Goodnight

23

Utter bliss takes over me as I sail through the air and land face up on the mattress. The hotel room is small, simple but a warm bed is all we need at the moment.

"You look happy" Ash smiles down at me, forgetting for a moment his sore feet and the miles we have walked.

"I am" Bliss. I kick off my shoes and let the air sooth my aching feet. "It's good to just rest" Lifting my hand, I trace the white circles that pattern the ceiling with my finger.

Ash sits next to me on the bed, looking nervously at his hands before he speaks. "Zev, are you...do you..." He stutters over his sentence.

I sit up, puzzled. "What?"

"Do you need to eat?" He doesn't look at me when he shatters my little bubble of happiness.

I flop back down. "No" I say this with more anger than I had intended.

"Zev, I didn't mean to-" His apologetic eyes numb the anger within.

"It's ok" I sigh the words and roll onto my stomach, the cheap sheets rubbing against my cheek. I grab the backpack that I had flung over the bed and tip it upside down, the contents scattering on the floor. I sift through them making a note of everything. Why on earth would we need rope? I push it aside and continue looking. Among other things, me and Ash both have rope, clothes, a knife each and water purification tablets. Clearly Lila and Mirabel thought we would be hiding our for a while.

The realization of what we are doing hits, chips at any form of hope I held that this would work. We cant hide forever, eventually Bade will find us and when he does there is nothing Ash can do but fight, nothing I can do but try to defend him. This knowledge weighs me down, has me lost within my own mind.

"Zev?" Ash lightly touches my shoulder, looking for what is wrong.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I'm fine." I try to give him a reassuring smile but he doesn't look convinced. I take off my jacket and climb under the covers, thankful for the soft surface. Ash frowns but slides under the covers next to me.

"I got these back for you" I turn over and see Ash holding out the wolf necklace, the tiny silver wolf permanently howling his silent tune and my ring, the moonstone shining its rainbow of colours. I forgot that I had been wearing them when I left and didn't notice that they had been taken. "Did you take them off?"

"No, they must've done it while I was sleeping" Ash seems relived and places the necklace perfectly around my neck. I flinch away when he tries to put the ring back on my finger.

"Zev?" I turn so that my back is to him, not wanting to see the hurt that I inflicted. It is an act of pure selfishness but an act that I refuse to let myself regret.

"I just can't, ok? I...can't"

"Ok" He sighs the word, disappointment evident and a sliver of guilt manages to wriggle its way into my head, despite my efforts to keep it out.

Sleep is not easy to find but I reach it eventually and for a moment all is peaceful.

**********************

"Hey princess" That voice punctures into my dreams. My eyes shoot open and his hand covers my mouth as he pins me to the bed. Then I'm left staring into those harsh yellow eyes. Ethen brings his finger to his lip, silently telling me that it would be a good idea to be quiet. He leans in close, whispering into my ear. "We wouldn't want to wake him up now, would we?" Ethen tilts my head to look at Ash.

Blood runs from his nose and split lip, even in the dim light I can see the blueish-purple swell forming on his cheek. I want to help Ash but with Ethen here it is completely impossible, I don't even know how badly Ash is hurt.

"Can I trust you to be quiet?" I nod slightly in answer. "You know what'll happen if you try anything" I nod again. I do know, I know that if I try to run or alert anyone Ethen will punish me by punishing Ash. I have to give Ash enough time to gather some strength.

Ethen takes his hand away.Then binds my wrists and ankles together with cable ties. When he's done, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and sit up. "Why are you here?" I try my hardest to show no emotion.

"To teach my little brother a lesson, that's what older siblings do." The smile he gives me would be nice if I didn't know what he has done. "Come on." He slings me over his shoulder and places me next to the open door, the cold air making me shiver. "I need you to stay here, where I can see you."

Ethen goes back to Ash, who has begun to come round and is looking dazed. Ethen grabs Ash roughly, pulling him up, and half carries him out of the door to a van that waits outside. I wince at the sound of Ash's limp body hitting the cold metal bottom of the vehicle and cant help but remember the the helpless look he gave he as he was forced to stumble into the cold night. Ethen comes back for me, again, slinging me over his shoulder. I brace myself for the pain of hitting the metal but instead I'm placed into the passenger seat of the van and Ethen is sliding into the drivers side. The engine roars to life and we are setting off into the night, carried towards an unknown destination. Ash lies bloodied in the back, while I am unable to help or communicate with him in any way.

Nervous silence fills the van, stretching on for an unknown amount of time before Ethen speaks with a voice that someone would use in normal conversation, oddly calm. "Where's your ring?"

He looks at me in question briefly when I fail to reply quickly. "I didn't realize that they took it until Ash gave it back to me. I wouldn't wear it." I find myself regretting that I wouldn't wear that ring, instead I rub the tiny silver wolf that dangles from my neck.

"Here" He pulls a ring from his pocket and holds it out to me. "Its not the same but it'll do until you can get the other one"

I take the ring and slide it onto my finger. "Thank you" It looks exactly the same as the ring that Ash gave to me, simple silver with a flat oval in the middle. However where my ring had moonstone this ring has a flat oval of blue that seems to reflect all of the colours that I know and more. It reminds me of a galaxy. "What is it?" I have never seen anything as remotely breathtaking as this, it certainly doesn't look cheap.

"Black opal. It belonged to her..." He trails off, lost in the memory of a girl he once loved. "I used to have eyes like that...before." The new direction in conversation startles me. Ethen gives a small smile as he looks at the wolf pinched between my fingers. "They were just like that, green, bright. I miss them sometimes."

"Whats it like?" I don't mean to ask, the question just kind of slips out.

Ethens jaw locks, his hands tightening on the steering-wheel. He looks at me with madness in his eyes, hatred. "Wrong question"

We drive for another few minutes in silence before the car comes to a halt and the earthy smells of a forest seep in. Ethen is at my door in just a few seconds, putting me over his shoulder more carefully than I had expected and walking to the back of the van. He doesn't set me down before opening the van door. A low growl emanates from within the van and I so desperately want to see him, to see if Ash is ok but all I can see is the floor.

"Now now, calm yourself squirt." Ethen sounds almost amused. A sharp pain drags down the back of my lower leg, the smell of blood fills my nostrils as it begins to drip.

"Don't you dare touch her!" The roar hurts my ears but Ethen just laughs at Ash's burst of anger.

"Her blood is sweet. She's changing isn't she?" Ethen only receives a deadly growl. "Be good, walk in front, nice and quiet. I may spare her."

There is a thump as Ash gets out of the van, then we are walking again. Ethen sets me down in the dark, sitting me in a corner made of wood. Stale blood assaults my nostrils. It takes a second of blindness before my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness of the light being turned on. We are in a wooden cabin with minimal furniture. There is a bloodstained sofa pushed against one wall and two lawn chairs that sit either side of a small plastic table. In the centre of the room there is a large blood stain that spreads across the wooden floor. It looks as though someone has tried to clean the cabin but the stains were too ingrained to be washed away, like a bad memory that clings to the cabin.

Ash looks distraught as he stares at the stained floor, his voice weak. "Why did you bring me here?"

Ethen opens his arms, gesturing to his surroundings. "Remember it brother? Remember? This, is where she died and this is where you will die."