Marxel’s red eyes fade and he proceeds into the canyon. ‘Because I’m here and it seems they know what’s good for them.’ I roll my eyes, following after him. Arrogance and dramatics. Maybe the two demons aren’t that different after all. The fire demon hums a familiar tune as we travel down the weaving canyon – the same song I had heard him perform hours earlier. ‘So…’ he eventually says, possibly just to fill up the awkward silence, ‘what made you want to make a deal with me? Why are you here?’
‘The memories,’ I say, keeping a watchful eye of the sky overhead. There’s no telling whether a demon might drop down from above. ‘I want them back. My family, my friends, everyone. I want to go back to my normal life.’
Marxel slides me a quick glance, hands resting in his pockets. ‘Do you? Seems like a good excuse. It’s a shame it’s not true.’
‘What do you mean? Why would I lie about that? No one remembers who I am anymore.’
A small creature crawls from a crack in the rock. Long and stretched like a centipede, with little horns and beady eyes littered down its back. It lunges. Fire flashes across my face, searing it with an intense heat. It disintegrates to ash at my feet. I slap my fingers to my eyebrows – good, still there. Marxel takes the whole experience in his stride, barely pausing to look at his target.
‘Oh, I believe that they had their memories taken. I just don’t believe that’s the reason you’re here.’
I step over the pile of ash, leaving it in our wake. ‘And why is that?’
Marxel swings his guitar case to rest against the wall. ‘Because you don’t believe it. Hard to believe someone who doesn’t believe it themselves.’ He rolls his head, cracking his neck loudly. ‘Not that it really matters. You’re here, that’s all I care about.’
I frown. That is the reason I made the deal. What other reason would there be? Will’s words dance from my subconscious: predictable. Surely I didn’t do this just because of a few words from him. Sobering up, I realise that’s exactly what I did. What was I trying to prove by being this stupid? Did I actually put myself in this situation just because I wanted attention? I put my head in my hands, mortified. Moving over to rest against a couple of fallen boulders, I slide my heels off, relief embracing my feet. Marxel’s last words play over in my mind. I pause, my embarrassment forced to take a backseat. ‘You’re using me as bait.’
Marxel looks up, delighted. ‘Yes, I am actually.’ He gives a genuine smile, throwing me slightly off guard. ‘I’m actually impressed you worked that out in your state.’
‘That’s a little patronising. I feel fine now. Plus, it’s not even a good plan. He won’t come for me. I’ve already given William what he wanted, his ghost girlfriend. I’m sure to him, it’s probably better off if I do disappear.’
The fire demon rolls his eyes before pausing suddenly, gears turning behind his striking eyes. ‘Spare me the drama.’ He sighs. ‘You sound even more dramatic than me. And look, maybe you’re right – maybe he doesn’t come – but the boy will. The kid seems to be very attached to you. I mean, I’m not surprised: young, female, brown hair. You fit his type.’ At my silence, Marxel raises his brows. ‘So you didn’t know… interesting. That Alexander is just as bad if not worse than Will if you ask me.’
‘Well, I didn’t ask you so–’
‘You think you know them. But you don’t,’ Marxel says, speaking loudly over the top of me.
My jaw clenches. ‘I know Xander. He’s just a kid.’
‘That kid killed someone important to me, and many more like them.’ Marxel’s expression darkens, his eyes losing their friendly shine and his voice lowering to a murmur. ‘And yet, he walks around answering to the name she affectionately gave him, like he wasn’t the one that put her under the ground. Every time I hear that name, Xander, it reminds me of what he did.’ He pauses, lost in his own thoughts. ‘And those who defended him.’
My mind wanders to being stuck in the cottage with Xander in the dark, to when Heret-Kau stormed in, forbidding us to make a deal, and more recently, the situation with Xander on the beach where Will had to send him away. ‘I don’t believe you.’
Marxel ambles over to me slowly and my back presses up against the rocky ledge. He leans in, his eerie split pupils just centimetres away from my own, a smirk on his lips. ‘Don’t. Lie.’
A screeching from behind lights my nerves on fire. The creature lunges from a shadowed corner. In pure instinct, I scream, batting it with the only thing I have in my hand, one of the high heels. The small creature flies against the wall, thudding on the ground motionless.
‘Is it dead?’ I say, shuffling over to it cautiously. Arachnid legs lay limp against the ground, long blades lining their insides. I nudge the creature with my shoe and its large singular eye rolls forward from the back of its socket.
