“Is this what you wanted? Huh?” Caspian yelled at Dax, who was struggling to get up. He didn’t answer as he slowly got to his feet.
“Dax!” I yelled, trying to make it to him in time. His head snapped up, and he bared his teeth at Caspian and charged, bulldozing him. They tumbled to the ground, and Dax was on top, punching Caspian in the face. Something red flew up and landed in the snow.
Blood.
Caspian roared and hooked a leg over Dax and flipped him over, now on top. He delivered punches to Dax, just like what was done to him.
“Get off of him!” I shouted, picking up my pace. I tossed the lighter up in the air, catching the flaming staff as it fell. Caspian glanced up at me mid-punch, and his eyes widened. Dax took advantage and head-butted Caspian, making him yell out and clutch his face. Dax punched him in the chest, the connection creating a loud sound in the air. Caspian flew backward. Dax jumped up and jerked his hands up quickly, sharp, transparent objects raising with his motion. They were icicles.
Caspian got on his feet, and Dax threw his arms forward, the icicles flying at Caspian. He looked up and threw his arm in a circle, the icicles changing direction and flying back at Dax.
“No!” A scream escaped my mouth as Dax flew back, icicles pinning him to the ground. He let out a groan and flexed his arms to escape, making more blood drip down them from where the icicles were lodged. Two were in the middle of both arms, and two more in each thigh.
“Caspian, stop! Leave him alone!” I shouted as he walked toward Dax. He held an arm out, lifting Dax in the air without touching him.
“Meadow, don’t worry about me! You have to run now and get to safety!” Dax yelled, breathless.
“I’m not leaving you!” I yelled back, slowing as I got closer. I adjusted the staff in my hand and chucked it at Caspian. He just swiped his hand in the air, making it fly in another direction away from him. I let out a frustrated yell as I continued their way, clutching my arm again. Caspian’s arm shot out when I was almost there, and my body completely stopped moving.
I jerked forward, trying to continue, but I couldn’t move. “Caspian, let me go now!” I growled as I strained against the force. I felt weightless. I had no control over my body anymore. Caspian ignored me as he dropped his arm, slamming Dax back into the ground.
Dax started coughing, and he spit out blood, groaning when he saw it in the snow.
His lips were busted and swollen, just like his left eye. His breathing was haggard, and he lifted his head weakly, eyes darting around, panicked. When his eyes landed on me, they relaxed, but he winced in pain when he tried to move.
“Poor Dax,” Caspian tsked. “You know you did this to yourself, right? All you had to do was hand over Meadow. That’s it!” He scoffed, his smile widening and face implying that it was that easy.
“I would n-never betray m-my friends,” Dax panted, pausing to take a few breaths.
“Well, look where that got you. And look, I still got Meadow!” He cackled in Dax’s face like he just told the funniest joke.
“Caspian, stop it! Let him go!” I pleaded, not wanting Dax to be more hurt than he already was.
Caspian laughed. “Stop? Why would I do that? Not when I have such a lovely audience to witness the magic that’s about to happen.” His wicked eyes gleamed with mischief.
My panicked gaze flew to Dax, who wasn’t healing at all and had a look of defeat in his eyes. Caspian smiled, and I knew something terrible was about to happen. My heart wouldn’t stop beating quickly, and my eyes tingled, but I kept blinking rapidly. No tears.
“Meadow—” Dax started coughing before continuing. “Never g-give up. Never s-stop fighting. You are powerful.”
Something warm rolled down my cheeks. I was crying.
“I love you, Meadow, my dearest friend.” He smiled weakly, his bruised mouth making it hard for it to fully form the words.
“I love you too, Dax,” I whispered, my voice cracking. The need to kill overcame me, a sensation I’d never felt before. I wanted to destroy Caspian.
“Hm. That’s cute.” Those were the last words I heard from Caspian before my shrill screams filled the air. Caspian shoved his hand into Dax’s chest. A choking sound left his mouth. Blood bubbled at his lips, and Caspian snarled, yanking his hand upwards. The most sickening sound filled the air.
