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

Chapter Forty-Seven

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

AYA

Rayne's attack wasn't the only thing that concerned me. Why had I blacked out? I was with Brennan and Trevor and all of a sudden I was lying in the grass. How did I even get there? The missing pieces were slowly starting come back together like a puzzle. I remember being in the lighthouse -- it shaking violently, until the door flew off – and Rayne was standing there with a smirk on her face. Of course she was at the center of it all.

The dream catcher was safe inside the crystal buried deep in my pocket. It didn't seem to be doing much of anything. Maybe I wasn't using it correctly. Brennan had given me a gold chain. He thought I should put the dream catcher on it and wear it as a necklace. At that time, I thought he had lost it, but now maybe he was right. I hooked the dream catcher to the chain and wrapped it around my neck.

Serina's men had barricaded the tomb. One of them had told me there was no sign of the Wyres, which was good, but also meant they were planning something big. I turned around and saw Lake and Rayne running toward me. Brennan, Trevor, and Soren were sauntering behind them. What was Rayne doing here?

"Why are you guys here?" I raised a brow. "Why is she here?"

"You can't trust Beedle," Rayne said stopping.

"That's rich coming from you."

"Aya, she's right," Lake said. "She saw Beedle. He was with the other Wyres. We can't trust him."

"But we can trust her?"

"She was brainwashed. Hypnotized. She wants to get revenge against the wires for planting ideas into her head," Lake said.

I sighed. I didn't necessarily agree with Lake, but we were running out of time and options. Rayne definitely would be much more helpful as an ally then an enemy.

"Fine," I replied rudely. "What do we do now?"

"I think that part of this might be a decoy," Rayne said.

"Oh no you've figured it out," a man's voice wavered in the air sarcastically.

Rayne's face changed. She was angry. "It's him."

"Who's him?" I asked.

"The Commander," she replied.

The air around us grew colder, heavier swirling around my body until it dissipated above us. I shuddered. I could feel the chill in my bones. It wasn't a good cold. There was something off. Something sinister. I looked around, up and down, but there was no sight of the emperor.

"You see. There can only be one leader. One chosen one to take us to victory and destroy the others," the man's voice reappeared. "We know which ones are in the running. We have narrowed it down. Now you must prove which one is more worthy of this position."

I spun around, almost tripping over my own shoelaces. The voice was sharp, like it had come from behind me. This time I was sure, I would catch the Commander in action, but I was wrong. No one was there.

"My dear Rayne, what are you doing with these fools?" The Commander asked.

"What are you doing here Commander Gotshit?" Rayne snickered

"It's Comannder Gotsam," he replied angrily.

"Why are you doing this to us?" I shouted back my fist raised in the air. "At least have the common decency to show yourself you coward."

I heard a clap of hands. "As you wish," the Commander appeared. "Why are we doing this?" He repeated my question with a laugh. "We are doing this to give both of you a fair chance."

Rayne shook her head. "How is this fair? You brainwashed me?"

"We could have just chosen one of you based on our instincts and killed the other," he began. "But we are going to let you two fight. The winner gets the position."

"What happens to the other one?" Brennan asked.

"I think you know the answer to that," he replied.

"Well, that hardly seems fair," Brennan rebutted. "What if they refuse?"

He laughed again. Another creepy hearty laugh, that made my skin crawl. "I suggest they don't do that unless they want their friend to have a tragic accident," he said and that made my heart stop. Which friend? Lake? "You don't want poor Issa to suffer do you?"

I took in a deep breath, my fingers scratched at the palm of my hand. I was relieved it wasn't Lake, but hearing Issa's name didn't make me feel better. She was still my friend and I wasn't going to let this monster hurt her. I didn't want to fight Rayne again. We had just done that. Where was Serina and all her men? They were supposed to be protecting us. So much for that.

I gazed back in the direction of the tomb. I was about to wave toward the men, trying to grab their attention for help, but the emperor stopped me. "Don't waste your energy," he said lowering my hand. "Don't you touch me," I growled at him and turned back toward the men. Then I realized something was off. "Oh you recognize it don't you?" He snickered. "Those aren't Serina's men. They're wires."

As soon as he said that, the men started marching toward us. I wanted to run, I even started lifting my feet off the ground, but then I remembered they had Issa. That's what was trapping me. Rayne seemed just as terrified. She even mouthed the words "I'm so sorry".

"This battle will take place on the sacred day of the trackers," he started.

"You're going to keep us prisoners until then?" Rayne asked. "That's two days from now."

He nodded. "Don't worry you will have no recollection of this conversation. We will come get you when it's time," he said and then disappeared.