Different.

Chapter 25: Reunited

"Kaylee?"

I jumped at the sound of my voice and whipped my head around to see a startled Alex flanked by an equally shocked looking Haden and Delaney.

For the briefest of moments the hard walls he'd grown to throw up around me was gone and he was the boy I kissed again; raw, and gentler than I thought possible. Without thinking he cut through the space between us in a few short strides and hugged me tightly to his broad chest, squeezing me with all his might.

"I was so worried when you guys didn't come in after us." He said into my hair, still clinging to me. "We all thought-I thought you were-"

I never heard what it was he thought I was, because Adam noisily cleared his throat behind us and cut Alex off. I could feel his entire body tense up at the interruption, and he hesitated for only half a beat before detaching himself from me as suddenly as he had grabbed onto me. When I glimpsed his face I could tell the walls were back up, although there was the slightest hint of sadness that was barely discernible under the coldness of his eyes.

"What happened to you guys?" Alex asked while Hazel and Haden all but tackled each other and clung to one another with pure relief.

"We ended up at some weird beach, I'm not s-"

But Adam cut in yet again.

"I know what this place is."

Everyone froze where they stood, including Hazel and Haden, who were still clasped tightly together.

After a surprised pause that seemed like it lasted forever, Delaney asked, "Well what the hell is it then?"

"I remember my dad telling me about it. The interlocked circles we saw in the first room? It's not just any blood. It's magick blood. That's how the place stays disguised and blocked and whatever else. If you come in without a key-he has one obviously, but so does anyone else who works for him that he sends here-it throws you into a random room and you cycle through all of them until it spits you back out. The problem is, coming without a key alerts either him or whoever is on watch that there are trespassers."

"So what you're saying is..." Parker started wearily.

"I'm surprised they haven't come for us yet. Let's just hope it's some of his goons and not him, or we're all screwed."

"Isn't there a way out of here without having to go through all of the rooms?" Hazel sounded worried, although massively less so than when she was separated from Haden, who was holding her hand firmly in his.

"Not that I know of."

My heart sunk at Adams words, terrified of the idea of facing the infamous Ezekiel, even with everyone else backing me.

"Hold on, why are you just telling us this now?" Alex looked mutinous. "You didn't think it would be a good idea to mention all of this, I dunno, before we came barging in here?"

"I didn't remember until we found this," Adam sounded as if he was straining to remain calm as he held up the chest I'd entirely forgotten that I'd found.

"And what is that exactly?" Alex crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes, clearly suspicious of Adam.

"It belongs to my dad. Or, well, it did. Kinda. He was going to give it to Akshana, but obviously things went bad between them, so he told me he stored it in their place. In case she ever changed her mind."

"Their place?" I'm the one who cut in this time with a bewildered look up at Adam.

"Yeah, that's what that beach was. He told me he would take her there sometimes, or sometimes she would go alone. He made it for her."

"Well that's great and all," Haden spoke for the first time since we had been in the room. "but how does any of that-"

"-help us get out of here?" Hazel finished without missing a beat.

"It doesn't." Parker seemed on edge when he spoke up again. "Let's just focus on trying to get through each of the rooms in one piece and still try to find anything potentially useful or important. I'd like to get out of here alive, but if we don't do what we came here to do then I think we all know Akshana will have made that all pointless."

"Um guys?" A queasy feeling was tying knots in my stomach. "What are we gonna do if...yanno...he does show up?"

The only person who was more pale than me in that moment was Adam. Everyone was silent for a full minute, processing the daunting idea of taking on Ezekiel. Surprisingly, it was Adam who spoke.

"We stick together. We stick together, and we give it everything we've got, and we don't let him get into our heads. That's all we can do."

***

Hello all, it's me, back from the dead.

I had this draft sitting around for awhile and I was gonna add to it but I figured I'd leave it be and just start a new, longer chapter afterwards.

As messy and at times cringe-y as this story can be (cut me some slack, I was 15 when I started it) I'm gonna do my best to finish it! So hopefully y'all will hear from me soon.

Also, I changed my name to Robin (like, legally) so I'll be signing off these little notes respectively from now on. :)

Anyways, hope everyone is having a good day!

(Edit: when this gets to 100 reads i'll post the next part :) )

Much love,
-Robin