Disclaimer:
JK Rowling.
It began to rain.
At first it fell in slow,
big water droplets. But within minutes it began to come down in sheets, soaking
Ginny and Draco instantly. The dirt turned into mud, and Ginny was constantly
sliding and having to grab Draco for support. Ginny began to comment on how the
food must be getting wet, since it was in a bag slung over his shoulder.
"At least we won't die of
thirst," Draco said. Even though the rain was so thick she couldn't see his
face clearly when he was walking right beside her, she could tell that he was
smirking.
"Yeah, we'll drown," Ginny
muttered, running a hand over her forehead to push back her hair.
They put a Water Repelling
Charm on the map so they could see where they were going. The clouds and rain
made it so dark that they could only read it by wandlight, but so far they
hadn't had any reason to use their wands being that they hadn't run into
anything dangerous.
Still, there was dread in
the pit of Ginny's stomach, wondering if perhaps they would really wander the
maze forever. According to the map, the dots that represented them were going
in the right direction. Yet that could be part of the illusion.
They didn't speak much as
they walked. Ginny found herself thinking about what her mother, Ron, Hermione,
and Harry were doing at that exact moment – probably very annoyed with her for
leaving without a note or anything. She trusted that Hermione had told them
about the map, so they must know that she had left out of her own free will,
but that would probably just infuriate them more.
Ginny found herself smiling,
but closed her mouth when water ran off her nose into it. She had always been
the "obeying" Weasley, as her brothers always called her. She had always been
afraid of breaking the rules and of going off alone. Well, now she had broken
an unspoken rule by leaving the house, even though she wasn't exactly alone.
With Draco she felt just as safe as she did within her own household, despite
the bad feeling gnawing inside her. Whatever happened to them, Draco would be
there to protect her –
Draco put his arm out to
stop her. Ginny stopped and glanced at him, squinting to make out his face in
the rain. "What is it?" she said in a hushed tone.
"You hear that?" he
whispered lowly, his voice barely audible over the pounding of the rain.
"What?" She hadn't heard
anything, but her heart began to thud and the hairs on her arm pricked up.
Then, her ears strained, she heard it. It sounded like teeth chattering, sort
of like the soft scrap of nails across a tile floor. She looked around wildly,
not sure why the sound disturbed her. Her hand gripped Draco's firmly just in
case, but nothing happened.
Except the chattering got a
bit louder . . . closer.
"Where is it coming from?"
Ginny asked, her breathing getting harder. She searched the maze walls and saw
nothing out of the ordinary. She looked down at the muddy ground and saw
nothing . . .
No, wait. She did see
something – a small, dark shape scurrying across the mud. It moved quickly, and
she lost sight of it. Soon she saw another, and then another. Beside her, Draco
had seen them too, but they could never keep their eyes on one for very long
before it disappeared from view, and another replaced it.
"What are they?" Ginny
breathed.
"I don't know . . ."
Suddenly, one of the dark
shapes leaped up and landed on Ginny's chest. She shrieked loudly and dropped
Draco's hand, stumbling backwards. It was the first clear glimpse she got of it
and she began to wish she hadn't seen it.
It was a scorpion.
A black scorpion with blood-red
eyes. She'd never seen a scorpion before, but she hadn't even heard of ones
with red eyes. It held on the front of her robes, its pinchers opening and
snapping shut rapidly, causing the chattering noise they had heard before.
Ginny was terrified to touch it, but it began to scramble up the front of her
chest and towards her neck.
She took another step
backwards and raised her hands to brush it off. Suddenly, her heel slid in the
mud and she fell onto her back.
Draco dropped the bag of
food and hurried over to help her, his own feet slipping in the thick mud. He
stumbled a few times before he fell on his knees next to her. To his shock
there was no longer just one scorpion on her chest, but more had climbed on to
her. She was batting them away frantically with her hands, fighting hysterics.
"Help me!" she whispered.
Before he could move about
five scorpions crawled up his side, and he twisted and turned to get them off.
As he reached for his wand, something bit into the skin of his hand and he
cried out, cursing loudly.
There seemed to be infinite
amounts of the scorpions and in moments they were both covered and busy with
the task of getting them to drop off. But whenever they lost their grip they
just scrambled right back up.
