Chapter 70 70

Chapter 70 70
Aderyn pushed her eyes open. Her heartbeat rose to its maximum at the sight of her surroundings; she was laying on the wet, grassy ground in the middle of a hurricane in the middle of nowhere. The earth around her was cracked and broken. She was drenched in the rain that poured from the sky. A second look at the water and Aderyn flinched at the sight. It was a blood rain.
She threw her eyes up and the sky was clouded red. The wind pushed back and forth tirelessly and fiercely, its force attempting to swallow up everything around it while a blazing dark blue fire surrounded her.
Swiftly, she was up on her feet. She tried moving but realized the pit that surrounded her. It was like the earth had disappeared around her. Only the place Aderyn was standing had ground below. Her jaw dropped as panic raced in. Every spell she did to get out of this hellhole was useless.
Now fear rushed in and she lost control. The burning lava in her stomach ached more, and she curled inwardly at the pain.
Aderyn started shouting to release the pain and suffocation eating her alive. The more she screamed, the more the earthless ground trembled. The wind grew more aggressive and the bloody water turned killer cold. The blue fires began to blaze more. It was as if the more she tensed up, the disaster around her intensified—as if everything happening was reacting to her sudden feelings.
She held her breath when she heard the crack below. Aderyn looked and found the little earth she was standing on was at the brink of collapsing. In an instant, the crack intensified, pulling her deep. Just then, she jolted up from her sleep.
Aderyn sat frozen for a while, her eyes darting around her room. She sighed in relief; Dylan must have brought her here after she slept off. Another sigh of relief escaped her, remembering the dream—no, nightmare—she had. Thank goodness it was just a dream.
Aderyn peeked out of the window and realized it was still dark outside. How many minutes had she been asleep?
She got out of bed, restless, paying no caution to the intense burning in her stomach.
Her eyes wandered to the box close to her. She grabbed her mother's box, pulling out the undecipherable notes. Aderyn went through them over and over, still nothing.
She sighed yet again in frustration, running her palm over her face. 'Mother, please, a little help here!'
Even more angered, she packed it all up, shoving it back into the box, when her hand rested on the locket in it. She pulled it out. It was silvery and had long silver ropes.
It had a small pendant on it. Aderyn's hands led the way and pushed the pendant open. Instantly, a black fluid flowed out, moving onto her hand. It began flowing and flowing until it reached her wrist and gathered. Quickly, pain flooded her as a sharp pain pierced her wrist. Her eyes suddenly turned all blue, shining brightly. Aderyn collapsed harshly on the floor, losing consciousness.
Chapter 40
Her breath was deep and shallow. Aderyn's eyes scanned her surroundings. It was dark. She pushed herself up, standing on her bare feet. She could feel the light cut on her left foot. She took a look at her left foot, finding the lifeless stick that was idle against her feet. Without much hesitation, she pushed the thorn out of her flesh. Now her full concentration was on her surroundings. She didn't recognize where she was. But that aside, Aderyn had more questions grazing her mind.
'How on earth did I get here?'
She gave a thoughtful glance at her body and, to her relief, she was as good as fine—that's if ignoring the dirt on her black tank top and the leaves that covered her hair. She could say she was damn glad it was dark and no bird had seen her in this mess, or it could have mistook the mess on her head for a comfy nest.
Her blue eyes glanced up at the night sky; it was clear, having no stars. The same question rang in her head again.
'What am I doing here?'
'How did I get here?'
The last thing she remembered was sharing peaceful silence with Dylan, then she woke up on her bed... then mother's box... and—her eyes shot up, remembering vividly. The locket... the black ink... She narrowed her bulging eyes on her wrist where the ink had magically gathered and, to her shock and astonishment, there laid a rune. A kind of tattooed mark, and that too in black ink—one as dark as coal. 'Fuck!'
Aderyn cautioned her heart from beating hard. She halted her panic. Now those questions rang more loudly in her ears, demanding some answers instantly.
'How did I get here?'
She couldn't remember. When she tried hard recalling something... anything... all she found at the end of the tunnel was a dark fog wanting to swallow her. Instantly, a tight, sucking pain gripped her stomach. It came with similar pain that had haunted her the whole day, but there was a stern difference. The burning pain had intensified; it stung her mercilessly. She felt as if flames were lit in her stomach—raw pain specially designed and sent from the deepest nook of hell.
Aderyn flung herself to the ground, clutching her stomach tightly as if it would tear up any moment. The pain was raw and flaming.
She couldn't contain it; her mouth widened open and she released an immense energy along with her trembling wail. Her wail was loud and terrifying, and the energy that escaped from her was strong enough to bend anything with magic fusing through it down to its knees.

She kept on wailing in pain. She barely even took notice of the trembling ground beneath her, nor the restless wind that had awakened by her wail, nor the blue flames that burned in her blue eyes. Even the night sky had turned red, about to rain blood!

The pain gripped her, burning her insides down to her bones, as if something deep within her was tired of the silence and wanted freedom.

She clutched onto the dried grasses around, fighting the pain. It was when she bit back the knife-piercing pain and halted her wails that she noticed the disaster around.

For a shocking minute, she pulled herself out of the world that gave her pain. With blue eyes as wide as saucers, Aderyn stared blankly at the red sky about to rain blood. Her skin could feel the restlessness of the wind as it moved around hungrily, wanting to swallow something up. The earth also trembled beneath her.

Now she couldn't contain that beating heart of hers; it hammered loudly in her ears. As her heartbeat shot up more, the madness around her intensified all the more, and she felt she was in the middle of a hurricane. She was trapped and drenched in the blood rain. Her gaze studied the cracked ground, finding no way to escape it. The more she resisted, the more the knife-piercing pain stabbed her stomach. Now it didn't seek permission. The raging heat from her stomach spread around her body and sent her to her knees. Then she released a thunderous wail that caused the impossible.



(Hours earlier that day)

As soon as a little daylight quaked in, Dylan buttoned the bottom of his grey button-down shirt. He spared little time glancing at his reflection before making his way down the long hallway. He knew exactly what to expect from today. He was going to be present at the Circle meeting, which would indubitably take forever. He couldn't help but curse aloud. Travis came to him once he was downstairs. They walked out of the mansion with some of the pack members, leaving the territory.

Dawn moved in quickly, brightening the whole place. It was almost time for breakfast; Brielle went to Aderyn's room, gave a knock at the door, and waited, only to be greeted by a loud silence.

"Aderyn?" She pulled the door open, walking in. "Aderyn," she called, but couldn't find her anywhere in the room. Brielle walked over to the scattered notes lying on the floor; she picked them up, neatly arranging them on the bedside table. She was about to leave the room when she stepped on something. A golden locket. It had some weird symbols engraved in it. Brielle held it up, her eyes scanning it, before placing it on the table and making her way out.

She mindlinked Nina and Zoey, a vampire, asking if any had seen the Luna, but unfortunately none had. She began to worry. Brielle mindlinked the pack members.

Just then, Kaleb spoke through the mindlink, informing her he had seen Aderyn; she was somehow in a haste. She left the pack house heading to the witch quarters. A sigh of relief washed over her. There was no doubt Aderyn was at the witches' quarters, she thought throughout the day.