Chapter 10 - The Ripples in the Dark
The rabbit didn't float. Weighted down by the water absorbed in its cotton stuffing, it sank straight down into the black water, leaving a small, widening circle of ripples that distorted the burning reflection of the house.
"Lily!" Julian screamed, his voice cracking with desperation. He didn't think; he swung his legs over the cedar windowsill, gripping the brick molding with his raw, bleeding fingers, and prepared to drop the twenty feet to the soft mulch below.
Before he could push off, a heavy, cold hand clamped around the back of his collar, jerking him backward with surprising, unnatural strength.
Julian crashed hard onto the floorboards of the bedroom, his breath exploding from his lungs in a ragged gasp. He rolled over, swinging his fist blindly in self-defense, but his knuckles connected only with empty air.
Elena stood by the window, her gold robe unblemished by the soot that now darkened the walls of the pristine room. She was looking down at the lawn with an expression of cold, detached satisfaction.
"You can't jump into the past, Julian," she said smoothly, not even bothering to look down at him. "The water is deeper than you remember. And the things waiting at the bottom aren't interested in saving you."
Julian scrambled to his feet, coughing as the smoke finally breached the bedroom door, rolling across the white rug in thick, greasy waves. The fire was eating the doorframe now, turning the wood to glowing charcoal.
"Where is she?" Julian shouted, grabbing Elena by the arm, his fingers digging into her flesh through the silk. "If you hurt her—"
"I didn't hurt her, Julian. I gave her back," Elena interrupted, turning her head to look him dead in the eye. Her gaze was completely devoid of human warmth, dark and infinite like the lake outside. "Just like Clara gave her to you. A trade for a trade. A life for a life."
Before Julian could process her words, the floor beneath them gave a violent lurch. The joists beneath the second-story landing collapsed with a deafening roar, sending a geyser of sparks and flame shooting up through the floorboards near the closet. The pristine white rug caught fire instantly, a wall of blue and orange flames racing across the room toward them.
"We have to get out," Julian muttered, reality crashing back in with the overwhelming threat of suffocation. He grabbed Elena’s wrist, but she didn't move an inch. She stood like a statue carved from amber, her dark hair lifting in the thermal wind.
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"There is no way out through the front, Julian," Elena whispered, her voice cutting clearly through the roar of the fire. "The front door was bolted from the outside the moment we sat down for dinner."
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