Chapter 6
Jane / Alchera
Standing in a foreign city , people are screaming all around me in a language I don’t understand. Everyone is panicking, running with no real direction, rushing to find a safe place.
I can feel their hopelessness, their utter dread.
As I glance around me in total shock, I see dead faces, some burned beyond recognition, while a cloud of ash hangs thick in the air.
Intense panic spreads through me as I take in the destroyed buildings and the gaping holes in the roads. It looks like a bomb hit the area.
Is it a terrorist attack?
I suck in a breath of ash and start to cough, my lungs burning from the heat in the air.
A stench of rotten eggs fills the air, and above me, dark, threatening clouds gather – a mass of swirling blackness, where the edges are tainted dark red, blending into the brightest yellow.
The heavens seem to be on fire.
A horrifying fear floods my body when I realize I’m standing in the middle of a volcanic eruption.
Tears burn in my eyes as the ground shakes beneath my feet.
Suddenly, something slams hard into my chest. I fly backward from the force of whatever hits me, and I drop to the ground .
My chest feels as if it’s being ripped open.
“Alchera! No!” I hear a man shout, and then someone falls over me. I’m just about to make out his face…
“Jane!” I’m shaken so hard by Ryan that it rips me out of the dream.
I shoot upright in bed while coughing as if I’m still inhaling ash, the ache in my chest lessening by the second.
Loud music is blaring through the house from the party, and I blink a couple of times to get rid of the haziness of the nightmare.
Ryan’s face starts to come into focus, and then I register the worried expression in his eyes.
“It was only a dream,” I say to put him at ease.
I rub my eyes, my head spinning from the intense nightmare that felt way too real.
“What did you dream?” he asks.
When I duck my head low, resting my forehead against his chest, his fingers brush over my cheek before slipping behind my neck.
Not wanting to talk about it, I mutter, “It was nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing. You stopped breathing,” he snaps, actually sounding angry because I won’t tell him.
When I climb off the bed to put some space between us, another dizzy spell hits. I breathe through it and once it passes, I grab my jacket and shrug it on.
“Let’s get out of the room,” I say while pushing my feet into the nearest pair of sneakers. “I need some fresh air.”
Ryan gets up and quickly puts on his boots.
We stay quiet as we walk out of the bedroom and through the house. A headache starts to pulse behind my eyes, and when we finally leave through the front door, I suck in a deep breath of the cold air.
The moment we’re sitting in Ryan’s truck, he says, “Talk to me. What did you dream about?”
“It was just a nightmare,” I mutter while he starts the engine and steers the truck away from the curb.
“It’s important that you tell me,” he insists, and it has me frowning at him .
Important, my ass.
Shaking my head at him, I lift my hand and rub my chest where it’s still aching from whatever slammed into me in the dream.
Did someone shoot me?
“Jane, talk to me,” Ryan sounds impatient, his eyes flicking between the road and me. “Now.”
“Dammit, can you just chill,” I snap at him. “God. I just woke up from one hell of a nightmare. Give me some time to process it.”
When Ryan pulls over to the side of the road, I realize we’re close to the waterfall.
I don’t mind. The peace and quiet out here will do me a world of good.
We get out of the truck, and as we walk toward the waterfall, I can feel tension coming off Ryan in waves.
I pull my jacket tighter around me, glad for the full moon giving us some light so we can see where we’re going.
God, it’s cold.
The moment we reach the waterfall, Ryan lets out a sigh and says, “What I’m about to tell you might sound crazy, but just bear with me.” Lifting a hand to my face, he tucks a few strands of my hair behind my ear. “To really hear me, you need to listen with that part within you that feels like you never belonged here. Listen with that piece of your soul that tells you you’re different from others.”
Confused as fuck, I ask, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Vaalbara is a real place. It’s our home. Your people are waiting for you to return, and I’ve been sent to bring you home.”
The. Fuck?
With a raised eyebrow, I gawk at him for a moment, wondering if he’s lost his mind.
“Did you get drunk while I was sleeping?” I finally manage to ask.
He shakes his head, a serious expression tightening his features. “I need to take you home.”
