Threads Of Fate

Skull Tree

The halls of Nevermore were shrouded in silence. Only the soft hum of the old heating system and the faraway moan of the wind through the trees broke the stillness. Moonlight spilled through the tall, arched windows, painting the checkerboard floors in ghostly white and shadowy black.

Lavinia and Morticia raced through the corridors like shadows, their skirts whipping behind them, the sound of their footsteps echoing like a drumbeat of doom.

They were running against a clock no one could see—
and time, Lavinia knew, was already slipping away.

The cold air burned against her bare feet as she pounded down the asbestos floors, heart hammering in her chest. Morticia was ahead of her, black braid flying behind like a banner of war. They burst through a rusted door, climbing the iron ladder that led to the one place Lavinia had hoped she'd never have to return to—

Iago Tower.

The tower reeked of ozone and singed copper. The room pulsed with mechanical light—an unnatural yellow glow that flickered like a dying star.

Lavinia's breath caught in her throat.

Francoise was strapped to a table, leather cuffs digging into her wrists, her throat raw from screaming. Electricity crackled around the device mounted over her.

Her eyes shifted.

And there—

Gomez.
Strapped into a crude electric chair, wires snaking from a heavy metal helmet on his head. His body convulsed as surges of power shot through him, electricity arcing across the room. The smell of burning fabric and hair filled the air.

And then she saw him.

Isaac.

His curls hung damp with sweat, his pale face flushed with manic heat. His hand gripped the lever, and his grin—God, his grin—was not the boy she once loved. It was the grin of a madman who believed the world owed him something.

"ISAAC!" she screamed, voice tearing through the storm of crackling wires.

His head snapped toward her. For a moment, the madness faltered. His eyes softened like they used to when he saw her. A small, broken smile ghosted across his lips.

And then, with that smile still on his face—
he pushed the lever forward.

Francoise screamed. Gomez screamed.
The machine wailed like a living thing being torn apart.

Morticia erupted through the smoke behind Lavinia, her hair wild, blade gleaming in the tower's sick light. Without hesitation, she brought the sword down in a clean arc—

shhhkk!

Isaac's hand hit the floor with a wet thud.

The machine wailed louder. Sparks cascaded from the wires like demonic fireflies. The pressure shifted violently, and in a split second the entire contraption detonated.

The tower erupted in a blinding flash of yellow.

Lavinia threw herself down, the force of the blast tearing the air from her lungs. Shards of metal whistled through the air like shrapnel. Heat singed the edges of her hair. Dust and smoke swallowed the room whole.

Her ears rang. She couldn't tell if she was screaming or if the world was.

When the smoke finally began to settle, she forced herself onto shaking legs. Francoise was crying, still alive, still strapped down. Lavinia staggered to her side, ripping at the restraints until her wrists were free.