Faerie by Jenna Grey Page A

along with Eminem, totally oblivious to the supernatural battle that was going on just feet from his door.
    Lily dragged the chain into the shower, and turned it on to its hottest setting, but at a trickle, hoping that it didn’t make too much noise. She used the lavatory brush to scrub as much of the filth from it as she could, using up a whole bottle of disinfectant on it. The water ran red, and not all of it was corroded iron – that anyone could do something that terrible to an innocent animal out of spite or to further some sick plan, she still couldn’t understand. She watched the bloody filth sliding down the drain until the water rain clear, then wrapped the chain in an old towel to dry it off. All she had to do now was to get it back to her room without being seen.
    She realised, of course that she would have to switch off the bathroom light again before she opened the door, and that prospect really didn’t please her very much. She cursed herself for not thinking to bring a torch with her, but that would probably have blown as well. She flicked off the switch and was plunged into sudden darkness, and for a moment even her fey eyes couldn’t adjust to the lack of light. She blinked away the white flashes of the strip light that ghosted in her eyes, and bent down, dragging the towel covered chain towards the door – then she remembered the discarded tarpaulin. She turned to retrieve it.
    Beneath it, something moved.
    It was a strange undulating movement... a wriggle... no, not a wriggle, a smooth glide, as if somehow the fabric was alive. She stepped back, a gurgle of fear escaping from her throat. Something was alive in there. She moved forwards cautiously and lifted the edge of the tarpaulin with the lavatory brush, peering underneath. From beneath the folds of fabric came a black slithering shape, writhing across the floor towards her. She leapt back, clamping her hands over her mouth to hold in a shriek and stumbled backwards, jumping up onto the toilet seat, and trying to back away from it. It reared its huge black head, the size of a large man’s fist, and hissed at her, its bead-green eyes, bright and looking straight at her. A fork tongue flicked out, tasting the air.
    You are never going home.
    Lily lashed out with her foot and caught it a blow under the chin. It reared backwards, the head seeming to disappear completely for a few moments before it reformed. Lily tried not to panic, but she had nothing to use as a weapon against this creature.
    What was she thinking? Of course she had something to use against it. She drew in her breath and launched herself from the seat, over and past the creature, to the towel covered chain. She landed in an awkward heap, banging her shoulder hard against the door, and yelping. The snake turned its head and pulled back, poised to strike, but Lily seized the cold metal of the chain in her hands, ignoring the searing pain, and used it like a whiplash on the creature, slicing right through its neck. The creature vanished in a cloud of dusty smoke, just disappeared, and she was left alone.
    Lily dropped the chain, holding up her hands and staring down at her palms. They were blistered and raw, as if she’d burnt them. She went and run them under the cold tap, fighting back the pain, and it gradually subsided. She was shaking violently, her teeth chattering. She threw the tarpaulin over the chain, and with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, she lifted it and carried it like a baby in her arms, scurrying back to her room, terrified beyond rational thought. She dumped her burden on the bed, sinking to her knees and sobbing.
    Lily took long minutes, finding enough strength to move, to collect her thoughts, just to fight her way out of that pit of terror she had suddenly found herself in. She was still shaking, her hands still excruciatingly painful, but she forced herself to ignore it and put the old tarpaulin into a dustbin bag, stowing it back under the