Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2 (13 page)

Grayson was back to his usual self during lessons, he spent most of the lesson commenting on the
lovely whether which seemed to be getting warmer by the day. I wasn't overjoyed by the weather as
it left me feeling uncomfortable and clammy in my tight dress. After lessons I went to the kitchen
and helped myself to one of the freshly baked blueberry muffins off the side.
Alex and a couple of other boys walked passed the windows. He looked in and caught me watching
him. It looked like he scowled at me, but he looked away so quickly I wasn't sure.
But things made more sense to me now. Alex was annoyed with me because I was keeping Senka
here. Alex wanted Senka to leave and travel with him but Senka had stayed because of me. I felt a
tug on my heart strings. I knew Senka cared for me, would he have really taken my memories? It
was the question I'd been asking myself since he'd walked out the door this morning.
Alex was now leaving for work or maybe some other place, maybe even this town Narmi had
mentioned. I would have to catch him later or another day. I knew what I wanted to ask him and
now I think I had a way of making him talk.
I didn't want to be found today, I felt like hiding. I hadn't seen Emmett yet but I knew he wouldn't
be too far away. Wherever I turned there was a guard or a servant and I felt like they were all
watching me today. I felt suffocated. I went into one of the empty guest bedrooms, I doubted
Emmett would look for me in there. I think I was safe from being found. It was one of the rooms I'd
never been in before. The style of the room was more Victorian, the bed was much bigger than mine
with a large curtain canopy over the headboard. The room was painted dark red with drapes to
match and had a balcony the same as mine. I looked out the glass door and saw Emmett weaving his
way through the garden hurrying away from one of the dogs. I went over to the bed which seemed
much higher from the floor compared to mine, just trying to climb onto it took some effort. I pulled
the blanket that was draped over the end up and covered myself over. There was no way I was
getting under the covers they looked very heavy I would probably get stuck under them. I closed my
eyes and focused on the one thing I wanted the most, the one person I wanted to see the most. The
one I trusted the most.

It happened so quick I hadn't been expecting it. I blinked adjusting my eyes to the darkness. I was in
some sort of tunnel. Lamps on the walls burned giving off a dim glow but it was still too dark. I saw
a long chain attached to the wall with a handcuff on the end of it. It smelled of damp earth and fire,
like bonfire smoke. The tunnel walls looked to be made out of rock and earth. I touched a section of
the wall closer to the light. The wall appeared to glisten. On closer inspection I could see black
glittery rocks embedded into the wall. I walked along the tunnel wondering where I was headed.
What was this place? I heard a chain rattle in the distance, I stopped moving and listened carefully.
What if this was one of those realistic dreams I had been having recently? There could be a
dangerous animal or monster up ahead. Panic set in, if I became injured down here would it affect
me after I woke up? I could get bitten, I could lose a finger or a hand. The thought of it had me
clenching my hands into fists keeping my fingers in. The chain up ahead rattled again and I found
my feet walking towards the source of the noise. My curiosity getting the better of me again. I was
probably walking towards my own death was the last thought I had before I heard someone
coughing. I wasn't alone down here. At least the cough sounded human. I edged my way along the
wall and slowly peeked around the edge trying to stay out of sight.
A boy with black hair stood holding onto the chain. He was shirtless and his back showed two long
scars. He wore black cargo shorts and dirty boots and had one wrist chained to the wall. He coughed
again and continued yanking at the chain causing it to rattle loudly. He stopped and fell against the
wall sliding down the side, he pulled his legs up and rested his arms over his knees and hung his
head down.
I slowly approached him. “Mack,” I whispered.
His head whipped up and he quickly stood up rushing towards me but the chain restricted him and
he stumbled back a step. I closed the distance between us and flung my arms around his neck. I felt
his arms around me pulling me closer to him. I eventually pulled back to get a better look at him.
“Where are we? What's going on? Are we dreaming?” I said panicking.
“Shhh!” His hands found my face and his thumb brushed away a single tear that fell. “Ruby it's
okay. You're safe.”
“I fell asleep it happened so quickly the last thing I remember was, I was thinking about you and I
wanted to see you. Are you sleeping? Am I in your dream?” I said rushing my words as I looked at
our surroundings.
