“Maybe we should just try harder to stay away from each other,” I suggest.
“That’s not happening, Freckles. We can’t be together, but I was serious about being friends because I need to protect you,” he says, clearing up what he is talking about. He still only wants to be friends. I have to get over this crush…and I don’t know how to do that with Maxx right next to me all the time and kissing me the way he just did. I don’t know who he is trying to convince that we are just friends, me or himself. I yawn, still feeling sick, and decide it isn’t a problem I want to deal with tonight. I glance at the paused TV, and spot that it is nearly half ten.
“I need to go home before it gets to eleven and my dad hates you for life for not bringing me back,” I say, making Maxx laugh even with the tension in the room. I try to stand up, but a dizzy spell makes me sway, and I hold my hand to my head. Maxx slides an arm around my waist, holding me up in case I fall.
“You shouldn’t hold me,” I warn, though my voice comes out gentle.
“I know,” he whispers. The warm feeling flutters through my body as Maxx stares down at me, his gaze worried, and then everything spins as I fall back into the peaceful darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You must find the true light. You must listen to my voice, Aura, last of my line,” a woman’s voice whispers to me, the sentence repeating itself over and over as I feel like I’m floating in thin air. I open my eyes, looking up at the star-filled sky that is all around me. The stars are lots of different colors, but mainly pinks and blues, swirled together. I can’t stop staring as I sit up, seeing that I’m not lying on anything, just floating in the middle of the stars. I finally look behind me, where I heard the voice, and see a woman floating like me. Only, the woman’s whole body is glowing such a bright pink that I can’t make out any of her features, only the general shape of her body and the way her long hair moves like there is a breeze when there isn’t one.
“Hello?” I whisper, somehow feeling a little nervous and relaxed at the same time. I look down at myself, seeing that I am glowing pink also, much like her only mine is not as bright.
“The true light calls you both, you must answer,” the woman says.
“What is the true light?” I ask, remembering Maxx briefly mentioning it, but he didn’t explain what it is.
“It calls you,” she says, her voice getting louder and louder. “It calls you. It calls you…calls you…”
The buzzing of an alarm wakes me up, and I nuzzle back into the sheets, reaching around for the alarm I don’t recognize as I think of the strange dream. I guess it’s a step up from the nightmares of blood and a light going out. When it hits my brain that I don’t recognize the alarm, I sit up sharply and stare at the unfamiliar room. I jump when I see Maxx sleeping on a black sofa on the other side of the room, and I push the dark blue sheets off me, sitting on the side of the double bed. I look at the bedside table, spotting the flashing alarm on top of it. I turn the alarm off by pressing the button on top, and it thankfully goes silent. I glance at the little light coming through the grey curtain-covered window and then back to the alarm clock, seeing that it is just five in the morning. Who the hell sets their alarm for this early?
I look down at the bed, which is made of dark wood, with a huge ass headboard that nearly touches the ceiling. I look around, seeing that there is a wardrobe, three grey boxes and keys on top of a dark wooden dresser. That is all I can see in here as it is pretty impersonal for a bedroom. I quickly come to the conclusion that this is Maxx’s room considering he is sleeping in it. I think back to last night, remembering myself passing out in the lounge. I slide out of the bed, spotting my shoes next to the bedside unit, and slide them on quietly. I walk past Maxx to the door and stop right next to him, watching his deep breathing as he sleeps peacefully. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I reach over and pull the blanket up, tucking him in before drifting my fingers over his cheek. When he smiles in his sleep, I smile back and move away, knowing I need to sneak back into my house before my dad notices. I hope he went to sleep without me, or I am screwed. I carefully pull the door open and close it behind me, before walking down the stairs.
“Sneaking out?” Landon says, making me jump and turn towards where he is stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed. I glance at his joggers and loose shirt, remembering how Landon likes to go running every Sunday morning with Abby. He invited me once, and I made it clear how much of a bad idea that was.
“I have to get back before Dad notices,” I say, and he chuckles.
“Good luck. I bet you will be grounded quicker than you can blink.”
“Most likely, see you later,” I say, smiling at him before walking to the door. I unlock the front door and close it behind me, stepping out into the cold morning. I wrap my arms around myself as I walk across the lawn to my house, seeing no lights on, so that’s a good sign that my dad went to sleep.
“Aura,” I hear my name whispered ever so quietly just as I get across the road, and I turn around, not believing the voice I thought I just heard. My mum stands right behind me in the middle of the road, not moving an inch as she stares at me with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Mum?” I question, feeling frozen to the spot as I stare at her. My mum has a yellow sundress on, torn in places and covered in spots of blood. Her hair is matted down and covered in dirt.
“Run…” mum says as I step closer, and I shake my head. Why would I run?
