I laugh, though inwardly shaking. "Thank you, Lucas." He reaches to grab my hand, but I pull it away. Even though I like Lucas more than Yi, this doesn't change anything. I am still not in love with Lucas.
We enter the mansion, the doors opening as if prodded by an invisible hand. The inside is just as beautifully creepy as the exterior; with two huge flights of stairs in the back of the lobby that is parted by a colossal sculpture of a wolf. The floor is tiled, the ceiling over fifty feet above us. The whole room is very spacious, probably doubling as a ballroom. "Where do those steps lead?" I ask, clutching his arm subconsciously, "they are so big!"
"To the other rooms," he says plainly, "that is the only way to get to them."
"Wow," I gaze at the beautiful chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling, noticing the mural painted above me. It is of wolves in the forest, chasing a bunch of humans. But the strange thing about them is that the human's eyes are red, bright like the werewolves' green eyes but a different color. They are really scary and intimidating, sending recognition into my chest. I... have seen those eyes before.
Pain flashes through me, realization searing. I yell, but that does not dissolve the hurt. The terror.
"Ava!" a voice rips through the air to my ears. I grab the man's hand, pressing it against my heart.
"Help me," I moan, "my heart is hurting." It is throbbing, pounding against my chest.
"What's wrong?!" a beautiful voice says anxiously, one I don't recognize. I raise my hands to my ears, trying to block out the noise, but the screams don't cease. The terrible screams...
All I see is darkness now, slipping into the endless void.
***
"Ava," the same voice from before, the one that doesn't belong to Lucas or Yi, wakes me. My eyes flutter open, consciousness returned.
"What happened?" I ask, the blurry images coming into focus. Hovering right above me is an unbelievably handsome man, with bright green eyes. My eyes grow wide as I survey him. With each strand like a clear crystal, sparkling like rainbows in the light, his hair reminds me of Lucas's but without a definite color. His short buzz cut of this spectacular hair gives way to pale, perfect skin and lightly reddened lips. His eyelashes are thin and shiny black, long and enticing. His face is heart-shaped, and he almost looks like a girl.
"You lost consciousness," he informs me, his gaze disconcerting. It is slightly pleasant, but still strange. I still have not gotten used to all these pretty guys looking at me.
I sit up, my back against the headboard. I look around the room, at the splendor surrounding me. It is absolutely gorgeous, a bedroom with surprisingly modern furnishes.
"Well, thanks," I say, getting up from the bed, "I am fine now." My hair is matted, falling past my shoulders. The man grabs my arm, his expression of concern.
"Are you sure?" he questions, peering into my eyes.
"Of course," I nod, though I am anything but. My head hurts, a throbbing pain that nearly swallows me whole. It is diminishing slowly, yet not quite slow enough. I truly have no idea what just happened. My mind seems to be fuzzy, only the pain and the strange screams echoing in my head over and over...