Fleeing the Aberrant, we had ended up in a ballroom. Besides the stage with the instruments sitting in glass boxes, the rest of the room was sparsely furnished, just a few chairs along the walls.
The other Wolves were checking the doors to see if any of them were unlocked. One Wolf wearing a mask that was covered in reflective black hexagons, like a giant compound insect eye, had taken off his suit jacket and dress shirt to reveal his bare chest. His back was covered in some sort of gray chitinous armour.
After rattling a door handle, he approached the stage.
A cacophonous sound erupted, making everyone’s heads jerk towards the source. Insect Mask stumbled backwards from the stage.
The instruments were moving. Limbs had revealed themselves inside of the boxes, seemingly sprouting from the instruments themselves. Their skin had the same polished wood texture as the instruments and they moved in jerky motions. As the performance continued, the sounds began to tamper down and blend into harmonious music, the limbs seeming to become more flexible with time.
More of Maria’s puppets, it seemed, made to play for her in the place of regular musicians. What’s the point of this? She could afford any amount of staff she wanted, so why would she make this? Perhaps it was a way to express herself through Shaping, just like Nell sometimes did with the various gardens she made. I could respect that.
Charcoal Mask raised his voice to be heard over the music, “Can I have everyone’s attention please.” He spoke calmly and formally, as if this was truly just a fancy masked event. Most of the Wolves paid attention, but everyone had their head on a swivel, watching for where the Aberrant would emerge next.
“It would be beneficial for all of us if we shared any useful information on Maria or her pet. Our odds of survival stand to increase with proper knowledge. To demonstrate, I’ll point out that when the Wolf in the deer skull-” he gestured to me, “managed to make the creature fall and catch itself, I noticed a few important details.”
He raised a finger. It was black with hard edges to it, as if it too was made of charcoal. There was a distortion in the air around it, as if it was giving off intense heat. “One: it can turn off its ability to phase through solid objects. Otherwise it wouldn’t be able to catch itself when it fell, and more importantly, it would just phase straight through whatever floor it stood upon.”
A second finger joined the first. This one looked normal. “Two: It cannot phase through things immediately, except for its hands. The various objects it walked through took it a second to push into, as in there was resistance. Its hands were different, they were able to pass through a multitude of materials nearly instantaneously. If and when it shows up again, avoid the hands above all else.”
A Wolf with a theatre mask that had a red infinite symbol painted over the mouth area raised his hand. Nestled in his palm was a mouth which opened and spoke for him, “So? What good does that do us? We already knew it kills with a touch.”
“The more we know, the more equipped we are to fight back. I have a means-”
“Fuck off,” Insect Mask spat. “I heard the Witch. You worked for Organ. You’re probably in on this with her.”
He went and banged on the closest door. “You hear me, Witch?!” he shouted. “I’m not playing your fucking games. If you don’t release me this instant and prostate yourself in apology, I will carve I’m sorry onto your fucking heart!”
Four limbs unfolded from Insect Mask’s bare back. They had blades on the end like the arms of a praying mantis. They sliced into the door, not cutting deep enough to break through. The Wolf shouted incomprehensibly as he gouged the wood.
Chiara watched the tirade with clear discomfort.
A giant hand shot out from the door and its fingers wrapped around Insect Mask’s head. His body went stiff, twitching on the spot. Then the hand withdrew, taking the head with him. I caught a glimpse of the Wolf’s eyes within the darkness of the Aberrant’s curled fingers, wide with terror, frozen in time.
The body fell to the floor with a thud.
A moment later, the Aberrant emerged from the wall next to the door, its stretched face turning to scan the room.
Everyone started to crowd towards the side of the room furthest from it.
“Stand clear!” Charcoal Mask shouted, striding towards the nearest door.
He jerked something off of his hand and threw it at the door. An explosion ripped through the enclosed space and a fireball erupted, brightening everything for just a moment. Bits of metal and wood scattered across the polished floor.
The self-playing instruments fell silent.
The smoke dispersed enough to reveal that the door had been blown off its hinges.
Everyone immediately ran for the new exit. I followed behind, albeit much slower. Chiara matched my pace just ahead of me. Again, the Aberrant seemed content to watch us escape. I should have been relieved, but any out-of-place behaviour only made me more sick to my stomach. Something bad was going to happen.
I entered into the next room, which appeared to be a lounge of sorts, with hookahs and pipes placed on wheeled carts. Several doors were half ajar and most of the Wolves had moved on already.
Angler Fish Mask had seized Charcoal Mask by the lapels of his suit jacket.
“Why the fuck didn’t you just blow up the Aberrant instead!?”
Charcoal spoke dryly, “If I didn’t finish it off in one go, it would target me and I wouldn’t get another chance. Plus, for all we know there could be thirty more horrors just like it waiting in the wings for their turn. Maria is toying with us and I plan to take full advantage of that lax behaviour to find a more permanent solution. If you don’t release me, you won’t live to see it.”
Charcoal Mask held up his hand. There was a finger missing, the one that had looked like the same material as his mask, and now the next finger over was starting to turn black and angular.
Angler Fish released him roughly. “Prove to me you aren’t fucking with us. What did she promise you? What’s your reward?”
“It’s a long story, but to make it short, I’ve been hunting down a particular Aberrant for many years. It has the ability to alter the perception of time passing, to the point that the world slows and maybe even stops. I want it. Maria knows where it is. She’d dropped several clues in our past conversations, back when we were on speaking terms, before I left Organ.”
“Why did you leave?” Chiara asked.
Charcoal Mask adjusted his suit. “Personal reasons. I had a change of heart.”