He’s actually starting to scare me, and it has me snapping, “Th-that’s enough, Ryan. Is this some k-kind of sick joke? ”
He shakes his head again, his voice remaining calm. “I'm serious. You’ll need to clear your mind of everything so I can take you home.”
I take a cautious step away from him, regretting that I came out here with him.
Crap, he can kill me, and no one will be around to hear my screams.
When Ryan darts toward me, he moves so fast I don’t even have time to make a sound. His arms wrap tightly around me, trapping my body to his in a steel embrace.
God, he’s much stronger than he looks.
Panic takes over, but before I can shove at Ryan to try and free myself, he moves so fast wind swirls around us, whipping my hair into my face.
Holy shit!
He slams us into the icy waterfall, the speed alone taking my breath away, never mind the freezing water that rushes over us, quickly soaking our clothes.
“Don’t think of anything, Alchera. Clear your mind. Let me take you,” Ryan says urgently, right by my ear. “Please let me take you. Let me keep you safe. You belong with me.”
Intense fear fills me from how quickly Ryan went from being my friend to a dangerously insane stranger.
I didn’t see any of this coming. How stupid am I?
Before another panicked thought can enter my mind, I’m overcome with a sickening feeling, and the world blurs and spins around me.
The water begins to grow warmer, and when I’m pulled away from the waterfall, bright sunlight stings my eyes.
What. The. Hell. Is. Happening?
It feels as if my head is going to explode from intense pressure, and I struggle to breathe as I’m dragged through a pool until I can feel slimy ground and pebbles beneath my feet.
Finally, I’m able to take a deep breath, and the pain lessens in my head. When I look behind us, I see a beautiful blue-green curtain of water, like the one from my dream.
Holy shit. The waterfall looks precisely like the one I’ve been drawing.
“It took me a few times before I got used to shifting,” Ryan says, his voice much deeper than it was a few seconds ago.
My eyes snap to his face, and I’m so shocked by what I see, I shove away from him and fall backward into the water.
Splashing, I fight to regain my balance, my eyes not leaving the man in front of me.
Oh my God.
Drops of water sparkle in his dark brown hair, and he’s much taller.
HolyShit.HolyShit.HolyShit.
His eyes sparkle like amethysts, and he looks older. Easily ten to fifteen years older.
My mind is completely frazzled, and I can’t process what I’m seeing at all.
There’s no sign of Ryan, the teenage boy I was falling in love with. Instead, I’m staring at a man that’s twice my size.
One hell of a strong man by the looks of his muscled body.
Is he wearing leather?
I start to frown and shake my head because none of this makes sense, and I figure it has to be another weird dream.
Yep. That’s it. You’re dreaming.
You’re fast asleep in your bed.
This isn’t real.
Everything feels weird and out of place.
A familiar crooked smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, and it confuses me even more.
“I’ve changed slightly. The elixir wore off as soon as we entered Vaalbara.”
“Slightly?” I whisper as I let out a chuckle that almost turns into a sob.
Dear God. What is this?
“You’ve changed too,” he says, his tone a million times calmer than I feel. He gestures at the water. “Take a look.”
My confusion only grows, and when I glance down, I almost have a heart attack.
A gasp explodes over my lips as I look at my wobbly reflection in the water.
I see sparkling emerald-green eyes wide with shock and confusion. My hair is black with silver streaks on the left side of my head.
I lift a trembling hand to my face, and my breath catches in my throat when my fingers brush over my perfect creamy skin.
“That can’t be me,” I whisper.
Panic grips my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs until it starts to hurt.
My heart pounds in my ears.
When my vision starts to blur again, I look at Ryan.
I want to ask him what he did to me, but my tongue is numb with pins and needles.
Ryan darts forward, and as his arms wrap around me, he says, “Breathe, Alchera.”
I shake my head as my body goes limp, and my vision grows spotty.
“Everything will make sense soon,” I hear him say as he lifts me into his arms bridal style.
“Peace be, Raighne,” I hear another man’s voice. “Is the princess okay?”
“Peace be. She’s just in shock. I have to get her to Janak and Aster.”
I manage to pry my eyes open and see a blur of greens and browns before I pass out.