Excerpt: Ever

From the first moment Evvie laid her eyes on Academy 13, she could sense its past. It was an old Gothic building tucked neatly away between a tall cliff and the darkest part of a vast forest. The entire vicinity was silent, as if time itself was frozen. Even the waves crashing against the cliff below and the wind she could feel across her face and see dancing through the leaves of the torch like trees did not dare to make a noise. There was no life here. No birds sang, no squirrels played. She was amongst trees, deep in a forest, yet there was no sign of any wildlife. It had been bright and sunny just moments before, but here … here there were clouds and a thick, mystic fog covering the ground. It mingled with the statues of weeping angels, gargoyles and dead gardens.

At the sight of these she remembered the advice of Captain Davis: “Don’t Blink. Don’t turn away. And Don’t blink.” She wished he would have come with her, for the very least, to keep an eye on the statues as she passed. She turned away from them, they wouldn’t touch her until she trespassed and she hadn’t even climbed over the gate. They were watching though, she could feel it.

The building itself had been decayed with age, yet stood strong and steady as if to say: “I can take years of existence, what makes you think you can survive my secrets?” This place was old and neglected, she could tell from the cracking paint and cobwebs hanging from every available spot. Mold decorated the areas free from the cobwebs. Vines covered half the house, snaking their way from one corner, across a few windows and up over the roof and steadily growing to over the whole house. She was reminded of old manor houses in fairy tales, the ones that were ancient and crumbing, the Beast’s Castle. Surely this is the house in all those tales. And it was – at least according to Damian.

The gargoyles extending off the ceiling watching her as Evvie walked up to the gate, threw her back pack over then climbed up and over it. By this time it was dark and she could barely see the the weeping angels through the fog and the night.