“No!” I sobbed, clawing at the air with one hand to try to make it to him, but I still couldn’t move.
Dax’s body went limp, his head rolled to the side as I stood there in shock. My eyes traveled to Caspian, who held something in his hand, blood dripping from it. I choked on a gasp when I realized what it was.
“Dax! Oh my god, Dax, no!” I cried out, and the hold against me was gone. I stumbled over to where he was, my injured arm limp at my side. I couldn’t stop the wails coming from my mouth as the image of Caspian holding Dax’s spine stained my mind.
I dropped to the ground, mumbling his name over and over as I brushed his hair from his bruised face. His body didn’t look out of sorts, but his back was limp, and there was a gaping hole that went down his entire chest, blood dripping from the sides.
22
I couldn’t breathe. His blood was on my hands, and I stared at them, breathless. I slowly looked up at Caspian, my mouth slightly agape.
“What did you do?” I whisper-screamed, my eyes murderous, tears rolling down my face. He smirked, and I looked down at my limp arm, the need to kill coming back to me. I breathed out, counted to three, and popped my arm back in place, pain igniting in my shoulder. It traveled to my chest, and I gasped from the pain, biting down hard on my lip, almost drawing blood.
“Come on, Meadow. I know you’re not crying over him. He was useless, anyway. It had to be done. Plus, I have some good news, I don’t have to kill you anymore!” Caspian spoke, validating my anger.
My head snapped up at his statement, and I narrowed my eyes. He had that annoying, cocky grin on his face and was wiping his bloody hands on his cloak. That’s it. I let out a yell and jumped up, charging after Caspian when he looked down for a second. I was surprised I was able to tackle him to the ground. I landed a punch to his face, ignoring the pain that sparked in my hand. I raged, drawing back to land another blow, but his hand shot up, stopping my fist.
“You’re a fool to think you can fight me.” He cackled in my face before throwing me backward.
I slid in the snow, throwing my arms out to stop myself. I jumped back up quickly, breathing heavily. My staff was in the snow next to my foot, flameless.
“Come with me willingly, Meadow. I don’t want to hurt you,” Caspian lied, holding his arms out.
“I would rather die than go with you,” I spit out, curling my hands into fists, wincing at the pain in my shoulder.
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re going to regret that.” He ran at me in a purple blur. My eyes couldn’t keep up, and I was slammed back into the ground with a grunt. My hand wrapped around my staff as his hand wrapped around my throat, constricting my airflow.
“You are weak. I don’t care what your story is, your reason for being the way you are. You came out a weak man.” I sneered in his face. The heat from the staff traveled through my veins like before, and the pressure built. The pain I was feeling was gone.
His eyes darkened in anger, and then glowed vibrantly violet. He raised his arm, the hand curled into a claw. He bared his teeth, and my breathing quickened. I jerked my arm back and shoved my staff into his side, and flames ignited, engulfing him immediately. He yelled, clawing at his face. The pressure filled my chest and my head as I stood, fear altogether leaving me. My body tingled, and a blue light started glowing from my chest. The blue light grew, and the pressure released, my scream echoing as the light shot out of my necklace, straight into Caspian.
He fell to the ground, unmoving, and the pressure was gone.
I touched my necklace, in awe at the power it wielded. Augustus wasn’t lying about protecting me. I walked gingerly toward Caspian and
stood next to his body, hesitant to touch him. Taking in a deep breath, I grabbed his shoulder and turned him over, jumping back slightly when his arm swung to the side, landing in the snow. His face was streaked with black lines, his mouth parted a little bit. I hope he’s dead.
Where was my team? Why didn’t they come and help Dax and me?
Dax.
I glanced at his body and forced myself not to break down and cry. I couldn’t. There was a huge weight on my chest that made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. The snow around his body was red, and I had to tear my eyes away from him to focus on what I needed to do. I had to find my team. That was what he would’ve wanted me to do.
At that moment, I had no idea where they were or even where they were going. I only knew I had to follow the yellow path.
