Continuing on from level 9: Disorientation, The group are reunited, and then things get a little heated with Darien, another scene to show how cruel and unpredictable my little Shadow Man can be :D Personally enjoy my ending, but I prefer to know what you guys think, so don't forget to review!
Chapter 10
She could vaguely see her friend now, and could even make out the confused fear on Dee's face. The voices were getting louder, still whispering but at a heightened volume, becoming more musical and menacing as more eyes appeared, and then something caught Jenny's attention, something that chilled her more than all the blue-white eyes watching her with patient hunger and the gibberish pouring out of their invisible mouths. Bright iridescent green eyes, looking right into hers, directly in front of her, standing out dramatically from the others. Even the mere presence of Darien's eyes was enough to change the atmosphere from frightening to absolutely petrifying. He was there, watching her with his elders, a reminder that no one messes with the boss or you suffer the full force of his power and the supremacy of his murderous race. That emerald green would never seem innocent again, a mark of the creature created to kill, stained with the memory of piercing, warning eyes burning into her own.
"Can they hurt us?" Dee asked doubtfully. She could just about see Jenny shaking her head, staring wide eyed at the area in front of her.
"I…I don't think so. I think it's just to scare us." Her voice was strained, almost impossible to hear over the whispering. Dee moved towards the eyes and touched them hesitantly, testing any possible reactions before continuing. When she was sure that they wouldn't respond, Dee walked around the eyes until she reached the area that Jenny was looking at.
"There's no wall here, Jenny, it's an open space." Jenny watched as Dee slid her arm through the place where the wall should have been, causing a few of the eyes that her arm pierced through to disappear, "It's kind of like a projection, or hologram." They both followed through quickly into the aperture, a spine-tingling sensation causing them to shudder as they punctured through the image of Darien's eyes.
They found themselves in a pentagon shaped room of mirrors, sighing at the exasperating and repetitive order to the maze: find a room, look around, be intimidated by some challenging twist and overcome it; the concept was becoming tiresome. They scanned the walls again almost mechanically, only to find the same old reflection of the background and not themselves.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually getting bored of this level." Dee groaned, resting her head heavily on the glass. Jenny pressed her back against it and slid down till she was sitting on the floor; her legs lazily sprawled out in front of her body.
"I wouldn't call this disorientating anyway; it's more creepy than confusing." She bowed her head and buried it in her palms. Dee looked into the glass in front of her jadedly, and hit it. Jenny felt the impact of it against her back, and shook off the tingly sensation. They needed to do something, but what they needed to do wasn't quite clear, and seconds went by without movement from either of the girls.
"Did you hear that?" Dee lifted her head off of the glass and stayed very still, like a dog that had just heard a sound inaudible to humans. Jenny cocked her ear to the glass and waited. She could hear it too, like a muffled knocking sound, rapping over and over and over in a frantic motion.
"Jenny." Dee's voice was low, and Jenny followed her stunned gaze to the mirror opposite them.
Tom's back was arched over weakly, and he was banging desperately on the wall to grab their attention. He was mouthing something that they couldn't hear through the glass, but the girls could read his lips well enough to know he was saying 'HELP US'. A girl lay against the glass by his feet facing away from Dee and Jenny, and her face was partially covered by her long, chestnut coloured hair. She didn't seem to be moving.
"Tom!" Jenny sprinted to him, banging on the glass urgently. His hazel eyes were wide with fear, face glazed with sweat, and he looked weaker, like he would collapse at any moment.
"What do we do?" Jenny turned to Dee, who was taking her shoes off.
"That window I broke in the last level was all down to these babies." She showed Jenny the abnormally large and heavy looking soles of her ankle high boots, then handed her one. Jenny took it, and watched Dee hit the mirror with her shoe several times. The glass cracked, only slightly at first, until Dee had struck it enough times to create a small hole, so Jenny began to hit the glass with her shoe too. Tom knelt down to the girl, whispering in her ear and scooping her into his arms with a bit of a struggle. Jenny avoided the scene awkwardly while breaking the glass; she'd realised the girl in his arms must be his new girlfriend almost immediately, but she couldn't help feeling a little surprised and a stab of jealousy as he kissed her forehead. Dee had created a large hole in the glass, and kept tapping around it with her shoe until Tom and the girl could fit through.
"Open your eyes, baby, please open your eyes…" Tom was rambling as he placed the girl on the floor, too concerned with her to even look up at Dee and Jenny. He wiped the hair from her face and checked for a pulse shakily.
"No, come on Sophie, talk to me!" he scooped her upper body onto his lap, rocking her gently back and forth. Dee and Jenny knelt down either side of him sympathetically.
