Page 18 of Beneath Swan Lake (Deadly Endings #2)
Two more dead bodies later and an ache in my stomach from fighting the urge to vomit, the cave we’re in widens considerably. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to so many corpses, but Ray is numb to it all.
I really thought we were planning to shadow hop. I brought it up a few times, but Ray was adamantly against it. For each of the bodies we pass he reaps the souls, and it’s bizarre to watch him speak to no one. I try to not say anything, but it unsettles me to think that someone is standing right in front of us yet I can’t see them.
At least he’s not asking me anymore questions. Digging through my memories makes me break out in a cold sweat, and with every step I’m less and less certain that coming here was a good idea. Perhaps the secrets of my past lie beneath the lake, but I’m not sure the impending fear is worth all of this.
Ray presses a hand to my stomach, stopping me from walking further into the wide space ahead. There’s blue light ahead that makes me nervous, but I know we can’t come all this way for nothing.
I swallow. “Spirits?”
“No. Let’s be cautious. Stay behind me.”
I want to argue against that, but truth be told I have no idea what to expect down here. Just because I have vague memories doesn’t mean we’re in the right place, or that I didn’t just hallucinate around the pain. Anything could be down here in the caves. Nodding, I shift back on my feet and clutch the pixie dust tighter as Raymundo steps ahead, leading us.
I have to admit, everything is a little less scary when you have Death on your side.
Instead of chancing being attacked, he reaches back and grips my hand and envelopes us in shadows. I guess at least we won’t be a target right away. He uses the shadows to cover the rest of the distance in the blink of an eye, and then we’re standing in the voluminous room.
I gasp in the shadows, and his eyes narrow on me as he looks around the room. I don’t see anyone who might be an accomplice of Dima, but there are definitely other living beings in this place. A moment later he lets the shadows drop, keeping his grip on my hand, and a wave of panic washes over me. Whether the memories are sharp or vague, my body is instinctively afraid to be here.
“Breathe with me,” he instructs, turning to block my view of the room. His green eyes catch my attention, the brightest thing in here.
I swallow. Even blurry memories can hold fear, and the ripples of my past threaten to spill over into the present as my mind fights to remember exactly where I am.
“A girly!” someone cries, and Ray lifts his hand to grip my chin and keep my eyes on his. “Let us play, let us play! ”
My back stiffens, but Ray isn’t even looking at our surroundings as murmurs pick up. All the voices seem to run together, and his grip on my chin tightens. I wish he’d take a look and make sure we aren’t in danger, but he’s utterly focused on me. “Breathe, Odette.”
I force myself to take steadying breaths, focusing on the green of his eyes instead of the room of horrors. When he looks convinced that I’m not going to start hysterically screaming, he lets go and scans the room.
I do too.
There’s a long table in the center, cut of stone and covered in sheets that appear old and stained in blood. There are straps on either side, and different instruments that remind me of the things I’ve seen healers pull from their bags. There’s staining on those tools too, and I shudder and turn away.
That’s when I see the cages.
Around the room there’s roughly ten cages, which look to be small, shallow caves that don’t lead anywhere. The exits are sealed over with wooden bars, and the creatures peering out make my stomach curl.
Several of the caves contain Flowerborne. I haven’t had the displeasure of encountering another one of those beasts in ages, but the unnaturally large heads and strange eyes stare back at me from six of the cages. Their faces twist and words turn cruel as we stare at them, and I force my eyes away to keep looking around. The wooden gates keeping them in don’t appear strong, but anytime one of the creatures touches it the wood glows blue, so I’m guessing Dima’s magic is to blame. This might be the only good thing he’s ever done.
Past that, there’s a cage holding something that looks like a woman with the wings of a giant butterfly. I almost want to talk to her but the blank look in her eyes tells me she’s dead, and I can’t tell if Ray is looking for her spirit or not. Then there’s the giant bird Aggie that Dima liked to trail around with him. The next cage is empty. The final one is set apart from the others, but I can’t tell if it’s new or just spaced out.
That’s where Raymundo rushes off to, and I follow in a daze behind him as he shouts, “Ban!”