Ginny was near tears.
Whatever bare skin they could find they pinched, and it felt like scissors
cutting through her flesh. It burned terribly and drew blood – she could feel
it trickling with rainwater down the side of her face, down her neck, down her
arms. Draco had managed to keep up on his knees, while she was on her back on
the ground, but it didn't seem to stop the scorpions from attacking him. And he
was so absorbed in getting the creatures of himself he didn't notice that he
was brushing them off onto her, and they quickly changed prey and decided to
feast on her instead.
She tried to reach her wand.
A pincher clamped down on her finger but she ignored it, biting her lip to keep
from screaming. The pain was so intense! It was like being stabbed all over
again, except all over her body this time. With a scorpion attached to her
finger she managed to slide her hand into her pocket, the other hand trying to
keep the scorpions from her face. Her eyes squeezed shut, her teeth clamped so
hard on her bottom lip she tasted blood, she pulled her wand out.
Think, she ordered. Concentrate,
Ginny. Think of a spell!
Her mind was too boggled and
fixed on the searing pain to think straight. But then she thought of how nice
it would be in a bathtub full of ice cubes, how it would sooth the red-hot pain
of the scorpions, and shouted the first thing that came to her brain.
"Icilia!" she
shrieked, and quickly clamped her mouth shut because a scorpion leg had fallen
in.
All movement on her and
Draco's bodies ceased. Since Draco was upright, the now frozen scorpions
dropped off – all except those who happened to have a good grip on a part of
his skin. Those dangled by their pinchers lifelessly.
Ginny slowly opened her
eyes, blinking against the rain. Draco stared down at her for a moment, taking
in how much more cuts on her face she had, and then used his wand to gently
remove the frozen stiff scorpions that were still holding on to her skin. He
did the same to himself before gently helping her to her feet.
Looking around, he smirked.
The ground, for about a perimeter of ten feet, was covered with frozen black
scorpions.
Blood and rain dripped down
Ginny's face. Draco only had one rather small cut on his cheek, but Ginny had a
large scrape across her chin, the tip of her nose, and across her right
eyebrow.
"You all right?" he asked,
wiping the hair off her face so it wouldn't get bloody.
She nodded. "I . . . yeah,
I'm okay."
"I really hope those suckers
aren't poisonous," he muttered.
"I guess we'll find out,"
she said. "Fix me." She told him what spell to use, and instantly her face and
arms were back to their normal unscarred selves. She fixed his quickly, and then
they both stood there among the sea of stiff scorpions, not sure if they wanted
to continue yet.
Ginny sniffed loudly and
pressed herself against Draco. Her chin on his shoulder, she spoke and tried to
keep her tears out of her tone. "Draco, I'm sorry I brought you in to this. You
were right – we should've given the map to the Ministry. I was too busy
thinking of myself and I'm sorry."
He rubbed her back
reassuringly. "Well, of course I'm right," he said. "I'm always right. But if I
had really thought you couldn't find the skull without aide of the Ministry
then I wouldn't have come, or allowed you to go, would I?"
Ginny smiled despite
herself. "No," she said quietly. Then she moved her head to give him a long
kiss on the mouth, but it was hardly romantic, standing there in the pouring
rain and her body still throbbing and reminding her of the intense pain of the
scorpions.
She felt a little better,
and they consulted the map once more. Ginny nearly moaned out loud when she saw
they weren't even halfway there.
"This may take a little
longer than a day," she said, frowning.
"We have enough food for
two, maybe three, days," he said, slinging the bag of food over his shoulder.
"If we've gone this far in a couple of hours we should be able to get there by
this time tomorrow."
About an hour later, it was
still raining just as hard. Ginny's stomach growled, and she wondered if it
would let up enough for them to stop and eat. But since Draco hadn't said
anything, she didn't either, hoping that it would stop soon.
But it did not. They sat
down in the mud, Ginny regretting bringing nothing but two sleeping bags which
wouldn't be very useful in the rain. They huddled under Draco's cloak,
contemplating using the Water Repelling Charm on the food so they wouldn't have
to be nose to nose while they ate. But they attempted it on a roll, and it was
so dry it absorbed all moisture in Ginny's mouth, so they decided against it.
