Toxic Snow | TBW #2 [DISCONTINUED]

Prologue

PROLOGUE

I was surrounded by darkness.

No matter which way I turned, I couldn’t seem to find a way out. There was no beam of light. No faint draft coming from some corner of the room. Nothing.

Just blackness.

Get a grip, Lexi, I mentally chided myself. You’re going to get out of here. Just keep calm.

I made a soft clicking noise with my tongue, praying that I’d feel the tiny tickling sensation as Slick scuttled around on my shoulder. A few seconds passed and I felt nothing. Not even something small and fuzzy brushing my hair.

“Slick?” I whispered anxiously. “Slick, are you there?”

When I didn’t get a reply, I began to worry. Was I stuck in this place all alone? How could that be? I always took Slick everywhere I went. Why wasn’t he with me? Was he hurt? Had we gotten separated? Why couldn’t I remember anything?

Gulping down my fear and anxiety, I stumbled forward blindly; willing myself to move – to find a way out of this place. I hadn’t taken more than a few steps before I felt something jerk my backwards. I stumbled and fell, banging my elbow against what felt like a concrete slab.

As my fingers moved up and down my arm, I discovered that I had been chained to a pillar, unable to escape from this prison of darkness.

What now? I thought helplessly as I tugged against the heavy chains. I wondered how I hadn’t noticed them before – they were too heavy for me to miss. How do I get out of this mess when I can’t see anything?

Before I had even finished thinking the thought, a small breeze whirled around my body, lifting my hair up gently and sending shivers down my spine. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around my body for warmth.

“Alexis…” A soft voice whispered in my ear.

My spirits lifted. Had someone come to help me? “Archer? Slick? Is that you?”

The breeze picked up, sending my hair whipping around my face. “Alexis Frost. You will pay for what you’ve done.”

Pay for what I’ve done? What have I done?

“You’ve taken lives, Alexis. Lives that weren’t yours to take. You’re a killer. A murderer. You deserve to die.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not a murderer. Those people were the murderers! I was just trying to keep my family safe!”

“You lie!” the voices grew louder and louder, one overlapping the other till it sounded like I was being faced with a hundred ghosts all at once. “You will burn in hell to pay for everything you’ve done!”

“No!” I screamed back at them, feeling the hot tears burning in my eyes as the rolled down my cheeks. “I’m not a murderer! I’m not!”

The room started spinning, going faster and faster with each second that passed. The voices started screeching – abandoning the unison they’d spoken in before. They screamed and they screamed. Different things at different times. Never giving my ears a rest.

Finally, unable to take the spinning and the screaming, I shut my eyes tight, drowning them out.

My head started pounding and I saw a bright light flashing behind my eyelids. The pace of the spinning quickened, and just when I thought I was either going to pass out or throw up…

…I was thrust back into reality and out of the nightmare.