Cobweb Head

t h i r t y

Everything hurt the moment I woke up.

I was alone in the cave again, a pulse throbbing against my ears as I sat up with a groan. I could hear my spine crack as I leaned forward and held my head in my hands. The cold air gnawed at my skin. The dried blood cracked against my face and clothes.

After a long moment of silence, I found my voice. "Leo..."

What were they going to do to him?

What were they going to do to me?

I gulped against the copper in my throat. When I tried to stand, my knees buckled beneath my weight and I collapsed again, dizzied and hot in the face.

They couldn't possibly leave me here for hours by myself after what had happened? I breathed out. They would definitely do that. Grimm would do that.

But what had happened?

I couldn't have a nightmare attached to me, yet whatever had come out of the cut in my palm couldn't have been normal. None of this was normal.

I touched my face. Dried tears stuck to my skin, and when I rubbed at them, my fingers fell away black. My mouth still tasted sour and metallic with blood. I hated Windsor's, I hated this cave, I hated Rosebud Tower.

My chest warmed with anger. I took the small stone next to me and threw it furiously at the cave's jagged wall, where it clipped against the silver and fell down against the dirt.

Just as drew my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my knees, a faint chittering rang from the left side of me.

I turned my head slowly. A small, clockwork horse stood on the dusty earth, just like the ones Effie had shown me. But this one was silver, and I could see black smoke in the cracks between each shiny limb. Threads of smoke rose up from its eyes like smoke from a candle flame.

It chattered like the echo that'd been following me.

I gulped back bile and stood up, tilting my head to the side as I moved slowly towards the small silver horse. Its small heels clipped against the ground as it skipped around in a circle, moving eerily smoothly.

I went to reach for it, but it skipped away from me, moving towards the end of the cave as it chittered. It continued to move as I stepped forward.

I started to follow it to the ledge in the wall, and as it reached it, dark inky wires burst from the cracks between the mechanical limbs. Its clockwork body contorted as it moved up onto the ledge.

Was an echo attached to one of Effie's creations?

I frowned at it as the wires shrunk back into the smoke inside the little horse. When I went to place my hands against the ledge, it skipped forward and started up the hole.

Pushing my legs up, I sat up onto the ledge and followed it up the hole. It was like a spider as it skidded up each edge and jumped up onto the dirty walls, clinging to the edges with its extra wiry limbs.

I didn't know what I was doing – following some echo up a closed-off hole? But I couldn't wait here. I didn't want to go through that again. I would have to find Leo another way.

Once the echo had reached the top, its whole silver body dismantled and stretched, and its inky black limbs clung to every side of the hole. It flung itself at the board closing us off from the surface, relentlessly hitting itself against the board until it came loose.

Warm sunlight filtered in through the opening, touching my face and stinging my eyes. Treetops moved with the breeze. Rosebud Tower loomed ahead.

I lifted myself up through the hole and felt the damp grass against my palms. Dirt buried itself beneath my nails. I fell down onto the ground and released a warm breath. I hadn't noticed how dry my mouth was until I tasted the crisp air.

The silver horse chattered from where it stood a pace away, almost as if it were waiting. It wanted me to follow it further? Whose was it?

I sat up. My bones ached with every strained movement. Wherever it wanted to lead me, it had to be better than Rosebud cave. But it'd have to wait a little longer.

The treetops moved with the soft breeze above me, the grass cushioned the ground below me, and the air was sweet compared to the staleness of underground. I breathed out and closed my eyes.

I was still there for a few long moments. Everything felt so much nicer after spending god knows how long trapped inside a cave.

I stood up after a few more moments, causing the echo to skip away from me. I didn't like how it seemed to watch me – assess me. I didn't like how much it reminded me of Effie.

"Well," I cleared my throat. "Lead the way."

Its heels bounced against the grass as it skipped around in a circle. The chittering rang louder, and finally it started to trot deeper into the forest, where shadows hung thickly and the trees had less leaves.

"Wait a second, we're not going in there?" I called out to it, wary enough to keep my voice down. Maybe it didn't understand me – or maybe it was just an asshole.

It didn't slow down. I cursed beneath my breath as I weighed up the few options I had left – stay here to be found, go back to school where the Frights were everywhere, or follow the strange echo into the woods. Wouldn't be my first time.

With a deflated sigh, I ran to keep up the little silver horse.