The Legacy

Chapter 4

Normally, when some dude is trying to kill you, there's not this playful, happy-go-lucky glint in his eye. Normally, there's a dead grin on his face, a glint in his eyes that's cruel, somewhat enjoying and savoring the moment. Normally, the guy doesn't chuckle like it was all some big joke, and I wasn't in on it.

Normally, when some random non-police officer is attempting to strangle you to death, he doesn't release you immediately afterward, a large grin on his face.

"Whoops there, I missed!" he chuckled, like it was some minor misunderstanding. His voice had a musical ring to it, high pitched and bouncy, like a child. He released his grip on my throat, clapping his hands together and winking.

This dude is nuts, I thought, staring at him with my jaw open. Heck, everything in my life is nuts...

The man was fairly short, only a couple inches taller than myself. His skin was dark, a rich coffee color. He had crinkles around his eyes, which made me doubt I had even seen a sliver of cruelness in his warm, happy eyes. He had a large nose, somewhat comical, that matched the rest of his features; warm chocolate eyes, wide smile and bushy eyebrows. He looked to be about fifty or so, maybe sixty. An old man.

He leaned in close to my ear, his leathery lips brushing against my hair. "I was aimin' for yah shoulda." He retreated and winked at me.

I didn't exactly know what was going on, but one thing I knew for sure: I was not going to stick around long enough to find out. I had hardly lifted my foot to ditch this guy when a large hand gripped my shoulder. I yelped like any normal person would and whipped back. Amazingly and irritatingly, the hand remained.

"Soph," Danny's voice had a hard edge, and his gaze was serious as he took my other arm with a strong grip. His wide broad shoulders were tensed. There was dirt smeared on his face, and he gazed at me with those intense emerald eyes. "Stop. Freaking. Out. You knew this was going to happen. It's time to come back. You need to come. With us."

Naturally, my first reaction was that they were trying to kidnap me. For money, or whatever. So, naturally, I retaliated. "Like hell I'm going with you!" I shouted, yanking myself back. Unfortunately, I failed. I could hardly move, he was holding me so tight. And what was this "Soph" business?! Only my mom calls me that. And Jay. I hardly knew this guy, I was pretty sure he was trying to kidnap me, and he was acting like he knew me for some time.

The old man laughed, grinning, his warm eyes twinkling. "Same old Sophie."

I stared at him, brows furrowed. " What are you talking about?" I muttered, half to myself.

He didn't answer, just shook his head while he laughed. He waved his arm at Danny. "Oh, just take 'er. Yah know there's no way she's gonna come by herself." His voice held a strong southern accent. What was he talking about? Take me? Take me where? That does it. These people were sick, disgusting people.

Danny held out his hands, palm up. He grinned a crooked smile. "Sorry, Soph." He had a suspicious glint in his eye, which made me nervous.

Suddenly, the sky rumbled. Great. The rain had started again. The last thing I need to worry about was falling on my face again while trying to escape these weirdos.

Turns out, I should have been worried a whole lot more.

The sky crackled with life and energy, flashes of light dancing across the rolling black clouds. I heard and saw the lightning  strike dangerously close, making me twist around to look. A tree about a hundred meters from where we stood lay there, smoking. It would have almost been comical, had not it come so close.

"What the-" I yelped, jumping back. I could feel the energy in the air, the crisp crackle of electricity tickling the back of my throat. "We should-we should probably get out of--"

Danny laughed in amusement. "You're scared? You've never been scared of my...theatrics before." He grinned.

"What are you talking about?!" I screeched over the thunder. "Can somebody please just TELL. ME. WHAT'S. GOING. ON?!"

Amazingly, Danny laughed. Like my severity amused him. Boy, this guy really had a death wish. I had just opened my mouth to mouth him out, like I usually do, when a bolt of lightning shout out of the sky and crashed down just five yards from where we were standing. I screamed and jumped away, feeling the electricity in the ground burning the soles of my feet. Danny's face turned hard, and he pushed against my back with both his hands towards the black merecedes that was parked in the bus loop.

Paralyzed as I was, I disn't object when he shoved me through the car door and put the seatbelt on. My shoes were burnt, and I could still feel electricity tingling through the soles. I bent over and ripped them off as Danny sat down next to me, yelling something at the other guy, who was in the drivers seat. The engine revved and I felt the car burst forward. I was vaguely aware of Danny shouting at me, a crease in his brow. I looked up at him curiously, wondering what the big deal was. There was something different about him...he seemed to be glowing in a strange light. An aqua, crackling light... His face just looked....pretty. I wanted to reach up and prod his cheek, just to see if he was real.

I remember wondering where the pretty girl was before I went to sleep.

***

Bright eyes.

That's all I remembered.

Well, that and the fact that I'd just been kidnapped by a bunch of crazy strangers who were apparently immune to my sarcastic/clever/witty side. And it wasn't easy for a person to forget almost being struck by lightning while in the process of being kidnapped by a bunch of crazy strangers. 

Other than that, nada. I didn't remember a thing. Things like what I had for breakfast that morning were just completely wiped from my memory, like they had never happened. I didn't remember waking up that day, nor the previous morning. I didn't remember going to school. Only bright eyes, and the sneaking suspicion that I probably wouldn't be able to walk again for the rest of my life thanks to el-lightningo-strikeo. 

Suddenly I heard voices; faint, like they weren't right next to me, but audible all the same. 

"She's got the book....but.....no, that's not going to..." I could only hear faint clippings of their conversations, and none of it made sense to me. Was I that "she"? If so, then what book did I have?

It was at that confusing moment in my life that I decided to open my eyes and find out. 

Believe it or not, but opening your eyes after them being closed for who-knows-how-long can be pretty hard. I had to wipe all the crust away before being able to crack them even a little bit, and when I did a bright yellow light sliced into my vision. I snapped them closed immediately. I tried again, this time holding my hand up to block the harsh light. Slowly, everything came into focus. I was in a light grey room, on a bed. The light hitting my eyes came from an open window with sunlight spilling onto the dark indigo covers on top of me. The room was home-y, with a large desk taking over one side of the wall to the left of me. A large towering bookshelf covered the whole front of the room, with books crammed in every nook and cranny they could find. I squinted and drew my brows together. Where the heck was I?

I sat up from the bed, looking down at myself. I was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, not the ones that I'd been wearing before, and there was a thick pressure around my feet. I drew them up, my mouth open. A thick gauze was covering them; somebody had wrapped them. 

Somebody who probably also changed my clothes as well.

Gritting my teeth, I threw the covers back from my legs and stood. Well, tried to. I collapsed on to the floor at the first step. Even as I was off my feet, there was a stinging and burning feeling running up my legs, like someone had decided to take a match and run it up the length of my calves. I gasped in pain, and little black spots danced in front of my vision.

I gave a little yelp as another wave of pain lanced up to my thighs, and before I could pass out, I heard voices, louder this time, and a pair of feet running up close to my head. Pressure fell under my shoulders, like someone was gripping my arms. I felt the faint sensation of being lifted, light pressure under my head again, something brushing my forehead, soft murmuring words.

Then nothing.