No Longer Trapped

THE SUMMER CAMP

Camp Hugh was closed for the season, saving Drew and I from running into anyone we didn't want to see. That was where the good luck ended, however. We had decided to camp in the woods that night, all of us sprawled through the trees to keep an eye out for any sign of Liam or Faith.

The vampyres and P.L.E.A. were all sleeping through the day, save for me. I couldn't sit still, a feeling of restlessness and anxiety had me in an absolute chokehold.

I still had to decide what to do about Josh, and my time was running out. He had set his sleeping area up right by mine, which didn't aid in my inability to sleep. I was pacing the woods when Landon caught up with me, concern evident on his face.

"Roya, what's up?" He asked, falling into step beside me. "I thought you were going to sleep until night, with your team."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep." I shrugged. "Nerves, I guess."

"Worried about finding your soulbound?" He asked playfully. I glanced at him in surprise, how did he know?

"I've noticed the wolf trying to stay close to you, and you running away from him. What's up?" He asked again.

"Dad visited me, a couple weeks ago." I sighed. "Well, more like he pulled me to visit him."

"What did he want?" The concern was gone from his voice, replaced instead with a seriousness I had rarely seen from Landon.

"To offer me a deal. If I stopped the war and helped him take over Midworld, he'd let me have my soulbound. Continue to fight against him, and he'd kill them the moment he found them." I felt tears burning the backs of my eyes, from a combination of guilt and fear.

"Oh, shit." Landon muttered.

"He said he was going to stop all of you from being with your soulbounds, Landon. He said Emmelia wasn't on his side anymore, she was on Archer's. Archer wouldn't make her follow him again, so he had him killed a second time." I was full-out crying now, something I hated to do. Like that day at my dad's house, I just couldn't stop.

"Angelica... is she in danger here?" Landon was on the verge of panicking, but like the soldier he was he remained logical in the face of his terror.

"She's in less danger here with all of us than she would be anywhere else, you know that." I was thinking and talking at the same time, and ideas had begun to form in my head the more I looked into Landon's eyes.

"So what do we do?" He asked.

"Okay, so we need to keep Liam from finding out who my or your soulbounds are. Angelica can fight with the vampyres, taking out the rogues while we fight our siblings." I stopped walking, mapping out the battle in my mind.

"Do we tell her the truth? She's going to want to fight with me." Landon asked.

"Tell her, yeah. Ask her not to tell Josh though, okay? I don't want him to do something stupid, like try to take Liam out on his own. We need him to help fight the rogues and Dark Ones." I didn't think before speaking, and Landon grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Why would Josh do something stupid?" He asked.

"Other than his general stupidity? I overheard him tell Erin that I'm his soulbound." My voice broke at the last word, and the tears that had stopped during my battle plan had returned with a vengeance.

Landon wrapped his arms around me in a hug, rubbing small circles on my back. "That's why you've been avoiding him?" He asked gently.

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a sob so I just nodded to confirm what he said. Landon held me there in the woods, waiting for my tears to stop, for who knows how long. Once I was all out of tears and energy, the sun had begun to set and I felt a bit better about the whole situation.