The Heart Collector (Under Editing)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Cave

Fare woke with a start. She first thought that it was all part of a dream, but her bleary eyes readjusted on unfamiliar surroundings. She could not begin to guess where she was. At first glance she thought that she was in some sort of warehouse because of the metallic beams and piping above her, but the cracked plastered walls were out of place. The room lacked of windows. The only light source that she had was the single lamp above her. Fare pulled herself to a sitting position and discovered that she had been laying on a ratty checkered couch. She bolted off it and shook herself down when she noted that several species of bugs were crawling all over it. Once her heart returned to a normal rhythm, she looked for a door. The room was small, so locating one was simple, but she hesitated to exit. The door was left ajar. It was never locked. It was a clear invitation to come out. Fare took another look around the room to locate something that she could use to defend herself, but all she could find were clumps of stuffing from the couch and dropping of unknown animals. She looked up at the hanging light and dismissed the light bulb as a potential weapon because there was nothing to help her reach.
Fare sighed at approached the door. She saw no signs of a trap, so she slowly pushed the door open. She pushed it just enough to slip through without opening it all of the way in case of a delayed release. Nothing happened. The hair stood up on the back of her neck. Her senses were on high alert. Nothing about this screamed solitude. She carefully ghosted her way down the corridor. The ambience was the same as the room that she woke up in. Evidence of animal and insect activity was more present. The exposed piping was hidden in the ceiling. The plastered walls were replaced by brick and mortar. If she did not know any better, she would have thought that she was in a completely different building. Maybe she was or maybe she was not. There was only one way to find out, so she walked on.
Water dripped somewhere ahead. The sound echoed a beat in tandem with her heart. Fare believed that it was all apart of her imagination. Either way, she followed the sound. She hoped that water meant a way out, but deep down she had a feeling that it will not. She eventually left behind the modern structure and walked into a large cave. There were lights installed along both sides of the cave and led her gaze to a massive opening at the center. The trickles of water fell from the centuries-carved stalactites from over her head, the droplets continued towards the opening and toppled over the edge. The stalactites appeared to be structurally sound, but she still prayed that nothing caused them to come crashing down.
“I had a feeling that you would find this place quickly.” A voice echoed.
Fare looked around to locate it. She recognized it as the Fae that attacked her and Novus back at the lake.
“Why am I here?” Fare spoke without shouting too loud.
There was moment of silence.
A whisper came over her shoulder, “To fulfill your greater purpose.”
Fare swung an arm behind her but she came across air.
“What do you mean? What is this place?” She tried again.
“This, my dear little Blackglade, is a sacred place. It is called the Daemon Hole. It was here where our truce with man came into being. As for why I’ve brought you here, I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.”
“What?”
There was no response. Fare was about to call out again when the lights along the walls began to flash. They were inviting her to follow the path around the hole and deeper into the cave. She took a deep breath to steel herself. She did not want to be led around, but she knew that she did not have a choice. She hugged the wall so that she could go around the cavern. Fare’s foot slipped several times, but she managed to catch herself. She took calming breaths. She wanted to turn back and the air that came up from the hole just set her on edge even more.
Once she made it to the other side, the lights continued to flash. She made her way down a rocky corridor. She had no idea how long she had been walking or how long she had been here. She had heard of caves ridding people of their ability to tell the time of day as well as many of her other senses. It was unnerving and she hated to admit it, but the flashing lights gave her some comfort.  They veered right. So did she. They veered left. So did she. The monotony of their dance began to relax her erratically beating heart, so she continued to follow until she found herself in a smaller room. The light turned off and she was left in the darkness. Her breathing became hard and she heard the blood surging through her head, then suddenly a light switched on somewhere in the room.
The illumination covered various objects in a warm blanket. Fare saw furniture from all walks of time. To her estimate, the table closest to her was from two hundred years ago while the chair and the light was more recent. It was items like those that she saw, but they were not the one that caught her eye the most. There, behind the illuminated lamp, were pictures on the wall. As she grew closer to it, she realized that it was not just pictures, but newspaper clippings as well. She swallowed hard then went closer. She expected the photographs to be of the victims, but not all of them were. In fact, there were several that she failed to recognize. She turned to a nearby clipping. It was about a murder of a woman fifty years ago on the edge of Pucker, a town three hours away from Meridia. Then there was another about a man found dead on train tracks between Larkston and Jasper. As she skimmed through the rocky paper-covered wall, she spotted something that had her freeze in her tracks. There in the center was the same article Novus and Fare found of a younger her watching her house burn. Next to was an article about an unidentified woman found mutilated in the woods. Her eyes teared up when she realized that it was about her mother.
Fare looked away in attempt to clear her eyes when she spotted a curtain off to the side. She walked over and drew it open. Behind it was a series of legal documents and photos hung up with red twine connecting them together in various ways. She swallowed hard when she saw her birth name and chosen name with many red strings leading towards it. She came to the realization that she was being hunted all her life and she had not suspected it. Documents were of medical and legal nature. Many of which she herself had never seen and that may be why she had such a difficult time finding information on herself. Someone was gathering everything up before she could find it. Fare looked around again for anything else out of the ordinary when she spotted a large leather bound book on a small desk in the far corner. She walked over to it and saw a note placed on top of it.
Welcome home.
She the note aside and opened the book.