Sotus Black

CH 26 - Thunder

Arthit POV

"Are you sure you should be working?" Bright asked Arthit. "It might be too stressful for the baby."

I close my eyes as Bright went into another laughing fit after his joke. Prem hid his laughter behind his hand, Knot smiled drinking his tea and Tutah was watching the video again. I turned to scowl at Knot but he ignored me. This was his fault; he captured the scene on his phone.

"Bright your favourite part..." Tutah told him.

"Arthit is...what...!"

I could hear the squeak and then the drop, good thing her husband caught her or she would have been on the floor.

"Kong, get the smelling salts!"

What was he thinking saying something like that to his mother? The video ended, there was nothing of what happened inside the house. The rest of the night I could see Kongpob's mother watching me discreetly, I caught her staring at my midsection more than once.

It felt strange, sitting together with family from both sides. The lively conversation, the soft fingers rubbing my neck as his arm draped on the sofa behind me and the light hum of magic that helped pass the night. It scared me, if he hadn't stayed so close, I may have run away.

Kongpob pulled me away after a while, through the large kitchen doors and to the trees close by. On one large branch hung a simple rope swing, small but enough room for us both to sit on together. When did he have time to put this here?

"Mad at me?" His voice gentle near my ear.

"No."

"It's okay if you are." He carries on. "You can even shout at me, if I do anything unreasonable."

Could I?

"It's not going to vanish, it's not going to break, and it will not disappear."

"What...?" My voice hitches, he knows what I'm thinking.

Happiness frightened me; we had no way of knowing what was still to come.

"That." He pointed at the house, then us. "Us or the moonlight. I won't let it, so trust me."

No words came out, I just made a noise of understanding and he pulled me closer. His nose rubbing against my cheek, a kiss that wasn't a kiss, but I felt it. and a promise that stilled my heart. I'll trust your words Beloved.

"I wasn't sure at first." Bright's voice brings me back to the present. "I think I'm going to like your Beloved..."

I throw him out of the window, he's back before I take a seat again. The others enjoying the moment, how long had it been since they allowed themselves to laugh and joke around me? My fears and the shadows haunting me, I pulled them in without knowing.

I look at my phone when it buzzes, the screen lighting as I see the message. I'm on-site, let's go home together P'Arthit. I smile and send a reply. I look around when I feel the prickle, something slithering into my senses.

"What's wrong Knot?" Prem asks when Knot checks his phone.

"That was Tew." He looked worried. "Em is missing."

"Somethings wrong, I can't move like normal." The smile has gone from Tutah's face.

I let my senses go, I could feel it around us. Two miles in every direction a powerful spell zinged in the air. Smoke, thick and dark, seeping into everything around it. It was distorting magic...it.

"Demon magic."

"Kongpob." I ran for the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

May POV

She woke slowly, looking around the dimly lit room, her head hurt and her eyes couldn't focus. It took a while for her to see anything, glowing writing on the walls and floor, around her brought it back.

She tore the broach from her shirt, breaking it to pieces. Metal and gems bouncing on the floor as they fell. An heirloom, passed from grandmother to granddaughter, never did she imagine what it really was.

It was real. The demon, the curse, the magic. They used her; she was the trap they set to catch Em. He got caught trying to protect her. The laughter ringing in her ears, and the words. Our turn now. Their turn for what?

The room wasn't large but it took time to stand and look around, there was no door, only an archway that she walked through into another darker room. She inhaled when she saw someone hanging from chains hooked into the ceiling, his feet dragging on the floor. She ran to him, it was Em.

May breathed a sigh of relief when she found a pulse, he was alive but unconscious. She tried to call his name, but he hardly moved, dried blood clinging to his forehead and dripping down his arm. The image still vivid in her mind, lighting striking him as a circle appeared at his feet and held him immobile.

She didn't have her phone or bag, nothing but the clothes she was wearing. Get it together May, think. Find a way out! She hurried back to the first room, it had more light, a small barred window about 7 feet high. She had to find a way to get through and get help. She had to.

~~~~~~~~~~

Building Site – Near Heart memorial.

3rd Person POV

It was always described the same way; everything was quiet and then it all happened at once. Like a convergence that had been waiting to unfold. Kong and Wad were making rounds, the foundations were in place the next step was going to begin tomorrow.

The contract for Heart memorial was on a large scale and they had to get it done in half the time other jobs this size. He had two groups working here, alternating shifts and managers overlooking the project.

Kongpob clutched his chest, a strange hum in the air. A buzzing that was getting louder, the air felt dry when he tried to take in deep breaths. Everything stilled and then the ground trembled as everything shook.

"Earthquake!"

Everything moved as though built on sand, not concrete and steel but when Kongpob looked at the large building nearby, the hospital stood rock steady. The air was filled with screams and yells as people moved.

A thick smoke, as though debris mixed with the air, making those panicking worse. Kong heard it first, the groan and creak of metal, looking up to see the large crane high above begin to sway. It was carrying a pallet of metal girder's, some dropping when it swayed again.

He called to the people around him, some listening, others running. Everyone stilled when they heard it, not one but two of the four ropes holding the large sheet of material in the air snapped. No one moved fast enough for what followed.

It was quiet the next time Kongpob woke, he didn't remember passing out or how but that's what must have happened. He saw someone in the path of the falling metal, he remembered pushing them out of the way and then nothing.

His leg hurt, there was something pushing into his side against his ribs. He managed to open his eyes, blinking a few times to make sure what he saw was real. He couldn't see the sky, dust, pipes and metal blocking it, only P'Arthit, who leaned over him. Holding everything from crushing him.

"P.... Arthit..."

"I'm here, Beloved." His face moving to look at me, blood dripping down his temple onto me. "I will never let anything happen to, never again."