The Wolf Series #3: Between Two Worlds

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It all falls apart.

The world around me shatters—the air ripples and booms like the birth of a storm. Like being caught in a high-speed car accident or tumbling in a hundred-foot wave, everyone is tossed backwards—down to their knees as the ceiling collapses above our heads.

In this moment, my mind knows nothing but rage. Pain feeds that rage, which only weakens any holds I have on the Darkness inside.

"Serani! No!—"

Amelia, yes! She shrieks loudly in my head, but not nearly as deafeningly as my own Darkness.

Sashi's protest are cut off by my own shriek. The sheer amount of force that erupts from my body is so excruciating. My eyes gush blood—my ears too. All I can taste is copper and the bitter taste of Darkness. My fingernails bleed. I no longer know If the blood Is from clenching my palms too harshly or the very blood vessels underneath my nailbed have popped.

I'm disorientated. I'm in pain. And the Darkness consumes us all and numbs me.

Killing them all under the crumbling temple wouldn't have been terrible...it would be welcomed...had it not been for him. I hear his yelp down the hallway where Rowan had taken him moments before.

It Is the only sound that could ever hope to break through the barrier between me and the chaos my outburst creates.

"No!" The arch of the corridor is cracking—it bends and roars as the medieval architecture struggles to withstand the force of power that knocks into it. It loses. I wail as I watch stones and bricks tumble on top of them. "No!"

Shng.

My gut.

The blinding rage ceases, replaced by the oddest...I feel sluggish. My eyes travel down to the source of the pain—a dagger...but it radiates light like a small moon. The hand that slowly lets go of the hilt belongs to Sashi.

"Amelia—my crow, you need you calm down—"

I look down at my hands. Blood...they are coated in a deep shade of red...it looks almost like ink from a red pen. My eyes feel heavy as I blink...these hands...these hands...

I look up and find myself in my parents' room. My Mama's eyes shut, as if she were asleep...her body a deathly paled. My father's arm wrapped around her waist. Blood—they're covered in blood. It's on my hands. No. No. No!

"Mellie."

My head turns despite my mind screaming—begging—it not to. I don't want to see this! I want to wake up!

"You're not Jace...are you—" Steph reaches for her throat and struggles to remove the invisible hands from her—her eyes bulge...bruises form around her neck. "Sto—Stop—"

She swats and thrashes—I hear the snap of string. Slowly and trembling, I look down at my feet and force my eyes to focus. The toothed necklace.

"Amelia."

When I look up, both Jace and Orion stand in front of me. Next to one another. Their amber eyes almost identical, save for the insanity that plagues Orion's gaze.