Page 92 of The Stars are Dying

Ducking into an alcove, I waited for two guards to pass before I moved again. Stealth was a skill I was adept with from my time at the manor, yet as I roamed the halls I couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity. As though I knew their path from some alternate timeline.

Outside I figured out why Nyte had given me the precise hour of midnight to arrive. There were no guards as the ones around every post on my mental map had taken leave, allowing a few minutes’ window for me to make it across the courtyard. Large trees were planted with equal spacing down the long stretch, in parallel pairs, with an expanse of fresh grass between them. On either side were paved pathways.

I darted between each tree for shadow cover, only pausing for a quick second to be sure the new guards weren’t near. When I got to the end, my chest constricted at the tall structure. I stood before two massive doors, but without Drystan, they would not be my way in.

Around the side, I stumbled at a small hatch that looked like a cellar door. “You can’t possibly expect me to trust that,” I whispered, but Nyte wouldn’t answer.

I whined as I tested the door, and when it opened, part of me recoiled with the lost hope it should have been locked to save me from the danger of this brazen adventure. Staring down at the dark depth the uneven stairs disappeared into, I took a second to question my sanity. What was I thinking? There could be anything down there, and Nyte might be nothing more than a monster fashioned into a beautiful dream to lure me here.

“What are you hiding?” I thought aloud again, pacing as I deliberated.

Still there was no answer. That, I would have to find out for myself, and I gritted my teeth at his silence. Curiosity pricked my skin, but my fear taunted that my steps down there could be a one-way trip.

Voices raised the hairs on my arms, making me whirl my head in their direction. They were distant, but the new guards were sure to spot me here as they slowly grew.

Shit.

My decision was forced. The wood creaked as I tested it, and I cringed, pulse thrumming in my ears, as I grasped the string on the inside of the latch and pulled it shut to engulf myself in darkness. My eyes welled as I clung to the steps. I breathed hard, asking myself what the hell I thought I was doing, but it was as if cotton had filled my ears, making me unable to detect if there was anything moving below.

Gentle, calm waves smoothed the sharp edges of my panic. My heart slowed, and I gave over to the sensation that grounded me enough to think straight. Then find the courage to begin the descent.

One step at a time I dragged forth my bravery, until my next step down confirmed I was on solid ground.

“I can’t see,” I choked. My throat tightened, feeling confined, as if the darkness had fashioned physical walls that were shrinking and I had no escape.

“There are more ways to see than with your eyes.”

Finally! I was so gods-damned relieved to hear him in my mind. Taking a steady breath, I nodded, though it was pointless. I held out my arms, testing the air as my feet pressed on. I touched stone, jerking at the first sensation to greet me in the dark. Cold and jagged, but I didn’t care if it cut my skin as I used it as my guide.

I walked for what could have been seconds or minutes. The only sounds were my scuffling feet and the oddly soothing echo of intermittent water droplets. I squinted when I thought I could see a flicker of light bouncing off the wall ahead. My pace picked up with hope, and slowly my vision expanded to reveal the exhilarating find.

When I saw an opening flooding white light into the passage, I smiled and surged for it. What opened before me almost stole the air I gulped greedily. The cave was massive, and above me, illuminating the space, was a hole that welcomed the moonlight.

I shivered, pulling my cloak around me tighter. Something about this place was ominous. It radiated with an unexplainable energy that raked at my skin, and I rubbed my arms, then my chest, at the tingling warmth.

It was then I realized it wasn’t the cold making me tremble.

“Where are you?”

As I said it, I wished I could take it back, suddenly overcome with the thought I didn’t want the discovery. This had been a mistake, and something inside was screaming at me to turn back.

A sharp rattle shot all my senses to high alert. I snapped myself around, painfully rigid in anticipation as I watched the dark space I was certain the sound had come from. It continued. Growing louder, getting closer. I took a step back as though it might lunge—whatever it was.

A pair of black boots were the first thing I saw, emerging into the pool of light, and still the chimes followed. My gaze trailed up from them as the form revealed itself slowly, and when the figure became whole…

I can’t have been breathing.

Time stopped. I was in complete confusion, unable to attach my sight to reality. This had to be a dream. No—anightmare.Because what else would need to be chained and abandoned down here other than a dangerous monster?

Yet my lips cracked open; a few beats of silence passed…

“Nyte,” I whispered.

He didn’t smile—or really react at all—but when he responded I could have fallen to my knees, which became weak at the clarity of his voice. “Hello, Starlight.”

I learned in that moment the face I stared at had three voices.

The one that caressed my thoughts.

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