They’re not dead, though, just stuck together. I walk over to get my scarf. I yank the glass out of his chest. I then stab underneath both of his nipples as he vanishes into rainbow mist. I slice the shifter’s neck as he too melts into a gold mist. My hands are bleeding, but I’m confused by the pain and the adrenaline rush I’m experiencing.
An alarm breaches around me, I don’t know where it comes from. I glance down at the cuts on my palm from the glass. They fade away, healing themselves quickly. My markings light up the shadows.
Seventeen seconds. They’re on their way.
Great. I run toward the room, but suddenly I hear running in my direction. Glowing in the darkness are green and blue swirly markings. Jumping out of the shadows is a mermaid who lands on top of me. She grabs my neck, choking me, and then the elf holds on to my hair.
Ten seconds, Eliza. Get to the soul room.
I move my fingers, trying to loosen the mood ring; it slides down my finger until it falls onto the ground. My eyes freeze and my markings burn against me. I stop panicking to look up at the mermaid, she can tell that I am not myself, so she immediately pushes me against a wall.
I don’t flinch and I don’t make a sound, I’m out for blood—mermaid blood. I smirk, bringing my hands up to her shoulders, head-butting her as she falls to the ground. The elf flips toward me, wrapping his cold fingers around my neck.
Three seconds.
Prying the elf’s hands off my neck, I can hear his bones crack from my tightened grip. His pain reveals itself across the hardened face in front of me, while he grunts in distress. I take his neck, forcing him down to my height. I then backhand his face, grab his neck, and proceed with a cartwheel. I chuck the elf back into the shadows, watching him fly a distance away from me.
Time’s up.
I wipe my clothes and crack my neck. I open the white door, as a gust pulls me in. I look at my mood ring on the ground. The alarm pinches inside of my ears. I lose focus as the door closes shut tight.
Chapter 5
I am on the floor and both of my palms are faced down. It’s dark and I feel shadows walking around me and, well, I’m trying to keep my composure, but it’s hard to fight against her. The corrupt elf inside me is ready to burst out, there’s no keeping her hostage anymore.
My breathing becomes shaky, and the air in here is suffocating.
I’m cold and dizzy. Immediately a loud sound dings in my head, sort of like a dog whistle. Its high pressurized sound rings against my skull, like sharp nails scraping against a dry chalkboard and people chewing with their mouths open. I lie on my side; the pain is agonizing.
I pick up voices from the spirits inside this room, they’re telling me to kill myself. That I’m worthless. I don’t how anyone could get through this. I feel the shadows pressing against my chest, I feel the thick air around my neck and down my throat. I start to crawl in the midst of darkness, searching for help. I am then pushed by a force against a wall. The grip around my neck tightens, my heart beats harder than it has ever before.
Eliza, if you can hear me, you must fight back. Use your instinct. Along the walls there’s a secret door…I am outside waiting.
Jared’s voice was only a slight whisper among the rest of the raging cries and screams that I hear. The grip around my neck loosens as I am dropped to the floor. I land on my side, coughing and struggling to breathe. I feel around the surface beneath me in the hope of finding a weapon or something to fight back.
I close my mouth and let my eyes drop so I am trapped in darkness. I can see the outlines of shadows moving with purple glowing eyes, I see the sharp teeth of the corrupt mystics that were trapped in this room, their souls left behind.
One soul rushes toward me, and with my eyes still closed, I roll to my side, avoiding the attack. Their voices grow louder. Lifting myself up, I brace for the next attack. I calmly walk toward the middle of the room.
A soul approaches me from behind. I immediately duck, and swipe my hand in the air, slicing right through its shadow.
I breathe harshly, overwhelmed by the many attempts to attack me and dodging. I usually can sense when something is about to happen to me, but I miss the large soul tackling me against a wall. My eyes squint together, and I tilt my head to the right. Below me is a glowing light.
The large soul tightens its grip, forcing me to choke as it lifts me up. I feel for a button or a device on the wall, but there is nothing. I am losing oxygen, a tear drops down along my cheek. I try to scream but my throat is scarred by the burning grip. I open my eyes, but there’s nothing but pitch black. The light vanishes. I am losing focus.
I know this is my last chance of getting out of here alive. This is my chance to leave this place, never to return. I know that if I can’t focus, nothing will happen. I need to retain the instinct within me and not lose it. I close my eyes; my hands are glued down by several other souls. Their purple devilish eyes glare up at me, their white sharp teeth bite at me. I can hear myself struggling to breathe, wheezing. I kick at the bottom of the wall.
Brightness flashes throughout the room, the voices scream, and the soul that holds my neck releases me. The light breaks through many cracks of the wall behind me. I kick once, harder, this time. The light explodes through, and the voices in my head become silent. I kick once more, and I am pulled through the hole I made with the same exact force entering here.
I land on dry, brittle grass, the smell of Ravamere’s burning scent traveling through my nose. I spread my fingers out, sticking them into the dirt. I’m still alive. I cough and cough until I can breathe normally again. Turning around, I see the gray brick wall I was pushed through. Not a single brick was present, it must’ve been some sort of portal out.
