The Curse

Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Ember

 "Are you alright?" Peter's deep voice rang out throughout the quiet night. 

Next to him, Audrina constantly blushed and said, "Yes Peter. I'm fine." Then a long sigh would float out of his mouth, disbelieving her. 

I looked behind them. Behind them was Nicholas who seemed to trail behind with his hair still slightly messy and wet from his stage, his clothes disheveled, his emerald eyes glowing in the night, and his lips slightly parted. He caught me staring and seemed to try to communicate something through his eyes with me, but I quickly looked away, disconnecting us. 

I refused to give in to that curly-haired lad. 

I could feel his stare at the back of my head still as my legs began dragging behind me as we continued to walk in the dark, hoping that we wouldn't run into a tree or into some scary animal that would happily kill us for its meal. But so far, we hadn't seen anything — not the animal nor the final third stage. 

It seemed that we were all thinking the same thing because we all stopped right before exiting the forest. 

"Should we wait?" Audrina asked. 

"If we do, it'll be harder to fight off whatever is waiting for us in the dark..." Peter trailed off. 

Nicholas's voice suddenly appeared in my ears. He had been quiet for the time being. Maybe in shock or maybe he just didn't want to talk, but still. 

"Why would we wait? Wouldn't it be best if we just —" Nicholas asked, but Audrina cut him off almost immediately. 

"Nicholas, you do realize that the third stage would or could possibly follow us out of the forest? It might be better if we stayed and waited..." she trailed off, unsure of which option was better. 

Silence filled the forest again with the crickets chirping deadly melodies, before I spoke. 

"I think we should leave." I gestured around the forest. "I mean, Nicholas has a point. What if nothing happens? Are we going to stick around and wait forever? Because Audrina," I locked eyes with Audrina, "we don't have forever." 

She sighed. "Then what are we waiting for?" She stepped out of the line marking the end of the forest. "After all, we don't have forever." She turned around and winked at me. 

I smiled at her and watched as the others followed after her. First Peter. Then Nicholas. 

But just as I stepped out, a strange power went through my body and I doubled over, bending my body as the pain overtook me. 

"Ember?" I looked up to meet Nicholas's green eyes. "Are you alright?" He offered me a hand, and I reached up to grab his hand but then let it drop back down when I saw the small red crimson color on my index finger where something must've stabbed it, run down my finger, before wiping it on my dirty dress, leaving a mark. 

Then something settled in my body as I straightened up and ignored him, moving right past him, making sure to bump into him a little. "I'm fine." I smiled at him. "Perfectly fine." 

Nicholas stared at me with a strange look in his eyes as I joined the others. 

"Well," Audrina said when Nicholas finally joined us, "Welcome home, Nicholas." 

Nicholas seemed quiet as he stared at the castle in front of him. Audrina nudged him gently. 

"Aren't you excited?" Nicholas shrugged and Audrina frowned, then turned to Peter, who asked: