Page 23 of Immortal Consequences (The Souls of Blackwood Academy #1)

Wren

The dreams came to her in rotten berries and bloated corpses.

In blue skin stretched taut over rigid muscle and the iron scent of blood.

When the nightmares took over like this, there was no stopping them.

She could only sit back and watch them unfold, helplessly stuck within the confines of her mind.

Open your eyes, Wren.

The headlights beaming against the cold asphalt. Blood filling her lungs. Her mouth.

Come back.

The hand lying still beside her. Purple nail polish. It was her favorite.

Please don’t leave me.

And then something snatched her out of the nightmare, back into her body, and she awoke in her bed, staring up at two figures looming over her. She could barely register their bodies, let alone their faces, but somehow she knew this wasn’t part of the dream.

This was real.

She opened her mouth to scream, but one of the figures slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling the sound.

A warm pressure sprouted through her body and she began to slip in and out of consciousness.

One moment she was in her bedroom, writhing and screaming beneath their grasp, and the next she was being carried down a corridor, the flicker of candlelight brushing against her eyelids.

“Did you get the two at Holsterd?”

“I believe Marigold took them.”

“We should probably make sure that—” The voice went quiet. “Damn. I think she’s awake.”

And then she slipped away once more.

Wren awoke to the smell of dirt, her cheek pressed against something soft and damp. An eerie creaking sound fluttered in the wind, like an old house moving and swaying during a storm.

Her eyelids fluttered open. Consciousness swept over her slowly. It wasn’t until she sat up that she realized she was lying on dirt, her knees pressed firmly into the damp ground.

A large, imposing hedge surrounded her. The ground coated in dead leaves and a tangle of vines. As Wren struggled to get on her feet, it dawned on her that the hedge seemed to stretch out in every direction, curving away toward various paths, shrouded in opaque shadows.

A cold shudder ran through her. This wasn’t just a hedge.

It was a maze.

“Hello?”

Something told her that even if there was somebody nearby, there was no way for them to hear her.

And though Wren felt completely and utterly alone, like she was thousands of miles away from Blackwood, she also couldn’t help but feel as though she was being watched.

An unseen presence looming in the darkness.

The maze seemed to lean closer with every passing second, as if it were growing, preparing to strike. She beckoned a glowing sphere into her palm, illuminating the graveled path beneath her feet.

In front of her was a fork in the maze, with two visible paths.

Left or right.

She hadn’t the faintest idea. But what she did know was that she couldn’t simply stand there for the rest of the night.

So…with a sharp intake of breath, she began to walk forward.

Leaves crumbled beneath her bare feet as she took tentative steps toward the place where the paths diverged, the sphere of light bouncing up and down in her palm.

She had to make a choice.

Left it is.

The path was dark and narrow, sharp branches protruding from the hedge. Every few seconds, she swore she heard something rustling just behind her, or maybe in front of her, but when she swung her light toward the noise, there was never anything there.

She had taken another left turn when something came hurtling through the darkness.

There was a flurry of movement. A startled gasp.

Wren stumbled backward as whatever it was smacked her hard in the center of her chest. A brief moment of confusion disrupted her senses as she regained her balance, hands frantically reaching out to take hold of whatever had bumped into her.

And that was when she spotted the familiar face looking back at her.

“Masika?”

Before Wren could say anything else, Masika dove behind her, slapping a hand over her mouth, and pushed her to the ground. Wren let out a muffled scream and writhed against Masika’s arms in an attempt to break free.

“Shh.” Masika tightened her grip. “Please. Be quiet.”

The desperation in her voice startled Wren into silence. Before she could ask Masika what had happened, a strange whistle began to echo in the distance. It grew in intensity with every passing second, until the sound was so loud that it rattled the leaves dangling from the branches.

The hairs on the back of Wren’s neck rose in warning.

A set of bony, translucent fingers wrapped around the edge of the hedge, one finger emerging at a time, long and crooked.

