“Rafe?” Ani breathed, crawling in the direction of his voice.
She heard chains dragging across the floor, along with his harsh breaths. “Ani, thank God.”
Her hands ran into another set of bars between their cages, but she reached through the gaps, searching for his form in the dark until his hand caught hers. She held on tight. “How are you here?”
“I heard you scream,” he whispered, his voice closer. “I saw you, and then you were gone. And, now I’m here...how did I get here?”
Ani frowned. “You saw me? Did you see the masked figures?”
“I did.”
“Dreamers?”
“I don’t see who else it could be,” he replied bitterly.
She shook her head in the dark, unable to fathom the reach of the Dreamers. Rafe followed the sound of her scream, yet she never recalled letting one out in her struggle. They were both caught off guard, ambushed, and now trapped. “What’s happening, Rafe? Last night, in the cave, and now this. They’re two steps ahead of us, and we’re sitting here like fools in the middle of something we don’t even understand yet.”
She felt him squeeze her hand. “I know, but don’t worry. I’m getting us out of here.” He pulled away from her touch, and his chains clinked loudly throughout the space. The bars rattled, shaking the ground, and she heard Rafe hiss in pain.
“What is it?” she cried. “Is it your wound?”
His heavy breaths were grave. “I’m fine.”
He sounded far from fine. “Stop doing that. You’re not doing us any favors hurting yourself further.”
He grunted, moving back over to her by the bars. “Is it just us in here?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she murmured, looking around the pitch black. “For all we know, there could be hundreds of unconscious bodies in here.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. Go to the other sides. See if you can feel anyone else.”
Crawling as far as her chains allowed her, she felt her way around the darkness, reaching through the bars and listening for sounds of breathing. Rafe was all she heard. “I think we’re alone.”
“Seems like it,” he responded in dismay. “I had my comrades with me at The Hollow. I don’t know what happened to them. A part of me is glad they’re not here, but the other fears they met a worse fate.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” she reassured him, not quite believing her own words but wanting to soothe the anxiety she could imagine eating away at him. “Knowing my luck, we’re the ones with the short end. I’m just sorry I dragged you into it.”
They naturally found their way back to each other by the bars. Rafe exhaled in amusement. “It’s not you, sweetheart. I’m the one always chasing.”
“You do have a way of finding me.”
He chuckled in the dark, his hand finding hers again. She gratefully grasped it, holding onto the only thing easing the fear waiting in the back of her mind, ready to rip herself apart the moment she allowed it to take over. Just last night, they were at each other’s throats, but now his company was a relief. How strange that the masked stranger from the cave had changed into a companion she relied on in this darkness.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she admitted softly. “It’s a horrible thing to think, but a part of me is thankful I’m not alone.”
“I’m glad you’re not alone in here either,” he muttered. “Watching them take you away was terrifying.”
“Something is moving us, Rafe. Whether it’s a divine force or a phantom or the Dreamers, I can’t help but think we’re puppets on a string, dancing to their tune.”
Rafe stayed silent for a while, thinking. “Can you tell me what happened last night in the cave?”
She sighed. “You’ll be very disappointed to know that I have no idea.”
“Oh, come on. You have to have at least an inkling.”
As a habit she’d accumulated throughout the past few months, she reached for the stone necklace that wasn’t there anymore. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
“Most likely,” he said with a smirk in his voice. “But it doesn’t matter what I think. It’ll be your truth.”
Ani tilted her head, recalling a very similar phrase she had heard recently. “You remind me of someone I know.”
“Someone devastatingly good-looking, I hope.”
She laughed. “It’s more annoying how good he looks.”
“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you laugh."
“Well, our encounters haven’t exactly been the most amusing.”
Rafe gripped her fingers. “You’re right about that. But, I'm curious to see what your smile would look like.”
“Only if I get to see your eyes,” she countered.
“One day,” he smirked. “Now tell me what happened.”
Her face falling, she pondered whether she should tell him the real truth. It was a vulnerable thing, and that alone was enough to encourage her from building her walls again and hiding away there. That’s what Helene would do.
But, perhaps there was a certain freedom in the mask of darkness. In the blackness where she couldn’t see him, it was uncomplicated — like talking to herself. And on her way to The Hollow, she was already determined to open herself up enough to ask for help. There was no way she could figure it all out on her own. Not when she feared it was her own self they were fighting against.
“When I saw that Dreamer coming for you again, I prayed for someone to help us. Whether it was to God or anyone who could listen, I’m not sure. I just remember the desperation to get us out of there alive. Then the fire and the phantom came.”
“The phantom?” Rafe asked softly, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand in encouragement.
“That’s what I’ve been calling it,” she distantly replied, thinking back to the abyss. “I fear something…or someone…lives in me.”
“I see,” he whispered, unable to find the words to respond to something like that. She didn’t blame him. What could he possibly say?
“I’m sorry, Rafe,” she breathed. “This all started with me. I brought the darkness, didn’t I?”
“Do you want to know why I run around, doing all this, in a mask?”
Although sudden, it was a topic she far preferred than the remorse she suddenly felt. She nodded wordlessly, even though he wouldn’t be able to see her in their unlit prison. Either way, he started talking.
“Theolos has been rotting from within. The corruption and elitism of this Empire grows dire each day, and the Imperial Family doesn’t do a thing about it. Not if it hinders their political gain.”
Ani heard the acidity in his voice, and she was captivated.
“I’m actually a man of some status and power — enough where you would think you could do something worthwhile with it. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If we have the privilege, it should be easier to make a better difference. But it’s more crooked than that. It’s the corruption, the rules, the damn image to uphold that holds it all back. So, I put on a mask and decided to take things into my own hands. I couldn’t do a thing in the daylight, but when darkness fell, I was someone else. Someone who didn’t have to think about the politics or my duties or my conscience. There’s a virus running through the Empire like a contagious disease. I wanted to eliminate it. Freely.”
She held her breath, his words reminding her of what Lord Edward had once said about true freedom. It seemed that Rafe was a noble, someone who also understood the same suffocation. They were on top of the world, yet none of them were free.
“You didn’t bring the darkness, Ani. It’s always existed. If there’s anything you did, you helped expose it,” he continued.
She leaned her head against the bars, feeling him incline his own towards her as well. “You don’t understand. I’m part of that darkness. I have depraved thoughts, desires, impulses. Whatever is out there…it doesn’t scare me more than what I know breathes within me — something wicked just waiting to explode,” she whispered.
They were words she never would have uttered, but the anonymity of the shadows inspired her courage. Rafe didn’t know who she was. He knew one of her names and a brief glimpse into what she was looking for, but he didn’t know Helene or the depths of who Ani was. And, she didn’t know him. It was that comfort — knowing in the end they would depart as strangers just as they had met — that allowed her to speak.
“There’s something wicked in all of us, Ani. You’re not alone.”
She turned her head, feeling his skin against her bare, unmasked cheek through the gaps. Her first impulse was to argue with him, but in this dark cage, for just a few seconds, she wanted to bask in the solace of his words. She felt him reach through and caress her face with the tips of his fingers.
“You’re not alone,” he repeated.
They were the last words of warmth she heard before the air frosted over and a door slammed open.
Comments (0)
See all