I fumble around the slimy floor, reaching my hand through questionable textures that I try my absolute hardest not to think about. Who knows what creatures hide in the dark? I think back to when I first saw the castle and the shadowed forms that weaved through the structure’s many cracks and crevices. A shudder runs through me. All it takes is for me to grab or poke the wrong thing in the dark. Pressing on through heightened nerves, I continue to reach around, crawling through the darkness.
My fingers clutch at what I can only assume is mostly moss-covered rocks and rough seaweed across the cold stone flooring. That is, until I reach a heavy wooden object. My hands hit it with a dull thud, climbing up the plank until they reach the ledge. As my fingers clutch the ledge, an eruption of sound drones through the small room. I flinch, snapping my hand back. Curiosity compels my fingers to make their way back to the ivory keys. A piano. Amazed at the crystal-clear sound that rings through the room, I continue to gift myself a moment of mild entertainment.
With a scurrying movement, a figure slides into the room, closing the door gently but quickly behind her. An electrical current darts through Marina’s eel-like tail, raising up through her body and manifesting in her webbed hands. She throws the electrical ball into the middle of the room, giving light to the room instantly. It had only been a few hours since I’d been locked in here but my eyes felt like they hadn’t seen the light in years. They burn and squint, leaving me just as blind as I was in the darkness.
‘What are you doing?’ she hisses, possibly through those pointed gritted teeth.
Eyes adjusting, the room is not as foreboding as I had initially thought. Instead of a dark room filled with shadows, an old storeroom spreads out before me littered with wooden crates and various broken objects.
‘Did I say you could touch that?’ she continues, glancing at the worn piano.
‘No. In fact, you didn’t say anything. Instead, you just lured me in here and imprisoned me.’
‘What if someone else heard you?’
I scoffed. ‘If I’d known someone could, maybe I would have played a little louder.’ My fingers rest back on the keys as a threat. ‘I’m sure, if anything, they would be at least more honest with their intentions.’
Marina smirks, her arms crossed, calling what I’m sure she assumes is a bluff. I hold her stare, raising my eyebrows. Her eyes go dark with warning.
‘I wasn’t lying when I said that there are others who would be less hospitable than myself.’
‘Oh, so just about everything else then?’ I can almost hear her body release its tension as I take my fingers off the ivory keys.
‘Something like that,’ she breathes. I frown, her response reminding me of another aloof demon I know. The same one that just recently tried to drown me.
‘You and I must have different ideas on hospitality,’ I say, gesturing to the room.
Marina laughs. Loudly. Her young light-hearted voice rings throughout the room. A small ray of hope sparks in me.
‘Give me some credit. I haven’t eaten your soul,’ she says, pausing, her mouth twitching in an unpleasant snicker. ‘Yet.’ Marina’s eyes flash red at the tempting thought. ‘I was going to hold off until I’d tested my theory but taking your soul now might be a better option. A swifter revenge. Even if it doesn’t impact him at all I still get a human soul and of course, the perks that come with it.’ Her slithering tail propels her closer, her red eyes fixating on her prey. Me. ‘Maybe now with a human soul, I will be able to create portals like him. Wouldn’t that be divine? To have legs again and to be able to leave this murky underwater hell. And then I would go to the ice world, find him and show him what happens to people who betray me.’
Kicking sporadically away from Marina’s grasp, my palms hit the piano keys behind me, causing a loud and brash chorus to echo through not only the small room but also the surrounding castle. Marina’s stare snaps back to their usual gold as if waking from a dream. They widen in horror.
‘They’re coming,’ she whispers, hushed. Her voice falters as looming shadows start to gather unnervingly at the door. Clicks and squeals sing from the other side, a conversation that I can’t understand. But I don’t need to. My entire body recoils from their presence, a presence that brings with it a heavy weight pressed on my chest and nerves of frayed string. The equally fearful demon brings a finger shakily to her lips. I nod. The creatures loiter outside, filling the hallway with ominous groans and wails as their excitement spikes. More than two now. More are gathering. Marina closes her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut and flinging them open again. Conviction. She opens the door slightly, peering her sunlight smile through to greet her neighbours.
‘Friends, did I wake you?’ Marina calls, trying her best to conceal the wariness that fills her voice. ‘I do apologise. I was too keen to play and became a little clumsy.’ The voices cry out with whips and wails. Marina grimaces, apparently understanding their requests as if it’s something that is requested often. ‘Yes, it has been a long time.’ She listens further, her knuckles turning white on the inner side of the door. ‘A song? Of course.’
She pushes me hastily to the side, barely even looking at me. Her expression is closer to someone held hostage than a willing entertainer. Marina hovers her hands over the keys with a nervous hesitation that I don’t quite understand. Does she not know how to play? Why would they ask her if she didn’t know?
Sure enough, light music starts to chime from the keys. The demon’s ironically angelic voice sings along.
‘Do you hear it? The call of the moon,
it beckons and sings and calls me to you.
Do you hear it? It’s where we belong.
Come sing with me, as the waves roll on.
Come sing with me, even when you’re gone…’
As the song comes to an end, the shadows disappear from under the door as the entities move away. The sound of doors closing in the distance down the hall leads me to believe they have returned to their slumber. Marina pulls down the wooden cover over the keys, her body still rigid with fear.
‘That was close,’ she murmurs, shooting me a murderous glare.
I disregard her silent accusation. ‘What are they?’
Marina scowls, looking back towards the door. ‘The everyone else I was talking about.’
‘Why are you scared of them? Why do you do what they say?’
Marina diverts her gaze. ‘I’m not scared and I don’t just do what they say. I just know better–’
‘Whose piano is this? Is it yours? How did you get it here?’
Marina’s red eyes shoot me a warning, her tail whipping behind her.
‘If you’re going to ask someone questions, take the time to listen to their answers. I’m starting to understand why they pushed you into the portal.’ Her chest deflates as if releasing a breath. ‘And no, it was my brother’s piano if you must know. Although, frankly speaking, it is strange – I have no idea how it ended up here.’
Her eyes darken and she shudders as she moves from the piano over to me. ‘Now then.’ She pauses, stabilising herself. ‘Prepare yourself, this will hurt.’
Marina grabs my mouth, disabling any screams that may break out. My hands fly to my defence, trying desperately to pry her fingers from their clasp but her long tail coils around my body, forcing my arms down by my side and close to her. I’m strangled in a sinister embrace.
With one hand on my mouth, the other grips on the back of my head, securing her grip on me. For a moment, I think she’s going to snap my neck but she never does. Her tail squeezes, tightening until my body screams and spasms, writhing in agony.
‘Interesting,’ Marina coos, looking into my eyes and then proceeding to inspect my hair. The hair that was once my own is now replaced with another’s. Honey-coloured locks drift effortlessly around me as I feel a shift within.
‘Well, this was a much more interesting result than I had expected,’ Marina says, amusement dancing across her features. ‘Charlotte.’
