Chapter 6
Everything became a blur. A blur of pain.A blur of pure fear. My mind felt cold. So cold it felt like mythoughts had turned into snowflakes whirling through my mind like ablizzard. I had no idea how much time had passed. Seconds? Minutes?Hours? I didn't know where the creature was dragging me to, either.Maybe it wasn’t dragging me anywhere. Maybe this was the monsterversion of drawing and quartering. Perhaps it would just drag mealong until my arm was wrenched right out of my socket or my fleshwas dragged from my bone.
I was crying, of course I was crying. But it was erratic. Just hot messy tearsstreaming down my cheeks as I battled for breath.
I had no hope. No hope at all. There wasnothing that could save me now.
Yet, even as I thought thatdefeated thought,something happened. A flash. Right at the edge of consciousness –right at the very edge of my mind. A bare flash of light. It waslike looking upon a starless night tosee a shooting star blaze across the sky.
Just when I thought that flash of lightwas nothing but my imagination, I saw it again. Right there, rightat the edge of my awareness. It brought with it that same sensationof splitting up. Suddenly, overlaying the scene, I saw anotherimage. Just as had happened when Max had attacked me in thekitchen, I saw a flash of what was going to happen next. A crackopened up just a few feet in front of me. One that appeared to leadstraight down to hell. That, or a place equally as foreboding andfiery.
I watched as the creature dragged metowards that hole with nothing more than a light tug of thechain.
Reality sped up again. It was so quick, so impossibly fastthat my head tugged back as if I’d just been in a carcrash.
Just as I had seen in my previous vision,something opened up before me. An earsplitting crack echoed throughthe air, louder and more piercing than anything I had ever heard.It felt like it ruptured my eardrums. And the smell? Oh, the smellwas deadly. 10 times worse than the overpowering sulfur stillwafting through the street. But none of that, none of that was asbad as the heat. It buffeted against me, slammed against my cheeks,ate into any exposed flesh. I tried to shift back from it, butthere was absolutely nothing I could do. Nothing I coulddo….
Just before I could give up all hope, Isaw an opportunity. I saw it play through my mind. And Ifollowed, for I had no option.
There was a latch on one of my chains.Nothing more than a link that had become slightly loose. If I were10 times as strong, maybe I’d be able to wrap my fingers around itand pull the link apart completely. But I wasn't 10 times stronger.And I didn't need to pull the link apart completely. All I neededto do was snag it on something.
Just as this fell creature dragged me towards that gapinghot hole in the pavement, I saw something. Just along the lip ofthe hole. A pipe that had been chopped in half. It was strong, itwas jutting upwards, and if I was just quickenough….
With another one of those awful creakinghisses, the creature pulled me through the hole. I had a splitsecond. No, who was I kidding? I had the tiniest micro fraction ofa second.
I wasn’t usually a lucky girl. I believed wholeheartedly thatyou made your own luck. Luck wasn't about hanging around andwaiting for good things to happen to you. Luck was about gettingout there and forcing the world to give you what you wanted. Rightnow, I had to change my opinion. Because somehow, just at the lastmoment, I managed to reach up, to shift around, and to push theweak link in the chain over that lip of metal.
Time slowed down. To a crawl. I felt as if Icould see every single atom draw to a standstill before myfrightened mind.
I saw that loose chain link snag againstthe hole. I felt the monster tug at me one last time. And as itdid, hebroke the chain.
The monster let out a rattling shriek as it fell.
Just before I could lose hold and be tugged down with thebroken chain, I reached up and wrapped a hand over the metal pipethe chain had snagged against. I got a good enough grip that Imanaged to keep myself from being tugged down to hell. However, thepipe, like the hole around me, was superheated. As soon as Iwrapped my hand around it,blistering pain powered through my palm and ate through my fingers.I shrieked, godknows I shrieked. But I did notfor the life of me let go. I reached up with all my strength andwrapped a hand around the edgeof the pavement. Then, finding strength Iabsolutely did not have, I pulled myself up onto theroad.
I didn't lie on the pavement, catching mybreath. I twisted forward, pushed to my feet, cradled my handagainst my chest, and I ran. It was still dark. And I didn't getfar. Nope. I smacked into something hard and unyielding. Somethingthat hesitated a moment before it wrapped strong arms aroundme.
I screamed, trying to push back. That'swhen I heard an unmistakable brogue rumbling by my ear. “You'resafe. It's just me.”
… You're safe… it's just me.
Those words were like a light illuminatingthe darkness. Max. God, it was Max.
Despite the fact I’d just met this guy. Despite the fact I trulyhated himand this entire incident hadbeen about running away from him, I crumpled forward. Unashamedly,I nuzzled the big Scottish fairy’s chest. And, surprisingly, hedidn't push me back. Showing the blessed strength of his form, hepulled me up and carried me away.
…
To be honest, it was all a bit of ablur until we got backhome. Though I really didn't want to admit this, the second wereturned to my grandmother's house, was the second I truly began torelax. There was something about this place that made me feel safe.Even if this place had been the start of all mytroubles.
Max didn't say a word to me in the car. Not a word. He didn’task
