Easily Breakable

Chapter 21

I read the note, over and over again. She's alive, but she hasn't found me yet. Was that even possible? Well, it was a closed casket. Did Dad know about it? I doubted it. I had a million questions running through my mind and this would undoubtedly keep me up tonight. I was feeling so many emotions, but I wasn't sure which trumped them, shock, or happiness. Breathe Angel.

        I looked at Dani and realized that I had been holding my breath. I exhaled and tried to breathe normally. I noticed that it was completely dark now. I went to the table and opened the bottom drawer and pulled out the three huge flashlights that Mom and I would use. I turned them on, and they miraculously still worked, and set them right side up so the light shone against the ceiling and reflected across the room. I grabbed a few more candles and lit them where the room was still darkened by shadows.

        I turned to Dani, who was staring at me. "So what now," he asked. I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

       "I mean, are we going to look for her or what?" I took a deep breath. "No. She said she'd find us so I'm holding her to that. If she doesn't show up after my birthday, and if I make it… then we'll look for her," I said. 

        He nodded once and walked over to sit on the floor against the wall. I went and sat down next to him and he took my hand and I began tracing his knuckles with my finger while he looked around. 

       "So you and Serena built this place back up," he asked.

       "Yeah. It was a dump when we found it. It was her idea to fix it and make it our secret hideaway. It took three months, but we got it done," I explained, smiling at the memory. 

       "So do you think she would mind me invading your secret hideaway," he asked with a smile. I smiled back at him. 

       "No. I don't think she would mind. Besides, you're not technically 'invading' if I brought you here," I reasoned. He smirked and then asked another question. 

       "Why did you bring me here?" I shrugged and looked back down at his hand. "I wanted to share it with you. I wanted to talk to you where we wouldn't risk being caught," I said. 

        "Talk to me about what?"

        "Not anything in particular. Just talk, and hang out or whatever," I said.

        I looked up and he smiled, then he closed the gap between us, kissing me fervently. He removed his hand from mine and pushed one into my mess of hair while letting the other grab my hip, pulling me onto his lap and I reached my hands around to rest them on his neck. Just as last night, I wanted him closer, because this wasn't close enough for me. 

       I tilted my head to deepen the kiss and when I did, I heard an eerie creaking sound. I snapped my head up and looked around. "What was that," I asked in alarm. He gently pulled me off of him and stood up and I soon followed. "I don't know. Stay here." He walked towards the door and stepped out onto the balcony. I heard a string of profanities and he rushed back into the room.

        Before I could comprehend what he was doing, he practically tackled me and tucked me into his chest in a corner. Then I heard a strange metallic thump and an explosion. It was huge and it blasted us through the wall, out onto the balcony.

        My ears were ringing and I couldn't hear anything as I tried to make out what Dani was saying. Just then, I saw him. I didn't know who it was, but they were on the balcony too, a few yards away from us. He yelled something at Dani, and though I couldn't hear, I could make out the words through his lips. "Traitor." 

        He rushed toward us and Dani stood up, leaving me on the floor. His stance was protective, while he stood there in front of me. The other guy threw punches and Dani easily blocked them, pivoting and dodging, as thought it were choreographed.

        I shook my head to clear it and suddenly, another explosion burst through my ears, and sent me flying over the balcony. I screamed, finally able to hear, and right before I hit the ground, I saw Dani's panic stricken face watching me fall. "Angel!" 

        That was the last thing I saw before I hit the ground.

Dani's P.O.V.

       I watched as she fell, feeling helpless and guilty. She hit the ground with a sickening thud and ignoring Marcus' jabs, and jumped over the balcony, landing on my feet and ran over to her broken and bloodied body. 

        "Angel? Come on baby, wake up." I stroked her face with my hand as she lay there. Her leg was at an awkward angle and I could see blood pooling from her head. I placed two fingers under her jawline, feeling for her pulse. I exhaled a breath of relief when I felt the slow and steady beat. She was just unconscious, but I needed to get her to the hospital to check for any internal damage.

        I carefully picked her up and quickly jogged to the black car we rode here in. I ignored the other explosions behind me, because she was all that mattered right now. I gently placed her in the backseat and got in the drivers seat. I turned the key in the ignition and gunned it down the dirt road. I sped through the streets in town, desperate to make it to a hospital. 

        Once we arrived, I went in through the emergency entrance. "Somebody help," I called. Nurses turned their heads and someone rushed a gurney over. I carefully placed her on it and the nurse asked me to wait out here while they wheeled her away. I worried excessively, I admit, but I couldn't help it. She was hurt and it was my fault. 

       I should have known that they'd be watching. I should have warned her before I left her dream and now she's a target. If they thought I'd help them after this then they were damned fools. They hurt the girl I loved and I was not going to forgive nor forget. I just wanted her to be okay. 

       I took a deep breath. Calm down Dani, I told myself. She'll be okay. Right? She had to be. For both of our sakes. I finally sto0ed my pacing and took a seat in the waiting room. This was complete hell, having to wait like this. I leaned my head back and blew a breath out.

       I thought back to when we were in the tree house. The letter we had found was definitely Serena's handwriting. She had said that she wasn't in her human form so how did she even write it? Did that mean the myths were real too? 

        I had always heard that when werewolves die in their human form, then their spirit leaves their body and they shift to their wolf form permanently until they are killed in that form then they're gone forever, but I had never thought it to be true, since no one has actually encountered a spirit wolf before.

       I actually felt joyed and hopeful that Serena might come back. Especially since Jacksons out of the picture. But I couldn't love her as I once had, since I was in love with someone else who had stolen my heart completely. Now I just had to make sure that she survived.