I feel someone walking toward me slowly. I have yet to turn around. What if it was Marcus, my father, forcing me back into his mansion? He’d want me to drink that pure blood to get back his ring. I cover my mouth, shocked to know that I dropped my ring outside the white door’s entrance. I bite my bottom lip. I have get back inside.
“I’d say you did well. Better than my first time.”
The same rusty deep voice that rung in my head was behind me. It was similar to Jared’s, but not quite. I’m not sure if it is him or not until the person places his hand on my shoulder. I turn around swiftly to give him a jab straight to the chin.
The guy blocks it calmly, comfortably holding my wrist. Light blue eyes stared at me. His white hair was tousled up into a fashionable pompadour. His beard and mustache were trimmed and seemed to be maintained well. He wore gray clothing, his top a plain shirt and his shorts with holes in them. Around his neck was a silver necklace with the letter “J” in the middle, dangling in front of his chest.
“Is that any way to look at your brother? You seem disgusted, and I’ve seen many disgusting things in your room.”
“Jared, you’re a guy.”
“Last time I checked.” He looks down at his crotch. “I was.” He raises one eyebrow.
“I mean. You’re—like a human.”
“Yes, I am—only here, though. In the real world, I am cursed. It’s complicated, I can barely remember why myself.” He scratched the side of his neck, something the cat Jared would do.
He seemed to lose his concentration as his eyes wander down to my fingers. I place them behind my back. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, then he stares at my eyes and notices something.
I can tell by the way his lips perk up then immediately drop from what he sees.
“Your ring is missing, and your eye color keeps fading from green to silver. Do you feel strange?” He steps back a little.
“Just, well—a little jittery, like I had coffee for a week.”
“You’re fighting against her, I don’t know how. If anything, she should have come out while you were in that room.”
“What exactly was that?”
“We call it a soul bind. Mystics we kill go straight into that room. Marcus knows it’s unsafe to keep them
trapped in there. I don’t know what his plan is, though.”
I tilt my head, realizing what he said.
“So you mean to tell me you knew about Marcus? Jared, you knew we had a father and didn’t tell me shit about it?”
“You were already going through your transformation at the time. Telling you, you were a myth and that our dad is some control corrupt elven king would surely blow your little brain into pieces.”
He switches his position and strides through the tall, brittle grass toward a dark tree. I follow him. He seems calm and carefree that we could be watched by the mystics here. I duck down to avoid being seen. Jared is now leaning against the tree, in the middle of the field we stand in.
“Don’t worry. Dad’s minions aren’t here, they’re out hunting in the human world.”
“How do you know so much about this place?”
“I’m sure you remember Mom went missing, right? Well, I went inside to try and save her, but you see, you can’t leave Ravamere unless you kill a corrupt mystic. So, I was trapped here while Mom came and left as she pleased. Dad was using manipulation, and my only choice was to stay out in the woods.” He pointed at the woods behind us with his thumb.
“So how can you leave now?”
“I think that’s self-explanatory.”
Jared vanquished a Ravamere mystic…that must’ve explained the flashy moves he did earlier running away.
“That was you here earlier, wasn’t it?”
“Trying to rescue you, but Dad got to you before I did.”
The portal is not too far from us; it’s on the other side where Dawn floats. My eyes lower to the ground, and Jared walks toward me.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to save her, but this isn’t the time to do so. Shade members are waiting for us. They know to come in if I don’t return with you.”
Something about Jared was off, he didn’t seem like himself. I don’t know how long I can hold the elf inside me back. I feel like everything he was saying to me was causing me to get angry. I had a bad case of bipolar, and now wasn’t the time to lose control. I take a deep breath and look away from him.
Sooner or later you’re going to let me out, and we’re not going anywhere.
Leave me alone.
I’m you. How can I leave myself alone?
“Eliza, we need to get started.”
I turn around to look at him, I feel my eyes changing color. My markings light up. I forget that Jared is a witch also, but his markings aren’t exactly as distinct as mine are. I lift my gaze up at him and wonder why as my lips part.
“What do I need to do to get out of here?”
He places his hand in his pocket and then looks past me at the dark gray mansion.
“You’re going to kill a Ravamere mystic,” he breathes, then looks at me with a smirk.
Chapter 6
“You need to be corrupt to get out of here.”
I notice a glint of purple, like my father’s glare. He sees my reaction and chuckles to himself. Jared then walks toward the dark eerie forest. I can’t help but think that we’d both become corrupt from staying here too long. The feeling of uncontrolled adrenaline and the nerves within me cause me to twitch a few times.
My vision blurs slowly.
“Let her come out, you’ll be fine. It’s only triggering because we’re near a forest.”
I stop. This is not the Jared that came to rescue me. Why would he want the myth to come out? “Let her taste your heart and touch your thoughts,” he says.
“Jared, what is that supposed to mean?”
“Our bloodline was already myths to begin with. Don’t you think we’d be able to control it here?”
“Are you saying that you’re a myth also?”
“I don’t know, am I?”
