His Darling

His Darling | 21

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

Juliette stared at me with a look of confusion and almost relief, but not quite. She was playing with her fingers, before  excusing herself. I was left looking at the empty air where she was.

The hairs on my arm rose like the dead.

Have I made a mistake?

"Be ready at eight," Cole whispered in my ear, gripping my arm and kissing my cheek. The action made me look at him. Really look at him. I barely nodded, he couldn't even be gentle if he tried. "I hope not to be disappointed, Raven,"

Then he was gone.

I tried finding my way back to the room and ran into a figure kneeling somewhere deep in the hallway. Their back was hunched over and they whispered furiously. It was hard to see clearly in the darkness. I slowly stopped a few feet away from them. I could feel the darkness that surrounded them. It was cold and almost palpable. And the whispers, those desperate incomprehensible whispers that crawled all over this place as if it were the plague. I breathed out and a stiff chill ran down my spine.

I licked my dry lips. "Are you okay?"

Their whispering stopped along with the others, and the figure looked up slowly. I swallowed. One leg then the next. They were up. I saw a halo of thick hair up in a ponytail. Tall figure. Big eyes.

Kath.

She smiled, looking at the walls around us. "You heard that, right?"

She was talking about the whispers. I nodded.

Kath touched the wall with her palm and stared at it. "They're souls. Trapped, confused, banished," her head snapped toward me, the curls around her face drifting as well. Her eyes a vigorous flame. "Lost, forgotten,"

The feeling of uneasiness overwhelmed me. She had lividly blamed me for Eleanor's death and her scrutinizing stare wasn't helping.

I began to speak. "Sorry for intruding—"

"What are you?" she cut off.

I stopped, confused. "What am I? As in—"

She rolled her eyes, approaching me. "I know now. Human," As if on cue, something slithered ominously behind her. It was long and mischievous and sharp.

A tail. My eyes widened at the sight.

"Like what you see?" It suddenly lashed out towards me with a snapping sound and I gasped, stumbling back. Laughter. "Get away from me," she seethed, her pupils slowly expanding.

I glared at her, backing up. Her tail seemed to have a mind of its own as it hissed, sneaking past her shoulders and around her.

"Pray you don't run into the blind ones," she called as I quickly walked away.

Fück you.

Not too long after, I found my room, throwing the door open and slamming it behind me. The wrongness, the strange noises—the complete and ruthless darkness of this place radiated off the walls, the floor, I even felt it in my pores. Inaudible whispers seemed to be part of this place. I wondered how many tormented souls roamed the walls, clung to this place in hopes of finding some kind of peace.

I strode across the room, towards the bed and went to place the ring on the small drawer beside it and instantly felt something.

Hesitation.

What if someone finds it?

I was being paranoid, I knew it, but I couldn't help it. Anyone could easily walk in and see it. Anyone.