Unwound (16 page)

cave and stepped cautiously inside.

In the distance I could hear something oddly familiar sound

that would strike a paralyzing fear in me. I leaned a little further in and listened as hard as I could until I was finally able to

identify the sound.

It was her and she was humming her song in a soft, mocking

tone. The net started to sway to the humming and the seam

rippers suddenly turned into small buzzsaws, spinning and

whirring ferociously like my insides when I became angry.

I didn't know how far the net extended but I knew that I could

get past it if I took the time to analyze it for a moment and that's when it hit me. Edison had told me to analyze a situation rather

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than go into it headstrong.

I took a few steps back and ran toward the net as fast as I

could and leapt as far as I ever had before in my existence. The

net had been small and obviously fashioned to scare me away

from the cave.

I landed on the other side and turned to look at the net just in

time to watch it catch fire and wither away to ashes, just as I

would if I didn't get to the book soon enough.

One thing I did notice almost immediately was that the

humming stopped as soon as I had watched the net disappear into

ashes.

I walked out of the other side of the cave and saw more of the

mountain to climb.

As I climbed, I heard something moving above me. I stopped

and squinted above me and saw a group of beautiful female

creatures smiling down at me.

They beckoned to me to come toward them as they sat on

either side of the mountain, telling me they would help me climb

higher. The closer I got the closer I realized they had no clothes on and were absolutely exquisite.

I felt myself becoming ensnared by their smiles and amazing

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voices calling me by my number telling me that I had almost

reached them.

Winter's voice came to me.

"London will try to distract you with beautiful things Caelum, don't let her."

Caelum. These things were calling me three two five seven

and my name is Caelum.

I walked toward their outstretched hands and started to make

my way around each of them careful not to make eye contact; I

refused to let them put their hands on me or look into my eyes. I

wouldn't let them get a hold of me and I wouldn't let them distract me in anyway.

After I had made my way past them, I heard them let out a

collective shrieking noise and heard small explosions behind me.

That was their trick.

They were made of bomb parts and had I stopped they

would've blown me to pieces.

I silently thanked Winter as I continued to climb.

Three quarters of the way up I was faced with a mirror. A

giant mirror that reflected me not as I looked as I gazed into it but 164

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as broken, worn down monster. I saw the angry centipede scars

on my body and I saw myself without Jared's eye in place of my

hole, I saw the gashes in my face and the wheels spinning lazily

about in my face.

I looked at my arm and saw my number still etched into my

skin. I saw myself as the fragile, fearful being that had just

escaped from London, not the strong, somewhat fearless being I

had become. My reflection quickly changed into London with her

hand over her mouth laughing wickedly at me with her wild eyes.

She pointed at me and mocked my appearance telling me that

no matter what I would do to myself I would always just be a

shell of other humans and clock pieces.

I became so angry that I put my fist through the mirror as I

had with the tree that Edison had asked me to take down in one

swift hit.

"Up here, Caelum!" came London's mocking tone.

I looked up and saw that she had been sitting on top of the

mountain the entire time. I now understood why all the obstacles

and why all the taunting on the way up.

I was becoming what Winter had asked me to be.

In a rage I ran as swiftly as I could the rest of the way up the

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mountain. When I reached the top London giggled and ran to the

other edge of the mountain.

"Catch me if you can," she said as she leapt over the side.

I ran over just in time to see her land safely in the arms of

someone who seemed to be cradling her like an infant. She was

gazing lovingly into their face as they set her down and put an

arm around her shoulder, whispering something into her ear.

Then that person turned to face me.

I woke up completely shocked.

I couldn't believe such a thing could be true but everything

else in my dream had been things I had dreamt of.

I stood from the floor of the cave and looked peeked out.

Winter, Jett, and Cassara where sitting by the ice pool with their bare legs dangling inside talking to each other.

But I knew it was time.

I knew I was ready.

I would escape one last time and make my way to London to

face the horrible truth.

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Thirteen

I realized as I made my way through the winding city into

outskirts of town that they had let me sleep the remaining months

I had left before I had to face my fate. I had a new resolve now

since I had seen in my dreams what I never thought would be

possible.

I was going to get my revenge and I was going to make sure

that everyone involved in the creation of any of us would see the

same fate as London.

As I waited at a crosswalk, I mentally made a list. There was

Winter, Jett, Cassara, one named Xandy, and me. Winter, Jett,

and Cassara I didn't have to worry about but the silent girl with

the white hair who would not speak when spoken too would

probably be a challenge. London wouldn't have let her in one

piece unless she would serve some kind of purpose to her twisted

mission.

As the light changed colors, I knew that one thing I wanted

more than anything else was for London to tell me why, even

though I knew she never would. There were many things I

wanted to know now after that dream and now it wasn't just from

her but before I passed judgment I had to be sure that the other

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one had been involved from the beginning.

For now I wouldn't think of that until it was time to face them

both, if the other would even be there.

Of course they'll be there, why wouldn't they?

I stopped walking and realized that for the first time in almost

a year I was hearing borrowed thoughts again. Why had this come

back to me so suddenly? Why now? I had to block it out or it

would surely be the end of me so I chose not to respond.

