stopping right in front of the bars, and my heart drops.
Dr. Ophidian.
Everything is the same as before. White, slitted eyes, and black snakes hanging around his head, their bodies curling and coiling as they move. The only thing that’s different is the fact that he’s no longer wearing the slacks and button-up from before, and now has on some sort of thick black leather that hugs his muscular frame, leaving his dark brown wings free to flare out behind him.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Am I?
He places a hand on the bars, and a grayish light emits from his palm. It’s bright enough in this dim room that I’m forced to squeeze my eyes shut. When I blink them open again, a door in the cage wall has appeared that wasn’t there before, and he easily swings it open with a gritty squeak.
I suck in a shocked gasp of air as bewilderment rockets through me. What is going on? Why would I imagine this, and how do I wake up from it?
“Out,” he orders, his words accompanied with a snap of his fingers.
When I don’t immediately move, he narrows his eyes on me where I’m still huddled in the corner. “You won’t like it if I have to come in there to get you, Sable.”
I swallow hard and immediately get to my feet. I’m trying to tell myself that this is all somehow in my head, but I can’t help but feel like I’m walking into serious trouble as I follow the doctor’s instructions. He moves aside so I can pass through the doorway, and I chance a peek at one of the cages next to mine, but the green-skinned man appears to be sleeping, his form unmoving against the wall, and the other cage is still empty.
“Get onto the table.”
I snap my attention back to the doctor, noting that he’s already walked ahead of me. He’s standing in front of the fire, the orange glow of the burning logs highlighting his silhouette and making his features look even harsher. The flames reflect off the shiny skin of his snakes, creating an ominous visage and making him look like he’s standing in front of a hellish backdrop.
It’s only my steely mantra playing in my head on a loop that makes me walk toward him.
This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real.
“Sit.”
I make my way to the hard metal table and jump up on it, immediately feeling a strange semblance of normalcy. This is just a padded checkup bench in reality. He’s probably about to take my temperature and blood pressure. Nothing out of the ordinary aside from the fact that my mind is tormenting me into seeing this terrifying mirage. I just wish I could figure out why.
But maybe that’s just more evidence of my broken brain. I could never figure out why the flickers happened, so what makes me think that I can puzzle out this new development in my illness?
Dr. Ophidian looms over me, the sounds of his hissing snakes battling with the spitting fire. “Did you really think the Mortal Realm would keep you hidden from me?” he asks, irritation dripping from his tone.
I freeze, my eyes trained on his nose so that I don’t have to look into his creepy eyes. “Excuse me?”
Crack!
I don’t expect the hit. How could I? It’s as far from a normal reaction to a question as one can get. He hits me so hard that my head doesn’t just snap to the side—my entire body does. The left half of me crashes down onto the metal and wood table, and I don’t even have the chance to get up before his hand is suddenly wrapped around my throat, pinning me down as his other works to strap me to the table.
“Do not mistake me for a patient being. I am not,” he says quietly, his tone carrying an undercurrent of vicious intent as his long nails dig into the sensitive spots on my throat. Not enough to cut off my air supply, but enough to hurt. “I have been trying to get one of you, and now that I finally have, I won’t tolerate your games, your lies, or any more delays.”
He releases me, but I don’t move. I’m too confused and terrified. Instead, I watch him with wide, petrified eyes as he walks over to the wall where the hanging tools are and plucks one of them from its hook.
My earlier mantra dies in my head as a shocking reality starts to