"Tom, let me help her, I learnt CPR in my training." Dee reassured, squeezing his shoulder to show her support. He looked at the motionless girl in his arms and nodded, handing her to Dee carefully to let her do whatever was necessary. Tom turned to look at Jenny with mad fury boiling in his green flecked eyes.
"Where the hell are we, Jenny?" his voice was sharp, speaking to her in a tone that he'd never used with her before.
"Calm down Tom." Dee warned while performing CPR on the girl. He didn't turn away from Jenny for a second, wild anger possessing his thoughts. Jenny swallowed uneasily.
"No, I won't calm down! Ten minutes ago I was chilling in my dorm, and then I'm suffocating with my girlfriend in here! You tell me what's going on RIGHT NOW!"
The numb anger inside of her was bubbling back to the surface, and she gritted her teeth as she spoke.
"We're in a maze of mirrors that don't reflect." She said bluntly.
"Yeah, I can see that, I want to know why?"
"What other reason could we possibly be in a strange place with strange things going on and all doing it together?"
"Quit playing games with me!" he advanced a step toward her impatiently, "I'm tired of your stupid, damn games and you know it!"
"Well isn't that a shame, since you're now part of a new one. Welcome to level 4." She looked at him with as much disgust on her face as she could fathom. His own loathing stare made her heart ache; not in the way looking and thinking about him used to, when she was so intoxicated by love that it physically hurt, but in the way that she understood any amorous connection they had once shared was lost forever.
"Great, well that's just perfect, well done Jenny." He slid a hand down his face in frustration, and just then Sophie stirred.
Tom rushed towards her and pulled her into a loving embrace, which she joined in with once her mind registered what he was doing. Jenny had a good view of the girl's face now that it was resting on Tom's shoulder, and felt a sting of disbelief as she analysed her features; the lighting in the centre of the room was much better than in the walls, reflections or whatever they were, revealing the fact that Sophie's hair was not chestnut, but rather a honey blond colour that fell around her face in wavy locks. Her face was soft and she had a golden tint to her skin, contrasting beautifully with her dark green eyes.
"No…" She cut off their hug with her wounded gasp, and felt the jealousy filtering back into her system. Tom glared at Jenny as he pulled Sophie to her feet.
"Who are these girls? What are we doing here?" her voice made Jenny shudder. It was like her own, except maybe a little sweeter and slightly higher.
"I can't really explain where we are Soph, you're going to have to see that for yourself, but these are my…" he changed his mind last minute as he looked at Jenny, "Friends. From high school, Dee and Jenny."
"I'm his ex girlfriend." Jenny spat out, making Tom flinch, "We dated through most of our school lives. Feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it Tom?" Tom opened his mouth to answer, but Dee broke the banter to avoid petty relationship quarrelling in such an inconvenient setting.
"I wanna start moving again, if you don't mind guys." Dee urged, giving them each a look which meant 'move or I'll carry you both out of here over my shoulder'. Jenny walked towards the hole in the mirror and stepped through, gesturing for the others to follow her down yet another hallway of mirrors. She desperately wanted to walk in silence and avoid looking at or hearing from Tom until the end of the level, but he immediately continued the conversation.
"What does he want now?" Tom asked Jenny while maintaining his irritated mood.
"It isn't Julian this time; it's a different Shadow Man that has Julian locked up in the arcade. We need to rescue him."
"Awesome. So we're here to rescue the guy that ruined my life? That's even better."
"Oh shut up Tom, not everything is about you!" Jenny was losing her temper more with every time he spoke. She couldn't understand how the boy who not 2 years ago made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world could make her feel so infuriated and unkind.
"Don't get sassy with me Jenny, I left you guys to forget these mind games ever happened, we all got involved in some dangerous, crazy stuff and I'm done with it now! I don't even want to save Julian!" hearing his name used in such a spiteful tone forced Jenny to spin round and march up to him.
"If you wanted to leave behind your terrible old life so much, why did you decide to date a girl who looks exactly like me?" Jenny had seen her reflections far too many times through the mirrors from hell in the last half an hour or so, but what really freaked her out was a real person from Tom's new life could look so identical to her without actually being her and still get him after everything they went through. Sophie turned to look at Tom in confused shock as Jenny pointed at her.
