I covered my mouth with my hand.

Did I just say that? No, I couldn't have.

Like I was watching Sam snatch a bird out it’s panicked flight, The Mother in Red caught the sorceress by the ankle with one hand. The aura covering her bare foot, the color of ripe red apples, shredded out in all directions.

I shielded my face with my arms until the violent light had faded.

The Mother in Red held her attacker up by the ankle with no effort at all. “It is good to see you, Suri. How was your time in the Subseas?”

Suri?

It had never occurred to me that I didn’t have the faintest idea what Suri looked like. Her hair was red, but lighter than mine or my mother’s. It was difficult to make out anything further because her face was twisted into a upside down savage scowl.

“I’ll kill you!” Suri growled and swung her free leg into her captor’s side. Another shred of her aura followed, but The Mother remained unmoved.

“Not as relaxing as I had hoped,” The Mother in Red sighed as she locked her arm around Suri’s other ankle. “Maybe somewhere cold this time? We will find you a nice cozy cabin in some snowy village. You could try reading again? Do you remember how much you used to love reading?”

Suri pulled herself forward and bit The Mother somewhere around the hip.

The breeze passed again and the sea salt scent broke me from the shocked trance that I had snapped into. The black gate still stood behind my back, the center piece of a row of seven identical frames. The cliff still fell to my right, with nothing but darkness and water beyond it. On my left, I found a house. Only, it wasn’t really a house, I just didn’t know the word to name it properly.

If the manor was a hole in the ground, then the sprawling structure to my right was a house. If the manor was indeed a manor, then the structure to my right was something close to three of them lain end to end.

“You’ve gotten stronger. I can feel it.” The Mother in Red said calmly to her attacker.

“I’ll keep getting stronger until you can’t feel anything anymore!” Suri growled through clenched teeth. Her clothes were dirty and ragged. There were dark circles under her eyes.

I avoided looking into them directly. I could not take another storm of memories and feelings without having Anna there to shelter me.

Anna. I thought, realizing that the black gate we had come through was still open. The Mother in Red was distracted. What was there to stop me from crossing back through it and making a mad dash for the manor? I could go to her and we could run away. We could find some far off corner of chaos to hole away in. We could even go back to the mortal plane, she would know somewhere we could disappear to and I would be much better at blending in a second time.

That would only bring her danger. The Autumn I liked thought much too rationally.

She was right, no matter how much I didn’t like it. So far, it seemed like The Mothers were willing to do everything but kill me. I doubted they would extend such mercy to Anna if the sole reason they let her stay close to me was so they could rip her away when they deemed fit.

Trying to escape back through the black gate was foolish anyways. It would only lead me back to Erosette. Trying to hide in the city would be like trying to escape my mother in the garden maze when she had been playing the part of a demon. The Mother in Red would summon her lion of fire and hunt me down before I could reach the river.

That left one option, the cliffs to my right.

I could swim, right? I’d spent most of my life in baths and pools, it couldn’t be that hard. Once I got in the water, I would pick a direction and follow it until I found somewhere to run away to. From there, I would have to sneak back into The Red Mother’s domain and get Anna.

It wouldn’t be easy, but I could not sit around and wait to be punished while such a perfect opportunity to escape was right in front of me. Taking a slow step to my right, I tried to ignore the nervousness that made my legs shake. My skin had been ground away after I had been buried alive. I had been hunted by all manner of beasts and escaped. Jumping from a great height would be nothing that I could not survive.

“Nocti, my love?” The Mother in Red called over shoulder, still holding Suri upside down in her grasp.

A cold hand gently grabbed my arm and kept my feet on the rocky ground.

“I am here.” Nocti said from beside me as he folded out of the shadows he had been perfectly concealed in.

“Take her inside and show her to a room in the west hall so she can get some rest. Any will do except for Gray’s or Trea’s.”

“Stop ignoring me while I’m trying to kill you!” Suri shouted as her apple colored aura burst from her captured feet once again.

“And send for the gatekeeper. I will be inside once I see Suri off again.” The Mother in Red continued without an interrupted word.

“Of course,” Nocti agreed. The pale man in his wide brimmed black hat began to lead me away from the cliff side and towards the house.

I took one last look at The Mother and Suri before Nocti closed the double door behind me.

There was an immediate sense of familiarity that I felt within the massive structure. Every stone that formed the walls were the same color and shape as those that the manor was made of. Stairs, made entirely of pink marble, rose up at the back of the entrance and disappeared above the ceiling. Roses decorated every corner of the room in stone pots and vases. I had never been there before, but I had been in places so similar that it felt like I had.

“So, this is who you really are. I will admit, my theories about your identity grew more and more outlandish every time we crossed paths.” Nocti said as he removed his hat and hung it on a small hook inside the door.

His coat came next and I saw the pale man in full light for the very first time. Black hair, porcelain white skin, features that made him look both fierce and refined, he was undeniably beautiful. Unlike every other time I had seen him however, his eyes were not red. They had dimmed to a dull grey that gave his face a tired, hollow, appearance.

