Mia's POV
The air smelled mildly of rot and mildew; it was moist. I tried to move, but my wrists seemed overly weighty. Realizing I was shackled, my arms opened wide and the cold metal dug into my skin, my heart crashed in my chest.
I pushed myself to inhale, to quiet the panic biting within of me. What transpires? Caleb was elsewhere. That bone-chilling murmur in my ear was the last thing I thought of as the darkness closed in around me. Lena's voice.
Lena..
The idea made bile climb in my throat. From where had she found us? And moreover, why was she here? The responses escaped me, twisted in a maze of uncertainty and anxiety.
Mia, here.
I froze. My name, hardly a whisper in the darkness, shivered down my spine. Though stressed, the voice seemed familiar.
"Caleb?," As I spoke, my voice broke and the words shook on my lips.
There was a rustling noise, then a rapid breath intake. A form approached me, and I automatically turned away, straying against the chains holding me.
It's me, Mia. Caleb said, his voice tough like he has been through hell to reach here. And the suffering in it was sufficient to cause heart sorrow.
Caleb: Why is this happening? Our location is where? Trying to find him in the darkness, I twisted in my shackles but it felt as though the shadows ate everything.
Just enough to make Caleb's outline clear, the faint glow of a far-off light flickering darkened and tired Caleb's face. He was bent next to me, his hands barely touching mine across the chains.
"Not here," he said, his voice tight as he peered into the shadows all about. "I'm not sure about our length of stay."
My heart still missed a beat. "What do you mean? Who sent us here?
He did not respond immediately; his eyes flicked anxiously to the far side of the room. Between us, the stillness was heavy with unspoken apprehension.
"They know, Mia," he murmured softly, regretting his voice. "They are experts in everything." Lena)... She approaches things in a particular manner. She has been observing you. I was trying to guard you from someone else who has been following you. Though I believe you do now, you did not comprehend then.
His words put a chilly shudder down my spine. My throat was tight, I murmured, "I don't understand." "Why did you not share with me? They will do what to us?
He closed his eyes, his expression gloomy as he exhaled deeply. Mia, they will be using you. And once they finish with you, they will—
A loud noise—a door creaking open—cut off his remarks, then the sound of heavy feet. The tension in the air broke like a strained wire, and before I could respond the figure emerged in the low light, a shadow of pure evil.
Lena.
Her smile twisted with something nasty and knowing, her eyes gleamed in the dark. She entered the room, her presence choking. Men and women whose faces were hidden by shadows started to enter behind her. They were all linked—part of something much more than I could understand.
Lena replied, her voice full of contempt as she stared at me, her eyes harsh and cold: "I see you woke up." "I suppose your stubbornness is even more amazing than I thought; I would have expected you to be unconscious longer."
"Lena…," Caleb grimaced at her, his posture stiffening and his voice tight. "With her, what do you intend? You now leave her out of this; you have me.
Lena laughed like the sound of flames cracking. Oh, Caleb, constantly the dazzling hero in armor. Are you truly thinking that will help her? You believe you could guard her against this? She waved a hand contemptuously, her smile widening as she rounded us. You are not clear. She is too late; it is too late for you as well.
I experienced the cold, creeping awareness as if it were a wave. This transcended Caleb and me as well. This concerned something more—something frightening I hadn't yet started to understand.
"No;," I shook my head and sighed. "I'm not exactly... Different from you is me.
Lena's smile wavered, but only briefly before she stepped toward me, her eyes narrowed with hate. She responded gently, nearly sympathetically, "You really don't get it, do you?" You more resemble me than you might imagine. Right now, you occupy this planet. Whether or not you want to be. You're my.
My heartbeat thumping in my ears, I withdrew. My voice hoarse, I spat, "I'm not yours." " You do not own me."
Her laughter was black, like the echo of a dream gone bad. Do you consider yourself to have options? Already you are bound to this existence. One decision will be all it takes to make you exactly like us—forever.
"NO!" I yelled, dragging against the shackles once more, but the metal sank into my wrists and sent waves of agony up my arms. "I will not be like you. I belong somewhere else. Here it is not.
Indeed, Mia, you do. You truly do. Lena's voice made my blood stop cold—so quiet and sure. "You'll find. Not too distant will you find.
She retreated; the others with her moved forward, their icy eyes fixed on me, their weight choking. Silent next to me, Caleb's face was harsh and unreadable, his body stiff with hardly-contained rage. But I could see the terror in his eyes—that same terror beginning to bubble up in me.
And then a low, rumbling growl broke the stillness from somewhere deep in the darkness.
"Lena, he is correct. Time is coming.
Lena spun abruptly, her eyes gleaming with something deadly. "Not yet," she said, but the man in the shadows moved forward with slightly glowing eyes like the embers of a dead fire.
The figure hissed now, then I knew with an abrupt, terrible clarity.
Not here for me were they. not wholly.
Their presence was here for Caleb.
Caleb turned swiftly to face me and his body stiffened, his eyes expanding with awareness. Mia, you really ought to leave this place. Just now.
My heart thumping in my chest, I shook my head. "What?", asks You're referring to what? Without you, I would have nowhere to go!
But Lena's words sliced across the air like a razor before he could reply. "It comes too late for that. Caleb, you believe you have any power here? She grinned and turned back into the darkness. You are no longer in charge. You none are.
Rising into the light, the man in the corner had a cold, mechanical smirk across his face and a tall, broad shape. "It's over, Caleb," he murmured, his voice a death sentence. This marks the end of it.
And then the world blackened once more before I could even understand what was occurring.
As I battled my shackles, a panic attack tore through me, but the blackness took me entirely. Caleb's voice—thin, desperate—was the last thing I heard.
Mia... do not trust them... "
The quiet enveloped like a taut wire, choking as the man entered the low light and his shape completely showed. When I identified him—tall, broad-shouldered, covered in shadows—my pulse skipped a beat. His eyes sparkled with something darker than any human could have, flickering slightly like embers from a long-dead flame. It was difficult to breathe; the air around him hummed with strength, like a physical weight down on me.
Caleb was still frozen, his whole body stiff as though ready for something unavoidable, but I could see the tension in his eyes—the desperation, the guilt. He objected to me viewing this. He objected to me learning the true name of this man.
"Mia... Caleb sounded as though he was trying to reach over the walls closing in on us. He moved slowly, almost apprehensive, stepping forward. You have to pay attention to me. Right here. You have to back off no matter what occurs.
Blinking at him, my head whirling and unable to understand what was occurring. Lena's pointed, deliberate stare on me felt heavy, but my attention was on Caleb. His voice had something that caused my gut to turn with anxiety.
But before I could reply, the guy in the darkness spoke once more, his voice low and lethal, laden with deliberate entertainment.
"You really think you could shield her, Caleb?" The man's voice made me shudder; it was a growl. You have always been a moron. Your hands cannot control this. All of that. Every stride you have taken has brought us here.