Page 94 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood
“You killed those goblins.” My skin prickles at the memory.
“I didn’t kill them, I destroyed them. They’ll return. Hopefully I obliterated enough of their imprint that it will be very challenging to spawn back. It could be years before they’re able to roam the woods again.”
That’s disappointing. I was hoping they were gone for good. I don’t want anyone to stumble into their trap again. From the way they were talking, I wasn’t their first victim.
We’ve been walking in the corn field for almost twenty minutes when the first scream comes. Harrow and I exchange a look.
The sound of a man begging stops me in my tracks. “No, please. Don’t take it.Don’t. No!” He screams again. The sound lasts much longer, rising in pitch until his voice breaks off.
“What was that?” I whisper.
Harrow shakes his head. We keep moving.
The sounds of someone crying grow closer. Pushing through the next row of stalks, we find a man. He’s hunched over, sobbing. He turns to look at us. Harrow catches hold of my arm as I jerk backward. The man has no face. Eyes, yes. But the skin that should cover his face has been cut away along with his nose and mouth.
“Haaa leeease,” he begs us. Without lips, his speech is difficult to understand.
A sharp snap has us whirling to the right. A pole has been erected mere feet from where we stand. A burlap scarecrow is tied to the top, his arms outstretched. Instead of a handsewn mask, the scarecrow wears a human face.
The man before us wails as he spies the sinister mashup.
“We’re moving. Now.” Harrow grips me at the elbow and marches forward. The faceless man grabs Harrow’s boot as we pass. His blood-soaked hands slide off and he falls to the ground.
Vomit builds in my stomach, crawling up my throat. There’s no time to stop. The thing that took his face is mere feet behind us. I press my lips together, swallowing the acid down.
Scream after scream fill the corn field. We pass six more scarecrows, all wearing human faces. The endless sobs of the tortured victims come from every direction between the stalks. Thankfully, we don’t stumble upon any more of the faceless victims themselves.
Stepping out of the field is like breathing for the first time. I don’t know how it works exactly, but it seems the creatures are tied to their respective landscapes. The kraken won’t follow us on land. The cornfield creature won’t pass his rows of stalks.
Maybe that’s why the spider never got me. I ran outside its territory and onto the goblins’ property.
Barren soil crunches beneath my steps. Harrow has wrapped shadows around my feet. It prevents me from damaging thebottoms while still allowing me the flexibility to move as if I were barefoot. I never knew how versatile shadows could be.
A dense fog creeps forward, stealing our visibility. One of Harrow’s wings tucks around me protectively.
“What fresh new hell awaits us in this landscape?” My sarcasm elicits a chuckle from Harrow.
“You wouldn’t happen to recognize this area, would you?”
“No. Maybe we wandered too far from my hellscape.”
“That’s not how it works. If we’re still passing through these lands, they’re on your path or connected to it at the very least.”
Thick metal bars rise up before us. Harrow catches me by the shoulder before I run smack into the gate that has just appeared. A floral emblem with a largeRsits on either side of two iron doors.
“These are the castle gates! We’ve made it to my kingdom!”
The gates swing inward. Was that in response to my voice? Harrow takes my hand, leading us through the foggy courtyard. Our visibility improves as we move beyond the gates. The castle comes into full view and every hair on my body stands on end. There is something hideous and dark about this version of my home.
“Do you think your door is inside the castle?” Harrow’s voice is low, eyes sweeping around us. A flash of movement draws my gaze to the spot where my bedroom balcony usually resides. There is someone looking at me through the window. The eyes that stare back at me are vacant and hollow. Looking higher, I notice every window on every level of the castle has a ghostly figure peering out.Castle full of dead people?No thank you.
“I’m not about to find out. Let’s check somewhere else first.”
We skirt the castle, keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings. Thankfully, the phantoms remain inside. The fog comes and goes, bringing with it strange sounds and whispering voices. When the aged and crumbling walls of my hidden refugecome into view, a flood of triumph washes through me. My bone garden. That is a perfect spot for my door to be hidden.
Delight warms me as I enter my secret place. I haven’t spent near enough time here recently. All thoughts of the in-between’s horrors beyond these walls fade. There’s safety within these ruins.
“It’s not the same,” Harrow warns.
