Chapter Sixteen Aria

Chapter Sixteen

Aria

Shock pinned me to the spot as I stared at the man who had to be an apparition.

An appearance of the impossible.

A dream that had come to life, manifested before my eyes.

Ragged breaths heaved from my lungs, my mind at war with disbelief and a crushing hope that I was terrified to put my faith in.

Time stopped as we stood there ... just ... looking at each other, and I had to wonder if I’d succumbed.

If this was eternity.

If the man who’d wrapped his hands around my throat with the wicked gleam in his eyes had actually snuffed out my life and my spirit was now instead convincing me of an alternate reality.

Of this.

The cognizant piece of me understood my heart still beat, and I hadn’t been able to keep my hands on the vile, depraved monster long enough to bind the darkness I could feel seeping from his soul.

But I’d drawn blood. I’d known it. Had felt his hatred burn so hot as he’d stumbled back, crashing into the wall and sending a tray scattering across the floor as he spat his toxic vitriol like barbs that couldn’t catch.

Now a dull hum buzzed in my ears, my feet heavy and my knees weak, as I looked at the man who seemed to be caught in the same moment as I.

One second set to “pause,” where only he and I existed.

Muted light from the hall spilled over him. His hair was a shock of white. Face hewn in severe cuts and harsh angles.

But it was the pale-gray eyes I’d only dreamed of seeing in this realm that made me feel as if I were looking at my truth for the first time.

A deep, toiling sea.

Fathomless.

Boundless.

“Pax?” His name whispered from my mouth in a tumble of confusion. As soon as the sound hit the air, time sped up again, whipping back to the here and now.

Shouts echoed down the hall. A desperate intensity vibrated the atmosphere and spun it into mayhem.

“I told you, on your knees. Now. Don’t make me fire this thing.”

Jenny had scrambled upright on her bed, and she clutched her blanket to her chest as if it were a shield. Terror coated her being, her eyes wide in the darkness that covered the room in a cloak of shock.

“Aria, what’s happening? Oh God, what’s happening?” Panic wisped from her words, and she gaped at Pax, shocked to find the man from my drawing standing in our doorway.

“It’s okay, Jenny. Don’t be afraid,” I told her—because somehow, I wasn’t. “Remember that you’re good and amazing and you’re going to be okay.”

Pax’s attention whipped down the hall as the voice continued to carry: “On your knees! It’s the last time I will warn you.”

Then those gray eyes were back on me, and he stretched out his hand. “Aria, we have to hurry.”

The sharp edge of his voice knocked me out of the stupor, and every molecule in my body snapped into action.

Running forward, I took the hand he had extended.

Energy streaked at the connection.

Staggering.

Light flashed behind my eyes and surged through my body when we touched. A shock wave that shot through me and shook me to the core.

But we didn’t have time to stand there and process it.

Pax pulled me out into the hall, and his head swung in every direction as he calculated how to get us out of this.

Shouts and yells came at us from every side. A security guard stood at the head of the hall. His Taser was drawn, his stance one of protection, though I could physically feel him shaking with the horror of what was happening.

Three people were behind him, peering out from the barricade he’d created with his body. An older woman whom I didn’t recognize, plus two nurses working the night shift, Jill included.

My stomach lurched when the vile man who’d sneaked into my room climbed to his knees, trying to get the rest of the way to his feet.

He swayed with the wickedness that oozed from his being, and I could almost hear the Ghorl raging in his mind, their commands for him to get up, to finish the job, to end me, as he wheezed, “You bitch. Little whore.”

Pax lifted his free hand. A hand I hadn’t realized was holding a gun. He brought it down hard at the base of the man’s skull. A crack echoed through the air. The monster gave, his body jerking before he fell flat against the floor.

“Motherfucker,” Pax spat before his attention whipped both directions, his jaw set tight as he realized the only way we could go was deeper into the facility.

“This way.” He tugged at my hand, quick to step over the man. Bile burned in my throat as I hopped over him.

I struggled to keep up with Pax, who started to run, hauling me along behind him as the staff began to chase us.

My bare feet smacked against the cold, hard floor, and blood barreled through my veins. A thunder that raged and a chaos that trounced through me in a violent, hammering storm.

“I have you,” Pax promised in the same rough voice I recognized all the way down to my soul.

Together, we raced down the hall with his hand firmly wrapped around mine. It was something we’d done so many times before, only this time, we were the ones being hunted and not the other way around.

“Stop!” The single word wobbled from the guard, the command ignored as Pax drove us faster.

My heart hammered.

Confusion, hope, and horror clanged with each erratic beat.

“Stop. Both of you. There is no way you’re getting out of here, so don’t make this harder than it has to be.” The guard’s voice was in the distance but growing nearer, and I could hear the clatter of multiple footsteps as the rest followed.

A crush of adrenaline and desperation hurtled down the hall and pressed at the walls.

“Aria Rialta, you must end this. You have no chance of getting out of here. You’re only going to make it worse for yourself.” The unfamiliar woman’s voice carried, hooks that threatened to impale.

Other patients had begun to emerge from their rooms, and they stood gawking in their open doors, still half-asleep as they peered out into the commotion.

Their confusion turned into shouts, some of them cheering on the mayhem, while others shrank back into the safety of their rooms.

“Don’t slow, Aria,” Pax murmured quietly. Harsh with the plea.

We came up to the end of the hall, and Pax took a sharp right. We spilled into the open space of the cafeteria.

