This is not treachery.
This is freedom.
In the middle of Heaven and Hell, the days of rain and mist are long gone. Now, the Gap World is a kingdom of light and darkness, goodness and evilness, sunshine and clouds. When clandestine forces weave toget...
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SHADOWS ENCLOSED MY HANDS, my arms, my legs, my waist, my whole body. It looked like a cloud had abandoned the sky to embrace me and it felt like I was being strangled by iron chains. I knew what was happening. I was only able to speculate who was behind this because I'd witnessed Denfer experiencing the exact same thing a week ago.
It wouldn't end well.
When I made to turn around to face the red-haired woman that could be the embodiment of mind games and malice, I couldn't even angle my head to the side. The shadows must have reached my neck, my mouth, my eyes. And because I couldn't see anything, I couldn't even shout for help. A mask of shadows and smoke covered my face, an armor of thick mist was spread all over my body, as well.
I wanted to panic as footsteps echoed from behind me. I needed to fight back, run away, or ask for aid. I needed to defend myself.
It felt like I was dying over and over again. No. It felt like I was trying to balance on some invisible string between two mountains with chaos reigning beneath.
"Hello, sweetheart."
I didn't need to see her face to understand who was standing next to me. Amanda.
More steps sounded. More seconds passed.
And even though I couldn't control my body or order it to move, even though I couldn't think clearly since all my senses had been muzzled, I somehow knew that I wasn't in the Land of Greatness anymore. Maybe it was my sick intuition or, more possible, pure madness that had me thinking that I was flying, that my feet weren't on the ground.
Where were they taking me?
This wasn't a fair fight. I couldn't continue battling like this, without knowing where I was, without being able to do anything. I couldn't just let Amanda carry me to wherever she wanted me to go.
It still wasn't second nature to will my magic to awaken and order it to engulf whatever threat was around me. But I had to act like it was.
I didn't force myself to calm down. Instead, I forced all the negative emotions---the panic, the anger, the despair---to be directed toward one solid element; toward ice. My heartbeat paused when I realized that her shadows hadn't only minimized my ability to move, but had also stripped me from the ability to use magic. It was exactly like what had happened to Denfer.
"You don't need to use magic, darling. We're almost home," Amanda said from behind me, like she'd read my thoughts and realized it was the perfect moment to mock me.
Of all the things I'd become, I'd never thought I would end up being Amanda's capture as well.
More minutes passed. Or seconds, I didn't know.
What I knew was that what had started slowly, had ended all at once. A flash of light became color and I could see again. I didn't know if I should feel blessed for that, or enraged by what she'd dared to do to me in the first place. It didn't matter now.
