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After a moment, I screamed, making the air around me tremble. I curled my fingers, gripping the air like rods. I held tight as I felt the electricity rippled through my body. As I drew my head down, I slapped my hands together, letting out a crashing thunder that tore through the air. The ground shook. After a moment, it righted itself out. My eyes caught the wolf, his jaw ticking, nostrils flaring as he lifted his head.
I smiled crookedly at him.
“Shouldn’t play with magic if you can’t handle it,” I said flatly and shook myself off, turning toward the mess hall, leaving the group behind me as I began to hum.
Whatever had just happened, the excess magic was now gone. If I hadn’t released it, it would’ve built up and made me explode at one point or another.
I was starving, though, and needed food. Still, I could see my father’s void eyes and couldn’t help but wonder what had made him that way. Or was it just my imagination? I didn’t have visions; I couldn’t have visions. Yet, I’d been apparently experiencing them since arriving at this place. Panic flared through me at that thought. What if they were visions? If so, were they the future or just outcomes that were possible? Were they my darkest fears plaguing my mind, desperate to make me go crazy until I ran home like a scared little girl? Or is someone making me paranoid so I’d do just that? Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past anyone to do such a thing in a world desecrated by war. But why me? Why would anyone want to come after me?
I was a silly little witch, as I was told. One that had to stay out of the war, play nice, and heal those wounded. I couldn’t be used as a tool of any sort. So why would anyone want to target me? Because of my father, perhaps? It was a possibility, but I highly doubted that. I didn’t think my father was high enough in the army for me being messed with to be such a big deal. It was something else. It just had to be. Which brought me back to the whole visions thing all over again. I really was starting to believe it, even if just a smidge.
Food. I needed food. I’d just thrown up whatever I had eaten and could barely remember what I had eaten and exactly when to. It felt like such a lifetime ago. My stomach gurgled, reminding me I had just thrown everything up – again. Yeah, thanks for that stomach.
As I approached the mess hall, I stopped and saw the vehicles lined up front. They were streaming with water from the rain. I could see at least five of them lined up together, each with a driver standing in front of them. The multi-terrain vehicles were ready for us. They hadn’t been there earlier. When the hell had they arrived?
Glancing over my shoulder, I took in the group approaching. Pulling my gaze back up front, the red accents on uniforms told me they were vampires. Each and every single one of them had fangs as their weapons. The nearest one stared at me, his jaw ticking and his nostrils flaring as he raised his head.
Claws curled around my shoulder and pulled me back, turning me toward the mess hall. “Later.” He grumbled in my ear, shoving me toward the door and the food that my rumbling stomach needed. Even if it was just lumpy oatmeal, it was better than nothing. And as long as I didn’t throw it up, of course.
I glanced out the windows as we passed them, those same dark eyes watching me, his head following my movements. My heart beat erratically in my chest and thrummed in my ears. Why was he looking at me like that? I tried to shake it off, but the feeling of something more just out of my reach sent cold trickling down my spine.
Pulling my eyes away from him, yet still feeling him watch me, I turned to the soldier in charge of me. I hated that phrase ‘in charge of me.’ Nobody was in charge of me, and hadn’t been for such a long time. Not even Dad once I was old enough to care for myself. I didn’t think arguing about the whole thing right, though.
My father’s void eyes flickered in my mind, and my heart clenched. Not now. I couldn’t think about that now. I just needed to push forward, get through the rest, and go from there. Then I would figure out what these visions were and move on. Right now, though, I need to eat.
ChapterThirty-One
“Why are they here?” Carli’s voice was music to my ears.
I turned to face her, but her eyes were on the windows of the mess hall. Her attire was different as well. It was a green body suit with swirled designs that reminded me oddly of leaf patterns. My eyes flitted around the room, and I took in the various green suits others had on their own bodies, separating the healers from the foresters.
When my gaze flicked back to Carli, she looked at me again with a somber expression. Something simmered in her big blue eyes, but precisely what I couldn’t tell. I wanted to ask, but my mouth wouldn’t let me. My tongue felt glued to the roof of my mouth, preventing me from saying a single word.
The wolf spoke instead. Which was probably a good thing because I would’ve simply sounded dumb in not knowing a single thing anyway. “Your training is over, all of yours.”
“We’ve barely begun,” Mallory squeaked as she approached our small circle. “How can it be over?”
Looking up, I caught him flinching, his face twisting before it cleared into an emotionless void once more. His eyes snapped to the windows as he watched the vampires outside for a long moment, prolonging his reply.
“The war is getting worse.”
“That’s impossible,” I blurted, shaking my head. “It was fine when we were home and the city when we were leaving—”
“They don’t tell you the worst of it,” he cut me off with a sharp tongue, narrowing his eyes at me. “They keep the small towns hidden, even with their own people inside the warzone.”
My heart lurched at his words. All I could see in my mind was Dad, Jasper, and Timothy. I met Carli’s eyes, but only for a brief moment as hers flickered away just as quickly. I didn’t need to ask what she was thinking and didn’t dare look at Mallory. I could feel the fear seeping from her, the horror of realizing she might lose her brother. Carli didn’t like the idea of losing her boyfriend. However, I didn’t want to lose everybody I cared about. Because that’s what I had now done, wasn’t it? The guys were off in the middle of the warzone, nothing to do with me. But Mallory and Carli were also smack in the middle of being put there because of me. Five for five. I guess I did really well in handing them over to the enemy.
My stomach clenched.
“How bad is it?” I asked, my voice sounding calmer than the fiery pits of hell roaring inside me.
The wolf stared out the window longer than before, biding his time on telling me a word, as if that was going to make any difference. Finally, though, he tore his gaze and pinned it on me. A somber expression overtook his face, shoulders tensing. “We aren’t winning, that’s for sure.”
My heart plummeted at his words, but I kept my face as calm as possible. I couldn’t let him see the emotions stirring inside of me. Of all people, he wasn’t one to let loose in front of.
“So, what’re we supposed to do? Just go out in the real world with little to no training?” Mallory squeaked, her face twisting in the fear that clouded her eyes, her hands trembling at her side.
She looked at me in pure terror, and my heart clenched. Swallowing roughly, I held my head up, refusing for her to see the crumbling pieces falling inside of me. She couldn’t know that I was also breaking apart because it would only make it worse for her. If anyone had to stay strong for Mallory, it was me. I wasn’t sure Timothy would ever forgive me if she went off the deep end.
