Tara gasped as she jackknifed. This time, instead of being in warm sunlight, she was met with dimly lit torches flickering on the walls. She looked around, saw she was in some kind of cell. She'd been sitting on a stone floor with stone walls caving her in. She scrambled to her feet and gazed around. There was one lone door and she hastily pushed it open, where it led to a long winding hallway.
Tara immediately set down the hallway, intent on finding Trevor, Savannah, Lupe and her family. She prayed her message from the dream reached Belle, that Belle and Jonathan would come and help out. They needed all the backup they could get.
She heard a noise up ahead and she stilled, straining her eyes and ears to detect what that noise was. The torches didn't provide enough light and ever since she had cast that first spell on Adam to make him forget her eyesight hadn't been the best.
She relaxed just a fraction when she heard Lupe's voice, though she still hesitated. It could be a trick.
Lupe appeared down the hallway, her hair, clothes and skin caked in dirt and blood. Her eyes widened with relief when she saw Tara and she rushed over. Tara relaxed a little bit more but she frowned. Other than the dirt and blood on her, something was off about her appearance.
"Tara thank God!" Lupe cried and threw her arms around Tara.
Tara tentatively hugged back. She tensed as she felt the warning bells go off in her head. Something was definitely not right. While she didn't know Lupe all too well, they still had a friendship and she could tell something was off.
Tara gently grabbed Lupe's shoulders and set her back so she could look into her face.
"Are you okay?"
"No, they almost beat me to death. You need to help me, Tara, I--"
"Tara!"
Tara released Lupe's shoulders and spun around to see Aria Blake and. . . Lupe running down the hallway towards them, other shapeshifters and were creatures right behind them.
Tara turned back to the imposter Lupe and snarled. "You're a trick!"
The fake Lupe's face suddenly melted like wax near a flame, leaving bones and melted flesh behind, similar to what happened to the imposter Savannah just mere days before. Still, it didn't lessen the horror as she watched the imposter's whole body melt before her.
"Holy shit!" she heard one of the shapeshifters yell out.
Holy shit was right.
Lupe rushed to her side. Tara read her aura and knew this was the real Lupe.
"Another one of Caius's tricks," Lupe sat, staring down at the puddle of flesh and bones.
"Another?"
"He already tricked me. We have to be careful. I have no idea what he's planning, all that I know is he's going to mess with us mentally, going to try to make us menatlly snap, but we can't do that. We have to keep a clear, calm head."
"Have you seen Trevor, Savannah or any of my family?"
"No, but we'll find them."
"I sent a dreamscape to Belle when I was unconscious. I told her and Jonathan to come here and help."
"Good. We need all the back up we can get."
"Uh, guys?" one of the shapeshifters called out. "I think we need to stop the chit chat and focus on getting the hell out of here."
Tara rolled her eyes at the guy and said, "That's what we're doing, ding-dong."
Lupe shook her head and grabbed her arm. "Come on. There's no time to waste."
Flynn kept looking around the hospital room he was confined in. Every bone in his body was aching and protesting, yet everything inside of him was screaming at him to get up, to go find his Clan, to make sure Aria and Annie were safe. However, he couldn't move with all the medication they doped him up on.
"Mr. Saddler," a bright, perky cheery voice greeted him and the same nurse he saw earlier appeared in his line of sight, a wide smile pasted on her lips that lifted her whole face.
How can someone work in a hospital and still be so damn happy? He wondered to himself.
"Every single one of your Clan members except one shapeshifter have been brought to this hospital."
"Who wasn't brought here?" he managed to ask through his dry, chapped throat.
"Aria Rose Blake. They couldn't locate her when they sent out the rescue teams."
Flynn felt his blood run cold.
No.
It couldn't be true. Aria couldn't be gone. She couldn't be. What about Annie? The girl couldn't take any more losses in her life. She'd lost both her parents already. She couldn't lose her sister too.
He couldn't lose Aria. She had been the one that always supported him, was there for him. Even when he'd initially been with Liz, he still cared for her. No. Aria couldn't be gone. She couldn't be.
