Lost in the Castle

~42~

Junior led the way to the door of the spiral staircase, which stood already open.

I followed him down the stairs silently, noticing how the buzz intensified as we descended. Once we reached the corridor at the bottom, he took my hand, and I let him guide me towards the kitchen. The large, and usually busy room was empty, not even Cook was there to see me off. At least we wouldn't waste time. Junior seemed to be in quite a hurry.

As he opened the door of the Great Hall, the noise tripled immediately.

"Is that the... portal?" I asked, my innate curiosity overpowering the feeling of sadness and despair momentarily.

"Yes. It means that the passage is open," he said, crossing the room fast, approaching the door that usually led to an innocuous, perfectly ordinary corridor. The door through which I arrived in this place, precisely one year ago.

"But how..."

"I don't quite know myself how it works, but even if I did, there would be no time to explain now... Just one thing before you go, Samara. You mustn't worry. Never. You are stronger and more brave than you think."

"I'm not, that's not true! How can you or your father expect me to go on, alone... " I could feel my silent despair morph into very loud panic. "Please let me stay, I don't want to leave you!" I called, my voice reverberating off the walls of the vast hall.

He only shook his head, looking away from me. "Are you ready, Human?"

"No!"

He sighed, "Come on, Samara. I hate to do this, but if something happens to you here..."

"But something, anything could happen to me even on the other side..."

He only pulled me closer, opening the heavy wooden door. Then we walked over the threshold together.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by darkness, flying, falling down a deep, black well, the buzzing diminishing gradually, leaving me surrounded only by the sound of my own heartbeat as I landed.

It only seemed to have lasted a few seconds, but when I touched the ground, stumbling and dropping my book, supported by Junior, who prevented my fall, it was already dark.

Apparently, we passed a few hours within the passage. There were many candles lit for effect instead of the normal, electrical lights of my time in the corridor. It looked all the same as when I left this place after the Halloween tour.

I recalled how it all happened back then-- I entered the passage following Vlad just after the early autumnal sunset, reaching the other side near midnight. Tired and nauseaous, just like now, I realised, leaning into Junior, my head spinning. I was going to throw up.

I took a few deep breaths, still holding on to Junior for dear life, feeling the nausea slowly dissipate.

"Are you feeling unwell?" he asked as I felt his hand touching curiously the fabric of my skin-tight jeans, just above my knee.

"What are you doing?" I asked, too weak to really mind his very inappropriate gesture.

"You've lost your dress, Human," he muttered, observing my attire.

If the situation wasn't so tragic, and if I didn't catch the glimpse of a few tears lurking in the corners of his eyes which his typical, teasing smile didn't manage to obliterate, I would have laughed. After a year of wearing floor-length gowns, I was feeling as good as naked in my jeans and short jacket.

Strangely, Junior, exactly like Vlad when I saw him on this side of the portal for the first time, was still wearing his usual clothes.

"I don't want to go, please, don't make me..." I begged, feeling like a stranger in my own world. "Let me come back with you!"