After eating, they walked
the remainder of the day. By the time it was pitch dark, the rain finally
stopped. They were a good distance beyond the halfway point on the map and
since they were exhausted, they decided to stop and sleep.
The maze path had been very
wide, but it consisted of nothing but dirt (or in their case, mud). Every inch
of ground was exposed to the rain, there being no trees or bushes, so they had
to place their sleeping bags in the mud and try and sleep.
Ginny lay on her back,
staring up at the sky. The walls of the maze rose high and out of vision,
fading into the darkness of the cloudy night. Suddenly, she started to giggle.
"What in the world could be
funny?" Draco said, sounding irritable. His sleeping bag was right beside hers,
but he had his back to her.
"This just reminded me of
something," she said, reaching over to grab his hand. "Remember when we were in
New York? This sort of reminds me of that time because we're both lying in the
middle of nowhere. And, I don't know about you, but I'm very uncomfortable."
"No, I'm just about as
comfortable as you can get," Draco snapped, rolling over on his back to look at
her. "I can feel the weight of mud in my hair. A shower sounds like heaven
right about now."
"Are you sure?" Ginny asked,
bringing her face closer to his. "Only a shower sounds like heaven?"
He grinned lazily. "Well,
I'm sure I could think of another thing." And he kissed her softly on the lips.
Ginny was slightly surprised, considering each and every kiss she'd shared with
Draco had not been even close to this gentle.
But the kiss deepened, and
Ginny found herself rolling half in the mud between hers and Draco's sleeping
bags just to be closer to him. But she didn't care – while the mud was damp and
cold on her skin, Draco's lips were sending jolts of warmth down her stomach,
causing her to get goose bumps. She shivered and wrapped her arms tighter
around his neck, pressing her body up against his as far as it would go. Her
legs intertwined with his and his hand moved to push up her shirt. Her heart
fluttered, but she did not stop him.
He gently trailed his
fingers down the bare flesh of her side. His touch brought such sensations that
she couldn't think straight. A voice in the back of her head told her to stop,
but she really wanted to go on.
It took a lot of effort to pull her lips from Draco's, but she managed to do it. His unfathomable gray eyes stared at her, and she gently brushed a strand of fine hair off his forehead before kissing it. "'Night, Draco," she whispered, and rolled back to her sleeping bag.
The next morning was cold. Ginny woke up shivering.
She slowly opened her eyes,
and saw a face looming above her. She opened her mouth to scream, but then
realized the face was that of a woman, and showed no hostility.
Ginny sat up and got a good
look at the intruder. If she had had silvery hair Ginny would've sworn she was
a Veela. The woman was just plain gorgeous.
Her hair was a dark black,
giving it a blue tinted look. It was long and silky, blowing freely in the wind
around her waist. Her eyes were wide and almond shaped and were of the
brightest, sharpest blue Ginny had ever seen. A small smile played around her
full, pouting lips and her skin looked as if it were made of pale silk. The
outfit she wore was of white gossamer material, hanging from her perfectly
proportioned body much like robes, and very easy to see through. The woman only
wore a pair of white underwear and nothing else under it, so Ginny felt her
cheeks flush and she had to look down.
"Hello," the woman said a
deep, melodious voice. "I am Dara."
Ginny turned and found Draco
was not beside her any more. She craned her neck to search for him before she
remembered her manners. "I'm Ginny. Where is the man who was sleeping next to
me?"
Dara's smile widened but she
did not answer. She held out a slender fingered hand to help Ginny up, and she
accepted it. She hoped her flushing was not visible as she fixed her gaze on
Dara's cornflower blue eyes. "Do you know where that blond haired man who was
sleeping next to me is?"
Dara did not stop smiling,
but her eyes turned colder. "Is he a relative of yours?" she asked. Her voice
was very throaty, one that would have any man drooling. Ginny knew this from
growing up with seven males.
"Uh . . ." Ginny was not
sure how to answer this, and her hesitation caused Dara's eyes to flash
dangerously. Ginny quickly replied honestly, "No."
Dara warmed. "Come with me,"
she said, draping a milk white arm around Ginny's shoulders.
