My Fault

Chapter 20

❄ Chapter 20 ❄

N.B. I've chosen to write in third person because switching between Zelia and Aether is very irritating to read. But the next chapter would be back in Zelia's perspective.

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Zelia was floating in midair, stuck in between a door of light and a door of darkness, but never near either of them. It was neither cold nor hot and time meant absolutely nothing in here.

Her eyes swerved to the doors, one behind her and one in front. Obviously, the light one led to some afterlife whereas the dark one was reality. As she try to make my way to the dark door, she paused. Wait, what if it's the other way around?

Either way, Zelia can't move. It was really boring to say the least, and time seemed to move slowly. Or was it going really fast?

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The group stealthily approached the building Zekia had texted to Bonnie. When Mr. Burningham made the signal, Cavean and Bonnie raced ahead to take care of the guards up front. Once the coast was cleared, everyone else hustled to the entrance. Cavean roughly pulled Aether back.

"You are not to use your powers to attack."

Aether growled and shot a glare at his friend.

"Look, we all know what you'd do if you could use your power and we don't want you to die just as she is saved. If you know what's right for you and her, you'll listen to me. Otherwise, we'll send you back home." A few moments passed before Aether let the information sink in.

"Fine," he grumbled and Cavean let him go, satisfied. They went in and caught up to where the rest of the group were.

The interior was poorly lit and there were dark corners everywhere. Following the plan, Veronica and Diane took position facing these corners while sandwiching the group in the middle.

As they passed, Aether spotted swarms of bottles lining up the table. Most of them were empty but there seemed to be red stains on the inside of the glass. He didn't need to look at the few full bottles to know what had been inside. And thinking about it, he felt his own blood boil. When he felt his hands energizing, he quickly tried to calm himself down before he could do anything rash.

He cleared his mind and went into position, at one of the dark corners of the room as did everyone else except for Ms. Lee. As planned, she walked in the middle of the room and as Aether squinted, she was going towards a shadow of a figure standing in front of something he couldn't make out.

"Daniel," she called out. The figure turned. Aether took the signal to creep forward. Just in case.

"Lee," Daniel responded, opening his arms as if to welcome her. "Long time no see, yes? How's my favorite sister doing?"

"I'm afraid to call you my brother. After what you did to your wife and your daughter." Ms. Lee retorted. Sensing some change in atmosphere, Aether went closer up to a point where he was only a few feet away from the two. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw that the others had done the same. But even this close up, Aether couldn't make tell of what was behind Daniel.

"Which one?" Daniel asked, voice echoing in the empty room. "I've treated my daughter with nothing but love and compassion."

Ms. Lee shifted on her foot, indicating that she as well as everyone knew that he was lying. "What did you do to Zelia?"

Daniel's lips curved up, mouth opened wide to show his teeth. "Why don't you all see for yourselves!" In a flurry of a motion, he struck lightning and the room was bright. Those who had been hiding were caught.