Page 79 of Ava: Part One

‘By then, she could be dead,’ Shadow growled weakly.

He tried in vain to link back to his packmates. Why was Ava not in the house when she was supposed to be sleeping? Were they keeping an eye on her as he had asked?

If she was in trouble, how would he help her like this? Even an Omega could take him down in this state.

He was desperately trying to link his friends when he finally heard Myle’s voice in his head.

‘I’ve followed her. I thought she was just going for a walk because that dick Jared upset her. She’s gone into the forest, Zeke.’

He sucked in a breath, and his heart stopped at the same time the door to the basement opened.

“Shit, Zeke,” Derek said when he came down the stairs and saw him.

“Unchain me,” he growled.

As Derek moved to do what he had ordered, he let Shadow take over. For the first time in a long time, their thoughts aligned.

Ava. They had to get to Ava.

He fell from the bars and pushed Derek away when he came to help. Something was happening. Something changed as he went up the stairs and rushed out of the house. His heart pounded out of his chest with fear even as a raging fury filled him. But it wasn’t aimed at Claire, the coach, or any of the other students who had hurt Ava.

It was aimed at the darkness that wanted to claim Ava.

Something in his mind snapped as his bones broke and his body shifted. The pain caused by the poison in his body mixed with the pain he sensed from Ava.

And then nothing else mattered as he followed her scent.

Chapter 56

The moment Ava stepped through the tree line, she felt the difference. The darkness was oppressive, pushing at her from all directions, almost like a living thing. Her heart started to pound. Had she made a mistake? But images of Claire’s eyes as she had tried to kill her entered her mind and forced her to begin walking forward.

The trees were thicker than any she had ever seen, and their exposed roots looked like giant snakes entangled on the ground. Their long, thin branches looked like arms and fingers, makingthem look like petrified living creatures. She had never seen trees like this.

She carefully stepped over the roots, judging the direction she needed to go. She would walk just far enough to get past the guards and then get out of this forest.

Was it getting darker? How was that possible? It was already the dead of night; it couldn’t get darker than it was. She looked up and noticed she couldn’t even see the sky anymore when she was positive that there was a half moon when she had stepped into the forest.

A cold breeze hit her from nowhere. Rubbing her arms, she looked ahead again. Why was it so cold, like it was the middle of winter? She wouldn’t make it very far without a coat or warm top.

Then something came over her—something in the frigid air that felt sinister. She felt it seeping into her skin like an unwanted caress. It felt like someone was pouring molasses all over her body. A shiver flashed down her spine. That wasn’t normal. None of it was. From the first day she came through the forest, she knew something wasn’t right in it—that something evil resided there. But she had prepared herself to physically fight other supernatural creatures, not this, whatever ‘this’ was.

The longer she stood there, the more it felt like it was seeping into her soul. It was a short walk past the guards, but she’d hardly taken ten steps into the forest. Would this feeling get worse if she went even deeper?

Maybe her best chance was to wait until the guards changed over or took a break. They had to do that at some point, didn’t they?

With a defeated sigh, she turned back the way she had come to start making her way out, but she froze in her tracks. She couldn’t see the spot she had come in through, even though she’d walked in a straight line. She should have been able to see thegaps in the trees where she had entered and the light from the half-moon coming through them. Even the main road should have been visible. She stepped forward, and her heart started to pound louder. The distance in front of her looked much longer than the few steps she had taken. The darkness seemed to stretch endlessly.

What sort of sick magic was this? Had the Council created this to protect their precious academy, or was this an experiment gone wrong? The darkness seemed to press into her more, and the sticky feeling all over her body increased. Heat started licking her body, and almost instantly, it shot excruciating pain through every nerve. She started running forward, but the heat became worse. She was in a sea of fire.

She tripped over the roots, landing on something sharp that pierced into her side and took her breath away. Her scream echoed through the night. The sound carried like she was in a tunnel and made her wonder if the guards would hear her. Or were her cries for help somehow contained within the darkness? Would she be forever lost in this place? She slowly moved and felt blood dripping down her side. But with the burning and pain that she felt all over her whole body, the pain from the wound didn’t seem to register.

Something was standing over her, something watching her as she lay vulnerable on the ground. And then the roots started moving, like snakes, around her. They were all around her, under her, shifting under her weight.

She stood quickly despite the pain but was so disoriented she didn’t remember the direction she was supposed to go in. All she heard was the hisses and the slithering. But everything was completely dark now. Pitch black as if she’d lost her sight. She couldn’t see the trees or the snakes.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, she reached into the side pocket of the backpack and pulled out her knives, and when sheblindly started attacking, she hit something. She hit something! Something had come close enough to touch her! When she slashed out again, there was nothing there.

Ice shot down her spine, even with all the heat around her. Her limbs started to shake so much that she almost lost her grip on her weapons. What the hell was that? Where had it gone?

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