echo [completed]

chapter 17

kyle wanted to break down, to thrash the whole place into nothing but dust.

"listen to me, kyle!" he paused his flailing emotions. "stop overthinking and listen to me." after a few deep breaths he nodded.

"isaac and me can sniff this letter. sniff it until we get a scent of someone." cora said calmly. "but now you have to rest. isaac said the thing you did back there drained you." he nodded defeatedly at her and headed back to the cabin.

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cora sat next to isaac, letter clutched in her hands, and looked over him.

"you don't look well."

"thanks for your kind input, cora."

"i didn't mean to insult you, but really. looking at the hollows on your cheeks makes me think that they starved you for a couple of days."

isaac sighed and nodded.

"they only started bringing in 'food' when kyle came inside."

cora stood up to grab her hunting kit.

"where are you going?"

"going to find us lunch."

"i'll go with you."

"and leave kyle here all by himself?" she asked him harshly. "i don't think so."

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the trees towered over his head - leaves draped in black paint - and the birds sitting there didn't seem alive to him.

kyle wandered deeper down the forest, trying to find some sort of magical escape pod of the labryinth he's in.

"hello?" he called out.

obviously nothing responded, not even the harsh winds that started biting his suddenly clammy skin.

"kyle..." a voice whispered in his ear and he whipped around only to find empty space.

"zoe?"

"kyle!" she screamed his name with such pain and it stabbed kyle on his chest.

the ground he was standing on began to shake, tilting from one side to the other.

directly opposite of him, a woman wearing a long, black dress stood.

"where the hell is she?"

eventhough the lack of lighting in the forest overshadows the rest of her face, kyle was able to see her smirk at him - mocking him for his desperation.

"why won't you show yourself?" then kyle chuckled, delivering confusion to the mystical lady. "you're a coward. you can't even face me. are you scared that i might recognize you and know your weaknesses?" he began laughing again, but then the lady raised her arm, choking kyle from a hundred feet away.

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"kyle. kyle! wake up!"

he rose up from the bed - forehead dripping with sweat - and gasped for air.

"i saw her." kyle struggled to say. "she has - she has zoe."

isaac was the only one inside the room and was about to ask where cora was when she came running inside the room.

"i'll go get him water." isaac offered and left cora alone with kyle.

"what happened?" cora helped him sit up and lean against the bedpost.

isaac came back with the wooden cup filled with purified water and handed it carefully to kyle.

once the water was chugged down and ran through kyle's dry throat, he thanked isaac for the water.

"the lady - the one wearing a black dress. i saw her."

"what does she look like? is she someone that have bad intentions to your wife?"

"no - i..i didn't get to see her face, but i think i've seen enough smirks from a certain person to know who it was. and no, zoe doesn't have any tension between her and other people." his eyes widened in realization. "except for that one - oh my god."

kyle began to cry.

"she hates her so much. i remember how she didn't want to bring zoe back to life-"

"wait, witches can bring people back to life?"

cora's attention snapped on isaac and he apologized.

"you were saying?" cora asked.

"madison. she - the day after i was thrown inside rehab she visited me, probably making sure i was inside for a good amount of time to do whatever pleases her with zoe."

"this...madison...do you know what she looks like?"

"how can i forget someone i hate?"

"good point." isaac mentioned and earned himself another look from cora.

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A/N: less than a week to go before Reign starts up again!! :)

01/02/2016

- lani