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CHAPTER 54
LILY
I opened my eyes and found myself staring into Mia’s worried face. Her mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear a single sound. The smell of Gunnar and Mia was all around me, overwhelming my senses. I sat up and looked around. Confusion slammed into me. What was I-where?
I didn’t recognize any of the furnishings. Pictures of Gunnar and Mia were everywhere, on the walls, shelves, on the bedside table beside me. But how did I-? Where was Raiden? Gunnar?
Looking back at Mia, I searched her face again; it was only the two of us. She shook me desperately, holding on to my shoulders. Her mouth moved frantically as she spoke or yelled, but I couldn’t hear a thing. Not a single sound reached my ears. It didn’t seem like she was trying to hurt me. Was it me? Had I gone deaf? I shook my head, trying to regain my hearing.
Nothing.
The dull ache of silence was killing me, physically hurting my head. Why was I so weak?
Mia jumped off the bed and ran into an adjacent room. I tried to focus on my surroundings again, but I had no idea what to look for. Everything felt wrong.
A moment later, she came rushing back with a folded wet towel in her hands. She jumped onto the bed, almost landing in my lap in the process, and pressed the wet towel to the side of my head. I jerked my body back at the sudden cold sensation.
Her mouth was moving again while she stared at me with wide, horrified eyes. She looked pale. Frightened. “What’s going on?” I asked although I wasn’t sure if I’d actually said it out loud.
Mia pressed the towel to my head again. I flinched but didn’t pull away this time. Had she gone crazy or was there something very wrong with me? When she removed the towel and shifted it to the other side of my head, wiping at something in my neck, I looked down. Everything was covered in blood. In a daze, I lifted my hand and touched a finger to my ear; it was wet and sticky. Mia was screaming, yelling over her shoulder towards the door. I didn’t hear it, but I saw it. She was beside herself. Warm crimson coated my fingers, the rich metallic smell of it invading my nose.
Blood.Fresh blood leaked from my ears, dribbling down my neck.Mia gestured something to me while shoving the wet towel into my hands. Then, she jumped off the bed and bolted out the door, leaving me alone in their room, bleeding out on their bed.
My heart raced, my mind swimming. A dull, uncomfortable pain had settled within the spaces of my inner ears. It was excruciating. Like pressure building with no release.
Was Mia going to come back? I willed myself to move to the edge of the bed and slowly let my legs dangle off. The room was swaying, but after a while, I placed my feet on the cold floor, taking a moment to steady myself. One more deep breath and I stood, clutching the side of a wardrobe, begging my legs not to give out.
My head spun violently. I shook my head again, trying to rid myself of the dizziness and dull ache in my ears. It didn’t work. I linked Raiden, or, at least I think I did. Nothing. Complete and utter silence.
A tear slid down my face as I started making my way towards the door, swaying from side to side like a drunk, completely off balance. The moment I finally stepped out into the hall, my balance faltered, and I crashed to the floor, landing harshly on my side. I struggled to sit up but eventually managed to crawl closer to the wall and leaned against it for support. I sat there for what felt like hours, crying, trying to calm myself and to regain a sense of control over my body’s hazy, sluggish movements.
Minutes passed.
Muffled sounds. Distant. My excitement spiked. I wasn’t deaf. I was hearing things.Wiping at the tears, I lifted my head and turned in search of the noise. Voices, I thought, somewhere down the hall, around the corner maybe?
Carefully, I shifted my weight, pressing against the wall for support. With effort, I pushed myself up, but the patter of feet had me spinning around, facing the opposite direction. Before me stood the one person I despised most. Tanya. She grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me up in a panic.
“Raiden needs you,” she yelled, the sound of her voice hollow and strange. I shook my head, making sure I was actually hearing her. She stared at me in confusion, scrunching her brows together. The world was still spinning when she spoke again. “Did you hear me? Raiden needs you,” she yelled, snapping her fingers in front of my face. I really hated her. The smell of her on my mate was all I could think about as she hooked an arm around my waist and started dragging me down the hall.
“The spirit has taken him over,” she yelled, “you need to come with me right now.”
My mind was weak and confused. I tried to resist, or at least I thought I did, but she kept pulling and eventually led me to a closed door at the end of a corridor. I watched helplessly as she opened it and dragged me inside with her.
The moment I lifted my eyes, multiple concerned faces turned to face us. Shock. Utter shock and horror were plastered on all of them. My eyes found Ray’s immediately.
The lady from Mat’s pack, Marie, flicked her hand in the air and slammed the door shut behind us with a loud bang. I heard that. I heard it loud and clear. Tanya had left me standing by the door and was already running towards Raiden with her arms stretched out.
“Raiden, you’re, okay?” she yelled, flinging her arms around him in a tight embrace.
He was staring back at me, frozen in a state of shock as she wrapped herself around him.
GUNNAR
Everything happened too fast. One moment we heard Lily’s bone-chilling screams echoing off the walls. The next, she and Tanya burst through the door at the end of the hall. Had it been a trick from the spirit, or was she actually crying out for help?
Lily stood by the entrance, gripping the wall, looking distraught as Tanya came sprinting down the hall, aiming straight for Ray. When she reached him, she flung her arms around his neck and pressed her chin into his shoulder.
Raiden had his back turned towards me, so I couldn’t see his face, but I could see Tanya’s. Her eyes were closed, her mouth twisted into a dazed smile as she hugged him.
A second later, she opened her eyes, revealing a thick white, dusty film covering her pupils, draining it of all colour. Her face had suddenly gone void of emotion, her smile fading into a straight line.
No. I drew a quick breath and opened my mouth to cry out to my brother, but a sharp blade covered in fresh blood thrust its way out of Raiden’s abdomen, piercing through the back of his shirt, splattering blood all over me.
His blood. Raiden’s. My brother’s.
