Chapter 152: Foreshadowing (ii)

AYLA

There is blood on my hands.

I stare down at them, my fingers trembling violently as I try to wipe the blood away. It will not come off.

I rub my palms against my dress but the blood only seems to spread.

Up my wrists...between my fingers...under my nails.

My breathing becomes ragged.

"No."I shake my head."No, no, no..."

I stumble backward, stopping when I come up against something.

I turn around to see a mirror behind me with my reflection staring back at me. My hair is wild and my face is place.

My hands are covered in blood and I look terrified but my reflection...

She is smiling.

"Stop it!"

I slam my hands against the mirror.

"Who are you?"

My reflection’s lips moves but no sound comes out.

I lean closer.

"What do you want?"

Her lips move again and this time, I hear her.

"You know." she says.

I jerkbackward."No, I don’t."

Her smile only widens."But you do."

I scream and the mirror cracks right in the center.

But my reflection remains untouched, still smiling.

And suddenly I am lying in a bed.The room is dark and for a moment, I cannot understand where I am.

I feel around me with my hands, touching something sticky.

Just then a light blooms in the room and I see what I had touched. Red liquid... blood and in one hand, I am gripping a knife.

My breath catch in my throat as I look around me.

Ares lay to my left while Cassian lay to my right and Damon at the foot of the bed.

All of them with their throats split open by the knife in my hand.

I try to scream but nothing comes out of my mouth.

Ares’ eyes opens just then, he turns to his side, his neck still bleeding and looks at me with sad, green eyes.

"You killed us, Ayla" he gurgles

I shake my head violently.

"I would never... I would never..." The knife slips from my hand as I scream.

The scream tore me out of the dream and dumped me into the real world where I was bound to a chair and the pain at the base of my skull was a roaring ache.

I knew where I was before I opened my eyes.

Emberfall.

You do not forget the place that held you prisoner.

I opened my eyes to the same room I had been taken to when Lucius had had Amara take my memories from me.

I pulled against the ropes and they in turn dug further into my wrists, shooting pain up my arms.

I closed my eyes and tried to reach for my power but nothing happened.

Come on, I pleaded, panic crawling up my spine.

I clenched my fists and tried again but all I got was pain shooting through my head.

Why wasn’t it working?Had the power only appeared because I was desperate?Or had Lucius somehow found a way to take it from me?

The thought terrified me more than I wanted to admit.

Jus then I heard voices outside the door.

I froze.

"I want you to do the spell again." Lucius said.

I knew what spell he meant. My blood ran cold.

"Fine" Amara answered, "But you are yet to tell me when we would begin..."

"Not now, Amara. Not now." He cut her off in irritation. "I have promised you that you will have what you want, haven’t I?"

"And when is that, Lucius?" Amara asked. "The only reason I decided to help you was because I thought you had the same vision as I did."

I frowned.

What vision?

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lucius snapped.

"Nothing." Amara answered. "I will do the spell again. Try not to trigger another memory recovery this time, will you?"

I held my breath and closed my eyes, letting my body go limp as the door opened. I pretended I was unconscious.

"She is still out." Lucius sounded annoyed.

Amara’s voice was closer now. "Let me see her."

Footsteps approached me and I tensed slightly.

Her hand found my face, lifting an eyelid then her thumb pressed into my wrist and I felt her pause there.

She knows I am awake!

I waited for her to tell Lucius the truth but instead she said.

"She will wake soon," Amara said. "I can do it now, while she is between. It will work easier."

"Do it."

I felt the heat of a body and then lips brushed against my ear.

"I know you are awake." My heart nearly stopped but I kept my eyes shut. "I need you to listen to me very carefully. I want you to act like the spell I am about to do worked. Is that understood?"

I did not understand... not even remotely.

Why was she telling me this?What did she want?

"Now open your eyes slowly." she whispered.

I swallowed and obeyed, my eyes fluttering open.

Lucius stood a few feet away with his arms folded across his chest. He looked at me a long moment. Then he turned to Amara. "Go ahead and do it."

Amara began to chant just like before, white light poured out of her body and rushed toward me but unlike the last time where I had felt a violent pressure against my heart and lungs, I felt nothing, now.

The light surrounded me and then it died, just like that.

I stared at Amara who stared right back at me.

Her words for me to act like the spell had worked came to me again and so I closed my eyes and let my head fall to the side. I relaxed my body and forced my breathing to slow.

"Is it done?" Lucius asked.

"Yes," Amara answered.

I had no idea if I was doing it right. I just hoped I was.

There was a long silence before I heard footsteps approach me. Lucius slipped his hands beneath me after untying the ropes and lifted me from the chair.

I let my head fall against his shoulder and my arms hang as he walked out of the room.

He stopped walking after a moment and I heard a door open then he carried me inside and laid me down gently on a bed.

"I will stay until she wakes," Amara said. "To be absolutely sure we have her."

Lucius made a sound that might have been assent and might have been dismissal, and then his footsteps crossed the room.

The door opened and closed.

"You can open my eyes now." Amara said after a moment.

When I did, she was sitting in a chair beside the bed, watching me. I pushed myself upright.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

She looked at me for a long moment then she leaned forward

"I want to help you."