The Last Harmon [Complete]

Chapter 12

Sophia gives me the grand tour of the castle of nightmares. We start in a small passageway outside the meeting hall and we have somehow wound up eight stairwells higher glaring out of an oval window next to the statue of a terrifying gargoyle that is covered in spider webs. I've been in a few castles before, mainly tourist attractions, and they aren't much different. Dust, stone, grey, small windows, little light and mazes of steps and passageways. It's a maze inside a maze.

I've been looking out of the oval window for a minute or so, it's the largest I've seen yet and is able to give me a clearer view than the others. All I see is acres and acres of green fields, forests and dirt roads. There is no sign of civilization for miles. The sun is also rising which means that I've been here for hours. It was morning in Arizona when the ritual happened, which would have been afternoon here, and it's now early morning. The strange thing is, it feels longer than hours. Much longer.

I rest my head against the wall, frowning at the outside world that I now must watch through windows.

"Have you ever been to England before?" Sophia asks.

"No," I say. "I've only ever been to Europe once but it was Italy many years ago."

"Another lifetime ago," Megan says.

"I guess," I say. I look out at the trees and I sigh. "No desert here."

"Afraid not, but we have something so much better," Sophia says giddily. "I'll show you later. This way. Come on."

I reluctantly drag myself away from the window and I follow Sophia down a quiet, dark hallway while Megan keeps close behind me. Everywhere I go or turn there's a giant, creepy arachnid waiting for me. They run across the walls or hang from lampshades and I feel foolish for being afraid of something I could defeat in one movement.

"This is the fourth level," Sophia says. "This is the limit of where you're allowed to go. If you decide to be brave one day and travel further up you will get lost and you might never find your way back."

"Heed that as a very serious warning," Megan snarls.

"How many levels are there?" I say.

"Eight until you get to the rooftop," Sophia says. "We usually transport to the roof because even we get lost sometimes. It's a very big castle."

"I've noticed."

"This is just the upper levels, the bottom levels are so much more fun," Sophia says.

"Only because that's where the bar is," Megan laughs.

"You know me so well, cousin."

"Cousin?" I say. I don't know why I'm surprised; I would have guessed sisters.

"Yes," Sophia says. "Myself, Megan, Clara and Jo are cousins."

"Clara and Jo are sisters though," Megan says. "They're inseparable. If ones around, the other isn't far behind."

"Well if we're talking about inseparability, Anna and Darius are the strangest," Sophia says, laughing at a distant thought. "They're a couple, but they fight a lot. If you hear aggressive yelling through the night, it's usually from them two. I swear I've never seen them apart."

"Probably why they argue so much," Megan mutters, trailing her finger along a dusty panel of the wall. "Seriously, does no one clean this place?"

"My thoughts exactly," I whisper.

After moving down many stairwells, Sophia stops abruptly outside the entrance to a well-lit chamber merely around the corner from the meeting hall, if my memory serves me right. She peeks her head inside to check something and then waves a hand for me to follow her into it.