Pure Blood

by B.M. Green

  Chapter Eight

  Lake helped Tashina off of the floor and they looked around the mysterious room. There was nothing in the room, except for a few torches hanging on the walls. Tashina held Lake’s hand in a death grip. He smiled to himself and whispered calming words in her ear. Then he stopped when he heard another voice in the room. It was babbling nonsense. Lake looked around the room, but no one was there.

  “Lake?”

  “Shh!”

  “What?”

  “Do you hear that?” Tashina listened.

  “No.”

  “I think they’re testing us. Seeing what we are capable of.”

  “But why…?” Tashina started hearing the voice too. They looked around for where it was coming from, but saw nothing. Then another voice filled their minds. They spun around, searching for the voices, but found no trace of them. Then another voice filled the room and another, until their minds were filled with so much talking, they couldn’t hear. They covered their ears, but that didn’t help. The voices were getting louder. Tashina screamed and fell to the floor, still covering her ears.

  “Tashina!” Lake yelled, but he couldn’t hear his own voice. He ran to her side. He removed his hands from his ears and placed them over Tashina’s. He stared into her eyes and she understood him. She was still, concentrating, along with him. The voices started to get softer. Tashina saw Lake’s lips moving, but couldn’t hear what he was muttering. Then, one by one, the voices faded away and disappeared. Lake removed his hands from Tashina’s. They were still staring at one another. Then Tashina thrust herself into Lake’s strong arms. He wrapped his arms around her trembling body and closed his eyes. They had passed.

  Chapter Nine

  Lathan Woolridge was standing at the top of a mountain peak. He shivered as snow hit his nose. He looked around and saw a door on the other side of the room. He started climbing over the mountain to the door. He fell once and scraped his knee. Blood slowly seeped out of his skin. So much for an illusion. Then the room changed and he stood in the middle of a war. Cannons were going off and bullets were buzzing past his head. He ducked as one nearly hit him. He saw men charging forward. They seemed not to notice him. He continued toward the door. The room changed again. This time it changed into the ocean. He was at the bottom of the ocean, near a shipwreck. He coughed at first, from the surprise of water. Then he swam around, feeling warm. He tried to swim toward the door, but he didn’t seem to get any closer. A shadow passed over him and he saw a shark stalking him. It blazed past him and then lurched for his leg. Lathan instinctively whirled around and caught the shark by its fin. One of its teeth caught skin on his leg and tore it off, leaving a gushing wound. He struggled with the monster and fought until his legs and arms gave out. Then he floated in the water as the beast turned its snout to face him. They stared at one another. Neither of them moved. Then the shark swam past Lathan and disappeared into the ocean as the room changed again. He felt the hard stone floor beneath his aching body and heard clapping off in the distance. He was breathing heavy and blood was spreading over the floor as dizziness overcame his mind. The clapping ceased and he felt hands press on his skin and warmth fill his body as darkness succumbed him.

  “Four.”

  Chapter Ten

  The blonde girl looked around the room. It was filled with light, but there were no torches on the walls. She could find no sign of anything that was lighting up the room. It looked as if the sun itself was pouring its rays into the room. She tilted her head as her eyes fell upon one lone object in the middle of the room. It was a boy, much younger than herself. She walked closer. The boy was crouched over and appeared to be no older than six. She walked closer to the young boy. He was crying. His back was to her. She reached a hand out to him, but he quickly turned around, tears streaking his cheeks. Blue eyes pierced through her. She knelt down to comfort him and saw why he was crying. There were several gashes all over his body. One particular deep one ran down his leg. Blood stained his clothes and he cried louder, pain engulfing his body. The girl panicked for a moment, unsure of what to do, but then she calmed herself down and looked at the boy. She placed her hands on the deep gash first. Her hands glowed blue and the cut vanished along with the blood. Her head felt a little dizzy, but she placed her hands on another cut, healing it too. She failed to notice the boy’s cries had stopped as she continued to heal him, dizziness making her weak. After she had sealed up his last cut, she collapsed onto the floor. The boy stood up and looked at her, smiling. Her mind raced and darkness surrounded her. The light started to disappear and she could faintly hear the boy talking to another being. She closed her eyes, inviting the darkness to grab her, but instead she felt two strong hands pick her up as she fell into unconsciousness.