Across Worlds - Chapter 34 Part 3

Without a look back, Sam grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. He was running at a very fast pace, one that she couldn’t keep up with. But the adrenaline rushing through her kept her legs moving. They were barreling down the alleyway and came out into the clearing. Akia hadn’t noticed how dark it had gotten until that moment. The fog clogged the air and all she could see of Sam was his silhouette. They didn’t stop until they were a block down.

“What took you so long?” she asked. Her question wasn’t meant to be accusing, but as she tried to catch her breath and pull herself together, she feared that it might have slipped out that way.

“I thought you were right behind me,” he responded between breaths. “Besides, I had to get Seth back and give Phillip the locket.”

“You gave it to him? Thank God.” Relief washed over her. The locket was finally safe.

Sam hesitated. “I might not have actually been able to give it to him.”

Akia's heart skipped a beat. "What does that mean?" She watched in horror as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of jewelry. "Sam! Are you stupid? You can't bring that thing back here! Why didn't you give it to Phillip? You're such an idiot!" She was raving, yelling at him like she never had before. She could see the shame gathering on his face, but she didn't care. The only reason she sent him on without her was so he could get rid of the locket. She never imagined that he would bring it back with him.

"Can we just transport and get out of here?" she asked, sighing. The moment the question was out of her mouth though, she knew the answer. She didn't have enough energy to transport. Her mind could barely focus on finding somewhere to hide. Dorrin and Rhys would be after them soon enough.

She led Sam along the road, sneaking paranoid glances over her shoulder. Finally they found a house that looked stable enough to hold them. There was even a single light shining out from the middle of the house. What luck they had! With one final look back at the road, Akia stepped across the threshold into the house. A pair of hands immediately grabbed her and pulled her back. She slammed into a strong chest and flailed, trying to break free. Only when she felt a sharp metal against her throat did she stop.

"Stop struggling," Rhys growled in her ear, pressing the dagger into her skin. "It's easy enough for me to slide this blade right across your throat. One quick motion and that'll be it."

Akia swallowed hard. "You can't kill me. You need me to open that stupid locket."

"What if I told you there was another way."

"There is no other way."

"There's always a way." He snarled.

"Akia, did you..." Sam trailed off when he entered the house. He looked at Akia tight in Rhys's grasp and was immediately on alert. His eyes raked the room, no doubt looking for Dorrin.

"Let's have a chat, Samuel," came Dorrin's voice from behind Akia. She tried to twist her head to look, but it only made her neck scrape the metal. "You have something of ours. And we have your girl. I think you understand the situation."

"She's not my girl," Sam retorted, hands clenched by his side. "We're partners, friends. And there's no way in hell that I'm leaving without her.”

"There's also no way in hell that you're leaving with that locket," Dorrin retorted. He finally stepped closer so that Akia could see him. His back was turned to her as he continued to address Sam, as if she wasn't even there. "So here's what we're going to do. You're going to give us that locket and we'll give you Akia."

She shook with anger. "I'm right here you know. Stop talking about me like I'm some prize."

Dorrin ignore her. In one swift motion, he held out his hand, palm up. "The locket." Sam looked just as nervous as Akia felt. His eyes were wide and his fingers were fumbling with the locket in his pocket. His confidence and strength that Akia had noticed the moment she had woken up that morning was gone.

She tried to will her thoughts to him, to communicate without touching him. But it didn't work like that. She'd have to be next to him, clutching his hand. One day she would find a ways to connect her mind to his without making it obvious. If they could share images while transporting, they could share thoughts any time.

Sam's face seemed to follow his thought pattern. There was determination that faded to helplessness, but then his face scrunched up and he glared. He held that gaze for a while before relaxing and sneaking a glance at her. The sadness in his eyes was more than she could bear. And she couldn't even tell what it was he was sad about.

Slowly, he pulled out the locket and held it in front of him. Rhys took in a sharp breath behind her and gripped her wrists tighter, as if he really thought she would risk getting her throat slit to defend the locket. Sam knew how to take care of himself. He had to have some sort of trick up his sleeve. He knew better than to just give in.

"Take it," he mumbled. "Let her go." Akia couldn't believe it. He was actually falling into their trap. There was no way that Rhys would kill her, not until she told him how to get the magic out. Sam knew that. Yet here he was, giving them exactly what they wanted.

Dorrin reached out and took the locket. He held it in his palm, as if studying it. No one moved. Sam was lost in self misery and Akia was lost in disbelief. Suddenly, Dorrin closed his fingers around the locket, creating a fist, and punched Sam in the jaw. The force of the hit sent him falling to the ground. Akia cringed when his head hit with a sickening thud. He cried out, then reached up to cradle his head.

“Let’s get this over with. No more funny business,” Dorrin said, turning to face Akia. But his eyes were trained on Rhys. “Get her powers and let’s get out of here.”

Akia’s eyes widened. “My what? No, I’m not letting you do that!”

“You have no choice in the matter, kid,” Dorrin bellowed, only a few inches from her face. “I’m done playing the nice guy.”