The hand was a sickly shade of white, light blue veins visible through the thin skin, which was coated in blistering sores.

An eye appeared. And then another. And another.

Until a face full of red, grotesque eyes stared back at them, the eyes emerging from the hedge one by one.

The creature stood at a terrifying height, nearly taller than the hedges themselves, and had long, slender limbs with pointed claws. Wren counted eight eyes in total—eight bloodred eyes glancing around in different directions.

She was certain it must have seen them, that there was no conceivable way it hadn’t noticed them crouched only a few yards off, but then she realized Masika had thrown her hand up, a golden sphere sprouting from her palm.

A cloaking enchantment.

They were invisible.

Wren held her breath as the creature stalked forward, its limbs cracking, each movement sickly and wrong. Though it couldn’t see them, the creature paused only a few feet from where they were hunched on the ground and sniffed the air.

They waited, the two of them not daring to breathe, not daring to utter a single word. And then the creature turned away, retreating down the path until it turned the corner and vanished into the darkness.

A few terrifying seconds of silence passed, nothing but the faint howl of the wind around them. Once it was clear the creature wasn’t coming back, Masika dropped her hand and Wren gasped in a strangled breath.

“What the hell was that?” she choked out.

“I have no idea.” Masika wiped her hands on her nightgown. She had clearly been snatched from her bed as well. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I…I remember getting to my room after being at Olivier’s.” Wren racked her brain, carefully skipping over the painful memories of her conversation with August. “I fell asleep. And then there were two figures hovering over my bed. I think…I think they sedated me.”

Masika crossed her arms. “Come on, Wren. Think. ”

Wren’s breath hitched in her throat as the realization sank its claws into her chest. “No. It can’t be…Silas said we’d receive a letter. He said we would—”

“He lied,” Masika interjected. “ This is the Decennial. This is the first trial.”

They stood there for a moment, eyes drilling into one another.

And then Wren asked the question she assumed they both were thinking. “Well…now what do we do?”

Masika pointed forward, into the darkness stretching endlessly in front of them.

“Now…we keep moving.”

Wren was beginning to lose her patience. It felt as though they had been walking for hours, each sharp turn sending them straight into another narrow path, endlessly walking through the tangle of vegetation and prickly branches.

“I’m not saying your advice to keep moving wasn’t sensible,” Wren huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “but perhaps it’s time we consider some sort of alternative plan.”

Masika rolled her eyes, swatting away a vine that had begun to coil itself around her shoulder. “Well, go ahead. I’m all ears.”

“We could try relocating—”

“Already tried that,” Masika interjected. “There’s a spacial barrier around the maze.”

“Dammit.”

“If we had a weapon we could try to hack our way through, but…” Masika gestured to her nightgown. “I’m not exactly hiding a dagger under here.”

Wren chuckled grimly. Of course. The one night she decided not to sleep with her dagger nearby was the one night she desperately needed it.

“Well, maybe we should rest,” she suggested. “That way we can properly brainstorm a plan.”

Wren wasn’t entirely sure why, but Masika seemed instantly rattled by Wren’s suggestion, her eyes darkening.

“No.” She shook her head. “We shouldn’t stop. There’s no telling what else is out there.”

There was something strange in the tone of her voice, a haunted quality.

Wren took a chance.

“Did you…see something?”

Masika’s eyes snapped in her direction. She opened and closed her mouth, as though she was battling her own instincts, torn between the desire to confide in Wren and her proclivity for secrecy.

“I…” Masika hesitated, anxiously picking at her thumb. “I thought I saw Irene earlier, but…it wasn’t her. Not really.”

Wren stepped closer. “What do you mean?”

“The maze”—Masika looked around warily—“it tricks you. Makes you see things.”

“Like what?”

Masika opened and closed her mouth once more, a sharp exhale flaring her nostrils. “Nothing. It’s not important.”

Wren placed a tentative hand on Masika’s shoulder. To her relief, the other girl didn’t back away.

“It’s okay. You can tell me.”

