The Wizard's Queen

Chapter 4

Kenny heard the faint sounds of machines beeping as the blackness engulfing his mind disappeared. Fogginess surrounded his thoughts as his mind struggled between memories from his past and the current reality he was in. The last thing he remembered was shoving Chelsea out of the way from being hit by a curse before his own body felt like it was ripping apart as he fell into darkness.

Was he dead? Was this death? Why was everything black? Where was he? He struggled to move, but his whole body felt like lead. He had to fight this feeling and get to Riley. She was probably fighting for her life, and he couldn't protect her if he was laying incapacitated somewhere.

Wake up.

The thought was a soft echo in his mind as it repeated over and over again guiding him back to consciousness. Kenny clung on to the familiar sound with sheer determination as he let it guide him away from the blackness that had consumed him towards the soft sound of machines whirring and beeping as they worked hard to complete their job of survival.

His machines. Life support. He was on life support. He struggled to move his fingers, feeling the sheet wrinkle against the slight twitch of his index finger. Attempting to open his eyes and immediately regretting his decision from the blinding light peeking through as he squeezed them shut again back to the familiar sight of darkness.

Forget the light, he needed to see what had become of his body. With a stubbornness, Kenny flung his eyes open screaming in shock as bright blue eyes gazed down at him, a girl sitting crosslegged on the bed peering at him with a container of food in her lap. Was that fish? She offered one towards his face with a questioning glance.

There was almost a catlike quality about her, the way she silently hummed as she ate. Her gaze never left his, as bright blue eyes peeked out from a tangled mess of raven black hair surrounding her petite frame. She was the same size as Riley, maybe even smaller, but those eyes held a familiar devilish glint that weren't from his golden princess.

"Either I'm hallucinating; or Luke is a girl," Kenny muttered.

She snickered as she shook her head no. He studied her, eyes narrowing at the familiar sky blue eyes and raven colored hair, a signature feature pretty much every Noble possessed. She felt familiar, like he had been around her before, but still she was different. Was this really Anna? It had to be, there was no mistaking she was related to Luke with the same mischievous glint in her eyes that her younger brother held.

His eyes searched the room, trying to locate the golden haired amber eyed beauty that had stolen his heart. Reaching his mind out, he couldn't even sense her. Anna's face fell, shaking her head as she patted his arm. No, she couldn't be dead? She had to be alive!

Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. She is in the room next door.

Kenny let out a sigh of relief, before growing weary again. His mind flashed back to the battle and that feeling of Keaton's spell slashing into his chest as he slowly lost consciousness. She had been there, he could've sworn he heard her scream his name during his last moments of consciousness. If Keaton laid a hand on her, he would personally kill that woman for Riley's sake.

Anna shook her head, a sad smile as she squeezed his knee in reassurance. Anna was kind enough to play scenes of the battle from her own eyes detailing Riley's heroically idiotic actions.

Riley knew she was already weak when she worked to save him, but after the defenses fell she still cast that second spell wiping out her life force. If she hadn't had that cloak, she probably would have drained much faster than she did. Thank God for elf magic. Marcus had been able to help revive her, but he couldn't bring her fully back having lost so much energy himself in the battle and still recovering from saving Leila earlier that day.