Chapter 28
H ow the hell did I let this happen? How did they even manage to get the better of me?
I should have known it was too quiet. And that one of those dickheads would do something.
It's my own fault.
I had become too complacent, too comfortable with the guys around and being in their company, that for a brief moment I forgot this was never a place to relax in. There was no such thing as ‘ safe ’ here for me.
I try to shake off whatever they had drugged me with, the drowsiness still pulling at my eyes as I try to make out my surroundings. But even with being dizzy and my vision blurred, I could tell that everything was pitch black around me.
I try to stand, a tremor running down my body with the slight movement, and then I quickly realise my hands and legs are restricted. I’ve been tied up.
This was not what I was expecting when I woke up this morning and headed to class.
Whatever bastard did this even waited until after I had attended all my classes before they drugged me. They could have at least spared me from the day's lessons.
I guess at least one thing was to my benefit…they had underestimated me.
I feel the restraints wrapped around my wrists and legs. Thankfully they weren’t metal cuffs or chains, but rope. I give them a tug and wait. No backlash from a spell or tightened restriction either.
For once, the rumours circulating about me had actually helped. My kidnappers had thought I was still completely useless with no power or strength, so why should they waste magic on me?
I shake my head again, the room or wherever I was, slightly spinning with the sudden movement.
I try to pull myself up, sitting straight as I try to work on the restraints around my wrists. But the darkness around me has an eerie feeling sliding up my back as I move.
I pull at them once, then twice, my brows furrowing at the weak feeling running through me and the lack of movement from the rope. Something like this should have fallen off with one pull.
What had they given me? And how did they even manage to drug me? I had been so careful around everyone else.
The last thing I remember is making my way out of the Cafeteria after eating…the server, she looked kind of new and seemed a little…off.
Fuck , they drugged my food. It's the one thing I don’t hesitate to touch and the only time I feel a little less guarded.
What had they even given me? A spelled potion or some drugged concoction?
I gaze around the dark space, a slight panic beginning to unfurl in me.
What if I was powerless again? What if I was trapped here like I was in the Facility?
I keep trying to look around, my heart racing as my eyes try to search the dark for something, anything.
What if I was locked away alone again? And where no-one can find me?
What if I couldn’t get out, if I died–
No. I wouldn’t go there. This wasn’t the Facility. And these weren’t those shackles.
I was also a different person, and stronger than ever before. I just needed to stay calm and think.
If they used some magic drug on me and it was a student, then it couldn’t be something that strong. It had to be temporary. Or if it was a drug from humans, it would also wear off after a while. How long had I even been unconscious?
By the feel of it, whatever they gave me was already trickling out of my system as the haze in my head was slightly receding, and the drowsiness fading.
I release the breath I didn’t even know I was holding.
In the meantime, I couldn’t just wait for someone to save me.
I wasn’t that weak, young girl anymore and even without my strength or speed right now, I could still do something.
My racing heart calms down as I think things through, the panic slowly subsiding as I pull at the rope again. Over and over I tug and pull at them, until I feel something give. I keep at it until my wrists feel sore and my skin feels raw, but still continue. I wouldn’t give up until I was free.
After a few more painful tugs I finally feel the rope give way and loosen so I can free my hands. I reach toward my legs and fumble, trying to untie them as quickly as I can, still slightly dizzy from whatever spell or drug they gave me.
I finally free my feet and stand up, stumbling slightly as a wave of dizziness hits me again.
Shakily moving forward, I feel around in the dark, trying to find my way around.
Was it night or still day? And how long had I been out; minutes, hours… days ?
A bitter laugh leaves my lips. It's not like anyone would come looking for me or even notice I was gone anyway…so what did it matter?
Annex, Ezra, Mallyn and Creed hadn’t appeared in school all week, not since the little call they got in the Cafeteria.
And even Mr. Valor had been busy after school with other work, so we hadn’t been able to train together the past few days.
He was also my last class and since I had attended, he wouldn’t even know I was missing.
I freeze. Why did I think of them?
Had I become too used to their company?
