Page 6 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Kine stepped closer, hand still extended. "Just let us take you home."
"No!" I shouted. My hands clutched at my hair, knotting the fine strands like string. "No, stay away from me. No! I can’t go back!"
The words slipped out, hanging there.
Can’t go back?
Kine’s eyebrows lifted, his golden eyes brightening. "You do remember then, Bug? You remember, and you don’t want to go back? Why? Is it because of the curse?"
Elias shook his head. His dark-blue eyes hardened as his brow furrowed. He squared his broad shoulders. "No. No matter what you remember, you have to come back. We’ll figure out a way to handle the curse. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you. I am your friend, and nothing will change that."
My mouth had gone dry. My tongue felt like a brick. What did I remember? What was it?
Nothing more than a heavy sense of dread. A vital promise. A deep terror. And eyes. Not gold eyes. Not brown eyes. Not blue eyes. Red eyes. Deep red, like heated rubies and pomegranate gems. Beautiful red eyes staring down at me, pleading with me, begging me.
"You cannot come back."
Who had said that?
Why did I know?
Why couldn’t I go back?
It didn’t matter.
I just had to escape.
I bolted for the railing, my heart pounding as panic flooded me.
Elias put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, but I cringed away and ran. All that mattered was keeping that promise. I had promised not to go back until it was time.
"Stella, wait!" he called after me.
"Stella!" Kine cleared the barrier and flung the teal orb at the wall. It crackled and pulsed, sluggish light pouring out from it. Static electricity lifted my hair and popped against my fingertips as I seized the opposite railing.
Elias lunged after me. His hand seized my arm and jerked me back. "Stella, stop!" he said, wrapping his arms around me.
Kine caught hold of me too. "I know you're confused and scared, but you have to trust us. We're your friends. We're family. Please, Bug!"
I struggled against his grip. "Let go!"
Flashes of those red eyes danced through my mind, accompanied by a sense of urgency and danger. Tears stung my eyes.
Elias buried his face against the back of my neck. "I can't let you run from this, Stella," he said through gritted teeth. "We've got to get you home. This is our last chance for another fifty years!"
The energy from the portal swirled faster, pulling at the very fabric of reality.
"It's gonna be all right," Kine said, moving in front of me and seizing my wrists. "I promise you, Bug. I've always watched out for you. I'm not letting anything happen to you. You're just gonna be scared for a little bit longer, and then you're going to start to remember."
With that, he and Elias dragged me three steps forward and leaped into the portal.
STELLA
The portal's swirling energy was cold and slick, engulfing and chilling me. My limbs went heavy as if twenty-pound weights were bound to each of my joints. It squelched and slid along my body. Then I lurched forward and fell onto a black stone floor.
Kine and Elias rolled out beside me. Kine struck his head on the wall, collapsing with a groan, his hand flying to his temple.
My body locked. There was something familiar about this place. It was a black stone chamber. Regular grooves made it seem that it had been hand cut. Was it jet? Obsidian? Why did it seem so familiar? A cold metallic scent filled my nostrils, a scent that was ancient stone but also some sort of energy.
