"Kya!" Someone called my name. Someone externally from in my mind. It pulled me out and I gasped as from the shock of pain as I returned to this cruel reality. I no longer felt welcome in this world.
The choices. I thought about them. Should I die to be reborn. To escape this existence where I am judged and hated by everyone dear to me. To get a second chance, to wipe the slate clean, to start over as a better version of myself. The dying part scared me but the option sounded incredibly appealing.
The alternative was to fight them and be killed. I had already experienced their relentless attacks and I could tell this was nothing in comparison of what they could do to me. They were just flexing their muscles, giving me a taste of their power, a chance to consider the destruction that possibly awaited me. Everything pinned on my choice.
I had a choice. The more I thought about the less joining them sounded like a bad choice. I knew in my heart that if I fought them, even if by some freak turn of events I managed to beat them, I didn't want to win. I am so defeated by life I am ready to sacrifice everything.
My eyes drifted open and as I look across the grass plane I saw my brother. It was his voice that had awoken me from the internal dialogue with the other voice. He embraced Mariah as they shared a passionate kiss. My heart broke. It was always her. She was everywhere. Every guy that mattered to me was infatuated with her. He could see I was being attacked and yet he chose this moment to make out with the girl that had ruined my life. It felt like only yesterday she was flaunting her romance with Jace. Had he meant nothing to me. I felt the anger boiling up inside my like lava, filling my veins. I was too weak to get up and scream at him to get off her. I had to words powerful enough to destroy her. I felt so hopeless.
She was a witch! That was the only explanation. There had always been rumours at school about her odd mum. She told fortunes at halloween events using a crystal ball, she claimed the cakes they baked were infused with magic to bless the union. The most bizarre part of all was that she was here now too. Watching Mariah and Murray kiss. As they let go, what looked like stars spun around them slowly. Like tiny fireflies rising up to the sky, forming what looked like a rose in the sky. Even this wasn't happening or Mariah was using magic.
I had never believed in magic before. I always thought it was trickery. But, enough bizzare things happened since Christmas that only magic and creatures of the night made sense.
I closed my eyes, shutting out the trio. They were the real enemy. Mariah had taken my boyfriend, now she was enchanting my brother and I could not stop her. I turned my attentions inward. Searching for the deep voice, that gave me impossible choices but soothed my pains and made me feel safe. He could help me.
"Kya, are you ready?" His voice filled my mind and I knew we once again connect.
But, someone was pulling my conscious away. I felt gentle hands brushing my skin, moving my hair behind me ear. I could smell them close and familiar, it was Murray. His fingers ran over my cuts and ignited the pain. What was he doing? Why wouldn't he leave me alone. I wanted to go. I want to be with the voice. I coiled up tighter, trying to shut him out. Trying to return to the voice to tell him my decision.
My eyes were shut tight but when I heard him again, I sense he was outside my mind. "Gwyn you know better than to meddle in our laws." I opened my eyes to see a man that oozed power standing close by. He was a dark figure from the colour of his skin to the clothes he was wearing. Where once pink had been my colour, now, black sang to my soul.
"The girl is innocent. There has been a mistake." My focussed turned to Mariah's mother. Her loose clothing billowing in the wind.
"We make no mistakes. She is outs." I smiled at the sound of his voice. He knew me like no other. I hadn't even answered him and he knew I was already his.
"How can this be?" I grimaced at the sound of the old witch's voice. I could sense the man's power and willed him to get rid of her.
"She is an unclaimed wolf." As the man revealed this, my gaze turned to Murray to see if he understood that I hadn't been lying. If the pieces were falling into place for him too. Was he sorry for the way he had judged me along with everyone else? His head was buried in Aero's fur, comforting our dog. It broke my heart to see that he had been hurt protecting me. I reached a hand out towards him and he pressed his nose against my palm.
"A wolf?"
"One of Luna's line."
"Luna has been here? Does she know of Mariah?"
"I'm only interested in this girl. She's mine." The man walked towards me. A look full of hate bestowed Murray, "Move aside fry!"
"No!" Murray stood. Murray wasn't small but against the man he looked like David facing Goliath. "You can't have her!" Murray threw his hand forward and something clear like glass shot forward towards the man.
