Dirty Eden (13 page)

THE TUNNEL WAS NARROW and I could barely see through the blackness. It carried the echo of our footsteps as we snaked along the dirt path stealth-like. There were no rooms, or carved out nooks in the walls, no places for mounted torches, or any evidence that there ever had been. The path went in only one direction, and knowing it was likely impossible to become lost was my only comfort.

Within minutes, we came upon an old metal door with rusted hinges where on the other side of it was a room. Mice scattered across the floor. Old wine barrels lined the walls, covered with cobwebs and the dust of a thousand years. Broken clay bowls and pottery lay strewn about, little wooden chairs with missing legs and shattered backs tossed around. There was an antique spinning wheel, a butter churn and a modern toaster and coffee pot. Silverware lay in a pile with woodenware. Jars of jelly, or what appeared to be jelly, were crammed onto an enormous shelf. The room was a pantry of sorts, one that probably had not been used in a countless many years.

“Now what?” I whispered.

“Shhh.”

I focused on the door that led into the rest of the fortress, keeping my guard up in both directions.

Sophia took me by the arm and pulled me down to her eye-level.

“From here on out,” she said quietly, “it’s going to be tricky.”

I hunched over, listening intently.

“But leave the talking to me.”

“And what if I
have
to talk?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “Play dumb if you have to, but don’t say nuthin’ about the queen.”

We carefully crept out of the pantry and into a hall that seemed to go on forever.

In less than a minute, we were spotted.

“Stop!” shouted a guard rushing up behind us from the corner. “Who are you and what business do you have here?”

I felt my heart stop.

The guard moved quickly in front of me and Sophia, staff in hand. Just then, three more guards joined them, all wearing identical armor and carrying identical weapons. One had wiry orange hair poking out from underneath his helmet.

Sophia wrapped her arms around my waist, eyes full of tears. Confusion took over, but didn’t last long enough to give away the ruse.

“You’re scaring my daughter,” I said, holding Sophia close with one hand at her back and the other on the back of her head. “Please, put down your staffs.”

Everything about this felt awkward, but my ability to act was now the difference between life and death. I wanted to pinch her for what she did, which was the opposite of what she warned before. I thought
she
was supposed to be the one doing all the talking.

“Hmmm,” said the guard with the wiry orange hair, “I’ve never seen either of you before.” He looked over at his comrades.

“Me either.”

Sophia wiped her fake tears. “It’s my fault, not my daddy’s.” She sniffled and gripped my waist tighter, pressing her cheek into my stomach.

“I went to watch the widow Mae do her potions,” Sophia went on, “but couldn’t find her and I got lost.”

The guards didn’t seem to be buying it.

“The widow Mae, eh?” said one guard.

“You’re a little liar,” said another. “She died two years ago. Blew up herself.”

I felt Sophia’s body stiffen. She was speechless. Not a good sign.

The guard with the wiry orange hair grabbed me by the arm. Another guard went for Sophia. In the scuffle of staffs and armor, shouting and clanking metal, I heard Sophia scream and then she cawed. A mass of black feathers exploded and a raven flew out of the small crowd and toward the ceiling. It took me a moment to realize that the raven was Sophia, and an even longer moment to see that Sophia was getting away and I was not. Three more guards rushed to the scene, and the one with wiry orange hair poked at the air furiously, trying to gut the bird with the blade of his staff. Sophia cawed and swooped down at his face, jutting her big black beak near his eyes, missing them just barely and searing the skin above his nose.

Sophia flew down the hall and away while I was dragged to my very own cell in a dungeon. They must have knocked me unconscious because I couldn’t remember falling asleep in this wet, dank place, nor did I remember being shackled by my ankles to the wall.

I reached up and rubbed the back of my aching head. I felt the warm, moist sensation of blood against my fingertips. The sound of water dripping slow and sparingly came from somewhere on the other side of the dark room. It stank here, like rotten food or perhaps the rotting corpses of rodents. My clothes were soiled and in addition to the annoying pain from the bump on my head, I could feel my bottom lip busted and bleeding.

I could only imagine how long I had been here. I could only imagine what the people of this fortress were going to do to me next.

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. Sleep never came, though I wanted it to, the kind that comes and never leaves. I was genuinely frightened. This was a different kind of fear than being on the bridge in Big Creek, or the attack by the succubus back at Tiny’s Inn. In this fear, I was alone. I missed the annoying company of Tsaeb, even Sophia. I just knew I was going to die. I was going to be hanged in the town center where my body would be left to rot, pockets picked clean, among other areas of my person I tried hard not to think about. I drew my legs toward me, pressing my knees into my chest. With my arms wrapped around my legs, I began to rock back and forth. Was I losing my mind? I began to think so. Thoughts of fear and fear of death turned into thoughts of suicide. I imagined ways to hang myself. I thought about how inmates on television did it, by tying their sheets together. But I wasn’t given a bed, much less a sheet to choke myself with. I was going to die, and it was going to be a death not of my choosing.

