3 The Light In The End

The basement was damp and partially dark. Two chandeliers hung in the ceiling, casting faint candlelight over the room. Between them was Karla, or what remained of her. Her legs and arms had been torn away, and her body was cut in neat pieces, neat enough to make a pentagram anyway.

Her head was placed in the middle of the star, her mouth open as if she was screaming. Two thick spikes replaced her eyes and nailed her head to the ceiling.

"This can't be real! This can't be real!" Sofia said, her eyes glued on the pentagram. She clutched a pendant around her neck and rocked back and forth on the ground.

Aaron's head turned. The shock of the events, coupled with his injury, had taken their toll on him. The room began spinning. Before he knew it, his head hit the ground.

Sofia scrambled to her feet and joined him. "Aaron, Aaron? What happened?"

He turned to her with a pained expression. "My leg hurts."

She looked down then gasped. "Shit, you should've told me."

She helped him on his feet then settled him on top of a small stack of sacks. She ripped the rest of his shirt away then bandaged his wound. "What did we get ourselves into?" she whispered.

Aaron turned to her. His brows met in an angry frown. "Why did you leave her alone here?" he demanded.

Sofia looked up, surprised. "Are you for real right now?"

Aaron took a deep breath. "I told you to go inside and wait for me. Why didn't you listen? She could have lived. We could've…" he trailed off.

Sofia's nose scrunched up. "I went out there to get you, asshole." She punched him in the shoulder. "I couldn't live with the thought of you…" her eyes welled up. "That thing out there… And now Karla…" words got stuck in her mouth.

"I could've made it," he said. His eyes hardened. "Karla lost it, S. You saw how she was. She was completely vulnerable. You shouldn't have left her alone."

Sofia clenched her fists. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

He looked her right in the eyes and shook his head. Tears wouldn't stop no matter how many times she wiped them. He saw how scared she was. Hell, he was probably even more terrified than her. First it was Peter, then Karla. Did he really want to fight the only person he cared about now?

"No," he finally said. "No, it's my fault. I dragged you into this mess. I convinced you to do this show. I shouldn't have brought you here!"

Sofia's expression softened. She reached for him and placed a hand on his forearm. "You didn't convince us of anything Aaron. We decided to do this."

He looked at her, then at Karla. "We're completely fucked, aren't we?"

She gave him a wry smile. "We are, but I won't go down without a fight."

His eyes landed on hers, determined. "No one's going down, not anymore."

She nodded. "You're right, we can't let this house take us!" She stared at Karla one more time. "Can you move?"

Aaron stood. He winced. "Hurts a little, but we should get moving. We're not safe here either."

Sofia scanned the room then darted toward a bunch of empty barrels stacked at the corner. She thrust her hand inside one of them and pulled out a baseball bat. "I found this with Karla earlier before we got to the basement. We hid it here, just in case."

She threw it at Aaron and he caught it on the fly. He gave it a few swings then nodded. "Karla should've kept one with her."

"Or whatever got to her didn't give her a chance," Sofia said.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. "We can't waste time here, we have to find a way out."

Sofia nodded. She reached into the barrel again and took out a crowbar. "I couldn't use any of these against that thing out there, but if anything my size comes to me here, I'll bash its face in!"

They left the basement and reached the house's main lobby. Aaron's eyes widened as he walked into the main hall. "What the hell is this?" he asked.

The house's main hallway looked like a long, endless tunnel. There was a balcony above their heads with a big red door at its end. Another balcony stood behind them. It appeared to lead to some hallway, but they couldn't make out the details from where they stood. The skylight at the house's roof let in the blood moon's light. There were no stairs that led to the upper floor.

The only way before them was forward, through an endless looking tunnel with a light far in the distance.

Sofia shrugged. "Maybe we died, and it's just our time to reach for the light."

"We stay together," Aaron said. He lifted the bat to his side and walked forward, Sofia walking by his side.

As they reached the tunnel, they noticed a few details. Every other step they took, they found an opening that led to another tunnel, but without a light in sight. He felt like they were walking through an ant hill.

"This is very confusing," Aaron said.

"Let's just keep going forward. Keep your eyes open," Sofia said.

Nothing intercepted them along the way. Not even the sound of animals in the distance reached them. The further they walked into the tunnel, the more Aaron's sense of dread increased. There was something on the other side, he could feel it.

He stopped. "I think we're walking into a trap."

Sofia turned to him. "You want to try the dark ones?" she asked.

He looked at the other openings, squinted at them, but couldn't make out any shape within. He saw small inscriptions on the wall, but the darkness prevented him from making out their full shape.

He sighed as his eyes landed on the distant light. "What other choice do we have?"

The tunnel's light grew brighter as they got closer. When they reached it, the light was so intense they had to close their eyes as they crossed.

