Blurred Lines

Chapter Twelve: Absolutely and Utterly Screwed

For the next three days, my heart felt heavy. The absence of Dillon, Jacob, and Elsa was obvious in the silence. Annie and Shawn drifted together, Annie holding Shawn's hand instead of Dillon's and Shawn trudging along with the map in her other. Each day was spent in complete silence, interrupted only when we decided to eat or check the map.

The entire time, all I could do was think of the others. I constantly fretted about them, and each night I had a different dream of their deaths. I barely managed to sleep at all.

The first, they ran into the demon army we'd seen a just before we found Elsa. I had watched as they were each killed in the most gruesome way possible and woken up under the trees in pitch black. Annie and Shawn's gentle breathing had echoed in the silence, and I hadn't been able to go back to sleep. As a result, I laid on my back and tried to convince myself nothing bad would happen to them until dawn, when I woke up Shawn and Annie and we got on the move.

The second night, I dreamt that the town they arrived in was occupied and they were killed on sight. I woke up crying silently when Jacob's head was pierced with an arrow, after he had tried and failed to save the others. Again, I stayed up until dawn and tried to make myself believe they were okay.

The third night, Gabriel found them and ripped them limb from limb. I finally managed to fall back to sleep, but not for very long. Almost instantly after I closed my eyes, a crude clown that represented Gabriel chased me through a house of mirrors, and I woke up just before down, after clown-Gabriel cornered me and stabbed me through the heart.

The fourth night, I didn't even bother sleeping.

I shoved the thoughts of my nightmares away and pushed ahead at the front, holding back branches for Shawn and Annie to pass by. On the fourth day, we were almost to the palace. We only had a couple more hours to go when things took a turn for the worse.

It started with the army. Maggie's army.

I was helping Shawn to coax Annie through a gap between two trees she was convinced would bite her. When Shawn and I had passed through, she'd crouched to the ground and whimpered in fear. I felt the sudden urge to bodily carry her all the way to Gabriel instead of dealing with her.

Annie tentatively reached out a took Shawn's hand, but less than a second later she jumped back screaming. Her multicolored eyes were wide with fear, and her red hair was a frazzled mess. Her high-pitched screaming made my head throb in pain.

"Annie, come on honey. It's ok, they won't hurt you," I said in an attempt at a soothing voice. I touched the trees to show her they wouldn't do anything, but it made her start crying. My temper flared and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming in frustration.

Shawn was getting sick of her, too. "Do you think she has hallucinations?" she asked irritatedly. We glanced at the flaming-red haired girl and I suddenly remembered seeing Gabriel's wings in her eyes on the morning in Elsa's cave. I wondered if she saw him in her waking hours rather than her dreams, and I went to respond when a tremendous roar filled the air all around us.

Both of us jumped and looked around, and Annie cringed away from us silently. The sound echoed in the trees and bounced around the inside of my skull, not at all helping my migraine. I winced and expected Annie to start screaming again, but she remained silent.

Finally, I thought spitefully. It's about time she shut up.

After a few seconds, the roar came again. I could hear the faint sounds of people running and screaming while a huge thud shook the ground. My heart jumped, and I could tell something bad was coming.

Shawn and I looked at each other with wide eyes. "Annie, come here now," I whispered. Annie shook her head and crouched on the ground, preparing to curl in on herself and shut out the world. Fantastic, I thought sarcastically.