Chapter 99: Open Your Eyes Cassie

CASSIE'S POV

"That way!" Phoebe pointed to a cluster of dead trees to our right. Maybe we could hide behind them.

We ran as hard as we could. The roar was deafening now. It felt like the air was being pulled out of my lungs.

We dove behind the thickest tree just as the hurricane tore past us. The force of it yanked at my hair and clothes, almost pulling me in. Phoebe screamed and grabbed onto me. "Cassie! Hold on!" I held onto her hands for my dear life.

For a full minute, the world around us was nothing but noise and intense wind and darkness. I held onto Phoebe and prayed the tree she was using as a wedge wouldn't get ripped out of the ground.

Then, slowly, the intense wind started to die down. The roar faded and the shaking stopped. I landed on the ground and hurried behind the tree with Phoebe.

We peeked out and saw the hurricane had moved on, leaving a path of destruction behind it. The ground was torn up and more trees were gone.

"What... was that?" I breathed, shaking slightly.

"The hurricane that's been tormenting me here," Phoebe said shaking her head. "We can't let it catch up to us again."

We got up and kept moving forward. Faster this time. If there was a way out of here, we had to find it before that thing came back to haunt us.

We searched for another hour and there was still nothing out of place. No secret doors or magic slides. Just more of the same looking dead land and that horrible sky.

Then suddenly we heard it again.

The roaring wind.

"Not again!" I groaned loudly.

We ran. This time the hurricane seemed even bigger. It was tearing up the ground behind us, getting closer with every second.

"Go left! Go left!" Phoebe shouted, and we cut left, running like our lives depended on it. Which in this case, it does.

We got to another corner. "Go Right this time!" Phoebe shouted again, and we cut right quickly.

We were just running in circles, and it was gaining on us.

My lungs were burning from taking in too much air. And my legs felt like they would give up any moment now. "We’re not gonna make it!" I gasped but kept running.

Phoebe tripped and went down. I skidded to a stop and pulled her up. "Come on!"

The hurricane was right behind us now. I could feel it pulling at my back again, trying to suck me in the whirlwind.

And then suddenly, a wild thought hit me. So wild it made me stop running.

Phoebe stumbled when I stopped. "Cassie, what are you doing?! Keep running!"

I turned to face the hurricane. It was huge. Closer than ever and the debris was flying everywhere.

"What if we're looking at it the wrong way?" I said, more to myself than to her.

"What?" Phoebe yelled over the noise.

"What if running away from the hurricane isn't the answer?" My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst. "What if... what if running INTO the hurricane is how we get out?"

Phoebe stared at me like I’d lost my mind. "Are you crazy?! That thing will tear us apart!"

"Maybe," I said. "Or maybe not. Maybe it's the exit we're looking for. If I've learned anything from these mind jumps I've been doing, it's that these mind traps always do the opposite of what you expect. We've been running from it this whole time and we haven't found anything around here that could stand as our way out. What if the way out is right in the middle of this hurricane?"

The hurricane roared closer, only a few feet away now. We could see individual pieces of rock and dirt spinning inside it.

Phoebe looked terrified. But then she turned to look at me and I nodded at her.

"Okay," she said and let out a shaky breath. "Okay. But if you're wrong, we might die in there!"

"And if i'm right, we get to go home!" I grabbed her hand. "We can do this!" I assured her.

The wind was screaming close and was pulling at us already.

I looked at Phoebe one last time and took a deep breath.

The hurricane was right there and suddenly we were sucked inside of it.

~

I was shrieking violently on the ground of the Great Hall.

My airway seemed to be overwhelmed and I couldn't breathe.

"Shit! Cassie! Cassie! Damn it Cassie! Breathe!" Jake's voice echoed in my head.

I really couldn't hear anything clearly as well. Because even my ears were numb.

"What's wrong with her?!" Madeline's worried voice also echoed.

"Someone get healers!" Damon yelled out.

Footsteps, different voices from different people, all echoed at the same time but I simply couldn't make out clearly what they were saying.

