In the Deep *Book Two* Water Trilogy

Three

~Audrey's P.O.V~

As soon as I had gotten through the front door and closed it behind me, I went straight to my room, collapsed on my bed, and cried. I didn't want Finn to see me; I didn't want him to know the thoughts that were going on inside my mind. What I needed was for him to be the thing that never changed and I knew that wouldn't happen if he knew the truth.Nahla was supposed to be dead, after all, because I had killed her with my own hands.

But she was alive and she planned to destroy me.

I took out the crumpled up paper she had handed me while I had been in the locker room and opened it. Inside was a drawing of a shredded heart with my name written on it. I crumpled it back up and screamed in frustration as I threw it across the room. She was toying with me. No one heard me, I was alone. Alone. It was a word I was going to finally understand. Nahla's voice spoke in my mind.

"I know who you love. Your family, your friends... Finn." She laughed. "Too bad you're not going to show it to them anymore, unless you want them dead that is."

That shredded heart might of had my name on it but it also symbolized all the others I was going to have to break. The thought of it killed me.

Tears streamed down my cheeks and I laid down, praying that sleep would save me.

I stood in the center of the school hallway. The blue of the lockers stood out against the white brick walls. A release bell rang but not a single student exited a class. It was cold like the school had turned into an ice box. Confusion over came me.

Looking around I saw a clock, flashing it red numbers angrily like the power had gone out; it read twelve. There wasn't any windows to tell if it was dark or light.

"Looking for this?" Nahla's voice echoed. I turned to see her holding Finn by his black hair. HIs body was limp and his clothes were torn. Nahla lifted him up and smiled, making me feel sick, before biting into his neck and ripping out a chunk of flesh. Blood spilled from the wound, down the hall, covering every inch of the floor, and filing it the hall up to my  ankles.

Nahla threw back her head and screamed with laughter. Finn's blood poured out of her mouth, drenching her clothing with red.

I screamed and clutch my head, shaking.

"Stop!" My throat felt raw. I had sat up in bed. I looked around my dark room, my heart beating uncontrollably. I had been crying in my sleep. The clock read midnight.

Lifting off my covers, I climbed out of bed, my feet touched the dark cold floor, and I made my way over to the window. I pulled back the white curtains to reveal the view of the ocean and the moon reflecting brightly off the surface of the calm water. As badly as I wanted to walk out to the dock and breathe in the salty air, I knew I couldn't. I was afraid. Everything would be a risk. Nahla wouldn't stop, not until she destroyed me.

The next morning I woke up to a blaring of my radio on the alarm clock. I groaned and smacked at it until it shut off before flopping back face first into my pillow. My life was turning from a dream come true into a nightmare. I loved Finn more than anything in the world but Nahla was going to be the death of me.

I got up and put on a pair of light jeans and a mint frilly top. I remembered to pack gym clothes and shoes. When I didn't hear Connor bustling about I went to go check on him.

"Connor?" I knocked on his door. When he didn't answer I opened it slowly. "Connor, are you up?"

My mouth gaped open as I took in the scene of his bedroom. Above the head board of his bed, in dripping red paint on his light grey walls, were the threatening words Tick Tock. I covered my mouth, silencing the scream that wanted to explode in the silence. My little brothers window was forced open, tilting slightly on its track. Other than that nothing had been touched. My brother was splayed in on top of his bed and the blankets were falling off the edge so that you could see he didn't have a shirt on and he had decided to sleep in his red boxers.

"Oh my god, Connor!" I yelled. He jumped. When he saw his boxers were showing he pulled up his dark grey and blue stripped comforter around him.

"God Audrey!: He shouted. His blonde hair was sticking up everywhere. "If my alarm didn't go off you didn't have to scare me!"

"If I scared you than you're really going to lose it when you open your eyes and look around," I said softly.

"What?" He looked over to his window and his eyes widened in horror. "I didn't leave that open. It was locked..."

"I don't think you slept walk to the store, bought red paint, and painted on your wall either."

He looked up at the message someone had left. Connor jumped out of bed, away from the words.

"What the hell!" He shouted at it like it was going to tell him what it was doing there.

"You stole the words out of my mouth."

"What are we supposed to do? Do we call the cops? Is mom home? Should we go get Finn?"

"Can you stop asking so many questions? "I snapped. Normally Connor was one of my favorite people in the whole world but I was just as on edge just as much as he was. I didn't have the answers and I didn't know what to do.

"What-"

"Let's not tell anyone," I said forcefully.

"Why?"

"Because I said so!" I roared. When I saw his hurt expression I cleared my throat and calmed myself down. "I'm sorry."

"Do you know who did this?" He asked. As much as I admired his intelligence I was starting to wish he was as dumb our older brother Tyler. I shook my head and tried to lie. Connor could tell I wasn't telling the truth but he chose to play along. "Fine, I won't tell anyone."

"Not even Finn?"

"...Not even Finn."

"Thank you," I said, letting out a breath of air I had been holding in as I had waited for his response. "We have some left over paint that we hadn't used when we painted your room in the garage. Mom's working late tonight at the Grill and dad is meeting up with some friends so I'll work on it when we get home."

"I'll fix the window," Connor offered. I gave him a small smile.

"But right now we need to get ready," I pointed at his clock. "It's almost time to leave"

I walked out of his room quickly, not to just to get ready but to also get away from the horror and feelings his room was making me feel. I had chill bumps as I fish tail braided my hair and put on some cover up to hide the bags that had started to form under my eyes. Finn walked up to the red jeep as I was locking my front door.

"Good morning," he said as I walked over to the driver's side. I put on the best fake mask I could manage.

"Good morning."