Chapter 7
SEVEN
Kallie
Flames engulf my flesh before they dance around the room, swallowing everything in its path.
An impenetrable wall forms around me, clear and undetectable.
Every attack they throw my way bounces back toward them tenfold.
My vision darkens with the shadows waiting to be unleashed.
A menacing beam broadcasts over my lips as I let the chaos sing.
Trails of fire lick across the ground, each meeting their mark. Cries of pain enclose me. Vines entangle themselves around necks, hanging and snapping with a single command from me.
Smoke billows from the shield, wrapping around Serena’s discarded body. Absent-mindedly, it carries her to a safe spot behind me.
The faces of the remaining stare at the act, and that only makes me smile wider. Using the water Serena produced, I douse the flames before letting it submerge each person in the liquid.
Starting from the bottom, it leisurely starts freezing.
Once transparent, it now turns into solid ice, keeping their feet seated.
Panic arises, and a stream of shadows stares them in the eyes, like a tentacle of doom.
My voice booms, and unlike last time, it doesn’t feel foreign—it feels like me.
“Remember me. Remember the life you stole from not only me but all the others before me.” Refraining from looking back, I continue, “You stole hers twice over. And for what? Ask yourself this question with your last fleeting breath.” I pause, waiting for the ice to be just below their neck.
“Was it worth it?” Then everything goes quiet.
Dropping the shield, I rush over to Serena.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay,” I lie to her, pressing my hands over her wound.
The corner of her lip quirks up the slightest. She raises one of her hands, brushing against my arm.
“No, no. Don’t do that,” I say. “We are getting out of here. I told you that. I promised you that.” It’s in that moment I see the tears well up in her eyes, and I watch them fall.
My eyes are blurry, but I can still make out her face.
“Serena, hey. It’s me. We just have to get you that healing serum.
It’s gotta be in one of these rooms. It’s okay.
I’ll find it. Just hang tight, okay? You can’t leave me.
” Trying to stand, she stops me. “Let me go. I’ll get us out of here, and it’s going to be fine.
We’ll find your family and—” She shakes her head, using all her energy to pull me closer.
“I can fix this. I have to fix this,” I whisper, resting my head on her.
She strokes down the length of my hair, each one slower than the last. “You’re going to be fine.
” My promise falls on deaf ears. Her hand stops moving, and when I look at her again, she has a single tear streaking down her cheek, and I let out a choked sob.
Did I do this? If I had just left her here, she would still be alive. But she would…she would still be trapped. I can’t just leave her here.
The distant sound of more guards rushing this way tells me I’m out of time. Kissing her on the forehead, I leave her with promises of finding her family and telling them all about her. How resilient she was and how hard she fought. She will always be remembered.
Tears blur my vision, and I almost trip while ascending the staircase, gaining as much distance from the wreckage as I can.
Following the path of doors, they all blur together in a sea of rage.
When I reach the last door, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Whipping around, I see the man I thought I knew standing four doors down.
The person I would have put above all else, until he took the biggest knife he could find and stabbed me in the back.
Repeatedly. Until I was bleeding out at his feet.
And for good measure, he ripped my heart out and stomped on it next to my lifeless body.
Immediately, fire races down my arms, blossoming in my palms. “This is all your fault!” I yell.
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for you!
” He stays unmoving, like he’s paralyzed in the spot.
Uncontainable rage bubbles out of me, and I shoot the flames at him.
His shadows eat them like a Venus fly trap. Yet, he makes no advance.
“Come on! Fight me, you fucking coward!” My brain threatens to remember the day I said those words to him all those months ago. A different lifetime, a different world. The tears resurface, and I let them fall.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Shadows lace in my peripheral, ready for attack. The guards stomp up the steps, and I know I only have seconds remaining.
Not knowing where this door leads to, I try to open it anyway. Realizing Kate’s finger got lost in the battle, I scoff and throw my shadows at the steel door.
He’s stoic—frozen in place. My gaze doesn’t waver. I don’t even blink until I’m on the other side, and the door closes, severing our connection.
