Walk Into The Light - Shadows of the Night 6

Chapter 16

Hi,

Anna will meet an unexpected obstacle in this chapter - and she isn't the only one that's facing trouble. Before you start reading, can you guess what kind of obstacle Anna will meet? Let me know! :-)

Lara

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Chapter 16

The earth opened up and swallowed me whole. The pain of tearing skin and tender flesh seared through me – as if this was happening on a real plane. It hurt so much, I was sure, if I ever got out of this madness, my face and arms would be bloody.

I raced down down down until earth spit me out, threw me back into the one place I'd wanted to escape from to the point that I'd been ready to risk death just to get out. I landed on a cold, hard surface, gasping for air.

Slowly, tentatively I peered through a curtain of hair as I lifted my head. Vladislav's throne room was as I'd left it – seemingly empty, when in truth it was filled with shadows and scraps of sounds that promised pain. This time half of the sconces on the wall were burning, leaving me standing in a dim semicircle of light. I lifted myself up, stood and turned around, facing the paintings on the wall. Still the same.

If Vladislav had created the paintings just for them to be part of another illusion or an elaborate mind-fuck, he was more meticulous than I would have given him credit for. I shook my head. No, I didn't believe it. This had been real and that meant I could get out.

I turned around, facing the throne room. And I knew just how to do that.

I started into motion, making my first step towards where I believed Vladislav's throne was – my first step towards freedom. That was when the whisperings rose in a deafening crescendo.

I stopped, scanning the shadowy throne room. Sounds toppled over one another, overtaken by their own echoes. Then a moment of sudden, eerie quiet.

A hollow sound. A pair of shoes meeting the stone-cold floor. I licked my lips, peering into the darkness. I'd been here before. Whatever was coming my way – be it an image of Vladislav himself – I was ready to fight it with all I had.

Shadows parted, slowly, like the heavy folds of morning mist dissipating. I sucked in a breath and shook my head.

It couldn't be.

Tall. Black shoulder-long hair. Messy locks. Blue eyes.

It was her.

Maria.

My throat was parched, lips sandpaper dry. This was the moment I believed. Vladislav had gotten more than a peek when he violated my mind. He'd gotten everything.

Just as he got everything right, when he created this illusion. The way she looked at me, even the way she walked – the way she walked and managed to cock a jaunty hip. That vibrant no-nonsense-gaze. It was Maria.

I backed away step by step, as she came closer, then lifted my hand.

"Stop. Please stop." The words came out as a choked whisper.

She stopped and looked at me for a long time. The weight of our relationship and all that we'd shared lay between us. The impossible wish of seeing, meeting her again was coming true in the worst possible way. Real or not, it threatened to knock me straight out, if she kept looking at me like that.

She blew out a breath and shook her head.

"Don't look at me like that, Anna."

The great three witches help me.