A Monster Inside - Book of the Amulet - ITV's Jekyll and Hyde

18 - Out of the Shadows

'(Until your breathing stops/Until your breathing stops)/ I need more dreams and less life/ I need that dark in a little more light// You are what you love, not who loves you/ In a world full of the word yes/ I'm here to scream/ No, no/ Wherever I go, go/ Trouble seems to find/ I only plugged in to save rock and roll//

-Save Rock and Roll

:/:

Blinding light flooded in through the corridor Lottie was walking through. She couldn't see a thing. Taking a deep breath in, she strode out of the maze into the sun... and promptly walked into Louis. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and she couldn't help but be filled with relief when she saw him.

"Dad!" she called, hanging her arms around his neck. "Thank God". He chuckled, smiling at her, then a confused look crossed his face.

"Did you call me Dad?"

"Well, you are, aren't you?"

"Yeah, it's just... I haven't been called that in a long time..." Lottie stood in front of him, looking towards the two separate corridors, but she could see something there. Like a shadow. It caught her attention quite quickly, and so much so that she could no longer hear what Louis was saying.

"There's something there", Lottie murmured, eyes fixated on the blackness that was swirling in the corridor like a wave. "Behind you". Louis's face dropped to one of silent terror. But he didn't turn to see what she was looking at.

"Everything in here hunts by motion. Basically we move, it kills. So, describe it to me", he exclaimed.

"Like a shadow. Even in the dark I can see it silhouetted in shapes. Like... Claws, moving across the walls". Pondering the information for a moment, Louis blinked against the sunlight.

"It's a Veil. Millions of microscopically small creatures swarming like bees".

"So what do we do?" Lottie asked, seeing the Veil creep out of the tunnel and flow across the floor. "If we stay here we get slaughtered".

"Not slaughtered", Louis replied with a grim voice. "Devoured". Holding Lottie by the wrist, he immediately ran in the opposite direction of the Veil. The corridor seemed to go on forever, until they were promptly met by a cliff edge. It was at least a mile drop; with a roaring river crashing below it. There was no across it, no way down it; they couldn't go anywhere but back.

"Well... we're dead", Lottie said, her voice echoing around. "Got a plan?"

"Yes. Either be eaten alive by an army of tiny bacteria or basically commit suicide". Neither of those seemed very desirable.

"So, if we're going to die", Lottie murmured. "Tell me why I'm like I am".

"As in?"

"When I was in Tenebrae, well, before as well, I enjoyed killing. It was more than a tendency, it was a... hobby. Was it Dance? Or am I just blaming him for my own ways?"

"It's a condition, Lottie. Every Hyde has it. It's when the Hyde gets into the Jekyll side. Dance couldn't have helped, but that's your curse, that's our curse". Pausing for a moment, she ringed her hands in her emerald green skirt.

"But I don't have a Hyde. She was taken from me".

"Then maybe that's just a sign that she still might be in there somewhere". With her head down, Lottie slunk beside Louis, eyes heavy with sleep. "Give me your hand", Louis said, and Lottie did. He held it tight, looking down the cliff face, waiting for their inevitable doom. Then, Louis perked up for a moment, smiling. Looking straight at Lottie, he chuckled quietly to himself.

"Lottie, the question I'm about to ask you is very important, so think about it, okay?" Louis started. "Do you trust me?" Casting her eyes across Louis's bruised and dirty face like it was the first time seeing him, she nodded, and immediately afterwards Louis fell off the cliff, taking her with him. Still holding onto him, Lottie closed her eyes, the air making her hair fly into her face.

She guessed the plan was suicide after all.
Minutes past and Lottie was sure death came quicker than this. Then, with her eyes still closed, she was surprised to feel warmth on her back. Was she in Hell? It wouldn't surprise her if she did end up there. Opening her eyes slowly immediately she saw familiar stone beneath her.

"Am I dead?" she mumbled to herself, thinking of no other thing to say, but then realising how cliché it was.

"Afraid not, dear", Louis's voice said behind her. Swiftly getting up from the ground, Lottie looked around her.

"Teleport?"

"No less".

"How did you know?"

"When an animal is trying to protect something, it tries to scare everything away. That cliff edge was the Puzzlebox snarling at us, trying to make us give up. That meant we were close; it was trying too hard to get us to turn away".

"I was here", Lottie chirped, recognising the environment. Across the stone wall in front of them was where she had written her note for Louis. But now all that remained was the letter 'O'. "The final letter", she sighed, placing her hand on the wall. Abruptly, the wall split down the middle, echoing a horrible cracking sound, then the two separated walls started moving away from each, scraping across the ground. Behind it was yet another wall, but with seven tiles indented into it. A red, flickering torch stood at the end of it. Lottie looked behind her laughing, just at how lucky she was, and Louis laughed too.

"So, my letters were D, B and D. What were your?"

"I found A and N. I- I... couldn't kill the demon", Lottie replied quietly. "So, is it something like alphabetical order?"

"Could be anything. So let's try that first". Reaching forward be inputted them: A, B, B, D, N, O, then guessed at the last letter: H. The flame beside him burnt a strong crimson. He tried again, this time B, A, O, N, D, B, J, but still no luck. "Final try", he muttered.

"And then what?"

"We start again", he answered grimly. "And again, and again, until the Puzzlebox finally gets you, so any ideas?" Lottie pondered it for a minute, thinking of what it could be, the secret code that would let them escape. Suddenly a thought popped into her head, about what Semira said.

"Dad, do you trust me?" she asked, and he nodded straight away. Going in his place, she reached her hand forward and inputted the word: ABBADON. Stepping back, the torch unexpectedly burst into an emerald flame. The walls cracked apart, raking the ground, and Lottie turned around to smile at Louis. But then there was an angry growling behind her, and felt heavy breathing on her hair. She didn't want to turn around, but it didn't sound very friendly....