The Enchanted

Chapter-29

One of the four figures lying on the ground stirred. She groaned and my heart nearly stopped beating at the sound. It was Sabrina.

I craned my neck to see where she was lying and wriggled my way over to her. Caleb was busy gathering the ingredients for his spell and didn't notice. I reached her and put my mouth close to her ear.

"Sabrina," I whispered urgently. "Can you hear me?"

She groaned again and tried to sit up.

"Adriana?" she slurred. "What are you doing here?"

"Are you alright?" I asked. "Did he hurt you?"

"Hit me on the head." She swayed a little. "Other than that I'm fine."

We were silent for a minute while she tried to focus on her surroundings.

"How did you end up here?" I asked, leaning against the wall for support.

"I'd found about him." she breathed in deeply. "I had seen him roaming around at Sharon's the day we'd been called in for questioning. I hadn't thought much of it back then. But when the murders started happening, I tried my hardest to look for clues. One day, I caught him at one of the crime scenes. He tried to make an excuse but I'd already seen his panicked expression. He hit me and brought me here."

I was silent. I knew how awful it must have been for her to find one of her friend's had been murdered and her childhood friend had done it. She must be traumatised.

"Sabrina," I said slowly, another thought occurring to me. "Why didn't you show up that day? At the restaurant?"

"I was about to but I got caught up in researching magical spells. I'm so sorry I stood you up, but I simply lost track of time," she said sheepishly.

"Oh." I was silent again.

Caleb had sprinkled all the rose water around because he got up and took out four silver knives from his coat pocket. He then proceeded to clean all of them with his handkerchief. He caught me looking and smiled like a maniac, making me shudder and look away.

"Why didn't you tell me the truth about the Burmonte's?" I asked, biting my lip. My head was hurting a lot and I had to distract myself somehow before I panicked. The true horror of being in this situation still hadn't washed over me. besides, I was overjoyed to see Sabrina again.

"I was trying to protect you," she said tearfully. "I didn't want to lie to you but I thought if you weren't mixed up in all this supernatural stuff, your life would go on smoothly."

She sniffled.

"Remember when I'd told you I got sick last year? I got injured because I was foolish enough to get in the way during the Burmonte and wolves clan war. Getting mixed up in all this messes your life up. Look where it got you."

She laughed bitterly.

"I tried to protect you, Adriana, because I cared about you. I felt like I'd finally got a friend who understood me. I'd always had lots of friends but you were the best of them all- even though I'd only known you for a few weeks."

She sighed.

"And now we're all going to die. And I feel like shit for failing to protect you."

"Sabrina, don't say that." I found myself wanting to cry. Despite everything, her intentions only had been to protect me.

She was silent. Outside, thunder rumbled. It seemed that even the weather was getting ready for Caleb's enormous spell. I knew I was going to die today but that thought didn't scare me anymore, much to my surprise. I'd been through so much, had lost my real mother less than twenty-four hours ago and was about to be sacrificed by the guy I'd thought was my friend. I wasn't sure if I could take anymore.

"Why did you give Elara blood?" I asked, just to break the silence which made everything more morbid. I had no plan, yet I was determined about one thing- Sabrina wasn't going to die here.

"When they ask, you simply can't refuse," she said.

"Do you mean they compelled you?" I asked in horror. That was such a low thing for them to do. I'd found I liked Elara and Ethan for they cared about me despite my many flaws. I could feel the weight of Elara's locket on my neck and wanted to tear up. It must have been such a valuable thing to part with yet she had given it to me.

"No," she said, softly. "You never know when you need protection in this town. Besides, Rufus Burmonte doesn't like to hear no."

"And what about Ethan?"

She looked surprised.

"He's never once forced me to do anything I didn't want to. Neither has Elara. I like them and I was happy to help."

Despite everything, I was relieved to hear that.

A groan startled us both. We looked at the other bodies lying next to us. For some reason, I hadn't looked at them before. It was Ethan, Elara and Moro.

My heart skipped a beat. How could we possibly manage the escape of so many people? I didn't want to lose Elara, Ethan or Sabrina. Even Moro, who appalled me with his willingness to help Caleb with murder didn't deserve to die. Those victims deserved justice but Moro's death wouldn't bring it to them.

I desperately tried to think of some way to escape and spotted an old rusty iron rod lying about six feet away from me. I wriggled over to it, suppressing another groan as my head throbbed painfully. I managed to secure the rod and tried to cut my bonds. I only succeeded in skinning my hands and had to stop myself from crying out.

Caleb noticed what I was trying to do and snarled. He snatched the rod and threw it away. It fell with a loud clang on the warehouse floor, making me wince.

"You simply can't stay still, can you?" he spat out, grabbing my face by my hair. The wound on my head hurt like hell.

"You're more trouble than you're worth. If you are so eager to do something, let's start with the spell, shall we?"
                              ***
Hey everyone!! How are you liking the story?? I simply couldn't resist this early update haha.
Xoxo
Lena❤❤