Blood and war a dark fan.., p.28
Misplaced in Mysteria (The Temple of the Three Whispers Book 3), page 28
But he didn’t have time to ponder it further.
The woman in the white dress lifted one slender arm and held her hand out toward him, her open palm facing him.
Albert stood there in the intersecting hallways, staring back at her. He held his breath and waited.
Brandy pushed her body against his back. He could feel her fingernails digging into his arms again. She made a frightened sort of squeaking noise deep in her throat that he only heard because she was so close to him.
Without speaking a word, she closed her fist again. At the very same instant, all four ends of the two intersecting hallways began to crumble. A wall of dust and debris raced inward toward them, illuminated by the eerie red glow that he’d seen through the glass doorways, the doomsday sky that hovered over the wasteland that surrounded this nightmare version of the Lucianna Mysteria.
“Albert!” shrieked Brandy.
But Albert didn’t know what she expected him to do. There was nowhere to go. The ruin raced toward them from every direction. They were trapped.
They watched as it swept past the woman in the white dress, swallowing her.
Brandy screamed and pressed herself against him.
He closed his eyes as the churning clouds of debris bore down on them, bracing himself.
Then everything changed.
Chapter 41
Brandy stood there a moment, staring down a long, empty corridor of familiar gray stone. “Wha…?” she gasped, her brain struggling to comprehend what just happened.
She turned and looked behind her, but there was nothing there, either. The corridor stretched on in both directions, endless, featureless.
She knew these walls… This gray stone had haunted her dreams for months. This was where her life was changed forever. This was where she felt the true power of lust and fear for the first time in her life, where she learned that there were still plenty of strange and incredible secrets waiting out there in the real world.
This was the Temple of the Blind.
But the temple was gone. It was destroyed five years ago. She saw the wall of rubble that buried the entrance with her own eyes. It was impossible to be back here.
And yet here she was…
And why was she alone?
“Albert?” She looked forward again, her heart pounding with mounting fear. Where did he go? He was right here just a moment ago. “Albert?”
She began walking, pushing her way through the gloom. Was that just a moment ago? Now that she was thinking about it, she couldn’t quite remember how she came to be in this place. Or even precisely when she came to be here.
She remembered being lost in those creepy hallways… But what came next? Did they get separated?
Why couldn’t she remember anything that came after that?
She quickened her pace to a jog. She had to find him. They were supposed to do this together. They needed each other. Lucianna told them so.
Now she was running.
She had to find him. She couldn’t do this on her own. She didn’t have the courage. Not for this.
Where could he be?
Chapter 42
Albert sat atop his bar stool, blinking down at his whiskey glass, trying to gather his thoughts.
His head felt foggy. He couldn’t quite remember what he was doing before this. In fact, he couldn’t quite remember how he arrived at this bar. Or when.
Wasn’t he supposed to be doing something else?
He reached out and picked up the glass. He held it up in front of his face and examined the ball of ice inside.
“Magic…” he muttered to himself, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. He didn’t believe in magic. Had he ever believed in it? He was sure he probably did at one point. Every child believed in magic at some time in his life, didn’t he? At least until the weight of all the responsibilities and harsh realities of the real world inevitably crushed that pure innocence and forcefully transformed him into a properly dysfunctional adult?
Would life be easier if he believed in magic? Would that make it easier to believe in other things? Because sometimes he had trouble deciding what he did and didn’t believe in. Growing up, his older sister had always done her best to spoil things for him. Santa Clause wasn’t real. The Easter Bunny was a lie. Only babies believed in the Tooth Fairy. She seemed to decide for herself that refusing to believe in things like that was how you finally began to grow up. And he could never understand for the life of him why she was in such a hurry.
He wasn’t even sure if he believed in God, if he were being completely honest. He wanted to believe. He rather liked the idea that there was someone out there keeping everything moving, holding everyone accountable.
But five years ago, the Temple of the Blind proved that there were plenty of strange things hiding out there. There were monsters. There were entire worlds just beyond our sight.
He frowned at the glass. The temple… That’s what he was doing. He was supposed to be looking for the next doorway. That’s how he came to be here.
He turned his head and looked down the bar.
Wasn’t someone sitting just a couple seats down from him? Someone he knew from back then?
