Flutter (The Discover Series) (59 page)

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know how this happened?” His confusion and worry were evident on his handsome face, as was the anger that was boiling beneath the surface.

“Breathe, Adan.” I told him. At this point, panicking wasn’t going to make the situation any easier to grasp.

He took a deep breath and ran his free hand through his hair.

“How long have you had these? Does Andres know? How are you so calm about this?  Why haven’t you told me?”

The contortion of his face made me think that he had thought of another question first, but changed his mind. He came up with another question before changing his mind one more time, finally settling on those four questions to spew at me. I was sure there would be a ton more, but he looked like he was
trying
to pace himself.

“Which one of those questions would you like me to answer first?”

“Damn it Sara, this isn’t a joke.” He replied in frustration.

I wanted to argue that jokes have a way of being cruel sometimes and that’s exactly what this felt like.

A cruel, twisted joke.

I’ve had a few weeks to get over the hysterics of my situation, but he was going to need a few minutes.

I sighed. “What was I suppose to say Adan? Oh, by the way, I was attacked in my dreams, not once, but
twice,
and when I woke up, I was branded by
this
.” I gestured at it with my hand. “I don’t know what this is or why I have it, but there are a lot of things lately that I don’t understand, so I’m just adding this one to the list.”

He just stared at me, not in a ‘
you’re a freak and I need to get the hell out of here
’ stare, but almost like he was trying to piece together my issues with the hope that he could make more sense out of it then I could.

Good luck with that
! I thought.

“You were attacked in your
dreams
?”

I wasn’t prepared for that question. I had been prepared for his previous questions and I thought I was going to be prepared for his next one, but I was
wrong
.
SO
wrong!

“Are you sure it was a dream?”

I looked at him now like he had lost his mind.

“Of course it was a dream! What else could it have been?”

I realized it seemed crazy to be shocked by his question after what I had just confessed to him, but I couldn’t help it.

He looked as if he was considering the possible answers to my question, making me wonder what was running through his muddled mind.  His eyes dropped to my arm again.

“You’re right. Why haven’t you told Andres about this?”

             
“Can I have my arm back please?”

             
His grip on my arm seemed to irritate the skin around the print and the friction it caused was starting to become unbearable. He seemed reluctant to let me go, as if holding on to me somehow made him feel better about the whole situation. His hand slid slowly down my arm, his fingers caressing my palm, sending a small ripple through my body, before he let his hand fall away.

             
I had hoped the sensation would go away once Adan let go, but no matter how many times I rubbed my hand over it, I could still detect the lingering feeling that made my skin crawl. Not only was I still dealing with the unsettling sensation, but the minute Adan’s fingers slid away, I suddenly felt completely drained. The never-ending feeling of exhaustion had been wearing thin on my nerves the past few weeks, but being with Adan today somehow made it better. It was nice to be free for an entire day.

             
Now it was back, the fatigue setting into my body, crippling it into submission until I felt like I was going to pass out. There was something else I was experiencing now as well. I could sense a familiarity there that should not have existed. I gave up on making sense of anything that happened to me. I turned around, looking over my shoulder at the darkened woods behind us. I rubbed my hands up and down over my arms, trying to shake the feeling of being watched.

             
That was it!

             
This afternoon, when Adan picked me up, I had felt it. The feeling of being watched hovered around me, but after looking around, and finding no one unusual around, I pushed it aside. Now it was back and I couldn’t push it away as easily as I had this morning. Fear gripped my muscles until I couldn’t move, the panic squeezing my throat as I stared at the shadows that wrapped themselves around the trees of the surrounding woods.

             
I felt Adan move behind me.

             
“What’s wrong?” he asked.

             
“Do you see it?” I asked, my voice no higher than a whisper. I didn’t turn away from the woods, scared of missing something vital.

             
“See what?” He asked, trying to figure out what I was seeing that he wasn’t. “I don’t see anything but darkness, Sara.”

             
“It’s moving.”

Flutter

Twenty One

Ambush

“What’s moving Sara?”

             
Adan moved in front of me, covering half of my body with his as he aimed to protect me from the danger I was obviously sensing.

             
“I don’t see anything,” He continued, squinting into the dark. “What’s moving?” he repeated.

             
“The darkness.” I said, frozen.

             
I wasn’t dreaming…was I? Had today never happened? Being with Adan, our kiss? No, that was impossible. It had been real, but if that were true, then that meant so was the menacing black fog that was swirling around the trees.

             
“Sara the darkness is…” his words faded slowly and I heard the recognition in his voice, “…is moving.” He finished, as the thick black fog broke free of the tree line and flowed
toward
us.

