41. Adelaide

With my head throbbing, I wake up.

The pain is intense, pulsing behind my eyes and making it hard to concentrate.

Everything's fuzzy. My vision is blurred, and I can't quite make sense of my surroundings. The world seems to swim in and out of focus, making me feel disoriented and nauseous.

Where am I? I try to move, but something's wrong. My arms and legs won't budge. There's resistance when I try to shift. Something is holding me in place. I blink rapidly, trying to clear my vision, but it's like looking through a heat haze. The air around me seems to shimmer and waver, distorting my perception.

Slowly, shapes start to form, and the sharp scent of nature hits my nose. The smell of damp earth, pine needles, and fresh air fills my nostrils. Trees. I'm outside in the forest.

As my eyes adjust. I see stones. A circle of them surrounds me, their rough surfaces covered in moss and lichen. They're large, taller than a person, and seem ancient. I'm in the middle of this stone circle, lying on something hard and cold. The surface beneath me is unyielding, probably stone as well.

I look around, taking in more details of my surroundings, and my stomach drops as the realisation sets in. There are five points, strategically placed around me. Metal glints in the low light, and I can feel the cold touch of chains on my wrists and ankles. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that I'm chained to a pentagram.

Fuck. Fuck!

Panic hits me like a truck, a rush of adrenaline flooding my system. My heart rate skyrockets, and I can hear the blood rushing in my ears. I thrash against the chains, the metal biting into my skin. The pain is sharp, real. This isn't a dream. This is really happening.

"Help!" I scream, my voice raw and desperate. "Somebody help me!"

My voice echoes through the trees, bouncing off the stone circle and fading into the distance. No one answers. The forest around me is deathly quiet. Just the rustle of leaves in the wind and the distant call of a bird breaks the silence. It's as if the whole world has abandoned me.

I strain against the chains again, putting all my strength into trying to break free. But they're too tight, the metal isn't giving way. I can barely move an inch in any direction. The chains rattle loudly in the quiet forest, a harsh sound that only emphasises my helplessness.

"Adelaide, calm down." Professor Blackthorn's voice cuts through my panic as he moves into view on my left. The sound of his familiar voice in this bizarre situation is jarring. He's standing over me, his face grim, his eyes shadowed. How did he find me? Why is he here? "You need to trust me, okay?"

Trust him? Is he fucking joking? "You abducted me and chained me to a pentagram!" I shriek at him, my voice high and hysterical. I'm driven purely by panic and fear, unable to process the situation rationally.

"Get away from her, Luke!"

I know that voice. I recognise it instantly, even though it's new to me.

My dad. Randall Black.

He's walking towards us, his footsteps heavy on the forest floor. He's holding something that glints in the low light. A knife? The sight of the weapon sends a fresh wave of fear through me.

Blackthorn turns to face him, his body tensing as if preparing for a fight. "You don't know what you're doing, Randall."

"Get away from her, Luke," my father growls again. "I'm not telling you again." His voice is filled with deadly aggression, a tone I've never heard before. Despite the situation, my stomach untwists slightly at the protective note in his voice.

"Not a fucking chance, Randall," Blackthorn retorts. Suddenly, fire erupts from Blackthorn's hands, the flames casting flickering shadows across the clearing. At the same time, shadows seem to bend and twist around my father, the darkness itself responding to his will. The air snaps with a magick so dark and powerful, I nearly vomit from the pressure of it bearing down on my soul.

I watch, frozen in shock and fear, unable to do anything but observe as these two men prepare to battle over me.

They clash. Trees splinter and fall as blasts of energy miss their targets, the sound of breaking wood echoing through the forest. The ground shakes beneath me with each impact, the vibrations travelling through the stone I'm lying on. The atmosphere is heavy, static, thick like soup. I can barely breathe, the air pressing down on my chest.

My mind races, trying to make sense of what's happening. None of this makes sense. Why are they fighting? What do they want with me? I pull at the chains again, ignoring the pain as they cut into my wrists. They won't budge, the metal as unyielding as ever. I'm trapped, forced to watch as these two powerful beings fight over me.

You're in for it now, little bitch.

"Oh, you can shut the fuck up, massive cunt," I growl at Crimson's voice in my head. Even in this terrifying situation, her presence is an unwelcome intrusion.

She laughs, the sound full of amusement while I'm chained to the ground in some kind of satanic ritual.

Don't be silly, girl. This is full-on witch powers. Pagan. The Satanists stole it.

"Gee, thanks for the fucking religious lesson, cunt. Got any ideas to get me out of here?"

She goes quiet, offering no help or advice.

"Of course," I mutter, not surprised by her lack of assistance.

The fight intensifies, drawing my attention back to the battle raging around me. Blackthorn hurls bolts of energy that light up the clearing like lightning, the flashes momentarily blinding me. My father counters with waves of darkness that seem to swallow the light, plunging the area into brief moments of total blackness. I can't tell who's winning. They seem evenly matched, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Light and dark.

Légère and Black.

I don't know what to think. My eyes dart between the two men, trying to find some clue on how to get out of here. But I'm helpless, unable to do anything but watch and hope.

As I watch them clash again, a terrifying thought hits me. No matter who wins this fight, I'm in danger. I will always be in danger because of what I am. This realisation settles over me like a heavy blanket, smothering any hope I had of things ever going back to normal.

A stray bolt of energy from the fight strikes the ground near me, showering me with dirt and small stones. I scream, the debris stinging my skin. I try to curl into myself for protection, but the chains hold me spread-eagled out on the ground, leaving me exposed and vulnerable.

"Stop!" I yell, my voice is hoarse from screaming. "Please, just stop!"

But they don't seem to hear me. Or if they do, they don't care. They're too focused on each other, on their battle over me. My pleas fall on deaf ears as the fight continues to rage around me.

I strain my ears, trying to catch snippets of what they're saying to each other as they fight. Their words are mostly lost in the chaos of the battle, but I manage to catch a few fragments.

"This is—" Blackthorn is cut off as a bolt of magick hits him square in the chest. The impact sends him flying backwards, his body slamming into one of the standing stones with a sickening thud.

I breathe a sigh of relief as he goes down. Maybe now this will all be over.

Glancing up at Randall as he stands over me, I smile. A spark of hope ignites in my chest. "Thanks for the rescue?—"

"I'm sorry, Adelaide," Randall interrupts me and then slams the knife into my chest, straight into my heart.