Flutter (The Discover Series) (65 page)

My
castle?

             
Then I stood frozen for an entirely different reason.

             
Were those footsteps I could hear approaching?

             
I strained, listening for the sound again, and this time voices followed.

             
“Spread out and find her,” the dark voice demanded. “She couldn’t have gone far and she won’t know how to destroy the illusion so it should be easy to confine her.”

             
I didn’t breathe. I had two options: I could stay here, and wait for them to find me, or I could get the hell out of here and try to figure out how to obliterate the illusion I was trapped in. I chose the latter, walking faster down the hallway.

             
The flame of the candle that I held in my hand quivered and flickered against the draft as I sped down the narrow passage. I didn’t have the option to slow down, holding my breath as I prayed that the light would hold out against the strain of the air.

             
I heard a noise behind me and I whipped around, expecting to see someone already there, closing in on me, but after lifting the flame to inspect the space behind me, I found no one. My body was buzzing out of control, I could barely breathe! I exhaled slowly when I realized no one was there, with one more quick sweep of the hall, I turned around, crashing into something hard and muscular.

             
Lifting the candle, I tried to catch a glimpse of my captor, but was surrounded in darkness instead.

             
They blew the flame out.

I went to scream, but a strong hand clamped over my mouth, forcing the shriek back down my throat.

             
My eyes were huge with fear as I tried to make out the face above me, but I could only see the outline of their head against the dark. I fought wildly, pushing at the arm that wrapped around my waist, thrusting us up against the hard wall, covering me with their body.

             
They bent down and whispered in my ear.

             
“Shh, they can sense you.”

             
Adan!
My mind screamed, realizing why my body had been spiraling out of control.

             
“The one and only spitfire.” He said, his lips brushing against the outline of my ear, causing a shiver to run through my body.  “Try to calm down. I can feel you everywhere, and that means so can they.”

             
Who are they?
Adan still had his hand over my mouth, so I thought my question.

             
“The
Dark Ones
.”

             
Awesome
. I thought more to myself than Adan.

             
“Nobody’s going to hurt you. I promise.” He growled fiercely.

             
How did you find me?

             
“I’ll always find you Sara.” His passionate declaration was a whispered caress down the side of my neck.

             
“I’m happy you’re here.” There was so much more I wanted to say, but I knew we didn’t have much time. “Do you know where
here
is?”

“They trapped you in an Illusion so they could ambush the house without having to worry about you stopping them. Andres showed me how to get into the illusion, but you have to destroy it so we can get back. He won’t be able to keep fighting them by himself.” He explained, his words coming out in a rush.

             
How do I destroy it?
I had no idea how I was going to do what Andres, and Adan, expected me to do.

             
“You can do this, baby girl. Now, let’s get out of here before they find us.” He removed his hand from my mouth, but didn’t let me go.

             
He was staring into my eyes and I tried not to think about how distractingly dazzling he was.

             
He smiled, and the action sparkled in the dark. “Right back at you.” He growled. “God, I missed you Sara.”

             
His mouth came down hard on mine, and the four days of being apart was swept away with the kiss. His mouth devoured mine. His lips touched, his tongue tasted, his teeth teased, and I was lost in the moment. His arm tightened around my waist, bringing me closer to him, until our bodies became a whole. I tightened my arms around his neck, trying to bring him even closer to me. I was hungry for his kiss, my desperation evident as I tried to inhale his essence.
He broke the contact, his face hovering over mine, as his breath came out in soft pants that washed over my face.

             
“That was a hell of a kiss spitfire.” He laughed when I blushed. “Are you trying to kill me?”

             
“Someone once said it was a hell of a way to go.”

             
He laughed. “Like a slow fire burning.”

             
“Like a slow fire burning.” I repeated.

             
“Ready?” He asked, and I nodded. “Let’s go.” He took my hand, his fingers slipping between mine as he pulled me down the hallway.

             
It took a few minutes, but when we finally broke free of the hallway we found ourselves in a huge, empty room. They certainly lacked imagination the farther we got into the illusion.

             
“Where to now?” I asked, looking up at him.

             
His was searching the room for an exit. “I don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be a way out of this room.”

             
I squeezed his hand and he looked down at me with a tight smile. Looking around the room, I tried to search the dark lining of the walls for a hidden door, but the room seemed to be one seamless, dead end. Andres’s words came back to me
“… you create them by a simple thought, an image…”

Taking a deep breath,
I fixated on one spot of the wall and wondered if I could… and instantly, a door appeared on the wall. I looked up at Adan excitedly. He yanked me to him, planting a quick, breathtaking, kiss on my smiling mouth.

             
“You’re amazing. Let’s go.” He tried to pull me toward the door I created, but I didn’t move. “What?” He asked as he looked back at me.

