Twisted Nightmares

5 - The Shadows

Beatrice woke up on the cold stone floor of a cave. Her head hurt, her arms hurt, her legs hurt. Everything hurt. She sat upright but that only made her head hurt more. She couldn't remember how she got there. She could barely remember her own name.

Beatrice stared into the shadows seeing as there was nowhere else to stare. It was just a shadow. She struggled to remember why she was there and her head was spinning. The shadows shifted and moved. Beatrice was not sure if she was just dizzy, or if something stood in the shadows, just out of sight.

A figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing his face. Beatrice thought she recognized him from somewhere but she didn't know where. His hair was black and his skin was dark. He had two different colored eyes. One dark green like Beatrice's and one purple like the demon that possessed Beatrice.

A dark mist seemed to float around the man's body. The mist swirled into a shape that was familiar to Beatrice. She pushed herself against the wall of the cave in fear. She was sweating and panting and thought she might cry. Her eyes snapped back to the man and the mist disappeared. It was like the Dark Breath was never in the cave with them.

"Wh-who are you?" Beatrice stuttered. The man smiled at her. He didn't say anything. Just smiled. He came closer to her until they're faces were an inch apart. "Another Twisted Nightmare," he said eventually, and, just like the mist, he disappeared into thin air.

***

Liam and Lilith trudged through the dark forest. It was nearing midday, but the roof of leaves above them was so thick hardly any light made it through. Lilith swatted a wasp away from her face. She screwed her eyes shut and did a weird dance. Liam gave her a weird stare. "Stop that. It's annoying." Lilith ignored him and kept dancing and spitting, even though the wasp was long gone.

Liam ignored Lilith and focused on the footprints on the ground. They walked about another mile when the footprints suddenly stopped. Liam spun around and saw that all the dust creating the shape of the footprints floated into the air. The trail was gone. He reached for his wand in panic but as he whispered the spell, only smoke came from the wand's tip. "My wand..." He said. Suddenly the smoke formed the shape of a man. The man leaned over to Liam and vanished. He turned to see Lilith frozen with fear. "Someone cursed your wand." She said. "That means mine's probably the same. And if I try a spell, the smoke might not vanish as quickly."

Liam was panicking. "We have to do something!" He yelled and Lilith jumped back. He raised his hand and said the beginning of the spell when Lilith jumped at him to stop him. "Are you insane!?" She screamed. "You could die!" Liam stared her straight in the eyes. Casting a spell with no wand wouldn't kill him. For once Lilith was right. And in these woods, that was suicide. " I have to." He whispered, tears in his eyes. 

"No, you don't."

Liam was confused. What did she mean? Before he could react, Lilith cast a spell. Liam ran to get her, but it was to late. She was out cold. The sparkling dust that she had created settled on the ground and formed into the shape of footprints again. Liam picked up Lilith and carried her along the trail. She was as light as a feather and it wouldn't have worked if Liam had cast the spell.

It was a long walk, but eventually, they made it to a cave. The magic footprints glittered and glowed in the dark until they abruptly stopped. Sitting there in the shadows on the cold stone floor was Beatrice. She looked like she was on the verge of death. "L-L-Liam?" She said in a hoarse voice, her teeth chattering. He helped her up after lying Lilith down and wrapped his arms around her and the life slowly returned to her eyes as the warmth of the hug warmed her up. After a while, Beatrice pulled away and saw Lilith lying on the ground.

"What happened to her?" She asked. "She saved you." Liam said. "We can try to wake her up back in the carriage." After a long trek, they made it back to the carriage. Beatrice climbed inside, pulling Lilith in after her. She wrapped her in a few blankets and handed Liam her wand. He had told her what happened when he tried to cast a spell with his own. She didn't want to let him try her's in case the same happened but he didn't take no as an answer. She covered her eyes. She couldn't watch. What if the smoke figure came back? What if it hurt him? She didn't uncover her eyes until she heard a small cough. It sounded as though a puppy had swallowed to much water.

Another louder cough followed it. Beatrice uncovered her eyes to see Lilith sitting upright, coughing and sputtering. Beatrice let out a sigh of relief and hugged her best friend. Liam burst in and the tense expression on his face left. He handed Beatrice back her wand. "I wonder why yours wasn't cursed."  He thought aloud. If the other's wands were cursed, Beatrice could only think of one reason why hers wasn't. Her wand and the one that cursed the others were linked. 

If they were linked, then that meant she was related to the wand's owner. She pushed the thought away. She didn't want to think that she was related to someone who almost hurt her friends. She couldn't be anyway. All her family were dead. No, that wasn't it. They must have other reasons to not curse her wand. The more she thought about it, the bigger this thing inside her grew. A little bit of her that hoped they were related.

The only family she ever knew was Sandman. He wasn't her birth father. He had found her knocked out in the forest when she was two, dying. She was starving, thirsty and had banged her head. Hard. He had used dream magic to heal her head and wake her up. Suddenly, Beatrice's eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell to the side. Lilith and Liam glanced at each other, quickly shaking the passed out girl trying to wake her up.

But she wouldn't.