Clearing my mind, I walked over to where my pack was still hiding. Dusting the snow off revealed the rest of my pack, and I slung it onto my back. I needed to get to the top of the mountain and get my memories back. Hopefully, by following the yellow path, I would be able to find the others.
I retraced the steps I took with Dax and trudged through the snow, looking for the path. The wind picked up, and I wrapped my arms around my middle, ducking my head to avoid the snow that kept flying into my face. I peeked up a few times to see if I would be able to spot anyone, but I couldn’t. Just piles and piles of white snow, blanketing the entire mountain.
The snow was thickening my lashes, making it harder to see in front of me. As I continued to walk, I passed chunks of ice that had an interesting blue hue to them. More appeared the longer I walked, and my eyebrows scrunched together, trying to figure out where the ice came from. Some of the ice didn’t even look normal. The chunks were getting bigger as I continued on, and it started to make me a little cautious.
One big chunk stood directly in my path, and I walked up to it, my curiosity piqued. I slid a finger over the ice and looked at it. There was no water on it. Odd. I slid my hand over it harder and gasped, yanking my hand back, hissing from the sharp pain. My palm had a little burn on it, the red spot throbbing painfully.
“What is this?” I questioned out loud, walking around the chunk. It didn’t melt when I touched it, but it burned me. I glanced around again at the chunks, and realization dawned on me. I remembered the fight at the building Caspian owned and how the vampires were stabbed with Jestraetrium and broken into pieces. These were dead vampires.
My heart began racing, and I became more aware of my surroundings so I wouldn’t be caught off guard. Dmitri did say something about Caspian bringing a small army with Victor. But that was a maybe. I didn’t think it was a high probability.
Now it made sense as to why they couldn’t get to Dax and me. They had been preoccupied with fighting a vampire army. It also meant that they couldn’t be that far from where I was. I continued walking and kept my head down, making sure to glance around a few times until I saw something blinking a few feet ahead of me. It was the yellow path I needed to take. I ran to it just in time to see it disappear, meaning something else was about to happen.
Did something happen the last time the path disappeared? I was so preoccupied with Caspian, I didn’t keep track. The sky was darkening, which meant I had an hour or less before it was completely dark. Finding my team was my number one priority, but finding shelter was a close second. I didn’t want to be left alone out here in the dark.
I stepped on the yellow path, a little hopeful about finding my team promptly. As I walked, the wind picked up so much, it pushed me off balance, and I stumbled on the uneven ground. The heavy pack on my back yanked me down, and I coughed from the force, curling in a ball so that the snowstorm didn’t pull me away. The storm yanked and pulled at me, but thankfully my pack was so heavy, it held me in place.
Many minutes passed, and I thought I would be curled up in that ball forever. But the storm finally died down, and I peeked up from my arm to see that all of the snow was gone.
Ice replaced the snow. My mouth opened slowly as I got up. Something dark moved under the part of ice I was standing on, and I yelped, hopping out of the way. What was that? It looked huge, and I wasn’t a fan.
My heart pounded as I took everything in. I hopped again lightly and tried to calm myself. It looked like I was standing on a vast ocean, completely iced over, with a thick yellow streak going down the middle. Gingerly, I followed the path. It wasn’t as freezing as it was before, just a little chilly, but it didn’t seem cold enough for all of this water to be iced over like this. I kept glancing down to keep a lookout for movement under the ice, but I didn’t see anything anymore.
Nothing else was around me except ice. How was I going to find shelter if there was literally no place to hide or even sit? It was almost completely dark, and soon I wouldn’t be able to see a thing. Wind started blowing, and it got stronger. White particles, snow, swirled in the air in front of me, making it hard for me to see. I officially hated snow.
I put my arm in front of my face to block the wind and squinted a little over it when I happened to see movement ahead of me. I walked faster to get a clearer view, and when the wind completely stopped, I stopped as well, gasping. Dmitri and the others were a good distance away, but I could still make out that it was them, standing on a snowy bank. They looked like they were arguing about something.
