Synergy (See #3)(17)

“I see something,” Madison said in an angry tone.

I followed her stare, and in the distance I saw the silhouette of who could only be Bianca. I gripped Madison’s arm. “We aren’t following her – it’s a trap. She wouldn’t just appear that easily.”

“You’re right,” Madison said, forcing herself to look away from her. “What, then? Where do we go? Where would they be in here?”

“They were going to look for those guys. Maybe they started in a place that looked like where they were taken.”

“Do you remember it?”

“Yeah,” I said as I closed my eyes.

“That’s a little eerie,” Madison said in a shaky voice.

I opened my eyes slowly, and now on the horizon there was a massive castle-looking place. A stone wall surrounded it, and the building itself was at least eight stories high with balconies stretched out on different levels. The sky above this place was black and circling rapidly in place. Lightning would spider web across it every other second.

In one of the large windows that was a few floors up, I saw images. There was a massive balcony in front of it.

“Balcony,” I whispered.

Madison squeezed my hand, and in that instant we there. We crouched down in the shadows and peered in. There was a fireplace on the back wall, and an aggressive fire was raging within it. At first it was hard to make out the images in the glow of the room, but then I began to focus my eyes. There were three men and a woman, Bianca. They didn’t notice us. As the man in the center turned to his side, I saw that it wasn’t a man at all; it was a boy. It was Winston. At first I thought he was trapped, that they were questioning him or something, but he looked too calm, too at home where he was.

“That evil bastard,” I hissed.

“I don’t know; he may be just playing it cool,” Madison whispered.

Bianca began to circle Winston, looking him over seductively. Winston followed her path with hungry eyes. At that moment, the other two men turned into images of her.

I looked over my shoulder out at the field and imagined an explosion, and with my thought it appeared. The force rattled the stone palace we were at, and I looked back for any kind of response from Winston. If he were guilty, he would have shown fear; if he were trapped, he would have used the distraction to escape.

Bianca looked out the window, then her and the images of her vanished. Winston looked down and sighed; he almost looked disappointed.

“What now? Are we going in there?”

“Yup,” I said as the thought came to mind and I appeared in front of Winston. He jumped back, only to find Madison behind him.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” he seethed.

“Says who? Draven? Or your girlfriend?”

“Says me! Why did you do that? I was so close!”

“To what?!”

“My family!” he said as he vanished.

“What the hell?” Madison said to me.

“I don’t know; maybe he was looking for his mom.”

“I’m not worried about Mom...Dad, that’s another ball game.”

A horrifying moaning echoed around us. I looked at Madison, then nodded for her to follow me. The sound was definitely a man, but I didn’t think it was Draven. When we reached the threshold of the room, we didn’t find a hallway; instead, another room appeared. I wasn’t really surprised by it. You never really moved far in this place before everything changed.

The room was so dark; it took me a second to focus my eyes. When I did, I had to hold my breath. This was the room the prince was in, and I could swear he was slouched against the far wall. It was too dark to see his face, so I had a second or two before Madison’s world came crashing down around her. The moaning wasn’t coming from him; it was coming from another boy lying across the floor. He was too shadowed for me to make out his features, but I could hear him clearly. It was like he was having a nightmare.

He was moving his head from side to side. “We leave together, or we die together,” he muttered. Then a second later, he said, “She’s not here! Watch out!”

Just as I went to step forward to wake him out of whatever illusion he was in, an icy chill blew past us. It was so cold that it was dark. Shivers spread across every inch of my body. Before I could say a word, ash began to spin before the images of the boys on the floor. Within that second, an image appeared. It was the evil angel that Madison had sketched. Its wings were dark, ashy, and stretched from one end of the room to the other. Its flawless face smiled slyly at us, daring us to move forward. It was a silent standoff; he was telling us that they belonged to him.

I was torn on what to do. If that was Draven or even Aden lying on the floor, I wouldn't care what was in my way; I would charge forward. But not knowing who those boys were -- or if they were even real -- made me hesitate. I was screaming at myself on the inside, telling myself that karma was a bitch and that if I didn’t help them, it would come for me, come back and hurt Draven. I boldly stepped forward.

“And what or who are you?” I asked in the bravest voice I could manage.

The angel growled deeply, and the room became so cold that my teeth began to chatter. I thought of warmth. I thought of the sun, but the sun didn’t come; instead, my butterflies appeared. The angel flowed back ever so slightly.

“Something bothering you?” I asked just as boldly as before. With my words, more glowing butterflies appeared, and the angel growled. He tried to move forward, but he couldn’t. At first I thought it was because of the butterflies, but then I saw it: a devil’s trap.