Whatever had me was going to drown me, just like the girl in the lake. Suddenly the image of Luke standing at the edge of the lake filled my mind. His head cocked to the side as he listened for the murdered girl. What was her name? Sarah.
As her name floated across my brain, I heard a small voice in the corner of my mind say, “I’m here.”
I opened my eyes, and in the dark water I saw a flicker of light. A face appeared before me--the face of a pretty girl about my age.
“I’m here.” The words were louder this time. As I heard them, a light expanded and encircled me, and I felt warmth fill my body. And with it, a surge of strength.
I kicked, and I was free. My arms moved like windmills as I frantically forced myself up past the surface. I gasped and sputtered for I’m not sure how long when I heard another growl. Fear ran through my body. I knew the thing would try and drown me again. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to run.
Then a voice shouted my name. “Colina!”
I realized the sound came not from within the well, but from above.
The voice grew louder. “Colina!”
I looked up--lightning lit up the sky, around a shadow this time.
Luke stood there calling my name.
I frantically shouted back, “I’m down here, but I can’t climb out!”
He disappeared.
“Luke!” I cried, but he didn’t answer. There was nothing but silence.
I kept treading water, so cold now I could no longer feel my face. My limbs were frozen, and I was having more trouble forcing my arms and legs to cooperate. But I had to keep moving. I had to stay afloat.
I heard a commotion overhead, loud voices shouting. I started to shout back when I realized it wasn’t Luke. A flashlight shone down against the wall of the well a few feet above me. I watched the light start to slide down the wall. I knew what I had to do but I didn’t want to. My mind and body rebelled against the idea of forcing myself back down into the dark water. The light was only a few inches above me now. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to sink. I kept my eyes open, searching for what? To my surprise, I realized I wanted to see the reassuring face of Sarah, but there was nothing but ink jet blackness before me. I held my breath. I had to stay under as long as I could, but I felt so cold I didn’t know if I’d be able to move my limbs again to swim to the surface. My thoughts began to slow down. I felt as if I huddled in a cocoon, wrapped in bubble wrap. It would be so easy to just let the water in and end it all.
Just let the water in, the whisper suggested in the corner of my mind.
Horrified, I realized the thought hadn’t come from me. Something else was talking to me, trying to lull me into doing the one thing I shouldn’t do. It wanted me to die, but I refused to give in. Luke needed me; Darla needed me. I forced my legs to move, to kick. I pushed through the water with my hands, willing the surface to appear. One more stroke, another kick. I was almost there. I held my breath and swam upward. Finally I broke the surface. I looked up into quiet darkness. Only thunder rumbled in the distance.
I treaded water and waited. If it had, in fact, been Luke calling my name, he knew I was down here. He wouldn’t leave me to die. Time passed, and my whole existence narrowed to how cold I’d become. I’d never been so cold in my whole life.
There was a loud splash, and then something brushed against the back of my head. I immediately thought of that thing that had pulled me down earlier and envisioned it touching me now.
“Grab the rope,” Luke ordered.
I turned and reached for it. Or at least, I tried to. “I can’t climb up…too cold… I’m so cold.” I barely managed between shakes.
“Tie it around you,” he shouted.
I knew about knots. My brother James had loved to climb. He’d taken me with him on a few adventures over the years. Thanks to him, I knew how to repel down a cliff, how to tie different knots.
I could do this. I grabbed the rope, but I could barely feel my hands. My fingers fumbled, and it took me a half dozen tries before I got the rope around my chest and made a half decent knot.
“I’m ready!”
The rope jerked, and slowly, I began to rise.
When I approached the mouth of the opening, Luke rasped, “You have to climb out the rest of the way. Can you make it?”
I grabbed at the dirt and grass while pushing with my feet against the stone. Somehow I pulled myself out of the well.
I collapsed onto the ground.
Luke fell next to me, breathing hard. He touched my shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“I’m cold,” I said between tremors. The shivering had grown worse, far more violent now that I lay in the open air.
Luke rose to his feet and pulled me up into his arms. “There’s a barn about a quarter mile from here. It’s where I found the rope.”
I tried to walk, but my legs wouldn’t work.
He swung me into his arms. “I got you.”
I rested my head against his shoulders, closed my eyes, and let him carry me toward shelter.
* * * *
It was dark inside the barn, so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Luke gently lowered me to the ground.
“Give me a minute.” He muttered a few words and light appeared. A bluish light glowed at his fingertips.
“Handy trick becoming a human flashlight.” My words ended in a harsh, long cough.
Luke moved around the barn. At the far corner, he came across boxes piled against the wall. He rummaged through them and held up an old lantern. “This will work.”
He lifted off the glass covering and placed a fingertip inside. When he touched the wick, it burst into blue flame.
The lantern and its unnatural glow lit the entire room. “I didn’t have a match,” Luke explained. “This won’t last very long.” He walked toward me.
I finally saw his face and gasped. There were bruises on his face, blood oozed from a gash in his lower lip, and a deep burn mark had seared across the right shoulder of his shirt.
Before I could ask any questions, he gestured upward. “There.”