Here, it was darker, shadows filling the large area and crawling over the tables.

“This way.” Pax tugged my hand as he started in the direction of the swinging door far across the room—until an orderly pushed out through it, obstructing our path.

We skidded to a stop, and the enormous man widened his stance and curled his hands into fists. His demeanor was hard, a threat ticking his muscles in aggression.

“No.” Despair pitched in my chest. “Pax.”

“I have you.” Pax’s words scraped low, and he shifted to face the direction we’d come, just as the guard came around the corner to fully box us in.

He edged forward, trembling as he cautiously encroached. The same group of three women were huddled behind him, peeking out from his sides.

“Do not move.” The demand quivered from the guard’s tongue. “Stay right there.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Pax responded instead. His words cut through the tension like blades, a grim warning as he moved to stand in front of me. He kept the gun slack at his side, though I knew it was the one thing that kept the men from rushing for us.

Gulping, the guard inched forward. His voice cracked as he said, “Drop the gun to the ground, put up your hands, and get onto your knees. Slowly.” The Taser trembled as he tried to hold it steady. “Right now. This is your last chance.”

There was a sudden flurry of movement, a blur of pink before the guard’s wrist was slammed into the sharp corner of the wall. He shouted in a wail of shock and pain, and the Taser toppled to the ground and slid across the floor.

Confusion bounded, and I blinked through the disorder.

Jill.

It was Jill.

Her eyes were wide with urgency as she shouted, “This way!”

She darted into the short hall to her left. The one that led to the door that opened to the fenced-in area where we had recess each morning.

Hope bloomed, and Pax didn’t waver. He darted after her, and I raced to keep up.

“Jill, what are you doing? You’ll lose your license for this,” the older woman shouted.

The threat didn’t sway Jill. She swiped her card and the door buzzed and unlatched. She tossed it open, and the three of us ran out into the frigid night.

Rain fell from the sky, icy darts that pelted my overheated skin, the cold instantly freezing my bare feet and shocking up my legs.

I refused to let it slow me.

We ran for the large metal gate that sat on the left.

Jill whirled toward us when we got to it.

Her expression toiled through a thousand emotions.

Dread.

Terror.

Conviction.

She looked to Pax as if she recognized him. “Promise me you will protect her.”

“With my life.” His answer was harsh.

She swiped her card and the gate buzzed open.

I could feel her sacrifice as she brushed her fingers down my cheek. She’d just ruined her own life for the sake of saving mine.

My spirit thrashed.

For the first time, someone believed .

“Be careful, brave girl,” she murmured, her warm gaze intense.

Gratitude filled me to overflowing, and I had the urge to stop and hug her, but all I could give her was a rushed “Thank you.”

Because a commotion suddenly burst behind us. My attention whipped over my shoulder to see the guard coming through the door with the orderly at his side.

“Hurry, Aria.” Pax yanked at my hand, and I sent Jill a look I prayed conveyed everything I felt before we raced out into the lot.

Rain slanted from the darkened heavens. A dreary, icy gloom. Lights glinted through the mist, spilling a yellowed haze over the pavement and cutting into the murky shadows.

We raced across it, adrenaline coursing as we were chased.

Shouts clamored through the frozen air, and the older woman was screaming, “Stop them! Someone, stop them! Call the police!”

The guard fired his Taser.

I could feel the force of it cut through the air.

But he remained too far in the distance, and the barb just missed its mark of Pax’s back.

We ran faster, pushing ourselves with all the strength we possessed, the same way we tracked through Faydor.

Without faltering or yielding.

Only this time, my human weaknesses followed me as we sprinted across the parking lot.

Sharp rocks cut into the soles of my bare feet, and pain lancinated up my legs with each desperate step I took.

I whimpered every time I splashed through icy puddles, the only relief that I found.

A sweet numbing effect.

Or maybe I was just completely in shock as Pax ripped open the door to an older car that was hidden at the edge of the woods that rose behind the lot.

In shock as Pax grated, “Get in and buckle your seat belt.”

In shock as he ushered me into the passenger’s seat and rammed his fist down on the lock on the door before he slammed it shut.

He blazed back around the front of the car, faster than when he’d been leading me, white hair striking in the glittering rays of dingy light that streamed from the lampposts.

Palms suddenly smacked on the passenger window, and I screamed as I turned to find the guard yanking at the handle and trying to rip open the door.

Pax jumped into the driver’s seat. In a flash, he had the car started, and he shoved it into reverse and rammed on the accelerator.

The car shot backward, tires tearing and spinning on the wet, soft dirt. It knocked the guard to the ground, and I saw the expression on his face as he rolled, ending up on his stomach as he pushed onto his hands to stare at us through the spray of our headlights.

Disbelief and horror.

Pax shoved on the brakes at the same time as he shoved the car into Drive. It skidded and whipped around to face forward.

For a moment, it felt as if gravity had been lifted and I was floating through a weightless canopy. Not sure if I existed on this plane or another.

Then I gripped both the door handle and the dashboard when he gunned it, my body jolting forward, then crashing back to the seat. Tires squealed as we fishtailed the rest of the way across the lot.

He took a sharp right as we careened onto the wet, deserted road, then accelerated as we hit the pavement, and the tail end skidded far to the left before the car righted to the center.

And we flew.

In that same shock, I shifted to look at the man who clutched the steering wheel.

His jaw clenched.

Ferocity radiating from his skin.

And I knew there was nothing in this life that would remain the same.