Feral Den

Chapter 31

She was there again.
Moving in circles along long corridors filled with thick black bricks and white linings. The hall was surgically clean, not a speck of dirt on any layer as Hailee walked.
Her head spinning.

She moved erratically, body twisting and turning as heavy footfalls came from behind her. The sound echoing as Hailee's body turned.
She stared at the corridors, twisting and turning.

The door so long and dark. A slender, pale hand with long nimble fingers reached above Hailee.
The bite of the cold metal scratched into that hand before the knob was twisted.

Hailee stared, her torso twisting and turning as she moved into the long, dark and dusty room. Ancient magic suffocated Hailee.
Twinkling orbs shining from above as Hailee moved in closer. The heavy footsteps behind her.
Hailee's throat bobbed as the twinkles glimmered with images she couldn't distinguish. The footfalls came to a halt as they ran through bookshelves upon bookshelves of glimmering orbs.

A hiss came from Hailee's mouth. A staff was pulled into Hailee's view before a wand appeared with the eagle head of Lucius' expensive piece of wood.
Spells of sparking red, green, purple and gold came from the slender wand. But as Lucius went to pick up the orb, a sharp sting of ancient magic filled the air.
The man hissed, pulling his hand back to show blisters and burns.

Another hiss came from Hailee's mouth. Lucius flinched, his hand reached out again.
But his attempt was futile as another spark, but larger came from the orb he so desperately seemed to want. This time fire flamed until it caught onto his robes.
Lucius quickly put the fire out, his movement violent as his other hand with his wand snapped out.
He cried when, this time, his hand was shredded.

"Himalia." A hiss came from her ear.
She flinched, twisting her head.

Suddenly she was somewhere completely different. A cold touch came to her cheek, making Hailee flinch.
Her eyes snapped up, but no one was there. Hailee twisted, looking around the new room.

It was a nursery.
Two cribs were on either side of the wall decorated in black swirls and patterned green snakes.
The rims were glistening with the dancing of the red fire flames in the black stoned mantle.
A warmth like none other washed over Hailee as she stood in the middle. A rocking chair by the fire with a large circular green and silver rug underneath the rocking chair and stretching to both cribs.

Hailee ran her fingertips on the crib nearest her.

"Gah."
She froze at the sound, before looking down into the crib.

A babe lay in it. Swaddled in a robe, a corner bit into the child's mouth. Hailee stared as the babe giggled and ate at its blanket.
Reaching down, Hailee felt the fabric, noticing it was more a robe than a blanket one would use for a small child.

The babe was small, possibly born prematurely with gorgeous porcelain white skin matching that of fresh snow with shocking black orbs.
The babe giggled as Hailee's fingers whispered their way into the swaddle, pulling the robe back enough to see that it was a girl.

Hailee blinked, looking back up at the babes face, but the child was gone. A laugh came from near, and she twisted around.

Her surroundings changed.
The nursery disappeared, instead putting her in a rather open sitting room. 
Windows were wide with black curtains swishing by the blowing breeze. Furniture laid meticulously around the open space.