We had been running for miles through the forest when we finally spotted Roland. He stood among the trees, glancing around nervously like a man haunted by his own shadows.
The night was thick and restless, wind rushing through the trees with eerie whispers that made every sound sharper. I looked at Caleb and he peeled away to flank from the other aside.
I trailed Roland, my pulse loud in my ears. Rage and grief wrestled inside me, each step bringing me closer to the man who had destroyed everything.
A spark leaped from my fingertips; lightning flared and then struck him behind. It flung him across the clearing until he hit a tree with a sickening crack.
As he tried to wave his hand, Caleb who was already in his werewolf form, held him in the air and slammed him to the ground, claws digging deep, making sure he was two feet under.
Roland's feet began moving up and down, eyes bulging. He whizzed for air but he was slowly losing it. I knew what he did was bad. But we needed him alive for answers. He couldn't die. Not right now.
"Caleb!" I called out, forcing calm into my voice. "Stop!"
But he didn't even flinch.
"We need him alive," I said more firmly, stepping closer. "We need answers."
At last Caleb's gray eyes met mine. His jaw tightened, but he let Roland go.
With a wave of my hand, vines burst from the earth and coiled around Roland, dragging him upright and pinning him to a nearby tree.
He was my father's age. In the moonlight I could see his gray hair. Great jaw line and he looked pretty ripped for his age.
I looked into his eyes and all I wanted to do was what he did to my parents and that of Caleb's. all because of power and that goddamned skull. He couldn't even spare their bodies for us to bury them.
They trusted him because he was part of the council. I called him uncle and eat at the same table with him.
"What did they offer you to take down our parents?" I asked, my voice strained. "What was worth their lives?"
He smirked. "You are just kids. You wouldn't understand. I tried talking to Frazer—to make him understand where I was coming from. What would happen if he didn't do what I asked of him. But he was stubborn. And here we are."
He didn't care about anything. And no matter what we said or done, he would never tell us what we needed to know.
Our parents were gone. Partly because of us.
"Why do the vampires what the skull? Why are you helping them? And do the other members of the council know about this?"
There was silence for a while, then, Caleb walked forward. Purely naked, but radiating fury.
Werewolves.
"He won't talk. Just put an end to him already. He killed them, Trevor. Do you think they didn't try to get the answers out of him? He doesn't deserve to breathe."
Roland's lip curled. "Your friend's right. You are worsting both your time and mine. How about you let me go and maybe I would consider helping you with the vampires."
I clinched my fist. "You picked the wrong family," I said, my voice breaking in half.
That's when it happened. My veins began to glow, blue light pulsing under my skin like fire beneath ice. I didn't understand it; I didn't care either.
I pulled Roland closer, gripping his neck. I squeezed tightly, his bones popping as his head turned purple. But giving him such a fast death was not in the equation.
He struggled weakly, trying to push me away. But I didn't stop. Not yet.
Then, light. Blinding and pure. A sound like thunder tearing the word apart.
A minute later, a stood on the ground breathing heavily. Roland wasn't anywhere around. Before I could process what happened, I fail to the ground.
The last thing I heard was Caleb calling my name.
I can't die. At least not now.
*
I opened my eyes to the sound of rushing water. My body ached. The air was heavy, cold and... wrong.
Finally, I pushed myself up slowly, blinking at the dim red glow reflecting off… liquid. It wasn't water but freaking blood. A bloodfall poured down a jagged cliff into the dark pool below.
This wasn't the Realm of Shadows. I had never seen anything like it.
I touched my forehead as I suddenly felt a migraine at the remembrance of what had happened. The last thing I remembered was hearing Caleb's voice, but he was gone.
I turned in a slow circle, lifeless trees dotted the landscape, their branches hanging like bones. The whole place looked scorched, stripped of anything living. Apart from the few trees and the bloodfall there was nothing in the place.
Then I spotted it: I massive black door about twenty feet ahead, five times my height.
I took one step, then a thought floated into my head. I'm a flipping wizard. A second from the other, I appeared a foot from the black tall gate.
The handle was cold and smooth. Bone. Human bone. I jerked my hand back, my chest suddenly threatening to rip open. The walls on either side were covered in body parts—arms, skulls, faces frozen mid-scream.
"What the hell is this place?" I whispered.
I stood there for almost five minutes, debating if I should go in or not. But I needed to find out where I was. And the only way to do that was to enter inside the door. Though disturbing as seeing body parts pinned to a wall it may be, I had no choice.
