Trust
He wakes up in darkness.
The first thing he realizes is that the floor beneath him is moving. Only ever so slightly, but every time there is a large bump, he finds himself with his face uncomfortably on the floor.
What happened?
He doesn't remember much. Having lunch with his mother and Natalie. He hadn't been very hungry. And then... He struggles against the fog that presses over his mind, trying to focus on what had happened. His mom had got up half way through to the disruption of a phone call. She had come back minutes later. She had seemed... pleased.
Seconds later, she had demanded they leave. They had changed cars. Exchanged their expensive car for a van. A van! Of all things. He remembers being disgusted as he had sat in the front seat. His mother was stylish, she set trends and now she was insisting on driving a family vacation vehicle.
He knew she had a plan. Just by the way she had smiled. But she had never said what it was. Just that they were going... searching. He realizes now what she had meant. She had planned all along on taking one of the Cahill children. Abducting one, capturing one of them to unlock their secrets. All their clues, all the discoveries they had made on this clue hunt. She would have access to it all.
How had he not seen it all coming? He blames himself. He had been foolish to not realize, and now he was going to pay the price.
No. Not just him. Amy. She's here too. He can hear her soft breathing across from him, and he can't help but let guilt wash through him. He's the reason she's trapped here. She should be off clue hunting with her brother, not here where she will undoubtedly be hurt.
Finally regaining some energy, he pulls himself into a sitting position. He sits in the dim light, legs folded underneath him. She's still unconscious he realizes. Her crumpled body lies discarded in the corner. In the dim light, she looks far to pale. Maybe it's not the light. His mother put something in that vile, and then injected it into her. He already knows what it was, and he cringes at what it's effects will be on her.
His entire body aches. He can still feel the points on his neck where his mother grasped it with her death grip. His arms feel like lead, and his legs burn. There are still black dots in his vision, tendrils still fighting to pull him back into the darkness. But he can't, and won't let himself. He has to stay awake. Not for himself. For her. He has to protect her from what ever comes next.
He's drawn from his thoughts as he hears her breathing hitch in the dark, her body beginning to shake with violent coughs. He knows she is in for a rough ride after the concoction his mom pumped into her. No. She's not his mother anymore, he thinks. He refuses to acknowledge the fact that he is even related to that woman, let alone her son. She had taken joy in catching Amy. Enjoyed her shaking with fright. He had even seen a hint of a smile when she had hit him down. No. She's no longer his mother.
He hears her coughing increase, and her breathing begins to grow erratic. Without thinking he is drawn to her shaking side. Kneeling beside her, he gently brushes the hair from her white face, and fumbles for her wrist in the dark to check her pulse. It's far to fast.
Her head lulls to one side as he runs a hand across her neck, checking the area that had been punctured by the needle. Blood carelessly drips from the small wound, tracing a path down her skin and pooling in a small circle on the floor of the van.
He can't think of a way to help her. She's lost in her own nightmare, awakening only to be sucked back just as quickly into the darkness. The small whimpers that escape her mouth at rare intervals are the only sound that fills the otherwise silent ride. And so he sits, gently tucking the lose strands of her hair away from her face, running his fingers through her hair to offer some sort of comfort.
At times, he thinks she might awake, her eyes flutter, and her body even moves. But then the flicker of life disappears and she becomes lifeless once more, giving the appearance of the dead.
Her brother will be looking for her. He'll be wondering where she is, where she's gone. Eventually, they may come looking for her, but by then he worries it might be too late.
Slowly the girl's coughing and whimpers become less frequent, until the small room is filled with silence once more, the only sound coming from the outside as the vehicle rolls and rumbles underneath them.
He feels her body suddenly tense, slowly coming back from unconsciousness. Her head rises slightly as she finds her strength. Through glassy eyes, she seems to try and register her surroundings in the dark.
And then she sees who is next to her.
She desperately fights the cotton that is filling her mind, making it run not nearly as fast as she needs it too.
The first thing she registers is the immediate pain she feels. Her body feels hot, and yet she feels so cold that she's shaking. Her left ankle throbs from where she landed on it wrong in the chase, radiating pain and heat up through her leg.
The next thing she comes to terms with is her surroundings. Dark. Cold. The space is small, and it feels like the world around her is shifting constantly. A small crack of light filters from the bottom of what she can only assume to be a door located at the back of the room, offering the only light in the small space.
Then she registers the figure seated next to her.
Panic shoots through her mind and she struggles away from him, rising to her feet and stumbling slightly as the concoction works it's way out of her system. Suppressing a cry as she places pressure on her ankle, she puts as much distance as she can between herself and her Cahill cousin, which isn't much considering the small space.
