Forbidden Darkness (The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, #1)

Thirty-One

Everything around me was pitch black and I had no idea where I was. I stood up, looking around, trying hard to find something—anything—but couldn't. Fright fell over me then as I thought about what just happened. The fight, the fall.

Was I dead? I couldn't be dead!

But here I was, in pitch black, calling for help and no one was answering. I felt lifeless, like I was no longer in a body, and that I was just floating around. At that moment I knew that it was true that I was dead.

"No!" I screamed. "No, I can't be dead! I still have so much to do and have so much to figure out!" I thought of my mom and how she would feel once she knew I was dead. She would be devastated and that thought hurt me more than anything. I didn't want my mother to hurt, especially since she was the one who told me to be careful now. I went against her will, left the house to save Hayden, and was now dead. It was all my fault.

That was when I heard it, so soft that if it weren't absolutely silent, I wouldn't have heard it. "It's not your time...not your time..." I didn't know who was saying them but they kept repeating the same thing over and over again, "Not your time...not your time..."

"Who's there?" I asked. "Someone answer me!"

"Not your time..." the voice said again.

Before I had the chance to question anything else, I woke up.

***

War was happening the second I opened my eyes. I was lying on the ground and listening as the sound of screaming, fighting, and the smell of blood ignited my senses. As I looked around, I saw Philip and Kristen fighting the Monsters alone and Kadin was still on top of the platform. What just happened? I tried to remember but I couldn't. Somehow, someway I was alive and the last thing I remembered was falling. But how had I made it that far down?

I didn't have much time to question. As soon as the Monsters realized I was alive they were going to come after me and I had a friend to save. Jumping up quickly, I pulled the knife from my pocket and got ready for a fight. A nearby Monster lunged at me, its teeth bared and ready to feast, but I was too quick and slid beneath it, riding along the mud, and once underneath, I plunged the blade deep into its stomach. The Monster roared and blood dripped from its stomach as I crawled out. It was still standing and ready to go at me again, but I clenched my hands into a fist, swinging with the knife in hand, and stabbed it right in the face.

"Heather!" Philip shouted as he saw me. "Get out of here and go back to the car!"

I ignored him and kicked the Monster in the gut and it finally dropped. Another came at me from behind and knocked me to the ground, but I quickly gathered my strength to fight back. As it rushed at me, I jumped at it, plunging the bloody knife into its eye sockets. The shrill scream coming from the creature was a pain to my ears, and my animal-loving instinct kicked in. But these weren't animals and I needed to remember that. Two more Monsters jumped off the tower and landed on top of me, and a loud scream erupted from my sound box. I dropped my knife and thought that I might die—for the second time?—when Kristen and Philip each got one and stabbed the hell out of them.

"I need to get back up there!" I said as Kristen reached her hand out to pull me up.

Kristen wiped some blood off her face, as the mixture of blood and rain was making it harder to see. "Alright, we'll keep the Monsters occupied. Go!"

I headed toward the stairs and began to make my way up. When I got to the top, I was surprised at the sight. The Darkness was wrapping itself around Hayden and just as I went to intervene, the most amazing thing happened.

"Heather!" Kadin shouted. His face read total confusion. "How did you make it back up here? I thought you died!" Then to even more of his surprise, the Darkness exploded—literally exploded—and he stood there in shock. At first he didn't know what to say, but then he looked at Hayden in awe. "Your blood is too pure...it destroyed my Darkness!"

Next thing I knew, he hit me with lightning again like he did before I fell off the tower. It went right through me, shocking me for a second, but the biggest surprise of all came when I felt so much power inside of me. All this time I'd been feeling power grow inside of me, and suddenly it was unleashed. Lightning shot out of my hands, knocking Kadin down, and he stared at me in awe as well. "What the hell is going on here?"

I stared down at my hands. "I...I don't know," I said, my voice trembling in fear. Did lightning really just come out of my hands? The look on Kadin's face confirmed it. Within seconds, he vanished, leaving me and Hayden all alone. I ran over to Hayden to untie him and I ripped the duct tape off of his mouth.

The first thing that came out of his mouth was, "You-you just...had lightning come out of your hands. How did you...?"

"I really don't know," I said again. I assisted him with getting up, and I couldn't help but wonder what Kadin meant when he told Hayden his blood was too pure. And then the Darkness exploded? I wasn't understanding anything about tonight and didn't have any time to ponder it with the ongoing battle on the ground beneath us. "Hayden, you stay here. There's a huge battle going on down there and I have to go help them. If Kadin comes back you'll yell for me, right?"

He nodded. "Heather, I'm scared."

I saw the terror in his eyes then as well. "Trust me, I am, too. I'll be right back." And without any other distractions, I headed back down the steps to make sure my friends were still alive.