Filed To Story: Chasing the Rejected Luna's Heart (Clara & Liam) Book PDF Free
Cole grabbed me and pulled me up, then kept pulling me toward the steps. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”
The stone ring his foot touched flashed with a light so brilliant it blinded us both for a few seconds, and he staggered back into the center of the circle with me. We stood back-to-back as the entire forest became a light show, and the glow was now fading in and out in a dance that seemed to flow from some inaudible rhythm. I could feel it, though, pulsing beneath my feet. It grew stronger than my own pulse.”Do you feel that?” I cried.
Cole looked at me, frowning. “Feel what?”
Before I could answer, the earth began trembling enough that I lost my balance. I caught myself against his arm as the trembling evolved into quaking and grew even more intense, making it hard to stand. “What the hell is happening?””I think your blood activated something,” Cole said, sounding as confused by his theory as I was. It might have sounded crazy, but nothing about this was sane and it made as much sense as anything.”Activatedwhat is the question,” I muttered. The light was so bright I could hardly even see the trees anymore.
Cole just shook his head. It was rare for him to be at a loss of words for anything, so I knew we were screwed.”Okay, maybe you weren’t so far off about that whole fae thing.”
He snorted. “You think?”
I took a step forward, and he grabbed my wrist. “What do you think you’re doing?””We can’t stay here forever,” I reasoned. “And unless you want to be the one to call for help because we activated a fae circle in the middle of the woods, I can’t really think of anything else.”
He hesitated, but he clearly wasn’t happy about it. “Let me go first. Stay here.”
I rolled my eyes and folded my arms while he took a step out of the center circle. He went slowly, like he expected he’d be sucked into a void.
And I couldn’t blame him, since that seemed like a possibility.”Alright, I guess it’s safe,” he said as I was already walking out of the circle. As soon as I took the last step, I realized the light around us was beginning to fade. A few more steps and it was just a smoky fog hovering a few inches off the ground.”It’s gone,” Cole said, looking around. He glanced back at me suspiciously. “What did you do?””
Me?” I cried.”As soon as you crossed that threshold, the light went away,” he said, pointing back at the circle.
I opened my mouth to argue, but he had a point. “It was just a coincidence,” I insisted.”Sure,” Cole scoffed. “Come on, let’s get out of here before whatever that was happens again.””Fine with me,” I mumbled, following him back toward the trail. All this time, I’d thought I craved answers more than anything. Now I knew that wasn’t the case. If this place was what it claimed to be and my blood really had activated that circle, it stood to reason that, as impossible as it seemed, I really was part fae.
I finally had the answer I had been seeking ever since I was kicked out of my pack, and yet it only brought about a million other questions. Questions I wasn’t sure I wanted to be answered.
We walked for what felt like forever, but that was probably just the fear talking. Then Cole stopped in the middle of the trail and looked around like he was confused about something.”What is it?” I asked.”This is where the trail is supposed to end and branch off into the main one,” he said slowly.
I frowned. “Are you sure? I mean, maybe we just took a wrong turn.””There are no turns,” he said pointedly. “And I know what I’m talking about. Sam and I came to this place a million times when we were kids.”
I sighed. Typical guy, refusing to admit he was wrong about directions. “I’m sure the trail is just a little further up ahead and we got turned around, that’s all,” I said, continuing to walk. Cole didn’t seem happy about it, but he fell into step with me.
We walked in silence for another few minutes with no sign of the trail, so I glanced out of my phone, at least wanting to keep track of the time. When I saw that the display was black, I felt a little surge of panic.
I had charged the thing fully last night. And I hadn’t even used it since leaving the house, so there is no way it was out of battery. I tried turning it on, but no dice. “My phone is dead.””Seriously?””It was charged!”
He rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket. He looked down at his screen, and when his expression went blank, I knew he was facing the same problem. Any satisfaction I might’ve felt about being right was dampened by the fact that we were in the middle of the woods, lost, with no phones.”This is messed up,” I mumbled. “There has to be another way back on the trail, right?”
Cole didn’t reply right away. I could see the wheels turning in his head. “This way,” he finally said, nodding up ahead before starting in that direction. I followed him, but there was part of me that already felt like we were going the wrong way. Not that I knew what the right way was.
We had been walking another ten minutes at least when I heard something up ahead–the trickling of water. “The creek!” Cole said eagerly, walking faster in the direction of the sound. I ran to keep up, but Cole stopped so short, I nearly ran into him.”What the hell?” he muttered.