Fated

by T. L. McDonald

  Eric studies me for a moment. "There’s something you’re not saying? The colors of your aura are all over the place and Jared's is so dark it's black." Crap, I forgot Eric could see Jared’s aura along with mine now that Jared and I are linked.

  "Jared made a choice," I say without elaborating. I'm not quite ready yet for everyone to know I'm the reason he chose the way he chose.

  "I see." Eric shifts his gaze from me to Will and I wonder if he really does see; if he's somehow able to pull the truth from the colors of our auras.

  ***

  The floor under my back is cold, hard, and completely uncomfortable. Eric, Luca, and Will drawl circles and symbols around me, mumbling things I don't understand under their breath. I watch as each symbol momentarily ignites in blue before fading back to white.

  I try taking a deep breath to keep myself relaxed, but the smell of chalk permeating the air around me is starting to make my stomach churn. Or at least that's what I'm blaming it on. Truth be told, it probably has more to do with the fact that Eric, Luca, and Will are about to perform some sort of cleansing ritual on me and I have no idea what that means exactly, or what's going to happen to me once they start.

  "Is it going to hurt?" I ask Will, not sure if I really want to know the answer.

  Crouching down to my left, Will ignites the symbol he's working on then pauses long enough for fear to slither in. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never actually done this ritual before, but regardless of whether it hurts or not, you and I both know it has to be done. What Blondie did, needs to be removed, so your connection to Jared can be pure. It may be our only way to find him."

  "I know, but you're not the one lying on the floor." He cracks a sympathetic smile while I swallow a lump of I'm really starting to freak out here fear lodged in my throat.

  I arch my neck tilting my head back so I’m looking up at Eric, who's standing at the head of the circle. Unfortunately, from this angle I can see right up his nose. Gross. "Have you ever done this before?"

  "Once," Eric answers.

  "Did it go well?" Please say it did. Please say it did. Pretty, pretty please say it did.

  "Yes," Eric says after hesitating for what feels like forever. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

  Luca nudges my foot with the tip of his boot. "You'll be fine. I've seen this done before. There's nothing to it."

  "Really?”

  “Really,” Luca confirms. I think he’s lying.

  I watch as Will draws and ignites the last symbol. Taking their places around the circle, Eric, Will, and Luca stand equal distances apart from one another. Eyes closed they begin to speak in unison in a language I wish I understood. Every flame flickering on every candle around the room shoots higher.

  My heart starts to beat faster. The air around me becomes heavy and hot and tangible as it presses down on me. Unable to breathe, I scratch and claw at my throat and then I feel something unwillingly rip away from someplace inside of me. My back arches, shudders run through my body, and I start to convulse uncontrollably.

  Luca lied. He definitely, definitely lied. I am far, far away from fine. And it hurts. So much it hurts.

  Invisible blades go to work slicing and cutting, ripping and tearing and I want to scream, but I can't because something is working its way up my throat. My body jerks to the side as a black tar like substance oozes from my mouth, leaving a quivering puddle on the floor. I gag at the sight of it. My arms have all the strength of a bowl of Jell-O as I try to scoot myself away.

  Will squats down beside me. "Drink this." Helping me to sit he hands me a cup filled with something warm that smells foul and tastes even worse. It burns all the way down, scorching my esophagus. More convulsions take over my body and as I hit the floor the cup rolls from my fingers. A fire I can't see starts in my belly spreading out until there's no part of me untouched by it.

  Time no longer has any meaning as I writhe on the floor. Seconds could have passed or minutes, hours, weeks, days, months, years, or even forever and I wouldn't know. All I know is the feel of the fire burning inside. And when I think I can't possibly endure any more, it finally starts to ebb.

  The chanting voices rising and falling over me come to an end. The world hangs in silence. Three faces look down at me just as everything goes black.

  When I start to wake my head feels like it weighs a ton and my mouth feels like it's full of sand. Every bone in my body aches with the slightest movements and I'm finding it extremely difficult to open my eyes. They feel like they've been glued shut and it takes me several attempts to pry one open with the other following slowly behind. After a few minutes my eyes adjust and Will's room comes into focus.