             
Adan twisted his arm behind him and around me, pushing me
toward
the house. He moved fast, so fast that I was unable to process what he was doing, my own clumsiness apparent as I nearly tripped over my own feet.

             
“Sara.” The confusion now gone, Adan had again stepped into protector mode.

             
“What?” I whispered, fear lacing my voice as the situation became strained.

             
“When I tell you to, I need you to
run
.. Run into the house, lock the doors, and wake up Andres, ok?”

             
“Adan-”

             
“We don’t have time for you to ask questions. I need you to
please
do what I am asking Sara.”

             
I hesitated for a minute. “Okay.” I grudgingly agreed.

             
“That’s my girl.”

He moved us closer to the house, and the fog had drifted closer to us, already covering half of the span of the backyard. He stopped, threw a quick glance
toward
the porch, and I knew he was judging the distance. He looked back at the approaching fog, his muscles tightening from the tension, and I knew what he was thinking.

We weren’t going to get close enough in time.

“Adan?”

“It’s a straight path to the porch Sara.”

That was only half true. I would still need to go around the porch to reach the stairs that let to the kitchen doors.

             
“When I say, you haul ass Sara. Run, and don’t look back!”

             
“You’ll be okay?”

             
“You know it, spitfire.” I felt that same familiar rush at the nickname. “Wake up Andres, okay?”

             
“Yes.”

             
“Run!”

His voice was quiet, but fierce, as he spoke the order. I didn’t think twice as I left the comfort of his shield and flew
toward
the house. I was fast. I could do this. I was at the side of the porch within seconds. We must have over-estimated how long it was going to take me to reach the deck, causing me to swerve around the railing to get to the steps. My heart was pounding inside my chest, making it hard to breathe, but that didn’t affect my speed, just added as a minor distraction.

“
SARA!
”

I heard Adan shout my name and stopped just inches from the bottom step of the deck. I turned my head to look at him, but he was running
toward
me. I knew that something had gone wrong with our plan. I froze for only a second, whirling around in time to see two snaking tendrils of the threatening black fog shooting
toward
me. I just needed to reach the stairs, our safety so close, yet so far.  I could be inside within two seconds and Adan would be right behind me. I turned and took a full step
toward
the house before I felt the ghostly touch of the smog around my ankles, snatching my body away from the house, falling hard on my stomach.

“
SARA!”

I heard Adan shout my name again as he ran
toward
me, but my eyes were trained on the second black cord flying past me, its intent set on Adan.

“Adan watch out!” I screamed.

My warning came too late and like a whip of back cloud, the end of the hazy line coiled and sprung, hitting Adan in the chest, throwing him backwards into the railing of the deck. Absorbing the impact, the railing crumbled under his weight. The force of the hit sent him across the deck and through the glass of my bedroom doors.

I cried out, trying to climb to my feet
and
go after
him, but the dense smog was twisted firmly around my ankle, every attempt at moving landed me right back down on the ground. Turning, I sat up on my hands, noting the black vapor wall had stopped moving forward. Instead of that being a good thing, I watched in disbelief as three figures emerged from the murkiness. They stepped out from the other side of the wall, dark mist swirling around their bodies as if they had been created from the fog. All three of them cracked their necks in unison, once in each direction, and looked around at their surroundings before turning in my direction.

Their tall, lanky frames were draped in swirling, black coats.  Their eyes had no depth, causing a shiver to run through my body, as I stared into their soulless, silver eyes.

I watched in horror as the three of them advanced toward me.  At that moment, I would have given anything for this to be a dream.

That can easily be arranged Sara.

The three men stopped, waiting.

“What?” I whispered.

I knew that voice. That was the voice from my dream a few nights ago and part of me realized that it may not have been a dream after all.

Dreams are pointless. Dreams have limitations. We create worlds far greater than any dream could ever manifest. We have no restrictions and our abilities are powerful. You are powerful too, Sara.

“So you’ve said before.”

Ah yes, but that was when you thought I was a figment of your imagination.

“What makes you think I still don’t believe that?”

Because you know you’re different.

Well he had me there, I thought.

You want answers Sara, and I have them. All you have to do is come to us and all will be revealed
.

“Did you just ask me to come over to
the dark side
?” I asked, a hint of humor lacing my voice.

You can be normal, Sara.
He continued ignoring me; obviously not very fond of my sense of humor.

Carrying around all of that power can be such a burden. You can be free, you can be with Adan.

At the sound of his name, I glanced over for a second, trying not to let myself be distracted. I had no idea what was going on, what kind of power the crazy voices inside my head thought I had, but I didn’t want to leave myself vulnerable.