(You never did answer my question.)
Before he could quite piece it all together, he felt a hand reach around from behind him and slide up his shirt.
He closed his eyes and smiled.
That’s right. He was here with Brandy. How could he forget that?
He felt her warm hands slide up his belly and chest. He felt her breath on the back of his ear as she leaned over his shoulder.
But when he turned to look into her pretty blue eyes, he found himself instead staring at the blank, featureless face of the Sentinel Queen.
Chapter 43
Brandy reached out and grasped the door knob.
She couldn’t quite remember when she arrived at this door. The last thing she remembered was running through that temple corridor. But that was then, she supposed. This was now. And now she was here.
She was looking for somebody, wasn’t she? Or was she? She couldn’t quite remember…
She turned the knob and stepped through the doorway.
A part of her was surprised to find herself in Nicole and Andrea’s apartment, although she wasn’t sure why. Wasn’t this where she was trying to go?
But she couldn’t quite remember why she needed to come here… Was it something important?
She stepped through the room, her gaze drawn, as it always was, to the many pictures hung all over the walls. She remembered when Nikki decorated her bedroom walls like this back when she still lived with her parents. She used to say that when she moved into her own place, she was going to decorate all the walls like this. And she did.
She crossed the room, looking at all the pictures. There was one of her and Albert. And one of her and Albert with Nikki. And that was a nice one of Albert with Andrea.
Albert with Wayne…
Albert with his parents…
Albert with Nikki and Olivia…
Albert…
She frowned. Albert? Where was Albert? She felt like she was forgetting something.
She turned around, confused, and walked out of Nicole’s bedroom and into the hallway, then down the stairs and into the living room. She’d always liked Nikki’s parents’ house. It was big, but cozy at the same time. And the back yard was huge. They used to spend hours playing out there when they were kids.
But they weren’t kids anymore… And Nicole didn’t live here. She had her own apartment she shared with Andrea…
Wasn’t she just there?
It was hard to think clearly. She wanted to go outside. There was something going on out there… Something she’d forgotten.
She stepped out the back door and into the bright sunlight and stifling July heat.
“Make sure you drink enough water,” her mother reminded her again.
“I’m fine,” she assured her.
It was so hot. She loved her wedding gown, but she wished she could catch a breeze under it. Her thighs were sweaty.
(Don’t let her deceive you.)
She’d been smiling all day, but now she frowned. What was that thought just now? Something familiar? Something…ominous…?
Was it a thought? Or did someone say something to her?
“You okay?” asked Nicole.
“Huh?” She turned and looked at her. For a second there, she had the strangest feeling like she should be surprised to see her here. But…why would that be? Of course she was here. She was the maid of honor. “Yeah,” she said, pushing the odd thoughts away. “I’m fine.”
And she was fine. How could she not be fine. This was her special day, the one she’d been planning for five years.
She reached up to straighten her glasses, but she wasn’t wearing them. Just a habit. But for some reason it struck her as odd, as if she couldn’t understand why she wasn’t wearing them, as if they’d been on her face only a moment ago.
Only the heat and the excitement. It had been a long and wonderful day. And yet she was in no hurry for it to end.
She cast her gaze across the sunny lawns and all the people who’d turned out to help her celebrate. But as she looked out toward the lake, she saw the Shaman of Wevenwert standing there in his obnoxious red suit jacket, gawdy tie and great, oversized glasses, his pale, splotchy bald head glistening with sweat. He was staring right at her, that perverted leer painted across his homely face.
She could almost hear Dolly’s voice in her head, reminding her that, “He likes to watch.”
She shuddered with revulsion and turned away as if she didn’t notice him.
No. She didn’t want to go back to that. She wanted to stay here.
She reached back and took Albert’s hand.
That’s right… Albert. She was trying to find Albert. She felt a wave of relief wash over her.
But then she heard Albert’s voice from somewhere to her right.
“Wevenwert,” he said. “In Tennessee, yeah.”
She looked over at him, confused. She thought he was standing right next to her, but he was over there…talking to his aunt and uncle…
“Oh it’s beautiful there!” exclaimed his aunt. “Which resort?”
