The House By The River

Chapter Three

The girls' mesmerized silence was abruptly stopped by the scream. Aoife, Kat, Nessa and Alex all turned to Zoe. Her face was chalk white as she stared down at her left hand. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. Aoife glanced down at her friend's hand and gasped. A long bronze knife was protruding from it, fresh, hot blood flowing from the open wound and filling the grooves carved into the floor.

"Zoe... Oh, my God." Aoife murmured, placing her arm around Zoe's shoulders and turning her head to face the doorway. But blocking the doorway was the tallest, burliest man Aoife had ever seen. He had long black hair in a wild tangle around his deeply tanned face and the same amber eyes as the boy they'd seen downstairs. Scars covered his skin like spiderwebs. In his right hand, he held a knife identical to the one pinning Zoe's hand to the floor. A wave of anger flooded Aoife, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She stood up, her hands shaking with rage, and loaded her bow. The man raised his hand and looked ready to throw his second knife, but Nessa intercepted. She drew one of her spears and drove in through the man's right hand.

"That's for hurting my friend!" she yelled as the man's knife fell to the floor with a clatter. The man bellowed in rage. His veins blackened and his amber eyes turned bright yellow as he lunged at Kat, who was easing the knife out of Zoe's hand.

"Kat, look out!" Alex screamed, and Kat turned around just in time to throw herself at the floor. The man went flying over Kat's head and crashed into a bookcase. Zoe groaned in agony as she tried to pull the knife the rest of the way out of her hand with her uninjured hand shaking. Kat got back up and removed Zoe's uninjured hand from the knife.

"You'll just make it worse." she said softly, trying to keep her hands from shaking as she continued to prise the blade from Zoe's hand.

"If you pull it out, you'll need a compress." a soft voice said from the doorway. The girls turned towards the sound of the voice and saw the boy they'd seen downstairs. His eyes were still ringed with red from crying. He walked over to Zoe and placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

"Will you please tell us who you are?" Kat asked him as he tore a chunk out of his t-shirt and folded it until it was just big enough that he could place it on the palm of Zoe's hand, covering the wound on that side, and wrap it around onto the back of it to place it over the opening when the knife was removed.

"My name is Blaez." he said softly as he gripped the knife and pulled it until it came out of Zoe's hand. He quickly pressed the fabric against the open wound. "My creator is Filtiarn." he added solemnly, pointing at the man who had attacked them. He was, at that moment in time, unconscious with a pile of hard-back books on his head.

"And the carving on the floor is what, exactly?" Kat asked, and Blaez shook his head.

"You don't want to know. Anyone who passes through the doorway it opens is lost forever." he said, and a sort of sad, wistful smile appeared on his face.

"Did someone you know go through?" Nessa questioned, and Blaez's amber eyes filled with tears. He nodded, biting his lip. Zoe placed her uninjured hand on his leg reassuringly.

"My sister, Cana. She was nine. Her friend Hollie went through, and she followed. I came looking for them, and I found a note Cana wrote before she went." he whispered, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. "There was blood in the grooves of the carving." Zoe wrapped her arms around him as he cried. Nessa smirked at the exchange, muttering something about young love. The group staying silence for a couple of minutes, the only sounds in the room were Blaez's sobs. Until they heard movement from under the pile of books. Nessa strode over and placed her spear directly over Filtiarn's body. Alex and Kat each pulled out a knife. Aoife loaded her bow. Zoe lifted a knife with a shaking hand. Blaez crouched next to Nessa, growling deeply. His veins blackened and eyes yellowed in the same way Filtiarn's had earlier. But it went further. Thick black hair sprouted on his hands and face. His nose elongated into a snout. He bared his teeth- now razor-sharp fangs- at Filtiarn. Nessa gasped and stumbled back. Because Blaez wasn't Blaez anymore. Where he had been... Where he had been was a horrific creature even an imagination as vivid as Zoe's couldn't dream up. And the monster was right in front of them.