Horse Stone (Book 1 of Ilyrian Series)

Chapter 48

"'Richard?'" I asked out loud, shocked and upset, and a wave of magic flowed through me. I bit a startled gasp when a vision like thing happened to me, and I saw a male with golden blonde hair and a beard in front of me.

The male turned towards me and smiled while he dipped his head, and I couldn't help but think that he saw me. He placed his finger to his lip in a silencing motion and then turned to look away, and the vision of the male disappeared and was replaced by Liam in front of me, looking concerned.

His warm hands were on my shoulders, and I had a feeling that he had been calling for me to answer him. "Hadley?" he asked again and shook me softly. "What is it? Are you alright?"

I blinked and blinked again before I focused my gaze on him. "Huh?" I asked, clutching the book as if it was my lifeline, and in a way, I was sure that it was. "What is it?" I shook my head and cleared the fogginess out of my brain.

"Are you ok?" Liam asked again. He stood in front of me with furrowed brows and a frown on his face. Concern filled his eyes while he studied me, making sure that I was safe.

"Oh, ya, ya, I am fine," I said and released the book with one hand but keeping it close to my chest. I rubbed my forehead and grimaced when a headache came out of nowhere. "I just have a headache, is all," I added. Adrian?

I am here, Adrian said, his voice filled with relief. What happens? I was about to send Inen to you.

I don't know what happened, I said. Even if I did, I don't know if I can say what had happened. An image of Richard looking at me appeared in my mind, and I instantly shut the block so that Adrian couldn't see him, much to his dislike.

Liam frowned, and I could tell that he didn't believe me. "You had this glazed look in your eyes," he said. "It was as if you were having a vision or something mystical happening to you."

Maybe it was a vision...

I shrugged and grimaced. "I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "All I know is that I have a headache."

Liam's frown deepened, and I knew that he wouldn't push me further because he knew that I wouldn't tell him anything. "Who is Richard?" he asked, changing the subject instead.

I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know," I replied honestly. "All I know is that he is the one that this belongs to." I held the book a bit higher, and he looked at that before he looked at me.

Liam slowly nodded. "Is it by Richard Lionheart?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes but smiled.

"Very funny," I said dryly and earned a grin from him. "I don't think it is written by him, but I thi-" I stopped talking when I felt this weird feeling that surrounded us arms tightened around my heart. I grew tense and looked around, trying to spy the reason why I had stopped talking.

Liam didn't say a word about me trailing off, and it was odd because I knew that he wanted to hear what I had to say.

"We should really get back to the group," I said, still looking around. "I don't like this, Liam."

There was no response.

"Liam?" I asked and looked at him to see that he was staring over my shoulder at something with a glazed look in his eyes.

Quickly, I turned around and bit back a startled scream when I saw what he was looking at.

Fear dug its claws into my heart, sending it up to my throat because those eyes were the same ones that I had seen before, right before the crash that had killed my mother.

They found me...

The red eyes were a part of a solid cloud that hovered over the ground. The beast smiled when it saw me looking at it, its teeth dripping what looked like blood.

The thing started to move closer and closer to us, and I was rooted in the same spot with no chance of escape.

Run! something exclaimed and broke the trance that had fallen on me.

I didn't reply and closed the book. "We have to go, now," I said and grabbed Liam's hand. I started to run in the opposite direction and pulled the tranced Liam after me.

My whole body screamed danger when I heard that annoyed hiss, and I knew that I was in some deep shit if I was caught or cornered.

"Reino," I said, mimicking what Adrian said to call Inen to me. I prayed that it would be able to divert this thing's attention away from me so that I could get Liam to some place safe.

Nothing.

I huffed. "Reino," I said again, praying that I was doing it right. Silently, I was begging for Inen to come, praying that it would help and not leave us to the mercy of this creature.

However, again, nothing.

Shit... I thought. Adrian? I asked, unblocking my thoughts from him. Adrian, are you there?

Silence. It didn't work.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I ran as fast as I could away from the thing and tried to find a way to get someone to help, but it was as if the world was frozen besides Liam, the creature, and me.

The thing behind me kept growling and chasing after us, and it tried to do something that caused time to slow down, but it didn't work for some reason. The thing growled again, and I bit my lip to keep myself from screaming.

I turned a corner and ended up in a back corner with no way to escape. I twisted around and pulled Liam behind me, not knowing what to do now.

The creature grinned and came at us at a slow and steady pace, the grin turning into a sneer.

It knew that we were caught and that there was no way for us to escape without going through it, and even I knew that it wouldn't be an option.

Crap... I thought, panicking because I could not find a way out of this situation. We're so dead, and no one will hear us scream.