No, it appears not.
With a sharp swing, the creature flicks out a limb, slicing my hand with its bladed legs. Blood splatters across the ground as I cry out in pain. My bleeding hand retracted to my chest, I beat the creature with the heel until it eventually stills. That’s two now in under an hour. I mutter some profanities under my breath, which garners a raised brow from the fire demon. He strolls over, unphased.
‘Here, let me get that for you.’ With a flick of his wrist, the creature ignites in a ball of flames, slowly disintegrating to ash like the previous one. My body tenses, the flame an unwanted reminder of the nightmares I still experience.
I let myself fall backward from my crouched position onto the dusty ground. ‘How many of these things are there?!’
The fire demon chuffs, looking at the heel still firmly grasped in my hand. ‘Nasty things, aren’t they?’ He shakes his head. ‘Though that does remind me, I should put up a barrier.’ He grimaces, looking over at my hand. ‘Especially now that you’ve done that. Every demon in the area is probably on their way right now. You okay to stay here?’
I scowl. ‘Do I have a choice?’
‘No, not really. If anything happens…’ Marxel pauses, a smirk on the verge of breaking. ‘Well, just do what you did before.’ He begins to turn before glancing back with a repulsed gag. ‘Here, wrap it up with this.’ Walking to his guitar case, he pulls out a cloth. ‘I’ll be back in a second.’ Marxel disappears through the rocky pathway, turning to give a stern glare. I roll my eyes, resigning to sit on the flat surface of the fallen rocks. Where exactly does he think I will go?
I move. Can you really blame me? Marxel has been gone for too long and I have no way of knowing when, or if, he will return.
Following the narrow path back to the opening of the chasm, I peek a few looks in either direction. Surrounding the area is a ring of fire, burning mildly but continuously. On the other side shadowed figures dance in a strange fog, creating an uneasy feeling that sits at the bottom of my stomach. That would be the barrier, so where is Marxel?
Unnerved, I retreat, sitting back on the rocky ledge back inside the canyon, conceding to Marxel’s instructions and staying put for the moment. Cross-legged, I lean my head back against the jagged wall, my eyes barely open. I embrace a momentary sense of relief in my own current solidarity, despite the existence of less-than-welcoming creatures that linger on the barrier’s edge not too far away.
Through my barely open eyelids, a dark blur moves in the distance. My heart stops. Slowly opening them, my eyes focus on the small worm-like creature that pulls itself to the dark splatters on the ground left by my hand not too long ago. The creature lingers, its attention all encompassed on the droplets of blood. It doesn’t notice me creeping closer towards the ledge, peering down. The blood is now gone, no trace of it left behind. Did it… eat it? Fear prickles up my spine, creating a cool chill that tingles through my body.
I lean back, unsure of what to do. Do I squish it with something? Looking around, I try to find something that might be useful. Nothing. For a place enveloped by a rocky landscape, there are ironically not enough rocks in sight.
The moment I think of my shoes is also the same moment I notice where they are. Scattered and inconveniently positioned on the ground below the ledge just a few metres away. I swing myself over the edge, peering down to spot the creature but it’s nowhere to be seen.
Hesitantly, I take the chance, hanging my legs off the ledge and slowly lowering myself down onto the dusty floor. It’s only a metre or so down but it’s what could be tucked underneath the ledge, hiding in the darkness, that unnerves me. I wait a few moments, anticipating the grabbing of my ankles or some grossly monstrous attack. Nothing. Perplexed, I quickly grab my heels and jump back up on the rocks. It must be hiding. But honestly that’s worse. I’d rather be able to see it. I’d rather know exactly where it is.
Sticking my hand out, I unwrap the dampened scarf, still wet with my blood. With a sharp breath I drop it to the floor below and wait. Nothing again. Could I have imagined it after all? Then from in between the cracks in the rocks the creature’s form emerges. Slowly, it slides over, taking its time to consume the blood.
Nausea spreads through my stomach as my eyes linger on the alien creature, bringing a pale and cold clamminess to my face. To my astonishment, its form changes. Bigger it grows until it reaches a size not unlike an indulged leech. If I’m going to attack, it has to be now.
Clutching one of the heels to my side, I anticipate the right moment to jump down.
Thank you, the creature says.
My heart stops. ‘What was that?’ My voice barely passes my lips as if caught in the base of my throat. ‘Did you just talk?’
