The Unseen Threat
Elena’s Point of view:
I beg, "Don't let go of me," clutching Orion and shaking fingers against his chest. My heart thumps so loudly I can hardly hear anything else; the adrenaline is running through me.
Long shadows from the warehouse's low light make the quiet between us oppressive.Orion's eyes fix on me and for a minute I see something there, something raw and desperate.
He lets out a sharp exhale, our circumstances weighing down on him.
His voice low and tense, he says, "I won't let go."
His hand pushes against my back, drawing me forward, and I sense his body stiffening every muscle coiled and ready.
But Elena, you really must pay attention to me.
We cannot stay here much longer.
He is monitoring us. I nod, but my chest feels as if it is smothering from anxiety.
He is seeing us. Those words keep coming back to me and cause a new surge of anxiety.
We're hunting, I know. I do not feel comfortable, though, even Orion standing next to me.
The man is like a shadow: constantly just out of sight but always there, slinking closer, always nearer.
You're correct, I say, more to myself than to him. We have to find our way out.
The delicate silence is broken suddenly by a far-off smash across the warehouse.
I stop, my breath seizing. My eyes fly toward the sound source, but I cannot see anything as the shadows are opaque.
Orion is not slow.
His hold gets firm around my arm, dragging me ahead.
"We hardly have time.
"I agree, my pulse racing as he leads me across the tangle of abandoned machinery and sacks.
Every stride we make feels like a race against something darker, something that wants to bring us down.
There is obvious conflict between us; neither of us is communicating yet both of us know the threat is closing in.
Then, without warning, a voice rips through the air, smooth and terrible.
"Leaving so soon? "My heart pauses a beat.
The voice causes me to feel rather sick.
I understand the voice. I know the person waiting just behind us, observing.
My body stiff with anxiety, I turn slowly, and there he is the man who has been a continual thorn in our side plucking the strings from the shadows.
His broad, almost mocking smile suggests that he is enjoying the occasion.
He enters the low light, his shadow almost perceptible, but his eyes clearly sparkle.
"You didn't think you'd escape that readily, did you?"Orion moves forward, his posture defensive, yet his eyes dart with doubt.
This time, he cautions, "you've gone too far.
"The man simply laughs, though, unconcerned. Far? Not yes. This is only starting here.
He moves forward, his words cutting over the frigid air.
You believe you might stop me? In a game you hardly know, you are simply pawns.His comments seem to me as frost seeping into my bones.
Every word he says is deliberate, a well constructed trap.
He is here for considerably worse, not only to harm us.
He says, "Tell me, Elena," his eyes penetrating me, "did you really think you could hide from me forever?
" Would you have thought that following all of this I wouldn't show up for you?I try to steady my breath by hard swallowing.
My voice quivering but firm, "I won't let you win," I say. "You are not in charge of me."His eyes sparkle with delight.
"Controlla?" He approaches closely, his presence overwhelming. You misinterpret. I never had to rule Elena. You already provide all I need.My breath stops.
I'm not clear if my fear stems from what he says or from what he might do going forward.
Orion moves slightly to find himself halfway between us. With a tight voice and eyes never straying from the man in front of us, "Stay back," he cautions.
"You're not coming anywhere close to her.
"The man looks over Orion, evaluating, computing.
" Such good intentions, Orion," he continues, his voice nearly sympathetic.
For heroics, though, it is too late. You are caught already.I back off and draw Orion's arm with me.
"We cannot do this here," I say, my head whirling for a getaway. I whisper fiercely.
"We should relocate."As the man observes us, his smile gets broader.
Elena, there is no escape here.
No more. A loud smash suddenly comes from behind us, and then too many footsteps start to emanate. It is not one person.
My tummy falls. She is caught in a trap.
We had straight ahead into it.
I say, panic slinking into my voice: "Orion." "Their arrival is imminent.
"We really have to leave right now!But the man gestures before we can even react.
The air around us appears to change, and I get an electric pulse running across the room that shakes my bones.
A dazzling light flashes, and for a little period I am lost, unable to concentrate on anything.
And then, before I realize it, the warehouse doors crash earth-shatteringly closed.
The chamber darkens and the sound of approaching feet gets louder.
My heart rushes, my breath comes in quick gasps as I understand we have been surrounded.Orion says, "We're out of time," gripping my palm tightly.
Before the man's voice bursts out once more, harsh and triumphant, I hardly have time to react. "Welcome to the endgame Elena.
"Then a voice I never would have imagined to hear resonates across the shadows: a voice not at all suited here. "Elena... Orion..."I stop; my blood runs cold. Marie? I whisper in wonder and disbelief.
And that marks the change in everything.The trap is currently set.
My heart thumps in my chest as the voice resonates across the warehouse, sending a frigid shudder down my back.
Marie asked? As I try to make sense of it, my brain races.
She is what is here? She is involved in all this how?
"Marie...what are you doing here?" My voice is little above a whisper, hardly able to contain the explosion of fear threatening.I look at Orion, but his expression is stern, incomprehensible.
He has to feel the same risk I do, the disturbing awareness that things have changed in a way neither of us predicted.
"Stay close," he says, his palm still holding mine and fingers almost hurting in their tightness.The silence fills in between us, the tension choking. From the shadows, then, a man moves forward.
Marie, standing in front of us, her gaze cold, calculated, and far from the sister I once knew, shows in the low light a face I never thought I would see again.
Her voice is shrill and venomous, "You're too late, Elena," she adds. "Did you honestly believe you might get away from this? Like everyone else, you are merely a pawn in his game."As her comments sink in, I can feel the blood leaving my face.
My sister Marie turned against me as well. Still, the treachery is more profound than I first understood.
She is working with the enemy, not only standing here with him.Her voice stiffening, "I never wanted this," she says.
"But I'm worn out from being behind others. You have always possessed all: the affection, the power, the attention. Right now Elena, it is my time.I try hard, my throat constricting. I never thought this would come about.
Marie seemed to me as my friend, someone who would always be at my side no matter what. But today she is in line with the same person I have been trying to flee.
Orion advances, his voice cool but tinged with rage. Marie, "you don't have to do this," he says.
"You are not who this is. "She merely laughs, though, the sound hollow and chilly. "Who I am is precisely the same person I have always been. Simply said, you never saw it.
Watching her go ahead once more, her eyes shining with a dangerous determination, my heart falls. She travelled too far this time. I also doubt any returning from it.
But my stomach drops as soon as I try to reply, footfall behind us. I round about, but it's too late. Our surroundings have been all around.
Low and nasty, the man's voice emerges from the darkness. "You thought you would walk away from this, did you? "Orion's hold on me gets tighter, yet I sense the trap weighing down on us.
The man adds, his voice sending a chill down my spine, "I think it's time we end this.
"And at that same instant I understand that nothing is as it seems. Friends and enemies have become less clear-cut.
And I have no idea whether we will survive out of this.The door closes then, darkening the room behind us.