~Nico~
Darkness engulfs me. It's swirling and thick with a cold ominous feeling to it. It wraps cold tendrils of fear around my heart and sucks me into its freezing embrace. Where am I? I wonder. What happened? How did I get here? The more I try and think, the harder it is to come up with an answer. My head seems to be filling up with icy water and thinking is becoming fuzzy.
"Nico," A smooth voice says. It sounds as though they're far away, lost in the depths of this swirling world. "It's good to see you again, it's been quite a while since the last time we've met."
"Nyx..." I say aloud, the realization comes slowly, like dripping honey or trickling water.
"That's right, you remembered me." A tinkling laugh resounds through the darkness. I try looking around for the source, but I can't move my head as the dark holds it in place.
"What do you want from me?" I ask, my own voice sounds muffled in my ears.
"Oh, I don't really want anything. Maybe just to test you again, see how much you can handle once more."
My lips have become numb and they stumble over the words as I try and spit them out. "Why? Why are you doing this to me? Leave me alone!"
My desperate pleas are ignored as Nyx laughs them off, her voice fading away. All around me the darkness changes into light and a scene that I've never seen before.
Alex is standing at the altar with Kayla while they say their vows. I can't look away or even blink as they seal it with a kiss. The image changes and suddenly I'm in a quaint little house with pale blue walls, one of my favorite colors. Two kids run through a doorway squealing with delight. Both look like mini versions of Alex. I blanche. Kayla runs into the room after them, laughing. Alex opens the front door as his children rush into his arms, the four of them a big happy family.
Tears stream down my face as my chest constricts so painfully that I can't even breathe. The scene changes once again. This time, the sky is fiery red as ash and smoke pollute the air. It smells like blood and the sound of battle can be heard from all directions. I see wolves pouncing on wolves, tripping over the corpses of their fallen brethren. Golden fur flashes in my peripheral vision, I turn to see Alex locked in a deadly battle. At his feet, Dominic and Blake lay dead, blood pooling around their cold bodies. I choke back a sob and scream with no sound as I watch the battle unfold.
I don't have to wait long as the enemy wolf sinks its sharp fangs into Alex's neck and rips out his throat. Blood spurts violently from the wound. I try to run over to him, to stop the bleeding, to do anything to try and save him. I scream out his name, but no sound comes out. The scene shifts.
This time I'm back in the shack. The smell of blood is so pungent that I can taste it on my tongue. Silver tools lay on the cart, covered in dried blood. I see myself hanging from the wall once again, covered in wounds. The Nico on the wall looks up into my eyes. As soon as our eyes connect, I'm in his place, hanging from the wall. The cold silver knife digs itself into my side, followed by searing pain and my vision turns white.
I sit up, gasping for air. My skin is soaked with sweat and my body is trembling uncontrollably. The images I saw are burned into the back of my eyes, so everytime I blink they replay in a macabre movie. The room is enveloped in complete darkness and it suffocates me. It's like I woke up from that nightmare just to find that it's not over yet. I stumble out of my bed, the blankets tangling my legs as I reach out for the light switch.
Once the lights pop on, relief floods my mind and body and I collapse onto the floor, exhausted. The dark turquoise walls fill my vision and everything comes back to me. I'm home, in my own bedroom. I cast that spell last night and passed out. With shaky knees, I force myself to stand up. I walk over to my dresser and stare at the many pictures of Alex and I. What I would do to go back to those times. But looking at them fills me with dread and a bitter aftertaste after that dream.
Behind my blackout curtains, that are also blue, I see a hint of sunlight peeking out. I gasp and rush over to them. What time is it? Am I late for school? I push aside the curtain and peer outside. The sun is just peeking over the horizon creating a gold band of sunlight with pink and blue skies. Clouds are flooding the atmosphere, warning the world below of incoming snow. The sight of such a beautiful scene fills me with disbelief. How can something so beautiful exist when I'm suffering so much? I feel as though the skies should be black and a storm should be raging.
I strip out of my sweaty clothes and throw them into the hamper behind the door. On the edge of my bed is some folded up clothes. They're about my size, a little larger though. They must belong to Luca. All of the clothes in my closet don't fit anymore for obvious reasons, so this will have to do.
The house is silent when I sneak into the kitchen. Everyone must still be asleep. I walk over to the refrigerator and grab out a bottle of water. I didn't realize until just now that my hands are still shaking. I pull out a chair from the table and slump into it, clasping my hands until the knuckles are white. The kitchen is a dim grey this early in the morning, making the world a monochrome color.
I swear I can still hear the sound of Nyx's laugh and smell blood in my nostrils. It's sickening. I sip at my water tentatively, hoping to wash it away. No matter how hard I try, my body still trembles at the memory. This is nothing compared to what Nyx put me through the last time, with me seeing the worst of my memories on repeat, but it this was still enough to shake me up.
When will I be safe? I can't even get a single night's worth of sleep without being tormented by nightmares. I would close my eyes and take a deep breath, but what will I see when they're shut? I dig my nails into my wrist, the pain helping to chase away the bad thoughts.