“No I wasn't asleep. I was digging in my section, then it all went blank and I woke up here and
everyone else had gone. You must have found a way to access my mind without me having to be
asleep first. I think you somehow disabled me and took me away from it.”
“So are you asleep or not?”
“I don't know, I'll find out when I get back if I'm lying on the floor.”
“So where are we now?”
“I think you found a way to get to me wherever I am. This is where I was a moment ago but there
were others.”
“This is crazy. I can't believe this is really happening.”
“At least you know you can get to me without me having to be asleep. Your mind is getting
stronger.”
I shook my head. “I think someone might have erased my memories of my past. Permanently. So I
may never get them back now.”
“Ruby if that was true you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't remember me. But somewhere inside of
you, you still remember and you told me about the candles at your bedside. If someone had taken
your memories permanently from you, the candles and witchcraft would no longer be necessary.”
I stood quietly for a few moments thinking it over. Maybe I had been wrong to jump to such quick
conclusions about Senka maybe he hadn't taken my memories. Mack shuffled around the floor,
rubbing at his wrist where the handcuff had rubbed against his skin.
“Why are you chained up? Where are we?”
Mack watched me carefully.
“Where are we?” I repeated louder.
“The word for this place that you're most likely to recognise would be Hell. There are other names
for this place but I'm guessing when I say Hell you get the general idea.”
“What? No that can't be right. You can't be in Hell.”
“Yes I can.” he said walking back to the wall and leaning against it.
“Okay so why are we.....no why are you in Hell? Are you dead?” The words had barely left my
mouth before I clamped my hand over it.
“You can't be dead.” I said, my breathing had become unsteady.
“No. Not dead. I've had a lot of time to think about it and I'm pretty sure I'm not dead.”
“How can you be so sure? You just told me you were in Hell. What are you on vacation down
here?” I said loudly.
Mack laughed.
“What's so funny?”
“You.” he said looking up at me.
“Me?”
“Yes, I tell you I'm in Hell and you joke about it.” he said laughing. “That's so you.”
“Mack concentrate. What are you doing in Hell?” I said nearly screaming it at him.
“Well for a start I didn't die. I went to find your friend Carly. These idiots had kidnapped her
probably thinking she was you. When I found her and Micah they were both been held inside some
warehouse outside of Heaven's Point. I'd just entered the warehouse when a fire suddenly broke out,
there were fallen running out everywhere but I still went in. I found Micah and Carly and managed
to get them both out but then I went back inside to make sure you weren't in there. You'd run away
from me an hour before and I wasn't sure if they had picked you up and were holding you
somewhere in the warehouse. There was smoke everywhere, but smoke doesn't affect us like it
affects humans it would take a lot more than smoke to kill us. The last thing I remembered was
searching through the smoke then I felt something hit me on the back of my head and I mean
something really hit me. Someone wanted me out cold. Then I woke up here chained up with the
rest of the animals.”
“Animals?” I asked, silently wondering if I even wanted to know.
“Sick and twisted people the worst kind of humans. The ones that deserve to go to Hell. From what
I've heard dead fallen don't get put down here they end up somewhere else, which makes me even
more convinced I'm not dead. I think I was bought down here and locked up for some reason. I have
no idea why though.” he said crossing his arms. “Welcome to my world.”
“Miss Ruby,” I heard Narmi's voice but it seemed to echo all around and bounce off the walls.
I looked over at Mack but he hadn't heard anything. “What is it?” he asked.
“I think my maid is trying to wake me up. I can hear her calling me.”
“You should go.” he said walking over to me.
“Mack, I don't want to leave you. I can't...I can't leave you down here.” I looked up at him.
“Ruby I'll be okay. Don't worry about me. Anyway you know how to find me now.”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him. His hands slid up my arms and his fingers dug
into the top of my arms as he pulled me closer to him. Then his lips came down on mine, they felt
sore and cracked. I closed my eyes and stood in the moment letting him hold onto me tightly. When
I reopened my eyes I was expecting to see him but he was gone.

Instead I saw red walls, I was back in the bedroom. I sat up still a bit overwhelmed and flustered
from the kiss and didn't see Narmi holding a tray of food. My hand flew into it and knocked it to the
floor.