“What are you?” I asked, unable to stop the words from leaving my mouth.

Nocti laughed and gestured for me to follow him. After a moment of hesitation, I did and became immediately aware that his footsteps made no sound.

“Under any other circumstances, with any other soul, that would be a horridly rude question to ask,” The pale man said as he led me through a confusing series of doors and hallways. When we climbed a smaller set of pink marble steps, he continued. Fortunately for us both, I am used to being around impolite girls.”

We turned left into a hall whose ceiling hung far above my head. Nine differently colored doors, five on the left and four on the right, marked the stone walls. For a brief moment, I felt like I had stepped back into the way The Well had been before the near infinite library had taken shape in my mind.

Nocti walked past the grey door on his left and then the red one on his right before he began to open the rest as he went.

“Some, mostly mortals, would call me a vampire. Others, that are not so taken with stories and fictions, would say I am a soul that has been cursed by dark powers far beyond understanding,” The pale man spoke as he moved silently down the hall. “Those that live in fear of what they do not know would call me a monster, a beast, a parasite. None of them are wrong. There is some truth in it all.”

He stopped short of the last door in the hall and turned back around to face me.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“To answer your question, I am a man who was lead astray and has spent the decades since trying to find my way back,” He said with weary smile. He spread both his arms out and gestured to the open doors. “Take your pick, they are different enough that you should be able to find something to your liking.”

The first door on my left was orange and held a small room beyond its frame. Grainy planks of faded wood made up the walls and other than an unlit metal lantern on the floor, there was only the bed. No windows or closets, only rough looking blankets and a single pillow. There was a small metal tub tucked away in a tiny alcove and a single towel folded over its edge.

“Try another, I can tell that you do not like this one.” Nocti said as he pointed me towards the blue door on my right.

Like a small piece of some other place had been grafted to the hall of stone, the room beyond the blue door did not seem like it should be where it was. When the tip of my boot crossed the threshold, dim pearly lights came to life along the floor and lit a path to the circular bed in the center of the room. The walls were painted so dark a shade of blue it was almost black and the air within was noticeably cooler.

More out of curiosity than a desire to pick the most restful room, I went to each of them in turn and looked inside.

Whichever I chose would not be used for sleeping. It would be used for nothing at all after I made my escape.

An armchair sat in front of a small fireplace behind the brown door. There was a bookcase and a desk as well. While it was made of wood like the orange door’s room had been, it was much more cozy and inviting.

The green and yellow rooms were connected. Dead and dried flower petals covered the floor and there was no bed. A wide sail of fabric hung from large columns on either side of the room and every piece of furniture was cover with piles of cast off clothes.

“What are these?” I asked Nocti as I went towards the last open door.

“The Lady’s rooms. Rhiannon wanted each of them to feel at home here if they ever came.” The pale man answered.

Beyond the purple door, I found something out of one of my mother’s stories. There were stars painted on the ceiling that shone seemingly of their own accord. A canopy bed, purple instead of red and much larger than the one in my room at the manor, took up most of the floor. A silver framed mirror that was much taller than I was stood between a bathroom and an open closet. The night sky hung behind glass paneled windows that took up almost all of the back wall.

It was enchanting. If the circumstances were any different, I would enjoyed the thought of staying in it.

“Why didn’t you open this one?” I asked as I went to the white door and opened it.

“Because there is nothing in there.” Nocti answered, reaching past me and closing off the completely empty room.

“Why?” I continued with my questions.

“Because there is no Lady in White. Now, if my suspicions are correct, I believe you favored this one the most.” The pale man said as he disappeared through the purple door and light began to shine out of it.

No Lady in White. I repeated in my mind. Knowing that I would have to tell Anna that as soon as I could see her again.

“Here is the bathroom. Take whatever you wish from the closet. Is there anything else you need?” He said, waiting until I had entered the room fully before he went to the door and stepped back into the hall.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. Remembering to be polite, I added. “Thank you.”

Without another word, Nocti closed the door and I was alone.

Immediately, I went to the windows. High and low, I checked every piece of frame and every pane of glass for a lock that I could open. It was too dark for me to see what lay below or how far down the ground was, but slipping out of the window was the least terrifying escape route I could imagine.

When I found nothing, I tore my way through the bathroom and the closest just in case there was some secret pathway that I could stumble across.

There wasn’t.

My hand was turning the doorknob to open it before I remember that Nocti made no noise when he walked. I had no way to know if he had actually left. What if he was standing outside of the door, waiting to see if I would try and leave?

Be patient, Autumn. I told myself as I closed my eyes and tried to count the seconds as they passed.

I counted all the way to twelve a handful of times before I could wait no longer. I turned the handle as slowly as I could and gently opened the door.

No lights, no sound, no unnaturally pale gentleman lounging in the hall.

