April woke up in the same plush room Jessie had given her after the witches had healed her broken bones. She sat up in bed and was relieved to find that her headache had dulled significantly from when she had talked to Sam earlier that day. Perhaps she had been placed back in her cozy room because she had agreed to help save the world from destruction; but whatever the reason was, she was glad to be back here instead of locked in the room downstairs with the zombies. Perhaps this was proof that if she did whatever they ordered her to do, and agreed without a second thought, she would be rewarded, and would be released from this dreadful place. She would finally be able to go back to human civilization and continue to live her dull and boring life.
But no matter how desperately she wanted that to be true, that she could walk away from all of this and live a normal life, deep down April knew better. Rarely did the bad guys ever operate like that. The only person she had considered to be a good guy in this entire place was Sam. Sam was nice and sweet to her. And he had secretly told her that he didn't like being a Shadow. Of course, she wasn't able to see the expression on his face when he told her this, but the inflection in his voice was proof enough and signified that he wasn't lying. Not entirely anyway. That spoke volumes about his character.
A soft knock sounded on the other side of the door and it swung open soundlessly. April looked up half startled to see a Shadow standing before her, gliding closer towards the bed she was laying on.
"I'm not going to hurt you," a male voice sounded softly behind the darkened cloak. The voice sounded to be Sam's.
"You startled me," April said taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. "That's all."
"How are you feeling," Sam asked sitting next to her on the bed. Although it felt weird for him to sit so close to her, April couldn't help feeling calm and safe in his presence, and despite him being a Shadow, she felt as if I could trust him; that he was the only one here in this place that she could fully trust and depend on.
"I'm feeling much better, thanks," April replied warily. "The headache's nearly gone."
"That's good," he said nodding. He got up and lent April his hand. After looking at the blackened glove for a moment, she took it and stood up from the bed as well.
"Jessie would like to speak with you," Sam said leading her towards the door. "She said that you two have a lot to talk about."
"Is that so," April said sarcastically, nearly rolling her eyes. It was about time they talked. And she had a lot of questions for Jessie. "Why, I wonder what we're going to talk about."
Their trip was silent as Sam led April throughout the maze of hallways, turning this way and that. It was truly a wonder anybody found their way through this arrangement at all.
Both April and Sam came upon a door and Sam knocked twice, letting the second knock drawl out more than the first. April could hear the deadbolt unlatch from the other side and the door slowly opened. Sam stood his ground and April peered into the darkened room that lay before them both, trying to make out what was in it.
"Come in," Jessie called from within. Her voice was gentle and soft like a sweet old lady's would be, but April knew better. She knew she had to be on guard around Jessie, especially since she was a witch and could probably just poof her into non-existence.
April stepped around Sam and entered the room slowly, careful where she stepped. The door swung shut behind her with a soft click and she gulped as she imagined a giant furnace further ahead with Jessie ready to push her into its flames. Instead, she was greeted with the tiny flames of candles flicking on all at once around her.
"Sorry for the darkness," Jessie said as she let her hand rest by her side. "It helps me think."
April looked around herself and noticed that she was standing in the center of a circle of candles and beneath her feet were strange symbols drawn in triangular patterns. "What is this," she asked unable to tear her gaze away from the strange symbols beneath her feet.
"It's called a devil's trap," Jessie replied calmly.
April looked up startled and saw Jessie just give her the tiniest of smiles. "Of course, you have nothing to worry about. Sit, sit," she prodded. "I have a lot to tell."
"What is it that you need to tell me," April asked doing as she was told, a little uncertain of why exactly Jessie wanted her to sit in the middle of a pentagram. When Sam had told April that Jessie wanted to talk to her, she had expected Jessie to tell her the truth and do a lot of explaining, like, where she was for instance and why there were zombies down here with her. Did Jessie believe her to be evil? How could an evil person save the world from destruction?
"I'm going to tell you the truth," Jessie began clearing her throat, seeing the confusion in April's eyes. "Starting from the beginning."
YOU ARE READING
Book 1: Vines
Paranormal"Eenie meenie miney moe, who will be the first to go," Liz sang out silently, giggling at the song she had just created. This was wonderful. Knowing that she had killed Surrexit and now she was finally able to kill the others; this day had turned...
