Sold

16.2: Barrier

When I wake up my muscles ache with tiredness, my eyes are crusty, and Master Synn is gone.

Dazed, I push myself up to a sitting position and look around. I expected to see him still reading and sitting on the bed beside me or curled up next to me atop the mattress. But he's nowhere nearby. Even the bathroom door is open.

He's gone.

Although I fell asleep last night upset with him for ignoring me, fear splinters through my heart, icing my insides. Worries barrage my brain, drowning my lungs in chest-confining anxiety.

Is he safe? Did Vylek finally catch up to him?

I leap out of bed and hurry to the door, opening it and wandering down the hallway. My feet carry me through so many passageways I can no longer remember how to get back to the room. Eventually, I notice a large door unlike the others in the house. I pause for a moment, staring at it, and then I remember what it is.

This door. This is the front door.

I blink, staring dazed for a moment. It feels like so long since I last saw it that it's hard to believe I'm truly looking at it. The escape. The exit. The place I'd wanted to be face to face with since I arrived here.

But, right now, the exit seems less important even though it's within my reach. Surprisingly, I feel more interested in making sure Master Synn is safe than escaping. 

"Master Synn?" I call out, looking hopelessly at the hallway behind me. I receive no response and try the door handle.

It isn't locked. It opens.

I step outside, feeling the chilly fresh air hit my face and lungs, alighting my skin to life. Being outside feels amazing. I hadn't realized I missed it so much. The sappy scent of trees mixed with the flowery aroma of pollen hits my nose, reminding me of my old home in the forest.

It feels like an eternity ago.

The sunlight warms my face and arms, offering me an immediate and encompassing hug. I inhale deeply, almost in a gasp, and step further outside. I hear the water running from the river nearby the house and all of the forest chatter I missed so much from back home. Tears gather in my eyes and I smile.

"Did you come out to escape or to look for me?" I hear Master Synn's voice across the yard. He steps toward me, raising his angled brows and scanning my expression.

My shoulders relax and my heart soars; I'm relieved he's safe. I'm glad he hasn't abandoned me in the mansion, gotten killed by that man Vylek, or...who knows what else? Surely a man with as much magick

"To look for you, of course, Master Synn," I answer earnestly, raising my palms in front of me and cherishing the sunlight blanketing them.

Even though it's shocking, it's true. I cared more about finding him than running away. I hadn't even intended to do that. If he wasn't out here and I knew he was safe, I would probably have just laid in the grass and enjoyed the sun.

But why? Why have my feelings toward him - and toward being here - changed so quickly?

"I hope that's true. You were so quick to try to run away when you first arrived." He gives me an earnest smile and my heart flutters.

"Go on." He urges me, motioning to the forest. I quirk an eyebrow at him but do as he says and walk toward the woods.

The last time I tried, the invisible wall blocked me. Master Synn motions for me to keep moving and I do until I pass where the invisible wall once was. I look back in awe.

"You removed the barrier." A wave of excitement rushes through my body and I run toward Master Synn, wanting more than anything to wrap my arms around him in a hug and thank him.

Before I reach him, something black rushes from the forest and slams into Master Synn's chest, knocking him three yards back toward the house and into the wall. He lays there, body slumped, with his eyes closed. A scream tears from my lips as icy fear creeps over every inch of my skin.

A figure steps out of the woods - a dark, masculine form under the shadows of the trees.

"Oh? I didn't expect Mexx to have guests over." A baritone voice slips from the shadows.

As the man draws into full view, I see he's the same race as Master Synn, but with glowing red eyes and purple toned skin. His scales are only a few shades darker than the rest of his complexion and his lips curl into a wide smile.

"Who?" Flustered, I stare at the man and try to make sense of the situation. Why is this random man here at the house? Why did he attack Master Synn?

And one answer stands clear in my mind. He's the man Master Synn warned me about. He's the one who sent the man who put that cold blade against my throat. He's everything I woke up worrying about.

Shuddering, I stumble back and my words leave my mouth in a whisper. "You're Vylek."