Chapter 9

Matthias opened the door with more force than was necessary. He'd expected the blackness to stick it in place and when the door gave easily he stumbled back. He nearly knocked Trav over, righted himself, and gaped out into the hall. Blackness. Nothing but. The oozing, creeping powder covered every angle and corner. There was a pool of exposed floor at Matthias' feet. His voice caught and he couldn't make a sound as he turned to the chain of friends behind him. He knew the color must have drained from his face.

Ben swore again and Cas didn't even glare at him. She leaned around the others to look at the overtaken hallway. Her intake of breath was audible.

"We waited too long." Ruby whispered. Her eyes were so wide and frightened Matthias could see white all around her retinas. "What do we do now?"

"Close the door!" Ben said.

"But we have to stop the blackness." Trav rasped. His face too had gone pale as milk. Matthias thought his friend might be about to collapse.

"Close the damn door!" Ben roared.

Everyone jumped and electric panic seared up Matthias' spine. He grabbed the knob and was about to whip the door closed again, locking them all in to await death. He hesitated, fingers white on the nob. "Wait."

"What?" Ben's voice was too loud, but maybe it wasn't with anger, but fear. "Matt, close the door!"

"The princess leads."

"What?"

"In the story, the princess leads!" Matthias let go of the doorknob and turned so fast he nearly dislodged Trav again. "Amber needs to be in front!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Ben boomed. "No! We are shutting this door and – "

Cas stepped from the back of the line, Amber still on her hip. She walked to the front and took Matthias' spot. As she passed he heard her whispering into her daughter's hair. "Don't look, baby. It's okay. We're going to get out of this. That's my big girl." Once she stood at the front of the line Cas straightened and said, "Matt, grab my elbow."

"Babe!" Ben broke the line to reach for her. Penny grasped his hand and pulled him back.

Matthias slipped his fingers around Cas' upper arm and she swallowed, squared her shoulders, and stepped onto the only patch of floor that remained in the hall. Matthias didn't dare breathe, but braced to yank her back should so much as a thread of blackness reach for her. Instead, right before his gaping eyes, it slithered back, the open space widening.

"What's happening?" Penny called.

"It's working." Matthias said in an exhale. Then louder, "It's working! No one let go of each other!"

Trav's hand tightened, vice-like, on Matthias shoulder and Matthias threw his free arm under Trav's to help hold him up. Cas took another step. The blackness on the floor fell back, a fast waning tide. Matthias' heart leaped. This was real. It was all real and they were doing it. April was never going to believe this.

Movement was painfully slow and careful. Cas inched out the door, certain not to let so much as a shoelace make contact with the black. Matthias trailed at the length of his arm, eyeing the path that was spreading before him in Cas' wake. He expected it to close back up behind her, stranding him and the others to burn. Instead it cleared just enough for them to walk. He also expected to feel some malice, like a malevolent force, intent on harm, but instead it was like they were walking beside deep water. Deadly, but lacking any conscious aggression.

Trav limped behind Matthias, leaning to whisper in the taller man's ear. "I'm really sorry about this."

Matthias exhaled a sardonic laugh. "I don't think anyone could have reasonably predicted this.

"Still..."

"Shh." Matthias made his expression as firm as he could manage. "We're figuring this out. If we're going to be mad, we'll do it later."

Negotiating the stairs was an experience Matthias hadn't expected. Between the slow movement and Trav's limp Matthias was certain he was going to pitch forward and take them all down with him more than once. He tried to keep from putting weight on Cas, but he knew she counter balanced him more than once. She walked stoically with a rigid determination that Matthias couldn't help but admire. Amber kept her face tucked into her mother's shoulder except once when she peeked up at Matthias. He caught her look and gave her his best, bravest, smile before her eyes disappeared again.

Matthias wasn't certain how long it took them to get down the stairs to the second floor landing, but soon their little human snake was coiled in front of Trav's door. Matthias glanced at his own apartment. His door was coated in black, nearly indistinguishable from the walls around it. He tried not to think about his few possessions blanketed in inky black. His poor laptop with his book on it, trapped beyond his reach. He shook his head tightly. No fiction could be weirder than this.

Cas looked at Trav's blackened door and "Hmmmm-ed" aloud. When she reached for the knob the black didn't withdraw. She glanced over her shoulder at the group, then took a big breath and addressed Amber. "Baby, we need your help. We need you to lead the way, princess."

The little girl let out a groan and smashed her face deeper against Cas's shoulder.

"Only you can open the door. You have the magic." Penny's voice joined in. "You're the princess, just like the story."