All the light is sucked out of the room when the door slams shut—encompassing me in complete darkness, except for the red machine on the left. I burn it, not wanting Callum or the guards following me.
Holding a ball of flames in my palm, it lights a few inches in front of me. Rocks litter the ground, and stones make up the surrounding walls.
A tunnel.
Eerie silence stretches around me, save for the shifting pebbles under my feet. There are no other doors, no corners or hidden nooks and crannies that I can find. The thought of resting here crosses my mind, but for all I know, anyone could be hunting me down from the opposite end.
Thoughts of Serena plague my mind as I trek through the unknown. We built a bond in the time we were here. She is—was—smart. She figured out the thing that was keeping us incapacitated and weak when I was too far gone in my pity party to pay attention to what was right in front of me.
She endured everything these people did to her, only to sacrifice herself in the end.
For me. I let the tears roll freely. I will avenge her death if it’s the last thing I do, fester in the madness and take the souls that dared to mark her flesh and snuff out her light.
They will wish, pray, beg for me to stop, but the last thought that will cross their minds will be that they should’ve killed me when they had the opportunity. Because they won’t get another one.
A small set of stairs appears at the end, leading to a singular door. A wave of panic hits me, not knowing what awaits me on the other side. My chest lifts as I take in a deep breath, letting it wash over me and erase the anxiety that’s foreboding to take over.
There’s no scanner, so I keep my fireball at the ready before swinging the door open. Immediately, the fire dies out, and both of my hands spring up to shield my eyes. A smile breaks free of my restraint.
The sun bathes my skin in peppered kisses. The sunbeams instantaneously find their mark, heating my skin. My eyes stay in a constant squint while I observe my surroundings.
Darting for the trees on my left, I leave the rays behind me, letting the tall ferns blanket me. My sprint is cut too short when my foot snags on a rock, and I fall face first, eating a mouthful of dirt.
This seems like a metaphor for my life.
Pushing up onto my hands and knees, I spit out the soil but end up swallowing most of it. This is the most amount of nutrients I’ve had in months.
A soft trickle sounds in the distance, and I stand on wobbly legs, not bothering to wipe the filth from the draped fabric I’m wearing, and keep moving.
A small whimper escapes me as I stumble upon a glistening, rushing river. Moving as fast as my legs will allow, I drop to my knees at the edge of the stream. Cupping my hands together, I scoop the water into the well I’ve made and bring it up to my mouth.
The first drop of water that hits my tongue brings tears to my eyes.
I drink handful after handful, letting the drops trickle down my throat, uncaring of the ones that escape.
I think of Serena and how she would have enjoyed this—this moment of freedom we fought for—so I look up to the sky and cheers before drinking another.
Next, I scrub my face, washing the dirt and grim from my skin. A ripple breaks over the water’s surface, and a spark lights up within me.
Fish. Of course there would be fish. My stomach growls with the thought of having a meal, something sustainable.
When the water stills, my eyes don’t waver, laser focused on the scene before me, willing the animal to reappear.
When it doesn’t, I chalk it up to a figment of my imagination.
Hunger pains—hallucinations are bound to happen, I suppose.
Ripping the flimsy cloth from my body, I step into the frigid water until I’m neck deep.
Coasting a little farther out, my feet kick, and I wade through the water before mustering up the courage to fully submerge myself.
Breaking the surface, I gasp for air, the chill seeping all the way down to my bones. I glide the water over my skin, trying to wash away the stains and memories the best I can. Something brushes against my leg, and my movements stop.
I knew I saw a fucking fish.
Training my eyes on the depths below me, I have no time to react as searing pain drowns me, and I’m being pulled under. Claws embed themselves into my calf, and instinctively, I let out a scream, watching the surface get farther and farther away.
Kicking my feet as hard as I can, whatever has a hold on me doesn’t let go, the grip only tightening. With my oxygen running out, I try to think, conjure up some master plan to get myself out of this mess. But as the darkness surrounds me, I’m afraid I’m too late.
All of this was for nothing.