Authors: E.M. MacCallum

Midnight Ruling (34 page)

A small smile creased as I struggled to stay awake. It felt like I’d taken a sleeping pill; my resistance to sleep was irritating, but I didn’t dare, not with a tiger in arms’ reach.

Besides, I didn’t want to stand up or move. It was so comfortable where I was. For the first time, in what seemed days, I was warm and moderately safe—moderately.

Where was everyone?

“Phoebe?” I called softly. The gentle edge of my voice echoed louder than I’d expected, and I flinched, hugging the blanket tighter.

Peering at the crackling torch, I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. Rolling onto my hip, I teetered unwillingly to my feet. Maybe the others were sleeping.

The tiger stood up on all fours at the same time but didn’t draw closer.

Holding the blanket as if it could shield me, I spoke again. “Joel?”

My eyes shifted to the coffins. “Please tell me they’re not in there.”

“They’re not.”

Jumping with a start, I stumbled over the pillow behind me.

Standing in the doorway where the tiger had disappeared was the comely, young girl who had warned me in the library. She wore a curious, shiny black cloak that was spiked with tiny hairs. I noticed the cloak changed color with the shifting flames on either side of her.

The hood was pulled back, letting her dark brown hair tumble down her shoulders, nearly touching her waist.

Her brown, intelligent eyes focused heavily on me. “Come with me. I can help you get out of here.”

“You.” I lifted my hand from the confines of the brown wool blanket to point at her. “You tried to warn me.”

“A lot of good that did,” she muttered, glancing over her shoulder at the stairs. “Quickly, there isn’t a lot of time,” she urged.

“Where are we going?” I didn’t budge.

“I’m getting you out of here,” she said simply. “I know a way out of the Demon’s Grave. Please.” Her eyes glittered against the firelight, imploring me to move.

Touching the coffin nearest me for balance, I stepped forward a few steps. “How do I know you’re not a trick? Damien’s trick?”

Scoffing, she reached the landing of the stairs and looked up around the corner, as if to see if someone were coming down before saying, “Damien doesn’t own me.”

Then without waiting, she lifted her cloak as if it were a dress and disappeared up the stairs and out of sight.

Unable to resist the temptation, I scurried after her, still clinging to my blanket. “Wait,” I protested, my voice a high-pitched squeal. “What about my friends?”

As I reached the landing, I could see her pause halfway up to an iron gate. Beyond that, I could see stars—actual stars instead of just plain darkness.

“Your friends are dead here,” she said. “
You
have to get out.”

“Why me? I can’t leave without them,” I said, leaning against the corner. Sleep tugged at my eyelids, and I shook my head to jostle everything awake.

“You have to learn leave them behind. I can’t let you stay,” she said.

“You’re not listening. I’m not leaving without them. If we can get to them, I’ll go with you.”

“There isn’t time.” She spun to face me. “He will come soon.”

“And stop you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” I asked, sizing her up. He said he was alone in the grave. How could this girl possibly have any power to send me home?

Sighing, she closed her eyes as if burdened.

My hands grip the blanket tighter. “Why’d you help us before?” The heavy fatigue began to inch its way up my limbs, and I slid down the cement wall behind me until I sat on the landing and looked up at her.

“I helped
you
,” she corrected, “before Damien explained the Challenge. After that, I could do little.”

“Then why help me?” I asked.

Looking back at me, she sounded sad, but I couldn’t see her face. My tired vision began to blur, and blinking it away wasn’t working. “Eventually, you’ll become part of this place, and you won’t want that. I helped because I wanted you to go away. You don’t want to be his.”

I couldn’t help but believe her. The conviction in her words, the hurried gestures, the fear of being caught…

She tucked her long hair behind her ear, and I noticed a naked patch of skin. The same place the tiger had been missing fur. I thought back to the first Challenge when I’d vomited up long dark hair.

It was a punishment, he’d said.

As if reading my mind, she pulled her hair back over her ear. “You’re either coming with me or you’re not.”

Swallowing hard, I remembered with aching clarity my bed, my home, my family. They were all waiting for me, and I could see them very soon if I just followed her. I didn’t care if they lied to me anymore. They were my family; they raised me while my real mother tried to burn me—or did she?

“I’m not coming.” I avoided her gaze, my eyelids drooping as I struggled to keep my head up.

The room had grown sluggish; every second was a struggle to fight sleep.

Silently, she stared at me, unbelieving. Shifting her weight, she glanced back up the stairs. Above her, a clear night sky shone bright with glittering stars. “Please don’t,” she begged. “There’s still time.”

“I can’t leave them. They wouldn’t leave me.” I felt the weight of these words even as I spoke them. Meeting her gaze, I grimaced an apology.

Disgusted, she shook her head and turned away from me. Trudging up the stairs, she said over her shoulder, “When you wake up, find the house. Your friends are all in it. You’ll find four of them in the foyer.”

Reaching the top step, she pushed open the iron gate, cloak sweeping the steps clean of dust. Then she disappeared into the night air, leaving me alone in the stairwell of the crypt.

I curled up against the corner, my head on the wall. Peering at the blurry stars as long as my eyelids would allow, I slurred into the echoing tomb.

“I won’t leave you either, Neive.”

<<<<>>>>

Don’t Miss the Finale!

The Haunting

The Demon’s Grave Book #3

The Final Sacrifice.

Nora has to choose between family, friends and her unstable future.

Coming Fall 2015

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E.M. MacCallum love long walks through bookstores, tea, Halloween & Disney.

She is the author of “Zombie-Killer Bill” & “The Demon’s Grave Trilogy”