             
“I know I created it, but I don’t know where it leads to.”

             
“I’ll go first and check it out, okay?”

             
I shook my head. “No, that is
not
okay.”

             
“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.”

             
He pulled me in the direction of the door and we stopped in front of it and he gave it my hand one quick squeeze before letting it fall, his fingers brushing mine as my hand slipped away.

             
“Stay here,” he ordered.

             
As he walked closer to the door, he looked back at me once and winked, making my head spin, before opening the door. He looked into the room first, before stepping through the open door. A few minutes started to past, and when he still didn’t return, I started to panic. I twisted my fingers together anxiously, looking around the empty room. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I walked to the partially open door and looked around it, into the unknown room. It was dark, and I couldn’t see anything inside of the room. Creeping up closer, I wanted to call out Adan’s name, but I was afraid to give away his location if someone was inside the room. Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the room, and instantly collided into Adan.

             
I bit my lip to keep from screaming.

             
He put his finger over my lips to shush me. He flicked his head in the direction of the room and grabbed my hand, leading me further into the room. We didn’t make it more than a few feet into the room before felt rough hands grab me, snatching me away from Adan’s grasp.

             
“Adan!”

             
My scream ripped through the darkness, echoing off of the walls and floors loudly. I couldn’t see who was holding me, but I struggled against the iron grip, kicking and clawing at the arms surrounding my body.
I heard the empty hollowness of the voice as it floated around the room, twisting through the darkness.

             
“Tsk, tsk Sara.” He said. “It isn’t very polite to mess with my creation.”

             
“Well as it turns out I’m a far cry away of polite these days.” I stopped struggling against the iron grasp around me.

             
“I guess that’s what happens when your raised by a nobody.” I could feel the flicker of anger ignite the light within my. The heat rushed through me, until I could feel it burning around the edges of my body. “Such power,” He breathed in amazement, “and such a waste.” He followed with.

             
“What do you want?” I bit out through clenched teeth.

             
“You know what I want Sara. You know who you are now, you know the kind of strength you posses, and you know I want it. The answer to that question is really quite simple. If you even have to ask, I find myself disappointed in you.”

             
“You killed my parents,” I tried to keep the tremble from my voice, “why would I give you
anything.
”

             
“I guess playing the ‘because we’re family’ card is out of the question? Yeah I thought so.” He skipped on without waiting for my answer. “Well lets try this then: I have something else you want.”

             
My head snapped in the direction of Adan’s grunt, and the fire exploded, until my body was shaking.

             
“What are you doing?” I heard the man holding me ask in confusion.

             
“Let. Him. Go.” I warned deadly.

             
“I don’t see how you’re in any position to be
giving
me
orders. It’s a simple trade, your ability, for your prince charming.”

             
“Sara don’t-” Adan’s voice was cut off with another grunt.

             
“Stop it!” I screamed. “Stop hurting him.”

             
“You don’t have a lot of time Sara. The trade expires in 5… 4… 3 … 2” he continued to count down and I tried to stall.

             
“How do I know you’ll let him go?”

             
His shrill laughed touched every surface of the room. “If you can’t trust family, who can you trust, right? Enough stalling Sara, I can see you’re not going to come peacefully and really there isn’t much fun in the chase, if you’re pray, surrenders. Kill him. Bring her to me.”

             
“NO!” I screamed as I felt myself being carried away again.

             
“Sara!” I heard Adan shout, but he was hidden in the darkness and I couldn’t see him

“Destroy it Sara! Hurry!” Adan yelled before I heard silence.

             
“Adan!” I screamed again, but there was no answer.

             
I didn’t know how to destroy it, but I didn’t have a choice. I was being hauled across the room, but I needed to focus. Closing my eyes, I was surrounded by more darkness as I put all of my energy into the warmth that was growing inside of my hands. The heat was intense, more so than it had ever been before, but I ignored that fact and continued to build upon it.

             
It grew until I thought my hands were going to burst. All of a sudden, the room was filled with a blinding light.  Light wasn’t actually a strong enough word for the illumination that was exploding from my hands. I turned my head away from the force of the light, pushing the heat to its breaking point. The light strained and pulsated as it stretched further into the room, touching every corner and every crack. I could feel the exertion I was putting my body through, but I didn’t care. I pushed the light farther until it was glowing brightly from my hands, finally exploding, sending sparks in all directions.

             
I fell and was once again enveloped in a different kind of darkness. I lay there limply, breathing hard, and feeling exhausted. I opened my eyes and realized I was back in my bedroom.

I did it! I did it, Adan!
My mind panicked at his lack of response.
Where was Adan?!

An orange light glimmered over my head and I stretched my neck back, trying to see what it was. I gasped, flipping around onto my stomach as I watched the glow grow brighter.

My house was on fire.