But if Albert was over there…? She looked down at her hand, at the slender fingers gripping hers. Then she looked up to find herself face-to-face with the woman in the white dress.
Chapter 44
Albert was lost.
Somewhere deep inside, he felt like there was something he was supposed to be doing, but it was hard to think about anything else right now. It was always hard to think about anything else when he was making love to his beautiful wife.
Why would he want to think about anything else?
He pulled her close to him and kissed her, savoring her. God, how he loved the softness of her lips, the warmth of her body, the feel of her silky skin pressed against his.
To him, heaven wasn’t a place he might reach someday if he lived a good life. It was right here in her arms, lost in her breath, enveloped in the steamy embrace of her flesh. Every time their bodies merged like this, the world, with all its confusing and difficult and frightening things, simply melted away.
She pushed him onto his back and rolled on top of him. She kissed him hard, pressing her face against his. She sucked at his lower lip. He felt her tongue probe his mouth.
Why did he have so much trouble believing what the shaman told them? No such thing as sexual magic? What was this feeling if not magic? What else could fill him with such immeasurable bliss?
If anything in this cold, unforgiving universe could grant them power, why wouldn’t it be this feeling right here?
She lifted her head and moaned, her heavy breasts swaying sensually above him, her long, black hair pooling around his face.
He was getting close… Just a few seconds more…
(You have to take control.)
A twinge of pain passed through his head, making him wince.
What was that? Did someone just say something? Why did his heart stammer for a second?
He glanced around, but there was no one else here. They were alone in their bedroom, undisturbed.
Why did he feel like there was something he was supposed to remember? Something important…
She grasped the sides of his face in her warm hands and kissed him again. Those strange thoughts melted away. All he could think about was her.
Her hips ground rhythmically against his. She was so warm down there…so soft… Like an angel’s embrace… He’d been in her arms like this countless times. It was such a comforting, familiar feeling. The feeling of home. The feeling of love. The feeling of her…
…so why did something feel so wrong?
(Look at her.)
He frowned. He was looking at her. He was looking right into those lovely brown eyes. Her beautiful face. Her long, black hair with the bright red streak running down one side…
…wait…
That wasn’t right.
He felt the approaching orgasm melt away. At the same time, a sort of eye peeled open somewhere deep inside him.
Where was he?
What was this place? This wasn’t home. In fact, it didn’t feel like anywhere. There was nothing here. It was like he’d found himself adrift in the cosmos, floating through an endless void.
Why was the bartender from Shanzer’s sex party straddling him? He’d never do this with her. He didn’t even know this woman!
What the hell was happening?
The sexy bartender bent over him and kissed him again.
He tried to turn away, but she was surprisingly strong. He grasped her wrists and tried to remove them from him, but although those hands were small and soft, he couldn’t budge them. It was like fighting against a machine.
This was really bad. How did he end up like this? What did he miss?
And where was his real wife?
Where was Brandy?
Chapter 45
Brandy stood alone in the darkness, her heart pounding in her chest, fear worming its way through every cell in her body.
This wasn’t real. She couldn’t be here again.
And yet the scene before her didn’t waver.
Pillars of fire belched from cracks in the stone, illuminating a barren, winding path. Night trees swayed in the undulating light, their deadly, toothy tendrils probing the shadows for prey. Overhead, carrion eaters swarmed the skies.
Just like last time, she stood naked and vulnerable, wearing nothing but her glasses and her jewelry. Just like last time, she was filled with an awful, creeping dread.
But unlike last time, she was all alone.
Albert was gone.
Nicole and Andrea and Olivia were all gone.
No… There was no way she could do this alone. She wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t brave enough.
(Look for the truth.)
She frowned. The truth? What did that mean? And where did those words even come from? Was it only her imagination playing tricks on her? Or was someone trying to talk to her?
The path to the top of the burning mountain was haunted, she recalled. Were the spirits trapped here trying to deceive her?
No… That didn’t feel right. She was missing something. She’d forgotten something. Something important. She frowned and looked back at the path behind her. None of this was right. How did she get here? Wasn’t the temple…?
(Truth.)
She winced at a sharp and sudden pain in her head. It was hard to think clearly. Had something happened? What was she doing before this?
And where was everybody?
Where was Albert?
