Thorns of Fate: Serendipity Saga Book One

Chapter Twelve

The building that stretched up into the sky before us was plain, with sharp corners and edges and a standard rectangular shape. It had fallen into disrepair. There was a large white garage door with blacked out windows directly in front of us. It was to this door that Carson went, Damien and Liam flanking from close behind. Kellic, Lady Stark, and myself pressed in behind them.

It was eerily quiet, the air completely still. We were still technically inside of the city but the whole area felt abandoned. The closer we got to the building, the more dramatically I could feel waves of tense, dark energy rolling off of it. Liam hadn't been wrong. Something was here.

Carson knelt, grasping a handle at the bottom edge of the door and yanked. It stayed clamped into place. He repositioned himself and began pulling. A shriek of metal pierced the night from the other side of the door. Slowly, it crept upward until with a metallic snap, whatever had latched the door shut broke.

The door swiveled up.

It was dark inside, even my eyes struggled to piece the dividing veil of shadow.

Carson and Damien stepped forward, wary.

I didn't immediately notice the trip wire along the inside of the door. As they stepped forward, moonlight fell across the chasm, glinting off a long metal string.

"Wait!" I screamed but my voice was lost to the sound of explosives detonating from either side of the entrance.

I was tossed away, a percussive impact slamming into my chest. I skidded across the ground like a skipped rock and came to rest with my back pressed against a metal tankard. My head rang and my vision spun, a screeching hurting my ears.

The building was shrouded in a cloud of smoke and dirt. Kellic was beside me, a few feet closer to the building, unconscious, a wound in her forehead bubbling with blood.

Lady Evelyn was bent in an awkward angle over a wall dividing the warehouse in question to the next building over. She was soaked in blood from her hips to her thigh and it dropped into a puddle beneath her.

I could just barely glimpse a blonde hide by the rear tire of the Mustang. It was the closest to the building that I could actually see.

Damien and Carson weren't within eyesight.

I struggled to my feet, that piercing cry emanating through my entire body. My vision pulsed with it.

I staggered forward, notching a pain leaking up my left leg. I looked down to see a patch of white pressed through my skin. I glared down at the bloody spot, really not needing that at the moment.

Kellic stirred beside me, lifting herself into a sitting position with her palm pressed to her head. After a second, her eyes whipped to me, then down to my leg.

She beckoned me closer without speaking. I was almost glad for that as I hobbled over. I wasn't sure if I'd hear her through the haze in my head.

She held her fingertips aloft, red mist emitting from her hand. I pulled closer to her, extending my injured leg towards her. I bowed and bent my other leg beneath myself falling into a sitting position.

She locked her hands around my calf and twisted.

For one brief, harsh moment, my eyes were blanketed with a red haze and my head exploded with pain. My entire leg echoed with agony. I couldn't feel my toes.

My vision came sweeping back to see her hands over my skin. A red glow emanated from my skin from my knee to my ankle, following her palms. The pain slowly faded, my head clearing.

"I've got to go to him," I said at least, pulling my leg from her. She nodded weakly to me and resumed her struggle to get on her feet.

I stepped cautiously on my injured limb to find that no pain rang out in response. I made my way into the cloud, my eyes searching for any indication of Carson or Damien.