She scoffed. “I didn’t know that torturing people was being nice. Besides, you can’t take my powers. You need me to open that locket.” Despite the confidence in her voice, she was feeling anything but. Sam was on the ground, clutching his head and not moving. He was still conscious as she could see his body rise and fall with his breaths. Rhys still had her pinned back, the dagger at her throat.

Dorrin shook his head. “This has nothing to do with you anymore. I tried to convince you to join us, but you seem too proud to cooperate.”

Akia wanted to argue, but it wouldn’t really help anything. She looked passed him at Sam, still lying on the ground. His hands were still holding his head, but his breathing had slowed. He seemed more calm than before.

Dorrin’s face relaxed and he took a step backward. “Rhys hasn’t stopped experimenting. He found a way to get the powers out of that locket. It doesn’t matter anymore that you know how.”

“Unless she already drained the powers for herself,” Rhys mumbled. Akia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did he really think that she would do that? The Akia he thought he knew might have, but the grown Akia knew better. Those powers didn’t belong to her. And they didn’t belong to Rhys either.

Dorrin shook his head. “They’re all still here… I can feel them.” His eyes lit up as he stared at the shimmering piece of jewelry. The greediness was very apparent.

“Can I go now?” Akia asked, feigning boredom. “Or are you just going to lecture me on things that I already know?”

Rhys pulled the dagger from her skin and backed away. She relaxed for a moment, but was immediately on edge when he appeared in front of her. Dorrin gave him the locket, which he promptly clipped around his neck.

Akia raised an eyebrow. “You actually have to wear the locket? That seems like a pointless step.”

Rhys glared at her, but didn’t say anything. He wrapped his hand around the locket and looked at her. “You have to stand still for this. Don’t. Move.”

Sweat started collecting on her forehead. Both Dorrin and Rhys stood between her and freedom. If she could just find a way.

“So,” she started. “If I were to move this way,” she took a step to the left. “It wouldn’t work?” Rhys growled in frustration. She almost laughed at his ridiculousness. “Or if I take another step this way, it wouldn’t work either?” But before she could take her third step, a gust of wind hit her from the left, sending her stumbling the other direction. Just as she did, another gust hit her from the right, pushing her back to the left. Soon the wind was coming continuously from every direction, rendering her motionless. She tried to fight against it, but it was too strong.

She looked up to see Dorrin looking at her, his gaze intense. This was his doing. Every time she thought she had him figured out, he did something new that surprised her.

The wind was howling in her ears as she struggled to stay upright. Each time she began to fall to one side, the wind pushed her in another direction. It was a constant battle that she couldn’t win. She saw Rhys’s mouth moving, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Suddenly, something started to build up inside of her. A cool sensation spread throughout her body, starting from her core and moving out to the tips of her fingers. It was the same sensation as she had felt many times before. The only difference was that she didn’t feel herself healing afterwards. Whenever magic left her body, there was always more to replace it, filling up her core. But as each cool wave flowed through her and out her fingertips, she felt more empty.

Rhys was draining her powers.

She closed her eyes, wishing it all to be a dream, hoping to find something that she could use to fight back. She wanted to thrash out, to throw all of her magic at the damaging winds. But she couldn’t. She reached for something, anything, but found nothing. It was gone, all of it. She was powerless.

The winds slowed and ultimately came to a stop. Without anything to hold her up, she collapsed. Her ears were ringing and she swore she could still hear the wind roaring, even though she knew it was gone. Her head was pounding and her vision was blurry. She focused on Sam’s body across the room. He was a lot closer than she thought and he was up and moving. He looked just as groggy as she did. For a moment she feared that they had taken his powers too. But then she remembered the punch and Sam’s head slamming into the floorboards.

There was a blinding yellow light that filled the room, and then it was gone. Akia searched for the two men, but they were nowhere to be seen. They had transported. They were gone.

Akia hurt. Her body ached for something that she’d never have again. It was cold, almost freezing. She pulled her arms close to her body, shivering to keep herself warm. She looked over at Sam, who was up on his knees, looking around the room.

Standing, she made her way over to him. Each step she took was heavy, yet she felt like her body was weightless. When she reached him, she collapsed beside him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered, “Take me home. I need to go home.”

He looked at her, his eyes dazed. “Home? What are you… aren’t we already there?” His eyes searched her face and must’ve seen her pale skin and empty eyes. “What happened? I heard voices, but my head was just… the pain, Akia.” He grabbed his head and lowered himself back to the floor, taking her with him. She didn’t care that the floor was cold against her skin. She didn’t care that the fog was creeping into the house, as there was no door to keep it out. She didn’t care how awkward it was to rest her head on her best friend’s chest.

All she wanted was her powers back. She wanted to stop feeling so empty, to cast a spell.

“I just want to go home,” she repeated. “Home. I want home. Take me back, Sam. Take me back.” She kept repeating the same words again and again as the world faded away around her.

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For the LMS contest. Word count: 2,215. Sorry for the length, but there was no good place to break again.