"Amy," He says far to calmly for her liking, "You need to take it slow."
She doesn't hear him. She's to busy trying to reconstruct the past few hours in her mind, and fight the impending panic attack she is threatening to have. She remembers the Kabras chasing her, being caught, Isabel bringing a vial to her neck and then...
Her green eyes flick up to find Ian Kabra, now standing across from her.
"Where are we." She asks, trying to fight the stutter that threats to emerge. Her only advantage right now is that what ever she's gotten herself into; Ian seems to be in the same position.
He shrugs at her question.
"In a van I think, trust me of all the ways of transport we could have taken, this heap of metal was definitely not on the top of the list." He can't help but realize how Kabra he sounded in that sentence, and he mental shakes himself. "But as for an actual location. I haven't a clue. "
She registers this and her hands immediately fall to her side, finding empty air.
"My bag." It was both a statement and a question, directed at the boy.
"Isabel has it." He sees her face distinctly pale, and presses her for an answer. "Why's it so important?"
She forces herself to ignore the Kabra and moves over to the back of the van, checking the latch to the door.
Locked. Obviously.
She screws her eyes shut again, trying to ride out the wave of nausea and pain that suddenly floods her. She rests a shaking hand against the wall of the van to steady herself, but she can already feel what little strength she has fading.
"Amy you really need to take it easy."
His silky and calm voice irritates her, but as if to prove his point, her vision suddenly falters and her legs give way under her, still too weak to hold her weight.
Warm arms immediately wrap around her, stopping her from a head first collision with the floor. She can smell him as his body presses into hers, cradling her and protecting her. He smells like cinnamon, and she is instantly repulsed by it. Even if she wants to however, she can't escape him grasp on her. Her body is still fighting the effects of the Lucian concoction, and every movement she makes feels like she is moving two tones of metal.
"I don't want your help." She mumbles almost incoherently into his arms. She forces her way out of his grasp, despite the fact that the world around her is still spinning. He's way to touchy feely, and that is the last thing she needs right now.
Taking two cautious steps back, she steadies herself against the cool metal wall of the truck.
"But you need it."
She glares at him, her face darkening at his words.
"You don't know a thing about me." The pure venom in her voice makes him flinch. He's never heard her speak with such hate, and it frightens him. But despite it all, he takes a steep closer to her, making her press her body further into the cold metal wall.
All she wants is to be back with Dan and Nellie. She wants to feel safe again, and not like a trapped animal. Especially when she is trapped with Ian. But then, why is he here?
Curiosity consumes her and the question comes out before she can stop it.
"What happened after-"
"I doesn't matter." he says shortly, not even giving her a chance to finish her sentence. It doesn't matter. He already knew what she was going to ask. " All that matters now is that like it or not Amy, we're on the same team."
His cold hand reaches out to touch her trembling body, but she flinches away.
"No." her voice is a whisper, so quiet that he is not sure whether or not he heard her or not. She looks up to him, meeting his eyes for the first time since she woke up. "I said no Ian. I don't trust you, I never will. You are and always will be Isabel's little boy… how could I trust you?" Her voice is like venom, and it cuts right to his heart. She's comparing him to his mother; she can't even differentiate between the two of them. And the blow hurts.
"Amy I-"
"No." it's her turn to cut him off now. "I said no Ian."
Another sudden wave of nausea hits her, and finally she gives in and lets herself slide down the cool wall to the floor, where she draws her knees up protectively, letting one leg stick out awkwardly to cater for her ankle.
He seems to finally give up trying to talk to her and sits down against the opposite wall, drawing in a deep breath, yet not saying anything.
Silence fills the small room, which she finds comforting yet at the same time frightening. Silence leaves her with only her thoughts. Silence means she becomes increasingly aware that she's trapped and alone against Isabel.
But then she feels the van slow, and her body tenses unconsciously. She strains her ears as the squeak of the breaks signal the vehicle's stopping. Two voices, accompanied by the shutting of doors and footsteps alert her to her captor's coming.
The locked door suddenly unbolts and she is blinded momentarily as sunlight floods the darkness of the room. She strains against the light to make out one of the two figures.
The woman's voice offers immediate identification.
"Hello sweetie. Let's have some fun now, shall we?"
Boom! Another chapter :D Thanks to all those who reviewed my last chapter, this is dedicated to: Agent Get Amy And Ian Together, addicted2reading9, fieryjunior35, Volcanic Lily, Guest, The Gone Angel, beachbum999, DeaganHameadlove, mollyhuntO, Guest and CrushedShattered
Thanks guys!