AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My voice was trapped, my muscles frozen. All I could do was watch, horror and revulsion washing over me in waves as the villain stepped back into my present.
Before my frozen muscles could respond, Maverick sprang into action. His powerful form coiled and released like a striking cobra, lunging at Ivan with a ferocity born of desperation. My heart leaped with a sudden, wild hope—
Only to plummet as Maverick slammed into the invisible barrier with a sickening thud.
The impact reverberated through the shop, and I winced as if I’d felt it myself.
Maverick stumbled backwards.
His face was a mask of bewilderment and fury.
The realization hit me like a physical blow: Ivan’s bubble wasn’t just for show.
It was an impenetrable shield conjured from thin air.
He’d grown more powerful, just as I’d feared.
A low chuckle began to build, growing into a full-throated laugh that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Ivan’s laughter—that awful, familiar sound—wormed its way into my ears, burrowing deep into my psyche.
Icy fingers of dread crawled up my spine.
I shuddered violently.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood rigid, my skin crawling as if trying to escape my body.
I wanted to clap my hands over my ears,
Shut out that terrible sound.
But I couldn’t move.
Ivan’s laughter echoed off the walls, growing louder, more manic.
It filled the shop, filled my head, until I thought I might shatter from the sheer malevolent glee of it.
In that moment, I realized with sickening clarity that our last hope of escape had just evaporated like mist in the sun.
We were trapped at the mercy of a madman with none to give.
“I should have known Tess would appropriate all my hard work the moment I disappeared for a few minutes,” he sneered, his voice dripping with condescension. “It doesn’t matter. I have better ideas anyway.”
“The circus,” I muttered, the word slipping out before I could stop it. It was as if a switch had flipped in my mind, a sudden, inexplicable clarity that made my heart race.
The moment he mentioned his ‘better ideas,’ I knew exactly what hemeant.
It wasn’t a vision but an intuition.
A deep-seated certainty that settled in my bones.
Ivan’s smirk grew, and he inclined his head slightly, acknowledging my realization. The bubble around him pulsed with a faint, eerie glow, illuminating strange shapes on the walls. “Ah, so you’re not as oblivious as I thought.” His tone was almost playful.
The cold air seemed to thicken, wrapping around us like a suffocating blanket. The faint smell of ink and antiseptic from the tattoo equipment mingled with the underlying essence of… something.
Was that fear?
The shop had almost become a haven of creativity and rebellion.
Now, once again, a cage—with Ivan holding the key.
