Unbound (32 page)

“Why do you have a lighter? You don’t smoke.” I was thankful for the light, but curious at the same time.

“Habit. You never know when you might have to burn something or break into an old basement.” The fire flickered across his face and illuminated his smile. Together we explored. The farther away from the stairs we went, the thicker the air felt. Something was familiar. The floor was dirt. I looked around— the walls were red brick. A feeling of forlorn expeditiously took over. This was the end. No one was coming for me. There was nothing I can do. I just wanted the pain to end.

“We need to go.” My voice faltered.

“Alright,” Ethan said but took a few more steps ahead.

“No, now. We need to get out of here.” My hands were shaking. Fear that wasn’t my own was threatening to take over. “I need out.” Ethan took my trembling hand and led me up the stairs. He didn’t stop until we were a good twenty feet away. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into the safety of his chest.

“Breath,” he instructed softly. My body felt weak from shock. My heart beat a million miles an hour. My knees threatened to buckle. Ethan gently pulled the band out of my pony tail. I began to relax as he ran his fingers through my hair. “What happened?”

I lifted my head to look him in the eyes. “That’s the basement from my dreams. And I don’t know, really, but suddenly I felt all this fear and panic. It just took over.” I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, pushing the fear away as I exhaled. I felt almost like myself again.

“What exactly did you feel?”

“Hopeless. I knew I was going to die and there was nothing I could do to change that.” I hoped Ethan understood. Explaining was the hardest part. I knew I was just standing in an empty basement. I knew there were no current threats of danger. But at one point, someone was down there, being tortured and God knows what else. Those intensely horrid feelings hung in the air, waiting to be absorbed by a rare type of mind.

“Do you think it was that boy?”

I lifted the camera strap over my head and hung it on a small tree. “Yes.” That was another thing that was hard to explain. But I just knew. “I kept hearing the name Ryan.” I could tell Ethan was thinking. Just as he was about to vocalize his thoughts, something jumped off the roof of the barn with a terrible hiss and landed on his back, knocking him to the ground. Even though he was taken off guard, Ethan flipped the thing over and was on his feet in a matter of seconds.

 
Going on instinct, I unsheathed the dagger and sprinted towards it, ready to plunge the sharp blade into its chest. I had gotten maybe two steps in when something pulled my hair. I whipped around and was face to face with one of the bird-demons, brown robe and all. I thrust the dagger forward but the thing darted out of the way. A third jumped down. We were surrounded. Just as the closest was about to spring in attack, another kind of instinct took over. I threw my free hand in front of me and sent the thing flying. It crashed into the side of the barn and let out a shriek of pain. The other two hissed in response to seeing their comrade hurt. They lurked closer, talons out, waiting to make a move.

Ethan struck first, punching the thing so hard it stumbled back a few steps. I shouldn’t have looked though, because the demon in front of me threw me to the ground with inhuman speed. The wind got knocked out of me and the dagger bounced out of my hand. With its ugly head just inches from my face it opened its beak and screeched. With one hand I grabbed its throat and pushed it away as hard as I could. I stretched the other out for the dagger. It was just out of my reach. I tore my eyes away from the demon and looked at the dagger. It flew into my hand and I shoved it into the thing’s stomach.

It screamed and hissed. Smoke billowed out of its empty eyes. I pushed the dagger in even further, sending sparks deep into the demon. I rolled out from under it and watched. It tried to stand but its legs crumpled into ash. The fire that started in its stomach swirled up, encasing it in flames. I frantically looked for Ethan. One of the demons swiped a razor shape taloned hand in his face. He leaned back, missing impact by inches. When he came back up, he grabbed the thing’s arm and twisted it, causing it to fall.

“Ethan!” I yelled. He quickly glanced up and extended his hand. I tossed him the dagger. He caught it and rammed the blade into the demon’s chest. Thinking it would burst into flames, Ethan looked away, probably for the third demon. I did too, but it was nowhere to be found. I scanned the area where it had fallen. The wood on the barn wall had cracked with the force of its body. A harrowing scream snapped my attention back to Ethan. The demon, with the dagger still in its chest, launched itself on Ethan. He caught it by the shoulders and put both hands on the dagger, sending it in deeper and twisting it at the same time.

Nothing happened.

Taking advantage of his shock, the thing thrashed its talons across Ethan’s chest, tearing through his shirt and skin. It clawed at him again, this time ripping open a gash on his bicep. Anger boiled inside me and I telekinetically threw the demon backwards. Its head cracked against a rock. I ran for it and dove to the ground, wrapping both hands around the dagger. The handle became red hot and the demon burst into flames. I retrieved the dagger before the thing collapsed into a pile of ash. I was at Ethan’s side in two seconds.

“Oh God.” I pressed my hand to his bleeding chest. “Ethan,” I stammered.

“It’s ok, Annie. I’ve had worse.” He cringed slightly at the pain. I felt like panicking again.

“We need to get you back to the barn,” I said, meaning the barn where my horses are at. He nodded. I looked him over before once more. I was scared he was going to bleed to death. “Can I?” I asked, tugging at the sleeve of his jacket. He nodded again. I carefully pulled it down and off his left arm. Even more carefully I pushed the sleeve of his light gray shirt up so I could inspect the gash. It was probably three inches long and missed ripping through is tattoo by half an inch. Blood trickled down, streaming past his elbow and down his fingers and dripping on the muddy ground. This was deep. Fear for his well being made me feel sick. I unzipped my jacket and threw it to the ground. I did the same with my black fleece hoodie. I took off my shirt next, and even in pain, Ethan couldn’t help but comment on seeing me shirtless.

