Sitting got me nowhere, so I started to walk again. After some time, all I had as company was the stomping of my feet and the harsh intake of breath. Two things reminding me that I was alive.
I walked until I collapsed. Closing my eyes, my mind filled with as much darkness as the outside. After seeing nothing for so long, it appeared that’s all I would see ever again. I either slept or drifted in a daze, and when clarity returned some time later, it was to an aching neck and a dead left side of my body. I waited for hunger and thirst to kick in. I had to be needing sustenance soon. But … neither did. My mouth wasn’t even dry.
As I started to move again, I tried not to think. Protecting the fragile nature of my mind seemed to be the most important thing. So … denial it was. Denial wasn’t keeping my anger at bay though; it returned with a vengeance as I walked in darkness. My life had not been much to talk about for the first eighteen years, and Laous just had to go and one-up that by doing … whatever this was …to me.
Fucker.
I felt the burn inside of me again and I welcomed it, hoping like hell that my hands would light up and show me whatever was out there. I just couldn’t do this darkness for one more moment. “Come on!” I screamed, holding my hands out. “Burn, baby, burn.”
Nothing.
I thought I heard my name then, like a whisper on the nonexistent breeze of this place, but even when I stilled and held my breath, I didn’t hear it again. With no other choice, I walked until I fell again, and then I slept.
This routine continued on for countless days … nights … whatever time existed here. My mind was frazzled, my thoughts confused. I still did not hunger or have any thirst. I had no need for a bathroom. It was almost as if time stood still, and all I could do was run.
12
The longer I was trapped in the darkness, the more confused my thoughts got. I kept forgetting who I was and why I was here. I couldn’t remember my mom’s face, the color of her hair. Even the color of my own hair.
I became nothing more than a mindless machine, walking, resting, walking and resting. When I stumbled for the millionth time, falling to my hands and knees, a spark of red lit up my hands for a split-second. Just a single beat, but with that came a single image. Daniel’s face. His beautiful perfect face, bright and strong. I almost sobbed as I realized I had forgotten him until that moment. How could I forget Daniel? We were a team.
Fiery streams of power churned in my center. I was starting to recognize the build of energy, the pulling of power. When Daniel bonded us, he must have shared more than just his life force. He had shared his Imperial powers.
When my hands lit up, burning a bright red, I remembered everything.I am Callie.With the whisper of my name, more of my self came back to me; memories returned. Laous must have put me here as a way to break me. He was a clever torturer. I would have preferred he broke every one of my fingers than leave me here in this darkness. Bones could heal. Minds were much harder.
Holding my red hands up, I willed more fire into them, the glow immediately spreading to my wrists and then forearms. Despite the intensity of the heat, my clothes didn’t burn. Somehow the magic knew what to burn and what was off limits. I began to walk again, using the light to finally see my surroundings. I really couldn’t make out much outside of the grayish ground. I appeared to be moving through a land without a single rock or tree or landmark. Which explained why I hadn’t crashed into anything in the dark yet.
I started to run, sobs still racking me, tears dripping along my cheeks, only to sizzle off as the heat dissipated them. I couldn’t deny this any longer, I was trapped here, in this eternal darkness.
“Callie!”
This time the call was distinct enough that my feet faltered and I tripped … again. Fifty million times was the charm, right?
“Keep using the power,” the familiar voice said again.
Rolling onto my back, I pushed all of the burning energy out into the world. My fingertips started to tingle, then there was a pop as a small flame shot up into the air. With a low shriek, I rolled to the side, unsure if it was going to fall back down and land on my face. What if I was only safe from the burn when it was attached to me?
“Daniel,” I shouted, desperate to see him.
Daniel had owned my freaking soul long before he bound us together. There was no one else in any world who could compare. I had fallen for that huge alien asshole in five damned minutes and there was no taking it back. My brain could deny it all it wanted, but my heart knew the truth.
It had chosen.
My fire was running out, and as the energy died away so did my specks of hope. “Daniel,” I cried, frustration and pain my only companion. “Dan … please.”
“Callie! Open your damn eyes.”
What was he talking about … my eyes were open.
“We’re losing her,” a female cried. “What did Laous do?”
I tried to tell them, explain where I had been, but there was no way to open my mouth. I was just too tired.
“Fight, sweetheart. Please, fight for me. Don’t let that bastard take one more person I care about.”
There was true agony in Daniel’s voice and it strummed within my chest. I wanted to comfort him, wanted that so badly, and as I stood in the darkness, I held on to that dying ember of his voice.
Then I threw myself toward it. And…
