Persephone (The Lily Harper Series Book 4) (17 page)

“No,” I said, aloud this time. Shaking my head harder, I tried to pull my legs free, but failed. I couldn’t go anywhere. I was stuck. Rooted in place, and in the shape of a tree! I was now the tree and the tree was me.

“No!” I yelled again, my heart rate increasing as I began trembling in horror. I clenched my eyes shut tightly and promised myself that this couldn’t really be happening. I wasn’t a tree. I was a person. I mean, how could I be a tree when I was still able to form logical thoughts? I could still think! And trees couldn’t think!

I glanced down again to double-check my arborial likeness, thinking this argument was a cogent one. It was as good an alibi against being a tree as was possible. But when I observed the thick trunk that used to comprise my lower body, not to mention the roots that used to be my feet and toes, I wanted to scream. My mind was nearly breaking with the weight of what I was seeing. My breathing became more hurried and shallow …

Aha! How could I even be breathing if I were a tree!?
I thought to myself, but I had no answers.

The blood seemed to be rushing away from my head, and I couldn’t see straight. I felt like I was in a fog. I was also a little faint and worried if I succumbed to the cloudiness around me, there was a good chance I wouldn’t ever wake up again. Maybe this was my final demise—maybe my brain was changing—morphing itself into branches and leaves. Pretty soon, I probably wouldn’t be able to think at all …

I breathed deeply, desperately trying to retain my currently fragile psyche and hold myself together. When I finally opened my eyes again, I was surrounded by darkness and dripping wet. I blinked a few times and glanced down at myself. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t still encapsulated with dark brown bark. Nope, my legs were my own again. After blinking several more times, just to convince myself that my eyes weren’t deceiving me, I was satisfied.

You’re back to being yourself again,
I decided, despite the horror of my last experience still resonating in the back of my mind.

“Then what the hell happened?!” I asked out loud as I shook my head and tried to make sense of what I’d just gone through.

First, Tallis starts blinking in and out of focus before he vanishes into thin air? And then, that incredibly real vision of me becoming a tree?

My heart was beating uncontrollably fast, and I feared I might faint. I breathed in deeply for a count of three and exhaled just as slowly, but it didn’t seem to do any good. I started to shake and shudder in the cold rain and suddenly felt my temperature plunging. I was freezing. Still shaking, I wasn’t sure if my body were experiencing shock, or if the iciness was the actual temperature of the air.

Suddenly, the whispering voices started up again, only this time, they sounded like they were right next to my left ear. I turned to face them, but, of course, saw nothing there. I could hear their whispered breaths, though, clearly. It almost seemed as if two tiny pixies were talking to one another on my shoulder. I slammed my hands over my ears and clamped them down tightly, trying to expel the voices from my mind; but it didn’t do any good. They continued to whisper, their breathy voices suddenly infuriating me.

“Stop it!” I screamed out, surprised to hear how much vehemence was in my tone.

“Besom?” Upon hearing Tallis’s voice again, I wheeled around and found him standing there. He was studying me in an aloof, indifferent manner. Although the rain still came down quickly and in fairly large drops, it didn’t appear to make any contact with him. He was completely dry.

“Tallis?” I asked as I tried to understand what made him impervious to the elements. “Something weird is going on,” I started, my voice sounding drained, no, exhausted.

“Coome,” he replied as he offered his hand. When I looked down at it, however, it seemed to be miles away, and I was suddenly sprouted up to the size of a giant. I looked up at his face again, which was the correct distance away. I watched him blink in and out of focus again, shaking his head left and right as if he were on fast forward again. He moved so quickly, his features just blurred together.

“What’s going on?” I asked, taking a step back and dropping my hand. “Why are you shaking like that?”

“Take mah hand,” he repeated as he reached forward.

I didn’t obey him, but took another step back. There was something about Tallis that I didn’t trust. Something about him was off, or wrong. Something seemed very alien. “No,” I said while shaking my head. As soon as the word left my mouth, he popped right back out of the atmosphere again, instantly vanishing right before my eyes.

“Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art...”
- Dante’s
Inferno

SEVENTEEN

Seconds after Tallis disappeared, the whispering voices started up again. Frustration, anger and confusion suddenly swarmed inside me. All I could do was try not to scream or cry while tearing my hair out.

I’m imagining things that aren’t there,
I suddenly thought. Looking around, I found myself surrounded by the bleak moonscape. I had nothing but the rain for company.

You have to find your way to the hill, Lily!
that other voice inside my head reminded me. It was more insistent now and determined.
Whatever is going on in your head, ignore it! All that matters now is that you reach the hill and get back up to the train tracks!

I faced the hill again with vital, renewed determination. Whatever was happening in my head had to be ignored for now. I knew the visions weren’t real. My mind was simply shutting down and playing tricks on me. And I refused to allow myself to succumb to its tricks. I had to be stronger than that, and see past what felt like the onset of my mind unraveling. I had to ignore it to ensure my survival.