"Yes!" Ruby said, leaning forward. "You can save the day, magic princess!"

Amber's eyes appeared and caught Matthias' again before they drifted back to look at her dad.

Penny balanced the bulk that was Cheese in her arms and held him up as best she could without losing her grip on Ruby's hand. "Look, honey, Cheese isn't scared!" This appeared to be true because the cat blinked and shook his head so his little collar jingled, before setting up a loud purr.

"Amber. Princess." Ben's voice was taught and hitched in a few places, but he pressed on. "Can you help mama? I know you can. You're so strong."

Amber sniffled and peered around at the blackness. She looked ready to tuck her head back down, but Matthias saw her catch her father's gaze again. Something warm and powerful passed between them. Something Matthias was sure he'd never quite seen from his own father. Like a golden thread that grew stronger by the second. Amber raised her head fully from Cas' shoulder and wrinkled her nose. "Daddy, I dun like this black stuff."

"I know, baby." Ben said. His own voice grew stronger the more his daughter rallied. "But as long as you hold on to Mama the black stuff is afraid of you. Look." He gestured at the floor where the powder had withdrawn from their feet.

Amber pulled in her lips, clearly considering. Then she turned, facing the door. Matthias couldn't see her face any more, but he imagined her determined expression as Cas lowered her within reach of the nob. Amber's little hand, her wrist adorned with a pink and white beaded bracelet, stretched out and Matthias was still in awe as the blackness withdrew. Amber turned the knob and grunted as she pushed.

The door swung inward.

Trav's apartment was dark. The blackness covered everything, including the windows, though light shone through diffusely. They could all make out the talisman. It was the only thing not covered so it shone like a beacon where it sat on a shelf. Matthias frowned at the unassuming trinket. Something he could see anyone buying out of curiosity, or because it might look good with their décor. No one would look at the burnished gold disk and think: yep. That's cursed.

"What now?" Ben asked as the group gathered in the middle of the room, still holding on to one another.

"We gather around it and chant?" Penny shrugged, hefting Cheese.

"I guess." Ruby eyed the talisman with the distrust of one betrayed. Matthias wondered how many times she'd seen it in Trav's apartment and thought nothing of it.

"Amber, grab that gold thing, okay kiddo?" Cas held Amber out towards the talisman and the little girl took it fearlessly. Now that she had realized the blackness withdrew from her she seemed bolder. Keep ruling, princess, Matthias thought with admiration.

At Cas' instruction Amber set the talisman on the floor so they could circle around it in their little clearing. Matthias' heart fluttered with something that might have been happiness. This was it. They were solving it! This could all be over!

Ben reached into his pocket and pulled a piece of paper free, careful not to lose physical contact with Penny. He opened the paper and dropped it on the floor.

"Trav's sketch?" Ruby squinted at it.

"So we can be in the right order." Ben explained. "We need to rearrange."

This rearranging reminded Matthias of a childhood game where you and your friends all grasped hands in a tangle and had to untangle into a circle again without letting go of each other. Matthias took his spot as the Scribe with Penny as the seer to his right. She set Cheese, aka the Virgin, carefully at her feet. He immediately rolled onto his back, head resting on Penny's foot. Ruby, in the position of the Healer, knelt to gently held one of his paws. Matthias wondered if whatever supernatural power was at work here was imbuing the cat with an understanding of their need. Cheese purred and flared his whiskers.

Finally in a circle Matthias looked around and cleared his throat tensely. "So... what do we chant?"

No one answered for a moment, then Trav shrugged. "Go away?"

"Go away." Ruby echoed.

"Go away!" Amber shouted at the top of her little voice. She stood between Trav and Ben, holding both their hands.

"Go away! Go away! Go away!" They chorused.

Nothing seemed to be happening. A sharp pain sliced into the back Matthias' heel and he jerked around, nearly losing his friends' hands. "Matt!" Penny yelped. Everyone trailed off chanting.

"Ow!" Ruby squeaked. She too turned and looked down. "Oh fuck!"

Matthias spotted what had stung him. A thin finger of black reached into their circle and touched his heel. It burned through his work shoe and the wound stung fiercely even as he pulled his foot away. Another tendril slithered out, reaching for his other foot.

"What the?!" Penny scooted the foot that wasn't touching Cheese clear of the blackness that was reaching for her too.

"What's happening?" Cas cried as she found her own foot being assaulted.

"Nothing's attacking me." Ben looked down. He was right, no blackness stretched towards him. "Amber's fine too."

Trav too seemed safe from the creeping black.

