Legend of the White Witch {#Wattys2016}

Chapter 23

Alec pulls me through the tunnels as fast as he can, gripping my hand painfully tight. He takes random turns every time a voice is heard nearby until we don't know where we are. We run until neither of us can breathe, but all we've managed to do is become completely lost—we have no idea how to get out of the mountain.

"We're getting nowhere!" I say angrily, stopping in my tracks and pulling my hand out of his. My heart is pounding, but not from running. "We have nowhere to go!"

"We'll find a way out," Alec replies, breathing heavily and raking his fingers through his hair. He reaches for my hand again and I move away from him.

"You were watching us."

Alec's angry expression falters. "Now isn't the time to talk about this."

"Really? Because I think it's a great time to talk about it. Considering your temper just made us enemies of the fire fairies!"

"My temper?" he repeats, stepping toward me. I take a step back but I don't release him from our stare down. His eyes narrow almost into slits. "I told you not to go to the party. I warned you what would happen. You're the one who didn't listen!"

"I had no control over anything I did!" I argue back. My cheeks burn with shame, making me angrier. I don't remember much of the party. I can only hope I didn't do something awful. Maybe it's better if I don't find out. "You said it yourself."

"And after the party, in the hallway? What was that?" Alec shouts. My cheeks burn worse and my eyes drop from his. Hot, angry tears roll down my cheeks.

"That was..." I trail off. I don't know what that was. The bits of the party that I can remember were fun, and Cedric and I were just talking as he escorted me back to my room for the night, and then it all changed.

Alec steps toward me again, but his anger has dissipated. "If I hadn't done something, if I hadn't been there, he might have done something very bad. Something you'd never recover from."

I know that he's right. Cedric was kind to me at first, but that quickly changed. Maybe it was the wine.

My shoulders start to shake. "I still can't control my powers," I whisper. I meet Alec's eyes again. "What are we going to do?"

Alec's lips form words, but no sound comes out. He doesn't know either.

"Let's focus on getting out of here first," he says quietly. He tries a smile and somehow it lifts my spirits, giving me hope that we'll actually make it out of this. "Then we can worry about that."

"Okay." He takes my hand again, not out of panic or necessity this time, and we start to make our way through the tunnels again.

Every time we hear footsteps or voices, we hide in gaps in the walls, having to press close together in the tiny space. In those moments all I could hear was Alec's breathing and the terrifying sound of approaching footsteps, but then our eyes would meet and I would feel okay. In those moments I realized how much I trust him.

*****

We evade capture for a while, but soon the inevitable comes and several of Cedric's men find us before we can hide again. Two of them tie our hands tightly behind our backs with rough pieces of rope while the third points his sword at us, threatening to use it if we attempt an escape. With one look at Alec I know that we wouldn't be able to get away even if we tried. He's so pale, exhausted from not eating and his fight with Cedric. And then there's me, who couldn't conjure a single flame right now even if my life depended on it.