The sound of my own excited footsteps echoed off the wall and reminded me that there was a desperate need for me to be quiet.

Fuck. I really should have tried to remember how I got here. I thought when I came to the end of the hall and had to choose which connecting hall I would follow. Both were dark and looking down either made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Though my surroundings felt familiar, there was an emptiness that came with the high ceilings and wide walls. Maybe it was because it was dark and maybe it was because I had no idea where I or anything else was, but the whole place felt empty.

I took the hall to my right and walked like Mother Gwyn taught me when we had been hunting my imaginary bird in the crimson dust surrounding Vowkeeper’s Anguish. Crouching and padding my steps, I crept through the sprawling structure with absolutely nothing to guide my way. The further I went from the Lady’s hall, the more I felt that I was being watched. The beasts that had hunted me under Gwyn’s influence felt like they were coming up behind me and breathing down my neck. The hand horrors the lich had sent for me felt like they were reaching for me with their black nails and scratching at my back.

My nerve broke and I began to run away from the imaginary monsters with no attempt at silence.

Left, right, forward, up a set of stairs and back down a second that I found at the top of the first.

I ran and hid and ran again until I saw light at the end of a windowless corridor.

The made up monsters could not harm me if I was in the light. I knew that like I knew the ceiling was up and the floor was down. With as much speed as I could manage, I tripped over the turned up end of a long rug and fell into the safety of the lit room. After checking, double checking, and taking one last long look to ensure that my pursuers were indeed not real, I looked around to find myself back at the entrance.

Nocti’s hat still hung on its hook in the same place that he had left it.

Somehow, someway, my fear had brought me to the exact place I needed to be.

All I had to do was open the door and I would be free.

Before I could, a warm scent found its way into my nose and my stomach let out a hollow growl.

Fuck.

The smell was sweet and fruity, both things too much for my empty belly to resist. I had no way of knowing how long it would be before I got to eat again and I had become quite skilled at stealing food during my time at the boarding house. Making a small attempt at stealth, I followed the scent through the darkness of the house until I came to an open doorway with a massive kitchen beyond it.

On a free standing counter in the middle of the room, rows and rows of baskets covered the stone surface. Within those baskets, were mounds of still steaming muffins.

Against every impulse I had to run in and grab as much as I could carry in my arms, I waited. I waited just outside the light of the kitchen with held breath for as long as I could to ensure that I would not be seen.

Then, when I was absolutely certain that I was safe, I stepped into the kitchen and came fast to chest with a very large man.

Go, his mane of red hair and beard messy and unkempt, looked down at me with a pan of uncooked muffin batter in his hands. He wore nothing but short pants that ended just above his ankles and a rose patterned apron that covered an embarrassingly small amount of his chest.

“I told Nocti you would need something to eat, but that pasty bastard wouldn’t listen to me,” The man said with a satisfied smile. “Go on, help yourself. Some are blackberry and some are blueberry, it’s hard to tell once they are done, but they're both good.”

I thought about running, but that would only lead to me being caught. Even if I was faster than the mountain of muscle standing before me, he would surely alert The Mother in Red.

“You like to, uhm, bake?” I managed to say. I stepped past him and tried to act like I was indeed coming to the kitchen for a snack. All I was awake for was food, not to try and escape, I would never do that.

Go grunted and laughed as he slid the pan into some sort of bricked in fireplace and slapped his chiseled stomach. “That’s what I do, girl. You don’t get a body like this by eating greens and drinking water.”

“Oh fuck.” I sighed as I took a bite of one of the muffins and proceeded to shovel the rest of it into my mouth despite its piping heat.

“You can call me, Go. I saw you when you showed up with Azza, but she’s so damn temperamental I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself,” The big man said. “Milk?”

“Mmhff.” I muttered through the third muffin I had managed to cram into my mouth. My escape had failed, but I was finding it difficult to be all that upset. I did not trust him, I still felt that I would be thrown into The Mother in Red’s punishment at any moment, but I knew what I was eating was good.

“Take a basket, I’ll tote your milk. You’ve got a long day tomorrow. Rest is good.” Go said as he made to leave the kitchen.

“I. . .” I started to disagree, but could find no reasonable explanation for why I did not want to go back to the room I had been given.

I followed him back and thanked him as I had Nocti, fully intending to attempt my escape again as soon as he left.

Once the door was closed however, I ate another muffin to pass the time and chased it down with half of one of the cold milk bottles he had given me. Before long, I had eaten and drank so much, that my belly was full and the weight of my day settled over me.

Eventually, after a very long argument with myself, I did use the shower that was thankfully in the bathroom. I riffled through the closet until I found a pair of white shorts and a loose white shirt. With nowhere else to sit, I crawled through the purple canopy with the last of my milk in tow.

Looking up at the stairs painted on the ceiling of the fairytale room, I did not let myself sleep because according to the giant baker, I had a long day ahead of me.

I had no intentions of being there to see it.