He rolls his eyes and walks into the forest. I whirl around at the Ravamere portal not too far for me to run to, and save Dawn.
“Shall I tell you why elves run into the forest?” He breaks off a twig. “It’s not because they’re dangerous or anything, it’s because they find peace in the woods.”
“Okay?” I say.
“So you would think becoming corrupt would be easier out of the woods…which is why we are going into the woods. To not become corrupt, you’re very smart.”
“Oh, right, yeah.”
“I was talking about myself, darling. I’m the one who’s smart here.” He fixes his hair. “Now come along, obey your older brother.”
He enters the forest and I follow. The leaves are dark and look burned out. The bark is brittle and the ground feels sticky against the soles of my heels. I take off the heels and throw them behind me. My hair seems to have grown a bit longer since being here in this corrupt world. My strands are still auburn, but now there is a hint of blonde lingering inside its volume.
She’s just waiting to come out, but I won’t let her.
I clench my hands together into a fist, the twitching fades away slowly and I feel like I had a bunch of Skittles, literally tasting the rainbow. Well, I wasn’t that happy. I’m relaxed and not as afraid or worried.
Each and every sound makes me look in a certain direction, I feel as if someone’s following us, but I’m not sure. Jared turns around, his eyes glowing the same purple I saw in my father’s.
“Jared.”
“What?” he says immediately.
“Your eyes, they’re purple like Marcus’s.”
At first he’s reluctant to blink, but he does, and then his eyes narrow at me.
“Do you feel weird?” I ask.
“No, I feel fine, just a bit jittery, that’s all,” he says.
“You’re not an elf or myth?”
Jared becomes silent, and from that moment things become awkward, finding out he isn’t a myth like me. Did we have the same parents or was he like a half-brother? Marcus being his father. They’re acting slightly the same, and it’s strange.
“Are you sure you can’t remember anything, Jared?”
We stand among the looming trees above us. I hear a twig snap in half, a bright green-eyed elf appears. Then I hear another sound, a rustle between the sharp bushes and another pair of green eyes appear throughout the darkness around us.
I glance at Jared. He doesn’t seem afraid, he’s more relaxed than I am. If these mystics knew I was a run-away I’d be forced back into that mansion in a heartbeat. Their clothing is dark green and brown, like Peter Pan’s. Only the clothes are made out of leaves and all sorts of foresty things you can find.
The silence grows thicker, with only my breathing and the movement of my heart…the two things I could only hear and feel.
“Why do I feel fear?” one of the elves says.
“Nice to see you again, Jared.” The second elf steps out, her long black hair stuck against her collarbone. She glances at her partner, he seems to have scratches and scars all over his body. So does the girl, but hers aren’t as visible.
“She’s scared. Those always taste the best.” She chuckles.
“Where are the rest of the elves?”
“In the trees, watching. We already envisioned her arrival, we know she’s a myth,” the girl says once more. Her partner looks like it’s hurting him to look at me.
I move away a step or two, my back rubbing against the sharp bark. I squint my eyes, my irises sting immediately. I breathe in cold air like I’ve been chewing on minty gum for hours. Within the darkness, little white silhouettes appear one by one. As they move I notice these are the elves in the trees. I blink slowly, focusing back on the elves in front of us.
“Truly intriguing.” She crosses her arms. “You must be the queen’s replacement.”
“Must be a new ability,” I mutter.
“It’s called insight.”
I eye her, and I speak carefully. I don’t want the thousands of elves in the trees to drop down and kill me because I called her ugly.
“What happened to the previous queen?”
Jared looks at me slightly,
his movement is so precise I couldn’t tell he switched his position.
“She couldn’t handle being corrupt. Marcus brought her in the woods, and she lost control.”
My mother lost control? Must’ve been the myth inside her controlling her, like how mine does. I honestly don’t know how I’m resisting her so well right now. I purse my lips and listen to what else she has to say. Her partner holds her waist as he presses his lips against her neck, their markings lighting up vividly, like how Christian’s and mine react. Donovan’s markings were never this vivid when we touched.
“Are you two mated?”
Her partner lifts his gaze and smirks, his sharp teeth showing in the cracks of his dry, bloody lips. Her sharp nails stroke the glued strands of her hair, her markings look like they are burnt on her skin; scraped onto her, like a tattoo artist did a poor job with his work.
She nods her head.
You’re giving off the vibe of fear, I don’t know how they can sense it, but corrupt mystics feed off fear. Why do you think they hunt humans? Especially elves.
I’m breathing hard and I keep fidgeting the ends of my shirt.
I can’t help it, I’m getting freaked out.
Bring her out.
I can feel Jared yelling at me.
I can’t. I have to like, it has to be like triggered, or something.
Figure it out before it’s too late.
Then suddenly he’s gone, like he poofed out.
Two more elves drop from the trees above, I step back immediately. Her mate flashes a sharp toothed grin and his partner smirks. I look around as several other mystics appear out of nowhere. My heart starts to beat a bit harder, their heads all turn toward me, their eyes beaming in and out, markings lighting up the forest.
Magical (Mystical Series Book 3) Page 4