The Circle

The Circle - Chapter Ten

Ten:

"Run!" Caleb shouted over the din of flapping wings as the three friends darted down the corridor as fast as they could.

The animals swarmed all around like a huge wave of pressure, chasing them down the corridor like a deadly hurricane. Jinx struggled with her feet sticking to the corridor floor and as the animals descended she fell to the ground. One of the creatures dived for her shoulder and bit her painfully as she screamed out, kicking against the attack. She had no choice but to stay as still as possible, even when her instincts told her to run. Her best friend needed her and there was no way she was giving up without a fight. She gritted her teeth fiercely against the relentless agony.

Caleb's foot came into contact with the animal attached to Jinx and pulling her up with ease, he placed her over his shoulder and continued to run. 

"Get them off me!" Jinx yelled as she waved her arms in the air in an attempt to swat the bats away. 

"Quick in here!" Caleb shouted above the sound of the shrieking animals as he found a doorway on his left-hand side. He quickly ushered April inside and dived in behind, Jinx still on his shoulder.  

"Well that's not something you see every day," April was out of breath as she brushed sticky dirt off her knees and arms and angrily fixed her hair. It had taken approximately two hours to style it and this was all she needed, especially with Caleb around. April fleetingly considered her appearance but chose to ignore those thoughts for now, there were more important matters at hand.  

"I've got the feeling those things are going to be the least of our worries," Jinx added as she poked at her ripped costume covered in hot sticky blood as the pain shot through her again. "If Red Fang Squirrels are in here then what else is in store?" She had never needed a cigarette so much in her life.

"We need to find Loretta," April recalled, remembering the screams but they didn't need to look far. The room they found themselves in was suddenly surrounded by urgent banging.  

"Help! Please somebody help us! We're trapped!" It was coming from inside the wall.  

"Loretta? It's me April, can you hear me?" 

"April!" Loretta shrieked instantly, panic evident in her wavering voice as the urge to cry lodged in her throat. "You need to get us out of here, we're trapped! I don't know what's going on! The doors and windows disappeared! I heard them say they would sacrifice me and I'm wearing my Chanel heels!" 

"Typical," Jinx rolled her eyes. "She's near death and all she can think about is her heels. I'm telling you, she's not going to be happy about that wall paper debacle regardless of whether we save her life." 

"Who else is in there?" Caleb interrupted, ignoring Jinx's complaints.

April could tell from the change in his voice that he was growing suspicious and she suddenly became anxious.  

"Claudia and some other guy that's always with you," Loretta replied sounding terrified. 

“Alex?” Jinx shouted as she pushed her face so close to the wall that she almost disappeared straight into it. “Is he ok?”

“He’s….,” Loretta cut off quickly. “He’s not moving and there’s a lot of blood.”

Jinx’s hard expression paled as she began to punch and kick the only barrier between them in violent desperation. Her fingernails clawing against brick as they drew blood.

“We need to get him out of there!” She screamed loudly, her eyes manic as hysterical cries began to surface from the other side of the wall. Jinx had pushed Loretta over the edge and April felt so close to it she could curl her toes over the jagged cliff-face as the sea breeze blew icy gusts against her face.

She could quite easily take the plunge now, throw herself over the edge and to a dark paradise where she was left alone, everyone she cared about would be safe and the weight of the world would no longer crush her entire being like a pressure cooker waiting to explode.

"I need to get in there," Jinx brought the group back to the current situation, her piercing blue eyes wide against the dark surroundings.

"Is there anyone else in the room?" Caleb questioned, moving closer to the wall and Jinx aside before she could do herself any further damage.

"Just the three of us. I heard a weird voice but there's no one else in here. Listen... Claudia isn’t moving either…"  

"We need to get them out of there now," Caleb added seriously, his hazel eyes exploring April so intensely that the cliff edge dispersed into a rain mist and the only thing she could see was him, locked in his gaze. "I don't know a lot of people who would want to use teenagers as sacrifices but I do know a couple and that's the Callitio Sisters. With everything that's happened tonight I don't think that's too far-fetched, do you?"  

Caleb pleaded with April with a knowing glance and she understood instantly what he was trying to say. The Pergatorio were more than obsessed with the Callitio Sisters. This was no longer a game of integrity, it was a game of survival and the first victim had already been chosen and lay unconscious, if not dead, on the other side of the wall.  

 "What do we need to do?"