Cobweb Head

s e v e n

The afternoon passed slowly. I had my teeth clamped down on my lip the whole time, a wild sort of apprehension trapped within the bones of my chest.

I walked with Effie after dinner passed, we had an hour before we had to return to our rooms. The sports field was empty, which left us plenty of space to ourselves.

She squinted at me as we sat beneath a tree, a dim shadow cloaking our faces. The sun had half sunken into the ground. "You saw something that night, didn't you?"

I cocked my head to the side. I couldn't stop thinking about what I planned on doing tonight. Something I'd wanted to do the moment I saw Leo's ugly ring. "What're you on about?"

"The night you followed Leo; you saw something. What was it? What are you losing sleep over?"

I shuffled up from where I'd propped my elbow beneath me, straightening as I met her wide stare. I scoffed. "You're starting to sound like Mae."

Her brows creased, deep lines of worry closing the space between them. I'd never seen her show so much emotion, she seemed so much younger despite the lines of concern tracing her skin, like an expression carved from marble rock. "Will." Her voice was quieter. "What did you see?"

I couldn't tell her - I'd spent my life concealing my freakish ability, it felt like I was betraying everything I'd ever done to protect myself by exposing it. It was irrational, but why should I carry my anxiety onto her?

"I-"

I'm scared I'll lose it again - lose my mind.

I winced, pressing my head down between my legs with hands clutching for the tousled hair on my head. Hell, that was loud. Leo's fear was barely a whisper compared to that.

I was still gritting my teeth when a hand fell against my shoulder, and I shrugged it off before looking up. Effie had a delicate hand placed in the space between us.

I tried to grin, but it came out more like a grimace. "Sorry - headaches." What the fuck? "I'm good."

She chewed her nails for a moment. "You're not going to answer me, are you?"

"There's nothing to say - he just snuck out to meet up with a girl. It was kinda gross actually, enough to disturb me for sure."

She stood, looking down at her wrist to check the time. She wasn't wearing a watch. "I'm going to ask you again tomorrow. I'll get the truth out of you, one way or another."

I arched a brow and rose up next to her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I suppose you'll have to wait and see, unless you're willing to tell me now?"

I groaned. "I already told you."

She waved a hand through the air before tapping my nose - I scrunched my face. "Goodnight, Will. I'll see you tomorrow."

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I was back in the dorm, the back of my hand resting across my forehead as I lay across the unkempt bedspread.

Leo stepped out of the bathroom, a toothbrush in his mouth. When he spoke, the words were muffled and indistinguishable. "Didyoumakethetea?"

"What?"

He took the toothbrush from his mouth. "Did you drink the tea?"

I gulped down what had formed in my throat. "Yeah, yeah. It was great, thanks." I hadn't touched the tea sachets since I last placed them in my bag, and the slight weight of guilt pressed against my chest.

I cursed inwardly. No, they're the freaky voodoo cultists who sneak into other people's rooms and do creepy stuff. Not me. I shouldn't feel guilty.

He grinned broadly and continued brushing his teeth. I tried to direct crafted insults at him, just to make myself feel better, but I came up with nothing. It was like trying to insult a puppy - it wasn't possible. He was the human embodiment of a Labrador.

Crap, now was not the time to think of the cultist as an adorable puppy. Shit, when did adorableness come into this?

Once a few hours had passed since we'd settled, and I heard gentle snores float through the air with the softness of flapping butterfly wings, I began to stir.

I sat up and dropped my legs over the edge of the bed. Leo's body covered his bed, limbs spread out in all directions, a hand slumped over the side. His ring was on it.

After I'd done this, I'd finally get some goddamn sleep.

My hands were trembling with both nervousness and the growing hope that I'd finally let my heavy eyelids drop.

I crawled across the floor towards the other bed, kneeling next to the sleeping student. Moonlight illuminated his face dimly, casting long eyelash shadows across his cheekbones like running mascara. I bit against the inside of my cheek.

My fingers looked skeletal as I drew them toward the ring, which'd clung to my attention like a fish on a hook.

Every other sound melted away behind me - the hum of the fears, Leo's snores, the distant howling of the wind. All I heard was my pulse and all I saw was the ring. There was a flicker of smoke, but I hardly took notice.

I silently tugged at the ring, twisting it gently until it came loose of his finger. There was quiet, blanketing the room like startled dust, but it was over as soon as it had started.

The ring shot out of my hand and a gasp left my chest as it hit the door. It stuck there, trembling, until something rose up from under it.

It was a terrible, black smoke, a gnarled face forming in the soot. Its body grew as it twisted out of the ring, clawed limbs and wide chest shaping the monster. It was no longer smoke - it was something physical, dripping in what looked like tar and ichor.

Leo stirred next to me, and I heard a yelp, but I was still staring at the beast. The ring fell, and the monster resembled something of a hell hound. More hell than hound.

It struck out, knocking me to the side where my back struck the side of my bed with a harsh crack. I cried out, and although I protested, tears stung my eyes. The idea of crying in front of someone was more nightmarish than the grotesque beast in front of me.

But the monster was not focused on me like I was on it. Instead, it whirled on Leo. He was standing on his bed, in his boxers and a pink pyjama shirt, hands out in front of him. His face was obscured behind the smoke melting from the beast's bony spine.

I took to my feet, where my knees almost buckled beneath my weight. With a gargled shriek, the monster lashed out and there was a flurry of movement.

Leo had leapt off the bed - a deep gash in his arm where the beast had struck - and rose up in front of the door.

I watched as the monster's large head turned in a twitching, jagged movement. Behind the smoke, I could see that its mouth curved up its cheeks, where inky fangs cut into its own flesh. Its eyes weren't there at all - hollows buried deep into the sides of its head.

It tumbled towards Leo, unfurling its monstrous body amongst the smoke. He barely leapt out the way, and when he fell to the ground, I could see him grasp at the ring a pace away from him. He wrestled it onto his finger.

There was a shriek, and the beast's body was diminished back into smoke, where it was sucked up by the silver ring on Leo's right hand.

I released the breath that'd caught in my throat, and when the smoke was gone, and there was a moment pause, Leo's gaze met mine. There was a terrible bloodied claw mark on his left arm.

He came forward and whirled his ring on me.