The Howling

Chapter Eight

        Villette froze. The hallway had completely disappeared as if it had never been, leaving them standing on a tropical beach. She could hear the waves lapping up on the shore, seagulls shrilling in the air above them. She could even taste the salt in the air. 

        It had been like flipping through pictures. First there was the hallway within the drafty, old house. Now the beach. 

        They stood on the sand, the ocean spread out before them, with the sun poised high in the sky. She wheeled back around. Al stood behind her, just as he had when they were walking down the hallway. Behind him, a row of palm trees stood close together, almost creating a barrier to prevent them from passing. 

        "Where are we?" she asked, panicking. Her heart hammered in her chest. Reinard wouldn't have done something without telling her. This magic had to belong to Eisen and that meant he was close by. 

        Reinard put a hand on her shoulder. "Take in a deep breath. Remember, I said that this might happen. We've stepped close to a demon and now we're inside his nightmare. It's going to be alright." 

        Fear continued to grip her chest in an iron hold, though now it shifted from Eisen to the demon. "Can it hurt us?" 

        "No," he assured her. "The Howling keeps them tame. Almost as if they were sedated. The newer ones to the prison or those who were exceptionally strong to begin with might resist for a time, so we should be on our guard, but don't worry. I will not allow any harm to come to you." 

        She tried to find ease in his words, but the fear still lingered in the back of her mind. She took in a deep breath and nodded. "Now where?" 

        "This way," he said, starting along the beach, following their fabric bird circling overhead. 

        Villette trailed after him, her eyes still roaming over everything. Her mind continued to deny what she saw with her eyes. It kept coming up with excuses. This was all in her head. She had slipped in the hallway and now she was dreaming. After every excuse her practical mind put to her, she shook her head slightly and discarded it. No. This was real. She was standing on a beach, the sun sweltering overhead, the salty air blowing. 

        Still gazing around, she wondered whose torture this belonged to. Everything seemed so serene and beautiful, not what someone would call torture. The sun felt a bit hotter than normal but she was wearing jeans and a cotton T-shirt-hardly beach attire. 

        An air demon, perhaps? But she couldn't figure out how that might play out. The sun might be welcome to a fire demon. And an earth demon would undoubtedly be content lounging on the beach. 

        Reinard stopped abruptly. Villette was becoming accustomed to his usual starts and stops, so she easily sidestepped him before she barreled into his back. "What is-" she began to ask, but then saw the answer to her question. 

        Down a ways on the beach, she saw a figure. A man was on his stomach, crawling for the water. His clothes were torn nearly to shreds, almost as if he had survived a wreck and had washed up on shore, exposing his withering frame. But if that were the case, Villette thought, shouldn't he be crawling the other direction? His skin had been burned by the sun. Once alabaster white, the sun had charred his skin to an unhealthy red, with blisters burning on his back. Sand caked his blonde bleached hair. 

        She took a step forward, to help, and then remembered what he was just as Reinard gripped her arm. "That's a demon," she whispered. 

        "Yes," Reinard said softly, afraid his voice might carry. The bird came down and perched on his shoulder. 

        Villette hadn't been sure what she had expected. Imps with red horns and forked tails? But human-like certainly hadn't even crossed her mind. "But he looks-"