Kate Brian - Endless

“Right. And how am I supposed to know that for sure, exactly?” he asked. “How do I know you’re not just making this up?”

Now I glared at Krista. It was way past time for her to speak up. But she just looked at me, her blue eyes wide like a startled rabbit’s.

“Tell him, Krista!” I demanded. “Tell him what you heard.”

Krista looked at the ground. “He said that if we opened the door, the innocents would be released,” she mumbled. “But I don’t get why it has to be you, Rory!” she whined, suddenly full of life. “Can’t we send one of the older Lifers over? Someone who doesn’t have friends or a family or—”

“We don’t have time to start looking for a willing guinea pig!” I interjected. “Don’t you get it? It’s my family in there. My best friend. We have to do this now.”

A few of the other guys heard this and started to whisper, looking at us with a new sort of respect. Possibly awe.

Suddenly, Krista’s face hardened into a sort of resolute mask of fear. “Fine. Then I’m coming with you.”

“What?” Fisher, Kevin, and I said as one.

Krista cleared her throat and spoke up. “There’s no way I’m going to stay back here and explain to Tristan how I let her go alone,” she said. “Dealing with the fallout from that would be way worse than anything the Shadowlands has to offer.”

“Wow, Krista. I’m impressed,” Fisher said, looking her up and down.

Krista lifted her shoulders. “She’s my best friend. Like my sister. If she goes, I guess I have to go.”

Kevin turned his back to us and murmured something in Fisher’s ear. Then Fisher turned his back on us, and the two of them got into it, whisper-fighting something fierce until Fisher finally shouted, “Fine!”

I felt Krista tense up. “Fine what?” I asked.

“Fine, you guys can go. But I’m coming with you. Safety in numbers, right?”

He stepped aside, forming a hole in the line between him and Kevin. The bridge loomed before us, the steel girders seeming huge at the foot of the bridge before they tapered up and disappeared inside the swirling gray mist. My throat went dry, and the mixture of fear and adrenaline coursing through me made my head swim. But I forced myself to walk toward the seam where the muddy road met the steel ramp, and I didn’t look back, though I could hear Krista and Fisher behind me.

I stopped in front of the wall of mist. Eighteen paces and I’d see Darcy again. Eighteen paces and I’d have my dad back. And Aaron and Jennifer and everyone else who was needlessly suffering. Fisher stepped up to my left, Krista to my right.

“I should warn you guys, it’s not pleasant in there,” I said. “There are voices. Whispers. And something kept trying to grab me. I don’t know who or what, but…it wasn’t fun.”

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Krista said.

“Don’t worry,” Fisher told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I got your back.”

I took a deep breath. “Ready?”

Fisher looked over his shoulder and gave Kevin a nod. Kevin lifted his walkie to his lips and spoke. “Joaquin. Come in, Joaquin. Rory, Krista, and Fish are going over the bridge. They say they know how to open the portal to the Shadowlands. You might want to get your ass up here.”

“Fisher!” Krista and I scolded.

Fisher shrugged. “You don’t go into battle without backup. Now, let’s go rescue my girlfriend.”

And then he took the first step into the mist. I clenched my teeth and followed him, knowing that Joaquin and possibly Tristan—if he could get away—were already on their way here, but it didn’t matter anymore. This wasn’t going to take long. By the time he got here, it would all be over.

The second the fog enveloped me, I was alone. Fisher should have been dead ahead, Krista to my right, but I couldn’t see either one of them. Then, suddenly, a hand closed around mine and Krista reappeared. She smiled wanly and I smiled back.

“Here goes.”

Together, we began to count our steps.

“One…two…three…”

The whispers began.

“…she’s brought a friend…”

“…pretty, pretty…”

“…bite the toes off one by one…”

Krista’s grip on my hand tightened. Fear coursed through me, pulsating through my veins, my temples, my wrists, my heart, but I knew I couldn’t stop. Darcy was depending on me. My dad and Aaron needed me. I imagined their faces, their smiles, their eyes, and kept walking. I’d survived this once before. I could survive it again. For them.

“Four…five…”

A cold finger swept along my cheek. Krista yelped and swatted at the back of her neck.

“What was that?” she whined.

“It’s nothing. It’s just messing with us,” I told her, willing the terror out of my voice.

“ What’s messing with us?” Her grip on my hand was like a vice.

“The bridge,” I said through my teeth. “Just keep going. We’re almost there.”

“Six…seven…eight…” I counted on my own this time.

“…still so clueless…”

“…doesn’t know what she’s…”

“…dark as pitch, that one…”

“Rory?” Krista mewled, looking over her shoulder at nothing. “This was a bad idea. I wanna go. Let’s go, okay? Please?”

Then she screeched again, and I saw her hair rise up behind her, some invisible thing in the mist pulling at its matted strands.

“Oh my god,” she whined, her breath broken. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my—”

“There’s nothing there,” I promised her. “Keep moving.”

“Nine…ten…”

The mist to my left swirled, then started to pulse. In and out. In and out. As if someone was standing just inches away, breathing. Watching. Krista held my hand with both of hers now, pulling me awkwardly against her side.

“Fisher?” I whispered.

The response was a laugh so dark and evil it couldn’t have belonged to a human being. At least not a living one. My brain went momentarily fuzzy, and I was sure I was about to pass out from the fear. But Krista clung to my side, steadying me with her terror and forcing me to be the brave one. I knew I couldn’t go down. If I went down, all was lost.

“You don’t need them. Your family. You don’t,” Krista whispered furtively, staring at the pulsating mist. “You’ve got me now. And Tristan, Joaquin. Darcy and your dad were going to move on anyway, right? Why don’t you just let it go? Just let it go so we can get the hell out of here?”

I clenched my teeth and ignored her. I had to. If I listened to what she was saying I was going to punch her in the face. I turned and kept walking, now dragging Krista with me.

“Thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…sixteen.”

“Nonononononono,” Krista babbled, shaking her head. “No, please. No.”

“…come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“…never ever thought it would end this way…”

“…closer, dearie, just a little closer…”

A bony finger swiped my ear from top to bottom, tucking stray hairs behind it. I felt a chill down my back and almost squealed. Krista planted her feet and leaned backward, doing her best to root me to the spot. Luckily, I was stronger. I closed my eyes and took the last two steps, yanking on her arm.

“Seventeen,” I said. “Eighteen.”

We stopped. Krista shook from head to foot. I could hear her teeth chattering. I gathered every bit of courage I had left within me, my heart pounding so hard I could feel little else, and turned to the left. There was no sign of Fisher. Whatever he thought he might save us from, it wasn’t going to happen. We were on our own. Hopefully he’d just keep walking and find himself right back where he’d started, as I had two days ago.