She opened her eyes, a sense of sudden alertness overtaking her.
Albert. She needed to find Albert. That was what she was supposed to be doing. That was what mattered right now. The only thing that mattered.
But how did she go about finding him? She didn’t even know where she was. What was this place? It couldn’t be the temple. The temple was gone, reduced to smoldering rubble.
Looking around again, she found that the fires had died away. Darkness enveloped her.
An illusion of some sort? Like back in the pervert’s filthy mansion?
But that didn’t feel quite right, either. There was something deeper about these tricks. She felt so lost. She couldn’t remember how or when she first arrived on the burning mountain… Or back at her wedding… Or at Nicole’s apartment…
It reminded her of…
(Dreams.)
That was it! It reminded her of her dreams. How she could never remember how they began.
But…what did that mean? Why was everything behaving like a dream? That made no sense. Wasn’t all this supposed to be about stupid sex magic?
She was so confused.
“There you are!” sang out a familiar voice.
Brandy turned and watched as Lucianna stepped from the darkness, a bright purple dress billowing out around her wide hips. “You…” she gasped.
“It’s okay, dear,” Lucianna assured her, holding out a chubby, bejeweled hand. “You’ve shaken off the worst of it. You’ll be all right now.”
“Why are you here?” she asked, struggling to grasp any tiny part of what was going on.
“You’ve stumbled into a trap,” Lucianna explained. “It’s done a number on your head.”
“A trap?”
Lucianna took her hand. It was warm. It reminded her of the chill she felt. She looked down at her still-naked body. Was that not one of the illusions, too? Had she really lost her clothes? When did that happen? What had she missed?
“Albert…?” she asked, her head still reeling.
“He’s fine,” Lucianna assured her. “You were separated from each other in the confusion, but he’s safe, too. I knew you were both strong. I never doubted you for a second.”
She nodded. Albert was safe. That was good. That was all she wanted.
But why did she still feel so uneasy? Was it just because he wasn’t back at her side yet? Or was there something else? Something she was still missing?
Chapter 46
Albert struggled to fight off Shanzer’s freakishly strong bartender, but he was helpless against her. It was like being pinned under a block of concrete. He couldn’t even budge her.
The woman in the white dress lifted one slender arm and held her hand out toward him, her open palm facing him.
Albert stood there in the intersecting hallways, staring back at her. He held his breath and waited.
Brandy pushed her body against his back. He could feel her fingernails digging into his arms again. She made a frightened sort of squeaking noise deep in her throat that he only heard because she was so close to him.
Without speaking a word, she closed her fist again. At the very same instant, all four ends of the two intersecting hallways began to crumble. A wall of dust and debris raced inward toward them, illuminated by the eerie red glow that he’d seen through the glass doorways, the doomsday sky that hovered over the wasteland that surrounded this nightmare version of the Lucianna Mysteria.
“Albert!” shrieked Brandy.
But Albert didn’t know what she expected him to do. There was nowhere to go. The ruin raced toward them from every direction. They were trapped.
They watched as it swept past the woman in the white dress, swallowing her.
Brandy screamed and pressed herself against him.
He closed his eyes as the churning clouds of debris bore down on them, bracing himself.
Then everything changed.
Chapter 41
Brandy stood there a moment, staring down a long, empty corridor of familiar gray stone. “Wha…?” she gasped, her brain struggling to comprehend what just happened.
She turned and looked behind her, but there was nothing there, either. The corridor stretched on in both directions, endless, featureless.
She knew these walls… This gray stone had haunted her dreams for months. This was where her life was changed forever. This was where she felt the true power of lust and fear for the first time in her life, where she learned that there were still plenty of strange and incredible secrets waiting out there in the real world.
This was the Temple of the Blind.
But the temple was gone. It was destroyed five years ago. She saw the wall of rubble that buried the entrance with her own eyes. It was impossible to be back here.
And yet here she was…
And why was she alone?
“Albert?” She looked forward again, her heart pounding with mounting fear. Where did he go? He was right here just a moment ago. “Albert?”
She began walking, pushing her way through the gloom. Was that just a moment ago? Now that she was thinking about it, she couldn’t quite remember how she came to be in this place. Or even precisely when she came to be here.
