Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1) by Alexia Purdy (complete)

Chapter Seven

"Shade..."

The blue fire was glowing all around her, crackling and popping on all sides. The walls seemed too near, enveloping her like a cocoon. She stood up from the ground where she'd woken. Is this real? A dream? She didn't know. Feeling the walls with her hands, they felt hard and rough with cold stones. The sound of her own breath echoed around her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, besides the fact that she had no idea what was going on. The fire came from the other side of the room. It stood like a pillar the size of a man. In fact, as she stared longer into the glowing flames, the image of a man surfaced in the fire. She gasped. The man's eyes remained closed, and his hands laid crossed over each other on the hilt of a gleaming sword. The blade also glowed with wisps of blue fire. Its hilt was made of dark red rubies, and the red flames spread from his hands onto the edge of his sword.

Shade walked toward him, asking him who he was. He didn't respond to her inquiries, no matter how much she pleaded. She kept going, and although her feet were bare, she did not feel cold as she thought she would. Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached out to the man.

"Help me," Shade whispered to him, her voice faint and weak. Her fingers were almost touching the blue flame engulfing his body, even though she felt afraid. She didn't know if the flames would burn or scald her hands. Somehow, she needed to wake him and make him help her out of this place, this tomb. Taking in his face, she realized he looked a lot like Dylan, the way he'd look if he'd been resting and peaceful.

Suddenly, his eyes and mouth flew open, and a bright, white light poured out of them in piercing rays. A sound like loud ethereal music filled her ears to the point that it sent her to the floor, covering them. The music seemed to scream into her, filling her with prickling pain.

Then the words came, and they were excruciating:

"WAKE UP AND RUN, SHADE!"

***

Shade's eyes flew open as she gasped, thrashing in her bed. It was still very dark, and it took a moment or two for her eyes to focus and readjust.

Am I alive or dead? Where am I? She felt panicked and couldn't breathe, her chest arrested with a searing pain.

She reached over to the lamp, but without any light, she fumbled and sent the lamp smashing to the floor. The nightmare had left her with a dull, disorientating ache in her head. Just then, the room lit up around her like a blinding floodlight, making her pupils contract painfully.

She stopped fumbling and stared at the changed silver and crystal mirror. It was on fire, with blue flames dripping out like liquid molten rock. It crackled with white electricity and poured out of the rippling surface, down the table, and into the middle of the room. The pillar it formed shifted and morphed into a man.

Darren.

Run! Run now!

She screamed as the voices returned, panicked and jumbled in her mind. However, she soon realized no one could hear her through the solid rock walls. She pulled the blankets off but never made it out of the bed before he jumped on her. He pushed her down and smacked her face. His cold laugh rang in her ears as he snarled down at her, watching her squirm and kick helplessly.

His eyes were facets of blue, white light, blinding her even more as he pinned her under his legs and squeezed her arms so hard she felt them aching and burning in protest. There were surely bruises forming on her skin. He smacked her again so hard that stars flared in a sea of darkness. She almost blacked out, fighting to stay awake and tasting the iron flavor of blood in her mouth. The left side of her face felt on fire.