The taxi wound it’s way through the city for a few minutes, then took an exit off into a bit more rural land. Orange rocky beachside cliffs greeted them as they wove down into more deserted territory. Misty watched the rolling frothy white waves lap up onto the beach from her peripheral vision. The demon inside her kept her eyes focused on the road in front of them, a soft and content smile trained onto her lips.
Demon. Misty still couldn’t wrap her possessed mind around it. A demon. In her head. It was crazy, but somehow made sense. His supernatural appearance, his aura of danger and darkness, his psychopathic ability to change his attitude in a matter of seconds, the easy way he lied, all of them somehow pointed in the direction of demonic tendencies. Not to mention his powers over the mind and body. Misty was never into any of the supernatural conspiracy-theory type things, so she had no idea what other powers this boy could be capable of. What if he could kill just looking at someone? What if his touch could torture you until you went mad?
His deep laugh echoed through Misty’s mind. When he spoke in her mind it was like there were two of him, one had his normal, deep pitched voice, but the other was far darker and more sinister. It sent goosebumps down her spine.
The taxi pulled off onto one more dusty road that was even windier than the last. She drove only for a few more minutes before slowing down next to a tiny hiking trail that curved off in the direction of the beach cliffs. There was a faded white wooden sign at the base of the trail that read “777.”
The taxi woman leaned forward and peered down the trail.
“You gonna hike all the way up there?” She asked. Misty’s mouth smiled unconvincingly.
“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” She said in her fake voice. Once again the woman seemed startled by the way it sounded.
“Do you want me to help you?” she asked, reaching around to unclick her seat belt.
“NO!” Misty shouted, startling the woman. Her earrings jangled when she flinched. Misty cleared her throat. “Sorry, no, the place I’m going is a bit secluded and closed off from the rest of the world, the man who lives there doesn’t really like visitors. I’ll be fine on my own.” She smiled, and the scared-looking lady nodded slowly but understandingly.
“That’ll be $126.48, $3.00 for the initial charge, then $2.45 per mile.”
Misty reached into her carry on and pulled out her purse. She handed the woman her credit card and watched as what little money she had left was sucked away.
Once her bags were assembled at her feet, the taxi drove off, honking as it left. Misty waved amicably at the cloud of dust disappearing around a bend.
Please come back!! She thought hopelessly.
Once the taxi’s noise was completely gone, Misty turned around. The boy possessing her raised her arm to the sign and pressed down gently with her finger pads. Sparks of frost slipped from Misty’s palms and into the wood, creating soft swirling patterns. Misty would’ve gasped in astonishment if she could.
Once the sign was completely covered by the frost, she ran her fingers through the grooves of the numbers, but instead of forming sevens, she wrote three sixes.
The numbers glowed pale blue for a moment, then the entire forest in front of her erupted into white and blue flames.
Misty willed her feet to run away, but instead she picked up her suitcase and moved forward into the raging inferno. She braced herself to be burned to death. She pictured her flesh melting off her bones, blood running down the little path, watering the beach plants and staining the ocean pink. Her lips smirked without her permission as her hand reached out to touch the flames.
Cold bit into her hand, so frigid it might as well be hot. Frost crept up her hand and into her shoulder. At first it stung so much she thought she would pass out, but then the pain became numbed within seconds. She continued walking through the flames, the cold infecting her like a virus until her vision began to waver. The trees blurred and the path became nearly unrecognizable, but somehow the flames remained in crisp clarity.
Soon there was nothing to see except white and blue flickers of light. She stretched her hand out then swept it across the air in front of her, forming a fist. The fire tilted sideways, then was disappeared entirely, like someone had blown out a candle.
Misty blinked away the spots that the light left behind in her eyes until she could see what lay in front of her.
It was a modern, bright-looking beach mansion, with a porch wrapping around the side and looking out to the ocean. There were floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides, allowing Misty to peer inside. It rested precariously on the edge of a beachy cliff that seemed to be over 200 feet of a drop off, and one half of the house hung off the edge entirely.
