Claimed

Chapter 8 - Concerns

I awoke suddenly, my head swinging round frantically as I checked to see if they were still here.

I was met instead with a small group of three people (and a cat) crowding around my face.
"I-" fear and weariness shook my bones as I fought my exhaustion.

"Where.. Where are they?"
Ben's brows furrowed. "What?"

I looked at Jay and Lonnie, my gaze switching between them as I searched for something - anything, that might give me a clue as to where my best friend is.

Of course, by all logic, both are still in the helicopter, but when it comes to Auradon, you can never be too sure.

Both boys jumped back when I suddenly pushed myself up, but Lonnie jumped forward, her hand gripping my own as she helped me settle.
I edged backwards so my back rested against the wall I had been using as a headboard, ignoring the wince that escaped from my dry lips.

My tongue ran over them as I craned my neck to look around the three torsos surrounding me, still desperately searching for the girl who's safety I feared for.

It registered with my tired brain that our friends would be in much worse a state than they are now if either of them were missing as the three caught on, and moved themselves out of the way.

Sure enough, a flash of blue was visible from the other side of the copter.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

She was safe.

As far as I could see.

For it quickly became evident that something was wrong.

The vibrant blue I had quickly grown to love, the colour of fresh blueberries, had faded, leaving her hair a dead mess, hanging limp against her face, as if the ocean, previously so full of life, was now deeply polluted waters, the beauty viciously sucked out as she couldn't do anything about it.

Evie sat beside Katelyn, who looked equally worse for wear, both hunched over with their arms concealing their stomachs from view.
Both had a far-off look in their eyes, and I could only wonder what they had been subjected to from the moment when they were left alone with the man.

Evie's hand was clasped tightly in Katelyn's, both girls' knuckles a bone white with tension.
You could easily notice the slight tremble in their forms.

I had never seen Evie like this - in such a state of fragility.
She always seemed so strong: all four of us knew that she was going to go far in life, being the brave, smart, ambitious woman she was, so to see her in shreds was heartbreaking.

My own pain could wait.

Experimentally, I rolled my shoulders, stretching the kinks out of my back until I was able to get into something resembling a kneeling position.
Tentatively, I shuffled over to the girls, and knelt before Evie, looking deep into her chocolate browns.
Taking her other hand in my own, wrapping my warm palms around her freezing cold one, I looked her dead in the eyes.
"Evie, what happened?"

Her eyes widened in fear, and her tremble became more prominent, as if she were to shake out of her own body.
I clasped her hand tightly, maintaining unblinking eye contact: applying subtle pressure.
I hated to do this to her: to make my best friend uncomfortable enough to talk to me - but it is vital that we find out what happened in that cave.

I feared the worst.

But her mouth stayed closed.
Evie refused to say a thing to me, just staring deep into my eyes, and I could see the fear and pain swirling in her own.