Falling Under by Gwen Hayes Read Free Book Online Page B

responded. Though foliage had returned to the thorny sticks, the atmosphere was no friendlier. In fact, the path was trickier and I encountered more dead ends despite the strong pull of the center. Topiaries of life-size humanish forms startled me and red eyes watched me from deep inside the bushes. My nightgown stuck to my body where I perspired despite the chill.
    I wondered what would happen if I refused to continue. Would I wake up from a bad dream or would the consequences be more dire? Though the fiends had yet to threaten me, they weren’t cuddly and sweet either. Something told me that crossing the creatures of nightmares would mean very bad things for me, and that, for the moment, they tolerated my existence here because Haden desired my appearance.
    Except that maybe he didn’t.
    I kept going because I needed answers. If this was a dream, what was my subconscious trying to tell me? And if this was real…
    I coughed as the smell of smoke filled my nose. The closer I got to the core, the warmer the air became, until at last I reached the clearing.
    A bonfire had replaced the parquet dance floor. Tonight there were no dancing ladies in finery and jewels. In fact, there were no clothes at all, aside from a hat or two, because there was no flesh at all.
    Animated skeletons reveled around the fire in a circle, laughing raucously. They creaked and rattled as they moved, the sound unsettling and dreadful. Many of them drank from cups, and the liquid would spill from their necks and ribs as they swallowed.
    One of them noticed me, and a hush fell over the crowd until they all moved at once to get a better look, craning their necks. The sound was a horrifying symphony of cracking and clicking. I was too afraid to run, too afraid to cry out, too afraid to blink. A soft mew escaped my throat and the backs of my knees quivered.
    From behind me, a male voice said, “If it frightens you so, why do you keep returning?”
    Why his voice calmed my fear, I can’t understand. It touched me like a blanket fresh from the dryer, warm and soft. My nerves stilled and he stepped around me so that we were facing. He smiled and it devastated me, tearing at little pieces of me I didn’t know I had until he began shredding them.
    “What are you, Haden?”
    He made a careless gesture with one hand to his boneyard and they resumed their party. Mollified, I guess, that my company wasn’t unwelcomed. The scraping noises of all of them moving at once again sent shivers down my spine.
    “What do you wish me to be, Theia?”
    “I wish you to be … honest.” Because I didn’t know what else to wish for.
    “Do you?” He tilted his chin and appraised me. “I’m not certain of that at all.”
    “Please.”
    “Honestly?” He bent at the waist and spoke softly in my ear, his voice low and warm. “I find you absolutely enchanting.”
    The tremors traveled from my ear to my toes, with an interesting side trip that made me glad I’d remembered to wear a bra to bed.
    I looked for the lie in his dark eyes, but found an earnest expression instead. He straightened regally and stepped back, decreasing the intimacy between us.
    It was then I noticed he wasn’t in his formal attire this evening, though what he wore could hardly be considered modern. His oversize white shirt was rumpled and untucked from his breeches, like he’d just stepped off a pirate ship.
    The skeletons’ rabble-rousing grew louder, but the grinding of their joints hurt my head and I rubbed my temples.
    “I’m not sure you should be here, Theia.”
    That made two of us. “Where is here?”
    “This is my world.” He gestured to the creatures surrounding the bonfire like a ringleader at the circus. “My legacy.”
    “Why am I here? How did I get here?”
    “I wish I knew.” He pinned me with an intense gaze, one that should have frightened me. Instead, it electrified me. “You have the way of moonlight about you. Like you’re made of silvery beams of light.” Upon