𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋 ☁︎ 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

xvii.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
" And I'm sorry I left,
but it was for the best
Though it never felt right
My little Versailles "

ANTONIA COULDN'T GET A GOOD look at whatever made the clicking. She could only see bits of Layla and the shadowing figure out the half-dead man on the table. She watched as it brought a knife down on the stomach and pulled down.

She almost gagged in hearing organs get moved around like wet clothing, the crushing of flesh and bone, hearing blood slush. The girl kept looking as saw the creature put an organ into the jars, right next to Layla.

Antonia's eyes widened in fear seeing Layla starting to try and as slowly and quietly as possible get away. That was when Antonia got a good look at the creature.

Its skin was unreconstructed, the body was bent in different ways, contorting in angles that were inhuman. Seeing from the dirtied but intact outfit, she realized that this was a Heka priest. The same ones that were drawn on the walls.

God, it terrified her.

Suddenly, Layla accidentally knocked over a tool, the old metal had clanked on the jars. The priest immediately clicked to action. It's body jumping right where Layla used to sit.

Without thinking, Antonia made a sound with her wisps, knocking down metal rods away from Layla. The creature's head jerked up and stood on the table. The light that shined made its skin a dark blue, almost to black.

It clicks louder and louder for recognition of anything. That's when it suddenly jumped up under to where Steven was. Steven's shouts echoed through the room, Antonia knew that he had been caught.

She burst through the tapestry and shot the priest down. "Run!" She screams, "Run, I'll find you!"

"Toni!" protests Steven.

"I'll find you guys! Just go, I can do this."

The two adults locked eyes, trying to figure out if the other trusted her enough not to get killed. After hearing the priest start to get up, Layla ascended to the first path. With a defeated look, Steven took the second.

The creature shrieks at the girl, it seems to practically roar in the tomb. It jumped to attack, before it could get its hands on her, her wisps held him by the head. She flicked her down and its head was pulled off of its body.

Its blood wasn't maroon but black, like ink. It splattered on her, as if a pen had exploded on her, in school.

"Mother fucker," She mumbled, trying to get the black off her lips, dropping the head.

More clicks were heard from the first path and entrance. Her hands glowed in gold, letting herself fly up, to get the high ground look.

She waited and waited, but nothing turned up. Her face contorted to confusion; it was now silent. It wasn't until hearing a rumble in Layla's existence that a loud click was heard from behind.