“What?” I ask. “How are you here? I missed you! I have so many questions…” I drift off as she shakes her head at me and holds up a shaky hand.
“R-run!” she croaks out and starts screaming, falling to the ground and holding her stomach as a yellow light blasts from all over her skin. I go to run to her when four bright white lights appear right behind her, before they begin to take the shape of people. When I see the desperate look in my mum’s eyes as I look back down at her, I know I am in danger. I turn and start running straight into the forest, hoping I can lose the aliens in there. I hit the tree line just as something slams into my back, and I cry out in pain as I go flying head first into a tree, smacking against it and falling to the ground. I scream in pain as I roll over, feeling like my back is burning up and see Austin running over to me.
“Austin…help me,” I whisper as the pain continues to burn my back, and he grins, tilting his head to the side as he looks down at me. I know from the look alone that he has betrayed us all. His promise wasn’t fake after all.
“Why would I do that?” he asks, chuckling to himself. “I need you to scream more, we need your light up boy to come for you.” Austin leans down, placing his hand on my arm, and incredible pain radiates from the touch, paralyzing me so I can do nothing but scream and scream. When he lets go, I gasp and cry as I look back at the house where I can see Maxx fighting dozens of darks to get to me. He is nothing but a blue blur, and I have no idea if he can even get to me with all of them fighting him. There must be dozens of them. I start to panic when I realize they could kill him, but the pain on my back paralyzes me so that I can’t move an inch as it burns. I glare up at Austin, who only seems amused by me.
“Aura!” I hear Abby shout, and I look to my side to see her running over to us, her car parked at the side of the road right behind her. Abby came to help, but she needs to run. This is a trap. She lights up a light green color as she runs, swirls appearing all over her body and she lifts her hand, shooting green light at Austin. It hits his shoulder, but it doesn’t even move him an inch, and he simply nods at something.
“Behind you!” I scream, but it’s too late as a man steps out from behind a tree and grabs Abby by her neck, lifting her in the air. The man is one of the bodyguards I saw outside Maxx’s house when Austin was there with his brother. Abby fights, wriggles to get free before screaming in pain as the man does something to her that makes his eyes glow white. I try to crawl to her, trying desperately to help, but Austin steps in front of me, stopping me from crawling anywhere. The bodyguard walks over, holding Abby in the air next to Austin who smiles at her.
“A treat before we take our sweet Aura home,” Austin says, his voice filled with lust, and it disgusts me. Abby’s fearful eyes meet mine, just as Austin places his hand on her chest. I know I will never be able to forget that look before Abby’s eyes close, and her mouth opens in shock. All the green light fades from her body slowly, floating into Austin who glows a bright white color as he absorbs it. When the green disappears, Austin removes his hand, and Abby’s dead body falls to the ground as the bodyguard lets her go.
“Abby!” I scream and cry out, looking at her lifeless body. In shock, I don’t notice Austin coming over to me again until he grabs my chin and makes me look at him. Austin looks so happy, so alive, and all I want to do is kill him. The cold feeling from his touch flies over me, surrounding me until I feel like I can’t think straight.
“I will teach you how to do that. How to control your dark soul,” he whispers. “You will love it, crave it and beg me for it,” he seductively whispers, but it only fills me with disgust and a need to get vengeance for Abby.
“Why do this?” I whisper.
“See, your family and I go back many, many years. Your mother came to my father, asking for protection for her and you. This tiny baby she had no idea how to protect from life and a prophecy,” he explains, still tightly holding my face, and everything starts to go blurry around the edges.
“You lie,” I cough out.
“No, I don’t. Your mother promised you to me in exchange for protection. Your mother was meant to bring you to my father’s clan when you turned sixteen, but she didn’t,” he growls out, tightening his grip so it feels like he could break my jaw with how tight he is holding me.
“She left us,” I cough.
“Your mother hid you and ran away. No one could find you until that car crash, and then we found more than we were expecting,” he says, turning my head to the side to make me look at Maxx as he fights his way to me.
“Maxx?” I whisper.
“Once we knew the light was your soulmate, we realized that watching you for a while might work out better. We need to figure out the prophecy and stop it. I got bored of that when I realized Maxx was never going to let me near you. I don’t have time to waste when I can’t even get you alone for one date,” he tells me. “I tried to take you last night, but you pulled me back here. I didn’t even know you could use those powers of yours.”
“You’re crazy,” I spit out. “And Maxx will kill you if I don’t get to you first.”
“No, he will do anything we tell him to because he wants to protect you. There has never been a reason for any light to help us, to do as we want, until you. Maxx wouldn’t help us for his own mum, but you are a completely different story,” Austin grins. “Who knew my promised would be the key to winning the war and destroying the prophecy at the same time?”
