I glanced at my hand again, frowning when the once nearly invisible lines looked as dark as the night sky. Furrowing my brow, I peered closer at it, noticing that there seemed to be a faint hint of red in the center. Ah, crap. Hopefully, that didn’t mean what I feared it might. If I was right, this would hurt. How much farther can I go?
Smiling, I tilted my head once Matty straightened, and he grinned before walking forward. I kept pace beside him until I walked into an invisible wall. A pained gasp escaped my mouth while my chest constricted as if a substantial weight crushed me. My legs gave out, and I shook my head while leaning on my hand and glanced at Matty’s back while he continued without realizing I stopped. “Matty! No!” I cried upon spotting what lay in his path. He turned around with a startled expression, setting his foot in the trap.
I winced when a soft click broke the silence, followed by something black and shiny springing forth from the ground to encase Matty’s foot and half his lower leg. From where I sat, it looked like a plastic boot. Frowning, Matty grabbed it, grunting when he couldn’t get it off. I watched him pull its edges, noticing that he could move it, but needed another set of hands to pry it open. Swallowing nervously, I rose to my knees before standing to glare at the invisible wall separating us. Raising my left hand, I touched it, jerking my fingers back when something vibrated painfully within my arm. This would suck. But Matty was only a few feet away. So, in theory, I should be able to tough it out long enough to reach him. Because, when I felt the wall, I pushed against it, and it gave.
Gritting my teeth, I prepared myself for what was coming and took a step forward. God, it hurt. It felt like a current was vibrating through me, intending to rip me apart. With each step, the vibration grew more intense with something oozing from my ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. I knew what it was, but I refused to let it stop me. No. Matty needed me. I didn’t know why they trapped him there, but there was zero chance it was for anything good.
Even though Matty was only ten feet from me, by the time I reached him, my entire body trembled violently, and my head pounded so horribly I could barely see. I ignored the alarm I sensed from him when he stared at me, open-mouthed with horror in his eyes. The next second, my vision blurred more, and I shook my head. Whatever. I didn’t need to see. I brushed his leg and let my fingers trail to the boot trap. It felt more like metal, although it looked like plastic. Meh.
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the edges and pulled them as far apart as I could. I knew when Matty followed my lead because the mouth of it opened further. Naturally, the pieces I held offered more resistance and my arms shook while I struggled to keep them pried apart. Sighing with relief, I released the boot after the rough edges of his shoe brushed my fingers. “Come on, Angel,” Matty pleaded, grabbing my hand to pull me back to the other side of the wall. I shuddered when my feet moved far faster to get back within its borders than they did upon leaving the area it encased. Collapsing, I sighed with relief once I returned to Ryker’s territory, and the agonizing vibrations stopped tearing me apart.
After a few minutes, my head stopped pounding, so I blinked several times, and my vision cleared. Uh oh. Matty’s mutinous expression was back full force. “You knew,” he accused quietly, and I frowned. Hell no, I didn’t know there was a trap waiting to capture him. When I opened my mouth to protest, he growled, “you stopped.” I tried again, and his voice became almost a whisper, “you stopped because something made you, but you would have let me leave you. You knew you couldn’t continue, but you intended to let me go without you.” I pulled him close when he sobbed, my arms tightening when his hot tears fell on my skin.
“To be honest, I suspected I would have to stop but had yet to discover how far I could go,” I admitted in a whisper, and he shuddered. “The wall knocked the wind out of me, and it took me a few seconds to recover. It feels terrible, like it’s trying to tear me apart when I push through it. I didn’t see the trap until right before you stepped in it. I dislike this, little brother. The size of that tells me they meant it for you. They knew I would stop here, and they stopped you there. Why? So, if I chose not to save you, the dogs could rip you apart while I watched? Then they could hand me the foot your trap preserved?” A dark thought, yes, but Matty would be more upset if I kept it from him. Plus, he was intelligent, so he might have come to that conclusion himself and fear saying it in case I scolded him for it. Not that I would. But it was hard enough to be a kid in the human world, I couldn’t imagine how much more difficult it would be to navigate this darker one. “How dramatic.”
Despite himself, Matty snorted a laugh, and I relaxed with a wry smile. “Oh, you were lazy, well giving you a hand is over-hyped, so here’s a
