Chapter 99
The darkness wrapped around me like a suffocating shroud. It was the kind of pitch-black that wasn’t just the absence of light but a consuming void that seemed to press against my skin. I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes, but it was useless. There was nothing.
I turned in place, my breathing loud in the silence, my heartbeat a steady drum in my ears. Where was I?
“Lost already, little witch?”
The voice sent a chill racing down my spine. Deep, mocking, and dripping with venom, it echoed from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
“Jacob,” I whispered.
His laugh slithered through the air, low and sinister. “Did you think you could toy with me? You have no idea what I’ve been through. You don’t know the meaning of pain.”
I spun toward the sound, but there was nothing. Just the endless, oppressive dark.
“You’re just a witch,” Jacob sneered. “A parasite clinging to a pack that isn’t yours. Jake took everything from me—everything. And now I’ll take everything from him. An eye for an eye, Priscilla.”
The ground beneath me shifted, and I stumbled, catching myself on my hands and knees. The texture was rough and uneven, like jagged stone. When I rose, a dim light flickered in the distance, revealing the outline of a corridor.
A maze.
The walls were blackened stone, slick with some kind of oily residue that glistened in the faint, otherworldly glow. The passage twisted and turned, each corner indistinguishable from the last.
“Where are you?” I called, my voice echoing endlessly.
Jacob’s laughter answered me. “Closer than you think.”
I picked a direction and ran, the sound of my boots striking the uneven floor the only thing grounding me. The walls seemed to stretch and contract, shifting subtly with every step I took.
Every corridor looked the same, the dim light never bright enough to reveal more than a few feet ahead.
“Jake will never forgive himself for losing you,” Jacob’s voice taunted, his tone almost gleeful. “Imagine his despair when he finds your lifeless body. One witch for one brother. Fair trade, don’t you think?”
I clenched my fists, refusing to let his words rattle me. “You won’t win, Jacob,” I said, though my voice trembled.
The laughter stopped abruptly, and the silence that followed was deafening.
Then I heard it.
A skittering sound, faint at first but growing louder. It echoed off the walls, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. My stomach twisted as I strained to locate the source.
And then I saw it.
Emerging from the shadows at the far end of the corridor was a spider. But it wasn’t just any spider. This thing was massive—its body the size of a small car, its legs long and spindly, tipped with razor-sharp points that clicked against the stone as it moved. Its eyes, all eight of them, glowed a sickly yellow, fixed on me with a predatory hunger.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
“Run, little witch,” Jacob’s voice whispered, almost tender.
The spider let out a guttural screech and charged.
I turned and ran, my heart pounding as I sprinted through the maze. The corridors twisted and turned, each one identical to the last. No matter which direction I took, the walls seemed to close in, leading me in circles.
The skittering grew louder, the spider gaining on me with terrifying speed.
“Jake took my family, my pack, my name,” Jacob’s voice taunted, his words chasing me as relentlessly as the spider. “But you, Priscilla—you’ve taken his heart. And now I’ll tear it out.”
I rounded a corner and skidded to a halt. A dead end.
The spider screeched again, its massive form filling the corridor behind me. Its fangs dripped with venom, and its eyes glinted with malicious glee.
I backed against the wall, my mind racing. This couldn’t be real. It was a dream—it had to be a dream. But the sting of fear in my chest and the cold sweat on my skin felt all too real.
The spider lunged.
I ducked at the last second, rolling beneath its legs and scrambling to my feet. Its razor-sharp leg slashed across my arm as I passed, and I screamed as pain erupted like fire.
Blood seeped through my fingers as I clutched the wound, staggering down another corridor.
“Feel that?” Jacob’s voice crooned. “That’s real pain, Priscilla. If you die here, you die for good. No spells, no second chances.”
My vision blurred with tears, the pain in my arm making it hard to focus. The maze seemed endless, the walls pressing closer with every step.
The skittering returned, the spider relentless in its pursuit.
I stumbled into an open chamber, the first space I’d seen that wasn’t a narrow corridor. It was circular, the walls lined with jagged spikes. In the center was a pedestal with a glowing orb hovering above it, pulsating with a faint, golden light.
Instinct told me the orb was my way out.
The spider burst into the chamber, its legs clicking menacingly against the floor. It circled me, its massive body blocking every exit.
“Do you see it now?” Jacob’s voice hissed. “There’s no escape. No matter where you run, I’ll find you. I’ll break you. And when you’re gone, Jake will have nothing left.”
I ignored him, focusing on the orb.
The spider lunged again, its fangs snapping inches from my face. I dove to the side, the pain in my arm flaring as I hit the ground.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself up and ran for the pedestal. The spider screeched, its legs slicing through the air as it chased me.
I reached the orb just as the spider lunged again, its fangs sinking into my injured arm. Pain exploded, white-hot and blinding, but I grabbed the orb with my free hand and screamed.
The golden light enveloped me, blinding and warm.
Jacob’s laughter echoed one last time, fading into the distance.
When I opened my eyes, I was back in my bed. My body was drenched in sweat, and my arm throbbed with pain. I pulled back my sleeve and froze.
There, on my forearm, was a jagged cut, fresh and bleeding.
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