Storm Sisters

Chapter Eighteen

~1~

Audra

(present time)

Audra lay on her back impatiently, as she watched streams of light catch particles of dust floating overhead. She hadn't been stuck in the cellar long, but was already having flashbacks from her time in the jail cell. But at least then, she had Aura with her to help ease her despair.

Even just thinking about it made her feel as though she could hear Aura's voice, faintly calling for help in the distance. "Wait a minute!" She sat up suddenly, almost smacking her head against the low ceiling of the crawl space.

She wasn't just imaging Aura's voice, she was actually hearing her through the floor beneath her.

Turning over onto her belly, she pressed her ear against the crack in the floorboards, confirming that she actually was hearing Aura's voice.

"Aura!" She called out, with her lips pressed to the space, "Aura, is that you!"

In the basement directly bellow the crawlspace, Aura gripped the bars of her cage, feeling as though Audra's voice from above was sent by the angels, and not a moment too soon.

For in the events preceding her cries for help, she'd watched in horror as the box which had been placed before her and her co-captor, gave birth to a blooming sunflower, although odd in and if itself, that was not the most horrific part.

For after the flower had spread its brilliant yellow pedals, a spider-like creature spewed forth onto the basement floor, and scurried off into the shadows.

Not knowing where the thing had gone or where it was currently hiding, was almost more horrendous then the initial sight of it.

So when she heard Audra's muffled voice through the ceiling, it was like divine intervention.

"Audra!" Aura cried back, "We're down here.. please hurry!"

Although Audra could sense the urgency in Aura's trembling voice, she herself was stuck in a somewhat helpless predicament.

She had no other options but to try and channel her frustrations into her powers again. But that would require some semblance of control over emotions, which for Audra, it might be easier if she just clawed her way through the floor with her fingernails.

Regardless, she had to try; they were all running out of time. Facing the floor with her palms spread-out, she began to focus on her anger as she had done before, channeling it down into the floorboards beneath her.

And with a sudden rush, it came as heat this time, outward from her hands, until the wood beneath was turning black with char and smoking heavily.

The crawlspace wasn't the best location for the smoke, since the small area filled-up quickly causing Audra to choke as a result.

Although her head was swimming now from lack of oxygen, she remained focused on her task, blasting the floor with heat until it began to glow incandescent red as seething embers.

There was no turning back now, either she would breakthrough and find air in the basement level, or she'd die here in this crawlspace from smoke inhalation.

However, It was a third possibility which she hadn't considered that ultimately revealed itself. With all the smoke pouring out from the crawlspace, she had unwittingly drawn the attention of Miss Cuthard, who threw open the door to demand an explanation.