The Trinity War (Book 3 of the Trinity series)

Chapter 20

When I awoke again, the only thing I could feel was pain. There was pain in my legs from walking for so long and from riding on that blasted camel. There was pain in my head from constantly being in the heat and from having collided with several solid objects. There was pain in my soul from the exertion of magic I had used in the past few days. But the worst pain of all was that from my abdomen, from where Anokhan's fire-energy ball had struck me.

I groaned and tried to move, but realized I couldn't. Looking around groggily, I found that my arms were held up by some heavy, rusty iron chains. My head had been hanging in an awkward position, my chin resting on my chest. My neck felt stiff and sore. I tried to pull on the chains, but they wouldn't budge. I felt so drained of energy that I couldn't even use magic to get out even if I tried. Sighing in defeat, I let my head drop back down onto my chest.

At that moment, I felt a great sadness fall over me. I felt as if I had failed. I had failed my ancestors, Mikael, my mother, and worst of all, I had failed Trey. How would I get out of this Fire Nation alive? Anokhan, Ahamet and the others seemed pretty intent on killing me for what my ancestors had done to their people in the past. But it wasn't my fault, was it? I hadn't even known about magic until three years ago. I didn't even know about the ancient wars between the nations until recently. So why was I being punished for what my ancestors did?

A few tears leaked out from the corners of my eyes as I realized that during my whole life I had been punished because of what my ancestors had done. Because the first water master had been selfish and power-hungry, my people--my kind--had suffered; I was still suffering. And it wasn't fair.

I felt a kick at my legs and looked up.

"Gerr?" I croaked, seeing my accomplice chained on the far wall adjacent to me and looking dreadfully pale.

"Are you crying?" he asked. I sniffled and wished that I could brush the tears away. There was no lying to him when the evidence was trailing down my dirty cheeks.

"I want to give up," I said, feeling ashamed as I spoke the words.

"Caley, we're going to get out of this," Gerrard assured me. I jiggled the chains that held my arms above my head.

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," I said.

"Think about who you're doing all of this for," he said.

"I am and that's exactly why I'm crying," I replied. "Because it was all a hopeless dream."

"Look, we did not come all this way just to give up. We're going to finish what we started. You're going to find the counter and we're going to save you from your curse," Gerrard said. His voice was hoarse and angry. I could tell he was upset with the sudden change in my mood. I hated it when Gerrard was upset with me.

"They're going to kill us," I said.

"We're strong enough to fight them," he replied. I shook my head and then I realized something.

My necklace was gone.

It wasn't resting on my sternum like it always was. They had probably taken it. It was no wonder that I felt so incredibly weak and vulnerable. The water stone--the one thing that provided me with comfort when I wasn't with Trey--was gone.

I felt my eyes well up with tears again.

"Aww, what the hell is wrong with you, Caley?" Gerrard hissed at me.

"It's gone! My necklace! It's gone!" I choked out, feeling the tears stream down my cheeks.

"It was just a necklace! Calm down!" he exclaimed. I shook my head.