With my enhanced hearing, I can hear a door creaking open upstairs. Someone's just woken up. I wait for them to come downstairs, but judging by their path, they're just going to the bathroom. The clock on the wall says it's only 6 a.m. I sit there in the silence, staring off into space while the time ticks by. I'm so spaced out that I don't even realize someone standing in the kitchen's doorway until they clear their throat.
"Hey, Nico. What're you doing?" It's Eleanor. Her hair is straight and she has no makeup on. She's wearing sweats and a hoodie. She doesn't look that different, she's still as pretty as ever.
I jump at the sound of her voice but quickly compose myself. "Oh, nothing, I was just sitting here, sleeping with my eyes open."
She opens the fridge and examines its contents. "Couldn't sleep?" Her voice is casual, so I don't think she's looking too deep into it, but I can tell that she's worried.
"Something like that, more of an early riser if anything."
She pulls out a gallon of orange juice and pours herself a glass. I decline when she offers me some, I don't think I'd be able to stomach it. Eleanor begins rummaging through the cabinets in search of something to eat. I watch her as she pulls out a box of pop tarts and grabs one.
"Do you want some?" She offers.
"No, I'm not hungry, I just ate," I say.
She shrugs her shoulders and grabs her food, bringing it to the table and sitting across from me. She digs into her food and I yawn. Eleanor looks up at me and smiles.
"You scared me when you passed out last night. I forgot how draining it is to cast a spell when it is your first time doing so. I probably should've warned you." She laughs a beautiful laugh, her eyes twinkling.
"I had no idea it was going to be so draining to do a spell. I'll have to practice more and more if I want to get this spell off of me and Alex." I draw circles on the table's wooden surface with my finger, avoiding Eleanor's eyes.
"So..." She draws out, "Can you tell me what your life was like when you were living with our uncle?"
My finger freezes on the table and I feel my entire body stiffen. "It was nothing special," I mutter. I can't tell her what my life was like. Even though she is my sister and maybe the only person that I can trust, I just feel like I don't know her well enough. I don't want to talk about my past, I can't. Not with Eleanor. She'll feel terrible and guilty about leaving me there instead of trying harder to find me, it's not her fault. But more importantly, I haven't told anyone yet. Not even Alex, even though he's taken a peek into the nightmare. I'll just keep it to myself and wither inside rather than spread the poisonous truths into the world.
"Nico?" Eleanor says, looking at me strangely.
I flinch and snap back to reality. "Yeah?"
"I asked you a question..."
"Oh, um..."
At that moment, Luca shuffles into the kitchen, yawning and scratching his head. His hair is a ball of blue floof, the black barely visible underneath.
"Hey, Luca," I say, changing the subject.
He blinks sleepily at us as if he just realized that we were here. "G'Morning," He mumbles.
I glance up at the clock on the wall, school starts in about an hour. "We better start getting ready for school or else we'll be late," I say, standing up from my chair.
"Nico, about that..." Eleanor says, "we need to meet with the Silver Bane wolf pack before anything."
I stop to think about what she said, letting the words sink in. An idea starts to form in my head that makes my gut clench. "We don't have an appointment with them, right? And we can't just go barging in."
Eleanor squirms in her seat. "No, you're right," she admits.
"Well, I can set one up for us once I get to school," I say more confidently than I actually feel. If I go through with this plan, then I'll have to talk face to face with Alex.
"Could you really set that up? How?" Eleanor questions, looking hopeful. But the sliver of doubt in her eyes gives her away.
"Of course I can, the alpha's son goes there and we know each other." The words feel awkward in my mouth. The alpha's son. He's never been that to me. He's always just been Alex.
"Awesome!" Eleanor exclaims. In her excitement, she fails to see my inner turmoil. She tackles me into a bear hug, squeezing the life out of me.
Luca sits at the kitchen table half-asleep chewing his cereal absentmindedly. He flinches and drops his spoon when Eleanor slams her hands onto the table.
"Luca, you'll have to watch over Nico today and make sure the alpha doesn't harm him," Eleanor says.
I open my mouth to contradict her, Alex would never do anything like that to me, and I don't like how she's assuming that because he's the alpha he would. But before I can even speak, Luca says:
"'K." His blue eyes seem even bluer today than they did yesterday. Those blue orbs connect with mine and I flush, turning away.
"I'll go get ready, see you guys in 5 minutes." I hope that I won't let the Druids down. I may have put too much faith in my ability to convince Alex to talk to me long enough to listen to my request. My stomach roils as the butterflies and anxiety fight for dominance. Once again fate pulls the two of together.
This is my chance to finally bring us together to stop Nyx before she can execute whatever she's planning to do. Eventually, I'll get this spell off of us and we can be together. Hopefully... What if when I get the spell off of Alex and he doesn't forgive me? Or worse, doesn't want to be my mate. If I leave the spell on him, who would it really affect, besides me? Alex would be none the worse for wear, and I'd just have to be alone. What would be better for Alex?
A/N: Thank you, everyone, for reading my story and liking it. I'm surprised and extremely happy to have made it to 1.3k reads. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, and that you'll continue reading it until the end :)