He was duly aware of the heart monitor he was hooked up to starting to beep loudly, signalling that his heart rate was increasing alarmingly.
"Mr. Saddler you need to calm down," the nurse said but he wasn't listening.
Not Aria. Anyone but Aria. He lost his dad. Most of his friends and family. Aria was one of the few bright spots remaining in his life. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't.
He heard the nurse call out for assistance but it sounded as though she were far away, like she was at the end of a tunnel and her voice was echoing over and over.
He had to try to find Aria, but he couldn't move. He couldn't move at all.
He suddenly felt a prick at the crook of his neck and his vision began to blur as his mind battled against unconsciousness. He tried to fight against it. He couldn't go back to sleep now.
His Clan needed him. Annie needed him. Aria needed him. Everyone needed him.
But his efforts were futile. In a matter of moments, he was descending into oblivion, leaving the world behind him.
Belle gasped as she sat up straight on the floor she'd been sleeping on. She'd slept in the bedroom her grandfather had passed away in. Even though the others had given him a proper burial, she still wanted to stay in there. In a way, it made her feel closer to him. Her heart was raw with pain as she contemplated how she would no longer see him, no longer hear his laugh, no longer see his smiling face. And his last moments on earth were unimaginable pain.
But she had to push that to the back of her mind at the moment. She wasn't sure if that dream with Tara was a weird, vivid dream or if it was really a dreamscape, and she was able to communicate to her and tell her that she and the others needed help. Either way, she had to get Jonathan to come with her so they could search for the others.
She jumped to her feet, startling the others around her awake. A glance outside showed the sun hadn't even raised yet, not time for the others to get up, but she was beyond caring.
Jonathan sat up and stared up at her with surprised eyes. "Belle what's going on?"
"It's Tara. She said she and the others need our help. We have to go now!"
"Hold on, hold on," Jonathan said and rose to his feet. He was rapidly blinking the sleep out of his eyes as his mind tried to wake up. "How did Tara talk to you?"
"She gave me a dreamscape. She--"
"Dreamscape? Are they serious?" Blake snarked as he sat up and stretched. "That's a load of horseshit."
"No it's not!" Belle snapped. "She really did. We need to find them and help them instead of sitting around debating about it."
"Belle, calm down," Jonathan said gently and looked down at Blake. "Dreamscaping is real and Tara and the others did learn how to dreamscape. Belle is right, we need to go help them."
There was a brief moment of silence.
Aiden stood up and said, "I'll go with you."
"Seriously Aiden?" Blake snapped, staring at his friend in livid
disbelief.
"We have to do something. We need to stop Caius once and for all."
"Caius is unstoppable!"
"No he's not," Belle insisted. "We are able to stop him, we are."
"How?"
"By combining our powers together."
Perry scoffed.
Belle felt herself growing more and more irritated by the second. "We are not forcing you to come with us, but we need all the help we can get. Right now, we need to go find Tara and the others and you all sitting here and arguing about it.
"Whoever is willing to come with us, speak now, or shut your trap so Jonathan and I can go."
Destiny stood up. "I'll go with you."
"Destiny!" Perry exclaimed, staring at his girlfriend in shock.
"Me too," Saraya said. "We have a fighting chance against him, and we need to come together to take him down."
"Anyone else?" Jonathan asked, staring around the room for a moment.
There was a pregnant pause before both Perry and Blake groaned and
stood up.
"We'll go with you all," said Perry. "But--"
"There are no 'buts' about it," Belle interrupted. She liked both Blake and Perry, thought they were pretty nice guys, but their attitudes were really getting on her nerves and annoying her to no end. She knew they were scared and stressed out but it was still no reason for them to act so freaking nasty. "You either come with us or you don't."
"I will come as well," Azul volunteered. "Caius is the reason I lost my pack, why my pack and I lived a long, tortuous existence. I want him to fall just as much as everyone else."
"Then it's decided," said Jonathan and began striding towards the door. "We will all go, and we'll kick some ass."
***Stay tuned for chapter 30!