“Dmitri! Axel! Rita!” I yelled, and they all whipped around. It was actually them. I waved my arms in the air and started running their way. Relief spread through me as I ran. Now I wasn’t going to have to worry about surviving the night on my own.
I ran, slipping as I went, trying my best not to fall. The closer I got, the more I realized they didn’t look happy, and their waves were frantic. It sounded like they were yelling something, but I couldn’t hear them because I still wasn’t close enough.
“What?” I yelled out, hoping they would hear me with their great hearing and realize that I couldn’t hear them. I slowed to a jog when their waves became more frantic and tried to figure out what they were saying.
“Stop!”
I heard a faint shout, and I completely stopped, but it was too late. A loud crack filled the air, and I looked down, panic setting in. A large crack in the ice stretched from where I was standing to their position on the bank.
“Meadow! Don’t move!” Dmitri yelled, eyes darting around my feet. “I’m going to try and find a way to get you to safety!”
“Please hurry!” I gasped when something dark swam underneath my feet. “Dmitri! There’s something swimming right under me!”
“I know! I see it! Try to stay calm for me, and whatever you do, don’t move!”
I nodded, afraid to make any sudden movements. Easier said than done. I was standing in the middle of ice with a possible giant sea creature swimming underneath my feet. This was not a calming setting. Dmitri paced on the edge of the snowy bank, eyes trained on my feet.
He stopped and tilted his head, eyes traveling up to my face. “Toss your pack to the side to lighten the load!” He yelled, pointing at it.
I grabbed the shoulder straps, looking at them. “But what if it doesn’t work? Why can’t you just come to get me?” I asked with a shrill.
He sighed and scratched his head. “I can’t. There’s a barrier that won’t let me through!” he answered, his voice echoing over the ice.
That made me panic even more, and I was about to take my pack off but stopped when I saw that any movement made it worse. The ice cracked more, fracturing around and under me. I looked at Dmitri with wide eyes. “Dmitri,” I whispered, and there was a hushed silence.
Then I dropped.
23
The water was bone-chilling cold. I thrashed around, trying to swim up, but my pack weighed me down. Yanking the straps off, I let go of the dead weight and fought my way to the surface, my lungs burning. My air was almost gone, and I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I gave my legs a final thrust, and I broke the surface, immediately inhaling and treading water.
“
Dmitri!” I screamed, blinking the water out of my eyes.
“Keep treading, Meadow! Try to swim to me!” he yelled, gesturing at me from the snowy bank.
“I can’t! The ice is in my way!” Around the gap where I fell was a large chunk of ice that wouldn’t budge and kept me trapped in the small hole.
“You have to try, Meadow!”
I tried to move the ice out of my path. It was denser than I thought, thus making it even harder. I even tried to climb on the ice, but it crumbled under my weight. I had to stop and tread so that I wouldn’t sink. As I tried to catch my breath and not think about my tiring muscles, something moved under my feet.
“What was that?” I shouted, kicking my feet. “Dmitri, I think something is in the water with me!” I yelled, breathing heavily.
He looked as if he was trying to stay calm, but his eyes were panicked, and his pacing didn’t help. “Get on one of the ice blocks now!” Dmitri shouted, his hands on his knees as his eyes darted around me.
I scrambled to get on one, but I was suddenly yanked down. I had no time to inhale for more air, so my chest burned as I ran out of air and I continued thrashing, trying to get away from whatever was dragging me down. The yanking suddenly ceased, and I hurriedly tried to swim back to the top, eyes trained on the hole in the ice, a little light shining around it.
I was almost there when I was yanked back down even further away from the hole, igniting more panic inside me. I kicked and thrashed, hit something hard, and swam toward the hole again. I stretched my arms to grab the sides of the gaping hole when a dark object swung in my view, and before I could dodge, it smashed into me. Pain spread through my head and face, black spots dancing in my vision. Water went in my nose and mouth, filling up my lungs. My last thought as I lost consciousness was that I had failed.
Souls Page 19