Chapter 24 - Jillian
I stared at Maddox, soaking in the softness in his eyes. He looked himself, and I knew he was okay. We were going to be okay until we weren't.
"You will all pay," the voice spoke loudly around us, and Maddox pulled me closer to him. I looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. I knew it wasn't in my head like last time. It was louder, and it was bouncing around like an echo.
The guys all looked around, confused, seeming unsure of what they were supposed to do. "Maddox, what do we do?"
Maddox's hold on me didn't soften. It tightened. No matter what, I knew he was going to protect me.
The voices then stopped, and we all froze in place. But we knew it wasn't over. Then the one closest to us fumbled over, looking in pain. He screamed as he grabbed his head, covering his ears.
"Shit, Ethan!"
Maddox pulled back and pulled me behind him as he stepped towards Ethan. The other two guys walked with him when Ethan pulled himself up. His once soft eyes were now hard, and the guys all stopped.
"Shit," Maddox said.
Before any of them could think, Ethan lunged at them.
Suddenly, they were all trying to pin him down and get control of the situation, but there was no end.
It seemed that once one of us got hold of ourselves, someone else would be subject to being the next puppet.
Where did it end? We would soon grow tired.
Maybe that was the point. Tire us out until we couldn't fight for our lives anymore. Really, it was a genius idea.
"Ethan, get a hold of yourself," Maddox yelled at Ethan as they had him pinned to the ground. Maddox was holding his head while the other held his body. Ethan didn't stop moving, trying to get himself free.
I ran my hand through my hair, trying to think of what we could do, how we could win, but nothing came to mind. There was no winning.
I heard footsteps and turned. My eyes widened when I spotted Hope and Jessie coming through the woods. Before I could say anything, Hope opened her bag and started pouring something around all of us in a circle.
I could hear Ethan louder, screaming at the top of his lungs now. I covered my ears, dropping down and squeezing my eyes shut. It was all too much.
And then silence.
I pulled my hands free and looked over at Hope and Jessie. I watched their shoulders drop in relief. I looked over at Ethan, who had gone limp in the guy's arm.
"Is everyone in control of their bodies?" Hope asked.
Everyone slowly nodded their head as we all told them we were. Hope sighed heavily, and I stood up. I looked around, seeing she'd drawn a circle around us. "What is this?"
"A protective barrier. It blocks him from getting to you guys."
A million questions went through my head. What the hell had just happened? How did they even know we were out here? What would have happened if they hadn't arrived?
"How did you know we were here?" Maddox asked, running a hand over his face.
"We felt something was off," Jessie said. "And Jillian was supposed to drop off the herbs we needed."
"Is everyone okay?" Hope asked.
"No, I'm not okay," Ethan snapped angrily. "I just lost my fucking mind! Do you have any idea how that feels?"
A shiver ran through my body, knowing all too well what he was talking about. "How long do we need to stay here?" Maddox asked, his eyes looking out of the circle.
Hope turned and looked into the woods. "Considering I'm sure he knows that we are here, he will likely move on."
"You sure about that? Because it worked past Jillian's bracelets." Maddox said, sounding angry.
Hope looked at me, her face falling a little paler. She looked at Maddox. "The bracelet is only so strong, Maddox. None of this is foolproof."
I watched him work his jaw before turning to me. Maddox pulled me into his arms, his hands shaking as he held me. I felt him take a shaky breath in. "All I want to do is protect you."
I clung to him, looking at Hope, who looked as broken as I felt. I tightened my hold on his jacket. "You did. You did protect me."
I looked outside into the woods, unsure of what had happened. I wasn't sure what our future looked like, but I did know one thing. Shit was hitting the fan.
I woke up to Maddox holding me to his chest. I didn't even remember getting home. My mind had stopped working after Maddox pulled me to him. I listened as Maddox and Hope talked about their next steps. Maddox asked about what they needed to do.
"Are you awake?" Maddox asked, his hand rubbing circles on my back.
I nodded my head and sighed against his chest. "Can we just stay in bed today?"
I felt his lips press against my forehead. "If you want."
I was surprised by this and sat up, staring into his eyes. "You're not going to tell me it's childish? That we have to deal with the Council?"
He smirked, reaching a hand out and moving some of my hair behind my ear. "Nope. I'm not."
I chewed on my cheek, unable to hide how much I loved him. How deeply he knew me.
I rested my head back against his chest. "We have to go."
"Do we? We could always run away."
I smirked, thinking how just a few months ago I wanted to do just that. But now I couldn't imagine leaving. They would have to drag me out.
"I think you'd miss it."
He laughed, his chest shaking me. "I suppose that's true."