The city blocks seemed to disappear in no time and I found

myself crossing the park where I had met Finnegan. My first real

glimpse at life outside of the mansion of torture and despair that London had kept me imprisoned in.

I knew it wouldn't take long to get there which was good

because for the first time in a long time, I could feel myself

starting to slow down. I wouldn't be able to use speed against her, I would have to use wits and hope that would be enough.

After another thirty minutes or so I saw it looming like an

amusement park haunted house in the distance. The sun was

going down by now and all I could see was the outline of her

mansion. It looked so ominous in the dusk but not as ominous as

the true evils hidden inside.

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From my dream I wondered what darker secrets were

harbored there? What madness could possibly grow inside a being

so desolate and despaired that they could bring themselves to do

such things?

I passed the iron fence that London's mania had erected in one

night and I stood at the end of the cobblestone driveway letting

my eyes travel up to the window that had been reboarded and

held me captive for most of my existence. As I stood there the

torture came back to me as if someone had reopened a flood gate

and I was being washed in the sea of torment and pain all over

again.

Any doubts I might have secretly had of letting her live were

now gone as I, for a brief moment, relived the tortures I had gone through.

I made my way quickly across the property. I had so much

determination and hatred boiling over inside of me that I honestly feared for London but that wouldn’t deter me. I wanted my

revenge and I was hell bent on getting it.

I thought of poor Jared every time my eyes opened.

I thought of Winter and the scars on her neck from London’s

experiments.

I thought of Morrison’s burned down factory and how she had

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lost everything in that fire.

I thought of how I had lost the friendship of Edison and

somehow I knew it had something to do with London.

I reached the front doors in no time. Closing my eyes for a

moment, I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the

doorknob. Deep within me I could hear the whirring begin to

speed up. Edison had given me a huge advantage by making me

faster and wiring me. Edison, I thought gritting my teeth. For him at least I would kill London and get revenge for one of my fallen

or missing friends and even though I loved Winter, I knew I cared

more for Edison than I did for her.

With anger surging me inside of me, I shoved the doors open

and stepped inside. The smell of death and discarded scrap metal

was so strong. I hadn’t noticed it before because I was born into

this. Since I had been away for a full year it was almost

overwhelming to me now. Placing a hand over my nose and

mouth, I quickly made my way down the hall that led to the stone

staircase where London’s main workroom was hidden.

Even as I made my way down the stairs, and even though I

had trained myself not to feel it anymore, a small amount of fear

started to creep into me. London was a vicious animal with no

regard for life of any kind, human, animal, or machine alike. The

first moment I showed any sign of weakness, she would take full

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advantage and pull me apart. But that didn’t stop me from

pushing the door open to her workroom and as she sat in her chair

with only the fire heating up her melting pot illuminating the

room, I used the large metal rod to lock us into this room.

It took her a few moments to notice my presence and as soon

as she did she came rushing at me with her favorite instrument of

torture; her seam ripper.

I steeled myself as she came at me in a blind rage, I’d have to

stop her before she could dig that into my flesh and try to tear me apart so for now I’d have to be on the defense. But to my surprise London ran past me and started clawing at the wall. I watched as

the ripper shattered into pieces at the ferocity in which she clawed at the wall and I watched as her hands started to bleed at the

constant pounding she did with her fists against it.

“One, one, one, one! I am no one!,” she screamed as she

furiously beat the wall.

I felt pity for her which is not something I would’ve expected

and cautiously approached her. I hated her and she deserved to

die but not by her own hand. I put my hand on her back to get her

attention and she started laughing and crying at the same time.

“Three two five seven has come home! How delightful! Did

you miss your Mother?” she asked with her back to me as she

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continued to beat the wall.

“You’re bleeding London,” I said quietly as I pulled her

gently away from the wall.

“Are you jealous?” she asked finally turning to face me with a

vicious, dazed look. “My little boy always wanted to bleed.

Always, always. I will never give you blood. Do you know why?

Because I know how much you want to bleed. I won’t give you

the satisfaction,” she said giggling and placing a blood soaked

hand over her mouth. “My little boy wants to bleed,” she said

again.

I had to push her words out of my head because I wanted to

patch her hands before I took her life. I wanted the right to watch her life slip away and not because she did it to herself, she

wouldn’t rob me of this; I refused to let her. As soon as I got her back to the chair she had been sitting in when I locked us in, her hands moved quickly. I felt a sharp pain in my side and looked

down. She shoved a rotary cutter so deep inside of me that only

the handle was showing. I looked into her eyes, which for the first time seemed to focus on me, and I saw the evil smile she would

give me when she was going to torture me.

I fell to my knees as the whirring inside of me started to give

way to ticking again. With a startling revelation I realized that

Edison had lied to me. He hadn’t taken all of the parts out of that 172

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she had put in, he only wired me to not hear them anymore and

London had just severed the wires.

She ran her hands over my hair, one hand still on the handle

of her weapon, “Shhhh. Don’t cry out too loudly, you’ll disturb

him.”

Who was it that I was disturbing in my agony? Who was it