Page 69 of Necromance
Perhaps he had known that too.
”I’m going to save you,” I whispered. My voice broke. “Even if you never forgive me.”
The eye on the canvas seemed to watch me, scold me. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to the gilded edge of the frame for just a moment. Long enough to draw strength. Then I straightened and turned away.
The castle groaned around me, walls rippled, and doors shifted, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t care. I kept moving. I moved further into the castle, ignoring distractions before finally reaching the corridors leading to the south tower.
The only place in the castle we had never been able to search. The one and only time we had tried, I’d been knocked unconsciousbefore we even made it to the tower.
The air felt different here this time, less oppressive, fresher, almost as if the curse simply hadn’t touched the space. The bitter gloom that had followed me through the castle seemed to dissipate, replaced by a strange calmness that made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
Most of the rooms I passed were sparsely furnished, remnants of what had once been a lively home, others were completely empty. Dust motes drifted lazily through the air, like forgotten memories waiting to be disturbed.
I’d made it through the labyrinth of halls, coming up with nothing once again. I nearly lost hope by the time I reached the heavy oak door leading into the tower.
I reached out cautiously, glancing over my shoulder before trying the rusted knob.
Locked.
No matter how many times I tried, the lock didn’t budge.
I groaned inwardly, feeling defeat. Then I remembered. The key Lady Hathaway had given me was in my bag. She had said the key would open any door…
But my bag was still sitting in the hallway by Lucien’s painting.
Turning on my heels, I started to walk back the way I came. My gut telling me something important was beyond that door.
As soon as I stepped out of the south wing, however, a sudden gust of foul air curled around me, thick with thestench of rotting decay. I gagged, pressing a hand over my mouth, my eyes watering as I stumbled back a step. The scent didn’t fade, it deepened, like something long dead had just awakened.
A low hiss echoed through the corridor.
I turned toward the sound, only to freeze in place as the shadows along the walls began to move, slithering and writhing like oil slicks come alive. They bled together in unnatural ways, stretching, shaping themselves into forms that defied reason.
Figures emerged from the blackness. Grotesque and nightmarish, with twisted limbs, hollow eyes, and mouths that gaped too wide, as if silently screaming. They dragged themselves forward, clawing over the stone floor in jerky, spasmodic movements. One of them clicked as it moved, the sound like bone scraping bone.
“Damn it,” I whispered, panic sparking to life in my chest.
I called forth my magic with a flick of my wrist, the warm blue light comforting in my hand even if it wouldn’t do much. My heart pounded against my ribs as I took a cautious step back. The creatures had surrounded the hall, blocking the path back to my room.
“Not today,” I muttered, then I turned and bolted.
The castle seemed to react, groaning low, shifting under my feet. Doorways moved. Hallways elongated. As I ran, staircases twisted inimpossible directions, floors tilted, and windows slammed shut before I could reach them. It was as though the castle had been stirred awake by my discovery, and now it wanted to trap me inside it.
She knew I was close.
Behind me, I heard them giving chase. Heavy, wet thumps. Clicking claws. A screech that sliced straight through me. I darted through an open corridor only for the door behind me to vanish. I spun right, then left, rushing through a sitting room that bled into a music parlor, its grand piano playing a single discordant note as I passed. I jumped over a velvet chair that hadn’t been there a second ago, slipped on a rug that tried to drag me down, and kept running.
I glanced over my shoulder—still there. All of them. And closer.
A mirror on the wall cracked as I passed, my reflection snarling back at me before it shattered entirely.
This wasn’t just a chase. It was a hunt.
And I was the prey.
I pressed forward, deeper into the castle’s warped heart, though every turn felt more like a descent into madness. I had no idea where I was anymore, what wing, what floor, even what direction I was facing. The castle shifted around me with gleeful malice, spinning halls in on themselves, turning familiar corridors into spirals that led me nowhere.
I stumbled through a narrow archway that hadn’t been there a moment ago, only for it to vanish the instant I passed beneath it. The stairs before me twisted sharply, turning upward and then downward in the blink of an eye, steps folding in on themselves like a cruel puzzle. I reached for the banister…gone. Another staircase to my left appeared and disappeared before I could so much as set foot on it.
