Behind |First book in The Risen Saga|

Chapter twenty eight-Emma

Her head throbbed as she sat into a sitting position. The air stung Emma's nose and she felt like the air she breathed was spiked with small needles stabbing into her lungs. She instantly recognized the small patch of green herbs that were planted against the far side of the murky wall. Mandrake. 

It was poisonous to witches. If consumed, a witch could possibly die and being around it, breathing in the air, caused a witch's power to drain. Emma knew that Seth knew that. Everyone that was part of the Hidden World knew that. 

Emma sat up and studied her surroundings. It was a small cell-like room with a thick iron door in the corner. There was a big window covered with bars filling half of the door. There was no bed, just the cold, stone ground. And Emma groaned as she scooted as far away as possible from the mandrake. She was up against the door, the small imperfections of the metal stabbing into her shoulder blades. 

Why would Seth do this? She was going to save him and he knocked her out and stuffed her in a cell like one of his rogue vampires. What was wrong with him? It must be the faerie spell. It must be.

Emma used the door to push herself to her feet, using it for support. Her cheek pressed into the wall on the side of the door as she looked out of the bars. "Hello!?" she called, "Please, help me!" Emma's hands gripped the bars.

A horrible pain dug into her hand as she came into contact with the bar. She recognized the feel, obviously the bars were coated with mandrake. Emma tried to pull back but it was melting her skin to the bars. She screamed in pain and pulled but it was no use. They was stuck there.

A strong hand ripped her hands away from the bar, ripping skin and causing her to stumble backwards. Emma checked her hands. They were bleeding horribly and it looked like it was sizzling. Emma hated mandrake and she had to wonder why Seth would even unintentionally cause her harm. It wasn't like him. Speaking of...

Emma looked up and saw Seth. His green eyes watching her with worry and longing. Like he wanted to be in there with her, to help her, but he was forced not to. He stared into her eyes and she realized that he looked exhausted. His eyes were ringed with grey and he seemed wired, tense, but also kind of sulky. 

"Seth?" Emma asked, not trusting her eyes. She didn't know if she was starting to see things, the Mandrake done things to witches that even she couldn't explain.

"Yeah, its me," he said and looked down as his hands moved to the handle on the other side. The door clicked and then it opened, squeaking loudly. He stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind him and Emma slowly took a step back, hesitantly. His face changed as he watched her take that step. He didn't seem mad, like he usually was when Emma had done something he hadn't liked. He looked hurt, broken. And Emma instinctively felt bad. 

"I'm sorry," she said and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. As her palms scraped the rough fabric of his jacket she winced. It only reminded her of what he was doing and she pulled back and looked up into his eyes, "Why are you doing this?"

He met her eyes and then quickly looked away, sighing, he said, "It's for your own safety and because..." he trailed off, only causing Emma to get pissed off.

"Because why, Seth," she snapped, her voice staying dangerously low. He looked at her again but then he took a step back, his eyes turning black.

"I'm sorry," he said and took another step back, "I can't." and then he was gone, the door swinging open behind him. Emma raced to stand in the doorway, looking into the long, dark hallway but she saw nothing. Just the blackness and shadows that seemed to jump out at her. Emma sighed and darted into the darkness.

Tyson

Kai was right, Zachariah wouldn't care if he came. He seemed kind of interested in him. Like he held the key to something or a important secret but he didn't know what. It was kind of creepy, he thought.