I struggled to keep myself awake but my eyes kept trying to betray me.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw the healers rushing towards me, wearing their overall whites and just then my eyes completely betrayed me and I slipped into unconsciousness.

~

JAKE'S POV

I was yelling out her name immediately she hit the ground.

"Cassie! Cassie! Damn it Cassie! Breathe!"

Cassie who was simply seated on the ground before was now on the floors of the Great Hall, shaking rapidly. Her voice sounded so wrong as if her airway was blocked somehow. Her eyes were rolling back and her hands were clawing at her throat.

"Shit. SHIT!" I yelled out as I tried to hold her up.

"What's wrong with her?!" Madeline's voice was high and panicked behind me.

"Someone get healers!" Damon yelled. He ran quickly to us to check on Cassie.

Everyone was suddenly panicked and was now shouting over each other. But all I could hear was Cassie’s rough breathing and my own heart trying to beat out of my chest.

The healers came running in. Two of them at once.

"Move aside," one of them snapped, pushing me back. "Give her some space."

I moved back only slightly but didn’t take my eyes off her. "She seemed fine a second ago. I think she just came out of the mind jump and then she just..."

"It's okay, we got it," another healer said firmly to me.

I stepped back. My hands were shaking so bad I had to shove them in my pockets.

They worked on her. Checking her pulse, and her breathing. One of them pressed something glowing to her chest and Cassie arched off the ground.

"Cassie?" I whispered.

Her eyes fluttered slightly open. For a second I thought she was looking at me. Then they rolled back again and she went limp the second time.

Damn it!

"Is she going to be okay?" Madeline asked them.

"Her breathing isn't stable," the lead healer cut in. "We need to get her to the infirmary so she can get proper treatment."

The two healers lifted the stretcher and moved Cassie into it, leaving the Great Hall. I and a few others went ahead with them.

~

It took almost the remaining day to stabilize her breathing.

I also spent that time sitting in the clinic room watching her while the healers came in and out.

Also the clinic was almost cleared out and cleaned up now that the blue ones have been moved out.

Principal Bellweather, Mr. Winchester, Instructor Ryke, and Mrs. Stone were still out there dealing with the rest of the possessed students.

They managed to subdue them using their combined magic to lock the students in a magical sphere. Just that they had to watch the sphere 24/7 incase one of them tried to break free.

Meanwhile I remained here watching Cassie’s chest rise and fall. Hoping she'd open her eyes soon.

Phoebe was okay. She’d come out of her mind trap right after Cassie collapsed. She was confused, dehydrated, but thankfully alive and not affected by whatever they had to go through to come back to the surface. She was also in the next room getting some minor treatments.

Cara decided to get some medications too because she was bruised.

Damon had to go stay with his mother and keep an eye on his sister to make sure she doesn't hurt herself too much while still possessed.

Madeline kept bringing me water I didn’t drink. Telling me to calm down, that Cassie would be okay.

"She’s stable now," the healer assured us again for the tenth time when I asked about Cassie's health. "Her body is just exhausted. She must have used a ton of magic that took a toll on her like this. And you all know she isn't used to using magic so this reaction is actually normal. Don't worry. She’ll wake up when she’s ready."

"When?" I asked.

"Soon," she said. "Just give her time."

Time. I hated that word.

I sat in the chair next to her bed and held her hand.

"Come on Cassie," I muttered. "You told me you could do it. To trust you... and I did. Now you're not waking up. That's not really fair."

Hours passed and the sun went down and came back up the next morning. I barely noticed.

Damon came to check on Cassie every few hours, in and out. Madeline and Cara slept on the couch in the corner. Phoebe checked in twice, looking guilty like it was her fault this happened to Cassie.

But it wasn’t her fault.

It was mine. I should’ve insisted on her resting a while longer before going in again.

As I held her hands, I felt her fingers twitch in mine.

I shot up in the chair. "Cassie?"

Her brow furrowed then her lips parted.

The monitors beeped faster near her bedstand.

Her eyelids fluttered once and twice. And then, slowly, Cassie’s eyes opened.

~