Vita

Chapter Fifteen

My eyes flutter open. I'm staring upwards at the gray clouds. I'm still in Zoe's backyard. It takes me a moment to remember that Ember is gone. Someone took Ember, and it's my fault. I'm ruining everything.

"Eleanor?" I hear a familiar voice come from my right and I turn my head, and find that I have a headache. I squeeze my fists, and take a deep breath.

"Eleanor, what happened?" The voice repeats. It's Levi. He's starting to kneel down beside me, "You're head is bleeding! What are you doing here?"

"Levi..." I whisper.

"It's me. You're going to be okay," he props me up so I'm staring at the back of Zoe's house and the rose bush I fell from.

"Levi," I repeat again, "someone t-took E-Ember and it's-"

"Take it slow," he informs me as my eyes start to droop again.

"I-it's my," I pause taking a breath, "my fault."

"It's okay, Eleanor," he starts to blur as I pass out again.

༺༻

I open my eyes; squinting because of the light shining in through the window. Levi's sitting at the edge of the bed, reading a book. He looks like something's bothering him, but I don't know what.

"Levi?" I mumble under my breath.

"You're awake," he turns his head towards me.

"Ember..." I whisper, "we need to find her."

"We're not going to look for her until you feel better," he says firmly.

"What if they kill her! Zoe's going to kill her!"

"Why would Zoe want to kill her?" Levi asks me.

"Because she's The Black Angel! Who else would've taken her at Zoe's house? And Avery! Avery screamed through the walky-talky making me fall backwards and hitting my head," I continue.

"We aren't going to, Eleanor," he states again, "when I found you passed out you were bleeding badly. I don't want to loose you!"

"Levi," I close my eyes, "Ember's my best friend. I can't loose her because of me. I won't be able to live with myself."

He looks away from me. I can see that he's thinking about it. I hope he's thinking about it.

"You're going to sleep here tonight. Tell your aunt any lie you want. I'm not letting you out of my eye-"

I interrupt him, "Levi, please!"

"You didn't let me finish," he smirks, "and tomorrow we'll look for Ember, okay?"

"Thank you," I smile, "thank you so much."

"Anything for my princess," he leans over and kisses my forehead. I close my eyes, trying not to cry. Because while he loves me dearly, I cheated on him with Isaiah, and I'm going to have to live with that, and he can't find out. I have to keep that kiss from him. I don't want to loose him. I don't want to loose the love of my life.