Page 12 of Beneath the Flames
I swallowed the lump rising in my throat.“Do you want me to beg?Please take me back.”
“You are persistent, aren’t you?”He let out a long-suffering sigh.
I glared at him, biting the inside of my cheek.I didn’t know who this man was, nor did I know how violent he might get if I made him too mad.A life with my father had taught me to always back down, to never fight back, to cower.I had learned to give no indication of my emotions, lest they be used against me.
And yet the stakes had never been like this.I had never been taken from my family before, never had the ability to protect them from my father taken away from me either.The thought of him going after my mom or my siblings spurred me to say through clenched teeth, “You don’t understand.Ihaveto go home.”
His only response was to stare at me with the most stoic look possible before turning away.How could he not care what he had done to me—to my family—by bringing me here?
“W-where are you going?”
He started walking away from the portal, his boots somehow silent in the icy snow.Another violent shiver racked through my body, my toes aching from the cold.
My kidnapper stopped, keeping his back to me.“If youwant to continue living, I suggest you follow me.It’s not safe here.”
Nausea swirled in my stomach.“Please,” I pleaded once more, hating the way my voice broke and betrayed my emotions.
He flicked a hand over his shoulder, ignoring my plea.“Fine, stay here.Your death is on your own head then.”
The man walked back toward the arch standing a few feet away, and I hoped for a moment that he would open the strange portal and send me home, but he skirted around it, continuing up a rugged path toward a cave that I hadn’t noticed before.
My hands slid into my hair, gripping at the roots as I watched him walk away.I had no idea how to get home, but I clearly couldn’t stay on this frozen cliffside, surrounded by volcanoes and endless lava.Despite the fact that I was somehow in a world that wasn’t my own, my brain was transfixed on the fact that I had left cold groceries in the back of the car, that if I didn’t get home, no one would be there to keep my siblings and my mom safe.
Ihadto get back.They were counting on that food, on me following my father’s demands.I squeezed my eyes shut at the thought of what would happen to them when I didn’t return to the farm.My father had told me to be backsoon.I had no idea how much time had passed, but I was sure it was longer than what he considered soon.
I marched up to the archway, inspecting every inch of it, hoping to find some sort of button that would activate it, making that silver liquid-like substance reappear so I could leave this strange world behind.I expected it to be freezing cold as I pressed my fingers to the stone, feeling for anything that might turn it on, but was surprised to find it pleasantly warm.There was a faint pulsing as I pressed my entire palmagainst it that I couldn’t make sense of.I wasted precious seconds searching for an on switch.
But the arch was smooth as polished stone, the inside empty.
There appeared to be no way to turn it on—not that I would know how to use it anyway.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my kidnapper slip into the cave without even a backward glance at me.My breath shook as I exhaled.What was I supposed to do?
I had never heard of such a place called Eroth.Was this some new country on Earth that I hadn’t learned about?Or was this truly a different world?Was that even possible?
I might have had an overactive imagination, but never in my wildest dreams had I expected there to berealworlds outside of my own.
Whatwasthis place?
And what were those golden death rays that the guy had used to kill the other kidnapper?
My blood chilled.Hekilledmy kidnapper.
And then he kidnapped me.
What did that mean for me?
Would he kill me too?
As another shiver wracked through my body, I realized there was nothing I could do.I didn’t know anything about this place, and I had no idea how to get back home.I would freeze to death, probably very soon, if I stayed here.But was going with Gold-Eyes any safer?He was a killer.He didn’t even have to touch me and I could die.
A low rumble started beneath me, and I glanced over the edge of the mountain and stumbled back in shock.I swore the lava started movingupthe cliff toward me, as though it were reaching for me.That was impossible, right?
The rumbling grew louder, and I swallowed hard, knowingmy choice was made for me.Gold-Eyes was right—as much as I didn’t want to admit it.I would die if I didn’t follow him.I could feel in my bones that it was the truth.
Left with no other choice, I followed after him, crossing my arms against the frozen wind, and sloughed through the snow toward the cave.
"Isee your self-preservation outweighs your need to be annoying,” my kidnapper remarked as I entered the cave, the bitter wind instantly ceasing, offering the tiniest reprieve from the cold.He was leaning against the wall several feet inside, his arms crossed, the gold in his eyes somehow glowing despite the dim light.The infuriating tilt to his lips told me he knew all along that I’d follow him in here.