  The only illumination comes from a candle on the dresser. In the dimness of the room I spot an unopened bottle of water sitting on the nightstand and I realize just how incredibly thirsty I am. I lean onto my elbow reaching for the bottle when a shadow detaches itself from a chair at the foot of the bed. I'm on the verge of screaming when I hear the sound of Kat's voice.

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She takes the bottle from the table. Opening it, she hands it to me. It feels like it weighs a hundred pounds. "Will said you'd be weak and sore for awhile after waking up."

  “How’d I get here? The last thing I remember is being in the basement.”

  “Will carried you.”

  I down half the water in three huge gulps. "Where is Will?" I ask as nonchalantly as possible. I know things are strained between Will and I now that I've made my decision between him and Jared, but I still thought he'd be the one waiting in the dark for me to wake, just like always. Of course, I guess I can't really blame him for not wanting to be around me right now when everything's still so raw.

  "He's in the living room. He's been filling everyone in on what happened to you guys during your astral trip." A slight smile plays at her mouth as she shakes her head. "You know your life's gotten weird when you start using the words 'astral trip' in non-joking sentences. Anywho, I can go get him if you want."

  "No, that's okay."

  She sits down beside me on the bed. "If you don't mind me asking, what's up with you and Will? You've both been acting weird around each other."

  "I made a choice."

  "And he wasn't it," she states and I nod.

  "I didn't want to hurt Will, I really didn't, but when the moment came to make a choice I chose Jared because deep down I knew it was always him...and then Blondie stepped in and everything fell apart. And then Jared made a choice of his own."

  "What kind of choice?" Kat asks, though from her tone I suspect she already knows, especially if she stuck around long enough to hear Will reach the end of our ‘astral trip experience’, as she put it.

  Tears sting my eyes. "I really messed things up Kat when I let my feelings get confused over Will, because it became the perfect ammunition for Blondie to use against me. And it worked flawlessly to his advantage and now Jared—"

  "Loves you," Kat interrupts. "Trust me, I've been aware of the way that boy looks at you a lot longer than you have," A note of old bitterness laces her words. "So I know," Her voice softens a fraction. "That no matter what happened between you guys he'll come around."

  "I hope so."

  "Enough doom and gloom. Let's get out there and devise a plan to get our boy back."

  "Our boy?"

  Kat shrugs her shoulders. "Just trying it out."

  "And?"

  She makes a disgusted face. "The words taste bad in my mouth." We both start to laugh. Kat hasn't had anything nice to say to or about Jared since their failed weeklong romance sophomore year and she christened him her enemy. "Seriously though, I do want him back. I might not like him and I probably enjoy it way too much being mean to him, but I'm not cruel enough to wish him anymore time spent with Blondie."

  "I know."

  I hold out a hand and she helps me up off the bed. Every muscle in my body protests and I have to lean onto her just to walk. I feel like I've been run over
by a bus. Twice.

  In the living room, Kat and I find the guys deep in conversation. None of them take notice to our arrival, which does not sit well with Kat since she likes to be noticed at all times. She clears her throat loudly then puts on a big smile. "Make room boys. Hanna needs a place to sit." Leaving me standing there she more or less throws herself into Luca's lap where she wraps her arms around his neck and plants a big kiss on his cheek.

  Will is the first to get up, offering me his spot on the sofa beside Adam. He watches me with careful eyes. "How are you feeling?"

  "Better I guess," I say. "Though all my muscles would beg to differ and my stomach is still a little queasy over that gross nasty stuff I puked up." I lower myself down, struggling the entire time to not make a pained face.

  "It was pretty gross cleaning it up too," Luca adds. "The stuff kept twitching." He shudders as if hit by a sudden cold chill.

  "Glad I didn't see that." Kat scrunches her face up in disgust.

  Adam rubs my back. "Are you sure you're okay."

