3- The Cabin and the Castle

Despite the threat of being surrounded, James couldn’t help but find himself staring at the woman’s face. To say she looked sad would be a massive understatement. Dolorous may be a more fitting term but even that word is too aged to be considered apt.

He had found himself wondering- albeit it was only a few thoughts within his racing mind- about what had made her appear so melancholic. Those thoughts soon disappeared as he saw from the corner of his eyes more figures crawling towards them. He spared one last glance at the grass-covered surface beneath them, where the portal had refused to appear, and turned to Leon.

“We can’t outrun them,” James said. “And you can’t fight them on your own. Can you?”

“Not likely.”

“What do we do?”

“Who said we need to run?” Leon smiled and pointed his wand upwards, James marveled as a cloud from the sky quickly floated down and condensed itself to a smaller version of itself, now drifting right in front of them both.

“No time to waste,” Leon said and grabbed James, throwing him onto the cloud and hopping up shortly after.

It was like James melted into the cloud, and the cloud was the softest bed he had ever known, it was so comforting that the figures who began sprinting towards him had been of no worry to him at all.

Nor was he peeved in even the slightest, when one of them had reached out a hand just inches away from the cloud, which nearly immediately sped into the sky. The hand held something, he only thought a little about it but it appeared to be something made of metal that resembled a cuff.

James heard Leon cackle in laughter and let out a small laugh of his own, forgetting about the failed attempts to leave or of the figures that hunted them. And now thinking of nothing, allowing his eyelids to grow heavier and the rest of his body to feel lighter. Even the magician's laughter became a distant noise as he drifted into sleep.

—

James…

Someone called out, not waking the man fully but drawing his attention.

James…

The voice called again. A woman spoke, an older one, he figured from the slight rasp in her voice and the tone that carried years of experience.

James…

It was the third time that made him wake up. The bed sheets fell from his chest as he sat up in a hurry.

“It’s about time you woke,” Leon said, smiling over his shoulder and pouring something into a cup. “Tea?” He asked and offered him the cup, handing it towards him and lightly shaking it as if that would lead to him accepting it.

“Where are we?” James asked, it was a room, one with a bed, which had bed sheets, and a kitchen, which apparently had tea. Along with a fridge, a nightstand, a stove, a door outside, and a window beside the door that showed the forest landscape that surrounded them.

“A cabin.” Leon shrugged his shoulders and brought the glass he held to his lips, the same one James was offered, which he didn’t exactly appreciate although he wasn’t going to take it anyway. “While we were in the air I saw it from above, it seemed like as good a place as any to head towards.”

“What about when they come for us again?” He asked.

“I doubt they will be able to find us, we flew quite far away, I was surprised we hadn’t gotten out of the forest. But it seems to go on forever.”

“I need to get back home.” James rubbed both of his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger.

“Yes, you’ve said that already. May I remind you I am trying my hardest, and most I’ve met would be very grateful for that alone.”

“We need to leave.” James planted both feet on the floor and began to head towards the door.

He heard Leon make some sort of urgent noise that echoed to the cup he was taking a sip from, and rush over in between him and the door.

“You are not real,” James said. “None of this is. I’m not dreaming either though since I just woke up and I don’t think you can dream within a dream with thsat same dream lasting much longer afterwards. It’s a psychosis. But there’s no history of that in my family. It can't be.”

“Not sure that’s how it works.” Leon held up a finger in protest.

“Unless it’s drug-induced.” James continued, ignoring Leon. “There were some weird people at the terminal last night, was it last night?” He had been pacing only a few steps back and forth in front of Leon.

“It likely wasn’t. You were asleep for three days.”

“Who could it have been? A woman reached into her purse I remember- what did you say?” He stopped his pacing and turned his head towards Leon.

“Seventy-two hours to be exact actually, You really should sleep more, I recommend periods of seven to eight hours once a night, it’s healthier I hear.”

“This isn’t real.”

“You know I’m beginning to think you don’t know any more words. How many times was it that you said that since we met?”

“Seventy-two hours.” He ignored the question.

“That’s right.”

The quiet that followed was the first chance Addison had gotten since being on the train to sit with his thoughts, it was as if they all came flooding into his mind at once.

