Courting Tragedy

Courting Tragedy (15)

Chapter 15

Warm hands were shaking me roughly, but it was easier to sink back into the blackness than to acknowledge them. It felt like I was floating, drifting around in a sea of darkness. I relaxed, feeling like I should be worrying about something, but again brushing it off.

"Damnit, Emory! Wake up!" It was Gage, and his voice was shaky and worried.

He kept talking, but I could hardly hear him over the sound of someone screaming. At about the same time that I realized it was me screaming, there was a sharp, stinging pain on my cheek.

My eyes snapped open, quickly taking in my surroundings. I was still in the same corner of the library, although now I was crumpled in a heap on the floor. My stomach was pressed against the cold stone of the floor, my arms trapped under my body. My head was turned to the left, and my cheek stung from the recent slap.

I pushed myself up onto my knees, bringing my hand to my stinging cheek as I glared at Logan. The hand that I brought to my cheek connected with my cheek with a crumpling sound, and I looked down in confusion.

There was a folded piece of paper in my hand; where did that come from? Looking farther down, my eyes landed on the dagger, shiny and material between my knees. Shit. That means it wasn't just some messed up nightmare.

The sound of Logan and Gage drew my attention, and I tuned into their conversation as I stealthily slid the dagger to the side.

"... Shouldn't have hit her!" Gage whispered angrily.

"Oh, so you wanted me to just let her keep screaming bloody murder?" Logan retorted while examining his nails in a bored fashion.

"She would have snapped out of it if you hadn't interrupted me." Gage snapped.

Logan laughed. "The only thing I stopped is the brain damage she would have recieved if you had kept shaking her like that."

Gage growled low in his throat and again I got the feeling that said I needed to stop this before it started, or there would be trouble.

"Guys," I rasped, my voice hoarse after all the screaming I'd done.

Their eyes stayed locked on each other as I felt the air fill with an uneasy tension. I sighed, my muscles proesting as I stood up and raised my hands.

Opening my clenched fists, I let the paper and locket fall from my grip to the tile below.

Logan took a step forward, antagonizing Gage into making the first move. In the next 3 or so seconds, several things happened very quickly. First, Gage stepped forward and smirked at Logan, then made a 'come and get me' gesture with his hand. Second, Logan rushed Gage, who dodged and caught him in a headlock.

I didn't have time to feel a sense of Deja Vu before Logan seemed to disappear into this air. I glanced around, only to see him suddenly appear behind Gage and throw his foot out in an effort to knock Gage to the ground. At that moment, I stepped in.

I threw my hands apart and the boys each flew through the air before being set down gently in chairs across the room from each other.

For the second time in so many days, which has to be some kind of record for me, I had a verbal breakdown.

"Hi, guys! It's just lovely to see you, especially like this! I mean, after having a delightful vision where I not only met your sister, whom I quite like, but also saw her get violated and beaten, there's nothing I want more than to watch you two fighting. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." Tears started streaming down my face again, and I felt a strange sense of blankness.