Another Lost Soul

Chapter 20

Piercing yellow eyes lined with black leapt through my head in the night. They're tired, sharp like knives but dull in emotion. "I'm sorry."

Whispers of a man echoed in my chest, leaping up my throat and swallowing me from the inside out. "Please. I'm sorry."

I opened my eyes to the dark bedroom. Small blue bursts of smoke drifted between my fingers. They pulled me to my feet and toward the bathroom mirror. Small voices bounced off of my eardrums, those same yellow eyes appearing in the mirror before me. A gloved hand reaches out to me, but my thoughts are interrupted before I can grab it.

"Amir!" The illusions disappear. Atticus peered into the bathroom. "What're you doing?"

My eyes met his, colors bursting from his fingers and drawing me toward him. "This place is messing with my head."

"You're a lost soul, right?"

"Yeah." I kept my eyes to the floor, my visions fading quickly. "Why?"

"I want to show you something." He grabbed my hand and snuck me out of the house, luring me into the woods. Our only source of light was a small flame resting in his palm, but he seemed to know his way without it.

"Where are we going?"

"Watch your step." He lifted a hatch off to the side of the trail, motioning for me to climb inside before him. "Go on. It's safe."

I carefully climbed down for what seemed like ten minutes. After my feet hit the ground, I found myself in a large cave system lit with small blue wisps of light. I could hear rushing water, dark markings covering the cave walls.

Atticus climbed down after me and glanced around. "This place leads all the way out to the pier. Half of the system is underwater and it's easy to get lost in. A lot of people have died here."

"How did you find it?"

"That hatch was left open and I could hear someone calling for help inside."

"Did you find them?"

"Yes. Follow me." He moved further into the cave, reaching a large pool of water that only led out into narrow tunnels. The pool itself was lit up from the bottom. I couldn't tell what was causing the light.

I bent down to the water. "It's beautiful here."

"Don't touch the water." He quickly pulled me to my feet and forced me to take a step back. "Since this leads out to the ocean and it's conveniently hidden..." he grabbed a small pebble from the ground and tossed it into the water. Immediately, four of the same fish-like creatures darted to it, all of them speeding away quickly. "You were dragged down into these tunnels when you died. They tore you to shreds. Jalaiah swam through here to find your body. He had to find every piece in order to bring you back to life and it took a long time. By the time he found them all, you'd become a skeleton."

"So this is where I died?"

"Yep."

A woman with wavy brown hair swam to the surface of the water, resting her chin at my feet and grabbing both of my ankles. Atticus held onto my arm as she stared intently at me.

I bent down to her, earning one of her delicate palms on the side of my neck. She traced her fingers over my jawline before back down my neck.

"Where have I seen such a man?" A soft voice slides from her lips, skin sparkling like snow. Her clueless blue eyes pierce my thoughts, every movement captivating.

I gently push her hands off of me. "This place reeks of suffering. Why?"

When she heard those words, her shoulders sunk. She placed both hands on the floor and lifted her torso out of water to meet me eye to eye. "Because you suffered, of course."

"That's quite enough." Atticus quickly pulled me back, leaving her to frown and slink back down into the water. "You know better than to get too close."

She eyed him from beneath the water, her eyes emitting a menacingly magnetic glow as she listened to our conversation. "Why did you show me this place?"

"It's a nice relaxing spot away from the magic that swarms over our town. It's a weight of your shoulders."

"Why does it feel like that?"

"The land was cursed with lust. Lots of us have our own stories and reasons why we think it's that way, but none of them are true."

"What were you doing in my dream?" I recognized his eyes easily in this light. With the reflections of light beneath the water bouncing off of the cave walls, I found them stuck in my mind.

"Excuse me?"

"You were trying to tell me something. What is it that you're trying to tell me?"

"It's a warning." The woman's heavy Russian-like accent slithered across the water's surface. "You must flee."

"I can't visit you in your dreams by my own free will." Atticus sighed. "Only Alenor can do things as advanced as that."

"Do not ignore me!" Her voice curdled my blood, screeching through the tunnels as a flaming growl. I turned to her, seeing only her eyes above the edge of rock, arms pulling at the ragged ground, leaving scratch marks etched into it. "Take my warnings lightly and you shall be damned. You shall be left to rot like once before."

"What was I warned of?"

"A warning in this place could mean many things." Atticus took a deep breath and tried to think amidst the sounds of rushing water. "Why would they warn you about me?"

"You do not see it?" The woman's facial expression changed. It seems as if her heart leaped forward, her voice falling to a beautiful tone as she stared at him.

"See what?" He asked carefully, stepping closer as she lures him with her voice.

"Amir has escaped the hands of an evil man, thanks to you. What makes you think that man doesn't know who stole his property?"

"I'm confused-"

"It's not Amir that our king is after. It's you." She wrapped her hands around his ankles and lifted herself up to his knees. Her eyes traveled up to his face, sharp fingernails avoiding his skin. "You snuck in, helped him escape. Do you believe he is unaware of that?"

"But I wasn't seen."

"Atticus!" I hear a faint voice scream from deep in the cave.

She smiles to me. "You were not the only one to receive a warning tonight, I see."

"It's Morla." Atticus pulled his feet from her and brushed off his clothes. "We need to head back."