She remembered being lost in those creepy hallways… But what came next? Did they get separated?
Why couldn’t she remember anything that came after that?
She quickened her pace to a jog. She had to find him. They were supposed to do this together. They needed each other. Lucianna told them so.
Now she was running.
She had to find him. She couldn’t do this on her own. She didn’t have the courage. Not for this.
Where could he be?
Chapter 42
Albert sat atop his bar stool, blinking down at his whiskey glass, trying to gather his thoughts.
His head felt foggy. He couldn’t quite remember what he was doing before this. In fact, he couldn’t quite remember how he arrived at this bar. Or when.
Wasn’t he supposed to be doing something else?
He reached out and picked up the glass. He held it up in front of his face and examined the ball of ice inside.
“Magic…” he muttered to himself, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. He didn’t believe in magic. Had he ever believed in it? He was sure he probably did at one point. Every child believed in magic at some time in his life, didn’t he? At least until the weight of all the responsibilities and harsh realities of the real world inevitably crushed that pure innocence and forcefully transformed him into a properly dysfunctional adult?
Would life be easier if he believed in magic? Would that make it easier to believe in other things? Because sometimes he had trouble deciding what he did and didn’t believe in. Growing up, his older sister had always done her best to spoil things for him. Santa Clause wasn’t real. The Easter Bunny was a lie. Only babies believed in the Tooth Fairy. She seemed to decide for herself that refusing to believe in things like that was how you finally began to grow up. And he could never understand for the life of him why she was in such a hurry.
He wasn’t even sure if he believed in God, if he were being completely honest. He wanted to believe. He rather liked the idea that there was someone out there keeping everything moving, holding everyone accountable.
But five years ago, the Temple of the Blind proved that there were plenty of strange things hiding out there. There were monsters. There were entire worlds just beyond our sight.
He frowned at the glass. The temple… That’s what he was doing. He was supposed to be looking for the next doorway. That’s how he came to be here.
He turned his head and looked down the bar.
Wasn’t someone sitting just a couple seats down from him? Someone he knew from back then?
(You never did answer my question.)
Before he could quite piece it all together, he felt a hand reach around from behind him and slide up his shirt.
He closed his eyes and smiled.
That’s right. He was here with Brandy. How could he forget that?
He felt her warm hands slide up his belly and chest. He felt her breath on the back of his ear as she leaned over his shoulder.
But when he turned to look into her pretty blue eyes, he found himself instead staring at the blank, featureless face of the Sentinel Queen.
Chapter 43
Brandy reached out and grasped the door knob.
She couldn’t quite remember when she arrived at this door. The last thing she remembered was running through that temple corridor. But that was then, she supposed. This was now. And now she was here.
She was looking for somebody, wasn’t she? Or was she? She couldn’t quite remember…
She turned the knob and stepped through the doorway.
A part of her was surprised to find herself in Nicole and Andrea’s apartment, although she wasn’t sure why. Wasn’t this where she was trying to go?
But she couldn’t quite remember why she needed to come here… Was it something important?
She stepped through the room, her gaze drawn, as it always was, to the many pictures hung all over the walls. She remembered when Nikki decorated her bedroom walls like this back when she still lived with her parents. She used to say that when she moved into her own place, she was going to decorate all the walls like this. And she did.
She crossed the room, looking at all the pictures. There was one of her and Albert. And one of her and Albert with Nikki. And that was a nice one of Albert with Andrea.
Albert with Wayne…
Albert with his parents…
Albert with Nikki and Olivia…
Albert…
She frowned. Albert? Where was Albert? She felt like she was forgetting something.
She turned around, confused, and walked out of Nicole’s bedroom and into the hallway, then down the stairs and into the living room. She’d always liked Nikki’s parents’ house. It was big, but cozy at the same time. And the back yard was huge. They used to spend hours playing out there when they were kids.
But they weren’t kids anymore… And Nicole didn’t live here. She had her own apartment she shared with Andrea…
Wasn’t she just there?
It was hard to think clearly. She wanted to go outside. There was something going on out there… Something she’d forgotten.
She stepped out the back door and into the bright sunlight and stifling July heat.
“Make sure you drink enough water,” her mother reminded her again.
“I’m fine,” she assured her.