There was a loft maybe ten feet above us. In the loft, I could see bales of hay stacked.
Luke walked to a wooden ladder. “I’ll be right back.” He made his way slowly up and out of sight.
I sat on the floor, shaking and shivering with cold. I heard movement overhead, the sound of male grunting and things being shoved and pushed around. I closed my eyes, hugged my knees, and tried to think about anything other than the terrible cold piercing through me. I tried to imagine sitting in front of a roaring fire, tried to picture myself on a sandy beach on a hot day.
A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I jumped at the contact.
Luke gave me a smile. “I can’t carry you up. Do you think you can make it? I’ll be right behind you. I can help push you up and make sure you don’t fall.”
“I can make it.”
I took his hand, and he pulled me up. I moved on unsteady feet toward the ladder, grasped the wood railings, and started up one foothold at a time. It was slow going. My body didn’t want to move, and I had to force myself forward. The shaking grew uncontrollable, but I kept going, climbing until I reached the top. I let go of the ladder and hopped to the floor of the loft.
Luke stood beside me, the light on his fingertips extinguished, and the light in the lantern started to fade.
He motioned to a pile of hay on the floor. “We can lie down over there. I know you’re freezing. My magic can make light, but I can’t make a true flame, so I can’t start a fire. I’m soaked through, and you’re drenched. We need get out of these clothes. I suggest we lie on the hay and huddle together for warmth. I’ll pull some of the straw over us.”
I tried to take off my sweater, but my fingers weren’t working.
“Here, let me help.” He pulled off my top and helped me wiggle out of my skirt and leggings.
I stood there feeling self-conscious in my bra and underwear.
He pulled off his shirt and took off his pants and stood in front of me in a pair of gray boxer briefs.
I lowered myself onto the hay, and he lay down next to me. He opened his arms, and I rolled into them. After he settled me against him, he pulled the hay until it covered us.
I rested against him, my head just below his chin. He rubbed up and down my back.
“Do you feel any warmer?” he asked.
“Yes.” I enjoyed the heat of his body next to mine and snuggled closer. “How did you get away?”
“I wouldn’t have survived it wasn’t for your mother.”
“My mother?” I gasped.
“Her spirit--she helped me. She must have had extremely powerful magic when she was living.”
“She’s… She was the strongest healer my kind had ever seen.”
“Her spirit attacked the banshees. She gave me time to get away. Without her help, I’d never have escaped.”
What had happened to my mother, I wanted to ask. Was her spirit still out there, reeling in despair over the deaths of my father and my brother? I wanted desperately to know more, but I was scared to hear his answer, so I asked the next question that came to mind. “How did you find me?”
“I’m not sure. Something drew me to you.”
“Sarah,” I whispered.
His hands rose over my back to my neck, and he stroked my hair. “The girl who was murdered up at the lake?”
“She was in the well with me. There was something…” I shuddered at the memory. “Something down there with me. It tried to drown me. Sarah saved me.”
His hands tightened around me. “You’re safe now.”
But for how long.
“Close your eyes. See if you can get some sleep. It’ll be light soon, and then we can see our way out of here.”
“Where will we go?” The men no doubt remained at Pagan’s house. They’d found us first at the magic shop, and then his cousin’s. How were they tracking us?
“We’ll find somewhere safe.”
“And your sister?” Was Darla still alive? So much time had passed.
Luke sighed, “I haven’t given up hope.”
I whispered against his chest, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help. I’m sorry my mother couldn’t help us more.”
“Your mother saved me. I wouldn’t have gotten out of there alive if she hadn’t helped me.”
“What are we going to do?” I couldn’t help it, my voice broke.
Luke said softly, “We’re going to sleep, and tomorrow we’ll come up with a game plan.”
What else could we do but wait for dawn? Hopefully, something would come to us then. Some brilliant idea that would help us locate Darla. I closed my eyes and focused on the warmth of Luke’s body as it pressed against mine.
* * * *
“Whatever you seek, you’ll find.” The words whispered on the wind. I stood in a meadow. Storm clouds filled the sky above me.
“Revenge will be yours, but it will come with a price.” This time the words vibrated through me.
“What price?” I called out. “What do you mean?”
To avenge my family’s death, I was willing to pay whatever price asked. I’d do whatever needed to be done to see the men who killed my family brought to justice.
“So be it,” called out the voice. Lightning flashed across the sky, and thunder shook the ground around me.
A loud crack sent me sprawling to the ground. Not a gunshot. A tree branch snapping? Another crack, this time closer. I pushed myself out of the dirt and ran. Ignoring the branches tearing at my face and hair, I kept running. My chest burned, my heart pounded in my ears, but I pushed on.
Just when I thought I couldn’t go a moment longer, the dark waves of the lake glittered in the moonlight. I’d made it.
Finding help was my only thought. I ran again, but in a moment of horror, I realized bodies surrounded me on all sides.
How many were there? A dozen? How had they found me? I realized that the noises sending me off in one direction then another had been intended to herd me toward the lake.
A flashlight switched on, and the sudden light after so much darkness blinded me. I raised a hand to shield my eyes, and rough hands grabbed me. Before I could protest, a body pinned me to the ground. I opened my mouth to scream, but they stuffed something into it.
