"The Sacrifice:;The Sacrifice Trilogy"[Book 1.]

5. A Place Beyond these Walls

  *** 

 I helped Jake off the ground and he was still gawking at me when he stood up. "How did you do that?" He asked, "I've never seen any soul- or demon for that matter- do that before," he tells me. "So, what you're saying is that I'm a freak?" At that assumption. he shakes his head profusely. "No, what I'm saying is that you're special." He corrects me with a smile that sends tingles down my spine. "Now what? I asked, but he just takes my hand and a blue shimmering portal appears. "Did we..?"

He chuckles. "Yes," he confirmed as we start to walk towards the portal. However, I stop. "Where are we going?" I inquired. "Do you trust me?"

No hesitation. "Yes," I bashfully take his hand in mine."Then, take a leap of faith." And so I did. I jumped into the portal.

* * *

Landing on my ass, I got up and looked around. We were in a cave with horizontal carvings of a beautiful dark-haired woman with tan skin, and cheekbones that I would kill for. She was wearing a beautiful white dress with braids in her hair. The woman was also smiling at whoever was taking the picture. "Who is that?" I asked curiously. He smiles at my evident interest. "That is Carolina, and she created this place. Honestly, she was an amazing woman." The way he talked about her, with an obvious fondness, sent irrational jealousy through me. God, I'm jealous of a dead woman! Someone help me, I'm a damn lovesick fool!

 He laughed a deep throaty laugh that would have wakened a whole neighborhood, but I couldn't care less. It was like music to my ears! "Trust me, there's no competition." He assured me, and my cheeks turned fifty shades of crimson. Crap! I forgot he could read minds. "What are we looking for, exactly?" I inquire, wondering just why he'd brought me here. Much to my chagrin, he just shrugs and clarifies, "She's not so much a what, as she is a person. Just a fair warning: you won't like her at first." 

A bewildered expression crossed my face, and he laughed again. We walked to a golden door just three paces away from where we were standing, and Jake knocked once, twice. Suddenly, a dark-skinned woman with dark hair and green eyes steps out, holding a gun to my head. Instincts kicked in and I grabbed her arm, extending it so far that I heard a loud snap! D-a-a-mn!" Jake exaggerated the word, torn between shock and awe, while the woman writhed in pain. "Who is this girl, anyway? And why did she point a gun at my head?" I demand, but he just laughs harder. Once he calmed down enough to speak, he said: "Savannah Faye, meet Braiden St. Michael."

I looked down at Braiden and then back to Jake. "You're kidding me, right? This bitch is Braiden?!" I asked, astonishment coating my voice. She's wearing a red strapless dress with a pendant that matches her jade eyes, and although she looked like she might have a permanent scowl edged to her face; she is very pretty. Her arm looked broken in multiple places and I couldn't help but let a satisfied smile graze my lips. However, when I looked back at Jake, I saw the disapproving glare that says, "You're better than her," and immediately felt guilty. He started talking in my mind, then. "Sorry about the gun that was pointed at your head, though. Braiden has some...issues." With that statement, he cringes and shakes his head in shame. I wanted to say something snarky such as: "Gee, you think?" However, I said nothing of the sort. Cursing, Braiden got up and brushed herself off, while her seemingly broken arm healed itself before my eyes. "Woah! That was so cool," I said, not even trying to conceal the shock from my voice.

"I know, right? It's something I've always loved about being a Soul," a new voice spoke up, making me wonder where this new man had come from, but then I realized that Braiden's door was ajar. "Hi, I'm Noah Paladino, and you are?" He asked me with a polite smile.  Noah looked to be of Asian descent, wearing faded denim jeans and a black t-shirt. "What are you doing here, Noah? I told you to wait in the room," she says angrily, but he just waves her away like a bug. "Have I ever listened to you? Seriously, in all the years I've known you- Braiden Calie St. Micheal- have I ever listened to you?" Rage so deep and so menacing coiled behind her eyes that, if so, her scowl deepened to a degree where it must've hurt. I stepped up to Noah's towering 6'1" height and extend my hand for him to shake. "Hi, my name's Savannah Faye, and It's nice to meet you, Noah." The moment my hand touched his, something beyond weird happened...

I saw the day that he and Braiden both died. Braiden and Noah's families were really close, and that closeness prompted them to start dating for three years. One day, on their anniversary of all days, he cheated on her with some skinny blond girl named Bianca, [who had the fakest spray-tan I've ever seen] and it broke her to witness it. That same day, however, he tried to reconcile with her; she was not having it and even tried to drive off in her black Toyota. When he got into her car, her outrage spiked and she screams, "Don't you ever listen to me? Get out!" He pretends to consider this for a second then replies, "Hmm, no. We need to talk," he insist, but again; she's not having it. She keeps on driving, until she realizes she took a wrong turn to her house and tries to turn back. Only, she can't. The car starts to flip, and Noah holds onto Braiden's hand for dear life as he says, "I love you, Braiden Calie St. Micheal, in this life and the next."

Then, they were gone...

"Woah, what was that? I just saw both yours and Braiden's death flash through my eyes!" I inform him, panicked. He looks at me with fascination in his eyes, then asked; "Has anything like this happened before when you touched someone?" I look at him like he's lost his damn mind then reply snidely: "Um, of course not, dumb-ass! If something like this happened to me before, don't you think I'd know?" My outburst only causes him to chuckle, but Jake cuts him off. "That's not all she can do. Show them, babe," he encourages me, and I do a double-take. Did he just call me babe? I'm not sure why, but I feel like I've heard him call me that before; I like it. "Okay," At first I concentrate on Hayden, since this power seems to require strong feelings to trigger it, but that doesn't work. Instead, I focus on something else- or more like someone else- Jakob. My Jakob, the only guy who can literally make my whole body tingle without a touch, the one whose kiss can make me feel like I have the world in my hands.

Wait, I haven't kissed him yet, so where had that come from? It's only when I look down at the ground, do I realize that I did it again. The ground is coated in ice! "Wow," Noah marvels at my work, and even Braiden looks impressed. "Well, there's only one person I know who can help you, little fireball." He tells me.

I smile at his nickname for me. "Who? I inquire.

"Adelaine."