The Silvia Saga: Boxset

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Kayla

Lifting my heavy eyelids, I look around the empty cell, trying to recall where I am. It all comes crashing down on me, visions flickering in my mind. The strange guy who took me, then appearing in another world, and now being here, locked up in a cell. I have no idea what the hell is going on. Closing my eyes again, I go back and replay what happened.

It had been months since my Dara disappeared. I’d done everything in my power to find her in those first few days. The letter she left behind when she went for her hike gave me the first and only lead—to search the Wet Tropics. I tried to scour the whole area over those first few days, but there was too much ground to cover. Each time, nothing showed up—nothing at all. I had a suspicion that those guys I let her leave the club with had something to do with her disappearance, but I had no proof.

Eventually, I called the local police, and even though they searched for her, they always came back empty-handed. I put posters up all over town. News reporters came to interview me, blasting her disappearance around the state. I hoped she’d see it and come home or that someone would know where she was, but after months with no leads, everyone had given up the search—everyone except me. I knew she was out there somewhere—she had to be.

Dara’s my best friend, and I wasn’t going to stop looking until I found her. I knew she would do the exact same for me if our positions were reversed.

I was out putting up new posters at the community centre when I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I spun around, coming face to face with a man whose eyes were as black as a pool of ink. He was sporting white pants and a black jumper. I had a bad feeling about him, something that sent warning bells through me. The way he looked right through me—that alone should have had me running for the hills.

I turned around to leave but stopped when he said, “I have a lead on your friend. I can show you where she was last seen.”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“I said, I know where your friend was last seen,” he repeats. “Do you want me to show you?”

I tried to process what he’d just said. Could I even trust this freak? Everything about him screamed evil—the dark shadows under his sunken eyes, his hardened features. I just knew something wasn’t right with him and my conscious told me I should turn and run. But he was the only lead I’d had on Dara for months. I needed to find out what he knew. Dara was my number one priority. I owed it to her to never give up until I found her.

“Where did you see her? Have you reported this to the police?” I asked cautiously.

He ran his hand through his hair, clearly getting frustrated. “Yes, it was reported to the police not long ago. They’re on their way now. We need to meet them there,” he explained, walking towards a car in the parking lot by the side of the national park.

Warning bells went off. “If that was the case, wouldn’t they have called me already?” I asked. He stopped and turned around to face me.

“How the hell would I know?” he snapped back.

I stumbled back at his words. Turning around, I started to run but something hard struck the back of my head. That was when everything went black.

Cool air hit my face. I peeked open my eyes. Looking around, I noticed a sign on a tree that said Wet Tropics.

“What’s going on?” I asked just as the guy forcefully grabbed hold of my arm, pulling me forward.

“You and I are going for a little walk.”

He pulled me into the forest with force. I tried to hold back the tears, confusion taking hold. My head killed and I had no idea what was going on. I’d been scared, petrified he’d hurt me again, so I did what he told me—even though my knees were shaking.

We walked in silence for hours, or minutes—I have no idea.

Another several hours passed in a blur. My feet were killing me—I couldn’t think straight. I had no idea where we were going.

The guy stopped abruptly, and I slammed into his back. Shaking myself off, I looked around him to find several men, all dressed in white. Warning bells went off yet again—I knew I was in trouble. But how the hell did I get there? Everything in my memory was blurred. I couldn’t recall anything that’d happened prior to that point.

I turned around and tried to run as fast as I possibly could, but my body stopped instantly like it’d hit a brick wall. I tried to push forward, but I was stuck in place.

I couldn’t move my body at all. I was turned back around, forced to face the men. My pulse rose when I realised someone else was in charge of my body.

The evil guy laughed out loud, and the noise pierced my ears. “Let me tell you, Kayla, it’s magic, and I’ll be teaching you a thing or two right now,” he said.

I hadn’t believed him. I’d thought magic wasn’t real, and that it had to be drugs.

Turns out magic is real—and it’s a whole lot worse than I could have ever imagined.

Back then, I remember thinking the man may as well just kill me—but it seemed he heard my thoughts.

“I have plans for you, Kayla—plans that I need you very much alive for. You’ll be my bargaining chip, the answer to all my problems. Now, enough time wasting. Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

I didn’t get a second to process what he’d said as the bubble around me shattered. I fell hard to the ground, pain engulfing my whole body. He lifted up his arms, chanting, then when he thrust his hands towards me, I was thrown backwards. My body burned and froze simultaneously from my head down to my toes.

“Now, let's go to Silva, shall we?”

That was the last thing I heard before everything closed in around me, turning to darkness.

Now, here I am, stuck in this stinky cell. I have no idea what’s going on. The only visitors I have had are those creepy guys who wear all white. I can’t recall how long I have been in here, rotting away. It could have been hours—could have been days. I just desperately want answers. To find out what this Silvia place is. That’s the last thing I remember hearing before it all went black.

Since I woke in this cell, everything about me has felt … different. I am different. Like a whole new person. I have no idea what that guy did to me or where I am. I just know that I have changed now and I am somewhere else. I have been mulling over my thoughts, and I am going a little crazy, being alone here and listening to all my theories and beliefs.

The only thing keeping me going is that one guy who comes to visit me every now and then. He’s different from the others. There is something about him that makes me feel safe. The aura that shines off him makes me trust him. He seems to care about me but tries hard not to show it in front of the others.

His tanned skin shines out from the white of his outfit, and his hair is slicked back. He’s often sporting one of those man buns that I swore I hated until I saw him. His face is clean-shaven, and his smile shows me he cares about me. About my well-being. Where everyone else wears a scowl, he doesn’t. He’s the only one I trust in this hellhole.

I doze off thinking of him, of his smile—and for a blissful, indulgent moment, I feel peace.