The light turned away, and someone bent down. A face appeared inches from mine.
I tried to scoot away, but I couldn’t move, still pinned down.
A man whispered, “Now, now, no screaming. We wouldn’t want to wake anyone. They might ruin all our fun.” He stroked my cheek. “Don’t worry. It will all be over soon. No use fighting and making it harder on yourself.”
The man stood up, and as he did, he moved into the light. He held a long, thick rope. He turned and gestured with the rope toward the water. “Let’s get her ready.”
When he turned back, the light bathed him full in the face. It was the man who’d murdered my father. I met his gaze. Insanity blazed from his eyes. Terror filled me, and I shook all over.
He jerked me to my feet, forcing my arms behind my back and binding my hands together. The rope dug into my flesh.
I struggled, and as I did, someone hit me on the side of the head. Dizzy, I slumped forward, half conscious. I was barely aware when they tied my legs together. A slap in the face brought me back, and I blinked to see the water’s edge nearing.
They dragged me closer. Too close…
From behind me, a man said, “It’s your lucky day. Not everyone gets the chance to be tested.”
They pulled me upright by the rope, and as if in slow motion, they pushed me back and forth between them before letting me go. I flew through the air and then slammed into the water.
I struggled to stay afloat, but I couldn’t move my confined limbs. I started to sink, and as the water edged over my face, someone from the shoreline yelled, “Welcome to judgment day.”
I sank. I struggled to get free, but the rope bound me too tightly. I took a deep breath before the water crawled up my cheeks and washed up and over my face. Now completely submerged, I sank in the cold, dark water. The desire to scream, to open my mouth and shout was strong, but I held my breath. Time passed. There was no one to save me. No one to come to my rescue. I was going to die.
I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. I opened my mouth and choked on the black water as it poured down my throat. I was drowning. I frantically looked out into the murky darkness, but nothing but blackness stared back at me. I’m dying--the words screamed in my mind. And then there was only silence and a void that filled my mind.
“I can help you find her,” a voice came into my mind.
“Sarah?” I asked. I was in that place again--that dark corner of oblivion I’d inhabited when Wanda had taken over my body.
“They killed me. I just showed you what they did to me.”
It was Sarah’s death I had just witnessed in my vision, my dream. She had been chased, captured, tied up and then thrown into the lake by a group of mad men. They had drowned her.
Her voice whispered, “But before they hunted me down…I’ll show you...show you where to find her.” Images flashed through my mind. I was no longer me this time I was Sarah.
I was me but not me as I stood in front of a big house. No, not a house, a mansion. My hands were bound behind my back, and I’d been forced to my knees in the gravel. Then hands grabbed me, and two men dragged me up the driveway. I couldn’t scream past the gag in my mouth.
I looked around for help in desperation. Lights blared from within the house. Loud noises came from the open front door. Around the door, a group of people mingled, dressed in long dark cloaks. The people turned in unison, quieted as they watched the men drag me. No one stepped forward to help. No one cried out in protest at the way I was being treated. They just stood there, watching in silence.
The men stopped suddenly and threw me to the ground. I lay there staring out into the darkness, and I
saw the mansion above the tree tops. I could also just make out water sparkling in the moonlight. We weren’t far from the lake-- we were on the mountain above the lake. With that realization, a chill shook me.
They picked me up again. The crowd parted as I was tossed onto the front steps. They pulled me to my feet and then shoved me through the front door. Down a hallway I went, and then through another set of doors to a set of stone steps leading down. I tottered on the top step before someone pushed me and down I went. I tumbled down the stairs and fell hard against the stone wall. With a groan, I wrenched my shoulder. But my forward momentum was too much. I didn’t stop until, finally, with a loud thud, I hit hard against the ground below.
I lay stunned. The pain from my shoulder shot through me. I moaned and struggled to rise, but they wouldn’t let me. More rough hands pulled me up and dragged me down another hallway. They shoved me through a set of large wooden door that slammed loudly behind me.
The room I’d entered was dark. I slumped to the ground, trying to catch my breath through the white hot pain in my shoulder. I took one deep breath and then another, and then I sensed another presence. My eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, and I made out forms huddled nearby.
“She’s one of the captives now. His sister,” Sarah’s voice whispered in my mind, “The men killed me. Hunted me like an animal,” her voice wailed.
Then suddenly I was no longer Sarah, but myself. Trapped in the water, drowning all over again. The cold surrounded me--my lungs seized, and my body floated further down, no longer mine to control.
There was a rush of light and a pain so strong it made me gasp. Air rushed into my lungs as strong arms pulled me from the water--from my dream. Luke leaned over me, his face hovering just above mine. The fingertips on his left hand lit up the dark room.
“Colina.” He caressed my face.
“What…?” My throat burned. I tried again. “What happened?”
“You were choking. I tried to wake you, but I couldn’t. You were struggling like you couldn’t breathe.”
I’d been drowning. Or rather, Sarah had been. I sat up.
“Take it slow.” He wrapped his arms around me.
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