“Narmi, I'm so sorry.” I said diving to the floor to help her. “You startled me.”
“It's my fault I shouldn't have interrupted you.”
I picked up the pieces of chopped fruit and put them back on the tray while Narmi soaked up the
orange juice with a towel.
“You don't have to...” she started to say.
“It's fine I have two hands I can help.”
“Who's Mack?” she asked.
“What?” I replied placing the bowl back on the tray.
“Right before you woke up you said
'Mack, I don't want to leave you'
.”
“It was just a dream, I can't even remember it now.” I said brushing it off as if it was nothing.
She smiled. “I wanted to bring you some lunch. You've hardly eaten anything the past few days.”
“How did you even find me?” I asked.
“I checked all the rooms.”
“All of them, how long have you been looking for me?”
“A while,” she laughed. “It's a nice day outside in the gardens, why don't you go and get a book to
read and sit under the gazebo and I'll bring you out some fresh food. Emmett disappeared upstairs a
while ago.” she said smiling.
Outside was warm and a faint breeze brushed my face but it didn't feel like enough for this heat. I
felt like I wanted to switch a fan on, it was a bit too hot today. I sat in the shade under the gazebo
hoping Narmi wouldn't be too long as I really needed a drink to cool down. I distracted myself with
the Rubik cube, the current novel I was reading lay unopened by my feet. I laid on my back twisting
the colours going over the recent information I'd found out from Mack.
I closed my eyes but quickly reopened them, I was worried that if I concentrated too hard thinking
about Mack I would end up back inside his head. Twice in one day might be too much. What if he
didn't want me dropping by so often? But if he didn't want me there he wouldn't have kissed me. I
felt the edge of my lips curl up in a smile at the thought of it. We had known each other before I lost
my memory and I was starting to think we were more than just friends. Then I felt a small shred of
guilt I had only been kissing Senka not too long ago, in some weird way it felt like I was cheating.
But I wasn't even dating Senka, I didn't know what we were doing? I let out a frustrated sigh and
dropped the Rubik cube, it rolled off the cushions and out of sight.
Someone dropped down onto the cushions above my head. I craned my head up to see Kenzie.
“Come on it's not that hard, You nearly had it.” he said twisting the Rubik cube.
I sat up and spun around to face him.
“It's too hot.” I complained.
“How about a dip in the pool? I'm back now until after dinner.” he said.
My last visit to the pool was blurry but I still had an outline in my head and it wasn't good.
“Okay, but make sure I don't drink too much or fall asleep in the pool.”
“I think I can keep you entertained enough not to fall asleep.” Kenzie replied laughing.
I couldn't be bothered to go all the way back to my bedroom to change into my bathing suit so I
pinched Kenzie's vest that he'd left at the side of the pool before diving in wearing only his
underwear.
“Turn around while change.” I ordered Kenzie.
He laughed and floated on his back. I quickly changed out of my dress and pulled on his vest tying
the bottom into a knot. Kenzie didn't care what I looked like and neither did I, so the vest and
panties would do just fine. I jumped in sending waves in his directions. We floated around for a
little while and soon enough Narmi arrived with a new tray full of food and snacks.
“Thanks,” I called to her.
“There better be something for me on that tray.” Kenzie joked.
We sat at the edge of the pool nibbling the assortment of snacks which was mainly fruit and cakes. I
sipped on the freshly squeezed orange juice looking at the symbols on Kenzie's arms. He took the
glass from my hand and finished the drink for me.
“Hey, I was still drinking that.”
“You were taking forever and I was thirsty.”
“Well I like to actually taste my food and drink and not just shovel it down.” I said reaching for the
last strawberry. Kenzie's hand got there first and he threw it into the air with his mouth open but I
pushed him over as it came back down. He missed it and it hit his shoulder and bounced into the
pool.
We both laughed. “You can have it now, I don't want it anymore.” he laughed reaching over to get
his cap. He pulled it down onto his head grinning at me.
“Kenzie what do some of these symbols mean?” I asked touching one of the tattoos on his arm. His
arm felt cool to the touch, his temperature seemed to be running on whole other level compared to
mine. He always felt cold when I touched him.
“Most of them are just random patterns.”
