Fated Connection (Book 1)

Chapter 9

August had left abruptly, leaving my body feeling suddenly cold and alone. I had let myself into the apartment and immediately flopped face down on my bed. After a while of my mind running around in circles, I forced myself to get up and go into my bathroom to wash up and get ready for bed.

I had a terrible feeling about the story that August had told me. There was a reason he had told me those things, about the wars and the prophecy; a reason he had taken me to that place. It had meant something to him, more than just a piece of history. I had seen the pain and sadness in his eyes as he had spoken. The way his voice had sounded, how he told the story, was as if he had been recanting a memory and not just facts he had learned. It felt as if there was more that he wasn't telling me and in my bones I knew it was something I probably didn't want to learn. Fear trickled into my head as so many possibilities swept through my mind, each one more bizarre than the one before.

As I slid underneath my covers, the cool sheets reminded me of August and the coolness of his body. Memories of his fingers laced through mine as tingles danced along arms flashed across my thoughts as I tried to get comfortable. I watched the shadows dance on the walls as I longed for sleep to come. I tossed and turned for what felt like hours until finally the first tendrils of dreams began to push against my mind. I welcomed oblivion and let myself fall into darkness.

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Rain pelted my skin like needles, thunder rippling through my body as I ran. The long dress I wore sticking to me like a second skin, the fabric around my legs snagging on thorns and winter-bare branches. My breath was loud and ragged in my ears, my heart and mind frantic as I searched for somewhere to hide. But the world was dark, the storm blocking the moon and stars leaving me in darkness except for what it allowed me to have.

Lightning flashed and I saw a tree, its roots growing up from the ground creating a small pocket beneath the massive trunk. I started to run towards it but the sounds grew closer, pushing me to keep going. The snarls of wolves reached my ears through the roar of the storm around me causing my legs to work harder, my bare feet slipping in the mud. The smell of ozone surrounded me as I fled, orbs of fire and crackling light whizzing inches from my head, sizzling out as they hit the wet ground or nearby trees.

Panic began to set in. They were getting closer. They were going to catch me! Suddenly, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me in a new direction. Looking over, I saw that it was a woman with long blonde hair and the most beautiful face I had ever seen. Something about her felt familiar but I knew I had never seen this woman before, surely I would have remembered such a face if I had. She didn't say a word as she guided me through the forest, deeper and deeper, until the sounds of the wolves had faded and the orbs had long since stopped.

We slowed our pace and finally reached a small clearing. Here the trees were still green and thick with leaves as if it were already spring. The storm raged on a distance away, thunder still vibrated lightly through the ground but in this place there was no rain, only angry storm clouds high above the tops of the trees. There was a small fire burning in the center and the woman approached it to feed it a few more limbs.

"Who are you?" I finally asked.

"That doesn't matter right now, Nevada." Her violet eyes met my emerald green ones and I saw the pain in hers momentarily before it was replaced with determination. "You must leave this place. It isn't safe for you here."

"How? I don't know how I got here or even where here is!" I told the woman in frustration. "I only know that I went to bed. Next thing I know I'm running for my life because of wolves and gods know what else! And no one will tell me what the hell is going on!"