A light, almost too faint to be seen, shone underneath the massive iron door. I heard noises move past, some that sounded like boots clomping against the stone, voices and something heavy, as if being dragged.

I then heard laughter, but it was not a voice near the room; it was in my head.

I really am going insane...none of this is real.

“Oh it’s real, alright,” said the voice of the Devil in my mind. “But I have to say; you’ve gotten farther than anyone since my old buddy, Tacitus.”

“Where are you?” I said rather grudgingly. “Get out of my head and show your face!”

“Tsk, tsk,” said the Devil. “I would, but that’s just not possible. Unfortunate, I admit, but nothing I can do about it right now.”

“Nothing you can do about it?” I shouted. “Bullshit!”

“No, really, I can’t appear in Creation, not like you can. You can say I’ve been sort of banned from that place.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” I said. I pulled my back away from the wall and went to stand, until I remembered my predicament. “God should’ve done us all a favor and banned you from the Outside too.”

“Oh, now don’t be so cruel. Besides, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well then why don’t you enlighten me? No, you can’t do that, can you?” I scoffed. “How
convenient
. Just like Tsaeb, no one can tell me anything.”

“I wouldn’t say no one, Norman,” said the Devil. “Anyone from Creation has free will to tell you anything you need to know, as long as they know it themselves, in which this case there are only few.”

“And why can’t you or Tsaeb tell me? Why all the damn games?”

“No games,” the Devil said with sincerity. “Believe me when I say if I could tell you everything, I would have in the park. Still wouldn’t have given you a choice, but you’d know everything at least. Anyone from the Outside is forbidden to discuss The Task, even amongst each other
—
telling you everything would make things so much easier, which is precisely why it’s forbidden.”

“By whose rules?”

“The Big Ass in the sky, of course.”

“Why are you here?” I said. “If you can’t help me, then why bother me? I’d rather you just leave me alone.”

The Devil sighed. “I’m hurt, truly hurt,” he lied.

I shook my head.

“Go away.”

“I will,” said the Devil, “I have a two o’clock appointment provoking the drunk-driving accident of a rather important member of Congress. Missed that one last week and had to reschedule. Won’t miss it again.”

“So, then what’s keeping you?”

I felt my eyes blink involuntarily, and then my head shook side to side, also involuntarily.

“You’ve grown some balls since last I saw you in the park,” said the Devil with my lips.

My hand went over my mouth in attempt to shut the Devil up or at least stop the Devil from taking more from me than my mind.

“I had to stop by and visit,” said the Devil, “because it’s my job to hear thoughts of suicide, and most importantly, to help push them along. Usually, I just get my sin demons to deal with it, but you’re what I call a ‘special case’.”

I felt my eye wink.

“Oh,” I said, “you’ve come to help put me out of my misery?”

The Devil laughed, but this time only in my mind.

“No way. I can’t have you doing anything crazy like that.”

I pressed my fists firmly against my ears. My eyes clenched shut. “
Get out
of my head then!”

“Only if I sense a shred of hope,” said the Devil.

The moment was long and silent and I was beginning to wonder.

“Great!” the Devil said suddenly. “You’re too much of a wuss to kill yourself. That’s good.”

I burned with anger, my teeth grinded together harshly behind my tight lips.

“Leave me alone!”

There was silence. I opened my eyes and lifted my head.

My mind felt lighter.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” I said aloud to myself.

I went to my feet carefully, holding myself up with my hands braced against the cool rock wall. The shackles on my ankles were short, leaving me only enough room to stand, but not enough to walk. I looked toward the iron door. The light from underneath it allowed me to see that it was the only way in or out of the cell.

Suddenly, the door swung open taking me by surprise, sending me crashing back onto the floor.

“Thought I left yah, huh?” Sophia said standing in the doorway. There was a plump old woman with her, not much taller than Sophia, wearing a hideous orange apron and a floppy, pointed witch hat.

“This him?” said the old woman, sucking on her teeth. She regarded me with a scrutinous glass eye that sent shivers up the back of my neck.

God, I hope that’s not the queen....

“Yep, that’s him,” Sophia answered. “Let’s get on with this, eh?”

The old woman waddled into the cell and I could’ve sworn I heard her thick legs rubbing together when she walked. A huge clanking bundle of keys hung from around her waist. In a second, my ankles were free from the shackles.

“Get up,” said the old woman as she went back toward the cell door. “My time is precious, and since you ain’t nothin’ like I thought you’d be, already you’re wastin’ it.”

The old woman rounded the corner.

I wasn’t sure if I had any right to be offended, as I was unsure of everything at this moment. I went to my feet.

“Don’t mind her,” said Sophia, “she’s
always
disappointed.”