Chapter 12
1874 Words
For days after that, I stayed in my room watching the gates. I didn't tell anyone about my encounter. Not even Snowflake. I just kept telling her that it was shell shock. Luckily, she didn't know what that meant. "Penny?" Hunter called for me. I jumped to my feet and pulled a kitchen knife out of my sleeve. "Woah! It's just me, Hunter!" I closed my eyes and let myself relax. "What's gotten into you?"
"It's nothing." I returned to my seat in the window, tucking the knife back into my sleeve.
"That's not true. You've been in here for eight days. Something isn't right. You can talk to me. You can trust me."
I looked at him from the corner of my eye. "No."
"No what?" He was worried about me. I could feel it coming off of him in waves.
"I can't trust anyone but Snowflake."
Hunter risked another step forward, then another. He was standing next to me now. My heart was pounding. "Something happened out there. Am I right?" I nodded slightly. "What happened?"
"You found me in that house yes?"
"Yes. Wolf and I did." I could hear the confusion in his voice.
"His name," I paused, gripping the knife in my sleeve. "Was Soil. He took Snow and hurt her while I was poisoned. I fought him. I put his nose in his brain. When I went out there looking for Dad and Lockwood, a man jumped on me. I knew this man, but I couldn't remember his name. He has a sister. He told me that they are living in that cave. When I entered the cave to come back, a girl asked. 'Soil? Soil is that you?' I froze in place. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I panicked, then I ran as fast as I could. I only stopped when I got to the front steps. I though to myself, 'There's no way.' Yet the bruises on my wrist where he grabbed me, on my back where his knee was, on my stomach when he flipped me over, there were real. That girl, her voice so close to me, saying that name. It can't be him. I killed him." I explained, not once did my eyes leave the gate. Hunter stood there, staring at me. I don't think he knew what to say. After a few minutes, he backed away and left my room.
Not long after Hunter left, Dad came in. "Pen?" I only looked at him. "How are you feeling today?" I looked away. "That good huh?" He paused. "So, do you want me to get you something to eat?" I didn't answer. "Alright, I'll bring you up some food. You can eat when you're hungry."
I watched him put his hand on the door knob. "Don't."
He turned and looked at me. "Don't what?" When I didn't answer him after a few moments, he sighed and turned the handle. I quickly threw the knife from my sleeve at the door. It stuck in the door a few centimetres from his head.
"Don't." I repeated.
He let go of the door and sat on my bed. "Alright, I'll just sit right here."
"Don't ever go outside those gates again."
He furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are not going outside those gates ever again!" I yelled He looked at me as if I was crazy.
"Can I ask why?" He was careful with his words.
"Because Soil is alive."
He stared at me in complete horror. "What?"
"Soil, the man I killed, is alive. Him and his sister live in that cave. No one is leaving here. Not through those gates at least."
Dad nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll make sure Lockwood knows. That way no one goes through those gates."
"Thank you." I continued to watch the gates. When my father left, he forgot to close the door behind him. I didn't mind. It gave Jenora, Snow's mother, a chance to come in.
"Hello." She's always formal. I gave her a slight nod. "I'm not sure you know but, Lockwood is finally stepping down. He is hoping you will attend the ceremony tomorrow night to claim the leadership status."
"I will be there. As long as someone is posted at the gates. They must know how important it is to keep a close eye on them. Make sure nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, comes through those gates."
"I will be there myself. Nothing will come through those gates. Nor leave through those gates." He held her head high in pride.
"Thank you." At nightfall, I watched the gates with closer focus. I watched for hours, my fear keeping sleep away. I chanced a quick glance at Snow. She's grown so much since the day I met her. She was slightly smaller than her mother though. I wondered in the back of my mind if she would always be a bit smaller. Would it be due to her mother being older, or that she was the runt? At that moment, I caught movement at the gates. I quickly threw my window open and jumped to the tree that seemed sound enough to catch me, and climbed down. I ran silently toward the gates. I couldn't see the movements anymore, but I did however smell the scent of the cave. Dirt, with very little human and animal scent. I picked up my pace. Just then, Jenora and two other creatures were at my sides.
