Aura [bxb]

Twenty-Two

Laken P.O.V

There was a warmth surrounding me when I woke up again, but that exact warmth only provided partial comfort. For the first few seconds, I felt comfortable, even more, safe than ever. Then I remembered everything that has taken place in the last two days.

It was unfair that I was able to remain safe inside the large mansion while my mother was who knows were. Maybe that was what made the entire situation worse. I didn't know how she was. There was no way I could possibly know where she was at, whether or not she was okay, none of it; I knew practically nothing! I was more lost and clueless than ever before.

My mother never prepared me for the potential future scenario that ended with us getting found. There was never any mention of what to do if she got caught. No one ever said where I should have gone, none of it. Maybe we should have talked about it more often, if ever at all. Mom had wanted me as far away as possible from the supernatural community, which proved less effective the longer it was stretched out. Why didn't my mother realize that if we stayed in one place for as long as we did that, they were destined to find us one way or another, especially with us living on the coast that had mermaids living off of it?! At least I'm assuming that the merpeople lived on this coast.

But such a time as now was not the moment to question my mother's methods of protection because, for more than fifteen years, that method had worked. What had changed? Something along those years stopped working. Other than me running into two teenage dragons and the few siren slip-ups, absolutely nothing has changed. So unless the dragons were to blame, which I highly doubted, this whole thing rested on my shoulders for the blame. I should have the words guilty written on my forehead in bright red letters. Nothing had been right in the first place, but that was merely an excuse, something to back up the idea that it didn't necessarily start with me. Still, it most definitely ended because of my every action.

I sat up in a panic, my heart beating rapidly at an unfamiliar pace. I climbed out of bed carefully, thankful that for once, Tristin was too unconscious to prevent me from leaving the bed, allowing his arms to slip off from around my slimmer waist. I scooted myself to the edge of the bed, resting my heavy head against my palms. I was still more than tired, all I wanted to do was lay back down next to Tristin and go back to sleep, but I knew that even if I did, it wouldn't work. I wouldn't be able to sleep, I didn't need to lay down for three hours to figure that out. I let out a quiet yawn, being environmentally aware, not wanting to wake the sleeping dragon. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

I didn't want another crying fit.

I didn't want to have to seek another person's touch and care to feel okay.

I needed to figure this stuff out on my own without someone else's help.

Thinking of this, I forced myself to step onto the cold flooring, shivering slightly when any form of the warmth that Tristin provided was now gone. It made me want to climb right back into the heat underneath the comforter and deal with my emotional distress in the morning, but I knew I would just push it off then too. The only difference between those two times is in one, Tristin would be awake. As comforting as he was slowly becoming, I didn't need his guidance, I need to figure it out on my own.

Knowing this, I walked out of the bedroom quietly, heading to the dreaded left hallway, and walked, hoping I would find that small sitting area again.

In the hours of early morning, the hallways looked like they came out of a horror movie, the ones with the big mansions and vampires hiding in closets. Although, now that I think about it, those horror movies weren't very horror-y.

I spent a few more turns thinking just about that before my mind wandered right back to the dreaded thoughts that were currently keeping me up.

I would eventually have to talk to Tristin about what was going to happen next. As lovely as it was for him to take me into his house and offer me protection and all, that wasn't a very permanent solution to the issue at hand. My mother didn't seem to have the same protection plan, and we needed to get her switched over pronto. I knew for a fact though that this wasn't just going to go away. It wouldn't resolve it's self by them just giving up. You don't just give up on orders from your superior leader.

We didn't have much time to waste either. The longer we waited, the more time we lost, the more likely that the kidnappers were to become more and more daring. More desperate. That's how it always went down in books or movies, and I can't imagine it playing out any differently.

Something needed to happen, and it needed to happen now.

A few more unconscious turns and I made it back to the beautiful table. It was quite remarkable that I even managed to get back here, considering how long it took me earlier to find this exact spot.

The crisp moonlight shined in through the rare window, making the entire table light up under the natural lighting. It made it look even more pretty as well, the moonlight giving the table the same color effect as a DVD, the holographic-ness to it made it all the more beautiful. I glanced out of the window, seeing the gentle wave of the shield around the mansion, feeling comfort from the wave, or I did before I noticed it.

There was a person standing on the other side of the shield, my uncle. 

Short, but I have a big plan for the next one, and no, it won't be two weeks late.