She continued to stare, her eyes shifting back and forth to regard me, to show a hint of hope that I might say something she wanted to hear.
“Do you know where all the demons sleep?”
“Yes, I think so. Why?”
“Couldn’t we just set them all on fire and hope they burn alive? The Malevolent are a bunch of stupid cattle, so…” Maybe that was more practical than the boats. “We barricade the front door…and they won’t be able to get out.”
“The Malevolent will stop us long before we make it that far. There’re so many of them…”
“Unless we make them follow us somewhere…and trap them.”
“Where?”
“I…I don’t know yet.” My mind started to rev like a race car, my thoughts moving at the speed of the vehicles on the autobahn. “But I’ll figure it out. We take out the demons, trap the Malevolent, and then we get the hell out of here.”
10
Constance
Beatrice’s room was identical to mine, except she had more amenities for Claire. They had a TV so she could watch cartoons and other kid programs, boxes of snacks, and other toys for her to play with. It was strange…that demons could be so hospitable.
I sat on the bed with Beatrice, Claire on the floor in front of the TV, playing with plastic horses.
Beatrice always possessed a lifelessness to her, the way Laura did, as if it grew on the walls like mold and infected the lungs. It took down one woman and then the next…filling them all with hopelessness.
I wanted to put up a façade for Claire, pretend everything was just fine, but she was almost always in the room, and I couldn’t wait around for her to doze off or take a bath every time. “I’ve been talking to Laura about finding a way out of here. I need to do some research, but…I’ll find something.”
Beatrice stared ahead blankly, as if she didn’t hear me at all.
“What are you going to do when we get out of here?”
She slowly turned to me, looking at me like I was a gnat in her face.
I needed to instill hope in the women if we had any chance of getting out of here. Talking about their hopes and dreams might help.
Not her, obviously.
“Okay, what would you do if you were out of here?”
“I’d be at the ballet, I suppose. I’m pretty sure today is Saturday.”
I’d lost track of time long ago.
“Do you enjoy ballet?”
“I used to. I’m getting a little old for it now.”
“You aren’t old. What are you talking about?”
“Say that to my feet. They look mangled, even after being here for a couple weeks.”
“I guess that’s one nice thing about being here…no toe shoes.”
The doors to my room opened, and footsteps sounded.
All three of us stopped what we were doing and looked.
Rebecca emerged into my view, her hands behind her back, displeased that the two of us were socializing. “Forneus calls for you.”
You mean, the Freak.
She raised her hand and gestured to the closet. “Your wings.”
I wanted to shove those wings up her ass. But I didn’t put up a fight and left the bed. “See you later.”
Claire watched me go, afraid that I’d end up incapacitated like last time.
I crossed into the other room, and Rebecca immediately shut the barrier between us.
I donned the white gown and wings, imagining what Forneus had in store for me tonight. If he offered that pill again, I’d refuse. It’d only been a week since the last time I took it, and I’d been so high out of my mind that I could have drowned myself without being aware of it happening.
Rebecca watched me, the constant look of displeasure on her face. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and her eyes were cloaked daggers. She wanted to stab me in the back the second I turned around.
I followed her out of the room and onto the grounds.
It was almost sunset, so the torches were lit, the light reflecting off the stone statues placed among the cabins. I looked at the surroundings differently now, gleaning as much information as possible.
Up the hill we went, moving farther into the settlement, past the cabins that had lights on in the windows, past the statues that grew more grotesque as we moved. The one on my left nearly made me stop.
A demon had an angel in its clutches, and his sharp teeth were bloody from the bite he’d taken out of her shoulder. Like a vampire…but worse. I halted and stared for a few seconds before I continued to my fate.
We reached the dark church where I always met Forneus, the building without windows.
“Is this where the Malevolent worship?”
Rebecca turned to me, her hands held together at her waist in a pose.
“You aren’t going to answer, are you?”
“Your demon awaits.”
“Yeah, whatever.” I opened the door and entered the darkness, my eyes needing thirty seconds before they could adjust to the low light from the sea of candles that were everywhere.