Chapter 13

Sentences with [] around them indicate inner thoughts

Nyline rolled over and looked up at her ceiling, it was dark. She wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep. Rolling from the bed she let her feet dangle off the edge as she checked her clock; only a couple minutes to midnight. Voices rose from the floorboards and Nyline could only feel irritation at knowing that the prince and his scouts were still in her home. She could hear their thoughts, their whispered conversations between the mates in the house. It sounded like a swarm of buzzing gnats, loud and annoying.

Nyline looked around her room, it was set up like a normal teenager's. She had a wooden dresser with a mirror adjacent to her matching bed and a closet across the room from that. Her bed was pushed up against the wall with the window facing the side yard next to her foot board. The mirror was filled with photos of her and John on vacation or just doing things together.

All of her walls were white except for the wall that her dresser sat up against; which was a lavender color. It offset the light grey carpeting that filled her room, all of the furniture was made out of the same dark wood, and the comforter on her bed was a dark purple with black flowers blooming from one side up to the other top corner. She loved her room. Uncle John and her had spent a few years in middle school redoing it so it no longer looked like a child's.

The swarm of voices rose from the floorboards again and Nyline couldn't help but scoff at the sound. She could smell the food that Uncle John was cooking below. It smelled amazing but she didn't want to face the prince or his scouts. So instead of going to the door she rolled to the window and pushed it open. Pulling her legs forward she sat with them hanging out the window as she raised her face to allow a cool breeze to waft over her skin. It smelled crisp in the night with no cars running and quiet, which is exactly what she liked. In one swift movement she pushed herself off the ledge. The ground came up quick to meet her and when she hit the it, she rolled just like Uncle John had taught her.

Whereas uncle john had out right refused to teach Nyline how to be an actual scout, with all of their skills; he did teach her some. Mainly they were all skills that could help her escape situations in the case of an emergency. She wasn't allowed to learn any of the really fun skills, or how to actually fight. She was just a fast-moving target at this point, but it didn't bother her too much. The skills that she did know, she excelled at and the skills that she didn't know? Well, let's just say that if it came down to her needing to know a skill, she had the memories stored away for a rainy day.

Taking a turn around the house Nyline looked up at the large tree that took up most of her back yard. Nestled in the branches was a large wooden box that Uncle John had spent a summer and a half building. It was one of her favorite places to be, up high in the trees. Walking to the rope ladder she pulled herself up its rungs and hoisted herself into the hole that was cut in the bottom of the large space.

Once inside she headed towards one of the walls where she leaned up against it looking around with a smirk on her face. Pulling out her mp3 player she plugged in her headphone and turned the music up. It was clear that Uncle John had climbed up here and stolen all of her blankets and pillows. Normally, the large space was packed with all types of pillows and blankets. Uncle John insisted on pulling them all down once a month to wash them. She guessed that today was the day.

Shrugging she looked out the window and up at the sky; it was a clear night with almost no clouds. The moon hung wrapped in one wispy cloud looking as if it was holding the moon up. Behind the moon were the stars, or well the ones that she could see with all the city lights.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out looking at the screen. Uncle John had sent her a message and before she opened it, she looked down at the back door to see his shadow for just a second before he turned and walked away. Unlocking her screen, she moved to his text stream and smiled.

Happy Birthday, Birthday girl. Congratulations you are finally 16 years old. :D

I made pasta, come in and get some before it gets cold, okay? Damien and his scouts are staying the night here so try and be nice. Remember, it's his birthday too.

Nyline couldn't help but roll her eyes at the text, a grin appearing on her face as she started typing out her message.

Alright, I'll come get some soon. Just let me enjoy the moon for a little longer. its

Her fingers stilled on the keyboard as a light illuminated the room around her. It was so bright that Nyline had to squeeze her eyes shut against the blinding light. As the light grew brighter the tree house started to shake violently. Peeking a glance at her phone, it read midnight on the lock screen before she opened the phone and pressed the call button.

"John?!" She screamed into the phone as a ringing noise started to fill her ears, it became louder and louder, just as the room brightened once more.

"Nyline, what's going on?!" She heard her uncle scream into the phone and knew he would be outside in seconds. The treehouse shook once more, and the phone fell from her hands. She crawled on her hands and knees towards the hole that would lead her down into the yard. "Nyline!" "What's going on!?" the voice came from below the tree house, but she could only just hear it over all the ringing in her ears. Why was it so loud?

"I don't know," Nyline screamed back as she continued to try and find the hole in the floor with her eyes closed. Faintly she could hear Damien giving commands to his scouts, but it was faint, and she couldn't even hear their inner voices.

