Awaken

TWENTY SIX

Kenna

"It's me!" The deep magic velvety voice said, and then the smell of his cologne hit my nose. As I tried to see who held me and I recognized his familiar face and chiseled jaw. He hugged me tighter and said, "My Queen, I thought you were gone forever. I am sorry I did not come back with you to protect you."

I hugged him back hard and a tear ran down my cheek. "I am so happy you are here. I never thought I was leaving." He pulled away from our embrace to gaze into my eyes. "You are stunning in this dress."

He held my face in his hands. Slowly turning it side to side to make sure there were no injuries to me. I smiled at his protectiveness coming though and replied, "well, until a few hours ago I was asleep the whole time I have been here. Which has been 4 days?" My mouth went dry at the thought of being held against my will. I remember when I woke up that my mouth was so dry, I had to sip water.

"I am so sorry we took 4 days to find you Kenna, but Hazel, Bree, and I have been here in Russia looking for you ever since Bree woke up without you," he said, his voice strained.

"Russia!?! When did I end up here? And Bree! Oh, my gosh, is she okay?" I panicked as I remembered her slumped over, helpless. My heart raced as fear spread through my body. I shook, and Zayne pulled me in for another hug.

"She is okay. They are outside waiting for us to escape. I have found you. We can go." I pushed myself away from him. "No! Not yet!" I said to him in a panic. "Why? You are in no condition to be here any longer." He asked me, confused. "The pendant is here! My family pendant is here in

Lilith's room." I tried to explain to him. "Okay, I will drop you off with the ladies out front and I will come back."

"Like hell." I was mad that he would usher me out of here. A smile spread across his face and that's when I noticed he was also in a tux. He looks way too good. Picture a Greek God in a tux. Like damn. He took his suit jacket off, showing off his form- fitting shirt that left nothing to the imagination.

He placed the jacket on my shoulders for me and said, "here, this will help keep you warm." I did not realize how big the jacket would be on me. He placed his finger under my chin and lifted my face to look at him. I'm sure my face was bright red, but I was lucky the power was out.

"Let's go get that pendant." Now, with his help, I should be unstoppable. Behind him, the glowing light bounced around, waiting for us to follow. The path took us down a long hallway, and we kept running after the light. Zayne held my hand. I think he was worried I would disappear again. His job is to keep me safe and now he has me. I don't think he will let me go. The light danced around the bottom of this staircase. We were panting from running around.

"More stairs?! I can't even right now!" I complained. I am in no shape to do any form of cardio. I leaned against the wall next to us, trying to catch my breath. My chest heaving up and down from this exhaustion and I started wheezing for air. In two steps, Zayne was in front of me and swooped me up in one quick motion. My mouth fell open and my eyes shot open wide in shock. "I will carry you then." He placed one of my arms behind his neck. "Um... Thank you."

Still surprised, picking me up like I was nothing. He took off up the stairs like there was no problem for him to run up them while holding me. I held on to him tight to not fall. I wanted to make it easy for him.

The dancing light took us down a hallway and around a corner. As we rounded the corner, the light stopped in front of two large doors. They were black with red carvings all over. The intricate markings on the door almost seem like they are another language in certain parts.

Zayne put me down next to him as we watched the door. I reached out to open the door; my hand was shaky from being nervous. My fingertips touched the cold black doorknob, and I twisted. Luckily, the door was unlocked.

We pushed the door open, revealing this grand bedroom with everything being black. Must be her favorite color. We stepped inside, hurrying into her room, and shut the door behind us. We glanced around at all the black curtains and the furniture gave me the creeps. We were careful not to move anything. I didn't move too far away from Zayne. Having him close made me feel safe.

"Look, Kenna, over on the black vanity." Zayne says and points over to this massive vanity with a mirror. The frame was twisted with horns along the outside, just like her throne. We see hanging off the top corner was this beautiful necklace with a huge purple gem. "That has to be it!" I say.

We dashed over to the necklace, and he grabbed it off the mirror. He held it in his fingers; extremely beautiful. I can't believe we found the necklace. He unclasped the necklace, and I spun around so he could help me put it on. He lowered the pendant onto me, and once it touched my skin, it glowed. He clasped the necklace for me and I turned around to face him with the necklace glowing so bright. I turned to face the mirror to touch the necklace; its beauty memorized me.

My finger touched the necklace, and the heat coming off the necklace was as if boiling. I tried to take it off; I panicked as the purple lines shoot out from the necklace, but they were under my skin. Little lines under my olive skin glowed purple and spread all over me. The lines grew fast and crawled all over my body. I turned to face Zayne, who was watching the lines on my skin.

He moved quickly, trying to help me take the pendant off. "What's happening?" I asked. "I don't know? When you put it on, I wasn't told this would happen." A tinge of fear in his voice, even though he appeared calm on the outside. Still frantic, I yelled at him, "Help me unlace my dress. It might help us get to the clasp better."

The intricate lacing of my dress seemed to take forever to come undone. I felt a quick release, and my dress was no longer tied and it slid down. I shimmied out of my dress. I was wearing a corset with little frilly shorts under it.

Still freaking out as the lines of purple traveled down my legs. "Zayne, get this off me!" I yelled at him frantically.

His face was no longer calm, with his wide eyes no longer looking at me. Once I yelled at him again, he snapped back into action, trying to remove the necklace. It wasn't clear if it would come off.

I looked down at my body now shaking in fear; the lines made their way down to my shoes. The moment they did, my head felt like I was spinning, and I lost my balance. Everything was a blur and one of the doors to the bedroom flung open as I collapsed. Someone caught me and I heard a voice, but before I could see whoever it was, my vision went black.