Ginny assumed that meant she
was taking her to Draco. "One minute," she said, and reached into the bag to
grab the map. She shoved it in her pocket before returning to Dara, who put her
arm back over her shoulders (Ginny hoped her flushing was not that apparent –
being pressed against a half-naked woman was awkward and uncomfortable) and
began to led her away from the sleeping bags.
Draco woke up to someone stroking his cheek.
At first, he thought it was
Ginny. He opened his eyes, wondering how the sleeping bag had gotten so soft
during the night.
Then he knew why. It was because he was in a bed.
Startled, he tried to sit
up. But he found he couldn't. Something was bound around his wrists. Looking
up, he saw that his hands and feet chained – chained – to each bedpost
by the wrists and ankles. That in itself was shocking enough, but there was
something that stunned him even more.
Two beautiful half-naked
women sat on either side of him. One was wearing a see-through light blue robe
over underwear, and she had long golden hair that reached to her waits. The
other was wearing a see-through pink robe over underwear and had brown hair
braided down her back. They were each snuggled against him, and smiled happily
when they saw he was awake.
"What's going on?" he
demanded, glaring harshly at them.
The brunette rubbed her palm
over his chest and grinned. Neither of them answered.
"Get off me," he snarled,
but they seemed to not have heard him. The blond kissed his cheek, then his
forehead, while the other stroked his hair gently. A year ago he would not have
been so angry; he would have been enjoying himself. Hell, he was a
teenage boy. But Ginny's face kept popping up in his mind, and it made him
furious that these women had him tied to a bed and could do whatever they
wanted to him.
He jerked on the chains
hard, causing the metal to bite into his wrist. "Let me go," he said through
gritted teeth. "Now."
The door to the room opened,
and another gorgeous half-bare girl walked in so gracefully she seemed to
float. She, too, had golden blond hair that reached her waist, but her robe was
red and just as transparent as the others'.
Her wide, liquid brown eyes
settled on Draco and she gave him a dazzling smile. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
she purred.
"No," he said harshly. "Let
me go this instant or you'll regret it."
Her eyes darkened and
narrowed. "You are the first to ever resist our charms," she said haughtily. "Do
you not like women?"
Draco was highly insulted. "I
don't like being chained to a bed. If you want me bad enough you'll at least
give me the chance to respond in my own way instead of keeping me tied up."
The woman's face softened,
but she did not relent. "You will not be freed. We shall have our fun with you
and then dispose of you."
She turned to go, but Draco
stopped her. "You're going to kill me?" he asked.
When she twisted her head around,
her hair fanned out like a sheet of gold. "We kill every man who is unfortunate
to stumble onto our path," she said, grinning coldly.
And then she left the room
before Draco could ask any more questions.
The two beside him returned
to their petting and small kisses, and he squirmed uncomfortably. "Do either of
you know what happened to the girl who was found with me?" he asked, making his
voice as civil as possible. After all, maybe if sweet-talked these girls enough
they wouldn't want to kill him.
They did not even
acknowledge his question. The brunette began to lift up his shirt, her nails
raking almost painfully across his stomach.
"Hey!" he cried, letting his
anger show. "I would appreciate it if you would untie me so I could do that
myself."
No answer.
He yanked against the
chains, but he knew that he would never be able to get out of them. His wand
was gone, he knew that much. Even if he'd had it he wouldn't have been able to
reach it being tied up the way he was.
But what had they done with
Ginny? Were they going to kill her, too?
Before he could worry any
longer, the blond girl giggled and started to work on his leather trousers.
Ginny and Dara did not walk very long until they came to a rather large
white house. It was the only other thing Ginny had seen in the maze besides the
shrubbery walls and mud.
"Is this where you live?"
Ginny asked politely as they walked up the front steps.
Dara smiled at her and they
paused before the front door. "My sisters and I live here."
"Really? How many sisters do
you have?" Ginny asked, trying to be courteous.
"They are not technically my
sisters," Dara admitted with a wave of her hand. "Most of us are nymphs, and
are more like cousins. There are a few witches here as well. I believe you are
a witch."
"How did you . . ." Ginny
trailed off when Dara held up her wand. She reached for it, but Dara held it
out of her grasp, a coy smile on her face. "I would like to have my wand,
please," she said as patiently as she could manage.
"In good time," Dara
promised, and opened the door. "Come in and meet my sisters."