"I'm dating Sophie because I love her! Because we can have a normal relationship free of dark magic and obsessive Shadow Men, it has nothing to do with looks!" She didn't want to believe it, it was hard to imagine Tom would randomly pick someone that looked like his former golden haired girlfriend and decide he would ask her out because she seemed like a nice person. She must have reminded him of Jenny before they'd even spoke, and the fact he admitted that he chose Sophie because she didn't bare the baggage of seeing things usually invisible to the human eye proved that he was only trying to forget the new independent Jenny and find someone like the girl he used to love, the vulnerable innocent damsel in distress that needed him for support and comfort. Jenny looked at Sophie, the sweet little girl that had replaced her in Tom's life, and reluctantly began to understand that he loved her enough to push away the memories of how he and Jenny once were as lovers.
"It's not my fault that Julian chose me Tom. Don't you dare make me feel guilty for staying strong to get you guys away from him." The hall was electrified with hostility, heaving with pain and heartbreak and long overdue confession. What was needed to be said had been said, but nothing seemed better with it all out in the open.
"I'm not sure I want to know much more about what went on between you two, but I really want someone to explain where I am, now please." Sophie held her elbows close to her body, and Tom walked over to encircle her in his arm protectively.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, just stay close to me and you'll be fine." He cooed to her, swaying soothingly as he spoke, and Sophie shut her eyes to enjoy his pleasant security. Jenny and Dee grimaced at the scene, and decided to keep moving when the couple didn't pull apart.
"I'm sure Barbie and Ken will catch up in their own time." Dee looked to Jenny, who allowed Dee's somewhat skewed sense of humour to wash away what was left of her bitterness and forget the throbbing that Tom had left behind in the centre of her chest.
"Well this is a little different." Dee and Jenny stopped at a wall that was entirely hidden behind a thick black curtain, hanging off of the ceiling somehow and draping across the floor in front of them. They looked at it with suspicious fascination, feeling the material when they were sure it wasn't going to open.
"It's so heavy, even with the work-outs I do, this is impossible to lift." Dee attempted to pull it up from the floor for a sneak peak, but the material was unmovable, concealing whatever lay behind it with a waterfall of jet-black fabric. Tom and Sophie were walking towards them, hands entwined, and as they stopped in between Dee and Jenny, the curtains stirred. The four of them took a wary step backward, and the curtains drew gracefully either side of the hallway. When the wall was finally revealed, a horrified gasp was shared, and a scream from Sophie.
Each person now had a reflection that accurately imitated their actions, but not their appearances. Their eyes were clouded over, irises barely visible at the distance they stood from the mirror, and skin so pale that it was almost blue. Their flesh was damaged in various places, some parts peeling off and decaying, others hideous open wounds that were ugly shades of red and purple and yellow. There was no hair left on their scalps, maybe a few strands, but not enough the hide the exposed skull and brain on the top of their heads. Clothes were barely noticeable with the sickening extent of the wounds and visible bone, and their heads limply hung from their necks and stared at their reflectors with an absent gaze.
"What the hell is this? This is beyond twisted!" Sophie sobbed, staring at the mirror in terror. Tom instantly pulled her to him and turned her head away from the reflection. The dead versions of the couple imitated their actions in zombie-like movements, and Tom watched it happen with revulsion.
"I thought these mirrors didn't reflect." He mumbled to Jenny, who was feeling her cheeks and watching her dead reflection copy her, except it was feeling her cheekbones and remaining nerves and muscles inside her cheek. It was revolting to look at, but she couldn't look away, and in the corner of her eye she could see Dee doing the same thing.
"These are the only reflections that have actually reflected us, but I still wouldn't call it an actual reflection." Jenny cringed as a large layer of flesh slid off of her reflection's neck and onto the floor by her feet, "This is completely disgusting, I can't look at it anymore."
"Yeah I'm done now." Dee gagged, taking another step backward from the mirror. They heard another click, and the mirror became two doors opening outwards from the centre into a lengthy room void of mirrors, with 5 people inside that seemed to be expecting them.
"Well you took your time, didn't you?" Darien was perched languidly on a large intricate black throne in the centre of the room, his arms spread across the arms of the beautiful velvety seat impatiently tapping on the edge of it and shaking his head at Jenny, who could only inhale tensely in response. She saw that he was wearing much more eccentric clothing than before: a tight black vest top with a bright green fractal explosion design on the centre of it, and a fitted leather jacket that reached down to his ankles and dramatically enhanced his gothic cyberpunk style. On his legs he wore simple black jeans and chunky-soled knee length boots with lace and buckles lining the front of them, and a vivid green computer circuit pattern that decorated their sides. Jenny noticed a very bizarre looking piece of jewellery made of metal that twisted round his wrist in a strange pattern with a large Malachite crystal in the middle of it. She could also see the Rune Stave partially hidden in the inside pocket of his jacket as he rose from his position.