Losing my grasp on reality in the Underground City was basically like signing my own death warrant.

“Tallis and Bill are here,” I heard a voice whispering in my left ear loud enough that it sounded as if the source of the voice were standing mere inches from me.

I gasped as I turned my head to the left. Of course, there was nothing and no one there. I clenched my eyes shut tightly and braced myself, fisting my hands at my sides.

You are completely alone out here, Lily!
I yelled the thought to myself.
Stop allowing your brain to confuse you! You have to see through the facade! It’s nothing but sheer artifice, just ploys and tricks of your own mind!

I took a few steps forward, my heart, once again, racing. Its pounding seemed to drown out the roar of the raindrops pelting the ground until all I could hear was the loud thumping of my heart. I half wondered if it might explode at any second.

“Tallis Black is known to us all,” the voice began again, this time in my right ear. It almost sounded like a cat hissing. “He is a part of this-s-s-s world, not yours.”

I threw my hands over my ears and started to walk faster, trying to ignore the voice. Steeling my resolve, I refused to allow myself to look at anything besides the base of the hill in front of me.

“He will always belong to us-s-s-s,” the voice continued, only now it sounded as if it were directly in front of me. But just like the last time the voice spoke, there was no one there. There was nothing there. Except the endless, vast stretch of dirt and nothingness …

I broke into a run, slamming my hands more tightly over my ears to better block out the voice. I wasn’t sure how long I ran before my lungs started to burn. I couldn’t suck in enough air to relieve them. I had to slow down. Exhaustion invaded every crevice of my body. With no other option, I started to walk while trying to inhale huge gasps of air. I also tried to talk my heart into calming down.

Taking another glance at the base of the hill, it looked as if it were now many miles away. The longer I studied it in the weak light, the more I became convinced I hadn’t made any headway at all. I seemed to be even farther than I was before I started running.

“I don’t understand,” I said softly, shaking my head as tears of frustration fell and my confusion burned inside me. “I don’t understand!” I screamed out loud. My anger and fear suddenly spiraled out of control and I was worried I was about to completely lose my grasp on reality. I dropped to the ground amid a fit of tears and beat the dirt with my fists in frustration.

“Let go,” that voice suddenly announced, as it were right behind me. “There is no use fighting us-s-s-s. We have already won.”

“Go away!” I yelled in reply. I didn’t even bother to turn around anymore, because I already knew I wouldn’t see anything. The voice was just a figment of my imagination, proof that I was going completely crazy.

“Stop fighting and it will make things s-s-s-o much easier,” the voice continued to hiss. “Give yourself to us-s-s-s. Give up. Let us-s-s-s help you. Let us-s-s-s take your pain and confusion away.”

“Lily!” I heard Bill’s voice interject. I cocked my head to the side and wondered how my mind managed to play such cruel tricks on me. “Get up!” he yelled, sounding almost hysterical.

“Stop!” I screamed while dropping my head into my hands. I wished my brain would end this torture and just leave me alone. I started to hyperventilate and couldn’t catch my breath.

“Get up!” Bill screamed at me again. But I couldn’t pinpoint where his voice was coming from and, furthermore, I no longer cared.

“Give up,” that other voice continued. It sounded somehow more intense and louder now. “Give yourself to us-s-s-s and this sea of confusion will pass-s-s-s.”

Collapsing fully onto the ground, a deluge of tears fell from my eyes and the ensuing sobs wracked my entire body. I became light-headed and suddenly weak.

“Besom, git oop!” I heard Tallis wail. His voice sounded closer than Bill’s voice, but with my head still facing the ground, I wasn’t particularly focused on my surroundings.

Lily!
Tallis’s voice suddenly sounded in my head, breaking through my thoughts like a hot knife through butter.
Ye moost fight the insanity ’cause it isnae real,
he continued
. Listen tae meh. Git oop!

I lifted my head and that was when I saw them. Not Tallis and Bill, but … something else. Something decidedly less friendly.

It looked like the earth was spitting them out on fast forward. Or like the very dirt and soil were forming these creations that rose up out of the ground. I thrust myself into a push-up position and inhaled deeply while trying to ignore my nausea and dizziness.

“Besom!” Tallis yelled again.

Raising myself all the way up until I was sitting, a wave of dizziness washed over me. I had to close my eyes as I tried to drive the horrible feelings away. When I opened them again, I found myself looking at … something.

It seemed to arise from the ground because it was the same dark brown as the dirt, but this creation almost looked like moving clay … Claymation. Of human form, it stood upright and had two long legs and even longer arms that trailed on the ground. That could have been because it was so hunched over. Its back was very misshapen with an enormous lump on its right shoulder that probably weighed it down. I couldn’t see the monster’s face, but it was completely hairless; and when it moved, it did so with extremely sharp, jerky actions.

Looking beyond it, I noticed three other creatures that stood maybe ten feet behind it. They appeared to be in the midst of climbing out of the earth. And beyond them, I saw even more who were also crawling out of the soil. Taking a deep breath, I mustered all my courage and forced myself to stand up.

