The Dark Between Dreams | ✔️

Chapter 14 🔻 The Throne Room

His grip slackened. I began to fall. That's when I screamed, "No—!"

A chain suddenly wrapped around the giant ghost's neck from behind—the chain from the now obliterated chandelier. The links were pulled tight, and Blinky let out a bellow as he was yanked backward by a makeshift noose, taking me with him. The thud his body made when it slammed into the floor reverberated around me.

A high-heeled boot stepped on his heaving chest, keeping him pinned while I wriggled my way out of his grasp and found my feet. Hell had no fury like the svelte woman glowering down at me with the other end of a severed chain gripped tight in her hands.

She gave the massive body a kick, casting him into the Pit.

"H-hi, Vale," I managed to squeak after I dusted myself off. Then I swallowed. "You look mad."

Vale bared her teeth like a jungle cat. The light from the lanterns reflected in her pinprick-sized pupils, making them resemble two coals glowing red-hot. "I am mad!" she snapped.

Webb shuffled into the chamber behind Vale, looking like a scolded child. Vale's fiery eyes darted from him to me. "What are you two doing? What's going on here?" She pointed at the male hollow. "Explain, Webb!"

Webb pointed at me. "She made me!"

"I was just trying to find—" I began.

Vale cut me off with a dismissive wave of her hand and a scoff. "Find your brain, more like!" I was just about to agree with her when she continued, "Blackburne's quarters are up the stairs and the first chamber on the right. If you're looking for any secrets, you should be searching there, you absolute knob-heads!"

I balked, suddenly unable to speak again. Webb's mouth gaped open, equally shocked.

Vale gestured with her head towards the entryway of the chamber. "Used to be one of Blackburne's crew, remember?" she told us. She tossed her braids over her shoulder, then strutted out into the hall. "After me."

Webb and I followed the clicking sound of her heels, both sidling along the damp chamber wall and keeping as much distance between us and the maw of the Pit. The dark halls didn't seem to phase Vale, who hurried ahead of us. Sure enough, just as Vale said, we came upon a winding black stone staircase that spiraled upward.

If I was still alive, I definitely would've had to stop a few times during our climb to dry heave and catch my breath. But, instead, I dared not take a single breath before the rather mundane wooden door my friends and I finally stopped before at the top of the staircase, countless levels above. I nervously eyed the heavy iron lock below the doorknob. Before I could ask Webb if he thought he could make use of his rediscovered skill a second time, Vale kicked open the door.

Webb and I yelped in shock as the door swung open on its hinges, sporting an impressively-sized splintered dent where her boot had struck. Vale looked over her shoulder at us two smaller ghosts who clutched each other in shock. She motioned for us to hurry inside.

She slammed the door shut behind us after we scurried past. Webb helped Vale drag over a heavy trunk to blockade it. "Well. We don't have much time," the taller ghost said while pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. She shook her head at me. "Find whatever it is your little anchored heart wants, Skye. Then let's get the Hell out of here."

I just nodded dumbly and turned away, leaving Vale to mutter, "I don't believe this," under her breath as she leaned against the door.

So, this was Blackburne's private quarters. It wasn't nearly as polished and pristine as the domed atrium, and hardly as cluttered. In fact, the rather small room I surveyed was nearly empty save for a few dusty trunks shoved against the walls that Webb rummaged through. There were no lanterns in here. The only source of light came from the single stained glass window on the far wall, that was circular like a blood-shot eye and had a red sun for a pupil.