Spiral

Finally, it appeared they came to a dead end.

"Where is it?" Thort asked out loud, reaching about and touching every branch within sight.

Tubble moved forward with Peach still on his shoulders. Leaves scratched the top of her head and branches poked her in the side. Tubble thrust his hands between two unusual leaves of an orange color and when he pulled out he was holding a black vine. He yanked on it roughly and the brush and trees in front of them slid away to either side. Peach could see it was in fact a double sliding door painted exactly like the surrounding environment, practically in 3-D. Then, her eyes met what was facing them on the other side.

A large white tiger sat staring back at them in front of a low, darkened house. Even from where she sat on Tubble's shoulders, Peach could see there was something incredibly strange about its eyes. From over thirty feet away she could see they were glowing. The tiger stood up and walked towards them, keeping his horrible gaze on Peach the entire time.

"We need to see Roil," said Thort as if the tiger would understand him.

Peach could now better see what made the tiger's eyes so horrible. They were green with red blood vessels spreading out from thin black centers in undulating lines, like they were vibrating. Tubble held tightly to Peach's legs once she started pushing back in horror.

"Why do you bring a little child to me?" asked the tiger, ignoring Thort's demand. Peach was shocked to hear it talk. It had a man's voice, very gentle, but that only made him even more horrible. "Why do you keep her up so high?" he talked again, licking his lips.

"She is not for you, Spiral. Now once again, where is Roil?"

Still the tiger stared at Peach.

"Spiral, your master, where is he?"

Peach could not look away from his pulsating eyes, the blood vessels vibrating, the green glowing.

"Spiral!"