Page 42 of The Discovered
Halt,I spelled to the earth.
The crevice stopped, sand still tumbling into the divide. I stared at my attacker over the valley, our eyes locking and something dangerous passing between us. His people were silent, averting their eyes as he took a step forward.
“Do you see this?” he asked, gesturing to the space on his right. “Who do you think belongs here?”
Surely, he didn’t meanme. Puzzled, the intensity of my gaze faltered. I wasn’t sure what game he was playing, but it felt sinister. It seemed his end goal was to shake my trust in my own judgement and conception of reality. He wanted me to feel weak and alone.
Something about his dark energy held an emptiness, something thirsty and unnatural. Maybe he thought he could use my power for his own gain, somehow, like an energy vampire. Whatever he wanted, I knew it was evil. And if he was indeed the enemy, then there was no doubt he was connected to my mothers’ deaths. My anger rose from that cavernous wound, the tide of my power flooding in and threatening to consume us all.
It was at this moment I realized I’d lost control of my protective barrier, and he used that as his opportunity.
You’re unfocused, and you lack control. That makes you easy to manipulate, little witch.
The use of Daelon’s pet name drove me over the edge, and my power went spinning in every direction at the heat of my rage. I pushed a burst of whatever I could grab onto out at the formation, my intent murky but seething. I yelled as it flowed through me, hot and volatile like a tropical storm.
It sent all but the faux devil flying backward into the sand. He smiled, revealing his pointy, jagged teeth.
Hungry for round two, are we?
With a flick of the wrist, he sent me levitating above the ground, where I thrashed around midair, struggling against his icy magick. Suddenly I couldn’t move, and I realized in a panic that I’d let him win with my lack of control over my emotions, yet again, just as Daelon had warned. I felt pressure on the sides of my neck, and soon I lost my ability to breathe.
I bet it was better when Daelon did it, hmm?
I watched as his people rose up beside him as my vision blurred. In that moment, I knew he reveled in my humiliation. In my pain. In my struggle. He wanted to show off to his followers that I meant nothing. That Iwasnothing.
A new voice broke through my haze as the darkness descended.It’s just a dream, Áine.
Daelon.
My body went limp.
Chapter12
Daelon’s voice pulled me back into his bedroom, where I lay in a cold sweat, my heartbeat deafening and erratic as it boomed in my ears. I sucked in air and then coughed, grasping the sheets. Dizzy and disoriented, the face of the devil was still imprinted in my mind’s eye.
“Áine,” Daelon murmured, kissing my knuckles. “Come back. You’re safe now, little witch.”
I pushed myself up, those words reminding me of the fury I had just felt throughout every inch of my being. “It wasn’t just a dream. It wasreal, on some level. I felt it all.”
Upon waking from normal dreams, it was easy to tell I had been dreaming, regardless of how real they felt when I was inside them. But with some of these nightmares, reality seemed to follow me from here into the dreamscape. I remembered suddenly what the mystic said in the mysterious castle. I never really found the opportunity to tell Daelon about that experience since he’d been so angry about my solo venture outside the house. Plus, it was just too strange to put into words.
“What’s astral projection?” I asked.
Daelon looked pensive as he turned on the bedside lamp and pulled me into his lap, running his hands through my hair. “It’s when your consciousness leaves your physical body and travels elsewhere. It’s quite difficult to do, and it can be dangerous.” he explained. “Where did you hear of it?”
“When I escaped to the woods to meditate, I somehow got pulled from my ocean and into this castle. It was a place I’d seen before in my nightmares. There was this old man who seemed to sense I was there but couldn’t see me, and he said I was astral projecting. I had to find my way back to my body,” I said.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” Daelon asked, his voice terse.
I paused. What was with that tone? “You were so mad at me for going off on my own. I didn’t really get a chance to… and I didn’t think it was that important. I mean it was a medieval castle for god’s sake, so I thought it was some sort of weird metaphor from my subconscious.” I paused to look up at Daelon’s face, which was contorted with tension but quickly went blank and detached under my gaze. “Was it a real place then?”
“What happened tonight?” he asked, ignoring my question.
“I was on the same beach as before when I saw my mothers, but this time the man who pretends to be the Devil was there. He brought others, too—to intimidate me and to amplify the feeling that I was on my own. I was trying not to provoke him like last time and just work on my defensive magick, but he kept egging me on and… well… he attacked me.”
Daelon stopped moving his fingers through my hair, and I felt him stiffen.
“I lost control of my focus because I got so angry,” I admitted, feeling like I’d failed. It turned out I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was. “He got the upper-hand and…” I trailed off. I knew Daelon would take it hard.
