Falling In Love With Slender Man

Chapter 7

--CHAPTER SEVEN--

“What was that?” Sage asked as they mercifully slowed down to a walking pace.

“Let’s just say I’ve racked up a few enemies in the past, and those two boys happen to be some of them.” He continued to move forward without looking back at her.

“Well,” Sage continued. “Where are we going?” she asked impatiently.

“I do not know. I haven’t thought that through yet. Somewhere small where nobody will find us for the time being,” he told her, sounding as though he were making everything up as he went. “Of course, we’ll need to stop somewhere and get you new clothing. I didn’t have time to salvage anything I had. At least you remembered the coat.” He gave a pointed look at the black fabric she held between her hands.

Sage just nodded and half jogged to keep up with Ash. His legs were twice as long as hers and it made it incredibly hard to walk beside him. “How exactly do we get out of these tunnels?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Eventually they will start leading upward and we’ll come to a secret door. Where we have currently been staying is an old church that’s been around for centuries. There are labyrinths of corridors bellow it. The European church builders believed in having torture chambers and that’s what’s down here mostly. If someone did a wrongdoing, they thought it was perfectly acceptable to punish them down here. Trust me, you don’t wish to here what they did,” he commented, guessing at what her question would be.

 “I’ve cleaned it out to the best of my ability, of course. Removing all the bones, ridding the place of rats. I’ve turned most of the rooms into storage for books or even a bedroom or two,” Ash continued. “Anyways, where we are now is the winding tunnels below the massive church. We’ll have to stay down here some length of time, so that those two boys will leave. They can’t get down here. I’ve blocked all entrances. Only I can gain access to these parts.”

Sage’s brow furrowed. “If you have so many enemies, why do you stay in such a public place?” she wondered aloud.

Ash shook his head. “I have powers that can obscure this place from the view of most. Only a select few can see what I have successfully hidden, those two being an exception. They only bother me every so often. I consider this place my main home, though I come and go often, so I refuse to let them take it from me. They’ll leave soon enough, but we’ll need to relocate so they don’t come back.”

“So we’re staying down here for however long it takes them to realize they wont find you?” Sage asked, incredulous.

“That’s correct.”

“And how long will that take?” she demanded, her voice shooting up an octave higher than usual.

Ash simply shrugged. “A few days. I’m guessing high since they saw you and they’d want to get you away to protect you. Their main job is to protect you humans, and since I have one they will be trying extra hard to find us.”

Sage stopped in her tracks. “Protect me?” her voice was barely a whisper.

Ash stared at her as though she had just sprouted a second head. “What?” he questioned.

“W-why would they need to protect me?”

He gave an irritable release of breath. “Come, Sage. We haven’t the time for this.”

“No! Tell me. Now. Why would they need to protect me from you?”

“They don’t know anything. They haven’t the slightest idea what they’re doing. They’re young children, and their parents who taught them aren’t any brighter. You have nothing to fear, my dearest Sage,” Ash said in a soothing voice.

Reluctantly Sage started to move again, following Ash. She decided it were better to keep on his good side. He had said himself all entrances were blocked to anyone but him, which meant she was trapped in the ancient torture tunnels with someone mysterious and who others deemed dangerous. She felt as though she had just embarked on a game that meant life or death. But was she up for playing it with such vindictive players?