Forever

Truths Laced In Lies

     Hazel peeled her aching eyes open, confusion sweeping across her mind. She was no longer in the cabin filled with the sound, comforting magic. Instead the painfully familiar surroundings of the mansion filled her line of sight. A coldness seeped into her bones at the sudden loss of magic. She felt empty, a hollow hole piercing her heart. Though there was something else as well. Something powerful. She could feel it inside herself, a fragile hold after whatever the ancient had done to her.

     She shuddered, rolling over on the small bed with a groan, eyes finding the sleeping form of Jayden slouched over in a chair. She froze, brief flashes of what she had seen in her mind coming to her. The eyes in the storm. 

     She studied his sleeping form, heart pounding. What did it mean? This deeply rooted, self conscious trust she had in him. The way the old seer seemed to know. It meant something. Though she wasn't sure she was ready for the answer.

     The hole burned her heart, forcing her mind back to the events that happened on that small island. She had no memory of what happened after the seer entered her mind. No knowledge of even leaving the cabin. She had done something to her, that much was obvious. She could feel it. Deep within her something had changed. The powers that flowed and tortured her mind had shifted. Though the ancient had promised her control, she felt none. Did not know the change minus the cold truth she had been given. 

     With fearful eyes she glanced back at Jayden, terrified of what the ancient might have told him. She was a monster. A hybrid. Half seer, and half demon. The things that hunted them both. He couldn't know. This was something she had to find out alone. She had no idea what it meant. No idea what it would do to her mind. And if her father was still alive...

     "You're awake." Jayden's deep voice startled her out of her mind, her head snapping in his direction.

     "How did we get here?"

     His blue eyes bore holes in her skull as he studied her, taking a moment before answering. "You were unconscious for days after whatever she did to you. Told me you had all you needed, and to take you home. I was more than happy to get you out of that place."

     Using more effort than should have been necessary, she lifted her hands before her eyes. "I don't know what she did to me. I don't..I don't remember anything after I walked into the cabin."

     If he could see through her lie he did not show it, instead worry coating his features. "I shouldn't have let you go in alone. I should have known better than to trust anything on that fairy ridden-"

     "She didn't hurt me," she interrupted.

     Jayden ran his hands through his dark hair. Pieces sticking up in odd places from hours torture before she woke. "You can't know that. You don't remember anything, there's no telling what she could have done."

     Closing her eyes, she focused on the tug she felt deep within. It was different now, a source obvious. Though what it meant was still a mystery. "I just know. There's something.. different."

     He narrowed his eyes. "Different how?"

     As hard as she tried to focus on the tug instead of him, she couldn't shake the image from the rain out of her mind. Couldn't understand why her consciousness drug her towards it again and again since her encounter with the ancient. Yet at the same time flashes from her vision soured the comfort it tried to bring.

     "I can't explain it," she mumbled, forcing her eyes away from the blue eyed boy, "something inside of me... It's different. Something changed, I just...I don't know what."

     Jayden sighed, standing and pacing the small room. Her eyes followed him, safety attempting to lull her away from the dark thoughts racing through her mind. She couldn't afford to think of anything but the danger that chased her every minute. The visions plaguing her every thought. Hidden secrets sketched into the pages of her nightmarish book. She desperately wished they were more than dark terrors.