The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 45

The living room, as big as it was, was terribly crowded when I walked in. It seemed like everybody was there; everyone we'd rescued, everyone that had already been here. I scanned the room, searching for a particular face, and my eyes landed on that very one who I hadn't been looking forward to seeing. I started towards her, dodging around people and keeping my head down. She was sitting on a coffee table in the corner, her head down, dark hair shielding her face like a curtain between her and the world. Her hands were behind her back, my guess was that she was tied up like that. I noticed that people were keeping a little out of her way, not going near her if they could help it. Even tied up and helpless, looking small and vulnerable the way she was, nobody wanted to go near her. They were all scared of her.

"Hey," A familiar voice said when I had nearly reached her. I didn't stop but a hand on my arm pulled me around and I came face to face with Jaylon. "You look a little better now you've got yourself cleaned up a bit. You okay?"

"I'll be fine," I murmured, leaning into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and I closed my eyes, getting lost in the feeling of warmth and safety he provided, almost forgetting about everyone around us. Almost.

"So is this everyone?" I asked, pulling back a little. "From all the twelve families?"

"Yep, this is everyone." He shifted so that he had just one arm around me and turned us to face the room. "Lucas and Thalia are just organizing everything, but soon they'll all be settled in and this house will be full like it used to be. Like it should be."

"Full of just our generation though," I murmured. "None of us have parents here."

Jaylon sighed and turned me to face him, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm so sorry we had to leave your dad," He said earnestly. "We've got our numbers up now, so once we have a proper plan and everyone's good and trained up, we'll go back and take on Felicia. And once we've taken her down, we can get to your dad and everyone else, because after today she'll no doubt have gone into a complete lockdown."

"I suppose," I sighed.

"But for now, all that matters is that you're home and you're safe and we're together." Jaylon smiled, leaning down to quickly brush my lips with his. "Now, I'm going to find my brother and see what's taking him and Thalia so long. You feel like coming along?"

I shook my head slowly, my mind back in the room where I'd left Charlie. "I need to go apologize to Charlie."

"Okay, well, see you soon. Don't go getting kidnapped again." Jaylon laughed and pressed a kiss to the side of my head before disappearing into the crowd. I smiled after him, then turned back to Rowyn. She was staring at me, her dark eyes seeming to bore right into my soul. I turned abruptly and went back the way I'd come, back up to Jaylon's room on the second floor. Somethings about that stare, the way her eyes had looked, wasn't right. It freaked me out.

"Charlie?" I called, pushing open the door to Jaylon's room and looking around. I cursed when I saw that he wasn't in there and started to turn around so that I could go look for him elsewhere, but a movement in the shadows caught my eye. Slowly, I turned back around. I couldn't make out much of the figure that was standing in the corner of the room where the light didn't reach. I could see that it was tall, and much too slender to be any man. It shifted, and light glinted off her eyes. Dark eyes, eyes such a deep red they looked almost black.

"You!" I gasped, leaping back. I lunged for the dresser, not taking my eyes off the figure in the corner, slowly advancing into the light, as I fumbled around and found the knife I knew Jaylon always kept there.

"Well, hello there, dearie." Her melodic, sing-song voice seemed to bounce around the room, but it didn't have the same effect on me as it had when I was with her before. I wasn't hypnotized, entranced, the way I had found myself last time.

"Get out of here!" I snarled, hearing my voice, wild and animal, and not even recognising it. I lunged at Felicia with the long knife and slashed it through her chest. She shimmered, like a mirage in a desert, and looked down. Then she laughed.

"It would take more than that to kill me, even if I really was here," she said, lifting a hand and inspecting her long, ruby red nails. She was like a hologram, I realised then, only not a hologram. She looked much more real than you could in a hologram, this was obviously some kind of magic.

"What do you want?" I asked, dropping the knife to my side. There was no point in me fighting her even if she was really here. I would never stand a chance.

"I want your help," she said, then laughed her musical laugh. "Oh, don't look at me like that."

"I would never help you," I hissed angrily.

"Oh, I rather think you'll want to," she said cheerily. "You see, I have something you value greatly."

It took a moment for her words to register, but then I gasped.

"Don't hurt him!" I shouted, lunging at her again. The knife should have cut off her head right at the base of the long, slender neck, or at least sliced her throat open. Instead, she just tilted her head back and laughed.

"I will do just that to dear old daddy," she said. "Unless, of course, you decide to do what I want."

I stood there, fuming, contemplating. I couldn't let her hurt my father, but how could I help someone that evil?

"Of course, if you decide not to anyway I can always get hold of more things that you care about," she added. "There's your mother, I could use her," she said, counting off on her long fingers. "And then Charlie, your precious little brother. And Jaylon of course. I could even use Rowyn, I know you care about her."

"But you do too," I whispered.

"Oh, yippee, you know my weakness," she laughed musically. "Don't worry honey, killing her will affect you far more than it will me. Now," She stepped forward, eyes narrowed, "will you help me or will I have to hurt the people you love?"

I took a deep breath and shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. "Don't hurt them," I whispered. "What do I have to do?"