28. Weakened By Force
1080 Words
Sophia
I let the music control me as I dance with no one in particular. Ax makes me feel so alive, and being in this school and feeling so free has completely changed me. I used to be shy and self-conscious. But since starting here, I’ve become confident in myself, my ability, and my body. I no longer want to be that girl standing at the party's edge, waiting for it to end. It’s like I got a completely fresh start with people who don’t know me or my past. They don’t think of me as that shy, weird girl that got the guy.
I’m the girl who plans the party and has the best time at it. I’m the girl who deserves to be with Ax because she’s just as cool as he is.
I used to think I’d make a terrible Czarina, but since embracing myself and my magic, I know I can be who everyone expects me to be. I can be the Czarina that Ax and the dragons deserve. I can learn how to become the best Czarina our world has ever seen. My cold fire doesn’t make me weird; it makes me unique and powerful.
I continue to move to the music, finally making my way out of the crowd to go to the bathroom. Man, alcohol really makes you have to pee a lot. I can see Ax standing at the bar with Lucien’s arm over his shoulder as I slip out of the room. I’ll go over to them once I’m done. I go down the hall a bit, over to the bathroom, which is a lot more private, and find it empty.
Thank the goddesses because I can not hold it any longer.
When I finish, I stare at myself in the mirror, enjoying the drunken haze I have going on. I run my fingers through my black hair, ruffling it up a little bit as I make some faces in the mirror, falling into a laugh. Okay, maybe I have had enough to drink. I’ll get some water at the bar. I smile at myself once more, freshening up to try and look as sober as possible before deciding to leave.
After feeling good about how I look, I step out into the hallway, shocked to see a dark, cloaked figure in the hall. My stomach flips as I realize this has to be who’s been watching me. I get that familiar feeling in my gut as he faces straight at me.
“Run.” Auriel’s voice is stern in my mind, and I don’t need her to tell me twice. My heartbeat immediately races as I try to turn back around, fumbling with the door to go back in when I feel hands on me.
“You’re coming with me.” The man says, and my stomach drops as I recognize the voice. No, it can’t be him.
I immediately push my fire to my hands, working to push him off, but the fire won’t come to my fingers.
I try to link with Ax, he can help me. He can save me, but as M’s hands hold onto me, I can’t do anything with my magic. I can’t access any part of my dragon. I can’t even feel her inside of me. What’s he doing? How is he doing this?
“What do you want?” I ask him, the hood he wears falling slightly as I catch a glimpse of his grotesque face turning into a smile.
“I want what I’m promised.” My stomach drops as I reach up and kick him as hard as I can in the stomach. As soon as he’s disconnected from me, I scream for Maxson, my stomach churning at the pain and panic in his voice when he responds.
I immediately tell him M’s after me, but I can’t tell him where I am since M puts his filthy hands back on me. My magic is disconnected once again, and before I can try to fight him off any further, I feel myself being pulled into a void, and I know deep in my heart I’m no longer at home.
My vision is surrounded by black, and I fear he’s taking me back to that place—the one we were locked in together, the one he helped get us out of under false pretenses.
My mind races as I’m in this space between worlds, wondering why Marina hasn’t taken care of him yet. Wasn’t she working on it? Why is he here, taking me?
I try to kick, scream, punch, do anything, but it’s no use in this space. At one point, I feel like I’m falling, and at another, I feel like I’m going through water, though I can breathe. I suddenly feel ash and soot on my skin, the graininess of it almost piercing my skin as we finally arrive wherever he’s taking me.
I look up and around as we land, seeing only red stone all around us.
“Where did you take me?” I scream at him as his sickly hand still holds onto me. I try to pull out of his grip but slip due to my drunken haze instead as he holds me up. s**t, I shouldn’t have had so much to drink. What was I thinking?
I keep trying to link Ax despite feeling no connection to Auriel while M holds me. Whatever magic he has, I need to break away from. I can’t let him take me wherever he’s trying to take me.
As he continues to drag me down the hallway, I try to fight, tiring myself out with each punch of my arm and kick that I throw. Why didn’t I try to learn how to fight earlier? I’m so pathetic. Just when I was starting to feel strong, it takes one incident to prove to me just how utterly weak I am.
I won’t give up, though. I’ll bide my time and figure out a way out of here. He didn’t take me back to that desolate land, I’m somewhere completely new. I’m about to try and fight him off again until he finally stops and looks at me in front of a massive round stone door.
“Where… where are we?” M drops his hood, looking down at me, and it takes everything inside me so as not to look away.
“You’re home.”
- Writer
