Isle of Sanctum | The Aya Thrasher Chronicles | Book 1 |[Editing]

Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

RAYNE

I watched as Tayler entered the roof. Piper tried to hide the bottle of venom, but Tayler spotted it right away. "I don't care what you guys are drinking. Like I said I'm cool. I just have something to show you."  

Trevor sighed and Piper rolled her eyes. "Or I'd be happy to tell Serina about what you've been up to," Tayler added.

"We'll go..." Trevor muttered.

We followed Tayler to an event room on the same floor as Trevor's condo. Another party? My eyes fixated on the three-tier cake. The sides were decorated in blue Sciusian flowers that were completely edible. In the center, the words, "Welcome to Sciusia" were written in chocolate frosting. My mouth watered just looking at it, but then I remembered I was allergic to eggs. Of course, my life was full of shattered pieces with each piece piercing every chance I had to be happy.

"What's this for?" Lake asked.

"It's just a little something to properly welcome you guys feel like part of our community," Tayler said, grinning wide.

Soren was the first one to really dig in after cutting himself a huge slice. With his towering structure, it wasn't surprising. He probably could eat a house and still not gain any weight. That was the benefit of having a monster metabolism. I had an okay metabolism, but if I ate a lot of junk food, I would gain weight. Though, on a whole, I tended to eat very little of anything.

"Man, this is some really good cake!" Soren commented after stuffing another large bite into his mouth. "Even better than the blotcakes my grandma used to make back home in Norway."

I wasn't much of a sweet-eater. Once in awhile, I wouldn't pass up the opportunity for a nice slice of eggless chocolate cake.

Soren set his empty plate down next to Lake, who had made it clear that she was on a gluten-free diet. Tayler had tried to convince her that having gluten once wasn't going to kill her, but she refused. I returned to the table where Lake and Soren were sitting. Soren's eyes were droopy. Brennan was frozen in the fetal position on the chair, his head resting above his knees.

Aya's head rested against the table. Had she fallen asleep again? Jeez, that girl liked to sleep a lot. Shortly after, Soren's head crashed against the table. It looked like it really hurt, but I knew he was alright once he started snoring like a baby. Why were they so tired? Maybe it was the venom?

"Maybe he's tired?" Lake suggested.

"Something's off," I replied.

I scanned the room. Piper had fallen asleep on two of the chairs. She was out cold and so was Hayes.

"What do you mean?" Lake asked.

"I don't even know anymore," I said. "I'm going to use the restroom."

There wasn't a bathroom close by, so I went back to Trevor's condo and down the nearest corridor. Surprisingly, the lines that had been formed in the hallways had quieted down a lot. It looked like some of the people had left. I used the bathroom quickly. Part of me thought that I would find a dead body in there. Aya's paranoia had gotten to me. But of course, there was no one in there, dead or alive, except for me.

"You didn't have any cake," I said to Lake when I returned.

Lake shook her head. "Nope."

"Me neither."

I gently pushed my hand against Aya's arm, but it was of no use. The floor under our feet slightly trembled as the door burst open. Lake and I both turned around. A woman covered in dark clothing from head to toes appeared. Her face was covered with what looked like a ski mask.

"Tayler?" Lake shouted out, but she was nowhere in the vicinity.

The woman unveiled a baton and walked in our direction. What the hell was going on? Trevor walked back in. Maybe he had gone back to his condo for a bit.

"Who the hell is this?" he asked.

We both shrugged. I had no clue but still knew the situation was growing more severe.

"All three of you,  put your hands behind your backs!" The woman spoke with a voice changer.

"Not until you tell us who the hell you are!" I shouted.

Before the mysterious woman could give us an answer, two men dressed in the same way, entered the room.

"Thank god, you're here." The woman sighed. "Take the unconscious first. Leave the rest for me."

The first man went back into the hallway and grabbed restraints. He began restraining the unconscious, one-by-one. 

The woman was disappointed that I wasn't unconscious like the others. She swung her fist at my face, but I took a step back and blocked it. I was lucky that my reflexes were working after drinking the venom.

"Come and get me!" I teased taking a few more steps back. 

She seemed to grow bored of me and moved her attention to Lake. She shoved Lake forward with great force, causing her to crash into one of the chairs. I lunged forward and jumped on her back, clenching her shirt with my hands. Violently, she twirled around trying to shake me off. 

My grip loosened when she moved and I fell to the floor. By now, Lake had gotten back up on her feet. When I turned my head, I noticed Lake was trying to protect Aya. I was watching Lake and Aya, but I could sense the woman behind me. Before I could make a move to defend myself, she smacked her baton against my kneecap, forcing me to collide onto the floor in pain. I grabbed onto my knee, rubbing it to try to get the pain to cease. The woman moved onto Lake again. She swung the baton several times, but Lake backed away each time, missing the blows by centimeters.

I grabbed onto the leg of one of the chairs, using it as a crutch to help myself up. I pulled my body closer to the chair. Kneeling on my good knee, I slowly got up. My next thought went to Lake. I had to help her fight off the woman. When I was finally was able to stand up, Aya was gone. I didn't see her in the room. It was too late.

I gazed across the room. Trevor was struggling with the third assailant. I was going to help him, but he seemed to be holding his own.

"No!" Lake screamed at the top of her lungs, once she realized they had taken Aya.

Hayes and Corey ran into the room, both shocked. Hayes immediately ran over to me, to assist me, but by the time he had gotten to me, the assailants were gone. 

EDITED: 01/28/2019