Winter Fire

Ch. 64 [The Sixth Test]

Winter Fire
Ch. 64
The Sixth Test

I waited a few minutes after the Guardian left to see if he would return. When he didn't, I picked myself up off the floor and began to search for a way out. I started in the room of paintings. I was afraid to know who all those other women were, afraid that they were just like Essie and me, kidnapped by this psycho in an attempt to find the DNA replica of his long lost love. He was absolutely insane. Which was exactly why I needed to hurry.

When I found nothing in that room, I moved into the hallway, a little surprised when I found the door unlocked, even more so when the Guardian wasn't waiting for me. He must be extremely confident in this prison to leave me free to roam. His mistake.

I searched door after door after door, finding more and more labs, bedrooms, rooms full of old artifacts, keepsakes, clothes, books, pretty much anything and everything. Only one door was locked. I didn't encounter the Guardian anywhere. After what seemed like forever, I found a door to the outside. I traveled up a long, steep staircase to a rusty metal door. I forced it open and shielded my eyes against the sudden onslaught of sunlight. I grinned and hope blossomed in my chest, but just as I took a step outside, a crippling fear shot through me.

I gasped and stumbled, almost falling back down the stairs. I looked around me in panic, my heart pounding out of my chest. There was nothing around me, but the fear was still there, still burning through my veins. Then I felt cold fingers digging into my wrists and I realized with a cold certainty that it wasn't my fear at all. Somehow, I was feeling Essie's.

I hesitated, glancing back at the Guardian's lair, then to the freedom of the city. If I left now, I could get the police, bring them back, break Essie out. If I went back, if I tried to help her, I could lose this chance forever. There was no question what I should do, but as I felt the waves of terror and horror and panic that coursed through her, I found I couldn't move. My mind told me to run, to leave and get help, but my gut couldn't do it, couldn't leave her there. I felt everything she was feeling and it threw me back into Jordan's bedroom, with his cold, hard eyes, his hands around my throat, to my fear and terror, my desperation, to my screams, begging someone to help me, to thinking I was going to die, that he was going to kill me, to the sick, heavy realization that no one was coming. No one was coming.

I couldn't just abandon her, no matter how much of a complete idiot it made me. We were getting out together, or we weren't getting out at all.

I ran down the stairs, letting the door fall shut behind me. I rushed through the halls, throwing open the door to the bedroom to find Essie pinned to the wall by the Guardian. I grabbed one of the desk's chairs and slammed it into his back. The force knocked us both back and he spun around, his black eyes flaring. Essie collasped to the ground, breathing heavily, eyes wide.

I swallowed the knot in my throat and took a cautious step back. The Guardian's lips turned up into a cold grin, sending ice through my blood.

"Winter," he murmured, "nice of you to finally join us."

"You're sick." I rasped. "You're a sick monster."

But he only chuckled. "You used to understand me, Winter. You used to be just like me."

I grit my teeth. "Well, I'm not anymore, thanks to you. That Winter is gone for good."

He slowly moved towards me. "I will get her back. She will be mine."

Essie's eyes were on mine as she carefully crawled away from the Guardian.

I met his icy gaze squarely. "Good luck with that, 'guardian'. Cause I don't want her back. Whatever she went through, I don't want to remember. I don't want to be her. I don't want to have to deal with whatever she was dealing with."