made things worse. I was scared, sure, but now I had more questions than when I had first picked the mirror up. I couldn't help but crawl over to the mirror again, watching it carefully, studying the glass for signs of movement behind me.

There was no movement, there were no shadows, and no monsters; there was only my frightened face.

As I picked the mirror up again, though, I could tell something had changed. The room felt colder now, and weirdly active, like there were more eyes on me than there had been a moment ago. There are worse monsters in this house… Had I just seen one of those monsters? Were these things lurking around me, waiting to jump out and frighten me?

I decided to use the mirror again—this time carefully, expecting the worst. Standing upright, I held the mirror in front of myself, and I spun around in a circle, examining the dark recesses behind me and all around me.

There were no jump scares this time, nothing that made me leap out of my own skin, but what I saw in the deepest parts of the room was worse. Way worse. Because what I saw was definition in those shadows, and I realized, they weren't shadows at all.

They were figures.

I couldn't see them with my naked eyes. Without the mirror, the shadows were just shadows. But with the mirror, I could see shapes, humanoid shapes. Heads, shoulders, arms, even legs. One such dark shape clung to one of the corners of the room, another seemed to be peeking around the side of the wardrobe in the back, while another still waited in the open doorway that led to the bathroom adjoining the bedroom.

I hadn't realized until now, but I had been holding my breath. Exhaling, I shut the mirror and stuffed it into my pocket. "Well, I'm never sleeping in this room ever again," I said to myself, "You can also keep the bathroom. I'm getting out of here."

Screw this place.

I had to get out of here, and I had to do it now.

Determined, I rushed toward the open window that led out onto the courtyard. Looking down one final time, I couldn't help but feel like the ground seemed a little further away now than it had looked this morning.

That was just the fear talking.

It had to be.

The building hadn't just stretched, and the ground hadn't fallen further away. I was spooked, that was all. Talking myself down helped. It allowed me to get a hold of my breathing and throw one of my legs over the window ledge. A moment later, I was outside, standing precariously on the lip of the building, overlooking the hedge below me.

I didn't think I was going to get this far. I was convinced there was going to be a spell to keep me locked in my room; a forcefield, an alarm—something. I found no such resistance, which gave me hope the rest of my plan was doable.

The grounds were empty, even the gardener was gone. Carla had mentioned the family kept dogs, half-starved dogs, somewhere on the property, but they would need to know I was escaping to sick them on me. As long as I kept quiet and planned this right, they wouldn't know I was gone until I was halfway to the city.

That was the plan, at least.

I scanned the ground underneath me again, checking to see if it looked further away now than it had looked a moment ago. It was still there, but the drop really did look higher than it had yesterday. Still, I thought I could make it. All I had to do was find the right angle and let myself gently drop off the edge of the building.

A noise somewhere in my bedroom startled me, causing me to tighten my grip around the window ledge to stop myself from falling forward. I dared turn around, to investigate the source of the sound, but my room looked quiet… and dark.

But far from empty.

They were watching me. I felt safer out here than I did in there, which was weird considering the drop I was about to have to make, but the feeling was there, and it was powerful. A total revulsion against the idea of going back in there.

.

Deciding to ignore the noise, I turned my attention again to the hedge underneath me. "Careful, Bee," I said to myself. "Careful."

I held myself firm against the window's edge, using my arms to hold myself in place as I began to lower my legs. It was only a few feet. I could make it without horribly injuring myself. All I had to do was—there was a sharp hiss, like someone inhaling sharply right next to my ear, and then someone shoved me.

I saw myself overshoot the hedge and saw the gravel race toward me, fast. I screamed, I couldn't help it. When I hit the ground, it was hard, and with my shoulder. I felt something break, or snap, or crack; a pain like white fire tearing through me instantly.

Somehow, I was still conscious.

Somehow, I hadn't broken both of my legs.

But I had probably broken my arm, or at the very least dislocated my shoulder. I had never felt pain like this before in my entire life. I felt like all I could do was writhe around on the ground and grit my teeth, because the thought of screaming again… no, screaming was absolutely off the table.

I had already made way too much noise getting down here.

I turned onto my back and looked up, cradling my arm and breathing through the pain. There was no one looking down at me from my bedroom window, no sinister dark shape, no monsters laughing at me, mocking me. That only made things worse.

The pain started to dull, but I knew that wasn't going to last. Adrenaline could only do so much, but I was going to use it while I had it. Fighting for every breath I took, I planted my good arm on the ground, rolled onto my good side, and pushed myself up. When I was able to stand, I looked around, scanning the grounds and the paths around me.

There was no one out here.

No one had heard me.

Another surge of adrenaline pushed through me, and I rode it like a surfer on the back of a shark infested wave. I started running, heading for the fountain and the tall hedges around it. Dogs weren't sent after me, no one sounded an alarm, and no one yelled at me to stop. As I reached the hedges, I found myself filling with hope, with excitement.

But it was short lived.

Mason Diaboli turned an impossible corner around a tall hedge, appearing as if from nowhere, his arms folded in front of his chest.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

I stopped dead in my tracks, standing in front of him, cradling my busted arm. "I'm leaving," I said through my teeth. "Get out of my way."

He shook his head. "You aren't going anywhere," he said, "I think you just learned that firsthand."

With a flick of his wrist, he sent a bolt of red light streaking toward me. I was too slow to avoid it. The red light struck me square in the chest, my entire body seized up, and the world around me plunged into darkness.