Insight

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

When we reached our house, the girls were laid on the couches in the living room. When Chrispin tried to step away from Olivia, she pulled him back to her. He didn't falter and sat by her side.

"What was that? That place, what they were doing?" Brady asked.

"Evil," Landen said.

Clarissa had gotten a warm towel and was wiping away the streaks of Hannah's mascara, telling her she was fine.

"Do you know where you were?" I asked Olivia as I hovered over her.

Olivia stared blankly into the room, then said, "I remember being on the boat. I woke in a chamber. A massive bed was there, and chairs around a fireplace. The walls were made of stone. No windows. When the fire went out, darkness filled the room. Once a day, we'd find a large cart of food and water. After we ate, we'd fall into a deep sleep—so drugged. I convinced Hannah and Jessica not to eat."

Tears drizzled down her face, "We pretended to sleep, and after an hour or so the fireplace slid aside. The room was filled with people wearing long black robes, and shadows covered any signs of their faces. They lined the room. When I opened my eyes wider to focus, I lost my sight, Jessica screamed as the chants began, and Hannah started to pray out loud. That is when she lost her voice." She pressed her lips together and pulled her shoulders back. "We were carried into another room..."

She tried to speak a few times before she got the story to come out. "They...they stripped our clothes and washed our bodies. Dressed us. Then we walked. It was cold, and the ground was uneven, uphill. The air was damp. We stopped. The chants began again then you came like they said you would."

Everyone was hanging on Olivia's every word, and now the fear she felt was filling the room.

"Who said she would come?" Chrispin asked softly, being gentler than anyone else was capable of being.

"When they were dressing us, I focused on the people talking. I heard Drake talking to a man with a husky voice. Drake was angry with him, telling him 'Now you've done it. Willow is sure to feel this, and the moon is not full.' The husky voice just laughed, saying there were always more people to be taken if need be. I prayed you'd come, Willow. I didn't know what you could do to help, but it was easy to see that Drake was afraid of what you could do."

Hannah had been nodding along as Olivia spoke, she motioned to me; she wanted something to write on. Dane left the room swiftly and returned with one of my sketchbooks. I tore out a clean sheet and handed it to her.

Hannah began trying to sketch. She drew a necklace it had a star, and she shadowed it to make it look like it was glowing. She then drew arrows pointing to it. Then wrote: old man had it.

"Did that star do something?" Brady asked.

Hannah nodded and drew what looked like a small tornado on the back of the page.

"Okay, Okay. Just calm down. We'll figure it out," I promised her, halfway trying to convince myself.

I sensed my father and Ashten's panic. I glanced to the window and saw them pulling up in front of my house.

Brady glanced to Landen. "Are you ready for this?" he asked. Landen shrugged.

We met them on the front porch. My father's eyes danced over Landen and me.

"What happened?" Ashten shouted, trying to look behind us. My father quickly looked us both over again. "They're fine," he said to Ashten.

I spoke up first, telling them what had happened—how the girls were hurt.