The stakes are higher than ever.
It's been months since the four managed to temporarily defeat and escape Laurel, Amber, Kali and the others but the four's problems are far from over. Forced to live with their guilt and still plagued by nightmares o...
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Ashla - Leila's POV:
"DANA!" The second I see Dana lying on the floor curled around Braeden all the emotions I'd been holding in spillover and I feel the tears I'd pushed back well up in my eyes, blurring the outside world from view. "Dana no!" The words leave me in a strangled scream when Ash releases me, perhaps seeing that being around me that close was a dangerous move.
Dropping to my knees in front of her I see that Ash hadn't moved, an old danger lurking in the backs of his golden eyes that I hadn't seen in some time, old anger that seemed to spell trouble. But I could only see half of his expression since my mind was focused entirely on Dana and where she wasn't moving still, her body scarily lifeless. Something that has Luna howling brokenly in my head the longer Midnight and Dana don't make any effort to move. "Leila?" Eris comes through the door seconds later and I know when she clocks what we'd seen since her breath leaves her in a low gasp and I can tell she's hurt by this since she'd seen both the girls as her own as much as we had. "How? How could Amber do something like this to kids?"
"Because she doesn't care," Rosa's voice is hard as flint and I know she's angry given the aura she's radiating across the room where she'd remained by the door as Ash had, both giving off the same violent energy of rage. "Because children or not those of us in the game never mattered to her, not as long as we stood in her way of what she wanted. We never did. Neither did our parents. Or friends." now she offers a look to the Heartley twins who had come in after seeing that Becky was still nowhere to be found. "Just like Becky didn't matter to her, other than as an obstacle that needed to be removed."
"And she'll pay for that but on our terms, once it's safe," Hunter replies with a look between those of us gathered around the four who had collapsed. "But before that, we need to get them to wake up and see what we can do to help them." He stops then, his eyes finding mine, Ash's and Rosa's all at once. "Meaning we need to come clean. They don't have until they turn eighteen if Amber's willing to do this. They need to know, and they need to know now." he sighs when we all remain silent but I can't argue with his logic. It's foolproof even if it means breaking our vow.
But apparently, I'm the only one that sees it. "No, we made a vow and we have to stick to it, not let her back us into a corner the first chance she gets," Rosa's angry voice snaps from across the room, this time causing me to sigh brokenly and look up at her and Ash where the two remain standing side by side with equally furious looks. "What?"
"What's more important? Keeping a vow to them alive?" I whisper, hearing how small my voice sounds in the now silent room as the flames eat it up greedily. Ash's eyes soften a little then and I see that he's seen what I have but Rosa's still to be placated. "Rose, I know what you mean and trust me I'm all for fighting off Amber but is it worth the four's lives? With or without them being the ones who can stop her? Is it worth bargaining their lives just for the sake of our pride? To let them die?" Abruptly the feeling of Dana unresponsive in my arms shatters me inside again, almost as hard as when I almost lost Ash last round only made stronger since she was my daughter by blood and I made a second vow to always protect her. "Is it worth losing them over forever?"
