Authors: Cheryl McIntyre
“The Demon King went. I
did not.”
“Really?” She spits sarcastically.
Asmoday
sits back in the chair next to the bed and chuckles. Everything is a
lways funny to him. “You are not
afraid of me at all, are you?”
Keely swallows. She is, but at this po
int, what does she have to lose?
“No, I’m not. Irritated, in
furiated, disgusted, yes. But afraid? N
o.”
He leans forward again. “Those are passionate feelings.”
She sighs. “Those are bad feelings.”
“
You are like the boys who pull the girls pigtails.”
“Excuse me?” She sits up, not surprised that she is once again in the ridiculous nightgown.
“You like me so you act as if you do not.”
Now Keely laughs. “I don’t think so.”
“To feel so strongly about someone, good or bad, you must care something about them in the first place. You detest me, so therefore you must care passionately about me.” He smiles radiantly at her.
“Yeah, there’s a flaw in your logic. I hate o
ur brother. I hate him with every inch of my soul
and I do not care if he lives or dies a long agonizing death.”
“But you do care. You would much rather he
dies
that agonizing death than be free to roam the Earth.”
Keely cocks her head to the side. “I would. You have a point.”
Asmoday grins. “See?”
“I still don’t like you.”
“But I bet you would no
t want me to die, either.
”
“You’ve never really done any
thing to me
so I guess not. But I would be happiest if I never saw you again,” she says honestly.
“We shall see about that.”
Keely shakes her head. “I need to go back.”
Asmoday flips his hand at her. “Then go back.”
She stares at him, bites her lip. She’s been sitting here insulting him and is about to ask him for help.
Great
. “I don’t know how.”
He shakes his head and laughs. “You are so fun.” He reaches out and messes her hair as if she were a child. “You are the only one who ever sends yourself back. Didn’t dear old daddy ever tell you?”
“Tell me what, exactly?”
He stands up. Stretches
,
revealing several inches of perfectly sculpted abs. He runs a hand through his honey colored hair and rests his eyes on hers. “You just need to truly want it.” His voice goes all silky at the end and he winks at her.
“O.
k
. I want it.” Asmoday smirks at her devilishly.
“To go back, I mean,” she adds quickly.
He throws his hands out in a shooing motion. “Then go.”
Keely’s eyes are slow to open. The pain is worse in real life. She touches her cheek gently with
the tips of her fingers. They’
re cold. It feels good on her face.
It’s very dark. Wherever she is, it feels
damp, musty and cool. She picks up
the scent of dirt
,
and rock
,
and old stale a
ir. The floor is hard and freezing
, smooth and slick. She sits up
but cannot see anything. M
oves her hand in front of her face, but she can’t see it. There is absolutely no light at all. Moving on her hands and knees, she feels her way around slowly. She quickly hits a wall. Follows it and finds another wall. The next wall isn’t solid. It is made up of a series of thick
icy
cold rods. Bars she decid
es. She runs her hand across them
until she hits another wall. She’s in jail. Some sort of cell. She wiggles every bar, trails her hands up and down until she fi
nds the door of her cell. S
hakes it
,
but to no avail. She considers yelling out, but that didn’t work out all that well last time. So she falls to her knees and cries.
“Keely?” The soft voice startles her. She stops
crying immediately, but there’s only silence. Did she imagine it?
She wraps her arms around he
rself to keep from shaking. It
’
s so cold.
Her teeth chatter loudly and she tries to gain control of her body.
“Kiem, is that you?”
“Br-Bryon?”
There is a scuffling sound
then his voice seems closer, a little louder. “Oh, Keels, they got you too.”
Seventeen
:
“Where are we?”
Bryon shrugs his shoulders though no one can see the gesture. “
I’m not sure, but
I think we’re in the tunnels under
Pandora.
”
He ra
ises his face upward
.
“Have you been here the whole time?”
“Yeah, I think so. Time gets a little confusing here. They come down twice a day, bring food and water. It’s my only
method of telling time
.”
“Who are they?”
Keely hugs her legs,
scrunch
ing
her body up as much as possible to keep warm.
“The D
emons.” He runs his hands across the bars. “Dana and another one.”
“And they seem to come at the same time
s each day
?” He
r mind races.
“I think so. They come when I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry though.”
Bryon laughs. “I missed you, Keely.”
“I missed you too, Bry.” She thinks of the days he was gone, the not knowing. It may be horrible here, but she’s so glad they found each other again.
She hadn’t realized how important he was to her. How much she has come to count on his presence.
Unexpected
feeling
s
swirl
inside of Keely. Feelings she’s kept buried
for the past year. That she’
s
tried to ignore, hoping they would go away. Hearing his voice, knowing she hasn’t lost him, brings them back stronger than ever. Keely licks her battered lips, tastes the dried blood. “
Did you see when they brought me?”
“I saw the light. I always see the light right away. It hurts at first until my eyes can adjust. I heard them moving, the cell door open and close, then the light left. I heard your breathing so I knew I wasn’t alone anymore.”