“What, did you finally clue in that they were evil?” I asked sarcastically.
His head turned slowly to me and I felt the chill of his gaze on me, even though his mask had no visible eyeholes.
“I decided the pursuit of my art was more fulfilling.”
Angler Fish spat on the ground and frowned at Chiara and I. “You two are awfully calm.”
“We ate the meal,” Chiara said. “It was definitely drugged.”
He scoffed and turned away. “Idiots.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Charcoal Mask said. “The Aberrant isn’t actively targeting them. Plus the drug doesn’t seem to affect currently held Shapes.” He nodded to Chiara’s legs.
“They aren’t working as well as before,” Chiara said.
I had realized that as well. Even if Nell had left me with enhancements, I felt as weak as a normal person. It seemed there was an active component to any Shape.
“I noticed something before,” I said to Charcoal Mask. “The inner anatomy of the parts that the Aberrant phases through, they seem wrong. Like the insides have been rearranged, but the outside appearance stays the same.”
Charcoal Mask took that in. “Hmm. What do you think it means?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But what’s weirder is… well I didn’t get a good look, but I think there was a chair it passed through that looked organic on the inside.”
Chiara cocked her head. “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“If we could just examine a piece of a wall or door that it passed through…”
Angler Fish cut into the conversation, “It’s coming,” he said grimly. “I can hear it. We should keep moving.”
The four of us went through one of the doors and into a hallway, wide and gently curving to the right. Sleek machine parts rotated on pedestals spaced evenly down the hall. The outer wall was filtering in light through heavily distorted glass, seemingly quite thick.
Two Wolves were coming from the opposite end of the hall. One had a mask that looked like a hummingbird’s head with a serrated beak. “The door is locked and sturdy and the glass is tough, we couldn’t break through it.”
The other Wolf hefted a mallet-like limb as if to say, see?
Angler Fish turned to Charcoal Mask. “Want to try your bomb on the glass or the door?”
“Neither, currently.” Charcoal Mask held up his hand. The finger wasn’t entirely turned to charcoal yet. “It takes me a while to convert my body to explosives. Using half a finger could be a waste if it doesn’t break through and I don’t regenerate quickly.”
“Why don’t you just turn your whole body into explosives beforehand?” Angler Fish asked snidely.
“The explosions are impact triggered. It would end badly for me.”
The Hummingbird Wolf swore and pointed behind us. “It’s here!”
I turned. The Aberrant’s face was close, level with me as it stooped to fit through the doorway. Its empty eye sockets and toothless smile seemed to hold an intelligent malice.
Everyone turned and ran, following the curve of the hallway to where it ended in a locked door. The Aberrant’s footsteps followed us patiently.
“Dead end,” Mallet Wolf whispered.
Hummingbird Wolf spun around and charged the Aberrant. It spread its hands out to the sides, as if it was waiting to embrace an old friend.
At the last moment, the Wolf jumped to the side, landing on a pedestal’s edge and leaping past the Aberrant in one agile motion.
An arm snapped out, blindingly quick compared to its usual languid pace. The swipe caught the Hummingbird Wolf midair. They appeared to be fine until they landed and turned, the top half of their body rotating while the bottom stayed still. They fell into four separate pieces like a toy figurine.
The message was clear. This thing was only moving slow because it wanted to.
Charcoal Mask ripped off a finger and threw it at the door. The explosion was small, but I was closer and the shockwave threw me into Angler Fish, knocking us both to the floor.
My vision fuzzed and I heard Charcoal Mask curse through the ringing in my ears. The marble door had been damaged, marred by a large scorch mark, but it was still quite intact.
“Looks like we’re out of options,” Angler Fish said. He pushed down on me to get to his knees. Then he kept his hand where it was, intentionally holding me down. I met his eyes through the anglerfish’s needle-thin teeth.
“Sorry buddy, consider it an unlucky coincidence.”
His other hand moved to my neck. I struggled, but my strength didn’t match his. He hadn’t taken the drug. Then his hand began to burn my neck.
I yelled out in pain, writhing, trying to escape him, but he held on firmly, pinning me down.
“What are you doing?!” Chiara exclaimed.
“I’m making it out alive,” he said plainly as he watched the Aberrant step closer and closer.
My vision swam. The excruciating heat felt like it was sinking deep into my skin. Then, all at once, the pain it stopped, replaced by a prickling ache in the shape of his hand on my neck. He released me and I quickly scrambled to my feet.
A wave of nausea washed over me and I placed a hand on the door for balance. Then I looked up.
Everyone was staring at me. Charcoal Mask, Angler Fish, Mallet Wolf, Chiara, and the Aberrant. They were all looking at my neck. The Aberrant had stopped moving, except for its long toes that tested the air like spider legs.
Chiara took a step towards me. Her pupils were dilated to the extreme. I flinched and she seemed to realize what she was doing, stopping herself and shaking her head. “What is that?”
“A trap,” Angler Fish said. “Don’t touch it. No matter how much you want to. And you’ll really want to.”
He slowly backed away from me and towards the Aberrant. One cautious step at a time, he inched past it. When he was nearly out of reach on the other side, the Aberrant stirred. He threw himself to the floor, clearly terrified, but the Aberrant didn’t move towards him. It went towards me, hands outstretched to the mark on my neck.
“Sorry,” Angler Fish said as he stood up. He seemed truly apologetic, which stung even more. “You’re going to have to be the sacrifice so we can escape.”
Chiara looked at me. She hesitated, but her feet were already inching towards the other side of the hallway.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t do anything to stop it.”
Then she fled along with the other Wolves.
The Aberrant only had eyes for me.