Masika seemed to be on the precipice of answering when they turned the corner and crashed straight into another body. A chorus of screams pierced the night as the three of them jolted away from one another, hands outstretched, prepared for a fight.

It wasn’t until Masika stepped forward and said the girl’s name out loud that Wren realized she also recognized her.

“Liza!” Masika gasped, hand splayed across her chest. “You scared us. I thought you were—” Her words were suddenly cut short as she properly took in Liza’s appearance. “What is it? Are you all right?”

The girl looked far from all right. Liza’s glasses sat crooked on the bridge of her nose, a large crack splitting one lens.

Sweat drenched her hair, her bangs sticking to her forehead in damp strands.

Most noticeable of all was how exhausted she looked.

Her skin leached of color. Her lips almost purple.

“Don’t get any closer!” Liza stumbled backward, eyes frantically darting between them. “Are the—are the two of you real?”

Wren tilted her head in confusion. “Of course we’re real. ”

Masika approached her slowly. “Liza. Calm down. I promise you’re safe. Just…tell us what happened.”

Liza trembled as she steadied her breathing. She still seemed prepared to pounce at any second, but the terror in her eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a tentative look of surrender.

“I saw…things.” Her voice wavered as she struggled to get the words out. “Things that shouldn’t have been real. I saw…another me. But it wasn’t me. Her teeth were black. And her eyes…” A whimper fought its way up her throat and she clamped a shaking hand over her mouth.

“Hey. It’s okay.” Masika went to grab Liza by the shoulders, but she flinched, cowering back. “This is just part of the Decennial. Everything you see…all of it is just a test. It’s not real.”

“It knew things about me,” Liza whimpered. It was like she couldn’t hear what Masika was saying, trapped within a separate maze of her own thoughts. “Things nobody knows. Things only I could ever know.”

Wren grabbed Masika by the elbow. It was meant to be a subtle gesture. A silent communication.

We have to keep moving.

“Look. I know you’re scared, but I promise you’ll be safer if you come with us,” Masika insisted, shaking Wren off. “We can help each other finish the trial.”

Liza winced in fear, stumbling backward. “N–no…I won’t…I won’t go back there. It’s going to find me.” Her voice cracked as another sob rattled her chest. “It knew things about my old life…things I’ve done…things…”

Wren leaned in toward Masika and whispered in her ear. “Masika…I think she’s lost it…”

“Just give her a—”

Masika froze. She was staring at something behind Liza, something lurking in the darkness. Wren followed her gaze, eyes trailing higher…and higher…until they landed on the same spot she was looking at.

No.

It was the same creature as before. Clumps of congealed blood dripped from its hands, oozing out of its mouth in thick streams.

“Liza…” Masika whispered her name, voice wavering. Wren could tell she was attempting to mask her terror with a reassuring smile. “I need you to listen to me carefully, okay? I need you to keep your eyes on me…and I need you to run. ”

Liza blinked. For a moment, she looked normal again. Clarity washing over her.

Instantly, Wren knew what she was about to do.

She stepped forward. “Don’t—”

But it was too late. Liza glanced over her shoulder, her gaze drifting right toward the creature, which stood only a few yards in the distance. A terrifying second stretched out before them.

And then Liza’s scream split the night.

There was no time to think. No time to properly react. The creature pounced at the sound of her voice, hurtling toward her at an impressive speed. Its long, crooked limbs moved like a spider’s, each joint cracking with a loud pop as it sprang from the darkness and bolted toward them.

Wren started running, hand clamped tightly around Masika’s wrist. She prayed the other girl would follow them, but as they moved, Liza remained motionless, lingering behind them until she was lost within the chaos.

They reached a fork in the path.

Masika locked eyes with Wren. “Left!”

Wren nodded, determination propelling her forward.

But just as she was about to curve toward the left, following Masika’s path, Wren felt something slither over her body, tightening around her torso. She glanced down, panicked, and spotted a set of vines wrapped around her waist.

She didn’t even have time to scream before the hedge swallowed her whole.