  I nod. "I'm fine."

  Will takes a seat on the edge of the coffee table. "Give me your hands." He holds his out waiting for mine.

  "Why?"

  "Just do it. The cleansing ritual can take a pretty big toll on a person and it's going to be awhile before you can heal yourself of any pain you're still feeling." He flexes his fingers motioning for me to stop hesitating. I give him my hands and he closes his around them. A calm warmness flows from his hands and into mine, spreading out to every part of me and immediately I start to feel better.

  "Thanks."

  "Anytime." Will flashes a quick almost smile, then pulls his hands away as fast as he can. Clearly, he doesn't want to touch me any longer than he has to.

  "Now that you're feeling better Hanna, I'd like you to astral project yourself to Jared as soon as possible. We need more information to determine his location and we can't do it without you." Apparently, there will be no small talk or pleasantries with Eric. It's straight to business with him.

  "Yeah, sure. I'm ready whenever." It's half true. I do want to find Jared, more than anything, but at the same time I'm absolutely terrified he's going to reject me once again when I do. “Will I have to drink that gross tea with Luca again?”

  “No. Now that what Blondie did has been undone you should have complete control over your astral projections and memories,” Luca answers.

  "I don't know Hanna," Adam protests. "You've been through so much lately. Maybe you should take a little more time to recuperate, get something to eat, build your strength back up before you possibly disappear inside yourself for days at a time."

  The thought of being stuck on the astral plane again for days at a time scares the crap out of me, especially when we're running out of time as it is. I look to Eric. "That won't happen again, right? I mean now that whatever hold Blondie had over my astral self is gone I should be able to come and go as I please, without any problems? Right?"

  "Yes," Luca answers for him. "Astral projection's pretty easy. All you have to do is imagine where you want to go, then let yourself go there."

  I nod my head a little too vigorously, doing a horrible job at covering up my doubts and fears. "Okay. It sounds simple enough. I can do this." Ha, my inner voice says. When was the last time anything was simple?

  My inner voice has a point, but there's no going back now.

  A brisk knock reverberates from the other side of the front door. Half a second later, it swings open and Owen enters. His eyes are hidden behind dark sunglasses, his hair covered by not only a red ball cap but also the hood of his oversized sweater jacket. After removing his layers of disguise he comes into the living room, his pale blue eyes landing on me. "Glad to see you're awake. I feel like I haven't seen you in a month." With a wink he grins teasingly.

  "Oh, ha ha." It's a stupid joke, but it does bring a smile to my face.

  Owen flops himself down on the arm of Luca's chair, ignoring the dirty look Kat flashes him for making her have to re-adjust her position on Luca's lap. "So, what have I missed? Is mission 'Find Jared Before My Witch Of A Cousin Does' a go now that Snow White over there is awake and can tell us where he's at?"

  "Snow White?" I ask amused.

  "Yep, that's what I'm calling you now. So how 'bout it Snow, you up for an astral trip?" Owen wiggles his eyebrows. Kat rolls her eyes. And I laugh. Owen has a way of lightening the mood and that's something I most definitely need right now.

  "Well, you certainly have perfect timing. We were just discussing my forth coming astral trip right before you got here."

  "Goodie, then let's get this show on the road. Your astral self can pop over to Jared, find out where he's being stashed, and then we'll all go rescue him while we kick some Fallen tushy along the way, and Thomas and Cassidy will never have to know."

  Eric smacks Owen on the back of the head. "Could you be serious for a moment. Now is not the time for jokes and silliness. There's a lot resting on the line here and we need to get it together."

  "I am being serious. Geez dude, lighten up, it's suffocating in here. Hanna gets it, so jump aboard guys. Hunting down the big bad and rescuing damsels in distress is always easier when you're in a good mood and the mood in here right now is…" He sticks his tongue out while giving a thumbs down.

  Eric's face is about as red as a tomato. "Jared is not just some 'damsel in distress' Owen, he's the Chosen One and right now he's chosen the wrong side and we've only got four days to get him to change his decision, so forgive me if I don't think now is the right time to joke around."

