The Ultimate Sacrifice, Talia Jager [novels to read .TXT] 📗

Chapter Thirteen

Mira

I screamed as the demon snatched Kassia. As I started to run after her, Noe and Auralee grabbed me and held me back. With tears streaming down my face I watched them take her away. I shouted her name as her body went limp in the demon’s hands. When she disappeared into the woods, my knees gave out, and I collapsed on the ground. I was furious at her for agreeing to this suicide mission even though I knew it was the only way to save the stupid, freakin’ world.

Zane sat down next to me and tried to rub my back. “Piss off,” I told him.

He sighed. “I’m really sorry, Mira.”

Daxton, who had been trying to keep it together, was in back of me somewhere, sobbing. I knew I should go to him and try to comfort him, but I had known her longer. I was her best friend, damn it. I needed comforting, but I didn’t want any. I hated all of us right now. I hated myself for letting her go. I hated myself for not finding another way.

The hot tears rushed down my cheeks. I hoped and prayed she wouldn’t be in any pain. For someone who dished pain out the way she did, she never could handle it very well. Somehow, I knew she’d get up the courage to stick that dagger into her…pain or not. Please, just let it be quick.

“Mira, it’s been over an hour, she’s not coming back. Let’s go inside,” Zane said. I glared at him.

Auralee stood up. “Why don’t you guys go inside? Give us some girl time. We’ll be in soon.”

Zane and Daxton exchanged glances. “Think it’s safe?”

Daxton nodded. “They only wanted Kassia.”

Noe added, “They won’t be back.”

“And what about Mira? She’s not going to go after her?” Zane asked Noe.

Noe looked up for a minute. “No, she won’t.”

“Okay.” Zane and Daxton walked slowly to the hotel and disappeared inside.

Noe sat on one side of me, and Auralee sat on the other. The three of us cried together. “Can you see anything, Noe?” I asked.

“Would you want to know?” She looked at me seriously.

I looked away. I honestly didn’t know. Would I want to know what was going to happen?

“Mira, Noe can’t see what is happening clearly. But I don’t think you’d want to know the awful things your best friend is facing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.”

“Oh, shut up! You still have your best friend!” I yelled.

Noe took my hand. “I really can’t see what’s happening, and I’m kinda glad I can’t.”

“We’re going to be here for you,” Auralee said. “We all love her.”

We sat in silence awhile longer. I couldn’t get my mind off of what could be happening to her. She must have felt like this when she found out I was being attacked, but she could do something about it. She saved me. There was nothing I could do now, nothing any of us could do. We were helpless.

“How did we let this happen?” I asked softly.

“They would have gotten her one way or another,” Noe responded.

Auralee sighed. “I thought you weren’t going to say anything.”

I looked from Noe to Auralee and back again. “What are you talking about?”

Tears ran down Noe’s face. “I kept seeing her get taken. No matter what we did or where we went, I always saw her getting taken away. The vision changed a little each time, but the ending was always the same.” Her voice shook. “At least this way, it’s on her terms.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” I asked.

“You all needed hope. I couldn’t take that away.” Her lip quivered, and she started sobbing.

My eyes filled with tears again. I took Noe’s hand. I didn’t want her to think she did the wrong thing. “It’s okay.” I took Auralee’s hand too, and we sat there until our tears dried again.

“C’mon, let’s go inside.” Auralee tugged my hand.

“’Kay.” I stood up and we all walked to our room.

Kassia hadn’t taken any of her stuff with her, obviously. Who would bring anything to their death? I touched the shirt she left lying on the bed. Then I picked it up and held it to my nose, breathing in her sweet scent. She always smelled like lilacs. Smelling her without her here made me break down again. My body heaved with sobs as I clutched her shirt.

This whole thing was my fault. If I hadn’t gone to get the car fixed by myself, those guys never would have attacked me. Kassia wouldn’t have saved me, and she’d still be here. Thinking of that day brought more tears and rage. I hadn’t been able to get the image of the men who had raped me out of my mind. Their dirty smell was permanently imprinted in my brain. I had showered a hundred times since it happened, and I still didn’t feel clean. The cuts and bruises on my face had healed, and although there wasn’t any evidence of the assault left on the outside, nothing on the inside would ever be the same again.

