The Apprentice
"There's a window ahead!" Death shouted.
"It's too high up!" I yelled back.
"You still have power left!"
"I thought you said it was only for emergencies!"
"Not having our throats ripped out by dogs classifies as an emergency!"
"...Right!" I agreed. We swung our arms around each other and jumped as high as we could. A burst of blue light pushed up on the bottoms of our heavy, steel-toed boots, launching us towards the window. CRASH! Glass shattered around us as we fell through the window and onto a white marble floor. We scrambled to our feet and took in our surroundings.
The room was much quieter than the outside. In fact, it was dead silent. Tall bookshelves were lined up and down the room like mini hallways. Hundreds of books and plants were piled into and on top of the shelves. It was like a jungle. Moonlight slanted lazily over the tops, leaving the rest of the room in shadow.
We needed to find a way out so that we could find Hawthorne. Death and I inched around outside of the shelves, expecting them to end eventually. They didn't. Some were pushed all the way up against the walls while other were pushed forward. The shelves had been moved into a zig-zag pattern so that anyone walking through couldn't go straight to the doors on the opposite side.
"I don't like this." I frowned. Something was definitely off. "You don't prepare for someone to storm a castle by leaving it defenseless to intruders." No one came to drag us away. No creepy things crawled out from the houseplants. It was too easy.
"We have to find Rose." I said.
"No, we have to find the Scythe. Without it we can't stop this mess. Rose will be fine until then." Death replied. I started to argue, but before I could say a word he turned away. We set out about making our way around the shelves. For a second I thought I saw a flash of movement, but when I looked nothing was there. In another instant I felt a rush of air whisk past the back of my neck. I jerked around to see what had caused it. Nothing.
Death gestured to follow, and I started to creep forward again. Suddenly the hair on my arms and the back of my neck raised on end. A shadow fell over me. Something deep in my gut urged me to move. SNAP! I hit the floor just as something chomped loudly behind me. A terrible hiss echoed throughout the room. I quickly spun onto my back to see what had made the noise.
"You!" I shrieked.
"YOU!" The lizard man from the office roared down at me. Death grabbed me by the vest and yanked me backwards and up to my feet. We sprinted down the aisle. The lizard man leapt up into the air before lunging downwards. His jaws opened so wide he could have bitten our heads clean off. Saliva dripped over his gleaming yellow fangs. He was so close that one wrong step could kill us. RIIIIP! A set of nasty claws tore through my vest.
Death snatched up a plant, spun around, and threw it right in the lizard man's face. SMASH! Ceramic and dirt exploded on impact, and the lizard man screeched in pain. I tried not to cover my ears as I took advantage of the distraction by shoving a couple of bookshelves over. Then it was like dominoes, each shelf knocking the next one over until we could finally see the doors on the other side. Then I grabbed a plant of my own and chucked it at the lizard man. CRASH! Leaves and soil burst into the air, and another horrible roar echoed through the house.
"Let's go!" I yelled. Together we began to leap over the fallen shelves, doing our best not to trip as we desperately tried to get to the door. Almost there...almost there...BAM! There was no need to grab the door handle. The two of us hit the door with such a force that it fell right in. We scrambled to our feet and hurriedly looked around.
Grey walls stretched out, lined with empty pedestals. Unlike the American manor there wasn't a single relic in sight. There were windows on the side opposite us. We each grabbed a pedestal and waited by each side of the door, holding our breath as we waited anxiously. CRACK! Two scaly green hands clasped the sides of the empty doorframe so hard that they splintered. Then the lizard man stuck his head into the hallway, roaring so angrily and loudly that my ears popped.
WHAM! We brought our pedestals down as hard as we could at the same time. The lizard man screeched in pain, grabbing the sides of his head as he screamed like a banshee. WHAM! We hit him again, this time disorienting him enough to make him lose his balance. His movements were sluggish and unfocused. WHAM! One last hit sent him careening towards one of the windows.
CRASH! Glass cracked and shattered around him as he fell through and down to the ground below. A sickening thud could be heard from below, and Death and I hurried to the window to look. We slowly peered over the edge of the window sill. Down below the lizard man lay knocked out. Dozens of black dogs began to circle him, nipping and pulling at his unconscious figure.
A deep sigh of relief escaped the two of us, and we both turned around tiredly. Only to realize that there were several guns in our faces. The yipping and howling of the dogs had disguised the quiet footstep of guards that had snuck up behind us. Cedrick Hawthorne casually pushed to the front of the group. He held the Scythe in his hands.
The guards quickly adjusted their guns so that they were aiming past him. Hawthorne grinned smugly at us. We slowly raised our hands. His eyes glowed with the power of the Scythe. They were practically neon.
"Gentlemen." He greeted us.
YOU ARE READING
💀Death's Apprentice💀
FantasyThe last thing Rose Delaney pictured doing on her week off was being murdered, meeting Death himself, and trying to get the legendary Scythe back from a Grade-A sociopath. But that's exactly what happened. One day she was trying...