"Your friends have been waiting for some time, I wasn't aware there would be so many delays," he eyed the four of them in turn, passing the rest of the group that were standing around his throne as he slowly made his way to the front of the room, "Some thought you were lost to the maze forever. Of course, by no means did I create such a thought. We've actually all had a nice, friendly chat in your absence." He turned to the others, who all had their heads bowed in what Jenny made out to be shame mixed with fear. He let the silence linger for a while, then turned back to inspect Tom and Sophie.
"So I finally meet the notorious Tom. Welcome to my game, I've heard so many nasty and spiteful things about you." Darien offered a hand to him, waiting for Tom to shake it, who only looked into the deep green eyes watching his own cautiously. Darien withdrew his hand after several minutes had passed; laughing menacingly without taking his eyes away from Tom's, "Apparently it's all true."
"Who are you?" Sophie asked meekly. She was half hiding behind Tom, and Darien only had to move slightly to his right so that he was standing in front of her.
"I go by the name of Darien, my dear." He took her hand and kissed the back of it. Sophie blushed a dark shade of pink, clearly affected by the intensity of his touch, and seemed lost for words. Tom was not impressed, and tried to push Darien away without success.
"Stay away from my girlfriend you creep!" in the midst of his fury, he hadn't registered how careless his actions had been, and it was only when the blazing green eyes darted to look at him that he realised he was in trouble. Darien effortlessly lifted Tom off of the ground via his pale blue sweater, suspending him in the air with a smirk spread across his face.
"Please! Put him down! He didn't mean to upset you!" Sophie cried frantically. The rest of the group felt numbed to the situation, and even annoyed at Tom for being so stupid.
"Maybe you'd like to explain the most important rule of this game Jenny?" he looked at her for a brief second, returning his eyes to Tom when he'd finished speaking.
"Don't be foolish, because you will always lose." She stated calmly, and there was a long wait while Tom and Darien continued to stare at one another threateningly. Each boy was too full of pride and overconfidence to break away from the stare, the power of their antagonism making the air heavy and hard to breathe in. Finally, Darien dropped Tom to the ground and turned away from him, shattering the uncomfortable atmosphere in a single mood change.
"So, I hope you're all ready for the next level, it's my personal favourite, but I won't give any surprises away." He looked to Jenny excitedly, hands wrung together in anticipation, "I did tell you of special guests." That information had slipped her mind, and she started to wonder who he would select from their lives to play along in his game. It would be someone, or some people who meant a lot to them if it was going to be fun, since Darien loved nothing more than to torture his victims that way, but who?
"Let Sophie go." Darien rolled his eyes and turned back to Tom, who was standing in front of his girlfriend again. Watching from a distance, Jenny felt a little stupid for falling so deeply for Tom Locke, who stood defiantly and handsomely to defend the girl he loved, yet did not appear to have any common sense in the most unstable of scenarios. Darien's impatience was turning into irritation as he searched Tom.
"I don't care what you do to me, but you let her go right now, she isn't a part of this."
"The saddest part of this, Tommy, is that it's your fault that she is, in fact, a part of it. Once you are tainted with the knowledge of dark magic, you can't just run away from its consequences, that's not how it works." He was laughing at Tom, mocking his pathetic attempt to save Sophie, "And now, you have brought another girl that you love into the realms of darkness, of which she too, will never escape. But nice try." His wide smirk returned to his lips, enjoying Tom's realisation that he had doomed Sophie to everything he had tried so hard to escape.
"No, this isn't fair!" Tom yelled, causing Darien to only laugh louder and more insanely, "Life isn't fair Tom, don't let yourself think otherwise."
"I don't want to see Julian again; I'm not playing this damned game just so I get reunited with my worst enemy!" Tom's voice was stubborn, like a toddler refusing to take a bath or go to bed, and anger stirred in the liquid emerald eyes glaring at him.
"Don't push this Tom; you're just digging a hole for yourself!" Audrey snapped from behind Darien. She was still on the other side of the room from Jenny and the others with Summer, Zach, and Michael.
"Yeah mate, finish this with us, we'll be out in no time!" Michael didn't seem to believe his own words, but nevertheless he took a few steps forward and half smiled.
"No, I can't do this again; I won't go through this kind of torture again…"
"ENOUGH!" Darien wasn't finding much enjoyment in Tom's complaining, and his voice was like a deafening explosion that shook the room. The group recoiled at the power of his demand, and clamped their mouths shut as he glared at each of them in turn.