  "Okay, okay, I get it. No more goofing around. Geez, chill out won't ya. If you want me to put on my serious face I'll put on my serious face." He reaches into his pocket, pulls out nothing, and then covers his face with his hands, mushing it around a bit.

  "What are you doing?" Eric asks un-amused.

  "Putting on my serious face. Duh."

  This time I'm not the only one who laughs, with the exception of Eric of course, who's visibly restraining himself from knocking Owen for a loop.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The symbol shimmers against my wrist, glowing brighter and brighter the closer my finger gets to touching it. My heart starts to beat faster, my breaths coming in gulps, while every eye in the room stares at me. Ignoring them, I focus all my attention on the task at hand. In my mind, I picture Jared and fill my head with thoughts of him just as Luca instructed. And when Jared's face is crystal clear and everything else has faded, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and engage the symbol.

  The hall I stand in is cold, colder than the last time I was here. Wrapping my arms around myself for warmth, I head for Jared's cell. I glance all around finding nothing at all to help me figure out where this place is. No signs, no nothing, just a stretch of empty bleak gray concrete. My only shot might be in hoping Jared knows where we are and that he's forgiven me enough to tell me.

  The padlock is gone on Jared's door and I hesitate before opening it, afraid of what I might find on the other side.

  You can do this, I tell myself. It's just Jared.

  And he doesn't want to love you anymore, a small voice in the back of my mind whispers. You broke his heart and he hates you so much he's willing to side with The Fallen and destroy the world because of it.

  "Shut up!" I yell at the voice in my head. It doesn't say another word.

  Gripping the handle, I open the door to an empty room. No cot. No Jared. Everything's gone except for a single sheet of paper lying in the middle of the floor. I crouch down picking it up, my eyes soaking up the words.

  Let's Play A Game Of Hide And Seek.

  Think You Can Find Him Before It's Too Late?

  J.

  I crumple the note in my hand, knowing Jared's still here somewhere otherwise the symbol wouldn't have brought me to this location. I refuse to let Blondie get to me. If he wants to play stupid games, then fine. I used to be the reigning champ at hide and seek when I was a kid, so br
ing it on.

  I leave the door open as I venture back out into the hall. I hang a left outside the door and follow the hall down until it turns a corner to the right. With each step I take the colder it gets. My breaths start to come out in visible puffs and an uneasy feeling sets up shop in the pit of my stomach. There's darkness here and a lot of it. Way more than what I felt at the factory when Will and I found Eric suspended by his wrists. At the end of the hall I round yet another corner to find yet another hall. This one dead ending at a large steel door.

  I rub my upper arms fighting against the cold, as my teeth start to chatter. I pick up my pace heading for the door, but the closer I get the further away it becomes. I start to run, my blood pumping faster, my heart racing, but no matter how fast I go or how much distance I cover I never get any closer. It doesn't make any sense.

  I stop to catch my breath. The door stops too. I take off at full speed hoping I can somehow trick it. The door moves further away than ever. Frustrated, I give up the chase. Keeping my eye on the door I take a step back, the door moves toward me. I take a step forward, the door moves away. I do this a few times trying to figure out how in the world this door is defying the laws of physics. No rational explanations come to mind. Of course, I'm not exactly in a rational place now am I. Maybe the rules are different on the astral plane.

  "Ah, ah, ah. It's not time yet," Blondie says from behind me. I turn to find him standing right in front of me. The smile on his face is a strange mix of sinister and amused. Quick as lightning, he grabs ahold of my shoulder. Pulling me closer, he plunges a knife deep into the center of my abdomen just above my belly button. He whispers in my ear. "Jared says it's time for you to go."

  Blood bubbles up my throat and out of my mouth, as Blondie twists the knife. Over his shoulder, I see Jared leaning casually against the wall, completely unaffected by what he sees. I'm dying and he could care less. I truly have lost him.