 
I shivered in the cold air and quickly put the fleece back on. Using the dagger, I cut a thick hem off the shirt and tied it around his gushing arm. The teal material quickly became stained with blood so I cut off a sleeve and tied that around too. I wiped my blood covered hands on my jeans and helped him put his arm back in his jacket. The thickness of the make-shift bandage wouldn’t allow his torn sleeve to go on all the way, so I zipped up the jacket the best I could. You felt cold when you lost a lot of blood, right? I put my jacket around his shoulders.

“Put your coat on, Annie. You’ll get cold.”

“I’m fine. I’m more worried about you right now.”

“Don’t worry. Trust me, Annie, I’ll be fine.”

“You might bleed to death!”

He looked at his arm. “Nah, not from this.” With is right arm, he handed me my jacket. It did feel good to put it back on. I resheathed the dagger and took hold of his right hand. The walk back to the barn was the longest walk of my life.

Music and laughter drifted from the barn. Shoot, this was a busy time. It was gonna be a challenge to sneak to the car unnoticed. We were just about to round the corner into the parking lot when Laney and Abra emerged from the barn.

“
Finally! Leslie said you two went for a walk like hours ago. Don’t think I don’t know what you guys were do-” she cut off, seeing the state we were in. Her eyes widened in surprised alarm. “Oh my God.” Abra’s reins slipped from her hand.

                                                                                                                                               
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Ethan said with a weak smile. She covered her mouth with her hands.

“What happened?”

                                                                                                                                               
“I’ll explain later, Laney, I promise.” I looked from her to Ethan. The front of his shirt was soaked in blood now. I needed to get him to the hospital. She moved her head up and down but I don’t really think anything was sinking in. “Promise me you won’t go on the trails, ok?”

                                                                                                                                               
Again she nodded. “What’s out there, Annie?”

                                                                                                                                               
“I’ll tell you later. Just promise me,” I pleaded. Laney’s eyes were full of fear. Just then, Ramona and Razzle came out of the barn. I snatched up Abra’s reins and pulled him in front of Ethan and me.

                                                                                                                                               
“Had fun in the woods?” she asked, sounding disgusted. She turned her nose and took Razzle into the indoor arena. I absent mindedly ran my hand through my hair. Leaves and burrs were stuck in it. Well, I guess people thinking Ethan and I snuck out back for a romp in the woods was better than knowing the truth.

                                                                                                                                               
Laney snapped out of her shock. “Hold Abra. I’ll go get your car. Where are your keys?”

Ethan fished them out of his jacket pocket. I was surprised he hadn’t lost them in the struggle. Laney pulled the X-terra as close as she could.

                                                                                                                                               
“Thanks so much. Please, don’t go out back. I’ll call you tonight,” I repeatedly promised. She just nodded again, at a loss for words. Ethan sank heavily into the passenger seat. I turned left out of the barn drive.

“Where are you going?” Ethan asked. He sounded tired.

“Uh, the hospital of course.”

“Why?”

I looked at him in disbelief. “You need stitches.”

“And what are we going to tell them?”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Mountain lion?”

“Are there even any around here?”

“No. How about a bar fight?”

“It’s only four o’clock. And what if your mom finds out?”

“I don’t care, Ethan.”

“Take me home. Julia can patch me up. She’s done it before.”

Hesitantly, I turned around. I called Julia first to make sure she was actually home. I briefly explained what happened.

“Oh no!” Julia said to herself when she saw us. She looked back and forth from me to Ethan. “Who’s hurt worse?”

“Ethan,” I told her. “Uh, none of this is my blood.”

“Sit,” she told Ethan, pointing to a kitchen chair. An extensive first aid kit was laid out on the table. I helped Ethan take off his jacket and I pulled his Tee shirt over his head. The three claw marks on his chest had stopped bleeding and started to scab up already. Julia was going to no doubt have to scrub them open to clean; who knew what kind of grossness could have been on the demon’s talons.

 
Before she got to work, Julia handed Ethan a bottle of whiskey and he took a few swigs. It took me a minute to remember that alcohol will help dull the pain. She took care of the gaping cut on his arm first. After it was clean she sewed it up. Literally, with a sewing needle and
 
thread. Though I was not a queasy person by any means, seeing the needle repeatedly go in and out of Ethan’s skin made me feel dizzy.

“This went down into the muscle. It would be smart to go see a doctor,” she said as she wrapped a bandage around his arm. “You need to make sure to change this bandage tonight, ok?” When Ethan didn’t seem too eager to agree, she looked at me and I nodded, telling her I’d make sure it got done.

“These aren’t too bad,” she said as she cleaned the cuts on his chest. Thankfully she didn’t have to do any more stitches.

“Thanks, Jewls.” Ethan sounded even sleepier.

“You sure you’re ok, Anora?”

I nodded. “Yea, physically, I’m completely fine.”

“Ok.” She seemed surprised. “Go rest,” she directed to Ethan.

We slowly walked up to his room. Ethan lazily took off his jeans and went into the bathroom to shower. I stripped out of my mud and blood covered clothes and looked around the room for something to put on. I felt a little invasive going through Ethan’s dresser drawers. There was no order or organization to anything; random items of clothing filled each draw to the point that they were hard to close. I put on a pair of black boxers and a white tee shirt. I laid down in his bed. Every creak in the floor below made me jump. I got up and paced around the room, straightening things and folding laundry.