Go to Hell (on hold)

THIRTEEN

The next morning, I was a complete wreck. The guys were doing their "hours," and I couldn't help but feel partially to blame. Perhaps if I had discerned Silas's intentions sooner, or been content to remain in my room all day, none of this would have happened. In the back of my mind I knew it was illogical to blame myself, but when Kota announced that they were all doing hours last night it sounded so ominous, so terrible, that my heart hadn't stopped racing all night. I was angry with Silas, and a little bit at North for bringing the incident up at dinner, but not at the others. I didn't want Luke or Nathan or even Dr. Green to get hurt.

I tried to calm myself down by reading, but the words on the page were meaningless to my jumbled mind. I stomped to my bedroom door and paused with my hand inches from the knob. What if hours weren't so bad? Perhaps they just had to wash dishes or do yard work. I cringed at the thought of anyone else touching Owen's garden. He'd throw a fit. No, I needed to do this.

With that I crept through the manor, keeping an ear out for screams and cries of pain. Once I was in the back yard, I heard them. I followed the sounds into the forest behind the manor with my head on a continuous swivel. About a quarter mile in, I found the guys in a clearing. I crouched behind a fallen tree and peaked my head up to observe them. What I saw sent my heart into my throat and I nearly let out a scream of my own.

The guys formed a half circle around Nathan and a thing from nightmares. Its face was composed of two completely black eyes and a vertical slit for a mouth. Instead of arms, it had four tentacles protruding from its abnormally large torso. Nathan and the creature squared off. Nathan already had several cuts on his arms and face, and his left leg limped slightly. I covered my mouth as the creature lunged at Nathan and wrapped a tentacle around his waist. Nathan roared and contorted his body until he was out of the monster's grasp. When the creature came at Nathan with a tentacle again, he was prepared. He grabbed the tentacle and tore it from the creature's body. The thing screamed, an awful, piercing sheik. It crumpled to the floor, nursing its missing limb as it bled out onto the forest floor. When the poor thing finally died, or at least, stopped breathing, North hauled it away to a long, one story building behind the guys and brought back a new monster on a leash. This one looked a bit like a minotaur, but its skin was purple and covered with scales. North wrangled the minotaur in front of Nathan, then released it from the leash. It changed, head down towards Nathan, who narrowly managed to avoid its enormous horns. They played cat and mouse for a while, with the minotaur managing to land a few blows to the already battered Nathan.

"And time!" Kota shouted. "Luke, your hour's next."

My eyes widened. This was hours? They fought monsters for a whole hour?

North and Silas came at the minotaur from the side and held it back from charging. Luke traded places with Nathan, who promptly collapsed against a tree with a groan. Luke rolled his shoulders and bounced on his toes before nodding to North. He and Silas released the minotaur and darted for the safety of the semi-circle.

Luke wasn't as strong as Nathan, but he was faster. The minotaur hardly scratched him as he evaded the monster's horns and clawed hands. It must have been close to thirty minutes before Luke began to tire. His dodges were sloppier, his escapes narrower. Unlike Nathan, Luke wasn't trying to hurt the monster back, he simply wanted to evade capture. And unlike Luke, the minotaur didn't seem to be running out of steam. I silently cheered Luke on from behind the tree and begged him to hang in there. He managed to keep it up until he only had minutes left, but then the unthinkable happened. His foot caught on a tree root protruding from the ground, and he fell. He was only down a second, but it was enough for the minotaur to grab hold of him. Without a moment of hesitation, the monster snapped Luke's neck and let him crumple to the ground like a rag doll.