A Looming Tower

10

The salt begins to snake away in tendrils, creating an odd pattern while slowly rupturing the circle, but I'm not paying attention, instead feeling Lily's pulse. I really shouldn't have worried, though- she's alive.

I rise to my feet, staring at the darkness. ...Never thought I'd be here again. I'm in the center of a darkened hallway, stretching far towards a staircase on one side, and turning towards a kitchen at the other. The floor beneath my bare feet is cloaked in carpeting. Now I do see the salt; it's snaking away in all directions, writhing on the ground, but before I can move to take a look I'm suddenly tackled by a Scratched.

"NO!" I shout, kicking out, memories jolting back into my mind with a bolt of pain, and as the assailant stumbles back, I groan, wriggling away. Aunty Rynda! She's dead in real life now, I remember as I stare in horror, all because I wasted a chance. Max would have died if I took it, but he's dead now anyway, isn't he?

Rynda lunges towards me, I jump out of the way, and stumble over to Lily, grabbing her shirtsleeve and closing my eyes. My chin quivers. Get me out of here. But when I open my eyes, blinking, I'm in the same place. The dream didn't shift.

What?

Rynda charges and startled, I fall to the side, leaving Lily to drop to the floor. A spider of chill shivers up my spine. I can't get us out of here, can I? Oh, I wish I could talk to the Haunter... When Rynda growls, lurching again, I gasp, but then frown, easily sidestepping her. She's not as fast as she was in the real Haunting. But why wouldn't she be? I blink, and then she is fast, sprinting towards me at full speed so that I can barely evade, crying out as my body slams back against the ground. I jar my elbow and it buzzes, and I make a strangled noise, tripping back up and rubbing it.

I believed she was fast, and now she is. Now I just have to reverse the effect. But how?!

A line of salt snakes around my leg as if it was trying to help, and I can't help but smile. The salt! It hurts the Scratched!

I drop to the floor, letting Rynda trip over me as she charges, and as the salt crawls over my palm I raise my hand, suck in a breath, and hurl the salt at what used to be my aunt.

Flit. The salt passes right through her, and I fall to my knees with a groan. It's no use. This is impossible.

Never say impossible, Anna, the Haunter booms, and I frown. But then I remember what I believe is what happens, and, slowly, I raise my head.

A wolf of black looms incredibly high below me, the ceiling suddenly thousands of feet high, and before I know it the dream shifts, the wolf of darkness morphing into a dragon of black, the world of the Haunting into an almost endless cage, extending at least a few hundred feet in every direction, including up.

The worlds are merging, Anna! the Haunter booms, What was your experience is merging with that of the others. You need to shift to somewhere where you can all relate to or you will never win!

I stare, eyes slitted, defiantly up at the beast of black. "Fine," I say aloud. "I will." Suddenly, the perfect place is clear in my mind. I close my eyes, frowning, it's cold in here, like a stormy day, and when I open them I'm in a wind-whistling forest, rain whooshing down in torrents and the trees whipping in the wind. Shuddering, I remember it.

This... may work. This is from an alternate Project, the Haunter says, the one taking place on earth right now. Project Appraisal. If you and the others don't escape Project Dream before the worlds' merge, you and the Appraisal versions of you will die.

I frown, no longer worried about the beast- it is gone- and instead staring up into the stormy clouds, letting the rain slick my skin in a comforting cool. Water dribbles down from my hair. "But I remember all the events of Appraisal. How is that possible?"

Time is relative, Anna, and that is how this works. If you were to look at Earth right now from Azurelon, you would see Earth at a time far before Appraisal. And some would say that is time travel. But it is only a construct of the delay of traveling light. What you can see from here has already happened, and never will again. In normal circumstances.

But another force is tempering with time, now, making Earth pause in a crucial moment, the moment that Appraisal ends, where the thirteen subjects see the echo of earth. When the war is over. But this was done manually. Before the time was turned back and put in a standstill, you, Max, Gerald, Lily, the Madman, and a few others managed to get to Azurelon. So the group of you are here, but due to the time reverse, you're also there. And the Subjects are in Appraisal. If you don't escape before the towers merge, due to an effect discovered by Madeline's father, unexpected merges will occur. There's no telling what damage will be done.

Subject Two, or at least a dream of her, falls to the ground of the forest, staring all around.

The force behind all of this is called Subject Thirteen, the Haunter finishes, and his harnessing of the power of the Fourth Tower. You will now see him.

And I watch.

For a moment, the woman in orange, Subject Two, is alone. But then a being of darkness rises up behind her, and an unbearable agony shoots through my head. Memories, memories of iron and fire, and I scream, clutching at my head. But I stare at the darkness through the gaps between my fingers.

No, I think, It can't be back.

But I already know what will happen. Subject Thirteen- the darkness- will join forces with Two, having already done so with me. And I remember with a spike of pain why I regretted it.

But this is only a dream. It doesn't have to be like this.

But then another voice whispers in my mind. Yes it does.

Suddenly, inexplicably, the darkness swivels around to face, grins, and rushes towards me as the comet again.

"NO!" I exclaim, holding my pulsing head, falling onto Lily, shutting my eyes tight, "NO NO NO NO NO-"

BOOM. An Orb appears in front of me, I open my eyes, and hoping for the best, the darkness about to reach me, my hand on Lily's shirt, I grab it, the violet one from the top of the stairs.

The darkness rushes past where I was as Lily and I disappear into the air.

The world swirls away to black, I feel Lily fall away from me, and a creeping sleep takes over. When I open my eyes, I'm on the floor of the original room again, sweat soaking through my hair. I'm really getting tired of waking up like this. Lily's lying down next to me, and the pocket-watch is taut around my neck. My dagger is in my hand.

And Haden has snoozed off in the corner.

I tap Lily, she wakes up, and I point to Haden. She doesn't know what I'm pointing to at first, for she only sees the boy, but then she gasps. On top of him is a note.

This is Max, it reads, Choose the brown Orb.

I suck in a breath.

"He's alive," Lily whispers, and before I know it she lunges towards the Box.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but never fear, 2 more chapters are here! (Well, they're typed, but I still have to move them to Wattpad xP)

Thanks for reading, please vote/comment!
--DraconisSolutus