Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(46)

My eyes swam with tears, but focused enough to see Ash smiling at me. I slapped him. “What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?” I smacked him, as he laughingly danced out of reach.

“You said you would give me an answer first thing tomorrow. It’s midnight, which is first thing tomorrow.” He held his hands in front of him, as if expecting me to launch an attack.

“Ash! I meant after a night’s rest! How could you do that to me? I thought you were someone trying to kill me!”

Ash cleared his throat and looked around, causing me to take in my surroundings. My jaw dropped. We were standing in a place of divine energy. Places of divine energy were inordinately powerful and hidden from ordinary humans. Witches had to cross a threshold of power to access them. There were only certain times, when we could cross the threshold. Witchlings weren’t allowed to enter these places, but I wasn’t a witchling any longer.

Divine places had been described to me many times, but never had their description lived up to the reality. I was standing in a field surrounded by a forest. A full moon brightened the star in the sky. Colored lights, which resembled the aurora borealis glistened across the inky blanket. The moon highlighted the azure flowers that pollinated the field. Everything had an dream-like inner glow. Animals weren't afraid of us here; a deer grazed in the far parts of the field near the foliage of the forest, while a falcon watched from a nearby branch.

“It’s beautiful.” I walked into the field of flowers and trailed my fingers against them. Tingling started in my fingers and quickly spread to the rest of my body. The sensation intoxicated me. Laughing, I spun in a circle with my arms stretched wide.

Ash stood a few feet away and watched my excitement with an amused smirk. “There is a reason why they call this a divine place.” He nodded towards the flowers. "Taste the petals." I looked at him in digust.

“Ew… I don’t make a habit of eating flowers. I’m more of a meat and potatoes kind of girl.”

“Nothing in this place is as it seems. Seriously, try it.” He picked a flower and handed it to me.

I looked around and realized that he was probably right. This placed looked, felt, sounded, and even smelled different. Why wouldn’t it taste different? Shrugging, I plucked a petal and hesitantly placed it onto my tongue. It didn’t taste the way I expected. Instead, the taste was like pure emotion centered on my tongue. The petal liquefied as I rubbed it between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. The petal went straight to my head and intensified my emotions.

“Oh my God, this is amazing!” I looked at the flower in shock and back at Ash. “Is everything like this? I mean, do the leaves taste like this too or is it only the flowers?”

“Everything tastes different, but I don’t recommend eating bark; it's a little too tough and I don’t think you would enjoy having splinters in your tongue.”

Kit could feel my joy and emerged from my body to run across the field. The deer looked up at the intrusion and hurriedly went back to eating.

“What the hell is that?” Ash jumped back several feet and looked at Kit in horror.

“That is Kit. He’s the only good thing I got out of my relationship with Liam.” Kit rushed back and butted his head against Ash's hip, which nearly knocked him over.

“Okay. How did you get Kit?” He still had a stricken face, but he had warmed to Kit and was petting the panther.

“He was dying and Liam’s coven performed a bonding ceremony. Kit is my spirit animal; I can take his shape and he can live in transparent form outside of my body.”Ash nodded in acceptance and pulled me into his arms.

“You owe me an answer.”

Seizing the change of subject, I danced out of his reach and attempting to be coy. “Hmmm… I think this place is a little too distracting. I don’t know if I will be able to give you an answer.” I looked around, laughed, and ran for the forest. I jumped over logs, ducked beneath branches, and moved as far into the forest as my feet could take me. Ash made noise as he ran to catch up to me and quickened my steps.

I halted when I came to a lake. It was different from the sort of lakes I knew of. The water resembled liquefied silver, but it was thin enough to swim in. I kneeled at the edge of the water, trailed my fingers through it, and watched as it came alive. The liquid substance traveled up my arm and onto my shoulder. I started to panic, but the water transformed into a small bird and rubbed its head against my cheek.

“Scared?” Ash spoke at my shoulder and scratched the liquid bird between its wings.

“Does the water always do this? Does it normally take the shape of animals?”

“No, not really. It probably sensed your curiosity and was attempting to soothe you.”

“Wait, the water is an empath? What happens if you swim in it?”

Ash sighed. “Yes, the water here is a living being and an empath.” Laughing, he continued. “I don’t think the water would mind if you take a swim. Though, you should know that the water affects inhibitions.”

“Hmmm… what type of inhibitions?” I pushed the strap of my dress off my shoulder and the other soon followed. “Don’t watch!”

“I think it’s a little late to tell you what kind of inhibitions.” He said, as he turned away from me.

I pushed my nightgown past my breasts and over my hips to let it fall around my feet. I wasn’t wearing a bra, but I kept my silk underwear on. The water was warm around my hips. It moved up to cover the length of my skin below my neck. I floated on my back before letting my feet to sink toward the bottom.