It had three stories, with a high glass roof that sparkled with unearthly cleanliness. A few plush white chairs rested on the porch, with a swinging bench that hung out over the edge. Misty’s feet marched down a path made of white sparkling stones to a large glass set of double-doors. She pulled the silver handle that was freezing to the touch, then stepped inside.
It was rather warm and cozy inside, which surprised Misty. A soft white rug made of long plush fibers rested on the floor next to a fireplace that crackled with the same blue-white fire. A white sofa in the shape of an L circled the room and a chandelier made of pearly capiz shell rounds hung from the ceiling, emitting a warm yellow light.
Misty turned the lock on the doorknob then tossed the key up onto a hook high on the wall above the fireplace with accuracy that couldn’t have been hers.
She only blinked once, but once she opened her eyes the boy was standing in front of her. She cried out and leaped backwards, slamming her shoulder painfully into the door behind them.
“How’s it feel to have your body back, darling?” He asked, bending over and smirking at her condescendingly.
Misty hadn’t even realized that she was free. She wiggled her fingers, her toes, and stretched her arms out as far as she could. The boy watched her with amusement.
“Who the heck are you?!” She screamed. The boy frowned.
“What, no ‘thank you?’ No kiss on the cheek?” He asked, turning his face towards her expectantly.
Misty slapped him as hard as she could.
It was like slapping ice. Cold, hard, and very painful. The boy laughed.
“Sorry, mortal things like that can’t hurt me. Nice try, though.”
“Who are you?!” Misty tried again, gripping her hand gingerly. The boy sighed.
“I guess I won’t get anything out of you until I introduce myself, won’t I? Oh well.” The boy stood up then stretched his arms out with a flourish. “Die Frigoris Et Daemonium Circulum Ignis GlaciesTenaci Mortis Terram, Is my full name. But you can just call me Master, Great one, King of Ice…” Misty glared at him and he smirked. “Kidding. Helix will do just fine. I am a demon of ice fire, and your savior.”
“How are you my savior?! Why did you bring me here? I thought you said you would--”
“Hush now,” Helix snapped. “Your voice is annoying. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Your savior. Why? Well I did promise to erase any memories you don’t want anymore, right? So, technically, I’m saving you from--”
“I don’t want you to erase my memories!” Misty cried. She was on the verge of tears, this was the most traumatic day she’d ever experienced and it was all coming crashing down on her. “I want to go home. Please, just let me go!” She was sobbing now, gripping her hair with her frozen fingers. Helix took a step closer to her, then squatted down so he was eye-to-eye with her.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sweetheart. I need you here, just to run a few errands.”
He spoke quietly and threateningly, his icy blue eyes locked onto hers.
“What errands?!” Misty gasped desperately.
“Errands that only you can complete, my dear. You’re the chosen host, the only person on this entire planet who is fit to be my servant.”
“Why?!” She cried. Helix ran his long, pale fingers through his vibrant orange hair. He sighed dramatically, then dropped down cross-legged beside her, with his back up against the wall.
“In the beginning of the universe, there were two separate beings. One was the mother of all that was good and bright, lively and fun. Civilizations through the ages have given her many names, her true one has long since been forgotten. You can think of her as Gaea. Now, with lightness, there must also always be darkness. One can never exist without the other, and the two beings knew that. The second was empress of darkness, evil, and hatred. Her full name is sacred and must never be uttered, so you may call her Umbra.
“Umbra and Gaea agreed to share the jewel of their Universe, Earth, as both knew that they would both be destroyed without the other. So they got to work, creating their domains. Gaea invented trees, Umbra invented fire. Gaea invented day, Umbra invented night. Gaea gave life, and Umbra gave death. For every thing that one being created, the other had to make one to rival it.
“One day, Gaea began to create what surely would be the prized invention in her collection: Humans. She gave them eyes to see, lips to speak, brains to think, hearts to feel.
