Page 21 of Chase Me

Well, screw both of them for leaving her.

Now to get the hell out of here.

If any of this day was real, and for the moment she was going with the presumption that it was, then she had some badass powers that could help her escape any cage. Even a golden lined one like Jakob’s lair.

Ciara stood and dusted herself off. She looked around the caverns until she found exactly what she was looking for. A crack in the rock wall.

It was too high up for her to reach, even on her tippy toes. There were several old wooden chests nearby and if she stood on them, she could be face to face with her escape route.

The chest looked really heavy. No time like the present to see if the new magical skills she’d acquired were real or all a weird dream. She closed her eyes and envisioned the garden near the haystack again. “Okay, dirt. Let’s play nice. Lift me up.”

The ground underneath her went soft and she had to crouch to keep her balance, but it piled up beneath her feet, lifting her into the air.

“Damn skippy.” She came eye to eye with the crack in the wall. Yes, behind that hole in the rock was dirt, exactly like what she stood on. Perfect.

Ciara pressed her fingers into the crack and felt ridiculous, but she asked the what she wanted it to do. “Hi, dirt. Could you please spread out a bit and create a space for me to crawl through? I need to get to the surface.”

Nothing.

Oh, right. She had to use her happy thoughts too. She was pretty mad at Jakob for leaving her down here, and Mrs. Bohacek could ride her witchy broom to hell. There was only one other person in her life who gave her the warm fuzzies.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and thought ofWes. His perfect smile, his perfect clothes, that wink that gave her nervous flutters.

Little bits of dirt and rock moved under her fingers and the crack spread, but nowhere near enough for her and her big butt and boobs to fit into.

“God dammit all to hell. Fuck a god damn duck.”

A zip of tingles raced across her skin, a physical manifestation of her frustration. She smacked the wall and growled. “Why don't you just open? Would I have to do, say open Sesame?”

The earth split in front of her and she was propelled forward into the crevice, sure she was about to crash to her death. A tunnel opened up in front of her and the tower of dirt beneath her feet pushed her into the ground like she was a gopher on crack. Chunks of dirt and who knows what else fell into her hair and eyes.

She flailed her arms out, dragging her hands, trying to slow her progress, but got only scrapes and scratches for her effort.

Mrs. Bohacek did say her negative emotions were very powerful, but this was ridiculous. She didn't even know where she was going, or which direction was up.

She went careening forward trying her best to focus on an upward momentum. She could feel her energy flagging again. “Please let me make it to the surface. I don't want to die down here buried where no one will find me.”

That little bit of fear took hold. She slammed sideways into the rocks.

The dirt beneath her feet continue to bubble up but the rock in front of her no longer opened up a way for her to get out.

She very purposefully slowed her breathing and pushed the panic back down. Everything stilled around her.

The little rabbit hole she'd created around herself gave her only a few inches to move in any direction. She scratched at the wall in front of her and watched the dirt trickle sideways past her face. That meant up was to her right. Thanks, gravity.

She twisted until she was on her hands and knees. There was no way of knowing how far away from the surface she was, but she had to figure out a way to keep going.

Somewhere, possibly only a few feet above her, she heard movement. Scratching on the ground, a thud and a tussle.

No, it was more than that. Someone was fighting. She strained to hear more. Yes, she couldn't make out the voices, but there were definitely growls and screeches happening not far away.

That had to be where Jakob had hurried off to. She kind of thought, maybe even hoped a little, that the alarm and his leaving her was a ruse. A way to get her to reveal the relic Jakob had such a hard on for.

A crash and—God, was that a fire bomb she just heard?—sounded above her and rattled her dirt cocoon. Who or what was Jakob fighting up there, a Panzer division?

Ciara gulped,trying to push a whole new fear down. The necklace she wore lit up, illuminating the space around her. She covered it with her hand, not wanting to see any creepy crawlies that might fall into her hair. The ground shook again and a roar that was only barely muffled by the thickness of the soil went straight to Ciara's bones.

She needed to get out of here, now.

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