Praised By Magic: Unbreakable Series, Book 3

Chapter 2

Kris

Tyler gathers everyone around the fire. My mom and brother, Alex included. Sarah and Vi take their seats on each side of me. I smile at them. I feel the support of each person in the circle. Alex, Mom, Vi, Sarah, Neimiah, Beau, Kyle, and the ten other members I have yet to learn the names of. All of them intensely waiting for Tyler's direction.

"What's our plan, Ty?" Sarah asks.

"Best I see it. We have to locate the secret agency and destroy their project before it comes about."

"How do we do that?" I ask.

"The element of surprise." Tyler grins. "You are the key to that, Kris."

"Okay Superstar. What do you know?" Beau asks.

I sigh, "Nothing."

Beau starts to speak again, but Tyler raises his hand in front of him. Beau remains quiet.

"How's this going to work?" I shake my head. "I don't know what I'm looking for."

"Listen to your dreams, Kris," my mom interrupts. "They will show you the way."

The pressure inside me continues to build. I keep it together, the best I can. I know I can't keep using my broken heart as an excuse. Tyler must sense my discomfort.

He draws the attention back on himself. "For now, just continue working on your fighting skills. Shifters think about how to get the non-shifters out of trouble if and when needed. Keep training and rehearsing different situations."

The ten members I don't know leave the circle. Sarah and Vi leave after squeezing my shoulder. Kyle offers an unsure smile. My mom and Tyler stand in front of me, but I keep my stare on the ground. I know they want answers, but I simply don't have them. Not yet. My mom kneels in front of me.

She rubs my arm. "It's okay, baby girl."

"Don't," I say, standing up. "I don't want to do this right now." I walk deeper into the woods. I don't want everyone to feel sorry for me, but I can't seem to shake feeling sorry for myself either. I'm glad Tyler didn't follow me. I don't want his help right now. I don't want anyone's help right now.

A ghost-like figure appears ahead of me and stops me in my tracks. Louisa, my deceased grandmother, appears in front of me. Sarah's little girl, Meadow, is by her side. Meadow was born too early and passed away because of it. I try to keep that memory buried deep inside. Her death was not in vain. Because of her, my mother lived. Angela had tortured and left my mom for dead. Tyler went to find my family but my dad, mom and my mom's best friend, who happened to also be my agent and, like a second mom to me, Janet, had passed on. Tyler was able to revive my mother only because of Meadow.

Relief fills my heart to see Meadow living on, even if it isn't in the physical world with us. Some of the weight has been lifted off my shoulders just by seeing her again. In the past, I only saw Louisa in my dreams. She has visited me often that way. My grandmother has been my guide through all of this. She is the one who showed me the way to understanding my past and who I truly am. I'm no longer a famous actress, but something much more. I am a Gypsy Princess.

"Life is pain, my dear girl," Louisa says.

"They want to know where the government agency is hiding," I say, knowing she already knows what I was going to ask.

"You'll find out soon enough." A tear falls down her cheek. "Hope and love are the keys." Their ghost-like figures diminish just as quickly as they had appeared.

I run towards them. "Wait! I need your help!" It's no use. They're gone. I go even deeper into the woods. The smell of smoke is gone. I should turn around, but my feet carry me forward. Love is the ultimate healer. The words I read from Tyler's grandfather fill my head. Hope and love are the keys. Louisa's words filter in my head as well. Both messages must have an underlying meaning, but at the moment, I don't know what it could be. I keep my pace and continue deeper into the woods.

A clearing appears and I find myself lost. The meadow is lined with fragrant wildflowers. I feel my breathing increase and my body shakes uncontrollably as panic sets in. I try to focus on the beautiful view and the smell of the flowers to calm myself. It doesn't work. Instead, my fight response moves throughout my body. I've learned enough at Arrowhead to sense when something is wrong. I know there is danger near, even if I can't see it yet.

"Miss Goodman. Would you please come with us?" Two men dressed in black inch closer to me from each side.

"NO!" I yell.

The lanky man grabs ahold of my wrist. I find the weak spot where his fingers and thumb meet and pull my arm free, just as Tyler had taught me. I start to run back in the direction I came, but a blow to my temple stops me. I squint, trying to clear my blurry vision.

"Orders are orders. You're coming with us." I'm put in the all too familiar cuffs of Angela's. The cuffs are designed to cut into you more every time you struggle against them. I've sported them before when I was at headquarters. I refrain from lashing out because I would like to keep my hands.

I wonder if Tyler will know something's happened to me. I shouldn't have ventured so far away. I'm such an idiot.

The men lead me into the middle of the meadow. My heart races. I want so badly to fight. The cuffs on my hands make it impossible without potentially killing myself. They're doing their job of eliminating me as a threat. The wind blows from above and a silver hovercraft appears overhead. A basket lowers from it and the man's force me in to it. I think about jumping, but I know I'd most likely die. A part of me is okay with that, but the other doesn't want the loved ones I have left to feel more pain.

Once inside the hovercraft, sharp pain from a needle pricks my arm. I jump back and try to focus my eyes on the person who did it. I try to fight the looming sleep. My vision blurs as the worlds seems to be spinning around me. I squint my eyes to focus on the face before me. The last thing I see is Angela's evil, toothy smile.