Did I think they’d actually notice if I wasn’t there?
They would probably be happy I was gone, especially Creed. He might even be smiling right now.
But Annex…would he notice?
Or maybe Ezra?
I give myself a slight shake, the room spinning again when I do.
Why would they care about me anyway? We hadn’t even known each other that long. And faith and trust in another person wasn’t something I could give so easily anymore. I could only depend on myself. Letting my guard down just a little already put me in this predicament as it was.
My hand catches on what I assume is the wall. It's cold and makes a slight ‘ clanging ’ noise when I hit it. Metal.
Metal was strange for a wall in the academy, especially since they were mostly made of brick, stone or wood. It didn’t fit in with the old aesthetic vibe they usually go for there.
But where was I if not inside the academy? Where else was there?
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing thoughts. And then it hits me.
The smell.
A smell so foul, I question how I didn’t notice it before.
The stench seeps into my lungs, turning my stomach and making me want to wretch. What was it? And where the hell was I?
I begin moving as quickly as my body will allow, a new panic setting in with the foul scent flooding my lungs. Something dark and familiar about the smell sets alarm bells ringing in my head and has my instincts telling me to run, to get as far away from it as I can.
My hand catches on a latch, and feeling around, I quickly find a handle.
I unbolt the catch and push against the door with all my might, praying it wasn’t locked or worse, spelled.
It slowly creaks open, the weight hard and heavy as I continue to push.
The large metal door only moves a few inches, but relief spreads through me with the fact it wasn’t locked, and spurs me on to keep moving.
Shoving the door harder, I throw every ounce of my energy and the whole weight of my body against it. It slowly screeches open, dragging across what sounds like rocks or gravel. I continue pushing against it until there's enough space in the gap I’ve made for me to squeeze through.
The ground crunches beneath my feet, the jagged rocks stabbing into my bare flesh, the fact that I’m shoeless only dawning on me now. The bastards had taken my shoes, and they didn’t even let me keep my socks.
Looking up I see a crescent moon above me and the dark night surrounding it. I guess that answered at least one question.
I turn toward the area surrounding me. An ocean of trees and dark forest were spread out around me and as far as the eye could see. The dark green trees reach toward the night sky in every direction with the academy nowhere in sight.
I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and trying to shake off the nausea rushing through me as strange images hit me.
Ivy Harris.
Jeremy Colton.
Jake Andrews.
And Alice Parker.
Their faces flash before me, and even blurry and shaky I can make them out. Their voices and laughter sound out around me like an echo as I feel my body being moved back and forth in the quick memory.
So they were behind this.
I should have known. Most of the time it always was them. Why do they continue to bother with this crap?
The effort to do this alone was baffling me. Did they not have anything better to do?
What did they even hope to get out of this? To see me cry, to break my spirit a little more? To teach me where my ‘ place’ was?
Or did they just plan to leave me here?
I look toward the forest in front of me. Just rows upon rows of dark trees and bushes, as far as my eyes could see.
I turn back from where I came from, and that's when I see it. The dark place I’ve just escaped from.
It's a large metal shed of sorts, with dark warning signs and sealing spells all over it. But they're now torn and broken.
And that's when it all clicks.
This was the detainment shelter for the sixth year Defence class. This was where they kept wild magical beasts for training. It was only for final year students who had the magical capacity to take on these wild creatures. And usually they would take them on in groups or teams.
The school didn’t want to risk injury or danger to other students so they placed them to the back of the academy, through the forest and up toward the mountain, and it was one of the furthest points from the academy.
And now I was here…and the spells keeping the beasts in place were gone.
They weren’t inside. If they had been I wouldn’t have made it out, especially having been drugged and unconscious.
Quickly turning around, I watch the treeline, flickering my gaze in every direction. How many of them did they have in there?
Did these assholes really want me dead ? This was beyond some cruel prank.
I’m thrown into the forest– at night –with wild magical beasts set loose to hunt me, and weakened by whatever drug or potion they’ve fed me.
I knew they were sick and twisted, that they enjoyed the pain and misery they inflicted on me…but this?