Chapter 181: ~The Dullahan's Prison~

(Fiona’s POV)

Ziva had completely vanished from my grasp. Of course, the Dullahan was calling other names. Fifty, maybe sixty students had disappeared, but still I couldn't concentrate on them, not when someone who had grown to become my sister was captured by the beast.

I watched the creature turn back in the direction it came, disappearing into the magical barrier.

I watched as the students and everyone else clamoured and pushed each other, until slowly, they realized it was over.

Then came the tears as people mourned their friends, who were gone forever.

But Ziva wasn't gone forever, not on my watch. Not if I could do something about it.

“I refuse it,” I said out loud, shaking my head. “I refuse to let you go, Ziva Whitaker.”

Another scream tore through me, and it went on for so long that I felt someone's hand on my shoulders, leading me in a direction I did not know.

“It's okay,” the person whispered in my ear. “It will be okay.”

It wasn't okay, and it would never be.

–-----------

They all looked at me like I'd gone crazy; maybe I had.

“Can you repeat what you just said?” A professor, Claire, said.

“I need to get my friend and the others from the Dullahan,” I repeated. “And nobody will stop me.”

Professor Winston shook her head like someone would when a child who'd been warned multiple times kept trying to put their hand in an open fire.

“You do realize those people called are as good as dead, right?” Professor Claire repeated.

“But we don't know that yet,” I insisted, standing by my decision. “No one knows that until we look for them.”

I wasn't going to give up on Ziva like that, even if it meant passing the magical barrier.

“Just let it go,” Professor Claire said. “There's no use crying over spilt milk.”

Slowly, I felt anger grow in my chest. “You tell me what to do when you lose someone to the Dullahan! For now, keep your opinions to yourself.”

Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and then she shot up from her chair. “Well, since you need to hear it, I lost my husband too. To the Dullahan. Tonight! Am I whining about it? No. Am I hurt? Yes, I loved that man.”

“Apparently not enough,” I said firmly, in a low tone. “Because, from what little I know about love, when you love someone, you fight for them.”

We stared at each other for so long. Two women who were grieving.

Valkyr, who had been reading some folklore books for research, looked up from the book in front of him. “They're not dead.”

This sentence was enough to steal my attention. “Wh… What did you say? How do you know that?”

I walked up to him and dragged the book from his hands. I looked at it, and there was a picture of a Dullahan, alongside other creatures, but unfortunately, it wasn't written in English, but another language that looked like Aramaic.

“It says that ancient Dullahans typically captured people with unfinished destinies,” Valkyr said. “Now, I don't know if this applies in this case, but it says that anyone it calls becomes trapped inside a supernatural pocket dimension. I guess that's where the people trapped could be found… and why Ziva was taken.”

I paced the room, wondering where the supernatural pocket dimension could be. “B… but are they going to get killed?”

Valkyr shook his head unsurely.

“I don't know,” he said. “I don't think so.”

My curiosity increased, as did my anxiety. “So where are they going eventually?”

My question remained unanswered.

“Someone has to volunteer to go and bring back the captured people,” Professor Claire said, more to herself than anyone else. I could see her lips quivering, even though she tried to hide it. “They might be alive after all.”

If the students were really trapped in a supernatural pocket dimension, then someone had to retrieve them.

“I volunteer,” I said boldly.

“Fiona, you might die if you do,” Valkyr said.

“Then so be it. I will go,” I repeated.

“Go where?” a familiar voice called, startling us all.

I turned to see the person I'd least expected approaching us. Knox. He still had bandages over his head and arms, strapped over his shoulder and neck, strapped over his shoulder and neck. He was limping painfully in our direction, and I almost did not recognize him.

This was not the Knox I knew. The Knox I knew did not look painfully thin, with sunken eyes and thick black veins crawling underneath his skin.

“You're awake,” Principal Winston gasped, walking over to help her son, but he shrugged her away, insisting he could walk by himself.

“You haven't answered my question yet, Fiona,” his voice croaked as he limped toward me. “Where are you going?”

“To get Ziva,” I said. “She was captured by a Dullahan alongside others. They're in a pocket dimension, and I must find it… I must get her.”

Knox grunted. “No.”

“W-"

“You go nowhere,” he spoke firmly this time. “I will not allow it.”

“As if you could ever stop me,” I said, growing impatient.

“Could you—” he coughed painfully, spitting out blood. Principal Winston moved closer to him, but he stopped her from coming closer. He turned to me. “Could you, for once, imagine that you were the one captured and Ziva was the one here; would she do the same for you?”

That question was unexpected. And I did not have an answer to it.

“Thought as much,” he mumbled as he took a chair and, grunting, sat on it.

My mind was made up. I spoke to Valkyr. “How do I go about it?”

I could see that the professors were battling inwardly over whether or not to let me go.

“You almost died once,” Knox said. “I'm not letting you do it again.”

Ignoring him, I turned to Valkyr once more. “I'm going to do it, with or without your help. But it will be faster if you do.”

“I… I think I know where the pocket dimension might be,” he said, avoiding my eyes.

I guess once more, I was having a brush with death.

My throat tightened painfully. What was it with me and dangerous situations?