A silent order come from above me and I hardly lifted my chin to see an avalanche of ginger hair falling from a hooded figure. I dismissed the stranger immediately, who most likely is a vampire playing tricks on me. But the whispered continued and I look back to catch the person rapidly monitoring me to come to their side. If they think I'm able to climb a bloody tree after being thrown around like a puppet doll...
"Or you die, your call!" They continue talking and I glance back to the battlefield. Thalia was still fighting, trying to get past the vampires that encircled her. She was a metre away from safety...
Go, I wanted to mutter to her.
"Go now, Thalia!"
Her red eyes lock to mine as she kills another vampire. I nod and continue to mutter the words.
"Go, get help. Save yourself, please. Go!"
She finally nods, before killing a few more vampires and crossing the border. I use those few remaining seconds where the vampires' attention isn't on me, to get on my legs and try to climb that tree, but I fell on my butt with a thud. A hundred darkened eyes fall on my limping figure, trying to get back on my feet, but I don't see them for long. A pair of slender arms grasp me and the world around fades. I could swear the tree itself engulfed us, but I must've been imagining things.
I could be imagining all of this...
When I see light again, I run out of the stranger's arms and trip over my own feet. I land into a valley, but had I had my eyes closed, I could've sworn that I was floating on a cloud. The grass felt softer than a cashmere sweater under my aching body, the soil slightly wet with dew and smelling better than a field of wildflowers. The sun seemed to caress my body with its heat and I swear I could stay in this place forever. I hear footsteps approaching me and I quickly wake up from my daydream, jumping to my feet and trying not to fall on my knees because of the pain running through my left leg. I look at it and observe the bleeding scratches, my pants' material reduced to shreds.
But I dismiss it and look at my saviour, preparing myself for another battle to errupt soon. I limp back when I recognise her face. I must've seen her only for a brief second, but she is the reason of everything that happened since Halloween. I never imagined I would see her again, but here we are, facing each other, her eyes carefully analysing my movements.
"Hello, Adeline," she finally says after I cross my arms, expecting. I straighten myself and lift my chin. If I do this I'm a few centimetres taller than her.
"So you know who I am," I speak carefully and she nods. "And you are?"
"Tamara Grey, pleased to finally meet you," she presents herself and I let a venoumous half-smile curve on my lips.
"Oh, believe me. You'll regret soon enough."
***
A light casted its beam on me and I felt myself pulled from my dreams. No, it wasn't some ethereal power, but Thalia's phone's torch that was hurting my eyes. But it was nothing compared to the piercing shout that followed and which made me groan in annoyance. "I found her!"
I hear more people approaching, but I can't open my eyes fully. I throw my hand in the light's direction and Thalia finally stops the bloody thing from further blinding me. She mouths a 'sorry', but I'm not able to say anything, because I'm enveloped by two strong arms. I recognise his body, his smell and I sigh when his warmness caresses my freezing body. I throw my arms around his neck and Asher proceeds to sweep me off the ground.
"How did she end up here?" I hear Hayder's voice and I glance to him. I couldn't even mutter the answer, although it stuck to the tip of my tongue. It was like I forgot how to pronounce words and I immediately tensed.
"It's okay, my love," comes Asher's calming voice to smother my uneasiness. "You're safe now."
The prattling around me was exhausting, making me wish to yell at them to shut up for at least a minute. But all the words I meant to say blocked in my throat, my energy slipping away from me so quickly that I was too tired to open my mouth. I was too tired to keep my eyes open, as some headlights of the car I recognised to be Hayder's started to blind me just like Thalia's torch.
"Call the others and tell them to meet us home," says Asher and that last word clinged differently in my soul now. I wanted to correct him, tell him that the place he meant is not my real home. That I found it and... lost it again.
But I couldn't speak, couldn't tell where that place was, couldn't do anything but fall back to the dreamless sleep I've woken from when Thalia found me. I can only wish somehow I'll wake up there.
Even if I don't know where that is supposed to be...
***
— T A M M I
Roaming around the castle, I found my sister in dad's old office, studing another earthly map. I didn't say anything, but sat on the leathered armchair across from hers and crossed my hands in my lap. My gaze drifted around the room, like I was seeing it for the first time. All the maps glued to the walls, the swords and shields resting by the ancient library, the pictures of our family so out of the place in this dusty room. But there was something that my sister adored about this place, a certain privacy the shielded room provided from the nosey flock that is wandering non-stop around our residence. It is why I came here now.
"What did you do?" She asks, her nose still stuck inside one of the old maps, but her cunning eyes watching me, expectant.
"Before you shout at me, you need to remind yourself that it is my job to..."
"Mum and dad warned you not to go to Boulder again, Tammi," she cuts me off before I can explain myself.
I roll my eyes and move to sit on the old and unconfortable couch, my dust allergy activating as soon as I grab one of the old pillows on it and put it away from me. My sister comes to sit by me, holding a cup of tea for me.
"I put some fairy dust in it," she tells me and I gratefully take the cup from her hands. I take a sip from the warm tea and try to relax my sore body.
"I sensed her," continues Karrie and I just sigh. It means that not only she is aware of my mistake, but the King and Queen will soon request my presence at the palace. "How did it happen?"
"I had no other choice," I explain and take another sip from my cup. I take a bit of paper from the nearby coffee table and draw a rune on it. I give it to my sister and today's events start replaying in both of our minds.