Understanding struck Matthias like a lightning bolt to a tower. "We're in the wrong spots! We guessed wrong!" He scooted further forward as more blackness reached for him. His heel twinged and he hissed in pain.

"So who goes where?" Ruby's voice was high with panic as she squirmed, trying not to break the circle while avoiding the black.

"We don't have time to try every spot!" Ben said.

"Think!" Matthias ordered, surprising himself with his own forcefulness. He decided to roll with it. "What spot should you fill?" It was difficult to be introspective with black, burning, powder crawling towards his legs, but Matthias tried. Not the scribe. I can't be the princess, the knight, or the virgin, they're all fine. So I could be the bard, the healer, or the seer. He tried to think of any time he had done anything remotely bard-like. All he could think of was his utter panic the time he had tried to read his work aloud to some friends. He didn't think stammering and wanting to vomit was what the talisman was looking for in a bard.

"Ruby, you're the Bard." Trav's voice was resolute.

Ruby's cheeks went red and she danced clear as a line of blackness slithered towards her. "I'm not... I'm not good!"

"She is." Trav asserted, though Matthias wasn't sure if he was talking to them, or the universe, or maybe the talisman. "She's so good."

Ruby winced and shook her head, curls bouncing. "I play guitar and sing sometimes. I... I have a youtube channel."

"Alright, Bard." Ben took charge again. "Swap with Cas."

They chained Ruby over to slip into Cas' spot and then Cas moved to Ruby's. They waited a moment to see if blackness would grab for Ruby in her new position and it remained at its respectful distance. Unfortunately it was still grabbing for Cas, Matthias, and Penny.

"Wait!" Matthias would have snapped his fingers if his hands were free. "I'm the seer."

"What?" Penny asked, scooting further in, warping the circle, but managing to keep in contact with Cheese. He rolled onto his belly and pawed playfully at her feet.

Matthias "I'm the seer! When all this was starting I was having these dreams! I didn't remember them and by the time we were all remembering this stuff I figured everyone had them!"

"And you're a writer. You literally see other worlds." Ruby said.

"So swap!" Ben ordered.

Matthias hastily switched places with Penny. It was his turn to make sure he was in contact with Cheese. He slid his foot under the cat. Cheese purred.

"It's still coming after me." Penny groaned, so I'm not the Scribe either.

"Then I am!" Cas said. "Ouch!" She jerked her leg out of the way as more blackness seeped in.

"Mama!" Amber called in alarm. Her father, the Knight, had her hand and he didn't let her go, even as she wriggled to try to reach her mother.

"Swap!" Penny called, chaining herself down to Cas' spot. "Clearly I'm the healer."

"And I'm the scribe." Cas agreed as they artfully moved along the line. One thing was sure, Matthias thought, after this they'd all be unstoppable in team building exercises. He stifled a laugh.

Once Penny and Cas had successfully swapped that seemed to have done the trick. The blackness stayed back. Matthias took a big breath, clasped Penny's hand, wiggled his foot firmly under the cat, and began chanting again. "Go away!"

"Go away! Go Away!" the chanting began anew. This time it was different. The blackness around them seemed to writhe, to pulsate. It rippled like a silent wave. Amber squealed in fear, flinching away. Trav and Ben managed to keep hold of her little hands.

"Keep chanting, baby! Go away! Go away!" Ben encouraged. Amber did, though tears ran down her cheeks and her voice quivered.

Matthias found himself struggling just as much to keep his own voice loud and strong. Though the blackness didn't reach them, it began pulsing rhythmically, lashing, reminding Matthias of a striking snake. It wanted to kill them, if it could want at all. He knew that much in his soul. Fear thundered through his veins and he kept both eyes on the cat, ready to grab Cheese if he decided to flee, but he seemed to be the only one with any calm left.

The blackness pulsed, cracking audibly like thunder. Something like static surged around them and the hair on Matthias' arms stood up. If he moved he was certain he'd die. His chanting grew desperate, but he didn't stop even as the blackness thrashed around them. He hoped it was death throes and not winding up for a huge attack. He envisioned the whole group swallowed in a giant wave. He couldn't think of a time he'd been this close to death. Was his life supposed to flash before his eyes? There was nothing but the chant and the writhing black.

"Go away! Go Away! GO AWAY!" Their voices rose, barely audible as the blackness surged back and lurched towards them one last time with a tremendous CRACK like the earth breaking in two.

