Behind |First book in The Risen Saga|

Chapter thirty nine

What had just happened? Why would Seth attack so quickly? We weren't ready. It wasn't fair. The people who had died didn't deserve such a thing. All because of me. If it wasn't for me they wouldn't have to fight. If it wasn't for me they wouldn't have taken their last breath. 

The air in the car seemed to spike my lungs as I took it in. There was mandrake mixed with some other toxins in the trunk and it did a number on me. Everyone was quiet. I leaned against Tyson, his arm wrapped around me. He comforted me but I couldn't help but think that he was in danger because of me too. Christian sat beside Tyson, his head leaning against the cold window. He hadn't said a word since Damon had run in to save Mary Jane. Nobody knew if he was alive or not but the reality of the situation stabbed into my stomach and I suspected that I had failed him also. Zachariah was driving my car, silent like the rest of us. Tessa sat in the passenger seat, tears pouring down her face, silently crying. Kai and Amy had gotten on their motorcycle and they were driving close behind us. 

When Kai had gotten on the motorcycle he looked broken. That lightness to him had disappeared and he hadn't spoken either. It was horrible to watch my best friend, who was always the one picking me up, hurt like this. I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't bring back the dead. I wouldn't risk it.

They had watched their friends die. They had went against everything in their nature and left them behind. Damon was a friend of mine also but I just didn't want to accept or even consider Damon being dead. I just couldn't. 

My face burrowed deeper into Tyson's chest. I silently thanked God-or whoever is up there-that Tyson had been left out of danger. That he had come out alive. I looked out of the corner of my eye out the window. There was no smoke, we were too far out of town for there to be smoke, but I still saw the illusion of the smoke, consuming everything in it's path. Taking family, taking friends, taking everything. 

Zachariah slowed down and took a dirt road off the main highway. It wasn't like the roads that were closer to Chicago though, not all muddy and moist, it was dry and as the car drove down it, it left a trail of dust in it's wake. 

The first time I had entered those forests by Chicago had been with my grandma. I missed her so much. All I wanted to do was curl up in her arms and sob about everything. Let go of everything. But I couldn't. 

I hated the forests after the ceremony though. The pain that followed and everything that had happened. Emma getting hurt had been the regret of the night but now, after everyone was saying she was fighting with them, I could only wish I had used more force. Now, my only option was to win this battle. I would win it for my lost friends, everyone that needed it to be won for them. And I would be the one to rip Seth's heart from his chest. But for now, I just had to take him to the past and after that, after he didn't exist in this world anymore, I would kill him in the most painful way possible. I fiddled with the necklace at my throat as I thought. 

Everything has happened because of my dog. My dog was the one who found the necklace and now we were going to fight a supernatural war all because of it. If only Emma had buried the necklace some place else. If only...

But the thing was, even if I hadn't found the necklace, Seth still knew about me. My powers would still be the same and the only difference would be that I wouldn't be able to defend myself. Otherwise, Seth would have still found me, he would have still wanted me and he would have still wanted to kill me. This outcome was inevitable. I was meant for this life. I was destined for this world.

Funny how the only way to survive in this world is to disappear into another. 

The trees around us parted and led into a field. The grass was patted down and not at all that tall. The moon above shone over the trees, casting dancing shadows over the whole field. There were tents sat up, row after row. I didn't know who they were, so I sat up, looking closer. Zachariah pulled into a small opening in the rows and a person stood in front of us. Three people, actually.