Cast Down (The Immortal Balances- Book 2)

Chapter Five: Familiar Surroundings

When I opened my eyes, everything was on fire.

At least, it seemed as if everything was.

Because when I opened my eyes, I wasn't in mine and Rachel's back room, on the sofa near the back window covered in our blanket with her before me. No, instead I was in some sort large room, a chamber that was decorated in rich golds that simmered with every flick of light that dared to gleam upon it, clashing with the deepest of creams and magnolias. However, all the furniture that surrounded me was engulfed in ginormous flames that reached the ceiling, like a bonfire. Flickers of the fire tore apart from the flames and rose to the top of the roof, flooding the room with smoke and making it unbearable to breathe in. Looking around for an escape, I began to cough violently, covering my mouth with the bottom of my t-shirt. My eyes darted around the burning room as I looked for any means of escape, but alas there was nothing. No door. No windows. Not even a vent I could pry open and crawl through.

I was going to die!

But I couldn't die. I needed to help Rachel. Help her figure out her new found powers, even if I was just a plain powerless mortal now.

So I couldn't just die here!

Running to the wall opposite me I began pounding on the wall with my fists, the panic taking over my body and forcing me into a frenzy. How I got here, why I was here and who had put me here didn't matter. All the mattered was surviving.

"Somebody help!" I shouted, the roaring of the flames around me frowning my desperate voice out. "Please! Somebody!"

I received no answer.

"Please!" I tried again, my voice faltering between coughs. "Pl...ease."

This was it. The end.

As my lungs clogged with smoke and my eyes rolled back into my skull, my last thoughts were of Rachel, apologising for not having helped her like I'd promised.

And with my last breath, I collapsed to the ground.

Only to wake up again, gasping for air.

"What the...?" I muttered to myself, looking around as I steadied by hoarse breathing. I was in the same room, in the same place with the same flames dancing around me as before. I jumped to my feet, again running to the walls that burned from the fire as I screamed for help. "What is going on? Help!" I shouted as loud as I could, knowing it was hopeless. Was I in a daze? A hallucination? Was I going mad?

"What is going on?!" I coughed, covering my mouth as I bent over, the smoke choking my lungs. "Please!"

But it was no use.

And for the second time, as I felt the smoke consuming my insides, the chemicals burning my insides, I collapsed to the ground unconscious.

When I woke up for the third time, I was staring up at the ceiling of the burning room, the crackling and the smell far too familiar with me to cause any panic. I sat up, taking in my surroundings as I tried to decipher the puzzle I'd found myself in.

What was going on? This was the third time I'd woken up here, in the same place, the same situation, with the same ending. I stiffened as my lungs began to fill with carbon monoxide, covering my mouth as best as I could with the fabric of my shirt. I needed to know why I was stuck in a repeat, to uncover the meaning behind this endless loop.

Maybe it wasn't endless, but perhaps there was a meaning to this.

"What do I have to do?" I called out to no one in particular, the best I could through the fabric. "What am I missing?"