“I’m not.” I sighed. “I just didn’t feel like sugarcoating shit.”
“They can give you meds to sleep,” he offered.
“Hiro, I appreciate it, but unless you have an explanation to why these halls are scary as fuck at night and not the day, then I don’t want advice,” I snapped before walking away again. Now I was angry again, frustrated for snapping on the sweetest guy here but also at the lack of answers.
Instead of going to my room, I went to the nurses’ station. Nurse Drew glanced up and raised an eyebrow in question.
“I need some fresh air,” I said. Something in my voice must have conveyed my mood because she nodded, grabbing a big keyring from the wall before swiping her ID to unlock the door.
“I could use a smoke break. But if you make me regret this, you’ll be back with the cops and not here,” she warned me bluntly.
“No running, I promise,” I said in a rush. The prospect of fresh air and being off this godforsaken floor was too enticing to fuck it up.
She didn’t speak as we got on the elevator and took it down to the first floor. She had to swipe her ID to get us out the back door and into an enclosed courtyard.
“There’s a fence. How could I run?” I deadpanned. She chuckled and walked over to a bench, lighting up a cigarette and taking a slow drag before answering.
“It’s a short fence,” she said simply. “Go have your fresh air.”
At one time the courtyard was probably beautiful. Right now, the grass was barely alive, a dull, pale greenish yellow. The winding pathways were overgrown with weeds, the rocks hidden by dirt and debris. The fence was covered in a thick layer of ivy, only small spaces showing the city beyond. It almost felt like another world here.
In the center was an old gazebo with cracked paint but it looked sturdy enough. I perched on one of the benches lining it and glanced out at Dark Haven. The back of the building had vines creeping over the stone, wrapping around windows and stopping a few feet under the roof.
The stone gargoyles glaring down at the world made it look downright creepy.
I’d spotted two at the front entrance, but back here there were at least ten, all perched on different corners of the roof and balconies.
Something stirred in my chest. At first, I thought it was Monty, but it wasn’t the familiar iciness that followed my imaginary friend. It was a static charge, a jolt of electricity that thrummed through me. I couldn’t seem to look away from them.
What the fuck is this place?
And why did everything here call to me while simultaneously giving me a healthy dose of fear?
“Harlow.”
My name blew in on a breeze, the voice deep but strange and unfamiliar. Clearly my hallucinations weren’t all gone, I’d just stopped stressing as much or something.
“Harlow.” This time it was drawn out but stirred that subtle spark that had hit me a few moments ago. It was a calling, something pulling me in that I couldn’t see.
And it was fucking horrifying.
Yet I couldn’t pull away.
Flashes of blue fire and inky darkness filled the space. Like I was seeing quick glances of a slideshow that made no sense to me.
Then I saw her. A terrifying visage of bone and beauty. Dark hair that blended in with the void around her. Sparks of pale lightning illuminating the landscape and the woman every few moments, if only for a brief flicker.
Jagged mountains and icy plains. Like something out of a fantasy novel. It smelled of snow and earth, like a cave on a snowy mountain.
The familiarity I felt at the woman and her world was alarming, but I knew I’d never been there before, never seen either of them. This was strange, different, yet I felt as if I knew it as well as I knew myself.
“Harlow!” Nurse Drew’s sharp yell had me jolting out of the trance and back to the present. I blinked a few times and stared up at her annoyed expression. “What the fuck kid?! I almost went and got an orderly to drag your ass back inside.”
“Sorry,” I said. “These meds are making me a mess.”
She calmed at that and nodded with a hint of sympathy. It was one of the few times I’d seen her show real emotion. She’d kept herself calm and detached most of the time, simply doling out orders and duties with ease.
She kept side-eyeing me the entire way back to our floor, almost relieved when the elevator opened, and she rushed back to her post.