The Dark Warlock: The Nox Haven Series

Chapter 23: Love is Blind

"I told you we could save her but not without some consequences. The world might be a darkened place to her but at least her heart still beats," the elder witch told me.

"What about her visions?" I asked, turning myself around so I could look at Jaxon.

The poor man looked worse than his sister. He, too, had thinned, the skin under his eyes turned purplish-blue, his hair was untamed and greasy and though he still retained the beauty of his emerald eyes there was something haunting in his stare. I hadn't seen him much over the past week. He came out of the infirmary to keep up appearances but nobody blamed him for missing class when his sister was on such a poor condition. I only wished I could have been with them more often. Aleksander told me that Roberto was suspicious of us. I tried to avoid him as much as possible and stick to a regular routine so nobody questioned us but as each day carried on without Alix I could feel myself falling apart. All I wanted to do was crawl into the cot next to hers and hold her hand.

"I asked about that too," Jaxon nodded absently, "Apparently she's been in and out of a vision all day. She says she had it before but refuses to explain it to me."

So Alix could still see the future; that was strange but then again magic worked in the strangest ways. I couldn't pick between being happy or sad so I just settled for indifferent. Releasing a heavy sigh, I let go of Aleksander's jacket. He eyed me carefully but I waved him off and walked over to Alix. The nurses quickly exited the room as another one of their patients began to back up blood.

"Alix," I tried.

"Yes Caddie?" She sounded annoyed. Annoyed was good. Annoyed was the underlying emotion of her entire life.

"Please talk to me. I-I want to help."

Her milky green eyes stayed glued to the ceiling as she drummed her stick-like fingers on her stomach. Underneath the rag, they called a hospital gown, I could faintly see her chest heave with every breath. It was the only time I found myself staring at Alix's chest- seeing her breathe was much more reassuring than looking into her eyes at the moment.

"I c-can't," Alix shook her head. "I don't want to, Cads. I don't want to remember."

Jaxon stood beside me, a frown marred his features. "It'll be better if you talk about it. We won't know how to help you if you don't tell us."

A gasp fell from Alix's lips as her body went rigid.

"No! Don't! Don't pick up that dagger! Get away from her!" Alix screamed.

Alix tried to jump out of bed, her mind was still possessed by the haunting vision. Jaxon and Aleksander grabbed her arms as I watched with my mouth agape. Last year, when her magic was sending her into fits the nurses would hook her up to anesthesia and let her sleep it off but anesthesia didn't exist in 1816. Glancing at Jaxon and then at Alek, I devised a plan to help my best friend.

"Alek," His head whipped around, "I need you to put her to sleep."

"If we put her to sleep then she won't be able to tell us what's wrong," Jaxon interjected.

I shook my head, "When she's asleep, she'll stop fighting the vision. Then, you'll be able to see what's going on inside her head."

Jaxon thought over my plan, and nodded hesitantly. He had snooped through his sister's mind plenty of times to annoy her but it was completely different to read her mind while she wasn't conscious. The apprehension was clear in his eyes as he bent over his sister's convulsing body. He screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to watch as he violated Alix's privacy. Alek relinquished his control on my emotions, as he focused on sending Alix into a blissful state of sleep. The tremors in her body slowed until she was snoring lightly- her snores, which had kept me awake most nights at Nox Haven- became a beautiful melody to my ears as she drifted into dreamland.

"I see something," Jaxon murmured, "There's two different groups of people, they're in normal street clothes- jeans, leathers jackets, I see combat boots and sneakers."

"Thanks for the red carpet review but can you tell us what's happening?" Aleksander groweld.

"There's snow everywhere, on the ground, the trees, it's still falling from the sky. But there's blotches of red on the pure white snow- blood. I think there was fight."

"Very good, Sherlock." I nudged Aleksander in the ribs.

"They seem to be waiting for something. Everyone's watching this girl, this blond girl with big blue eyes. Her face is freckled with blood. She looks horrified, staring at all the dead bodies that lay at her feet. I think she has something in her hand, it looks like a dagger. Wait- what is she doing- no, Caddie!"

Stumbling away from his sister, Jaxon banged his head against the wall. I rushed to his side. His eyes were still in a daze as he tried to process what he saw. I didn't understand much of anything he said but it sounded really bad. There were so many questions circling in my mind. Where was I? What was going on? And why did I have a dagger? Jaxon's eyes snapped open as he heard my questions. He reached out and pulled me into a hug. Stunned at first, I didn't move. Jaxon and I were close because of Alix but we never hugged or touched each other apart from greetings. It was very weird feeling him get all worked up over me, that never happened only if something really bad happened...

"Jaxon what did you see?" My voice muffled as he pushed my face against his chest.

"Caddie please don't do it. I don't know what drove you to that point but you just can't!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about," I pushed him off of.

"Jaxon you need to talk to us," Aleksander said.

He gulped, his eyes flickered from Alix to me. "I saw you kill yourself.

**I am so sorry for the delay but with Christmas time and family visiting I just haven't gotten a chance to sit down and write. So let's do a recap of what's happened so far. Alix, Jaxon, Aleksander and Caddie were sent back to 1816 because of a prophecy they found at the ruins of Nox Haven. The prophecy said that Caddie had to kill Roberto but after getting into fights with her friends and getting to know Roberto- Caddie was not so sure if that was the right thing to do. Then she learned about Imogen Moyer and how she could pretty much ruin her entire existence if Roberto stays alive so whether she likes it or not- she's going to have to kill some people. The group thought things were going their way with Caddie back on their side but now Alix is blind and seeing visions with Caddie committing suicide. Oh my oh my and how on earth does this tie into the history lesson Mrs. Brumwick just taught them? I know a lot of you must be confused right now but trust me it'll all clear up. Also Roberto will be reappearing in the next chapter, so please keep reading if you want to know how that goes.

Thank you so much for all of the support,
XOXO,
Ro.**