Taken Away

Trying To Adjust

A/N:
Date 6-24-17

Hey everyone! Here's a long chapter. It seems that all of these chapters are long...

And I know I haven't updated TSoC yet, but I had to update this story first because I want my ranking to stay in the 100's range. Plus I'm still not done with the chapter for TSoC XD

Word Count: 4117

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Chapter 33: Trying To Adjust

"Yep, that's me." Ash said. Then he pulled me to my feet. "You're awake!" I said, instantly feeling dumb for stating the obvious. "I woke up a second ago on top of you, which as you might imagine, surprised me a little." Ash paused for a second, looking concerned. "You're not dead? You got stabbed with silver!" I had no idea what he was talking about, until I finally remembered after a moment. The last time I'd seen Ash, Storm had Zane stab me with a fake silver knife.

I quickly explained to Ash what had happened, then reassured him that Zane was on our side. I laughed along with Ash until I heard someone clear their throat. Zane was getting up off of the ground. "Hey, you're bleeding." I told Zane, walking over to him. Before he could stop me, I grabbed Zane's hands and studied them. They had blood on them. "It already healed, I'm fine." He sounded unconcerned.

I looked up from Zane's hands when I realized that he was right. He'd already healed. Then I dropped Zane's hands when I saw he was staring at me. I took a step back and looked over to Ash. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" I asked him with concern. Ash smiled at me and said, "I'm okay, really." Ash sounded like he meant it. His smile was contagious, making me smile back. When Ash's grin dropped away, I didn't have to ask what was wrong because he spoke quickly. "I can smell blood. Did you get hurt?"

"No, I..." I stopped in the middle of the sentence. I had gotten hurt. I reached up and touched the back of my head. It didn't hurt like I was expecting. "I just hit my head, but it already healed." I told Ash. "Well then let's get out of here. We could be followed." Zane said. I realized he'd moved over and leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, looking annoyed. "Okay, let's go." My voice was too controlled, and I knew by the look that Ash gave me that he knew I was annoyed too. Zane's mood was contagious, and soon all three of us were walking silently, not looking at each other.

After only a minute of walking, Zane spoke up. "Okay, we need to establish something real quick." I realized after a couple of steps that he had stopped moving. I grabbed Ash's sleeve to stop him too. We both turned to Zane to listen to what he had to say. "Where in the world are we going?" Zane asked, not bothering to hide his frustration. I looked to Ash because I'd already been asked this question, and I had no answer. Ash's eyes widened slightly, letting me know that he didn't like being put on the spot. But he quickly took control.

"We should go to my cabin, they don't know where it is." It seemed like no one needed to ask who "they" were. Zane nodded and gestured in front of him. "Lead the way." Ash turned to what I presumed was the direction of his cabin and started running. We all knew we had to get there as quickly as possible. I didn't particularly like that place, but we didn't have many other options. I doubted any of us had money. I followed Ash alongside Zane so we could talk. But I didn't really want Ash hearing. So I spoke into Zane's mind. "What's wrong?" I asked.

Zane flinched but didn't stop running along. He obviously wasn't used to having people in his head, even though he claims to once have been able to get in other peoples' minds. "Nothing." He thought in his head. But he hadn't covered up his emotions so I knew he was lying. "Don't lie, Zane." Right then I wished I could read his mind. I actually tried again, but I couldn't. I could only hear the thoughts he projects to me. Zane didn't say anything for a minute and I almost nudged his arm to see if he remembered that we're talking.