Page 62 of First Bite
Chapter Twenty-Five
Iheard the sound of waves crashing and smelled the salty ocean air as it breezed across my face. I opened my eyes slowly and looked around, seeing Braden and Logan on either side of my bed and Zac standing by the open windows. I was at the beach house.
“Cole! She’s awake,” Zac shouted as Braden leaned in to brush the hair off of my forehead and Logan held my hand.
“Ellie, you’re okay. Everything is okay,” Braden said reassuringly.
“Is she okay? Are you all right, Elle?” Cole said after he had vamped into the room.
“How did I get here? We were with a witch—was I dreaming?” I asked, disoriented by my surroundings.
“You weren’t dreaming, baby,” Braden said as he glanced at Cole, and Cole nodded in response. “I wish I could tell you that was a dream, but it was real. You’ve been asleep for two days. We couldn’t wake you up no matter what we tried. We think that witch spelled you to sleep or something. We didn’t know if you’d wake up.”
“But how did we get here? Where did that witch take us?” I asked.
“She teleported all of us from here to some caves in New Zealand,” Logan said. “At least she was nice enough to teleport us somewhere close to here, so we didn’t have to make a twenty-hour flight to get home.”
Logan laughed at his comment, but he was the only one. Cole, Braden, and Zac looked at Logan like they would’ve knocked him out if he kept talking.
“How are you feeling?” Cole asked as he sat on the foot of the bed.
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. I felt almost like I hadn’t come fully back into myself. I felt like something was off, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. “I’m kind of confused about everything that happened.”
“You saved us, Elle,” Cole said. “You used magic. I have no idea how, but you are the only reason we aren’t captive right now.”
“When I was lying on that table, there was a point after the witch started chanting that my spirit left my body. I know that sounds crazy, but I was floating inside the room, staring at my physical body. I was on the other side of the veil…I was in the spirit realm.” I sat up in my bed, trying to organize my thought into a sequence of events that would make sense to them. “I saw someone while I was there.”
“Who did you see?” Zac asked, a look of concern and trepidation on his face.
“I saw Morgana, the witch who created all the Life Bloods. She told me to fight. She helped me from the other side when I went back into my body.”
“Whywere you outside of your body in the first place?” Logan asked with confusion.
“I don’t know how it happened. Maybe she pulled me out to talk to me? I have no idea. I just know she kept insisting I use my powers. I’m not exactly sure how I was able to, but after they worked the first time, I couldn’t do it again.”
“You saw Lady Morgana? The witch that you saw when you had that vision on the beach?” Braden asked.
“It was her. We all have her to thank,” I said.
“I’ll stick to thanking the ones who are flesh and blood and leave the spirits alone,” Logan said. “I’m just glad you did what you did. When we were under that spell, none of us had any control. It was like we were locked inside ourselves. Someone else was driving the car, we were just in the passenger seat watching everything happen.”
“I have to tell you what she told me,” I said nervously, knowing that the last thing I wanted to do was reveal all of the horrible details about myself that I had learned.
“What is it, baby?” Braden asked. “Take your time.”
“I guess this witch was the one to cast the spell to get my mom pregnant, and she used some special, rare magic to do it. She said it’s the same magic that you four were bonded with, and that’s why we formed a bond.”
“Oh my God, yes,” Cole said as if a lightbulb had come on in his head. “I can’t believe that didn’t cross my mind when I was trying to understand—”
“Let her finish, Cole,” Zac snapped, interrupting Cole’s train of thought.
“Did she tell you who your father is?” Logan asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I said, wringing my sweaty hands together. “My father is Enzo.” None of them moved an inch, they didn’t even so much as blink when the words came out of my mouth. “Yeah. I guess he fell in love with my mom, and that witch made my mom leave before Enzo could find out she was pregnant. So basically, my father is your mortal enemy. Feel free to send me home if—”
“Stop,” Braden said. “Stop that. None of us care who your father is, you know us better than that. We’re completely linked now, and you know how we feel.”
“Braden is right,” Zac said. “Just because he’s your biological father that doesn’t mean that you are anything like he is. It’s quite obvious you are nothing like him. This is just your classic, everyday Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader situation.”
