CHAPTER#117

"What are you doing in there?" he asked.

Two more trips to the water and the pool was filled. The bottom disappeared, revealing a place of infinite depth.

"Get in," Jenny told her. "Escape the dream."

Beth didn't hesitate as the sky filled with the sound of storm clouds and Oliver's voice. Holding onto the side, she kicked her feet to stay above the water.

"Are you okay?" she asked the ghost.

When Jenny lifted her head, her skin looked like a lizard. She smiled, her face disintegrating into the water. The ground rumbled and rose up beneath her, the pool tilting dangerously, but Beth dropped into its depths, sinking into the murk while curled up in the fetal position. Looking up into the light of the sky, she could see the giant hand made of clouds trying to reach into the pool.

In the distance, Beth saw stars, stars that vanished and reappeared as if swirling in the void. All around her, dark forms circled hungrily, amorphous beings that tumbled over each other in their haste to reach her.

"Where am I?" Was this somewhere inside her head? Her whole body had gone numb. She was no longer in water, but clumsily tumbling through the darkness.

Nightmare images filled her mind when the forms drew close, and they whispered dark things in her ear in a language she couldn't understand. All around her, reality began to crack apart as they pounced, each one trying to pull her in a different direction.

She screamed, her mind suddenly fractured. She could see different versions of herself, each one being hungrily consumed by the void. With every shout, the universe roared and shook, the stars around her exploding. Filled with terror, her whole body trembled as she tried to fight off the darkness, her heart rate spiking. The universe cracked, showering her with light from every direction.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed, but this time it scratched her throat raw, her soul firmly seated again in her own body. They were outside now, walking on the path toward the reflecting pool. Yuki startled and spun around as Asterion panicked and smashed one of their icy escorts with his axe. It exploded with a burst of magic, blowing her away from Asterion. She tumbled across the ground and found herself sliding across the ice of the reflecting pool. Out of breath, she sobbed openly, unable to stand.

It was too much. If Oliver was trying to break her, he had succeeded. Already, her memory of that terrible void was fading, but not the fear that had lurked there. She had no idea what part of her mind contained such terrors, and she hoped to never see it again. Even the sight of her own shadow beneath her made her wonder if such dark things could see her in the waking world.

Asterion roared, and she tried to shout to him, but couldn't find her voice. Yuki was shouting something, and the sound of crunching snow filled the air, followed by the minotaur's axe crashing against metal. Flurries had formed all around her now, drifting across her body.

"Asterion, stop!" Her voice was quiet, and she fought to sit up. Her arms were weak, and she could hear Oliver's laughter in the back of her mind. "Yuki, please don't hurt him!"

She looked up in time to see Asterion swing his axe down on Yuki from above. Yuki nimbly dodged it while tossing aside a bent sword, spinning away from the minotaur and yanking her eyepatch off.

Oh no. Beth turned her head away and heard him bellow one last time before the world went quiet. The flurries caught in her hair, and she wondered if it would simply be easier to just will her heart to stop in this moment, to give up and give in.

"Asterion?" she called, weakly.

"He's fine. I'll let him out when I'm convinced he won't try to take my head off." Yuki sounded angry, but Beth didn't dare look. "As for you, what was that about? I thought you might be planning something, but I don't get what you were trying to do."

"Yuki, listen quickly while I still have control. There's a demon who is trying to possess me and he's been walking around in my body since shortly after we left the Labyrinth. I don't know what I said or anything since then, but you can't trust it. Especially the part about holding my hand! Don't get in the pool with me!"

Several seconds passed, and then Yuki broke the silence. "Yeah, I'm starting to think you're more trouble than you're worth. Humans cling to their lies as if their lives depend on them, which, in your case, is accurate."

"It's true, I swear! Get the ball out or something, I need you to believe me."

"What the hell is that?" Yuki asked.

"Are you trying to make me look up so you can turn me to stone? That's the oldest trick in the book and we don't have time for that." Beth shook her head, but then heard it too. Beneath her, the steady tapping of a finger on the ice. She opened her eyes to see Oliver grinning at her from beneath the pool, just behind her own reflection.

"Jesus fucking Christ," she whispered.

Satisfied that he had her attention, he started dragging one of his nails along the ice, his finger forming a large arc around her reflection.

Oh god. Beth watched the ice crack near her fingers, realizing that Oliver was trying to get her to fall through. The large grin on his face said it all, and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"That would be the demon who works for the Society, the one who can possess me. The one who will eventually gain control of my body if I don't give him what he wants," Beth explained.

"What does he want?"

"Me. For all eternity."

"I could just turn you to stone, too. To protect you from him, I mean, until we figure something out." There was now concern in Yuki's voice.