When they opened them, they were back at the house's main hallway. Aaron and Sofia looked around, puzzled and lost. "What? Dude, this is messed up!" Sofia asked.

"We're back where we started, right?" he asked .

"Definitely," Sofia said. She pointed to a door at her left. "That's the way down to the basement. We left the door open, and it still is."

Aaron shook his head. "We're looking at this the wrong way."

Sofia turned to him. "Enlighten me!"

He recognized the sarcasm in her tone but ignored it. They were both in distress. "This place is, as insane as this may sound, made of magic. We saw that thing out there, and the mansion that appeared out of nowhere. We can't use conventional methods to leave this place," Aaron said.

"How do we fight magic then?" Karla asked. She kept looking in all directions, her eyes alert.

"How the hell should I know?" Aaron said.

"You're the expert and the team's researcher. You must know something," Sofia said.

Aaron rummaged through his memory, trying his best to remember what he read about the witch and her myth. 'Come on brain! Think!' he mumbled.

"Aaron, I don't mean to press you or anything, but there's something out here that's after us. We can't stay around much longer," Sofia said.

"Okay, okay," Aaron said. He scratched his head. "The myth says that the witch's spirit is trapped in this house, while her body is prisoner in another realm. Her soul is weak, but she can make contact with our realm if the blood moon happens during Halloween. She can offer you passage to her world, but you'll have to feed her spirit, strengthen it.

"The blood price of those seeking her helps her recover. Legend says that the witch longs to get back to her world, her physical self, but the blood from our world is weak, and barely contains any spiritual energy."

"So we're basically food for her," Sofia said.

Aaron nodded. "It is said that all who venture into her domain must find her and offer her the blood price. Only then can they have their wish fulfilled."

"What happens if you don't find her?" Sofia asked.

Aaron shook his head. "No one knows for sure, but they say the bodies the police find around the forest 'is' what happens."

Sofia took a loud gulp. "So all we have to do is find her, right?"

Aaron gave her a grave look. "And pay the price if you want to be free."

Sofia waved a dismissive hand. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We have a hint at what to do. Now, how do we do it?"

Aaron's eyes traveled around the room. There was perhaps something they missed. Some little detail they didn't pay attention to. "Magic has its own rules. Even if unknown to us, we can still find patterns, or signs, that can lead us the right way."

"What's there to find? It's just bland walls and hallways," Sofia said.

Aaron shook his head. "Come and see this," he said.

He led her to the tunnel's entrance and pointed at the ground. "See where the wall meets the ground?"

She nodded.

"Do you see those engravings at the foot of the wall?" he asked.

She squinted, then let out a surprised gasp. She knelt and leaned toward the wall. "What's that?"

Small runes lined the foot of the wall and extended toward the light. They repeated in a pattern, one next to each other in a long line that ended with the light.

"They kinda look like the runes on the rock, but this one's different, see?" He pointed at a rune that looked like a diagonal M with a wavy line on top of it.

Sofia looked up at him. "You think this could be a hin-"

Aaron raised a finger to his mouth and straightened up. "Do you hear this?" he whispered.

Sofia pricked her ears. "Shit, something's moving upstairs!"

The floorboards creaked above their heads. Aaron readied his bat, while Sofia stood beside him, her crowbar at the ready.

"Keep your eyes open", Aaron said.

They observed the railings above their heads as the creaking floorboards got louder. A shadow appeared first on the floor. Tall and slender. Then it peeked at them. It was a tall humanoid creature. It had no face, just skin covering the front of its head. It had long arms that stretched all the way to the ground. It wore a black suit with thin white stripes, and a bowler hat.

It tipped its hat to them, then a horizontal cut split its skin face open. The thing screeched at them, revealing terrible teeth and a thorny black tongue.

Aaron's eyes darted in all directions. Sofia cursed under her breath. The creature smashed the railing before it with its long arms. Splinters and broken wood flew toward them as the beast jumped to meet them.

It landed and broke the tiled floor below its feet.

Sofia pulled on Aaron's sleeve. "I really don't think a baseball bat can beat that thing."

Aaron nodded. "On my mark, we run."

"Where?" she said between gritted teeth.

"We'll go through the tunnel. I'll lead it forward while you hide in the third opening to our right," he said.

"Are you insane?"

Aaron turned to her and gave her a determined look. "I brought you here when everyone warned us against it. It got you into this mess and I will get you out of here! No matter what it takes."

"But- "

"No matter what it takes!" Aaron said.

She looked at the monster, then at Aaron. "I…"

"We don't have time for this S. On my signal, are you ready?"

Tears welled up in her eyes. She sniffed and wiped her nose with her cuffs. She still nodded.

The beast raised an arm at them, ready to strike.

"Now! Run and don't look back!" Aaron screamed.