Frozen Fear Book. 2

❅Chapter 10❅

The ocean roared in my ears. The world, tipping rapidly around me.

I couldn't breathe.

Drowning, drowning, drowning.

I shoved my hands against the stone table, ignoring the pain in my palms. My chair tipped as I bolted from the room, my leather boots slapping the stone floors as I shoved passing fae aside. Some hissed when I shoved them, others barked a protest, but I just kept running.

I heard Akan call my name, but I didn't care. I needed air. Fresh air.

I was a mole in a strange den, taking random turns and various twists as I desperately tried to see the sun. Air.

My lungs gulped, but the atmosphere around me was nothing but humid and stuffy, pressing down around me at all angles, squeezing me.

Father. My father.

Akan was my father. He was Death. Which meant...

I ran harder, pumping my legs, straining the muscles, ignoring the pull of freshly scarred skin on my thigh. I finally found the tunnel I'd come in at.

A single door at the end.

Almost there.

I ran full force into the door, using my shoulder and my weight to ram it open. It wouldn't budge. Pain exploded in my shoulder, igniting my nerves. I let out a slow hiss as tears stung my eyes, blurring my vision.

Air seemed to be harder to find, my breathing ragged.

Couldn't breathe...

I felt as if I was going to burst.

Just as darkness crept into the corners of my vision, I couldn't take it. My head was going to explode.

I screamed with everything I had.

The mountain itself seemed to shake, moving in response to me. I could feel the darkness within the deepest caves, the most remote caverns - the shadows coming to life, shifting from deep slumber. The mountain seemed to sigh, as if it had been holding its breath for a very long, long time.

Can't. Breathe.

I slumped against the large metal door, the strange symbols etched above the frame glaring down at me with mischief, as if laughing at me. Trapping me.

The world was going dark, someone snuffing out the small flame on a candle... Slowly, ever so slowly.

Something cool and misty formed around me, cocooning me. I panicked for a moment - no more traps. I needed to breathe. I couldn't take it. But then the sweet, blissful mist engulfing me became as cold as a mid-winter morning, cooling my scorched skin.

I moaned.

I was lifted from the ground, my head lulling to the side without my consent. I attempted to open my eyes, but they were too heavy. I sucked in a ragged breath just as a blazing light exploded behind my eyes.

The sun.

Fresh winter air, blissfully cool, molded around my skin, soothing my racing pulse.

Using what strength I could find, I cracked my eyes open. Maybe Akan has lifted me, helped me.

A mass of darkness loomed above me, a cloud of pure black. My throat closed, choking me as a scream tried to break through. Minerals sparkled within the dark vapor, replicating a thousand stars as its black-pit like eyes stared down at me, almost curious. My body froze, every muscle locking into place.

The cloud let out a small purr, running its cool, slick fingers down my face tenderly, careful not to spook me.

I shivered.

I don't know why, but I found my body relaxing, calming. This was familiar. This was home. The ice in my veins thawing, my aching lungs sucking in heavenly chilled oxygen. I let out a sigh as the mass snuggled me closer to its chest, its cool vapor kissing my exposed flesh. The cloud snickered as if in approval, continuously running its misty fingers over my clammy skin.

It held my eye, the swirling darkness of its gaze the epitome of a black hole. I could feel the weight of the world within those eyes, the suffocating expansion of time. This was not where life began, but ended. This was the end of days. Final destruction of everything I held dear. This - this was true darkness. And it was staring at me... With affection.

"Neva!"

I jolted, breaking the connection between the mass and I. It hissed, dropping me into the snow with a snarl.

"Neva!"

It was Akan. He stood at the entrance of the mountain, he eyes fixed on the hovering cloud of shadow before me.

I took one look at it, and the full blown terror came back with a roar. It chilled me, turning my stomach into a writhing ball of serpents.

Using my elbows and heels, I backed away from it, my spine slamming into a rock. "Help me!" I screamed at Akan.

Never in my life had I felt such a chilling terror. But Akan just stood there, staring at the shadow, and it stared back at him.

And then he nodded.

I couldn't believe my eyes - this thing - this evil, obeyed Akan's commands. It slithered towards me, its eyes boring straight into mine as it made its approach. I kicked, thrashed as it closed in, but there was no where to go. I was the fly caught in the spider's web. And it was dinner time.

I took one last pleading glance at Akan, at the man that was supposedly my father. His eyes gleamed a brilliant silver in the sunlight. His fangs made an appearance as he smiled, the shadow getting ever closer to smothering me.

I closed my eyes, forcing my power to ignite in my blood. I reached out to the ice and snow around me, willing it to bend to my call. But there was nothing. It was as if I was running into a solid brick wall with my power right over the edge. I rammed into it over and over again, begging the Gods above that it would break and shattered into a million little dust particles, but it wouldn't budge.

Panic settled in my bones, dread... A dry and revolting taste on my tongue.

This was it. The end.

I'm sorry, Foster. I've failed you.

And then a chilling fist gripped my heart.

A shriek tore from my throat, my body bowing against the worst chill I'd ever experienced. It was so cold it was burning, scorching a hole straight through my chest, freezing my heart in mid-beat. My eyes popped open. Another howl of agony ripped from me as I witnessed the shadow, the cloud of absolute evil, climb inside me. Its skin melded into mine, creating a nasty, gaping wound of ashen flesh.

I screamed, boy did I scream. Never in my life had I actually begged for death, prayed for it even. This was just too much. I could feel the foreign entity inside me, making a nest in my chest cavity as if it was an animal readying for a long, long winter. As if it was here to stay.

I choked on black tar that bubbled in my throat, pushed out from something deep within. Gagging and sputtering I torn at my chest, crying and wailing, begging for it to end.

Just let me die! I screamed inside. Let me diediediediedie.

A dry, amused chuckle vibrated in my skull. What would be the fun in that?

I don't know how long I laid there in the snow under the winter sun, squirming and screaming as darkness hollowed me from the inside out. The frozen mass in my chest dulled into a faint, chilled hole that was as empty as I.

"Oh Eve, darling."

Such a familiar voice...

A wiff of the sea, and a huff of warm breath on my face. "Sleep, my treasured daughter. For when you wake, you will be whole."

I heard no more.