“That's not.” I said pointing to a small
Darth Vader.
“No that's Star Wars.” He grinned.
“What about these?” I pointed at the strange markings.
“Those are symbols that my people use.”
“Your people. What are you from a tribe or something?” I asked curiously looking at his arm.
“No, not a tribe.”
“What does this one mean?” I asked pointing to a weird pattern with spirals and a thin creepy
looking hand appearing out the center of it. There was some strange unfamiliar writing underneath I
couldn't even tell what language it was.
“It means collector of souls.”
“That sounds a bit dark.” I said.
He softly laughed. “My life is dark. It's no fairytale it's my purpose.” he said standing up.
I may have not understood what he meant but I was sure he was being honest. A rare moment where
he opened up about himself.
“Better get cleaned up before dinner.”
“Your vest.” I said pulling at it.
“It's okay, give it back to me some other time.” he said throwing his jeans over his shoulder and
picking up his hi-tops.
“You're going to walk outside like that?” I asked.
“Yeah why not? The maids will love it.” He stuck his tongue out at me. “See you in a bit.”
He had only just left the room when I saw his bracelets on the side. I jumped up and grabbed them
hurrying into the corridor expecting to see him not too far ahead. But he was gone.
Kenzie was no runner he hated physical activity. The image of him appearing and disappearing in
front of the little girl from my dream/memory briefly crossed my mind. I didn't think Kenzie had
run or walked back to his cottage, I think he'd used some other method of travel and I think he used
that method a lot.
I went back to my bedroom, got showered and dressed putting on a different dress. A long white
flowing dress, with swirl patterns across the top half and small cap sleeves. The fabric felt lighter
which meant I felt ten times cooler and not a sticky mess.
I brushed my hair which nearly reached the lower part of back, it was in bad need of a trim. I found
my sandals back where they were supposed to be, they looked cleaner than normal. Narmi had
obviously had them. I slipped them on, much better than the hot riding boots.
I walked to dinner fifteen minutes early and spotted Senka outside the doors. He was leaning back
against the wall looking at his cell. He didn't look up but a smile spread across his face as I walked
closer. No doubt he knew it was me.
“Hey you,” he said.
“Hellooo, so are you joining us for dinner?” I joked, that was the most unlikely possibility.
For a start I'd never seen Senka eat anything and secondly Cam only allowed certain ones to dine
down here.
“You're back early.” I said.
“Yeah I wanted to get back and get cleaned up before your surprise.”
“What surprise?” I asked taking a step closer. I was still a little wary of him, still not sure if he'd
taken my memories but all I wanted to do was move closer to him. He looked up from his cell and
his eyes made their way from my head to my toes. I fidgeted on the spot and looked at the servant
behind us but he was looking down the corridor. I had gone from feeling moderately comfortable to
flustered in seconds, the affect Senka always had on me. I felt like my dress was constricting me
and I couldn't breathe. I suddenly felt too hot as though I was going to burst just from Senka
looking at me. He reached over and pulled me towards him and slipped his cell into his pocket.
“What's wrong? You're acting different.”
“No I'm not. I'm fine, there's nothing wrong.”
“Hmm maybe we shouldn't.....” he trailed off.
“Shouldn't what?” I asked.
He looked at me and appeared to be deep in thought. His cell started buzzing.
“Now what?” he said sliding his cell back out his pocket. “Alex what do you want?” he said with
the cell to his ear.
He kept his eyes on me and bought my hand up to his lips kissing the back of my fingers. I felt like
we shouldn't be doing this in the middle of the corridor, it seemed wrong. The sort of thing we
should keep behind closed doors but that didn't mean I was about to stop him. I'd made my mind up
I would have to get back inside his head as soon as possible. Tonight seemed like a good as time as
any. I needed to know. I really hoped I was wrong and Senka hadn't taken my memories. I didn't
think I could bring myself to be with someone that would hurt me like that and thinking I would
never find out about it. He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me even closer. He smelled
more of smoke tonight, probably because he did smoke a lot but there was something else a damp
earthy smell. He leaned down and kissed the side of my mouth, the cellphone still to his ear.
“No not tonight, I'm busy.” he said to Alex.
