Cliffhanger Castle

Castled: Chapter 4

Castled - by Carla Chidiac (UnbrokenWorld)

Austen leaped backwards, throwing his hands up to defend himself against whoever—whatever—was attacking them. Tiffany screamed. Something, most likely her cell phone, clattered to the floor.

"What is it? Did you see that?" She sounded panicked.

Austen's eyes darted around wildly, trying to make out shapes or patterns or anything, but it was pitch black. He might as well have been blind.

He stood frozen in place, hands clenched, heart pounding like a jackhammer against his ribcage. Next to him Tiffany breathed in rapid, shallow gasps. "Austen, what's happening?"

"I-I don't know?"

"Do you feel that?

"What?"

"It's freezing in here."

Austen was a little preoccupied to be thinking about the temperature of the room. He was more focused on whatever that... that thing was that had attacked them. He was preparing himself for a fight, like when he would kick zombie butt in one of his games.

However, now that Tiffany had mentioned it, he realized his fingertips were painfully cold. Like a million tiny icicles stabbing into his flesh. The sensation spread from his fingers and up his arms, causing his skin to tingle and go numb. Icy tendrils worked their way across his chest, constricting his diaphragm, squeezing his ribs.

Tiffany whimpered in terror. He wanted to say something, reassure her in some way, but he wasn't even sure he could speak at all. Once, when they were kids, Tiffany had dared Austen to lick a metal pole in the dead of winter, causing his tongue to instantly fuse onto the frigid surface. The walls of this throat now seemed fused together in the exact same way.

What was going on here? Even the air itself seemed to be acting strangely. Austen felt like his head was being compressed by the atmosphere. His ears popped. The walls groaned like the house was about to cave in on itself.

Pushing his fear aside, Austen forced himself to move. He lurched his way across the floor—his legs felt like two gigantic blocks of ice—hands outstretched. He stumbled blindly into the wall and scrambled around for a lamp or a light switch. His numb fingers slid across freezing cold glass. He groped at what felt like metal columns, which he did not remember seeing earlier, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. Then, finally...

Yes!

He found what he was looking for and light flooded into the room. There was a deafening, shuddering groan from the walls, a surge of cold air that blew his hair back and stung his eyes, then everything went still and quiet.

Austen blinked in the sudden brightness. Shivering set in as warmth returned to his body. He did a rapid scan of the room, searching for the hooded figure that had jumped out at them, heart pounding at the back of his throat.

There was no hooded figure. The room was empty except for him and Tiffany

But... something had changed. Their surroundings looked completely different. It barely resembled the place they had walked into only moments earlier. Gone were the strange, shapeless lumps that had littered the floor. The coating of dust and cobwebs that had clung to every surface.

Now the floor was smooth, polished marble, shimmering under the light of a dozen crystal chandeliers. The mirrors were still in place, casting reflections of Austen and Tiffany in every direction, only now they were framed by huge golden archways inlaid with intricate designs of flowers and creepy little cherubs.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing here?" Tiffany said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah, I think so."

There was a long pause in which the cavernous room seemed to grow even bigger, the walls expanding and the curved ceiling stretching on into infinity. When Tiffany spoke again, her words seemed half-swallowed by all the empty space.

"This is the freakiest thing that's ever happened to me in my life."

"Yeah..." was all Austen seemed able to say.

"I mean, those archways weren't there before, were they? I'm not going crazy am I?"

"No, you're not." Although Austen wasn't entirely sure he wasn't the one going crazy.

"It looks a little more like a ballroom now, doesn't it?" Tiffany said in a distant, bewildered sort of way.

"Or the hall of mirrors."

"The what?"

"It's part of this big, old palace in France."

"And what, exactly, would a French palace be doing around here?"

"Beats me."

Tiffany shivered. Goosebumps pebbled her exposed skin. "Austin, let's just get out of here."

"We haven't found my sister yet."

"What? Are you kidding me? Are you seeing the same freakiness that I am right now? Something isn't right here. We need help. You said it yourself."

"You can go if you want. Call your Dad. Send a search party or whatever. I'm not leaving without Rhea."

He saw a big, ornate doorway up ahead. He didn't know if it would open. Didn't know what things would look like on the other side. But, he knew his sister was out there somewhere, and that was more important than his fear, his confusion, or any of the bizarre things going on around them.

"Come on, Tiff," he said, using the nickname he hadn't called her since they were kids. He led the way, trying to appear brave, though he was shaking like a leaf, dreading what they would encounter next.