For Nevermore Season 1

to step from the redhead’s cell. He left the room, set the chainsaw on the ground, then closed the door behind him.
    Noella’s heart pounded as he turned toward her, approaching her door. She backed up, but just a few inches, as his face filled the slit in the door.
    “Who did you tell?”
    “Josie . . . and Sam, I told them both about the dreams and the house,” she lied. Getting to Josie and Jen would be easy enough for Randy, but also getting to Sam, that was another story. That would be much more difficult. And if he did decide to go after Josie and Sam, well, at least Jen would still be safe and would perhaps tell someone about her dream and lead to their rescue.
    “Did you tell them about me?”
    Noella wasn’t sure what to say. If she said yes, it could mean her safety, or her death. She had no way of knowing what Randy would do. Plus, he would probably be angry at her earlier insistence that she didn’t know it was him. Noella was already beginning to doubt her response.
    Maybe I shouldn’t have said Josie or Sam. Have I put them both in danger?
    “I told you,” Noella said, “I didn’t know it was you. I swear. That’s all I told them.”
    “You swear you’re telling the truth?” he snarled, “this time?”
    “I swear.”
    “You really shouldn’t have lied to me, Noella. It’s not nice to lie to your elders.”
    She bit her tongue, chewed her lip, and swallowed her response.
    “And once again, you’ve forced me to teach you a lesson.”
    Oh no.
    He stepped from her door and went back to the redhead’s chamber. Noella looked out her door, and cried, “No!” as Randy put his keys in the redhead’s door, opened it, then raised his pistol and fired twice.
    The first shot drew a muffled scream.
    The second silenced it forever.
    The redhead was dead.
    Noella screamed, then her anguish sent her hard to her knees, sobbing.
    Randy slammed the redhead’s door with a loud thud, then returned to Noella’s. “You lie again and your friend in the cell next to you will be getting the same thing. And Noella,” his voice went to a whisper, soft but still soaking in horror. “I’m not lying one lick when I say I’ll use the chainsaw next time. You ever hear the sound of a chainsaw killing a girl?”
    Randy turned from Noella’s door, then marched up the steps and out of the dungeon. Before leaving, he flicked off the lights, plunging Noella’s world into utter black.

    * * * *

CHAPTER THREE

    Dante opened his eyes to find himself bound in a straightjacket, trapped inside a padded cell at King’s Point Psychiatric Hospital.
    He’d delivered enough people here to know the room’s true purpose. The rooms were built in exact coordination with King’s Point castle on the other side. Whether you were here or there, you were inside a prison. These cells were built for Dante’s kind — travelers able to move between Earth and Gairn. It was the only way to hold them captive other than constantly drugging them.
    While Gairn wasn’t a duplicate of Earth, there were several spots in both worlds with harmonized alignment. Though the Elders in his world and their counterparts on Earth had harnessed the power of such spots, most of the locations on Gairn were behind the Dark Wall, where such travel was forbidden and punishable by death.
    Dante struggled with the jacket, agitated by his bound arms. He hated confined spaces and was already upset enough to find himself in a cell. The jacket was overkill, though he supposed a necessary precaution by his captors. His touch meant death, and he would use it the second he could.
    Dante looked up, then stared into the camera in the ceiling, assuming that William was watching. He glared at the camera, silent and scowling. The camera reminded him of the camera in the Queen’s cell. He expected the Queen to hold him prisoner, but not his own people. Did allegiance count for nothing these days?
    Minutes later, William entered his cell, pulling a chair into the padded room. William shut the door, placed the chair five feet in front of Dante, and then sat down. Dante could leap forward, knock William to the ground, and easily bite his neck. But that wouldn’t get him out of the cell any quicker, and William knew it. He obviously wasn’t concerned about the danger of proximity.
    “Why?” Dante asked.
    “I don’t expect you to believe me, Dante, but I did this for your protection.”
    “Oh, of course,” Dante said. “It all makes sense now.”
    William