The treehouse gave yet another violent shake before the entire world seemed to have shifted on an axis and Nyline fell sideways. She skidded across the floor before it fell out from under her completely. The sense of falling filled her stomach making bile rise in her throat when she realized she was falling for too long; she should have hit the ground by now. Just when she was about to open her eyes, the floor came up to meet her and the air rushed out of her lungs so quickly that she started coughing harshly.

Once Nyline was able to take a real breath in she realized something else. Everything was silent. There was no Uncle John that caught her, no Damien, or his scouts. Nyline sat up her eyes shooting open as she looked around the large room that she had just landed in. A shiver, that had nothing to do with the cold, passed through her body making all the hairs stand up on end. Panic washed through her system as she felt her blood pressure rise so rapidly that she could hear the pounding in her ears.

Around her was a large room with stone walls, cracked and breaking white marble pillars, clay pots scattered the room with their dead vegetation, tapestries that had once hung from the walls were torn and pulled down, and the most horrifying of all was the two large high back chairs that were directly behind her. One knocked to the side the other still standing tall.

The reality of where she was smacked her straight in the chest and she almost lost her breath again, she fell back onto her ankles her arms going around herself tightly. This was the room that her parents had given their last line of defense against the darklings. This room was where her mother and father had given her to John for protection. This room…She looked around again horrified that everything looked exactly the same as one of the first memories that she had stolen from John. She knew because she had watched it so many times that she had memorized the cracks in the marble columns. Her breathing had become short shallow breaths as she stood slowly and walked towards the chandelier, her hand outstretched as if to ensure that it was real but right when her fingers would connect, she pulled back. Her breathing coming faster as she turned and stared at the high back chairs. How on earth had she gotten back here?

["Calm yourself or you are going to hyperventilate."] A voice said from somewhere making her heart kick up another notch as she turned in circles as she searched for the owner of the voice. However, no matter how many times she looked around she saw no one. Aether seeped from her as it fell down onto the floor and spread out like smoke, searching for anything.

["You should take a couple deep breaths,"] the voice said sounding calm and concerned. Nothing came back on her aether scan and she felt like her heart was beating so hard that it would soon jump out of her chest.

Her nerves on end Nyline turned and sprinted out of the room. The large hallway was littered with broken pictures, vases, broken furniture, and more ripped and discarded tapestries. An intersection in the path appeared and vanished with her running however, before she realized what she was doing she was back tracking to look down a long hallway at a pair of double doors. She felt instantly drawn to the room but also got the feeling she should not be there. Her entire body broke out into a cold sweat and she started shivering violently. One hand clutched at her chest as she continued to stare at the door with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

["Don't go down that way."] The voice spoke again and that was all it took to shake her from whatever trance she had just been under. Turning on her heel she sprinted back down the hallway.

This can't be happening; Nyline thought as she skidded to a halt and took off down another hallway.

["It did happen though."] The voice responded to her thoughts which only made her feel more freaked out about this entire situation. So, all she could do was shake her head at the voice without thinking anything else that it could respond to.

Moon light flooded the hallway as Nyline ran past windows after several heart beats she saw a pair of doors that she burst through. She skidded to a stop over a patch of ice sliding several feet before she stopped.

[Oh wow…] She was in a garden that looked as if it hadn't been touched by anyone in years. The sky spit snow in the shape of large flakes down on top of her and she couldn't stop herself from reaching out and catching it in her hand. Staring down at the little snowflake it melted away slowly. She had always loved snow because even though the other kids always got cold, she never did. Snow had always felt warm to her skin, but she was a little weird and her body ran at a lower temperature than a normal person.

["It may feel warm, but you will still freeze."] The voice spoke again answering words that she had not spoken.

Tears welled up in Nyline's eyes as a multitude of emotions passed through her body all at once. She was happy, sad, terrified, thrilled, excited, and horrified all at once. The tears tracked down her cheeks leaving small ice trails in their wake.

Completely against the tears rushing down her face her mouth opened, and she started laughing loudly as one single emotion filled her mind and pushed all the others out. Happiness. She was happy and not just a normal, you got what you wanted for Christmas happy, no like the feeling would burst from her chest if she didn't let it out. In all of her life she had never felt this happy, this alive before. Another giggle burst from her mouth as she sprinted into the garden and jumped up onto one of the retaining walls.

The old brick wall was crumbling slightly but was still together enough to hold her weight as she pulled herself up. Once up she took a moment to look around and the smile on her face grew further. She was surrounded on all sides by a large forest that was covered in snow. The happiness continued to well up in her chest and she couldn't help but sit on the wall, her hands removing the ice trails from her cheeks. Then just as quickly as the emotion had come it leaked out of her like popping a balloon. She took in a ragged breath and let it out slowly as she wiped away the last icy tear track from her face.

