Timeless - Mark Tuan

Chapter 10

"You may have saved your friends this time, but I won't let that happen again, WITCH!"

"Watch out., Arnisa!"

"I'll get to you. Just you wait!"

"Arnisa."

"Annie."

"Hey! You awake?"

I peer my eyes open and see Mae and Cecilia beside me. A sigh of what sounded like relief comes out of Cecilia and she smiles down at me. 

I get up immediately and hug her. "Are you ok?" I ask as I examine her, turning her left and right. 

"I'm fine." She giggles. 

I do the same to Mae. "You guys ok? What did they do to you?"

"Nothing, really." Mae says. "You got there before they can even start with us."

I smile then and hug both of them again. "Wait..." I push them away gently. "What happened to me?"

"FUCK!" I ignore Mae's foul language for the first time. "They almost had you, Annie. If not for Jinyoung going back to get you out of the house."

I look down at my arms and see traces of slight cracking on my skin. They must've given me a temporary fix. I look around and notice I'm not in the house, not in Jinyoung's place either. "Where are we?" I ask them. 

"Jackson said we can stay here for the meantime." Cecilia answers. 

"Where are they?"

"He and Jinyoung went back to the house. They went to check if there are still some demons or shadows lurking around." The woman answers. I notice her trembling in fear as she mentioned the entities. 

"What happened to Mark though? Did you get him out?" Mae asks. 

I look at her with my confused expression. "Mark? Uhm.... He ... Wasn't he .... ?"

"I let him in the room."

"Wasn't he the one who opened the door?" I ask. 

"What? No. He was .... No." The girl furrows her brows, looking puzzled, too. "I don't think so."

"What really happened?" I ask. 

But, before any of the two can answer, we hear Jackson's and Jinyoung's voices from outside the door. 

I immediately get out of bed and run to where they are. "So? Anything?" I ask as soon as I get to them. 

"Hey. Why are you out of bed?" Jinyoung takes my hand and pulls me back in the room. "You're still weak, Annie. You should be resting."

"I'm ok." I pull my arm away. "I can deal with that later. I need to go back to the house."

"No." Jackson steps through the door. "I mean, you can't .... Yet." 

"Why not?" 

"Idiot alert!" He sings. "They'd know you'd go back there, stupid."

"Stupid? Idiot?" I lift my hand from my side, pointing it to his direction. "You dare ..."

"Annie." Mae's hand is fast as she puts it over mine and pushes it down. "No. He's right. We can't risk being seen back there, yet. Not until we know what we're dealing with."

I know that. But, there are things I need to confirm. What Mark told me and what I saw in the orbuculum are two very different things. I would've believed what I saw in the ball earlier if not for Mae's expression and answers earlier when I asked about Mark. Not to mention, Gillian's screams before I woke up. It is making me even more muddled up.