When Ashtyn entered the
lobby she felt the tension in the air.
Only hours early the place had been a romantic paradise, but now, as she
glanced to the couples seated at the small tables, she could see something
other than love in their eyes. She could
see boiling hatred.
“What the hell is going
on?” Ashtyn glanced back at Q, who was doing his best to keep his distance from
Max.
“Heartbreak Island, in
full bloom.” His voice was still raw and raspy.
Ashtyn glanced from table
to table. Some of the couples were just
sitting in silence, and the ones that were talking were speaking in harsh
whispers. Then the mirror behind one of
the tables caught her eye.
Standing there, watching her, was Bobby. His face was slack, his eyes… his eyes a liquid silver. She glanced across the lobby, at a different table. Kurt stood there, the same silver eyes, the same slack expression. Another mirror, and there was Clare, and across from her, Liz.
The witch had been very
busy while Ashtyn wasn’t looking.
“Clare…” Max’s voice was
a choked howl. Ashtyn turned as Rita restrained him, but she wasn’t having an
easy go of it.
Was that really them?
Were her friends really standing there, watching her from the other side of the
glass?
“Decoys.” Tabitha’s voice
rang in her skull. The urgency made
Ashtyn freeze. “Do not fall for this
trick. The wicked one is strong, but she
needs to be stronger. Do not give her
what she needs.”
“Tell that to Max!”
Ashtyn thought.
Max suddenly froze, his
eyes going out of focus.
“Voices… in my head.” Max
looked at Ashtyn.
“Welcome to my world.”
She looked straight ahead, towards the front doors. Towards the two mirrored front doors, which
were now closed.
The witch stood there,
matching Ashtyn’s movements perfectly.
The old bitch was smiling.
There was a slam, and
Ashtyn and her group turned. The doors
to the back gardens closed with force enough to make them all jump.
Ashtyn glanced around the
room. The tension was growing. The decoys, the copies of those the witch had
spirited away were now smiling. This was
going to be bad. Very bad.
“You son of a bitch!” One
of the women, older with silver hair and jewelry that probably cost more than
Ashtyn’s entire salary, stood up and smacked her husband across the face, her
ring cutting into his cheek.
That was all it
took.
The whole room erupted
into screams and yells. Furniture was
being overturned, glass shattered. The
guests were going bat shit, and Ashtyn and her friends were trapped in the
middle of it
A chair flew by Rita’s
head. She ducked, pulling Max down with
her. Ashtyn grabbed Q, pulling him
behind one of the pillars as two women rolled past them, their perfectly
manicured nails ripping at their recently botoxed faces.
“This is your chance.”
Tabitha’s voice was calm, but stern.
“Use the pandemonium to break the mirrors on the doors, and get out!
Have the others smash the mirrors with the decoys. It’ll lessen her hold on the room. ”
Ashtyn nodded, not even
stopping to think. She moved quickly,
dodging and weaving through the lobby.
“Break the mirrors!” She
didn’t look back as she yelled.
She heard a smash, then
the sound of class falling to the floor.
Another smash. She looked over
her shoulder. Q and Rita had done what
she had asked. Max… Max stood in front
of the mirror that held Clare’s doppelganger.
He was reaching out towards her, and she was doing the same.
“Rita! Stop him!” She
froze.
A potted plant suddenly
smashed into the image of Clare, shattering it, and breaking the hold on
Max.
Ashtyn was in front of
the doors now, a chair in her hands, raised.
The old woman reflected her stance back at her, but her face was no
longer smiling.
“I’ll drain your friends
dry before you ever get to them.” Her
voice was a raspy, ugly hiss.
“Fuck you.” Ashtyn brought the chair down, smashing the
mirror, and spraying glass everywhere.
She dropped the chair,
turning, shielding her eyes. She could
hear the doors flying open, and the fighting slowed, then stopped.
Ashtyn stood up, brushing
the glass off of her, ignoring the cuts the slivers of mirror had raked across
her skin.
“Come on.” She glanced back at her friends, who already
looked worn and tired. She knew Max and
Rita had been through this already, but looking at them now, she wasn’t sure
they were ready for another go at Demon Slaying.
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