Ginny opened her mouth to
argue, to say she only wanted to see Draco and leave, but felt that it would
upset Dara. She seemed instable, capable of charming the Devil one minute, then
being as angry as a demon the next. She would have to be careful.
Dara led her to a room in
the back of the house, which appeared to be some sort of dinning room. Nearly a
dozen woman, all with waist long hair, beautiful faces, and sheer robes of all
colors, sat at a table and were eating. They all stopped their giggling and
chatter when Dara and Ginny entered, looking up with interest. Ginny noticed
there were three empty seats and she assumed one was for Dara. Was the other
for her? And maybe the third for Draco?
"Ginny, these are my
sisters," Dara said, waving a slim arm dramatically. She then went around to
name them all, but Ginny was never going to remember it. One face was as stunning
as the next. Anyway, why did it matter their names? Ginny wasn't going to stay –
she planned on finding Draco and leaving.
"Are Gillian and Elisha
still . . . with our guest?" Dara asked after introducing everyone.
The girls burst into a fit
of giggles. Ginny stood awkwardly, very much wanting to leave.
"Yes, they are," one girl
finally answered.
"And it's not fair," another
girl added, pouting and making it look like an art. "He was so good-looking. I've
always had a preference for blonds."
Blond? Did that mean they
were referring to Draco?
At Ginny's confused look,
Dara smiled reassuringly. "Please, come and have some breakfast –"
"No thank you," she said rather
quickly. At Dara's darkening eyes, she went on. "I'm not hungry. I would just
like to find my companion and leave. We have to be home soon and if not my
parents will worry –"
She stopped as the girls
laughed. Even Dara's smile was amused. "But Ginny, dear, we do not want you to
leave. You have such a beauty I have never seen before. We would be honored if
you would stay and live with us. I've told you that not all of us are nymphs,
some are witches –"
"Live here?" Ginny repeated.
"Oh, I couldn't. I'm very flattered, Dara, but I have a family that I must
return to. If you would be so kind as to show me to the man I was with . . ."
And the girls were laughing
again. Ginny frowned, annoyed. Why did they find everything so funny?
"Ginny, may I have a word
with you outside?" Dara asked, smiling warmly. She nodded and followed the
nymph out, throwing one final glance at the table of giggling and beautiful
women.
As soon as they were outside
the room, the chatter started back up. Ginny heard her name several times, but
ordered herself to focus on Dara.
"This is an establishment I
started," Dara began. "After I ran away from home with my sister because our
father was abusive. My sister, Hannah – she was the one who said she prefers
blonds in there – and I both hated men with a vengeance because of what he did
to us. Our mother was dead, killing herself just after Hannah was born and
leaving me to care for her."
Wonderful, now may I
leave? Ginny thought, hoping her impatience wasn't obvious.
"We found other girls who
loathed men as we did," Dara continued. "Other nymphs, beautiful like us. We
used our charms to get men to fall for us, and then we'd leave them.
Occasionally, if they were enough of a jerk, we'd kill them. But either way we
hurt them badly, just as men have hurt us."
Ginny tried not to gape.
What was Dara telling her?
"Our number grew, and so we
decided to build our own house somewhere that no one will find us," Dara went
on. "In this maze, there is no Ministry to accuse us of murder since they don't
even know this place exists. In fact, not many do."
"The what's the point if no
men ever come?" Ginny asked despite herself. She couldn't help it – she was
curious.
Dara smiled, glad for Ginny's
interest. "Sometimes people stumble upon us by accident," she said. "As you may
know, nymphs can live in their prime for many centuries. I've been here for
about five hundred years. The regular witches never last very long, but there
are normally those to replace them. We either mate or, if we're lucky, a pretty
witch such as yourself will find their way here."
"How could you mate if there
are no men?" Ginny asked, dreading the answer.
"Before we kill them," Dara
said, her eyes flashing with excitement and not noticing Ginny's horrified
look, "we sometimes mate with them. More often than not we just use them for
our own enjoyment before getting rid of them. Men are only good for one thing,
Ginny, and that is reproduction and . . . the activity that goes along with it."
Ginny could not keep her
thoughts from being shown – she knew she looked stunned and appalled at what
Dara was telling her. They kill men, she thought, swallowing hard. Does
that mean they've killed Draco?