We reached the gates. They were open enough for someone to slip through. Immediately, Jenora started sniffing around. I watched, turning in a slow circle, waiting for any movement. A moment later, one of Jenora's followers made a growling noise. It was more a mixture of a hiss and a purr from a cat. None the less, I went over quickly to see what they were growling at. It was a small girl who was holding something close to her chest. I could see that she was shaking. i pointed at two dark creatures on my left. "You two, close the gates!" They ran to the gate to close it. "Where did you come from?" I asked the shaking girl.
"Please don't send me back to him! He's a monster! He'll kill us!" She cried. I could tell that she was very underweight. I could see the bruises on her face, wrists and ankles.
"Who is 'he'?"
"My brother! My brother Soil! Please don't send us back!" She was so scared.
"What is your name?" Jenora asked her.
"He kept making me call myself Scarlet, but my name is Lilly."
"Okay Lilly. Where did you come from?" Jenora had a good head on her shoulders it seemed.
"The cave. Soil took me there when we were kids."
"Why?" I asked her.
"He never told me why. Just said that our parents weren't fit to raise us and he took me there. He often left to get us food. He promised me that he would keep me safe, but only if I promised to stay in the cave. I was so little at the time that I said I would. Whenever he left to get us food, he'd come back with more and more blood on him. He just said it was a bloody deer that he killed, and I believed him. I did for so long. Then one day, I asked if he knew how Mom and Dad were doing. That made him very angry. He started shouting at me and hitting me, then he tied me up by my wrists and ankles. He only gave me enough food and water to keep me alive. When I first bled, he said it was time. I didn't know what he meant at the time, but then he started doing things no brother should do. No-- Not at all." She paused. I saw tears well up in her eyes. "Then I was sick all day long. I was sleeping all the time and my belly was getting bigger. He was so happy about it. I knew then that I had to get away. Before my baby was born, I tried to leave, but it didn't work. Now he's looking for me. I can feel it."
"How did you get free?" Jenora asked.
"I was feeding my baby when he left to go get food. I took that chance to free my ankles and run."
I turned to Jenora and the two other creatures. "Lock the gates! Lock them twice! These gate will never be used again!" I turned back to Jenora. "Go get Lockwood, my father and post two strong animals with their partners at this gate. I will close this gate permanently." I was stern and may have looked frightening, but I was protecting everyone from something I knew was terrible.
At first light, I had Lilly and her child bathed and fed. "How are they?" Dad asked me.
"Asleep."
"How long have you been awake for?" He asked.
"Including last night, nearly nine days. Why do you want to know?"
"Because you need to eat and sleep." Snow pipped up.
"No. I'll be fine."
"You are going to die at this rate! I'm not up for losing my partner right now you know!" She yelled at me. I sighed and shook my head. When I began to walk away, Hunter stepped into my path.
"Need something?" I head a snap of someone's fingers and saw something black fly at my face. I closed my eyes and gasped, then felt something warm and metal go into my mouth. My first instinct was to gag and pull back, but whatever it was, still went down my throat. I put one hand over my mouth and the other on my stomach.
"I think I regret doing this, Hunter." Demon said. My stomach lurched and I vomited all over the floor in the hallway.
"Pen!" Snow ran to my side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright." I reached out to touch her head, but when I did, a shock went up my arm. "Ouch!" I looked down at my hand, then at Snow who was in a daze. "Snow? Are you okay?" When I reached out for her again, Lockwood quickly pulled her away from me as my Dad held me by the shoulders. His grip was tight, but it didn't hurt. "What are you doing?!"
"It must be weakened. Bad things happen when it's too strong, Hank." Lockwood said.
"I know." He sighed. "We have no choice. We have to do it."
"Do what?!" I yelled, but no one seemed to be listening to me. I looked at Snow, her ears were flat to her head in fear. At that sight, I snapped. I kicked out at my father, whose grip tightened, but he fell to the ground with a thump. I dashed forward and pushed Lockwood away with all the strength I had.
"No!" Lockwood cried out, but it was too late, I was already sprinting down the hall as fast as I could with Snow right beside me.
"I know what they are going to do to us!" She said. We rounded a corner and burst through the front doors, slamming hard into Wolf.
"Woah!" Wolf yelled. I looked up at him with pure fear written in my emerald green eyes. "What's up?"
"Help! You have to help us! They are going to use it on us!" Snow cried out. I watched Wolf's face go from worry to extreme fear then set firm.
"Come with me."
- Writer
