Power Without Strength {Discontinued/Rewritten}

15

Chapter 15

The air was still. All I could hear were my heartbeats thumping, everything else was muffled.

Taabu?

Thump.

She's...

Thump.

Here?

Thump.

I teleported to somewhere outside of the dorms and collapsed onto my hands and knees. I was shaking. Fear flooded threw every vain in my body, tainting my heart. Flashes, visions, memories, nightmares. My screams vibrated throughout the forest, birds and wildlife scattering away. I couldn't see straight, all I could think was, "Get away! Get away!"

The day at the lake where I nearly died from drowning. Get away! The day my arm nearly broke, from being dumped into a well. Get away! The day she let the twins molest me in the back alley. Get AWAY!

And without a second thought, I shakily stood up, and started to run. I heard rustling behind me and voices calling out in the distance. I can't look back, I couldn't.

"Wha-Zeera, stop! Where do you think you're going?!"

I need speed, I need to go faster!

I focused all my magic into my feet as I started running at a whole new rate I didn't think I could attain. I had on my intangibility spell to faze through any obstacles, but it wasn't enough. No matter how fast I ran, how far I traveled, how well I hid, it all wasn't enough.

I could see the beach coming up through the trees, my only safety. I reached out, beginning to cast a flight spell to make my new escape, when all my hopes were shattered.

Daren's body appeared a second too early for me to process; he attacked with an open-palmed spell that halted me immediately. I couldn't move, it was an ice spell.

No...

He caught me before I contacted the ground, and held me as he stood.

"Zeera, what has gotten into you?" He said, but I wasn't listening. I couldn't hear anything but the raging, panicking thoughts roaring through my ears.

No, no, no! He's going to bring me back, she's going to find me! I have to escape, I have to escape!

I hastily countered Daren's spell and struggled to get out of his grip, but his arms were impenetrable. "Let me go, let me go! I have to run, I have to get out of here!" I begged.

My heart pumped in a crazed and frenzied pattern as my mind was overwhelmed in calculating ways to get away from Taabu.

"Hey-hey! Stop it, calm down!"

I felt his hand on my stomach and waves of exhausted soon spread across me through his spell. I shivered at his touch, the stomach being one of the most private parts of female anumanics.

"No..." I said weakly as my struggling became less and less.

"Geez, now that you're calmed down can you-" I heard him gasp as I looked at him in slight confusion. He was looking down at my body, and I followed his gaze to find what was wrong.

I gasped as I looked down at all my visible bruises and scars from the past years. Up until now, I've been using my magic to cloak my skin to keep them hidden. When I fall asleep, I trained my body to activate a barrier around myself that makes the illusion my skin is completely clear to anyone who looks at me. But now, my magic was too weak to keep up my cloak or make a barrier. I was completely powerless, and now I've revealed my greatest weakness to someone other than me.