When Embers Grow

Chapter Four: Darkness

Edited.
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"Alex?!"

Ivy watched as her best friend looked up at her sleepily, the drug from the injection still running through his veins no doubt.

"Wait, you know him?" Asked the man, his blonde hair spiking up at the front.

"Of course! He's my best friend!" Ivy exclaimed, eyes wide.

The man looked utterly bewildered.

"We thought that he was tailing you so that he could kidnap you and take you back to people who want you dead!" He explained and Ivy gave him a pointed look.

"You haven't exactly been the nicest hosts yourselves. Oh, and how does this make you any different from them? You kidnapped me! Not them! And who even are 'they'?" He sighed, looking exasperated at her bombardment of questions.

"I honestly don't know, I just take orders. Your friend here put up a fight, like you, didn't last as long though." Shameful understanding coursed through Ivy.

"That's why there were only three of you when you kidnapped me." He nodded and stood, about to walk out.

"Oh, I never told you my name, it's Irian."

He walked out of the door without a backwards glance. Ivy pulled at the ropes that held her arms the chair and hissed between her teeth; the ropes rubbed against her bare wrists mercilessly.

"Ivy..." Ivy turned to Alex, he was murmuring her name in a sleepy daze. She gritted her teeth and shoved her chair as hard as she could, to no avail.

"The chairs bolted? Seriously?" She moaned and turned her head to look at Alex.

He looked more awake now, looking about himself in confusion.

"Where are we? Why are you tied up? Why am I- Oh.." He trailed off. She nodded grimly.

"We need to get out of this place." And then it was his turn to nod.

"But how?" Ivy went through her brain, trying to think of a plan that wouldn't get them killed.

"Well," She paused, biting on her lip. "They say that those people want to kill me, and I overheard two of them arguing over whether to keep me here or send me to those lunatics." Ivy assumed the silence was Alex pondering over what she was getting to.

"You want to gain their trust... Ivy that's not-"

"That's only plan B, Alex. First, we try to escape and if that doesn't work then we do the trust thing. Unless you have any other ideas?" She heard Alex shuffle and then groan.

"So, if running doesn't work, we have to make them like us?" Ivy turned her head towards Alex and shot him a toothy grin.

"Maybe you'll meet someone-"

"Seriously? Ivy we might be dead soon." If Ivy hadn't been chained up she would have batted it away with a hand.

"Just because we're prisoners doesn't mean we can't have a little fun."

Alex was about to retort back when someone slammed the door loudly. The Black haired man with giant muscles stormed over to Ivy.

"You should be dead right now! You should be under the ground right now!" Ivy blinked and then plastered on a grin.

"Nice to meet you to, the names Ivy, wait you already knew that -manners eh? I would shake your hand but, y'know." She glanced down at her tied up hands, making a face. The man froze, making Ivy frown, what had she done wrong? Her charm was impeccable! Wasn't it?

"Oh, um... I'm Vorheii." She held back a burst of laughter and instead watched him in amusement, a smile playing about her lips.

"So, what were you saying?" He shuffled, looking uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Oh, just... I thought that you were... A batty... or something." He looked down at his shoes in shame.

How odd, Ivy thought, a huge man like him darting his eyes this way and that, bet he's a big old teddy bear once you get passed that anger. She repressed another snigger and settled in her chair as if she were perfectly at home.

"So, are you going to just leave me and my friend here forever? How on earth will I eat? Oh my." She thought of a life without food and made a face, how pointless. Vorheii looked like his shame was increasing, which just made it harder for her not to burst into a fit of laughter.

"Oh, my family's just going to ask a few questions is all."

Ivy's relaxed features changed in an instant. My family, her gut twisted and she felt the blood draining all the colour from her face. Her mother's face swam into her mind, her little cousins with their little wooden toys littering the floor. The cold emptiness that she had felt when her aunt lay in her arms and died, that last sputter of blood that had sprayed her young face and stayed with her for eight years straight.

One would think that she had been through grief, that she had accepted her families death and moved on. However, for eight years she had buried her grief until it was as small as a pebble in her stomach. It felt like it was choking her, slowly crawling up her throat.

Ivy realised that Vorheii had spoken to her.
"Oh, sorry?" She swallowed down bile, her families faces vanishing as she was brought back to her senses.

"I asked if you were okay." She looked up at him with wild eyes, making his expression turn serious. Ivy nodded and looked around her. In times like these she needed to find an object to ground her, so that she could stay in control. She held on to the chair until her fingers turned white.

"Ah! Daniel, back from some adventure I bet!" She watched Vorheii hug his family one by one. Her eyes went over Daniel, he wore clothes similar to her own but without the cloak. He had large blue eyes and white hair... Wait, white? She looked at him closely, he wasn't old enough to be grey! His hair was a natural white colour. Curiosity took ahold of her and she had to dig her nails into the chair to keep from asking him why his hair was so white.

He combed his hand through his hair, making it stick up this way and that. She stared at him and then blinked, realising that he was staring back. She turned away abruptly, frowning, what was that?

"Right. Question time!" Exclaimed Irian enthusiastically.

Great.

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Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I hope any Skyrim nerds noticed a little line I put in;) I know what you're thinking but chill. If you really did enjoy this then drop a vote and comment! It would mean the world to me! I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to EmiyukiLawliet for introducing me to Wattpad and my best friend maymaymarz for being there for me when I need her most. Lastly I'd like to thank ELatimer for inspiring me to write confidently. I know this is meant to go last but I thought I'd write it here. Anyway, carry on doing your thing and stay tuned for the next chapter in which Ivy gets some light shed on Daniel and his white hair and some more interesting things happen.

Adios💚

Lörna xoxo