Devil in the Details

NINETEEN: The Path of Good Intentions - Pt. 2

For two decaying corpses, they were fast. It was clear that the laws of physics didn't necessarily apply down here. And yet no matter how far ahead they got, I never lost sight of them. They wanted me to follow them. They wanted me to see these monsters, whether I wanted to or not.

Please let Gretchen be right, I thought, praying that these monsters were just figments of their old, decaying imaginations.

After nearly fifteen minutes of running, they finally slowed on the top of a hill.

"Give him back," I gasped, holding out my hand and trying in vain to catch my breath.

"You have to see them. You have to learn why you shouldn't make a deal with her," Elizabeth said.

"Give him back," I repeated, reaching for the bear. Cornelius just held him more tightly. His fingers looked as if they were wrapped with bandages, but I gagged when I realized that it was just strips of wet flesh.

Cornelius shook his head, cradling James to his chest. "Not until—"

He was cut off by a loud screech, a sound that set my ears ringing and my senses on fire.

Cornelius grinned, a messy, fleshy smile, and tossed James back at me. "Now you'll see," he whispered.

And without warning, he and Elizabeth vanished into thin air.

There was a second screech now, this one even closer. My heart started pounding wildly in my chest.

"James," I said, squeezing the bear a bit too hard. "James are you here?"

"I am," he said, perking up with a wriggle of his nose. "Sorry. I was trying to stay quiet."

"There's something coming. We need to get out of here." I spun around, hoping that I could see the sky blue path, but Cornelius had led us farther out than I had realized. There were only hills as far as I could see... and a large shadow painting the distant hills black, moving ever closer.

I looked up at the sky, and saw the great creature casting the shadow, soaring ever closer. At first I thought it was a giant bat—the thing had wings and crinkled grey skin. But as it got closer, I was able to make out a humanoid face, with pit-like holes for eyes that were as empty as Elizabeth's sunken orbits. And although it lacked a jaw, there were teeth hanging down from its maxilla, crooked, jagged, and sharp.

"It's a harpy!" James said, propelling me back into action. "Run!"

And so I did. I chose a direction and started running as fast as I could.

The harpy moved clunkily, like a creature unused to its home in the sky. Its great wings made loud thuds as they flapped, as if the sound barrier of the Underworld was being broken every time it moved. And as it flew closer, it let out a soul-wrenching cry.

And yet it didn't dive down at me—at least not yet. It seemed to be watching me, flying in circles, like a cat playing with a mouse before the kill. As it circled, its long stringy hair flapped wildly in the breeze, almost obscuring its bone-colored horns.

"Jessa!" James cried suddenly within my arms. "I think I see the city!"

I looked up and saw that James was right. In the far distance, jabbing off the horizon and poking upwards, was a silvery city skyline.

"It's so far away," I said, gasping for air as I redirected my course. It would take hours to get there, and there was no way I could outrun the harpy that long.

"Just keep moving. I don't think that harpy is looking to attack."

However, James had spoken too soon. The creature seemed to have realized that I had changed my course, and with another anguished cry, it swooped downwards—this time, much lower than before. I felt a rush of air and a tickle of stringy hair brushing against the nape of my neck, and I realized that the harpy had been just inches above my head.