Matthias was knocked off his feet. He lost track of Cheese and hit the floor so hard all the air was knocked out of him. When he opened his eyes, wincing, he found himself facing an off white, stained, ceiling. He struggled to sit, choking for air, his head throbbing where it had struck the floor. Little flakes of black, like ash, fell slowly around the group, vanishing before they landed. Matthias held out a hand and the bit of "ash" that was drifting towards it disappeared before it made contact with his skin.

Amber started crying properly and Ben scooped her into his arms where he sat. Everyone had been knocked off their feet by the force of whatever had struck them. Cas crawled to her family and they huddled together. Everyone else sat where they had fallen, breathing hard and looking around at Trav's seemingly restored apartment, complete with ugly, peeling wallpaper and smeared windows.

After several minutes of nothing but breathing and looking around at one another Ben finally looked up from his huddle and quirked an eyebrow at Ruby. "You have a youtube channel and a guitar?"

Ruby turned crimson all the way down her neck. "I-I- well yeah." She shrugged limply. "I don't tell people about it. I was gonna wait until it got successful I guess."

Ben didn't sound mad when he said, "still, that might have been something to mention when we were looking for a bard."

"And you were having dreams about all this?" Trav turned to Matthias.

Matthias smiled wanly and pulled in a lung leg to grasp his knee. "I wasn't remembering them, but yeah."

"This was so fucking weird." Trav dragged a hand back through his hair. Sweat stood out on his pale brow but Matthias thought he already looked a bit healthier.

"Why were you the healer, Penny?" Ruby tilted her head, her mess of tangled curls tumbling over her shoulder.

Penny shrugged. "No idea."

"You keep this whole place together," Cas said. Her smile was a beautiful beacon after all the chaos. "You take care of Amber. You know all of us like we're your kids. You made me chicken soup when I had that cold. That sounds like a healer to me."

Cheese strutted over to Matthias and butted his head against Matthias' arm until he received petting. "I guess Cas being the scribe as a teacher was obvious, in retrospect."

Ruby pushed to her feet first, dusting off her legs before reaching down to haul Trav up beside her. She looked down at the talisman, sitting in the middle of their circle, inert and apparently harmless. "What do we do with that?"

"Pitch it." Ben said. He stood next, bringing Amber with him in his arms.

"No." Trav shook his head. "We can't. It'll come back, haunt someone else."

"So we get someone to melt it down?" Cas asked.

"If this thing really is cursed, like in the book, I don't think it'll matter what shape it's in." Matthias pointed out. He remained sitting, letting Cheese walk back and forth across his lap. He stared at the simple disk of gold. He could hold it in one hand, maybe skip it like a large stone.

"We killed it, though. We defeated it." Ruby's voice quavered.

Penny rubbed her chin. "And we could do it again. I think we need to keep it. It needs to stay here as long as we're all here. Maybe it won't act up again. If it does, well, he know how to deal with it."

"And if we don't want to live in this rundown pile forever?" Ben scoffed.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Penny said resolutely. "Now someone help an old lay up off the floor."

Epilogue

April stepped out of her car and stood back, eyeing the apartment building suspiciously. She'd seen a few pics Matt had sent her but they didn't do justice to the missing bricks, the thick layer of creepy ivy. She shifted the fruit salad she had brought to her other hip and shut the car door with a leg before heading for the front steps. At least those seemed to be in one piece.

"We're in the back!" Called a familiar voice before she could check the door buzzer for her brother's name.

April followed around the side of the building through a deeply suspicious alley she never would have chanced at night, and into a little back yard of sorts. It seemed to have once been a fenced lot, but the fence was gone except the stumps of some metal poles. Grass and weeds grew up through cement so cracked it might as well not have been there. But the decrepit look of the place was overcome by the temping smell of a grill and the upbeat music pumping from a wireless speaker.

"Mattie!" April whooped when she spotted a tall, lanky figure standing with the other people in the yard. Matt gave her the grin he reserved for birthdays and Christmas before he rushed to her. He wrested the fruit salad from her grip and set it on a picnic table before scooping her up and spinning her around in a hug. "Hey sis! Glad you could make it!"

"Glad you finally invited me!" She poked him in the shoulder for emphasis.

"I wanted to wait for summer when we could have a cookout. The place looks better when you're not trapped inside and everything is all white and grey." Matt explained, opening an arm to introduce the others. They stood respectfully awaiting their introduction. "That's Ben at the grill. He'll make you whatever you want." Matt said.

A tall, black man wearing cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt smiled at her and tipped what she was reasonably certain was a plastic princess crown.

"That's Cas and Amber, his wife and daughter."