["Its negative degree weather. It may not be much warmer inside the castle but please go inside."] Nyline couldn't help but laugh loudly at the voice as if she thought they were the most amusing thing she had ever heard before in her life.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Nyline spoke the words aloud as she rolled onto her back. She landed her feet onto the retaining wall and bounced off, sending her body flying through the air where she landed several feet away and looked up at the sky again. The voice laughed softly as if it was amused greatly at her response.

["You are correct, I am in no position to tell you what to do. I am heading towards your current location. Please do not die before I get there."] The voice now held amusement as well as a little worry that she could hear around the edges. Allowing a moment for her to think about what was happening she glanced down at her fingers. They were turning a slight purple color and when she rubbed them together, they started to tingle. She didn't doubt the voice that it was as cold as he had said so with that, she returned to the door that she had come though and closed it behind her.

Walking down the hallway she tried to keep the torrent of emotions that were just under the surface under control. Out of habit more than anything she reached into her pocket and felt a new spike of fear rush though her as she realized that her phone wasn't there. Her only connection to Uncle John was gone. She quickly did a pat down of the rest of her body only to find that it was most defiantly not on her person at the moment.

"[Are you lonely without him?"] The voice asked softly as if it understood how not a way having to connect with her uncle was affecting her.

"He's the only thing that has been a constant in my life. It's not so much lonely, but it's odd not having him right next to me." The mutter came out of her lips before she even realized that she was speaking.

["I cannot replace him, but I can keep you company until I can return you to your scout."] Nyline's entire body froze mid step before she took a deep breath and lowered her foot her body going ridged.

"Sadly, he isn't my scout, I don't have any scouts." Nyline spoke as she ran her hand against the hard-stone wall as she walked.

["A lady of your lineage doesn't have a scout?"] Nyline laughed bitterly.

"I am hardly anyone to be proud of," She scoffed as she continued down the passageway; one hand on the wall as she felt the difference in the stone and mortar that had been used to create the entire castle.

["I find that hard to believe,"] the voice chuckled, and she couldn't help but mirror the same noise only hers held a little less humor. Her hand passed over a door and she stopped looking towards it, her eyes glued onto the old wooden frame. ["Find something?"]

When the voice spoke this time Nyline felt a pressure on her mind for just a few seconds before it was gone. However, in that moment Nyline didn't have time to focus on what this voice was saying because something inside of this room was calling for her. Swallowing the lump in her throat she turned the knob and pushed the door open slowly. Her mouth fell open at this. The room inside was a nursery.

It took a couple steps into the room before Nyline looked around and realized that nothing in this room had been touched by the chaos outside. There was a painting on one of the walls above a dresser of a deer with a small blue bird sitting on its back on a grassy forest area. Nothing was knocked over or displaced. She walked over to the crib and looked inside.

There was a patch-work bear sitting in a corner. Reaching down her hands curled around the small bear, it felt familiar in her hands as if she had just found her long lost friend that she didn't even know was gone. She ran her hand over the top of the bear as puffs of dust appeared making her cough slightly. After all the dust was gone, she held the bear up and looked at it. It was made from a dark jean material, then brown corduroy, and the stitching was done by hand and extremely poorly. She giggled; she had never sewed anything in her life, but she could just tell that whoever had made this had no idea what they had been doing. However, despite its mix matched button eyes and two-toned skin she felt as though it was the most precious thing, she had ever placed her hands on. Taking one last glance into the crib she saw a blanket that had been dropped on the floor. She took a second to shake out the blanket before she threw it over her shoulders. It was small due to it being a baby blanket, but it would work until she could find something else.

["Is that your room?"]

"I think, it might have been, a very long time ago." Nyline spoke but her thought was cut off suddenly as a pain erupted over her eye. The pressure pushed on her causing her to fall to her knees.

["Hey, are you there? Are you okay? Hello?"] The voice said only it sounded fuzzy and slightly frantic. Nyline's body bucked forward making her land on her side as her mind felt as though it was being split into two separate pieces. That voice that had been talking to her since she had arrived was speaking but she couldn't hear through the pain. Then the light pressure that had been in her mind since she landed in the throne room went away completely and was replaced by a much heavier pressure that forced her eyes shut. Reaching up with one hand she pulled the blanket around her tighter as the image of the nursery flitted from her vision and was replaced with Damien's scouts and Uncle John. They were all standing next to a large pond that she recognized as they spoke to her. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she watched intently as Rebecca's mouth moved and she shook her head causing her red hair to bounce in all different direction.

Desperate for relief she tried to shake Damien from her mind along with the fog that was descending around her vision. The room started to swim. The image of Uncle John and Damien's scouts overlapped what she was seeing in the nursery. The pain shot through her mind once more causing her to curl into a tight ball as new tears started to track down her cheeks. Her entire body was shaking violently as the pain intensified once more, then there was a popping noise and her vision went dark.