"I have absolutely no clue how I'm bringing myself here. I'd much rather be enjoying a night--day of peaceful sleep." I pointed out dryly, "And anything I've gotten myself into was you're doing. You're the Game Master."
I shifted on my feet and let out a sigh. It was different when he called on me, when he brought me to him. If the Game Master was telling the truth, and I suspected he was, why did I keep bringing myself to him? It made it hard to be sour about the whole thing, considering I was the one to blame. The attraction I felt towards him wasn't nearly enough to erase the suspicion and wariness, not to mention that I found him to be an ass half of the time.
"I am, aren't I?" He chuckled joyfully, proving my last point. His voice was playful, but always with that razor sharp edge of cunning. "I hate to burst your bubble, darling, but you are where you are because of you and you alone."
"Why does it sound like a horrible, dangerous thing when you say it?" I
The logic that carried me through the carved entryway to the door shop was that I was merely looking. There was no one forcing me to purchase anything, but the thought of stepping through a door and winning this game--it was tempting. I followed myself through, unable to help it as I analyzed the way I walked. It was unsettling, to see myself and speak to myself. "As you can see, I have doors for every occasion!" She grinned, which was even stranger. As she turned to face me, I noticed the necklace full of keys around her throat. They were all small keys, doll-sized as they hung from her neck like little diamonds. "Are those keys around your neck?" I asked, dumbfounded. "Obviously! You need a key to open a door." She cackled, as though I were the most clueless person she had ever met, which was odd considering she was me. Doors lined the room, all positioned upwards. Some were propped against the walls, while others had some sort of st
Thankfully, my fall was short lived. The nausea in my stomach flattened when I hit the ground. It was surprisingly soft, and whatever I had landed on managed to break my fall. I was hit with the bold scent of something sweet and tart. As I looked up at where I had fallen, I could distinctly see the door shaped opening in the sky, along with Aidan and that jagged grin on his face. "Don't mistake this as a favor, Rachel." He shook his head, his voice dim as it traveled to where I was on the ground. "I could have spared you from so much pain. Instead, I think I'll shove you headfirst into it." Feeling the crunch of something beneath my body, I pushed myself up and onto my feet. Where I had landed were a bunch of horribly crushed flowers. Dark as midnight with thick stalks and billowing petals, the scent of them permeated the little clearing I was in. I was relieved to see the torchlights surrounding me, lining the one lane road that sat nearly ten feet away. Tog
Down the Levidan you spiral, where truth is poison, so painful and vile. Remain sound of mind, and watch your step. The prisoners beneath the earth can hear your every breath. It played on repeat, sung by withered voices that coiled in my ears and silenced my thoughts. Notes of pain and bitterness, betrayal and rage. They were laced within the words, within the stones embedded into the walls that scraped my fingertips as I fell. Faces flashed behind my eyes, youthful versions of Nadia and Callum. The Game Master was there as well, but even past versions of himself were blurred. Nadia's curse hadn't just spanned the future, but it had also obscured his past. The three of them had always been close, laughing and playing together the moment they could wobble on two legs. My eyes rolled and fluttered as the light and images continued flipping through my head like a photo album. One image stood out among the others,
It wasn't his looks that made me tear my hands from his and stumble back, even though they had rendered me completely speechless.It was the sensation I had only heard about from word of mouth, by people who experienced it differently each time. Some described it as a gradual feeling of bliss, creeping up before smothering you entirely. Others described it as a rush of emotion and feeling, though that wasn't what I was experiencing at the moment.Ice and heat washed through me, starting at my hands where they had touched his. During those long seconds where my hands remained in his grasp, I could feel the magic I now had rising up, shimmering like rays of sunlight as they fought to reach his darkness. I had felt the Game Master's magic rise up in response, sucking the air from the room and making my chest feel heavy.What made me pull back ungracefully, was how incredible it felt. Every nerve ending was seared by heat, covered in velvety darkness that felt all t
‘When he said specific, he definitely meant it.’ I grimaced, trying not to inhale deeply when the intoxicating scent of black cherries mixed with something rich and purely male flooded my senses. I clearly hadn’t experienced his scent before, because I surely would have remembered how it made me weak at the knee’s, my mouth watering for something—something I couldn’t put my finger on. The first time I had been here, during that memory with Apollo and Day, I hadn’t had time to truly look around. His room, though similar in size and layout to my own, was covered in shades of ivory and obsidian. Darkness clung to the corners of the room, lingering in heavy shadows, despite the fact that sunlight streamed in from all corners. His also looked much more lived in, with papers and books scattered across the table, and various items on a dresser beside his bed. It was one of those items that caught my attention. A box of pure obsidian, the ston
I had little experience in all things related to boys, and even less when it came to men. Everything I learned had been from growing up alongside Aidan. Knowing all of the other children in town made it difficult to develop any lasting crushes. Especially when we all knew from a young age that most of our mates would be out in the world, living lives of their own. It was his face I memorized during my pre-teen years, over analyzing the small gestures he made that showed his true feelings. Holding open a door, bringing me small gifts to school; it was those things Aidan did that let me know our friendship was turning into something else. Aidan was straight forward, telling me his feelings mere moments after he discovered them himself. We were just starting high school, on our daily walk home when he finally gave in and told me what was bothering him. He had been quiet all day, still walking me to and from class, but with a thoughtful expression on his
My heart was a stuttering mess as I jogged to keep up after the Game Master. I made no move to have him slow down, in just as much a hurry to see what it was he did not want to show me. The look on his face, the worry and irritation--I wondered what the source had been, and my curiosity only grew with each twist and turn we made through the castle. I almost stumbled into him when he stopped abruptly, turning towards a set of wooden doors. They were ordinary compared to some others I had seen, but what was inside, that was what picked at the corners of my brain. The Game Master placed his hand on the curved metal handle and paused, looking back at me with guarded eyes. "You must understand why I didn't tell you--" He began, but I heard a voice call out from the other side of the door. "Rachel?!" Aidan's voice, raspy from shouting and full of desperation, sounded from behind the door. I knew without a doubt that it was Aidan I was hearin
I turned towards the Game Master, a question burning in my eyes, one that would have singlehandedly changed the way I felt about him...if I hadn't been carrying a secret of my own.His eyes met mine, making my stomach both drop and flutter. They were unapologetic and strong, framed by dark lashes and arched eyebrows.He didn't need to use words to confirm what Aidan was saying, not when his eyes held a whirlpool of stars in their depths that shifted and changed whenever he didn't bother concealing his emotions.Embarrassment washed through me, searing hot to the touch as my face and neck flushed a crude shade of red. I clenched my fists at my side, hating the way he just stood there, all but agreeing to his motives from the start.What I hated more was how I couldn't say the words. Even though pain rippled across my skin and embarrassment stung my insides, I couldn't make myself reject him."I can't stay here, Rachel. She can use me to hurt you." A