I slam against something solid and my eyes snap open to pitch-black nothingness. Terror stabs in my chest as I sweep out my arm and feel no one beside me.
“Cael!” I cry out, my voice echoing loudly all around me. “Cael!”
I close my eyes, trying to focus on Astra but realize she is no longer joined to me.
What happened? Where did everyone go? And where am I? Shaking my head, I struggle to focus but my mind is clouded in a thick shroud of fog.
I force myself to stand as I call out again.
No one answers. Wherever I am, I’m alone.
A thin sliver of moonlight filters in through the windows, casting just enough light that I can make out a large shape in the distance. It begins to move toward me. My heart stops as I recognize the long sinuous movements. Dread trickles down my spine as a soft scraping sound of scales moving across stone fills the silence.
Glowing yellow eyes snap open in the darkness, casting just enough light to illuminate the sinister features of it’s face. The Great Serpent flicks out his long, forked tongue as he stares at me with a predatory gaze.
He begins to circle me, his long body trailing behind him, creating a barrier between me and any chance of escape. “I’d heard the queen was coming to see me, but I did not believe you still lived.” His voice is a low and sinister hiss in the darkness.
I still. Fear trickles down my spine as rough scales brush against my arm. I jerk it away.
“I have had many long years to think on my revenge.”
I raise my hands up before me, readying to conjure whatever magic I can as his body begins coiling closer around me, the sound akin to the rough grating of sandpaper against stone.
“Where are my friends? Where am I? What do you want?”
A sudden rush of air whips around me and I gasp as he places his head directly before me. So close, the heat of his breath skates across my skin. He flicks out his tongue as if scenting the air. “I can scent your fear, my queen,” he hisses.
The glowing light of his eyes is mesmerizing as I stare at his hooded cobra-like face.
Ice fills my veins as he bares his fangs, each of them at least as long as my forearm and dripping with venom. “You already know where you are, my queen.” I note the condescension in its tone. “You are the one who trapped me here. Do you not remember?”
“Trapped you?” I blink several times in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
His glowing yellow eyes burn with anger. His long sinuous body coils even tighter around me, writhing as it undulates and moves over the floor.
He leans in, his vertically slit pupils contract and expand as he studies me intently.
“Oh, you don’t remember, do you?” He cocks his head slightly to the side. “How odd.”
“I—I don’t understand.”
“Then, let me help you.”
Without warning, he strikes. Sharp fangs clamp down on my arm. I choke on a scream as they sink deep into my flesh. My vision begins to swim, and I fall back onto a solid wall of muscle. It moves beneath me, his tail coiling tight around my form as he lifts me into the air, my entire body limp.
Glowing yellow eyes stare deep into mine with a hypnotic gaze, and I stare transfixed, unable to look away. Images and wisps of memory fill my mind as I realize it is the serpent somehow accessing my thoughts, searching for something but I do not know what.
A dark and sinister chuckle rises from his throat. “Oh, now, I see. It all makes sense.”
“What does?” I barely manage, struggling to keep my eyes open, even as the dark void beckons me.
“Let us check with your beloved, shall we?”
Its tail tightens around me and it starts toward the door. Soft light from the silver moon filters in through a long hallway of windows, casting just enough illumination that I can see our reflection along the mirrors lining the corridor.
An iridescent red shimmer glints off the shiny, interlocking scales as the serpent’s long sinuous body moves along the floor of the castle. Through the haze of the toxin coursing through my system my mind registers it as both terrifyingly beautiful and completely mesmerizing.
We enter a large room. Two large and elaborate chairs along the opposite wall tell me this must have been the throne room in a time long ago. On the floor in the center, Cael, Lynx, and Astra lie still and unmoving.
Alarm bursts through me. “Are they—”
I start to ask if they’re dead, but the serpent replies, “Not yet. Your friends still live because I have many questions.” He turns a sharp gaze to me. “Starting with… how can I free myself of this wretched prison you’ve kept me in all of these years?”
I know Astra said I fought him, but other than the death of my father, I do not remember any of the details. I certainly do not remember trapping him in the castle. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grind out. “You have the wrong person. I didn’t put you here.”
“Yessss,” it hisses. “You did. It was my punishment for killing a human.”
An image of Jareth surfaces in my mind and a tear slips down my cheek. Anger fills me as I meet his eyes evenly. “That human was my father,” I grit through my teeth.
“If you want your friends to live, you will free me. Else, I have no use for you.”
The memory of Jareth’s body, torn and bloodied fills my thoughts as I glance at Cael. “Please.” A tear slips down my cheek as I rack my brain. “You have to believe me. I don’t remember doing this to you. If I did, I would help you go free
