Part 27.

                                    

                                          


                          
The cement beneath me was harder and colder than the bed I had been expecting. I blinked several times in an attempt to clear the blurring pain form my eyes. I focused only on seeing and ignored the discomfort of the floor until I could properly gauge my surroundings. 
                          
The iron bars in front of me became clear after a moment of focus. I reached out to grasp one. Now that I could see I wanted to sit up and get a better idea of what was going on. The second my fingers touched the slick metal they burned. 
                          
I hissed and jerked my hand away. Looking at my fingers I could see the small red splotches beginning to form. 
                          
"They're coated in wolfsbane." Someone said. 
                          
I could hear the eye roll. As if some how I was supposed to know that. Although when I paused to think about it I did actually know that. I rolled on to my back to get a better look at the room. Everything seemed familiar but I had the nagging sense that I had never actually been here before. Finally my eyes landed on the person that spoke.  
                          
Thomas was looking down at me with a mixture of concern and fear. Fear should have been his focus. I couldn't remember anything about how I had gotten here or how he was still alive but I knew everything else. I knew everything he did and that's how I knew this room even though I'd never been here. 
                          
This was another one of Devlin's training facilities. Most importantly it was the facility where Thomas assumed they were keeping Silas. 
                          
I forced myself to my feet and made my way slowly toward the door. I wanted to move quickly but the pain from earlier threatened to pull me back down when I tried. 
                          
"Wolfsbane." Thomas warned as I reached a hand toward the lock of the door. 
                          
~Resero.~ I commanded. 
                          
There was a loud clank and then the door swung open. Thomas eyes widened and he scrambled back away from the cell as if I had lit the damn thing on fire. 
                          
"G-" I didn't let the other syllables pass through his lips before I flicked my wrist knocking him out. I didn't have time to find another knife or the strength to kill him with magic so I left him there. I needed to find Silas. 
                          
The brightness outside the cell room was blinding. It made the pain in my head flare up and everything blurred again. When I could finally see once more my feet paused. There were at least a dozen people out here and all of them had turned to look at me. None of them looked friendly.
                          
I took a deep breath. Reaching out I connected to as many of them as my mind would allow and then I forced the all too familiar sensation of darkness into their minds. Several of them fell just as I had hoped but it wasn't enough. There were more that I hadn't been able to reach. My legs trembled as I took a step and then they gave out completely on the next. 
                          
The men I had not been able to reach closed in. My panic flared as I realized that I couldn't win. I'd used up all the magic I could. If I tried again I would faint. A hand closed around my upper arm. I used his weight against him and sent him sprawling out on the ground in front of me. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to stop his accomplice from landing a hard kick at my stomach. The force of the blow was meant to knock me over and it did. But I used the momentum to continue rolling until I was back on my feet. 
                          
These men were good. I wasn't fast enough or strong enough to fight them off in my current state. So I did the next best thing; I made a run for it. I didn't make it far before a body slammed into mine. I crashed into the ground hard. Pain stabbed through my shoulder and arm. I ignored the pain and managed to fling the man off of me. My freedom lasted only a second before another hand grabbed me. This one wasn't just trying to catch me, he was angry. His hand shot out with lightening speed and struck against my cheek. My head snapped to the side. The explosion of pain across my cheek mixed with the pain in my skull and became too much. I closed my eyes knowing there would be more to come and trying desperately to brace myself for it. 
                          
I heard the familiar snap of bones being broken and was surprised that it wasn't my own. I risked a peek out from the darkness and was flooded with relief when my eyes landed on my favorite shade of green. 
                          
Silas crouched down in front of me. He was only partially clothed and if I had guessed at the silence of the field I would have assumed his wolf had killed the other men except that he hadn't shifted or he wouldn't have any clothes at all. He was sickly pale and judging by the half healed wounds all over his torso he probably couldn't shift right now. I spared a glance at our surroundings. The blood that was on him made perfect sense as I looked out at the field. No one moved. He had killed them all. 
                          
I didn't care about the blood or the bodies. They were trying to hurt us. To hurt him. They were the reason that Amelia was gone. Despite my lack of remorse Silas eyes were full of sadness and regret. I reached for him. I wanted to console him just as much as I wanted to be consoled. His arms surrounded me. The pressure and heat of his embrace pulled me back into the darkness before I could ask what to do next. 
                          


                          
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I wanted to cry when I began waking up once again on cement. The pain alone made me regret trying to move at all. I laid perfectly still and allowed my eyes to wonder the room on their own this time. It was the same cell I had been in before but this time I could barely lift my head let alone try to escape. 
                          
My eyes caught on the body in the cell next to me. Silas. My breath caught and I tried to reach out to him through the mind link. The attempt flooded my head with agony. I slammed my eyes closed and forced myself to stay perfectly still once more before trying again. This time I didn't dare try to use my magic. I had to find another way. I inched closer to the bars with as little movement as possible. 
                          
I tried to reach through the bars. My arm grazed against one side burning me again. 
                          
I jerked back. 
                          
I breathed through the pain and weighed my chances of succeeding if I tried again. They didn't seem good but I was desperate to know if he was alright. There was only one thing left that I could think of to try. 
                          
"Silas." My throat burned as I forced out the gravelly whisper. 
                          
I coughed to try and clear the twinge but it only seemed to make the burning worse. A faint metallic taste coated my tongue but it was nothing like the choking and drowning I had endured before. 
                          
"Silas." I forced the sounds again. 
                          
His eyes drifted open and immediately landed on me. He reached for me. My lips parted wanting to warn him of the wolfsbane that coated the bars he was reaching through. No sound came out and Silas didn't acknowledge the pain even as his hand grasped mine. He squeezed my hand gently before closing his eyes again. 
                          
Apparently having his hand in mine was all I needed for reassurance. My body relaxed despite our situation and unconsciousness pulled me in again.