He hung up and took my face in his hands and kissed me again, this time I couldn't help myself I
wanted Senka a lot more than I realised. A lot more than I should right now.
I kissed him back, my hands making their way up his waist gripping onto his T-shirt, his tongue
found its way into my mouth and I kissed him back with even more hunger.
“Ahem,” someone loudly cleared their throat behind us.
I quickly pulled Senka's hands away from my face and looked over my shoulder. Grayson stood
next to Kenzie watching us, he didn't look impressed. I tried to move away from Senka but he'd
somehow got his hand and cellphone tangled into the longer part of my hair.
“Sorry,” he said sounding a little flustered himself.
We finally managed to separate and I stepped away to put some distance between us. I didn't like
the way Grayson was looking at us. Not that it was any of his business what Senka and I had been
doing.
“Tut-tut,” Kenzie said, wagging his head at me. I knew he wasn't being serious from the huge grin
on his face.
“Ahem,” Grayson started again.
I looked over him.
What was wrong now?
He was looking at Senka, I looked sideways at Senka as
he quickly slipped his cellphone back into his pocket. I looked back at Grayson, wondering if he
could have been any more obvious. Clearly I wasn't meant to know about cellphones. Senka had
been a bit lax recently if he was meant to be hiding his cell from me. I don't think he was that
bothered about hiding it from me anymore.
Grayson eyed me up and down as the servant opened the door for him.
“Mash potato, mash potato.” Kenzie said walking towards me.
I pulled his bracelets off my wrist. I had put them there for safe keeping so I wouldn't forget to give
them back to him. I held them out for him, he took them and winked at me.
I turned back to look at Senka, the edge of his lip curved up into a smile. He walked behind me and
moved my hair to the side and kissed me lightly on the side of my neck.
“Wait for me in your bedroom after you're finished with dinner.” he said quietly next to my ear.
“Why?” I whispered back.
“It's a surprise.” he said trailing his fingers down my arm as he left.
I sat in my usual seat during dinner, Grayson and Emmett sat on the other side of the table from me
and Kenzie sat at his table and was joined by Ryu and Tallen.
Sausages and cheesy mash potato was severed. It now made sense to me why Kenzie was saying
'mash potato' over and over. He did love cheesy mash potato.
I looked over at the other table where Kenzie was. I so wished I was sitting over there. I looked
back at Grayson who had a full mouthful, a piece of green vegetable hung out as he chewed. I
looked over at Emmett who had randomly poured gravy from the gravy jug into his glass and was
drinking it like a drink. He looked over at me.
“What? It's really good, don't want any to go to waste.” he said tipping the glass back.
“I'm going to sit over there.” I said picking up my plate.
“Ruby stay where you are, that is your seat.” Grayson said quickly swallowing his mouthful.
“Well why not? Cam's not here and personally I don't think it really matters where any of us sit and
I want to sit over there.”
I pushed my chair in and a servant came over to me to take my plate.
“Don't, she sits there.” Grayson told the boy servant. The boy looked at me, then back at Grayson,
than back at me.
“It's okay, I can carry my own plate.” I said walking through the archway to the other table.
“Ruby, come back here this instant.” Grayson said louder.
“No, I want to sit over here. I'm not hurting anyone or doing anything illegal so I will sit where I
want. I'm sure you will tell Cam and he can do what he wants to punish me or whatever when he
gets back.” I pulled back the chair where Roman usually sat opposite Kenzie.
Ryu and Tallen continued eating quietly as Grayson threw his napkin on the table and stormed out.
As soon as he was gone Kenzie burst out laughing, even Ryu showed a hint of a smile.
“Ruby, you bad girl.” Kenzie said.
“Well I'd had enough of watching the food move around in his mouth.”
I looked back at Emmett he shrugged at me and went back to shovelling his dinner in his mouth.
Kenzie turned to the chair next to him and picked something off the seat. He set it down on the table
in front of me.
“I got bored waiting for the main course and made you a little friend. I thought he could keep you
company for when I'm not around, you know until he goes bad or you eat him whichever comes
first.”
Kenzie had taken a large potato and cut holes out for a face and stuffed various vegetables into it to
create arms and legs, he'd even given it a hat made out of orange peelings but it was black so it
looked like a top hat.