It takes a moment to register. Ban has the white hair I’ve heard about, with long fringe that partially hangs in his eyes while the rest tumbles down past his shoulders in silvery-white waves. It’s snow white, matching the paleness of his skin, and he’s not wearing a shirt. There’s lines along the exposed flesh, like something - or someone - took a liking to cutting him. The scarring appears to be at different stages of healing, and like every Reaper I’ve met he bleeds black. It’s an eerie contrast seeing the dried black blood against skin that’s so white.
I walk over slowly to the two of them while the rest of the creatures grumble and complain. Raymundo and Zarev are fit, I’ve seen that with my own eyes. Ban appears to be in good physical shape from what I can see of his muscled torso, but he struggles to even lift his head and look at us .
His eyes are a bright blue, but there’s so much red and irritation around them they look unnaturally large and puffy. There are slits that bled black down his face beneath each eye, and it makes me wince to stare at the damage.
Ray curses, slipping out of my view into the shadows. The wood around the door makes a buzzing noise, lighting blue, and suddenly my Reaper is back at my side.
Ray’s flapping his arm, and when I get a good look at him his forearm is red and the fabric is burned through but no longer on fire. My mouth falls open, realizing that Ban is trapped back there because something keeps the shadows from passing through. Ray’s already taken care of the burning, but the fact that it could hurt him so fast doesn’t bode well for me. I’m not going to be much help here.
“Bitch of a problem, isn’t it?” Ban says hoarsely, looking between us. His gaze settles on me. “What the fuck happened to you?”
I cringe. He doesn’t have as much tact as Raymundo does, who pulls out a dagger and tries poking the barrier with the handle. The buzzing noise doesn’t occur this time, but the flash of blue returns. Some type of magic is keeping us from reaching Ban.
Another weapon to add to his collection. I almost forgot why Dima had me try and attack the Reapers after I took a bite out of another swan. He saw the weapons through my eye and wanted another one. I didn’t catch his meaning back in Sherwood, but now that Ban is here …
“Is this where you’ve been hiding?” Ray grunts, sliding the blade back beneath his cloak. “What are you doing down here?”
“Looking for a needle,” the silver-haired Reaper snaps, and that just sounds like nonsense. Maybe pain makes him delirious too.
“A needle,” Ray echoes, sounding as confused as I feel.
Ban makes a rolling motion with his hand, the action jerky and uneven like it takes a great effort. “A spinning needle.”
Yeah, that really clears things up. Glancing away, I eye the cages around the room again. I don’t see a weapon, but surfing through my memory I think it’s supposed to be a staff. I’m not sure what exactly to look for since all the Reapers carry such different weapons. Instead I clear my throat, scanning the room. “What’s happening here?”
Ban grunts, and when I look back he’s still sitting down, but he’s a little closer to the bars as he glares at the two of us. “You tell me. You’re Princess Odette, aren’t you? Apologies that I’m not dressed for a meeting with royalty.”
I wrinkle my nose at him, ignoring the sarcasm and glancing at the cuts. They remind me of the scars on my legs. “It’s okay.”
“You should know what’s happening, Princess,” he goes on, tilting his head to me. Ban is a lot all at once, and he’s not near as friendly as Raymundo. At least, the Ray who’s grown on me and not the one who saw me as a threat and shot me out of the sky. “He carried your eye around like a trophy.”
Ray glances up as I gasp, shifting backwards from the two of them. “You mean Dima?”
He glares at me. “Of course I mean Dima. He loved to talk about bringing you back piece by piece if he had to.”
A shudder rocks through me, and Ray growls in response before he speaks again. “Do you know something useful?”
Ban glares in return. “Are you going to get me out, Arrows?”
I’m struck by the sudden familiarity between them. I thought Ban was being hostile because he’s in pain, but a smile tugs at Ray’s lips and I realize this is just how they are. Arrows. That’s Ban’s idea of a nickname?
Across the room, a voice carries, and I think it’s one of the Flowerborne talking. “The Reapers don’t know how to escape!”
“Why don’t you look around?” Ray comments, glancing over at me. The two of them can bicker like old friends if they want, but this room gives me the creeps. “I don’t see anything that looks like another body of water.”