"You!" he strode up to Tom and grabbed his jaw angrily, pulling his face up to look at his, "You are pathetic! You will do what I tell you when I tell you to do it, you will not answer back to me again, or I promise you will not live to escape this game, do you understand?" Tom nodded as much as he could with the strength of Darien's grip on his jaw, and Darien threw Tom against the closed doors behind him like he was a piece of discarded trash. The group at the back of the room rushed to the front reflexively.
"I really want to kill you Tom, there isn't a lot preventing me from doing so."
"Julian had a much better reason to kill me than you do, and he never did." Tom choked, and suddenly Jenny's heart was racing. No Tom, don't do this, don't test him…
"Are you…challenging me?" Darien's voice was hesitant, but his eyes glistened with enthusiasm as he considered the idea. Tom looked determined to stay strong, despite knowing that he had just finished digging the hole that Audrey had warned him to stay away from.
"He didn't mean to say that Darien, he knows not to challenge you!" Jenny yelled unsteadily, "Please just give us our next clue so we can move on!"
"I really don't think he does know Jenny," she could see his eyes becoming more insane and hungry as Tom's confidence wavered and he pressed himself further against the door, "I think he genuinely believes I won't kill him just because Julian was weak-minded and imprudent. But I will remove that doubt from his mind…"
"No, don't do this!" Summer screamed from behind Darien, which sparked a chaotic chorus of protests from the group, asking him to think about his actions and to give him another chance. Sophie was standing by him in a frenzied panic, crying hysterically at the confusion of the situation, but Darien didn't care. He skilfully ignored the outcries, and raised a hand threateningly towards Tom. From his palm, a long white current of electricity emerged like lightning, and struck Tom in the chest. He was convulsing on the spot, eyes rolled back as the electrical current continued to surge through his body and fry him from the inside out.
"TOMMMM!" Sophie screeched painfully. She couldn't reach forward and help him despite being only inches away from his arm, a premier view of Tom's death. Jenny pressed her hands hard against her mouth, unable to breathe or react to the violent scene unfolding before her, and the others seemed equally as stunned by what was happening. Tom was dying slowly and excruciatingly, but all they could do was ask Darien to stop. It was too late, Tom's face and limbs were blackening, his seizure was controlled solely by the current running through him, and his clothes had been burnt away. Tom was gone, and when Darien was satisfied that he'd won, the lightning disappeared and the corpse fell to the floor like a huge pile of ash.
Sophie collapsed by his unidentifiable body, frozen with disbelief, and let out another heartbreaking cry as the reality sunk in. Summer shielded her eyes by curling up into Zach and sobbing, but Zach was in too big a state of shock to hug her back. Michael and Audrey held onto each other trembling, and Dee's face was shielded by her hands, refusing to let anyone see the tears that silently fell down her cheeks. Jenny stared at the burnt body lying on the floor hoping that this was part of the disorientation, that Tom would tap her on the shoulder and she'd come back to reality to find that she had just imagined a terrible accident that have never happened at all, but she knew better. This felt all too real; the smell of burnt flesh plagued her senses, the cries from her mourning friends, and the sight of Darien walking over to her soundlessly.
She thought he would say 'I told you so', or mock her grieving just to prove how pitiless he truly was, or even just watch her sadness because he found it amusing, but what he actually did was worse. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his arms, pressing her close to his body and turning his head towards hers so that his lips were brushing against her ear. She didn't want to be so close to him, and the idea of trying to pull away crossed her mind, but was lost to her dizzy shock. She couldn't remember how to use her arms, and even the coldness of his skin against her own was not enough to snap her out of her dazed confusion.
"You're welcome." He whispered to her, the iciness of his breathe so extreme that it made Jenny shiver. He believed he'd done her a favour by eradicating Tom from her life, taking him out of the equation so that she was free of his guilt forever. In this situation, it really did feel like Darien was her own dark genie, a true Djinn, but Jenny would never wish such a cruel death upon anyone.
"Tom, I'm so sorry…" Jenny sobbed, finally letting the pain take hold of her. She felt numb in Darien's arms, and he pulled away slightly, face perfectly unreadable, and stroked away her tears.
"He isn't worth these, my dear." He soothed, caressing her cheek with a gentle finger. Darien was out of character again, treating her in a way he wasn't supposed to treat her. His arctic touch was starting to feel very good against her warm skin, so Jenny closed her eyes to try and block him out.
"Leave me alone." She pleaded weakly, refusing to open her eyes when he removed his hand from her face.
"Everything will be okay Jenny; you just need to wake up." Darien's voice seemed much quieter now, and she replayed what he had just said in her head.
"But I'm not asleep." She said, feeling very lightheaded and far-away as she spoke.
Then she woke up.