The Guardians (The Highest Order, Book One)

CHAPTER 21

'The girl. Find the girl' The voice sounds like an echo, hissing deep in my mind.

'If word gets out...'

'Words already out, Bellamy' Those words hang in the air as an eerie silence takes over. It's dark, the air is thick and hot. I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. Where am I?

My hands move against the nearest wall, acting as a guide to my blindness. The heat radiating through what I believe to be pure stone is almost unbearable but I push forward, pushing back the panic rising in my chest. How did I get here?

I freeze as footsteps sound behind me, getting closer and closer, panic once again begins to rise, settling like stones in my throat. The walls get hotter, unbearably so, until in a matter of seconds, I'm forced to pull them away, losing any sense of direction I had.

Too enamoured by the strangely shaped burn marks on the palms of my hands, barely visible to my own eyes, I almost missed the hands gripping my arms from behind, pulling me away with certainty.

No longer am I blinded to where I am, his face, I see his face. His glowing silver eyes peeling away the layers in my mind as he stares into my soul, bewilderment spreading across his angelic face. I knew he wasn't an angel, everything in my being did and in that moment, I knew where I was. The panic I felt earlier disappeared and was replaced with sudden terror. How did I get here?

Overwhelmed with the sudden realisation, his words almost made no sense to me. Until one word pulls me into reality.

'Alya, all grown up.' His voice is deep and rumbling and commands every measure of authority, but what scares me more is my reaction to the name. My mind accepted it as my own, it woke me up, brought me to reality, if this even is that. 'You can't be here, if they find you...'

His eyes scan the surrounding area. How can he see?

'You can't be here, you need to go' His eyes still dont come back to mine but his hands still hold my arms, pinning me against the back wall, keeping me out of sight.

'I don't...' I start, 'How did i get here?'

He freezes, finally turning to meet my quizzical gaze, 'That's worrying' He starts, 'Tell your knight, somethings coming, something big.' the severity in his eyes awoke something in my mind.

'I know you.' I say finitely.

'Tell him.'

Darkness overtakes my mind, spreading to my heart and eventually, all that's left is the memory of his glowing eyes, etched deep in my memory. A blinding light jolts me from my lying position. It takes me a few seconds to realise where I was. My eyes struggle to adjust to the brightness that takes over Maia's room but once they do, I'm startled into a wave of confusion.

There's a hole in the wall? No, it's more than that. It pulls as my soul, enriches me. In that moment, staring into the eye of the storm, I felt empowered. What the heck was this thing? My heart races and voices take over my mind, becoming too much for one person to handle. My hands come to the sides of my head trying to tame them. I beg them to stop. The deepest feeling of pain and fear takes over my entire being.

'Close it!' His voice balances me. I don't even need to turn to know whose it is. Not even over the blinding sound coming from the hole. The noises diminish, the voices silenced as he walks over to me, pulling me against his body, as his forehead falls to my own. In that moment, nothing exists but him and me.

The light fades, the noise subsides and the voices cease to exist.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, feeding off the energy we both provided, but I had questions.