Taken
School today was a blur. Every minute felt stretched thin with one thought looping endlessly in my head: Was Giselle truly a forsaken?
I couldn't believe it, not fully. Not yet.
But the hours passed and I didn't see her anywhere. She didn't show up to class, wasn't spotted in the corridors, not even in the library where she practically lived. She was fine yesterday. Completely fine.
I searched everywhere I could, but it was like she had vanished from the surface of the school. My worry kept twisting deeper. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
By the time I got home, I was restless. Was my only friend actually my enemy? The thought burned in my chest.
Why did people I loved always get ripped away from me?
First Casi, my childhood, my laughter, my safe place.
Now Giselle, the only friend I had left.
Maybe destruction really did follow me.
I refused to sit with the uncertainty any longer. I saddled Bali and set out for Giselle's home, determination bubbling under my skin like fire. Throughout the ride, my mind tore through possibilities, offering Giselle excuse after excuse, fighting every dark thought with desperate hope.
When I arrived at her shack, something felt off. Very off.
I slid off Bali and approached the door, that familiar dread crawling up my spine, the same feeling from seven years ago… and from the coven's party. Danger. Incoming.
I knocked.
The door swung open immediately.
Her home was almost empty.
"Umm… hello?" I stepped inside cautiously.
It looked like someone had packed in a hurry too fast, too abruptly.
A chill gripped me.
Why did she leave?
Why now?
Before I could fully process it, Bali whinnied outside, loud, startled, and terrified.
I rushed out.
Five men in armour surrounded her, chaining her down.
And then I saw their faces.
The same men from seven years ago.
The forsaken.
They had found me.
Panic stabbed through me.
I reached inward, calling for Doya with every scrap of mental strength I had.
Nothing.
He didn't come.
A fireball flew toward me, I dove aside, countering with a burst of my own magic. Wind roared behind me and I spun, barely dodging. My training carried me through instinctively, spells and strikes flying with new confidence and speed.
Three of them fell quickly.
The other two tried to restrain Bali but I took them down as well, magic crackling in the air around me.
For a moment, I thought I'd won.
Then a violent gust slammed into my back.
I hit the ground hard. Really hard.
A ringing exploded in my ears.
And then I saw her.
Casi.
My heart stopped.
Before I could speak, she whispered a spell. Darkness swallowed the world whole, and everything faded.
---
I woke up to a pounding in my skull. My wrists were suspended above my head, chained tightly. I couldn't move an inch. The room was dim and cold, silent except for my shallow breaths.
Panic clawed at me.
How long had I been unconscious?
Where was Doya?
Why didn't he come?
Footsteps echoed.
Someone was coming.
The door flew open.
Then she stepped in.
My voice cracked in disbelief. "C-Casi?"
"Keep shut!" she snapped, her tone sharp as blades.
"What happened to you?" My voice shook. Tears pricked my eyes.
"I said keep shut!"
She slapped me, hard.
The sting didn't hurt as much as the heartbreak. I cried, not out of weakness, but out of grief. Losing her once was enough. Seeing her like this was torture.
"Why are you doing this?" I whispered. "What did they do to you?"
Her eyes hardened. "Would you like me to hit you again?"
This wasn't my Casi.
This was someone else wearing her face.
She stepped closer.
"Where is the cranium?"
I stayed silent.
She struck me again, this time on my stomach. Pain shot through my ribs.
"I won't repeat myself. Where is the cranium?!"
I only stared at her.
Her next blow was worse. I doubled over, coughing and spitting blood onto the floor, every muscle screaming.
Perfect.
Let her keep hitting.
Because I wasn't giving her a single damn thing.