It was so hot. She loved her wedding gown, but she wished she could catch a breeze under it. Her thighs were sweaty.
(Don’t let her deceive you.)
She’d been smiling all day, but now she frowned. What was that thought just now? Something familiar? Something…ominous…?
Was it a thought? Or did someone say something to her?
“You okay?” asked Nicole.
“Huh?” She turned and looked at her. For a second there, she had the strangest feeling like she should be surprised to see her here. But…why would that be? Of course she was here. She was the maid of honor. “Yeah,” she said, pushing the odd thoughts away. “I’m fine.”
And she was fine. How could she not be fine. This was her special day, the one she’d been planning for five years.
She reached up to straighten her glasses, but she wasn’t wearing them. Just a habit. But for some reason it struck her as odd, as if she couldn’t understand why she wasn’t wearing them, as if they’d been on her face only a moment ago.
Only the heat and the excitement. It had been a long and wonderful day. And yet she was in no hurry for it to end.
She cast her gaze across the sunny lawns and all the people who’d turned out to help her celebrate. But as she looked out toward the lake, she saw the Shaman of Wevenwert standing there in his obnoxious red suit jacket, gawdy tie and great, oversized glasses, his pale, splotchy bald head glistening with sweat. He was staring right at her, that perverted leer painted across his homely face.
She could almost hear Dolly’s voice in her head, reminding her that, “He likes to watch.”
She shuddered with revulsion and turned away as if she didn’t notice him.
No. She didn’t want to go back to that. She wanted to stay here.
She reached back and took Albert’s hand.
That’s right… Albert. She was trying to find Albert. She felt a wave of relief wash over her.
But then she heard Albert’s voice from somewhere to her right.
“Wevenwert,” he said. “In Tennessee, yeah.”
She looked over at him, confused. She thought he was standing right next to her, but he was over there…talking to his aunt and uncle…
“Oh it’s beautiful there!” exclaimed his aunt. “Which resort?”
But if Albert was over there…? She looked down at her hand, at the slender fingers gripping hers. Then she looked up to find herself face-to-face with the woman in the white dress.
Chapter 44
Albert was lost.
Somewhere deep inside, he felt like there was something he was supposed to be doing, but it was hard to think about anything else right now. It was always hard to think about anything else when he was making love to his beautiful wife.
Why would he want to think about anything else?
He pulled her close to him and kissed her, savoring her. God, how he loved the softness of her lips, the warmth of her body, the feel of her silky skin pressed against his.
To him, heaven wasn’t a place he might reach someday if he lived a good life. It was right here in her arms, lost in her breath, enveloped in the steamy embrace of her flesh. Every time their bodies merged like this, the world, with all its confusing and difficult and frightening things, simply melted away.
She pushed him onto his back and rolled on top of him. She kissed him hard, pressing her face against his. She sucked at his lower lip. He felt her tongue probe his mouth.
Why did he have so much trouble believing what the shaman told them? No such thing as sexual magic? What was this feeling if not magic? What else could fill him with such immeasurable bliss?
If anything in this cold, unforgiving universe could grant them power, why wouldn’t it be this feeling right here?
She lifted her head and moaned, her heavy breasts swaying sensually above him, her long, black hair pooling around his face.
He was getting close… Just a few seconds more…
(You have to take control.)
A twinge of pain passed through his head, making him wince.
What was that? Did someone just say something? Why did his heart stammer for a second?
He glanced around, but there was no one else here. They were alone in their bedroom, undisturbed.
Why did he feel like there was something he was supposed to remember? Something important…
She grasped the sides of his face in her warm hands and kissed him again. Those strange thoughts melted away. All he could think about was her.
Her hips ground rhythmically against his. She was so warm down there…so soft… Like an angel’s embrace… He’d been in her arms like this countless times. It was such a comforting, familiar feeling. The feeling of home. The feeling of love. The feeling of her…
…so why did something feel so wrong?
(Look at her.)
He frowned. He was looking at her. He was looking right into those lovely brown eyes. Her beautiful face. Her long, black hair with the bright red streak running down one side…
…wait…
That wasn’t right.
He felt the approaching orgasm melt away. At the same time, a sort of eye peeled open somewhere deep inside him.