Amber, a child of perhaps four years, appeared from behind the picnic table wielding a bubble wand and attired in a purple princess dress. She shot April a disproving look, and blew several bubbles before retreating again.

"Don't worry." Matthias patted April's shoulder. "She'll warm up to you. It's her kingdom, so she's suspicious of newcomers. This is Penny, our house mom, and my friends Trav and Ruby."

A very short, old woman addressed as Penny waved from her spot at the table where she was enjoying a burger watched over by a massively fat, orange cat. Trav and Ruby appeared to be around Matt's age and both wore welcoming smiles. April felt drawn to them immediately. Something about the way her brother, who was never easy with anyone, seemed completely at home with this motley assortment of people, that made her feel at home too.

"Come on!" Matt took her wrist. "I'll show you my place before the rest of the food's done."

"Burger, hotdog, or veggie dog?" Ben called.

"Veggie please!" April called helplessly over her shoulder as her brother led her inside. "Mattie, I don't think I've ever seen you this... excited?" That wasn't the word. Vibrant? Alive?

"It's a good day." Matt shrugged.

He led her into an apartment that both matched and didn't match the decrepit outside of the building. Old wallpaper, creaky floors, an odd smell, but her brother had furnished it with a delightful assortment of objects she guessed he must have thrifted from all over, including a traffic-cone-orange couch. She spotted his laptop open on the kitchen island and drifted over. The screen saver was a photo of a pencil drawing. A weird little sketch with a bunch of people linking hands. "Any nibbles for your book?"

Matthias smiled wanly at her before fishing a pair two-liters soda bottles out of his fridge and setting them beside the laptop. "Nah. But I've been trying to think of each rejection as just another opportunity to send out a new query."

April's smile quirked. "Is that mentality working?"

Matthias let out a short chuckle and ducked his head, a brief return to the shy, reticent brother she knew. "Sometimes."

"Is this for a new story?" she pointed at the image on the screen.

"That's..." Matthias' brows came together and a cloud passed over his features. "That's something else." He reached over and snapped the laptop shut. He handed April the sodas and rummaged in a cupboard, producing several bags of chips. "Back to the party?"

"Sure." April hefted the bottles, cool against her bare arms. They headed for the door. "Your place looks great. I'll have to tell mom and dad how well you're doing."

"Mom knows," Matt said over his shoulder. "I try to IM with her on Sundays."

"Nice." April nodded, giving his living space one last look. It was decidedly Matt, spartan, but eclectic. Some posters and paintings, a few cow knickknacks in the kitchen; a tribute to mom. You couldn't have a kitchen without at least one cow. She followed her brother onto the landing, reminded by the industrial looking stairs just how decrepit and weird this building really was. She looked at Matt again as he led the way down. "You seem really happy here, and your friends are nice. I'm glad you're fitting in." She glanced up at a suspicious water stain on the ceiling and winced. Maybe she wouldn't tell mom about everything. "But I'm guessing you're saving up to leave at some point?" She hurried down a few steps to catch up with him.

Matt's shoulders stiffed, but relaxed again so fast she second guessed herself. "Right... right yeah." Matt said, his voice strangely hollow. "But... but I think I'll stay here for a while. I couldn't leave everybody. We've gotten really close. We went through something together last winter and... I think we're a unit now whether we like it or not."

April wasn't sure she liked the way he said that, but she didn't have time to ask as she and Matthias stepped back out into the sunlight, noise, and camaraderie of the little party.

******** Author's Note

Dang, what a long strange road it's been with this story. I started writing it for my mental health and when it wasn't helping with that any more I set it down... only to come running back to it at last when the world decided to... end? Whatever this pandemic is. So yeah. Of anything I have written this story has gotten the most love outside of fanfic. I have literally not idea why, but I like the attention!

The interest makes me wonder if I want to polish up this badboy and see if I can convince someone to publish a novella. Or whether it was lightning in a bottle here on Wattpad and no one would actually pay money for it.

I "pantsed" this like I haven't in a long time. I legit didn't even know who would fill what spot until chapter 8. This is a true, feral story in the wild.

One thing's for sure: this gets more attention than any of the work I have polished and worked long and hard on, and I do not understand this confusing universe I find myself in. So feel free to tell me if/why you enjoyed it.  Also if you think I should try to do something with it or just let it live happily on Wattpad?

If you've finished and want more from me-

If you liked the contemporary thriller feel, check out my collection: Sacred Heart.

If you liked the friendship best check out my pair of platonic soulmates in: Adventurer Mage!

Thanks so much for reading, everyone!