He could feel his heart beating in his chest and himself becoming dizzy. James frantically looked around the room, as if something could provide a solution, or a distraction. And only found anything but solace. He was certain the perimeters of the room had shrunk, and his bed was no longer there. The kitchen itself was now reduced to a small counter, and oddly enough a mini fridge which James hadn’t bothered to look in, nor did he bother to explore how it was powered as he was sure there wasn’t any electricity in the house.

And when he looked closely enough, Addison would’ve sworn that the perimeters not only had once gotten smaller, but that they actively were. Suddenly he became acutely aware of the onsetting dizziness he began to experience.

“I can’t be in here.” He barreled past Leon, vaguely motioning him aside with a wave of his arm, before gripping and twisting the doorknob and sending the door open.

James stumbled out of the doorway and into the sunlight, he felt his dizziness disappear when greeted with the open space.

“If you didn’t like it I suppose I could have tried to change it,” Leon said, stepping outside behind him,” though I thought it was quite nice.”

“You didn’t see it?”

“Was it the bedsheets? It was all they had.”

“No it wasn’t the bedsheets!”

“Was it the tea that offended you then?”

James threw his hands up in the air and let them fall back to his sides.

“The walls were closing in on themselves.”

“Oh.” Leon nodded slowly, but a fair bit of concern was written across his face.

“I’m not crazy!” James still carried an elevated tone.

“Never said that. You’re just… confused is all.”

James shook his head and turned back towards the cabin.

“Leon? What is this?” He didn’t take his eyes off the sight in front of him. The cabin was no longer there, and instead what seemed to James to be a castle now took its place.

Stacks of limestone piled on top of each other, James reached out and felt the roughness beneath his fingertips.

“It’s an impressive piece of architecture. That’s what it is.” He heard Leon say, and couldn’t necessarily disagree with him.

Something about the castle struck James as familiar, though he couldn’t remember why. And as he thought harder and harder his attention was abruptly cut short by Leon grabbing the iron knocker and tapping it against the door.

“What are you doing!?” He whispered as loud as his vocal chords would allow.

“It is our home.” He said matter-of-factly.

“No it isn’t? The cabin wasn’t even our home let alone… this!” He waved his arms up and down like that would accurately capture the essence of the castle.

“You always sputter such nonsense.” Leon grabbed hold of the iron door handle and with an emphatic tug, pulled the heavy wooden door open.

A cool breeze greeted the two as they stared into the dimly lit castle.

“Good things don’t come to those who wait.” He stepped into the castle, and the door began to close behind him but James reacted without thought and hopped in before it closed.

“What are you doing?” James whispered and grabbed hold of the sleeve of Leon’s jacket.

“We are going to look around, then find out where we go from here.”

“What about whoever lives here”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine, we didn’t see anyone in the cabin either, did we?”

The room they entered was dimly lit, as the rest of the castle seemed to be. The only light was provided in small pockets afforded by the windows and what wasn’t reached by the sun was touched by the flickering flames of a torch mounted on the wall.

“We should go.” James still talked quietly despite no immediate reaction to their intrusion.

“I agree.” Leon chewed on his cheek for a moment, “This way?” He ventured off down a nearby corridor, one where the walls appeared only as tainted shades of orange and yellow due to the light provided by the flames. And the lit portions of the wall waved up and down and side to side as Leon hurried past them and James followed soon after.

“You’re going to get us killed.” James got in the way between Leon and further down the hall.

“That’s a bit of an overreaction. I already told you this was our place, it just… changed.”

“And homes just change all the time, right?”

“What hasn’t changed since you got here?” James had no time to respond- not that he could think of anything to say anyway- before Leon moved past him and down the corridor.

The hall ended soon after and led to a staircase, also made of stone, which James could see spiraling upwards.

Leon hopped onto the first step then pranced up the rest and James could hear the thud of his feet slam against the step, a deep breath filled his lungs shortly before following him up.

James hauled himself up with each step and the help of the wooden railing he held onto, but still found a hard time chasing after Leon.

“ Excuse me!” A woman leapt backwards and nearly fell before she collided with the two ascending men. “By what right do you have to be in my castle unannounced?” She stared at the two men in horror.

James had been much more startled than the lady in front of him but still tried to find any words he could, to no avail.

“Charles!” She turned her head over her shoulder and called out, and James’ palms began to sweat and chills went up his arms as he stared towards the darkness at the top of the stairwell.