My eyes scan around the room. Those Flowerborne are giving me the creeps. At least Aggie the bird and the other monster don’t speak. “Neither do I.”
I leave them, crossing back towards the stone slab. This looks terrifying, and I can see dark stains on the stone itself where beings bled. It makes my stomach turn, but when I close my eyes this room isn’t familiar enough to bring back memories. When I open my eyes again I notice there’s a large book propped up on a nearby table, and I turn to study that instead of the gruesome stone.
My eye widens. The words aren’t familiar at first, but when I start fanning through the pages, some of it makes sense. I thought at first glance it was a spellbook, but the parts that I can read speak of medicine.
I look back at the stone, reaching up to trace my missing eye. Healing. That’s laughable. He doesn’t truly believe that what he’s doing is healing, does he?
Glancing over my shoulder, Ray is focused on trying to open the gate to let Ban free. No one is paying me any attention as I grab the book, unsure if it’s even safe to carry around. As twisted as he was, Dima was familiar with a lot of magic. Maybe it’ll have something useful inside.
Turning, I pace around the cave. It’s unsettling how something once so beautiful has become twisted and wrong, warped into a nightmare since Dima turned this place into his own personal hellscape. The cage that I assumed was empty turned out to have some sort of animal inside, but from the smell as I step closer it’s been dead for a while. There’s resistance around the space the closer I get, and I think Dima put up some sort of barrier to contain the rancid smell. I press a hand over my nose, eyes watering at the smell. I’m surprised I didn’t notice it as we were walking through the caves, or once we stepped in here. Ray distracted me when he spotted Ban, and I’m finally noticing that the longer we’re in this area, the heavier the air feels. I think Dima’s magic is still in the air, like he cast a spell the last time he was here.
Shivering, I move on. The dead prisoners do me no good, but one lecherous Flowerborne stands at the bars of the next cage. The peony head is weird to look at, and the leaves that act as arms are a dull brown instead of green. I think it’s dying.
The face that peers at me is full of contempt as I step to the side and try to move past. “Bet I know what you’re looking for, Princess. A little birdie looking for a message?”
I tense at the nickname. Only Raymundo gets to call me that, and even if it’s by chance that the flower guessed the same name I don’t like it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
As I turn, the creature chuckles and makes me pause. The noise is unnatural in its throat, making it more of a gurgle. “No pool of blue for you?”
My eyes narrow. “You mean Swan Lake?”
He makes the gurgling noise again. “Not Swan Lake, little swan. Swanling.”
It’s like he purposefully emphasized “swan” as much as he could. Was he trying to tell me something or was the creature just being obstinate? I also don’t think a pool is going to help me with my problem, but the medicine book might. If it can’t lift a curse, maybe if I bring it to Rapunzel she can figure out a way to reattach my eye .
I shrug at him. “If Swanling exists I’ll find it on my own.”
The creature makes a clicking noise, which is eerie as it echoes in the caves. “If you look into the water, be sure you’re ready for what looks back.”
Frowning, I turn and hurry on. The other Flowerborne just leer at me, and I keep my head held high as I look around. There are a few smaller caves on the opposite side from the cage with Ban, but I’m not sure that I should stray too far. Even if Dima is dead, something could still be lurking here. The caves aren’t known for letting visitors go. I think it’s a stroke of fate that we found our way down here, and I’m afraid that luck won’t hold for the trip back.
I skate past the caves, but near the last one before I circle back to the cages I notice a faint glow. We’ve descended for most of this trip, so there shouldn’t be light or anything glowering this deep in the earth. I pause, staring down the dark path. I might have the pixie dust still in my hand, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.
The light has a blue tint, and I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a hint at water or at Dima’s magic. Wetting my lips, I almost turn back and call for Ray.
But when I look, he’s struggling to open the cage and save his friend. I want to help, but if two Reapers are stumped I’m not going to be stronger than either of them as a girl or as a swan.
And if I find the water, we can do whatever it is that we need to and get out of here. The caves give me the creeps.
Taking a deep breath, I start down the path deeper into the cave. Ray doesn’t call out to me, so I assume he hasn’t seen me. Surprisingly, I’m not worried about him finding me. If anyone is going to locate me down here in the dark, it’ll be a Reaper.