Demon Heart

Chapter 22~"Please...help me,"

EVABELLE

A hand on Evabelle's injured shoulder, brought her blenching awake.

"Sorry," Shaundee's voice whispered in the gloom.

"Is everything okay?" Evabelle mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Pushing herself up from her blanket on the floor of the side room, she squinted to see the others still sleeping under the pile of blankets behind the first door, after the long, exhausting day.

Lucis wasn't there. He hadn't returned.

She turned to Shaundee, who was just a crouched silhouette. "What's wrong?"

"We've found him." Shaundee put a hand on Evabelle's wrist. "You told us you wanted us to get you when we did."

Evabelle just about asked who, but then her brain snapped back into place. "CJ? Really?" Suddenly, feeling much more alert, she rolled her aching body up and followed Shaundee back out into the main room, with Calandra still sitting at the head of the table.

"He's alive." Was the first thing the serious mage said. Her eyes were closed and the powerful green aura around her had dimmed somewhat, but Evabelle could still feel the electrical buzz in the air.

Evabelle sat beside her. "How is he?"

Calandra screwed up her face in what looked like annoyance. "He's a moron, that's what--" She stopped abruptly, her expression faltering. "He's scared. He doesn't believe it's me. He thinks I'm Etheldreda messing around inside his head."

Evabelle let out a breath and looked down at her hands.

Calandra hissed. "Gah! He just won't listen to me."

"Can you see where he is?" Evabelle asked.

Calandra shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. And just as I suspected, there's magical forces surrounding the area preventing me knowing his precise location. I'm only centering on his aura. It's all I can make out." Her body shivered and Shaundee stepped around her daughter, until she stood behind her. The older woman rested a hand on Calandra's shoulder and murmured something, causing a pale purple hue to meld in with Calandra's green.

"Can you connect to him?" Evabelle asked Shaundee.

"No, I'm just lending a bit of my strength. The connection is long distance. And as she said, she's filtering through Etheldreda's protective spells."

"If you're connected to CJ, does that mean that Etheldreda's not wearing him like a puppet right now?"

Calandra nodded. "He's alone. I wouldn't dare be trying to communicate with him if she was using him. She'd sense me right away. So if I need to contact him again, I'll be able to find him fast, but I'll have to flash in to make sure he's not being controlled." She banged her fist down on the table, startling Evabelle. "Listen to me! Come on!" She shouted.

"He still doesn't believe it's you," Evabelle guessed her frustration.

Calandra sighed. "No. Etheldreda's poisoned him so much, I don't know if I'll ever get him to understand."

The meager food that Evabelle had managed to swallow earlier, revolved in her stomach. "There has to be a way to get through to him." She pushed up from her chair. "Could I speak to him?"

Shaundee shook her head. "It doesn't work like that."

"Couldn't I at least try?" Evabelle paced over beside Calandra and lifted her hand. She could feel the heat radiating off the mage as though she had a fever. An idea had occurred to Evabelle. "Hold on, I'll be right back." She withdrew and treaded back to the room where the others slept.