Immortal Bodies

Chapter 19-Pain & Game

Chandler felt the lash come across his back once more, pain searing it to the point where there was no fixing it.

It came again, and again after that, not leaving time for the pain prior to go away, or even fade. So his back might've been stabbed with millions of little knives that wouldn't mind cutting into his skin. Deadly as it was, he knew he deserved it for not telling them anything. The Keeper anything, that is.

Well, he'd rather deserve to get lashed fifty times than to lose his daughter's safety. If Annaliese was safe, at least. And as the next lash came, he thought about the look in her eyes, the look of confusion, the look of pale sadness that only he could replace.

But he just didn't know how to replace that sadness with a sense of security. His heart burned painfully in his chest, so...so painful, he wouldn't have been surprised if he was dying....

****

Annaliese clutched her chest, and doubled over, pain searing in her lungs, and her heart. The second heart, at least.

Kolby had a tight grip on her arm, and was shouting, but she couldn't tell what he was saying. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry out for help, but nothing came out of her throat, the searing hurt so bad.

Dylan and Christian raced over, and Dylan layed a hand on her shoulder. "What the hell did he do to you?"

"Nothing!" Kolby shouted in reply. "It was--"

She didn't hear the rest of the sentence--all she knew was that the second heart was literally searing, as if on fire. She had never felt any sort of pain like this, and all she knew was that she needed to get it out--

She felt a push through her chest, grip the source of pain, and yanked it out.

The pain stopped immediately.

Annaliese fell to her knees, gasping for breath and thannkful for Kolby. "Thank you," she breathed.

Kolby held it up. "I'm betting it was this?"

"What is that?" Christian asked. "Why do have a heart?"

He shot him a look. "Because it's one that can replicate one you love the most. If I put it in Annaliese, she feels her father's heartbeat."

Annaliese shook her head. "Why did I feel that? What does it mean?"

Dylan helped her to her feet. "It means," he said, "that your father's in trouble."

***

How Dylan wasn't still mad at Kolby, Annaliese didn't know. All she knew is that, as the sun slipped over the horizon, she and Dylan had just made it back inside in time to wake up for school, after a long talk about what they were to do to get to the Immortal Gate. No one knew anything, and Christian kept asking them question, which Annaliese understood, but it slowed them down.

"Hey," he called softly into her room, coming through the doorway. "Are you okay?"

She raked a hand through her hair. She was most definitely not okay, but no way was she going to let him know that. Her chest was aching, as well as her head, what she saw the previous night was not something any normal person saw everyday, and fear had went on and buried itself in her chest.

"Yes," she replied. "I mean, no...Well, sort of...."

"Do you want to skip school toady? You do look sort of sick...."

"Yes," she started, because that was the first thing that came to her mind. "I mean no. Tonight, we need to find out how to get to the Immortal Gate so we can get Riley back and my father before the Sunclipse. I can't possibly sleep."

"Okay..." He turned to go, but then paused, as if he wanted to say something. Then he turned back around to face her. "I love you, Annaliese."

His eyes had a soft glint in them, like shining with light under a sheet of icy darkness.

Annaliese didn't know how to respond, because she knew she had a very complex string of words to reply, but didn't know how to say them all at once without breaking down and crying. So she just broke it down as simply as she could:

"I love you too, Dylan."

And she caught that ghost of a smile, that smile that she'd wanted from so many people and it never came--until Dylan.

***

Christian was having a hard enough time as it was understanding everything. Add the Gatekeeper scenario, and he had this whole mind full of questions that he knew Dylan wouldn't answer.

He missed Riley walking with him to school. It often got very lonely walking alone. He was tired; and was in desperate need of rest, but he didn't know he was in for staying up all night!

And that thing...That demon...

He gripped his backpack strap tighter, as it was slung over one shoulder, and trudged across the street. When something stopped him.

On the ground was a pocket mirror. Yes--there, on the ground. As in on the sidewalk. He picked it up and opened it, except there was no mirror inside. It was different--gold and rusted on the outside with delicate symbols traced around the edge, and was very worn indeed. On the inside, however, where the mirror was supposed to be, was an inscription. An inscription he had to squint to read--but it was there:

KEY TO THE IMMORTAL GATE;

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.

Christian stuffed it in his pocket, mind raceing, and walked to school with a little more spring to his step.