They had stolen something from me that I’d never get back. I didn’t know how I’d ever get past what happened. I assumed Kassia would be there with me helping me through it. My best friend was gone now, and I would have to handle it alone.

“No, you won’t.” Auralee sat next to me. “I’m here.”

As tears slid down my cheeks, I nodded and wondered if it was a good or bad thing that I was friends with a mind-reader.

Nobody spoke for a long time. I sat against the headboard and wrapped my arms around my knees. Daxton was watching out the window as if he was waiting for Kassia to come back. I wondered if I would know when she was dead. Would I feel it? And if I didn’t, did that mean she had failed? Or would I never know?

My tears finally slowed and dried on my face. I curled up with a pillow and finally succumbed to sleep in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, I sat straight up, feeling a pain so excruciating in my heart, I thought it was going to explode. I gasped for air and I knew immediately that Kassia was dead.

I looked around; the sky was getting a little bit lighter, meaning it was almost dawn. Noe was sitting on the edge of the bed with tears streaming down her face. Seeing me, she said, “I didn’t see it. But I saw her body.”

I scooted over to her and we hugged. As the sun rose, one by one our friends woke up. When they saw our faces, they knew. Auralee burst into tears again and Daxton punched a wall, leaving a large hole. Guess I’d have to cover that up when we checked out. Zane stayed quiet and tried to be there for me. He didn’t know what to say, and I wasn’t making it any easier on him. I felt bad for being so harsh, but nothing in me felt like being nice.

“Noe, were you able to get an idea as to where she might be?” Zane asked, being the most level-headed right now.

“It’s not far. They drove about an hour from where they were to…dump her body. She’s in the woods. I just don’t know where.”

“We should hurry,” Daxton said.

Nobody showered. We just grabbed our bags and ran to the car.

Zane drove and Noe sat in the passenger seat. We had been driving for about an hour when she told him to stop. “In there,” she said, pointing toward the woods.

We got out of the car and started hiking into the woods. “Which way?”

“I don’t know…just in, go in deeper,” Noe instructed.

We walked further, our pace quickening.

“This way,” Noe said, leading the way. Every so often, she would stop and then continue on. We hurried, almost running ahead.

Then I saw her…her crumpled body on the ground. I stopped in my tracks. “Kassia!” I yelled out, and then ran the rest of the way to her, hoping that somehow she’d still be alive. I reached her body and knelt down beside her. Be alive, be alive, be alive—I pleaded. I turned her on her back. The dagger stuck out from her heart. Hesitantly, I moved the hair from her angel-like face. She was pale, her lips no longer candy-apple red. I put my ear to her mouth, hoping for any signs of breathing. Then I placed my ear down on her chest, but instead of a beating heart, I heard nothing.

“No…no…no…” I sobbed and tried to shake her awake. “Please,” I whispered. I looked up at Auralee. “Can you hear anything?”

Tears were streaming down her face as she shook her head.

Daxton knelt down beside me. He stroked her face with his hand and then brushed her bangs away from her eyes. “Have you ever seen her look this peaceful?”

He bent down and kissed her on the lips.

I picked some leaves out of her dark auburn hair. “Should we take the dagger out?” I asked, not wanting to see it lodged in her.

“No. Vala said to leave it in,” Zane answered.

Oh yeah. “Why?”

“I don’t know. But I think we should listen.”

Noe took a white bed sheet out of her backpack. She laid it on the ground. “Wrap her up,” she told Daxton and Zane.

Carefully, they picked Kassia up and put her on the sheet. Then they gently wrapped her in it. “How are we going to get her back up that mountain?” I asked.

“Off the trail, when it’s dark.”

“We can’t wait that long. We have to go now,” Noe said.

“How are we going to explain that we’re carrying a body?” Daxton asked.