Into The Woods [boyxboy]

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven (Aidan's POV)

"No! No! No!"

The sound of a raven shrieking angrily at me. The one sound I expected in my dreams from now on. I just couldn't tell if I was dreaming half the time or if it was a painful reality. All I remembered from being awake was holding Raven. He sat there and let me rest against him until I fell asleep.

After that, I was plunged into the lake again. I was standing closer to shore now, though, staring out over the glassy black water, watching the large silver moon hang in the sky. It was joined by streams of twinkling stars above the tree tops.

As soon as I heard the raven, I snapped my head toward the woods, looking around frantically before I jerked my head up when a shadow passed over me.

The moon was red now.

It made my blood run cold as a huge black raven flew across the bloody red moon and sank low to the ground before it poised itself on the ledge, in the same spot the first raven had. It cocked its head from side to side, then seemed to be laughing at me.

"No! No!" It sang. I seethed in irritation and sank my hand into the water, grasping a handful of stones before reeling my arm back. I went to throw the rocks when I felt something sliding across my legs, my thighs, my hips, and around my torso. I dropped the stones, looking down in terror as the black water slid across my skin and gripped me tightly like a pair of large, slender hands.

They rubbed and pushed, invaded me and suffocated me. I gasped repeatedly for breath, but one of the watery fingers slid into my mouth and choked me off. I tried to breath through my nose, but it was so hard as one of the fingers slid in and out of me from behind. Pain racked my body, making me tremble and twitch. I felt the warmth of my blood oozing down the insides of my legs, dripping from my mouth and ears. All I could manage was a wet whimper from the back of my throat.

The entire time, the raven was sitting there and watching with its twitchy head before it screamed, its wings flapping frantically.

"Nooo!"

"Aidan!"

"No!" I shot up in bed, gasping out loud and grabbing out to something when my hands clamped onto Raven's arms and I found myself staring into his concerned face. I breathed a sigh of relief, bowing my head for a moment and gripping him tightly.

"Another nightmare?" He asked softly. I nodded, shaking the sweat from my face before I glanced out the window.

Rain beat the glass pane violently while thunder boomed in the sky, making the house shudder and creak. I breathed a bit more gently, grimacing at the same time.

It'd been three days since the incident with Styx and Luc and Nythara. Three days we'd been at war with Amethyst and not much had happened. The war was declared, but we were being so cautious, it was as if there was no war. I had also missed my meeting with Styx, but there'd been no word from him, so I was beginning to hope he'd given up.

At the same time, I knew it was false hope. If he'd given up, I'd be able to talk, tell everyone that he was the one that murdered Luc, not me.

What the hell was this anyway?

Whenever I tried to say it, even to myself in the mirror, I got the strangest feeling in the world. Strangest, but most familiar. A pair of fingers pressing harshly down on my tongue, choking my words down into nothing, but gurgles and gags.

Styx had done something, I knew it.

Why did I let him do that? Did he use some kind of shadow magic on me?