Chapter 14
Shaiden walked out to behind the clearing. She noticed that the ground had been scratched at, and leaves had been torn from the trees.
Thorne must have been really mad at me, she thought.
She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, if she let Crystal and Thorne's relationship continue, Thorne might lose sight of their true objective- to get out of the forest, and back to the Castle.
But on the other hand, how would Thorne feel if she just came in and pulled him away from Crystal? Would Shaiden be able to live with the guilt?
She tried to get the thought out of her head. Of course I'll be able to live with the guilt, that adult voice in her head said confidently.
Shaiden was about to get quite happy, when another familar voice interrupted.
Forgive me for denting your sense of pride, but, aren't you already dying inside?
She looked around. The Entity itself was nowhere to be found, but its voice kept invading her thoughts.
The Entity gave an evil laugh, and before she could reply, Shaiden felt a stinging sensation at the back of her head, and she collapsed to the ground.
There was that unmistakable roar of thunder, and slowly, the entity rose from nowhere, this time in the form of a hooded, Reaper-like figure.
Shaiden struggled to get up. She'd be nearly on her feet, but then the Reaper would stare at her with glowing red eyes, and she would once again fall to the ground.
"I've asked you once," she said, sprawled out helplessly, "and I'll ask you again- what do you want with me?"
The Reaper glided to her. "Oh, nothing much." he said, his voice uncharacteristically relaxed.
Shaiden raised an eyebrow. "No, you can't mean that. You can't mean that!"
The Reaper's red eyes lit up. "Trust me, Shaiden- I can."
She once again tried to get up, but the Reaper just did what had been done before, and in a matter of seconds she was on the ground.
"It's funny," he said, gliding around. "I've been watching you, all of you, ever since I took you from your homes and dumped you here, and you and your brother, the bond that you have, oh, it was so incredibly strong!"
He continued to flit and float around. Shaiden could see where this was going, and the worst thing was, she was powerless to stop it getting to her, because she was still paralyzed on the hard ground.
The Reaper continued speaking. "And everything was going so well, until Crystal came along."
Shaiden's eyes went wide involuntarily.
"Thorne, he cared for you so much during those first few hours, but then he met Crystal, and now, he's got a new number one girl in his life."
He gestured towards the clearing, where Thorne and Crystal were still play-fighting. Shaiden gritted her teeth and kept her eyes on the Reaper.
"He's known me far longer than he's known Crystal..." she began.
The Reaper interrupted. "But it isn't too late for you to betray him."
Shaiden's ears pricked up. The Reaper continued.
"I can open the portal to your world, unparalyze you, and you can get up and walk straight through, back to where you came from."
Shaiden looked his straight in the eyes and asked, "What's the catch?"
The Reaper's smile showed faintly from under his hood as he answered calmly, "There is no catch."
He paused a few minutes, before continuing, "Oh, but there is a condition. One little tiny condition, that you have to adhere to if you want to be set free."
Shaiden looked at him inquisitively. "Go on." she said.
"That one condition," the Reaper replied, "is that only you can step through the portal, and once you're through, it will be permanently sealed."
Shaiden gasped.
The Reaper bent down to her, and spoke in a gentle, almost comforting voice. "Not to worry, my little wolf." he said. "Your brother will be fine without you, he's got Crystal, rememeber?"
Shaiden growled. She knew it would be no use.
The Reaper got out his staff, and pointed it to the side. A blue portal opened, and he gestured at Shaiden to go through.
Shaiden felt the paralysis lift from her body, but she lay down still.
"So, you're not going?" the Reaper asked.
Shaiden said nothing.
"Alright then." the Reaper said. He pointed his staff towards the portal, and it disappeared with a flash. Shaiden felt her muscles tense up again, as she was once again paralyzed.
The Reaper smiled, floated upwards. "Crystal is so, so beautiful, you know." he said, his voice full of adorement for her.
Shaiden was having such a hard time right now. She was fighting so hard not to let any of the Reaper's taunts get to her, it was almost becoming too much.
The Reaper smiled evilly, and said, voice as cold as ice, "She has SO much potential."
"Potential? What do you mean?" Shaiden asked, her voice more desperate than ever.
The Reaper turned, held out his hand, and his eyes flashed brightly. Shaiden once again felt an intense stinging pain, but this time it hurt much more, and it quickly spread across her whole body.
She yelped in pain, as the Reaper said "You should know better than to be so impatient, Shaiden. Give it time, and the answers will come to you."
She felt her eyes close. "You... you won't get away with this!" she vowed.
Suddenly, she felt the pain vanish, and her eyes open.
She got up.
The Reaper had gone away once more.