You must be imagining all of this,
I explained.
This must just be another vision, another instance of your mind showing you things that aren’t really there.

No!
I argued with my other voice.
If there’s even a fraction of a chance that these things could actually exist, I have to be prepared for them. Otherwise I’m in big trouble!

Protect yerself,
said Tallis’s voice in my head.
Find the bone.

I nodded as I realized I was unarmed. The monster was steadily making its way toward me and stood less than ten feet away. A surge of fear shot through me as I searched desperately for the femur.

I spotted it immediately, right where I’d dropped it beside me. I bent down and clutched it at the same time the creature jerked its way toward me. It raised its downturned head to reveal its face, which looked like a shriveled-up apricot.

The moonlight suddenly shone brightly when the clouds freed it from their grasp, and I could see the beast in all its freakish glory. Its eyes were sunken into its head so deeply that I could barely see them. And its mouth looked like a circle with tiny, razor-sharp teeth that glistened like silver in the elusive moonlight.

The thing started to shake its head as if it were on fast forward, just like Tallis was doing. Well, the imaginary Tallis, anyway. When the thing stopped shaking its head, it vanished. Suddenly, Tallis stood right in front of me. I dropped the femur with a start as I tried to understand how that was possible.

“Tallis, look out behind you!” I warned him as soon as I realized it must have been another trick of the light. The creature had to be right behind the giant Scotsman. But Tallis made no motion to turn around; instead, he just looked at me vacantly.

That’s because he isn’t Tallis!
I chastised myself.

The monster, having morphed into Tallis’s form, began to shake its head again until it returned to the ugly, shriveled-up apricot face I’d seen only seconds earlier.

I didn’t waste any time as I gripped the femur with both hands and held it over my shoulder like a baseball bat. Cranking my arms back, I slammed the femur straight into the creature’s head. The thing not only looked like clay, but felt like it too. The femur sunk into its head with a squishy sound, and it was almost a chore to yank it back out again. The creature fell over and a huge crater appeared in the side of its face, but there was no blood, brains, or anything else oozing out of it. Nope, it just looked like smashed-in, brown Play-Doh.

Hearing the sound of a skirmish behind me, I wheeled around and saw Tallis slamming his sword into another clay man who was standing behind me. Right before the creature hit the ground, I noticed it wasn’t misshapen and hunched over like the first one I had the misfortune of encountering.

When the next one landed, I spotted a large hole in its chest, presumably from Tallis’s blade, which, again, produced no blood or guts. Its face was shriveled up like the other one’s was, but instead of looking feeble and handicapped, this one gave the appearance of strength. It had long legs, long arms and a straight torso. I watched it start to decompose, its body suddenly melting into the ground below it.

“Coome!” Tallis called to me as he handed me my sword. I dropped the femur, very happy for the trade. Temporarily unable to find my voice, I just nodded as I took his proffered hand and came up right behind him.

Again, I wondered if he were really Tallis, or just another figment of my overactive imagination. I took a step back, studying him as I did so. He looked at me curiously, his eyes narrowing only seconds later.

He’s another trick of your mind,
I decided.
Don’t trust him! You can’t trust anyone!

Fully convinced of that fact, I took another few steps back.

“Ah am the true Tallis, lass,” he said in a flat voice as he studied me with unmasked scrutiny.

“How do I know that?” I asked, shaking my head.

Trust no one!
I yelled at myself.
They are all out to get you! They are all trying to destroy you! The only person you have to rely on is yourself!

“Ye will have tae take mah word fer it,” Tallis answered.

“No, I don’t!” I snapped as I turned around and ran right into one of the earth creatures. The thing immediately wrapped its stringy arms around me, and before I could realize what was happening, I was suddenly shrinking, along with it.

Looking down, I watched the earth suddenly open up underneath us. The creature clung to me as its body began to dissolve into the earth. But my body didn’t do the same at all. It looked as if the ground was trying to eat me from the bottom up. I didn’t feel any pain, only the pressure of the dirt as it closed in around my legs first, and then my waist.

As soon as I realized the monster was trying to inter me underground, I wrestled with it, using all my resistance and strength to pull away from it. But its tenacious embrace was strong and relentless.

Release yourself!
That hissing voice started up again.
Stop fighting! It is useless-s-s-s! We have already won! We always win …

Facing the creature, I noticed its mouth wasn’t moving. I assumed it must have thought the words and somehow transmitted them to me telepathically, but it was just as if the thing had spoken them right into my ears.

“No!” I screamed while thrashing against the creature. But it proved to be a losing proposition; the ground had already swallowed me up to my rib cage. I heard Tallis’s voice as he yelled something in what I assumed was Gaelic. Seconds later, the blade of his sword speared the creature straight through the top of its head. I gasped before Tallis’s arms came underneath my armpits and in a matter of seconds, he hoisted me clean out of the hungry earth.