"If an ugly woman comes,"
Dara went on, "then we kill her instantly. Unattractive women are of no use to
us. But you, my dear, are very beautiful. We have much need of you."
Ginny stared at her. What
happens when I get old? she wondered. When I get wrinkly and gray? Will
they consider me ugly and kill me off, too?
"Where is Draco?" she asked
softly.
"Draco?" Dara's eyes flashed
with that dangerous look again. "Oh, the young man who was with you. Well, I
assure you, Ginny, you will never have to worry about him again."
Her heart stuck in her
throat, but she forced the words out. "Is he . . . have you . . . he isn't . .
."
"He is not dead yet," Dara
said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Two of our girls are enjoying his
last few hours on this earth as we speak. Now, why don't you come with me so we
can get you fitted for an outfit –"
But Ginny was not listening
anymore. She shoved past Dara and hurried up the steps, not sure how she knew
that Draco would be upstairs and not down. Below she heard Dara yelling for the
girls to come out from breakfast and knew she did not have much time.
"Draco!" she screamed. "Draco,
where are you?"
Draco, who was in the
process of trying to get the blond's hands off his trousers, froze and perked
his ears. He heard his name again, confirming that it was Ginny who was
shouting for him.
"Ginny!" he cried. "Ginny,
over here!"
Ginny looked around wildly
and went right. Draco kept yelling for her and she followed his voice, finally
coming to the right door. She shoved the door open to find two half-naked girls
trying to pull Draco's pants off. Draco was looking thoroughly pissed, and she
saw relief in his eyes when he looked up at her.
"Stop!" she ordered sharply,
causing both girls to freeze their activity. They glared at her.
Ginny wished she had her
wand. Frantically, she looked around for something to get the girls away and
get Draco free from the bed. Her eyes rested on a table in the corner, and saw
that Draco's wand was lying on top of it.
In a flash she'd grabbed it
and pointed it at the manacles binding Draco to the bedpost. A second later he
was free, and he shoved the brunette so hard she fell off the bed with a
shriek. He quickly buttoned his pants again and looked up, tossing his head to
get the hair from his eyes, and held out his hand for the wand. She gave it to
him and he rushed past her out into the hall, Ginny right on his heels.
They were halfway down the
stairs when all the other nymphs and beautiful witches filed out of the dinning
room and blocked the door out. Their eyes were full of fire, but they were
smiling seductively. Draco held up his wand and stepped off the last step. Ginny
kept behind him, one hand on his shoulder.
Dara stood in the front of
the two rows the girls had made and smiled icily. "That was a bad choice,
Ginny," she said, "choosing a man over my sisters and me. For that you will pay
along with him."
"Actually," Draco said
rather calmly, "I don't think so. I don't see any of you with wands. In
a second I could kill you all."
Dara held up Ginny's wand,
and Ginny laughed, coming out from behind Draco. "You told me yourself, Dara,"
she said, "that you're a nymph. Nymphs can't do magic."
"No," Dara said calmly. She turned
her head and nodded at a girl with dark red hair. The girl stepped forward quickly,
grabbed the wand, and pointed it at Ginny.
"Windalia," she
hissed.
An invisible force knocked
Ginny backwards, causing her feet to drag along the floor. She was going to
fast for Draco to do anything to stop her or even to scream. A second later she
slammed against the wall, and a loud cracking noise was heard as her head snapped
back against it. She slumped, unconscious, to the ground.
"I also told you," Dara
whispered, "that there are witches here, too."
A/N: ooh, I know, bad cliffie. But I think you'll survive :)
All right, I'll do some thank yous: Archer (I can't wait for the next chapter of Catenatus!!!), summer_thyme (great job on guessing the Blood Skull thing, but I guess it wasn't too hard, was it? :P), Draco's Lil Angel, pyrobunnie, sOmEoNeSpEcIaL (no problem about the Virginia thing), Melissa Belial Riddle, Zoemma, w&m_law, Krissy (we all need Draco, don't we? ::sighs::), PepperJackCandy, Draco no Jikan, and Alienchick (no wonder you were gone so long! I was wondering what happened to you!)
PLEASE REVIEW!!! Reviews are my life (yes, I know, I'm a loser with no life but reviews :P)
