Lifeline (Chills Fanfic)

49 - Autumn

As time passes, we learn about Eonys. Freya, Arlo, Emma, Kallias, and I are all gathered in an apartment building. Arlo and Emma share a room, Freya had her own room, and I have my own room. If Dylan were here, he could have his own room too if he wanted.

As I sit there in the kitchen with the others, I listen to them bicker about things.

"Eonys is not better than Viiros," says Emma. "Just saying."

"Amen," says Arlo.

"This place is better than Viiros," says Kallias. "Of that, I can assure you."

"Sure you can," Emma says, rolling her eyes.

"I can," he says, his tone sharpening. "This place is very much better than Viiros will ever be."

Suddenly, the door opens up and in comes Cody, the boy with blond hair and glasses and claws. He looks frantic. "Come on, guys," he says. "Dylan is thawing out or something."

I get up and follow him, and the others follow me. We walk into the room where we keep Dylan safe and hidden away from any prying eyes.

"Dylan?" I ask as I approach the icy chrysalis he's trapped in.

It is truly breaking apart, flakes of ice chip off of it, falling to the floor.

"Uh, I think we should step back," says Emma as they enter the room. "What happens if the ice flies apart? You don't want to get skewered by it."

"Yuck, no thanks," Cody says. He leaves, going to another room. Arlo comes over to me and throws her hands up in the air and summons light. It dances around her, turning into a force field that separates us from the ice chrysalis.

Then, the ice simply breaks off into bigger chunks that fall on the floor with loud thumps.

Then, Dylan stands there, looking colder than I've ever seen someone look. He's literally shivering as I slowly walk toward him.

"Dylan?" I ask him.

He turns around and looks at me. "Autumn? Are you okay?"

Tears fill my eyes, stinging and hot. I blink and nod, trying to swallow around the lump in my throat. Dylan then walks over and puts his arms around me, holding me close to him. All of my resolve breaks.

He holds me, very patiently and gently rocking a little to try and soothe me. I keep trying to stop crying, but that is basically impossible when you've nearly lost someone you love.

"You're worried about me, when you were literally frozen solid a minute ago?" I ask him.

"Yeah, well, I did worry about you," he says. He then looks at my hand and wrist, that is now covered in ink. "Whoa, that looks cool. Is that what happened to your shadows?"

I nod. "This is my chrysalis."

He looks at me, his brown eyes searching mine. "I wanted to tell you something. But I didn't get the chance when I was turned to ice."

"Okay. What's that?" I ask, my anxiety eating me up.

He suddenly leans forward and kisses my forehead, and I'm pretty sure if I hadn't had his hands on my arms, I probably would've crumbled. He looks at me, a small smile playing on his lips.

He rubs his hand through his hair absently, his focus wholly on me. "I love you, Autumn."

I tear up and grin at him. "I love you too, Dylan."

"Can we kiss?" he asks me softly.

I chuckle. "Yeah, we can."

When his lips collide with mine, my breath leaves me far faster than I think is safe. His lips are warm, and the kiss between us blooms hot and beautiful. He wraps an arm around me, holding me close to him.

"Okay, you two, get a room," says Freya.

"That wasn't an invitation," snaps Arlo, and she wags her finger at us like an adult chastising a kid.

Dylan blushes and so do I.

"Come on," says Freya. "We gotta figure out what to do next."

Dylan takes my hand and we follow them out of the guest room, walking towards the living room. Arlo sits down on the couch by the coffee table. Emma sits beside her, and Dylan and I sit across from them. Freya paces at the end of the table, looking around nervously.

"Okay, so we should probably leave Eonys behind because I don't think it's safe to be here. Those people killed innocent faeries just to get to us."

"Freya, I am pretty sure we all have blood on our hands," Emma says.

"No, not like this. This, whatever this is, is evil, and you know it. Come on, guys. They just want to use us."

I nod. "I agree with you, Freya. But I don't think it is that simple anymore."

"What do you mean, its not that simple anymore?" Arlo asks.

"Because of Kallias and his friends. They want us here for something, for some strange reason. Why is that? Well, your guess is as good as mine right now," I say.

"They want us because they're after the Eldersblood that lives in you," Freya says. "They want to use your powers to overthrow their enemies. They want all of us to help them kill innocents, which they have already done. Come on, you guys, think! There has to be a way out of here, right?"

"Right," says Emma. "Except there doesn't have to be, and there likely isn't. Because such things would be too convenient if that was the case."

"Convienience isn't the issue. It is how do we all safely leave that is," says Dylan.

"You want to leave?" We all turn around and see Cody standing in the doorway. He smiles. "I think I can help with that."