11. Lyndon

Chapter 11

Lyndon

M y eyes were gritty and heavy and my head was pounding. I needed to get up, but every muscle in my body was protesting that thought. I'd had another sleepless night, and I doubted this one would be any better.

I wished I could say it was only because Darcy was sleeping on the couch just on the other side of this door, or at least because I'd been getting more of those crazy sex visions I'd had a few days ago.

Unfortunately, it seemed the goddess would only grant me one of those. I still got turned on every time I thought about it. That had simultaneously been the hottest and most mortifying thing that had ever happened to me. I was just glad that Ambrose hadn't seen that. I would've never heard the end of it.

Seeing Darcy standing there with an obvious wet spot in his pants had triggered something primal in me I'd never expected to feel. Maybe I should've been mad that he'd watched me, but I wasn't. I might be trying to deny the connection between us, but it was there, and seeing his slitted eyes and wet pants had just done something to me. I wanted to see if I could get him to come untouched again, when I was lucid enough to realize what was happening.

Luckily, I'd come to my senses before I'd done something crazy, like pin Darcy to the wall and kiss him stupid. We'd both stammered awkward apologies, and then he'd bolted. When I'd seen him later, he'd been wearing clean pants and all evidence of the event had been gone. He hadn't mentioned it again, so I hadn't either. It was still running on repeat in my brain though.

No, my sleepless nights weren't because of dirty fantasies. Every time I dozed off, I would get these dreams. It seemed that the goddess was getting tired of our shit, and things seemed to be escalating. Last night I'd had a vivid dream of Darcy walking through the portal and out of my life, leaving me all alone. Another one had shown the PDA lining the streets, checking the licensing on all parahumans and arresting some of them on the spot. Another of a house covered with blood splatter as a family lay dead. The one that had freaked me out the most had featured the coven house I'd grown up in as nothing more than a burnt-out husk. The lands that surrounded it just barren fields.

I'd woken up from a dead sleep after that and had never fully gone back. I was exhausted.

Stumbling out of bed, I glared at the ceiling. "Goddess, don't you have someone else to bother? This is getting ridiculous." Of course she didn't respond. Fucking deities.

My eyes were barely open, but I knew the layout of my house like the back of my hand and made it out of my room and to the bathroom. I didn't even glance in the direction of the living room where Darcy was. I could feel his presence. I didn't need to see him.

I got to the sink without any major disaster and turned on the water to wash my face and brush my teeth. It did nothing to get rid of the gritty feeling in my eyes, but at least my breath didn't stink anymore.

I shut the water off and reached for the door handle. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and I collapsed before everything went dark.

The irons around my wrists were heavy and tight, but not as tight as the collar around my neck.

"Let's go, witch. We don't have all day." Something jabbed into the middle of my back and a jolt electricity went through my whole body. Did the fucker just tase me?

I was still on my feet though, and I managed to stumble forward. I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I was in a prison of some kind, it seemed. The walls were cement and guards lined them, holding nasty looking guns. I squinted at their uniforms. Parahuman Detection Agency . Goddess, had I been tagged? But why?

They pushed me into a big, open room, and I realized I wasn't the only parahuman around. My magic was dampened somehow, probably the collar, but I could still make out the otherness of the rest of the prisoners. Most were shifters, but there were at least a few witches here, and some that I couldn't recognize without the help of my magic.

How had I ended up here?

The guards all but dragged me to the left wall, where they chained me to a hook.

"What's going on?" I asked them, but they just laughed and walked away.

"Best to keep your mouth shut." I looked over to see that someone else was chained next to me. He was a shifter, a big one, probably a predator of some kind, but he looked like he had been weakened. He was slumped on the floor and even the effort of looking up at me seemed to be too much.

"What happened?" I asked him. Last thing I remembered, I was doing my morning business, and suddenly I was tagged and in a parahuman prison. It was absurd. The guy didn't answer, just huffed a breath and looked away.

Goddess, Darcy. Where was he? Was he okay?

"Listen up, mongrels!"

I jolted at the amplified voice and finally found the source. A human in a military uniform was standing on a stage of some kind in the middle of the room. He sneered at the parahumans that were chained around him. I guessed these assholes hated us because we were different. Just great.

"Look around you. Take in each and every last one of the scum in chains. This is it. This is the last of your kind. Feel high and mighty now? Do you mongrels still feel like you're the superior kind? Where did all that strength and magic get you? Thousands dead and the last, few survivors about to be executed for the whole world to see."

Executed? Thousands dead? No. No! This couldn't be happening. I was in my cabin, damn it! I was with Darcy.

I scanned the crowd, desperate now, but I didn't see him. Did he make it back to his world? Goddess, I hoped so. He didn't deserve this end. The human was still speaking, but I heard nothing. I was searching the crowd of prisoners, hoping to see anyone I knew. Ambrose. Aria. My parents. Aunt Belinda. Anyone. The few witches here, I didn't recognize. There was no one from my coven. I was alone.

Were they really dead like this human claimed? No! They couldn't be. Goddess, please let them be safe. Let Darcy be safe. Maybe if I could remember what happened, I could make things better. There had to be a way to make things better.

The vision shifted.

I wasn't in a prison anymore, but I almost wished I were. Death was everywhere. The smell infiltrated my nose, threatening to bring me to my knees. It was so strong, it was overwhelming the smoke and the aroma of burning flesh. I was going to be sick.

I finally got my bearings enough to look around, but I couldn't make anything out. It was total darkness. I tried to move but was paralyzed in place.

"Where am I? What is happening?" I screamed into the void but, to no one's surprise, got no response.

But then I did. The voice was faint, and I had to strain to hear it. It sounded like they were coming from miles and miles away.

"Every decision has a consequence, young one. What will yours bring?"

The air was sucked from my lungs, and my chest burned with a searing pain.