“Why do I have a feeling you’re trying to hand me a poison apple? What is it, exactly, you want from me?”

Your influence.

“My what?!”

It will be easy, painless.

“Even if I wanted to give you my ‘influence’
–whatever the hell that mean-
I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.

Let me have it and you won’t need to know. Your life will go back to the way it was.

“Sara, NO!”

I whipped my head around at the sound of Adan’s voice. He was emerging from the wreckage that was once our deck.
I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that
Ada
n had just been thrown across the yard and was getting up, relatively unharmed.

“Don’t listen to him Sara.” Adan warned me.

The voice laughed and I covered my ears against the excruciating sound until it faded.

The hard way it is then.

The men started
toward
me again and I panicked. I scrambled backwards, trying to put as much space between us as I could, but was yanked forward by the bind around my ankle. Without thinking, I leaned forward and grabbed at the tendrils on my leg. My fingers made contact with the smog and I snatched them back, feeling the painless sizzle brand the tops of my fingers. I turned my hands around to find the pads of my fingers blackened with inky residue.

Adan was suddenly at my side, his ha
nds inspecting every inch of me.

“Are you okay?” I asked frantically. Looking him over too.

Once
h
e was satisfied that I was okay, he answered. “I’m fine.” He didn’t seem at all concerne
d that he should have been injured by what just happened to him. Or worse…

“How could you-”
His hand went to the coil around my ankle and I grabbed at his wrists.
“Don’t touch!” I panicked. “It does something to you.” I held my hands up to show him the blatant evidence. “It’s the same markings from my arm and ankle.”

His eyes dropped to the entrapped ankle.

“The other ankle.” I confessed.

He frowned, looking
toward
my other, but it was
still
wrapped.

“I’m not going to just leave it on you.” He said, freeing his wrists from my grasp before gently tugging at the cord.

I was suddenly yanked forward, out of Adan’s grasp.  I was being reeled in like the catch of the day, cutting the distance between me and the three men in half. I didn’t have time to scream, or even struggle, before I was ceremoniously dropped at the feet of my captors. Two of them stopped in front of me, but the third continued past. Twisting my head back, I watched as he advanced on Adan who had been chasing after me.

“NO!” I screamed, wanting to save him, but I was lifted up by my arms.

“Oh no you don’t.” One of them said.

I could hear the singe of scorching fabric as the hands around me burned a hole through my sleeves.  My nerves were attacked by the searing sensation up and down my arms as I was stained again.

One of the guys released an evil snicker as they tried to drag me
toward
the fog.

“Looks like the little Princess has already had a taste of our black gift,” He remarked, nodding
toward
the old hand print on my arm.

“Damn it!” The other one said and shoved me hard into his companion. “Can you handle her?”

“Just go
handle
him!” He snapped, gripping my arm harder. “We can’t screw this up.”

I winced in pain, but managed to look behind me to see Adan charging for us, the other guy lying motionless on the ground.

“Keep it moving, Princess.” He sneered, yanking me forward.

I dragged my feet, but continued walking with him, trying to come up with a plan. Before I could think twice, I sprang into action. Spinning into him, his arm wrapped around my waist, he was caught off guard. I used that to my advantage as I brought my foot down hard on his, and shoved my arm into his ribs. I knew the exact spot to hit him, causing him to double over. He let me go and turning, I grabbed his shoulders bringing them down so my knee cracked against his collarbone. I immediately took off running toward Adan.

I only got a few steps before I was tackled to the ground, the breath knocked out of me, as I was crushed underneath the weight of his body. I sucked in a deep breath, filling my lungs to capacity once the pressure was relieved. He flipped me around so he was straddling my legs and glared at me.

“Obviously you’re going to make it difficult on yourself.”

“Well don’t you feel stupid for thinking I was just going to
let
you kidnap me.”

“Let me?” He laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

I frowned as I watched him place his hand flat against my stomach. Sucking in a breath, I could feel the material of my shirt disintegrating under his hand until the burnt fabric flickered away. His hand seared another print on to my stomach. I gritted my teeth as I was assaulted with the taint of another mark. I tried to fight against his assault, but my body collapsed in exhaustion.

“What are you doing to me?” I demanded, but it didn’t come out at all threatening.

“It will be all over soon, Princess.” He taunted and placed his other hand on the other side of my stomach, repeating the process, and again on my thighs, until I felt like I was being crushed.

Stop…calling...me…that.” My voice sounded like it was muffled. My head rolled from side to side as I tried to keep my eyes open.