“Coincidentally, Umbra was in the midst of making something almost exactly alike: Demons. Rather than give them good, pure hearts, she created them with instincts of survival. None of her creations thought of other beings, only for themselves. She gave us powers beyond comprehension, each of us completely unique. Far better than those plain bowls of water, Humans.
“The following day they were both eager to present their children to each other. When they did, however, their creations reacted horribly with each other. Immediately recognizing the others as the enemy they engaged in war. They had nearly destroyed each other when, horrified, Gaea and Umbra pulled their children back to them.
“Agreeing to never let the two species interact again, Umbra and Gaea returned to their work tables.
“Secretly, however, Gaea began sneaking her humans into earth. She disguised them as monkeys, so Umbra never suspected anything until it was too late. The vile humans had completely overrun the planet.
“Outraged, Umbra rose from the ground volcanoes, she summoned storms, floods, and earthquakes. She sent them to the humans as a constant reminder that Gaea could not do anything like that again without facing the consequences. To this day Umbra sends these beasts of nature out to humans whenever she sees they need it.
“Billions of years have passed, and the two goddesses grow old and decrepit. Gaea plans to withdraw her presence from her precious humans entirely someday, trusting in their ability to grow and prosper without her.
“Umbra, however, wants her children to grow as well. She wants us to circle the earth with our own presence, and overrun the humans just as they did in the beginning. She has proposed a plan to all of us:
“First, we must find the humans that have been chosen for us. Umbra herself has tagged each of them using a special aura of darkness only we can see. You, lovely Misty, are my chosen one. I could see it immediately when I noticed you in the airport. Your aura isn’t one of darkness, though. You seem to have a different sort of thing pouring from you. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, until you started talking to me on the plane. Until then, I thought maybe you were meant for someone else. But now I see why Umbra knew you were right for me.
“Your heart is cracked. You have holes in your soul, caves in your heart. The aura that radiates from you is one of intense pain and emptiness. You can’t be whole, at least not without me to fill you. When I possess you, I feel perfectly content and comfortable because there is room for something else inside.
“Anyways, once we have found our special one, we must get them to shake our hand. Gaea--that wretched old hag--placed protective spells around each of her children that prevents us from using our powers on them more than once. Umbra convinced Gaea, however, that if the humans were willing and able to shake our hands, then we would be allowed to do as we pleased. Gaea agreed, but under the condition that they must shake our hands once for each power we are to use on the humans.
“You, silly girl, shook my hand twice. You gave me the power to not only control your body, but also do… other things. I hope you’ll be obedient enough that I’ll never have to use them.”
Once finished with his story, he sat back contently and looked and Misty with imploring eyes.
“So… I have holes in my heart?” She asked quietly.
“Yes. And in your soul.” Helix replied.
“And the reason you can possess me is because… you fill them?” She clarified. Helix nodded. “And I can never escape you, because I was… Made for you?”
“Now you’re getting it!” Helix exclaimed. He patted her head condescendingly, then rose to his feet. He held a hand out towards her to help her up. “Come here, I’ll give you a tour of your new home.”
Misty ignored the hand he offered, but was too scared of his threat about her obedience not to follow him.
Helix opened a door going out to the porch. A salty sea breeze played with Misty’s hair as she stepped outside. The distant sounds of the ocean far below them filled her ears in a soothing way.
Helix took a deep breath in.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” He asked, smiling. Misty could only nod. She was too busy calculating how she might be able to escape down the cliffside someday, making note of any good footholds or handholds.
“I want you to see this, over here.” Helix said. He put his hand on her lower back and guided her around to a portion of the porch that hung off the side of the cliff. Misty tried not to look down. He reached for a latch on the side of the railing then pushed open the gate. It was a straight drop-off down to the beach hundreds of feet below.
“I like to sit here sometimes, with my feet dangling off the edge. It helps me think.” He said. He plopped down and motioned for her to follow him.
“I want to go home,” Misty declared for the hundredth time. Helix rolled his eyes.