Where was he?
What was this place? This wasn’t home. In fact, it didn’t feel like anywhere. There was nothing here. It was like he’d found himself adrift in the cosmos, floating through an endless void.
Why was the bartender from Shanzer’s sex party straddling him? He’d never do this with her. He didn’t even know this woman!
What the hell was happening?
The sexy bartender bent over him and kissed him again.
He tried to turn away, but she was surprisingly strong. He grasped her wrists and tried to remove them from him, but although those hands were small and soft, he couldn’t budge them. It was like fighting against a machine.
This was really bad. How did he end up like this? What did he miss?
And where was his real wife?
Where was Brandy?
Chapter 45
Brandy stood alone in the darkness, her heart pounding in her chest, fear worming its way through every cell in her body.
This wasn’t real. She couldn’t be here again.
And yet the scene before her didn’t waver.
Pillars of fire belched from cracks in the stone, illuminating a barren, winding path. Night trees swayed in the undulating light, their deadly, toothy tendrils probing the shadows for prey. Overhead, carrion eaters swarmed the skies.
Just like last time, she stood naked and vulnerable, wearing nothing but her glasses and her jewelry. Just like last time, she was filled with an awful, creeping dread.
But unlike last time, she was all alone.
Albert was gone.
Nicole and Andrea and Olivia were all gone.
No… There was no way she could do this alone. She wasn’t strong enough. She wasn’t brave enough.
(Look for the truth.)
She frowned. The truth? What did that mean? And where did those words even come from? Was it only her imagination playing tricks on her? Or was someone trying to talk to her?
The path to the top of the burning mountain was haunted, she recalled. Were the spirits trapped here trying to deceive her?
No… That didn’t feel right. She was missing something. She’d forgotten something. Something important. She frowned and looked back at the path behind her. None of this was right. How did she get here? Wasn’t the temple…?
(Truth.)
She winced at a sharp and sudden pain in her head. It was hard to think clearly. Had something happened? What was she doing before this?
And where was everybody?
Where was Albert?
She opened her eyes, a sense of sudden alertness overtaking her.
Albert. She needed to find Albert. That was what she was supposed to be doing. That was what mattered right now. The only thing that mattered.
But how did she go about finding him? She didn’t even know where she was. What was this place? It couldn’t be the temple. The temple was gone, reduced to smoldering rubble.
Looking around again, she found that the fires had died away. Darkness enveloped her.
An illusion of some sort? Like back in the pervert’s filthy mansion?
But that didn’t feel quite right, either. There was something deeper about these tricks. She felt so lost. She couldn’t remember how or when she first arrived on the burning mountain… Or back at her wedding… Or at Nicole’s apartment…
It reminded her of…
(Dreams.)
That was it! It reminded her of her dreams. How she could never remember how they began.
But…what did that mean? Why was everything behaving like a dream? That made no sense. Wasn’t all this supposed to be about stupid sex magic?
She was so confused.
“There you are!” sang out a familiar voice.
Brandy turned and watched as Lucianna stepped from the darkness, a bright purple dress billowing out around her wide hips. “You…” she gasped.
“It’s okay, dear,” Lucianna assured her, holding out a chubby, bejeweled hand. “You’ve shaken off the worst of it. You’ll be all right now.”
“Why are you here?” she asked, struggling to grasp any tiny part of what was going on.
“You’ve stumbled into a trap,” Lucianna explained. “It’s done a number on your head.”
“A trap?”
Lucianna took her hand. It was warm. It reminded her of the chill she felt. She looked down at her still-naked body. Was that not one of the illusions, too? Had she really lost her clothes? When did that happen? What had she missed?
“Albert…?” she asked, her head still reeling.
“He’s fine,” Lucianna assured her. “You were separated from each other in the confusion, but he’s safe, too. I knew you were both strong. I never doubted you for a second.”
She nodded. Albert was safe. That was good. That was all she wanted.
But why did she still feel so uneasy? Was it just because he wasn’t back at her side yet? Or was there something else? Something she was still missing?
Chapter 46
Albert struggled to fight off Shanzer’s freakishly strong bartender, but he was helpless against her. It was like being pinned under a block of concrete. He couldn’t even budge her.
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