What is happening to me?!
I start to scream at the unbearable pain.
Uncle Niles grits his teeth at the rigorous assault.
The chaos decreases as my agonized howls distract a few individuals. But it doesn’t matter. It’s as if the hand of God is dragging me away by my ankles. And with that pull, something wild and berserk rolls out from my fingertips, casting a net. A net that blankets everyone here.
Am I being drugged?!
A starry night blots my vision as that hook tugs harder and faster, and I’m hauled away from the cobblestone street, like falling through quicksand—through space. No longer in the snow. No longer lying under my uncle’s body.
My heart threatens to collapse at the thundering pulse hammering in my chest.
And time stops.
There’s a lonely, dismal blackness that goes on for light years.
Each second is nonexistent.
It is all blank.
Muted.
Empty.
Yet I know I’m not alone. Something inhuman watches me with growing interest, a pair of eyes hiding in the leagues beyond sight.
It’s a hallucination.
I’ve blacked out.
Imustbe blacking out. Maybe I’m dying? Maybe we’re all dying.
“You’ll be all right,” a small voice says. “I’m here.”
The light of the sky starts appearing in the form of a star, then it expands until the world around me is alive and breathing again.
But…I’m stunned.
The sun is at its peak. The sky is bright blue. And there are no boutiques or street lanterns. I lie under its beating heat in drowsy, paralyzed shock.
“What the hell?” I cough, wincing at the shooting pain climbing up my rib cage.
It was midnight. Did I black out? How long have I been unconscious?
“Niklaus,” I wheeze.
A hand skims my arm. “Where the fuck are we?”
He’s alive. Next to me. At least I’m not alone.
Not too far from where we’re laying in the dirt and gravel, I hear grunts, heavy breathing, and the shifting of bodies. My eyes stretch wide as alarm fills my veins.
“Niklaus.” I grab his wrist. “We—”
“I know.” He reaches for something between us. “We’re not alone.”
My hazy eyes fall to a shiny piece of metal between our legs. Niklaus’s hand searches its length until he finds the hilt. A sword. Thank God, he’s found a sword. I tilt my head up to find he’s already staring at me, blood trickling down the side of his forehead.