I pushed the door open with a swift wave of my hand. I hesitated a bit, but walked inside. Darkness swallowed everything inside. I couldn't even make out anything that was ten feet away.
Then—
"Hey, idiot."
I flinched and turned, my heart moving from my stomach to my neck. A girl stood about ten feet away, watching me with an amused smile.
She looked about my age—maybe younger, wearing leather trousers that brought her curvy body into focus even more. She put on a matching jacket that sat way above her belly button and completed the look with boots. Then she tied her long hair into a bun that danced from one shoulder to another as she matched towards me. Her accent when she spoke again was unmistakably British.
"Do you happen to know what this place is?" I asked as she stopped three feet from me.
"You are in foe, genius," she said, laughing lightly.
"What?"
How is that even possible? How did I end up in foe? Did I die along with Roland? That is the only explanation. But I was punishing Roland for his silly mistake. So why did I end up in the so-called Foe?
"You are not dead, you just accidentally opened the gate to foe," she said. But I didn't voice my thoughts. Could she read my mind? "Kind of," she added with a shrug, in no doubt answering my question.
"But how did I accidentally open the gate to Foe? I have never even heard of the place until now."
She began walking, her boots clicking on the middle floor. "No idea. But a lot of people do, actually."
I followed. She was the only living thing around, and the fact that she knew I accidentally opened the gate to Foe, I wasn't letting her out of my sight.
The ground beneath us was black marble, cold and perfect. The space had no walls, just emptiness stretching in every direction.
Ahead was yet another door where she was leading me. Where it led, I had no idea. But what choice did I have other than to follow like a dog tied to a leash?
"How do I get back home?" I asked after trying to shadow walk back home but failed. Miserably.
She just shot me a smile, then opened the door.
We entered yet another narrow hall, lit only by a single candle suspended from the ceiling.
I looked to the side, and there were bars as thick as my wrist. Behind them floated pale, hollow-eyes figures.
Before I could ask, she spoke.
"They are wondering souls. They keep on bringing themselves down instead of motivating themselves to go up," she explained.
"How do I get out of this place?" I asked again after realizing she didn't answer me the last time.
"There is no going back." She said and then laughed on top of her lungs when she saw my face. "Relax. There is a way. Let me say a gate."
"So, take me to that gate," I said, smiling at the glimmer of hope.
"It's not that easy, though." Her eyes flickered with something, fear, maybe. "You will see."
We took a turn, and the whole passageway was full of prison cells occupied by wondering souls. Are people that unmotivated? And what happened to those souls afterwards? Do they return to the owner when he or she dies?
"Oh, no. They remain here for eternity."
A chill crawled down my spine.
"Where are we going?"
"To the gate," she said. "Don't you want to go to your friend? The poor thing thinks you died, and he is crying like a girl. Humans," she enunciated the word.
My blood ran cold. "How do you know about my friend?"
"Because I can see him," she said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, brace yourself. We are entering the land of the abominable."
She opened yet another door, which I hadn't even noticed.
The air changed — hotter, thicker. The hallway was brighter now, lit by torches woven into ceilings draped with dead branches. More cells lined the passage, filled with shadows that moved and whispered.
I looked at her before I gagged.
"Buy the way, what is your name? And what are you doing here? You don't look like someone who should be here." I said, forcing my voice steady.
"My name is Hasin," she said with a grin. "And I was born here, silly."
I frowned. "Born here?"
"Yup."
"Oh, and how far is—"
My words froze.
"Mom."
To my left, behind thick iron bars, my parents stood vulnerably five feet. My heart cracked open.
I took a step toward them, barely able to put one step in front of the other.
Was this an illusion? How could they be here? Did their souls come to foe after they died?
But Hasin said this place was for the abominable. And my parents were not abominable. They couldn't be.
What the hell was going on? Was I just dreaming about all this? It would explain a lot, actually. There is no way I could have died. I killed Roland. Not the other way round.
According to Hasin, I accidentally opened the gate to Foe. But she didn't explain how that was possible. Also, if I opened the gate, then Caleb could have followed me through the gate. He would have seen me entering the gate to… foe.
Was Hasin lying about this? But why would she lie to me? And if that was the case, what the hell is this place? And how did my parents find themselves here?
"Mom, Dad," I sighed and moved closer.