From Despair Comes Hope (The Strange Case of Devin Sola Book 1)

I Refuse To Sink

***Charli's POV***

'The labyrinth? Really Father?' I think to myself as I sit down and pull my iPod out of my pocket. I pop the ear buds into my ears and queue up my favorite playlist. I call it "My Dad's a Dick" and it has songs from my favorite bands. Drowning Pool, BVB, MIW, Slipknot, the usual suspects. Even some BOTDF thrown in there because, why the fuck not? It's my playlist and I like them. I listen to my iPod – well, feel the vibrations from the ear buds - and think about what I've learned. Chris Motionless is the Angel of Despair, meaning he is my mate. He's also the asshole who had me fucking burned at the stake in 1692, he was the cause of my twelfth death, and he's going to be the cause of my thirteenth death in the near future.

I get up and wander around. None of the creatures of the labyrinth have bothered me yet, not that they will. They know me on sight. I've been here without my powers before – they'll just let me be until someone who can pop me out of here shows up. There's no actual time in the labyrinth, so you can be here for hours and it will feel like days. It's annoying as fuck, but what can you do? I start talking to myself for company, like I always do when the creatures ignore me.

"So, your mate is Chris Motionless. Well, couldn't have asked for a sexier mate, now could you?" I ask myself. "Most girls would kill to have Chris Motionless call them his." I bristle, recalling that Chris is a control freak. No wonder my father decided to "train" me. He must have figured I'd need it to deal with my mate. Or he could have just been trying to be his usual asshole self. It is really hard to tell with him.

I turn the corner and stop dead. I know the labyrinth like the back of my hand. This is where the Minotaur should be. But instead of Tori, I find a pool of water with a Hydra. It snaps at me and I back up to where the bench at the entrance to the labyrinth stands. I look around. Have I gone the wrong way? I'm sure that if I go directly left of the bench, Tori is down there. Come to think of it, there has never been a Hydra in this labyrinth. Shit... either the creatures have been replaced or this is a new labyrinth. I take off down to the right of the bench.

I walk for a while before finding what looks like a cottage. Cottage? There is no cottage in the labyrinth. Fuck me. He's changed the creatures, the bastard. I recognize the twists and turns, but the monsters are all different. Just as I wonder what is here, a woman comes from the cottage. Oh for fuck sake. A banshee. Good thing I can't hear. Suddenly I hear my name... in Chris' voice. What the hell?

***Chris' POV***

I run into the labyrinth yelling for Charli. Well, projecting her name telepathically at least. I hear the others yelling for me to stop but I can't think of anything other than my mate being in here. Especially after Ares dropped the bomb as we were leaving that he'd made some changes to the labyrinth's creatures. Changes in the labyrinth's creatures meant Charli doesn't know them – and they don't know Charli. They can and probably will, hurt her because her power to bring hope is bound.

"Chris! Stop! Do not come any closer!" I hear Charli in my head. "There's a banshee. I can't hear her of course, but you can and you know what will happen if you hear her wailing." Yes, I do. I'll become a banshee myself. And unlike on Charmed, you cannot stop a person from becoming a banshee. I stop dead in my tracks and turn around. One thing I know about the labyrinth, the monsters cannot leave their areas. Well, unless Charli's with them I suppose. They usually escort her out.

I head back to the entrance. The others look uncomfortable. Charli's telepathic projection to me had ended up being a screech that everyone heard. "A banshee?" Ricky asks. "As in screaming, wailing?" I nod. Josh looks as though he is deep in thought, then he brightens.

"DUDE! YOU CAN'T BE TURNED INTO A BANSHEE!!" He yells. I look at him with that "you're crazy" look and he laughs. "No, I'm not crazy. Chris – banshees are creatures born of despair. You ARE despair! She can't turn you into a banshee – you actually have the power to control her."

I think about it for a moment and realize he is right. I've never tried, but surely as a creature born of despair, I should be able to control her – even banish her from sight. I hurriedly project Charli's name, demanding she tell me what direction to go. As she thinks back to me, I run the twists and turns of the labyrinth until I stand before a small cottage. Charli is standing there looking frightened. The banshee is wailing but Charli, unable to hear her, is unaffected.

"Be gone!" I bellow at the banshee. Abruptly the wailing stops and the banshee simply disappears. Charli looks from where the banshee had been floating to me.

"How?" She asks.

"I'm Despair – therefore I am the banshee's master." I reply, shrugging. "Come." I lead Charli to the cottage. We need to talk.