"Just five minutes," I sighed, knowing we would have to get up, but I could lie here just a moment longer.
After we finally got out of bed and headed to the Council, my body tensed up as I realized the entire parking lot was filled. There was hardly a spot to park, and I looked at Maddox, confused. "Why are there so many people here?"
Maddox looked just as confused as I was. He got out of the car and opened my side door. We headed inside and found that the inside was packed with people. I could hardly process what was going on before Hope was running down the stairs. She smiled as she walked to us, a pip in her step.
"What is going on?" I asked.
"Everyone is here to make sure you don't get locked up again. They are all here to make sure the Council knows what you did."
I was stunned, and before I could even process it, Ralph stood at the top of the stairs. He looked at everyone for a moment before he looked at me and Maddox.
"You're late." He said, simply waving a hand down the hall.
"Sorry, we almost died and took a little extra time to sleep," Maddox said, his hand wrapped around my middle as we headed up the stairs. "God forbid we take a moment to enjoy that we are still breathing.
I couldn't suppress the smirk that formed, and Ralph stared at Maddox, not impressed.
We headed into the Council meeting room, Ralph shutting the door behind us. Maddox stood next to me, and I felt confident and proud, unlike before. Maddox and I had both overcome so much and survived what happened yesterday.
"We called you both here to discuss what happened yesterday," Ralph spoke in a neutral voice as he took his seat. All the eyes went to us. "And we need a step-by-step of what happened."
Maddox and I both gave a descriptive story of what happened. We both spoke, explaining everything that happened, including how whoever was doing this was getting more powerful. We ended with the witches coming to stop everything, and how we were here now.
"So, what exactly is your plan?" Maddox asked, looking annoyed. "Can't exactly brush this off like every other time you have. Whoever is doing this needs to be stopped before there is nothing we can do."
"We understand the seriousness of this and are looking into it."
"Are you? Because if the witches hadn't arrived, I don't think we would be standing here," Maddox snapped angrily.
I watched the Council shift, seeming unsure of what to say, and then it hit me. "You have no idea how to save everyone."
They remained quiet, and Maddox looked stunned. I was shocked. They were supposed to guide everyone and be the ones everyone looked up to, but they had no idea how to save us. They didn't know what to do.
"We are planning."
"And when does this plan come into action? We are all putting our lives on the line, all out there trying to protect us, and you all sit here ignoring the issue. So, when are you going to take action and start helping us figure out how to protect everyone?"
"That's enough." Ralph snapped. "You're dismissed."
Maddox's jaw clenched down hard, and I knew he wanted to say more but didn't. Maddox grabbed my hand and pulled me along out of the room. Once outside, Maddox's grip only tightened as we moved out through the throngs of people.
Everyone was thanking us, congratulating us on being alone and keeping the pack safe. I smiled, but my stomach was in knots, unsure of what we were going to do. We were safe now, but for how long? When was everything going to hit a peak, and soon we would have to take action?
Outside, we headed for the car. As we walked, I was holding his hand, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of the woods.
A young woman wearing a pair of jeans and a ripped-up green T-shirt stepped out from the woods.
She was covered in blood, her hands shaking as she took a step.
She had empty eyes, looking broken as she walked.
I'd never seen her before, didn't know who she was, but I could sense she wasn't from our pack. She wasn't from any of the packs.
She looked at me, and I felt panic. It was like she was seeing into me, actually looking at me in that moment. She didn't smile, but she didn't move away either. She stared at me, her expression broken and apologetic.
I snapped back to myself and found Maddox looking at me, worried. His hands were holding my head as he bent down, his face just an inch from mine. "Jillian…. are you okay?"
I slowly nodded my head and thought of the girl. She was around our age, with black raven hair. She was pale and thin, like she'd not seen light in a while.
"I had a vision," I said softly. "About a girl coming here. She looked…broken." But a part of me feels something else, like she knew someone and was hiding a secret.
"I'm not going to let anything happen," he said softly, kissing my forehead. "I love you and I won't let anything happen."
I felt my heart skip a beat at his words and smiled. "You love me?"
He leaned back, seeming to realize this was the first time he said it. He smiled. "Yes, I love you. I have loved you for a while and was afraid to admit it."
I smiled. "I love you, too."
He pulled me tightly to him, kissing me softly.
The vision suddenly was the last thing on my mind.
I didn't want to worry about it. I wanted to stand with Maddox and soak in this feeling, soak in that we were alive and well.
We were a team, and we would figure something out.
We would all work together. The Council might not be trying to find an answer, but we all were, and I could feel it in my bones; we were getting close.