City of Magische Geschöpfe [Complete]

Chapter Thirteen: The City

Jacob

I'm sure I've landed. Well, landed was subjective. I certainly didn't feel like I was being torn apart limb from limb and existing in a place of nowhere . . . so better, I suppose. Existential crisis over. My ears still rung and my vision was still swimming, so I lay flat for a good long while, happy that I could.

"Are you alright?" The now-familiar, soft voice asks from somewhere near me.

Right. Ally. Ally had . . . oh dear Lord what had happened? My body involuntarily flinched at the memory of the sun burning bright inside of my body (or so it felt like). Had Roman called them wings? What this . . . was thing going home for Ally? No wonder she didn't wanna do it.

"Jacob? Jay? Are you . . . you should not have been able to come along, I do not think. How . . . Jacob?" I felt her hands on me, running all over, probably checking for anything broken. "You seem alright. Can you hear me, Jacob? Jacob? Jay?"

I snort out a laugh at the sound of my nickname coming from her lips. Sure, I called her Ally all the damned time but I had never heard her call anyone by a short form, except Tay's friend Pete, who I heard insisted on it. Not me, not Tay.

Her searching hands leave my immobile body, but I still feel her right next to me. "Alright."

I blink my eyes open slowly, and see that my vision has cleared. I still have to squint because this place is brighter than it ever was on earth. It felt like stepping out of a dark room into the brightly lit outdoors. Then I glance over to Ally and that so does not help.

"Jesus." I flinch and quickly shut my eyes again.

I hear her chuckle. "Not quite, Jacob, not quite."

Yeah, okay, but what then? I think to myself.

"Sit up, but slowly." Ally tells me gently. "And perhaps do not open your eyes just yet. Do that slowly too. Let them adjust."

I groan and push my sore and aching body up. Damn, it felt as if I've been put through a grinder. I have bruises everywhere that I could distinctly feel as I push myself up, and I am pretty sure that there are plenty of little cuts –and perhaps also significant amount of big cuts – scattered with the bruises too.

I follow Ally's advice and don't open my eyes until I'm all the way upright. Then, using my hands to shelter my eyes, I begin to open them, exposing them slowly and gradually to a bit more light every time, until they're all the way open. With my eyes doing fine now, I turn and look at Ally who had been waiting patiently this whole time for me to get my shit in order. I flinch again, but immediately look back at her.

Well shit, she's glowing. Add that to the growing list of questions I have.

"Hello, Jacob."

I sit there for a bit, blinded and confused. Hello? I was there before. What an odd thing to say ... The pressure in my head increases and I groan. Too much to take in too fast. There's a good chance I'm in shock and Ally's glowing. Seriously. Some sort of glow as if she had the sun contained within her. Something that took 'a healthy glow' to another level.

"Hello?" I asked, incredulous. "That's all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say?"

I groan and something twinges in my back. "Yeah, yeah. Good point."

She jumps forward and puts a supportive hand on my back. "You alright?" I nod and she continues. "Good, because we need to get out of here fast. We need to keep moving or we are going to be in a lot of trouble."