“I already told you, I can’t let you do that. Now, are you going to obey me or not?” His voice carried an unspoken threat, so she grudgingly took two steps closer to him and sat down, still a good five feet from the edge.
“No, over here,” Helix said, more sternly this time. Misty scooted half a foot closer. He frowned, then his eyes softened. “Look, I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want to build trust. You know, make it easier for you to live here with me.”
“Yeah, right!” Misty cried. “‘Build trust?’ Please. Do you think I’m stupid?! The moment I get up to that edge, you’re going to push me off, aren’t you? No thank you, I’d rather stay right here.”
Helix exhaled deeply. “Why on Umbra’s good earth would I want to kill the only person to ever exist that can help me get what I want? Come on, please? You can hold onto the railing if you desire--with your good arm, of course. That way, if you fall, you can catch yourself and not be in excruciating pain when you do.”
He had a point, Misty thought. But that didn’t mean she was starting to trust him.
“You just, not one minute ago, threatened to use some freaky demon magic on me if I disobeyed you. What part of ‘not hurting me’ does that play into, huh?”
“I can’t actually do that yet, not that I would want to. I still need to decide what I want to do with that second handshake. Who knows? Maybe I’ll make it so you can fly or something. Would you want that?” He fell down onto his back, with his hands behind his head. His long legs still dangled off the edge. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter right now. Point is, I can’t hurt you. Not now, and not ever. I wouldn’t have a need to. Even if you do disobey me, I still could just possess you then make you do what I want then. See what I mean?”
Misty still lingered far from the edge.
“You promise that you’ll never try to hurt me? Ever?” She asked. Helix nodded solemnly. Misty extended her hand. “Shake on it,” She commanded. He pressed his cold fingers against her palm and shook her hand firmly.
“There,” Misty said with content. “Now you have to keep that promise, because I was the one that initiated the handshake, right?”
Helix seemed surprised.
“How did you find out about that?” He asked. Misty’s shoulders slumped with relief.
“I just sorta figured, reversed the logic and all that.”
She pulled herself along to the edge and let her bare feet extend off into the wind, gripping the railing with her good arm as tight as she could. He shook his head, smiling.
“What?” Misty asked.
“Nothing, nothing. You’re just… too clever, I suppose.”
There was a brief silence before finally, he spoke.
“See that little dot out there?” Helix asked. He went on explaining each of the tiny islands on the horizon, what native american tribes lived there, and the different unique types of vegetation that could be found only on the coast of California. He showed her the stripes of the sandstone in the cliffs beside them, and told her how long it took for each layer to develop. He talked for a long while, before finally he stopped for a moment of peace.
“Hey, wait… Look down there, on the sand!” he exclaimed.
“Where?” Misty peered down, but couldn’t see anything.
“Look further, it’s right beneath us! I think it’s a baby sandpiper!” He pointed, and Misty leaned farther off the edge.
A hard, cold hand came in contact with Misty’s back, and shoved. Her grip had loosened as Helix talked, so she was falling in the open air. There was about half of a second of open, horrifying descent, before Helix’s hand wrapped tightly around her wrist.
Misty was not a heavy girl. In fact, she weighed a meager 94 pounds, just on the brink of being underweight for her height. Even so, the force of her entire body coming crashing down on the shoulder that had been so brutally broken and torn was enough to make her wish she was dead.
A long, horrified scream tore from her lips as an acute and crippling pain stabbed from every direction, like tiny shards of glass were whizzing into her shoulder at high speeds. She let out another tortured gasp when Helix yanked her back up onto the safety of the porch. Misty heaved, but she hadn’t eaten any food so nothing came up. Her vision was blurry and everything seemed to be black and white. Swirls and smudges of black pressed against her eyes like bruises until they entirely took over.
"Stupid, stupid girl! It doesn't matter who initiates the handshake! You just gave yet another advantage to me. How dumb can you get?!"616Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbjHdO2szj
The last thing she saw before she went under was His pearly white teeth gleaming in a sickening grin.
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