It bounced off the man's chest and he laughed, a deep rumbling sound that felt like a hug. He wasn't scared of my brother. "I am an ancient. You are no match for me. Control your dog, I don't enjoy putting down animals."
His coldness of his words regarding Aero made me begin to doubt my choice. Did I want to join a man that had not love towards my beloved dog.
"Murray, bring your dog to me," Gwyn said.
"No!" Murray yelled, "I won't leave Kya."
"Come little Aeron, come to me, come sit by side, by the power in me." Gwyn chanted. Aero got up and walked towards her as if she were his master. I gasped as I realised she was a witch and now she had stolen my dog. I tried to push myself up but fell down. "Please come away. There are ancient laaws we must follow. This is out of our hands."
"I said, I won't leave her." Murray said stubbornly. He looked between the man and the witch, clearly caught in the middle.
Gwyn waved her hands in the air in a strange motion, like a tree swaying in the breeze. Murray cried out, "What are you doing?" Murray began drifting away from me as if he was skating on the ground and I noticed that his feet had disappeared beneath the surface.
"Gwyn!" Mariah screamed. "You promised never to cast on me again!"
The witch continued to sway her arms as she answered, "Except for your protection."
I felt my body feel heavy and drowsy as if someone was pulling me down. Had he witch cast on me too. Was I sinking into the ground. I had no fight left in me and I gave in to the sensation, closing me eyes, only to be greeted by his voice, "Are you ready?"
"Yes," I thought.
"What is your choice?"
"I wish to join."
"Good choice," he answered. "As I take your soul, this will feel strange and may even hurt. You must try to relax. If you fight us, you will die for certain. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
I began to feel an odd tugging and a scorching fire that was burning my insides, acid running through my body. My bones breaking, my skin tearing. I felt my whole body being destroyed with each agonising tug. My body fought to stay alive but I was ready to relinquish my soul. I tried to relax but there was still fight in me. I was having a battle with myself to give up, to stop living and my body wasn't willing to relent.
My mind pushed him out, unwilling to surrender to him. I was going to die because I wasn't willing to die. The irony caused me to cry. With his absence from my mind, I was conscious again and the pain from before was now magnified in its try source. Crows swooped and were grabbing something dark around me and pulling it. It was being dragged across the ground, I was bleeding out. I writhed in agony.
I felt like someone had punched me in the jaw. It was like the worst toothache ever. A blinding pain, blurring my vision. My mouth felt strange.
"Join us," the man said angrily.
"No!" I threw my head back and screamed. I felt wild and a desperate need to live. I tried to negotiate with the animal within me but it didn't understand. My body wanted to live and it was going to fight my mind, my soul and I was lost in a battle where I didn't know anymore which side I was on.
"To be one of us is better than to not be at all," He stated. I knew his words were true. I was trying to join but I wasn't strong enough to win against myself sabotage. I tried to relax to give in to him but I was losing, "I did warn you, wave goodbye." His chilling words struck fear in my heart. This was it. I was going to die.
"No!" I heard Mariah scream. I didn't know that she cared so much about me. Why would she even care if I live or die. I closed my eyes trying to get back internally to that safe place so I could relinquish my soul and rid myself of this life.
"Mariah you need to calm down!" Gwyn said. I wish they would be quiet. Their constant distractions were making it harder for me to retreat. Maybe it's what they wanted. Maybe they were trying to kill me. That made more sense.
Suddenly, I feel icy cold and I am drowsed in water. I try to breathe but the water is everywhere. Someone has thrown me into the sea. My broken body kicks into survival mode and I am rudely thrown back into the world of the living. I kick my legs and try to swim. Should I swim or do I need to drown. My mind is a mess. There is a strong current and I feel myself being dragged out to sea. I try to swim, to get back to land but I am weak and have no power. I am being drawn away.
"Kya!" I hear Mariah call as I bob under the water. I try to stay up above the water so she can see me, find me, rescue me but the sea is rough and I am injured. I keep gulping salt water and choking. I hold my arm up, hoping she can see me. I am tired and ready to give in, I'm about to let go when I feel Mariah pull my body against her. I close my eyes and let go, allowing her to carry me in the ocean.