A Stolen Soul

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Cascata Island 

Present Day

Suddenly, I groaned and my eyes began to flicker open. I turned over and jumped, a dark figure was standing in front of me. I sat up and winced with pain. I still felt groggy and sleepy. I looked up and my eyes locked with Elijah's dead ones. He cautiously sat beside me, supporting most of my weight.  

As I looked at his lifeless face tears began to fall from my eyes. "What's happening? Why me? Why is this happening to me?" I sobbed.  

"I wish it wasn't you, Bren, I honestly do. I wish you didn't have to know about my sadistic world, I wish you'd never had to meet me, I wish you'd had a normal life..." 

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "How did you get in here? They said you were locked in your room. How did you get past the guys outside my door?" 

"When the guard came in with my food, I punched him in the face," he laughed despite himself. "Stole his uniform. Snuck down here. Told the man guarding you that Lane had sent me to take over and he could go for lunch." 

I tried to stand but my legs collapsed beneath me. Elijah caught my wrist before I fell.  

I pulled my arm from his grasp and moved away from him. "Don't touch me," I spat. "Just because you're here, just because you're helping me doesn't mean I trust you. You still lied to me. I mean, for three years... you were sent to bring me back here... the whole time... our relationship was a lie," I stammered between my tears.  

I got off the bed and crossed the room my legs still unsteady but I didn't let him know.  

He too got off the bed too and inched towards me. 

"Don't come near me." 

"Bren, at first yes, I went there for that purpose but I got to know you, and I spent time with you... I fell in love with you, if anything, that's the one thing I don't regret," he whispered. 

I turned away from him. My eyes so full of tears I couldn't see. 

He grabbed my arm spinning me around to face him. "Bren, I'm a terrible person..."  

"Yes, you are." I pulled my arm from his grip and tried to step around him but I was tired and drowsy, I couldn't do much when he grabbed my shoulders preventing me from moving.  

"Bren, I know I've hurt you and betrayed you... but our relationship was not a lie. When I said I loved you for the first time I really meant it, and I still do. When we slept together, it meant something too. You mean everything to me and I don't know what I'd do without you."  

"The thing is, I don't even know you anymore, Eli. It's like you're a different person, that's if you're even a person... I've almost been raped by several men today, they treat me like I'm nothing... your world is so cruel and you're one of them."  

I pushed him away from me and stepped around him but he grabbed my wrist again.  

"Let go of me," I said fighting his grip.  

"No, you have to listen to me. Brenna, yes, I'm not gonna lie to you, I've done things I'm not proud of. I've even told you myself that I hate who I am... what I do. But I was born into this, I knew no different... then I met you and I actually fell in love with you." 

"That doesn't mean anything." 

"Yes it does. With all those other woman I turned my emotions off, the relationship meant nothing to me but with you I couldn't do that because everything I felt was real and I wanted to feel it." I could hear the desperation his voice. Did he really mean it?  

I sighed and let him wrap his arms around me. "I wish I could hate you... but I don't know if I can." I held myself tighter to him. "I know everything," I whispered into his chest. 

"What?" 

"My eighteenth birthday, you took me to the beach house in Florida. We drove over a thousand miles, almost twenty hours, and on the move you knew it would be harder for them to catch us." 

"I couldn't, I couldn't let them take you, and I was so stupid, I should have checked up on Penn sooner." 

"I kissed Penn," I whispered. "I'm sorry." 

He rubbed my back. "That doesn't matter; I don't care, as long as you're safe. He did it on purpose, he wanted us to fight, he wanted you to be suspicious of me. The book in my bag, I would never have left it there, that was Penn. I never wanted you to see that." 

"I know you wouldn't have," I breathed. "But it was still so freaky, and you were sent to get me... I was in that book. I'm not a person to your people I'm just the next skin for your queen. The other two girls... they died... well lost their bodies, didn't they? And I'm next on that list." 

"No you're not. I won't let you be next."  

I pulled out of his arms. "And how are you going to do that, even in that mask and uniform they won't let you leave with me. And I'm sure if you tried they'd know it was you. I mean, how do we get back home? Where exactly is Cascata? I've never heard of it?" 

"Well, you won't have. It's not on any human map. It's not even a planet really. And it's not easy to find either. Humans don't know this place exists and if they do find out about us, for whatever reason that may be... they're killed..." He threw a quick glance at my expression; I didn't let on how scared I was.  

"I'm okay," I whispered, reassuring him.  

He continued. "I know this sounds crazy, well, probably not with everything that has happened, but in a way, this Island has a mind of its own."  

I looked at him confused.  

"I mean... it only allows those to find it who it feels is worthy. Someone who will help us in some way. A doppelganger like yourself is granted passage but you're normally escorted by one of us anyway. Or someone like Penn who is willing to give his aid." 

I nodded. "We have to get out of here..." Suddenly, my whole body felt limp and I grabbed a hold of his arms to help support myself. "I feel so tired again," I mumbled. "What's happening to me? What did Godric give me?"  

"It's an herb called rilassare and it only grows here on Cascata. It's crushed and the juices are like a natural sleeping drug... there is an antidote but only the queen has it. It's a mild poison and in large quantities it would kill you instantly."  

He picked me up in his arms and lay me on the bed.  

"It slowly passes through your system bit by bit, taking you in and out of consciousness. The drowsiness comes and goes for days... I'm sorry."  

He lay down beside me and pulled me into his chest.  

"I won't leave you. When this has passed, we've got to get out of here and we've got to find you that antidote." He kissed my head. He held me to him like he never wanted to let me go. 

I tried to keep myself awake by staring at his face. Taking in all his perfect features but it was no use, the drug was too strong and his face disappeared as my heavy eyes closed.