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“No, we should have been safe here,” Kaden said. “The Council is responsible for this.”
“Leaving doesn't have to be forever,” Niall said, looking at each of us. “We’ll be able to come back once all of this is over.”
“You think it can end?” she asked, lifting her head enough to look at him.
“I know it can. I know it will,” he promised.
“We just don't know when,” Kaden finished.
Chapter 28
It only took a moment for me to recognize this place. I slowly turned around. Dread filled my heart. I knew what I would see, and I knew that there was no avoiding it.
The second I saw the lake and rounded a turn to see the castle, I could tell this wasn't a dream or a nightmare. I was having a vision.
For the first time, I recognized it while it was happening. Like so many other times, I wished I could run, escape, wake myself up, or maybe even change things, but there was nothing I could do besides wait to see what happened and pray there was more information this time. More clues to tell me where I was and what the importance of this castle was. Why was I seeing it yet again?
The front doors were at least fifteen feet tall and slowly opened as men I assumed were guards marched forward, followed by a small group. They marched toward me without seeing me, halting at the same time. Then, the guards faced each other, creating a space between them for the group to walk through.
My heart fell to my feet.
It was Daniel, Hannah, Natasha, and another guy our age. They moved a few yards away from the guards and surveying the surrounding area. They were all paler than before I left, as if they’d seen even less sunlight than at the Academy in the middle of winter or maybe they were sick. Something about them didn't look right or feel right.
Daniel kept his arm around Hannah’s shoulders, and the other guy did the same with Natasha. I expected her to shrug him off and laugh in his face. Instead, she curled toward him and broke down into the sob.
Natasha. My brave, stubborn, powerful roommate was breaking down in the arms of a man? I couldn't believe my eyes. Something was terribly wrong. Really, really wrong for her to be this upset in front of anyone else.
She was so tough. So badass. I never thought in my life I would see her shed a single tear.
I didn't want to look at Hannah to see if she was doing the same, but Daniel’s movement caught my eye. He turned, pulling her shaking body into his, wrapping his arms around her and holding her head to his chest. He looked shattered. I could see the pain in his eyes as he held Hannah. I could sense his helplessness and a feeble amount of desperation. His fight had left him completely. He held her with blank eyes, staring at a point past them all.
I wanted to go to them. I wanted to beg them to tell me where they were and promise I would help them. They needed to know I hadn't forgotten about them. None of us had, and that we missed them. I wanted to make this okay.
A guard said something, and the four of them looked toward the men with mixtures of horror on their features. The guy holding Natasha was the first to fall to the ground with a roar of pain.
Natasha held up her hands as if to stop them before she clutched her stomach and dropped, unmoving.
I started running. I couldn't reach them, but I couldn't just stand there and watch this.
The next guard turned his attention to Hannah. I froze before dropping to my knees. When I saw her hands lower to her stomach, gently holding on a small bump. She screamed as she collapsed to the ground. Daniel took off running toward the guards, but only made it a few steps before he joined the rest. A motionless heap.
A cry escapes my lips as I observed the scene before me. I shook more and more violently until my eyes finally opened. I was in the hospital. Theo was holding me. Niall and Kaden stood over us. Sai stared at me from his bed on the other side of the room.
“Are you okay?” one of them asked.
I shook my head, wanting to burn that horrible image from my brain, but it would stay with me forever. My breath stuck in my throat, coming in gasps as tears blurred my vision. I couldn't handle this. I couldn't. My mind and heart rejected what I knew to be true while also screaming at me to do something to stop it. To change it. But there was nothing I could do.
I could never change my visions. They always happened.
Theo’s arm wrapped tight around me. The one I had about him would come true too. I knew it. Despite how badly I wanted to believe the future could change, I knew it would come true. I thought about the castle. It all made sense.
The room he'd been in. It had stone walls. It wasn't a door I looked through, but bars. Like something that belonged in a dungeon, below a castle.
Someone slaps me on the back hard enough to make me gasp. I inhaled a shaky breath.
“Saige, what's going on?”
“Talk to us. You're freaking us out.”
