Make Willing the Prey (Dreams by Streetlight) by Luna Lindsey Page B

end of the room.
    “Stairs!”  Jina ran toward them. 
She stopped abruptly, grabbing onto the banister to keep from falling into the
room below.
    The steps were missing.  Only a
hole remained, along with part of the railing.  A decaying gold and crystal
chandelier swayed gently over the emptiness.
    “Damn!” Jina hissed.
    Sandy let out a sigh as she stood
next to Jina and peered down.  She couldn’t see much in the room below, just
some debris.  The 10 foot ceilings in the house made it too far to safely jump.
    “So now what?  We go back?”
    “I’m starting to think these
rooms don’t always stay where we left them.  If we’ve found stairs, maybe we
should stay put for a while.  Maybe we can find a way down.”
    “What if S.A. comes back?  What
if bugs start crawling out of our ears?”
    “Something happened in that last
room, after you passed out.  I’m not certain, but S.A. might have a
weaknesses.  Let’s sit and think things through.  Do you have any snacks in
that oversized bag of yours?  I’m starving.”
    Jina pulled out an arsenal of
perfect munchies foods: Twinkies, potato chips, soda, and granola bars.  They
leaned up against the opposite wall, near the empty stair area.
    “I got a good look at him when I
was pinned to the wall with the webs.  I’m not entirely sure he’s... human.”
    “You mean he’s like a ghost?”
    “No.  More like, a devil?  A
demon?  He looked human, but... not.  It’s hard to explain.  Anyway, I
decided to close my eyes and pretend I was someplace else, like you do in the
doctor’s office.  Just when I started to calm down, I could tell he was in the
room.  But I pretended he wasn’t.  When I told myself it wasn’t real, S.A.
seemed… weaker somehow.  I think I made him, and our bonds, and the spiders,
all of it, disappear.”
    “You mean, like through
willpower?”
    “Yeah, something like that.”
    As she told her story, the ring
felt cold and heavy on her finger.  Sandy used the break in the conversation to
look down at it.  The gold was flaking off.  She helped it along by prying a
flake off.  Under the gilt was a dark metal, black, like wrought iron.  Even though
this might have freaked her out, she took comfort in it.  While it was a symbol
of her unwilling commitment to a monster, it somehow made her feel safe.
    “Hey.  We’re on the third floor. 
Why don’t you try your cellphone?”
    “Still no signal.  Not even up
here.  I’ve been checking.  We’re right in the middle of town, so I don’t
understand.  Sandy, are you seriously thinking this is all some kind of magic?”
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m
thinking.  Your hallucination theory just isn’t fitting any more.  You have
more experience with hallucinogens than I do.  What do you think?”
    “You’re right.  This isn’t like
psychotropics at all.  Ok what about hypnotism?”
    “Maybe.  I don’t know anything
about hypnotism.  It might as well be magic.  You’ve played a few video games. 
What do you know about magic?”
    “Hmm, well you have to have mana,
or some kind of energy.  Then you use a staff or wand to shoot lightening at
monsters.”
    “That’s not very helpful.  I was
hoping you’d know what kind of magic is stopped by someone trying hard to
believe it isn’t real.”
    “I have no idea.”
    “That’s ok, Jina.  We’ll figure
something out.  Hey, that door over there, it’s smaller than the others.  I’ll
bet it’s a closet.  Maybe we can find something useful.  Don’t worry, I’ll kill
any spiders I find.” 
    Sandy stood and threw open the
closet door and dug through the musty overcoats and rotting boxes.  A white
moth flew out from its previous home and lighted on the window, ruffling its
wings.
    She tossed out a baseball mitt,
plastic flowers, a box of Christmas tree decorations, and then found a
cardboard box containing some badminton gear.  Sandy flung the net into a pile
she mentally marked as