Keely’s eyes burn. It must have been awful for him these past few days. No light except for the couple of times a day when they come down. Stuck in a cell. In this cold damp scary place. Alone. “How long ago do you think that was?”
“Yesterday, or last night. I can’t tell the difference here.”
She really wants a time line though she isn’t sure how it will be of help. Maybe it just gives her something to do. Maybe it’s just an excuse to hear Bryon’s voice.
For someone who doesn’t like the darkness as she does, this must be smothering. People need light. They aren’t suited to spend their lives without it. Not to mention the scariness of it. Not knowing who or what could be right in front of you and you wouldn’t even know it. Eating in the dark while not having a clue what’s on your food. A place like this just seems like it would have big creepy bugs. And the cold, the cold is chilling. She wonders how he isn’t sick.
“How did you fill the time, Bryon?”
He’s quiet for a moment. Keely has
a crazy passing thought that he is gone
again, just a figment of her underactive imagination
. “Slept, mostly.”
She feels across the floor, searching for a rock or anything she could make a dent or a scratch on the wall or in one of the bars
with
. Her hands run across the floor finding nothing. “Do you have anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have your throwing stars?”
Bryon grinds his teeth together loud enough that Keely hears it. “They took them.”
She sighs. “Do you have anything at all over there? I want to try to mark our time here.”
“Time doesn’t matter here.”
Keely balls her hands into tight fists. “It matters to me.”
“What happened Kiem? How did you get here? Are they all dead?”
Her heart nearly stops. Her stomach fl
ips and she feels as if she might get
sick. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about that. “We got separated,” is all she says in a quiet voice.
“They must be dead. They would have been here by now if they were alive.” He leans against the wall he shares with Keely. It somehow makes him feel closer to her.
“Don’t you dare do that,” she whispers.
“Don’t do what?”
“Take my hope. It’s all I have right now. They could still be alive.” She shakes her head. “They are still alive. I would know if Nick were dead. I would know.”
“No you wouldn’t. Trust me.” His voice is barely audible. “When nobody came for me, I was sure—I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you all were dead.” Bryon’s tone grows louder, angry. “I mean, what other conceivable reason could there be for letting me sit here
, in this black hole of nothingness, this Hell
,
to rot?” He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. “Yet here you are, alive.”
What does she say? She can’t tell him the truth
,
that she wanted to look for him, but his friends thought he was a traitor and wouldn’t even think about it. He was here, all alone, suffering. Worse than that, he thought they were all dead. He thought he was
going
to spend the rest of his life, h
owever long that would be,
in this terrible place.
“We didn’t know w
here you were. If we had known we would’
ve come for you.
What happened, Bryon? How
did
you get here?”
“It’s a little fuzzy still. I wasn’t in the best of moods, so in a moment of
weakness I called Dana. I
wanted an easy hook-up to get my mind right. I just wanted to take the fo
cus off of my feelings. I
didn’t want to think for a little bit. I was being a dick. I knew I was using her and I didn’t care. She made sure I paid the price though.” He laughs coldly.
“I remember meeting her. She knew why I was there. Knew why I was upset. She knew and she didn’t care. She said she wanted to make me feel better.” He shakes his head and laughs again. “I remember
thinking how easy it all was a
nd feeling like I caught a break. I wasn’t going to have to pretend with her. Pretend
like
I was
actually
into her. No need for the whole show I usually put on. She knew it wasn’t her I wanted
,
but she was willing anyway.
“Somehow we ended up in her car, I can’t remember that part. It was like I was in a trance. So we’re in the car and she just jumps on me. And I’m thinking this is cool. She’s not really my type, I find her kind of annoying, but she’s
still
hot. Ya know?” He doesn’t wait for a response, just keeps going with his story remembering more as he speaks.
“She kissed me
and it was
real
ly good
.
It did exactly what I wanted it to do. I was distracted, but
I couldn’t recall what
had been bothering me in the first place
, which is what I went there for. Right? But then that bothered me that I did
n’t know, I couldn’t remember
, if that makes sense. I knew somewhere inside of me that it was important to me. That I cared about it, but then I didn’t all of a sudden and that scared me. I didn’t want to forget anymore. I tried to pull away, but she was strong.
I’m just thinking damn, she’s determined.
I
thought she really, really wanted me. I started to forget again. Forget even that I wanted to stop making out with
her. It was when I started feeling foggy and forgetful that it stirred something inside, some feeling. Then I remembered that feeling, recognized
it
as—well as a feeling that I didn’t feel for Dana. So
I tried to push her away
again
, ya know, gently at first. She wasn’t budging and I started to freak a little. So I shoved her hard, but nothing, man. It was like Dana had super human strengt
h. Just when I started to know something was
seriously messed up, she shoved her tongue down my throat. I mean, down. My. Throat. But it wasn’t her tongue. It was her. She was trying to get inside of me.
She wasn’t Dana anymore. She was like a wet spongy…pile of pudding. But not good like pudding. Totally disgusting.
Leech Demons get inside and take over. They can really mess with you. They don
’t just possess you like other D
emons. When
they get in you, you know they’
re there. You’re still you. You still feel, think, hear, everything. But you have no control over what you do.”