"We need to search the castle," I announce. "Look for anything that might help us understand what this building was created to do."
Yeah, I don't buy that Sefton just wanted a throne to rest his maniacal ass on, or that he wanted to flaunt his power by creating a "palace" in the sky that everyone would see.
Kai sticks close to me as we explore the ground floor.
Outside, the cries of our enemies have died away. That seems like a bad sign.
"Stay here," I tell Kai. "I need to take a look outside."
"I should come with you, sir. No one works alone, that's what you tell us."'
Suddenly, I wish I had never said that. I meant that none of them should ever do anything alone. I can handle myself.
I grasp Kai's shoulders and stare straight into his eyes. "Just stay here."
His shoulders flag, and his expression falls. But he does what I told him. He stays in the castle while I hurry outside to check on what's happening. Silence is never a good thing in an Echo battle. It means the enemy is plotting something.
As I cross the open space in front of the castle, I hear faint growling noises. I pull out my longest, sharpest serrated knife and grip it tightly. The noises draw closer and closer. I slow my pace as I approach the cliff's edge and halt a few yards away, tilting my head to the side to listen.
Grunting. Growling. Scrabbling.
That doesn't sound like an army climbing up the cliff.
I inch toward the edge, leaning forward, peering into the darkness below.
An Echo creature vaults over the edge to land inches away from me. The beast charges me, and I thrust my knife at its chest, aiming for the heart. The blade sinks into the creature's flesh to the hilt. Blood oozes from the wound—until I yank the blade free. Then blood pours out, and the beast collapses to the ground. I've heard rumors that some creatures can be killed bypiercing the exact center of the heart, but I hadn't tried it until tonight. Did I hit the exact center? Can't be sure.
I punch the knife into the beast's heart again, just to be safe. Since the strike doesn't trigger a new rush of blood, I assume the creature is dead.
Where are this guy's friends? I scuffle up to the very edge of the cliff and peer down into the darkness. I don't see any shapes climbing toward the summit. The moon provides just enough light for me to tell that absolutely no creatures are scaling the cliff.
A chill shivers up my spine, lifting every hair.
Screams erupt inside the castle.
I whirl around and race back inside.
But I'm too late. The screams have ended, and the deepest silence I've ever heard suffuses the entire castle. Bodies lie strewn across the floor of the entryway. The bodies of my friends. I grip my knife so hard that my fingers ache. Where are the monsters who did this? I scurry from body to body, verifying that they're actually dead and not just injured.
I don't find anyone still alive. My people are all accounted for, along with quite a few of our enemies. I find Kai last and pick him up to hold him for a moment. My throat goes thick. The kid had followed me around like a lost puppy, and he became my best ally and battle partner.
Shuffling noises originate from another part of the castle.
My people are dead. Those noises must be the enemy.
I grab my knife and the machine gun Kai had liked to carry, then I stalk toward the noises. It sounds like someone is rifling through stuff, searching for who knows what. I clench my jaw and shove my knife into its scabbard. The machine gun works better—and faster, for sure. Whatever creatures are left in the castle, they will die tonight.
When I stalk into the room from where the noises originated, I find myself inside Sefton's throne room. A single creature hustles around, hunting for something to steal but finding nothing. The room is empty, except for the throne.
The monster faces away from me.
"Hey, turn around," I holler.
Slowly, the beast shuffles around to look at me. "Mm, I am hungry. Maybe I should eat you, human."
"You and your friends murdered my family."
"But you fight alongside my kind."