Chapter Fourteen

"I look ridiculous, don't I?"

I struggled to figure out what to say.

"Well I think you look much better." I pinched his cheek.

"Wha-What was that for?" He asked as he flinched.

"Oh, your just adorable."

"I'll have you know I'm not a child." He turned his nose up.

I noticed it had gotten dark inside the small room,
and it became colder as well. Valentine shivered, and I could see his breath. His lips were pursed, and his eyebrows had contorted into a worried expression.

"Maybe there's something else we could use in those drawers."

I took the key and tried opening some other drawers. Two others opened, one containing a large wool blanket,
and the other contained three candles and a box of matches.
Valentine lighted two of the candles, and set one by me and the other one by the pillar. We shared the blanket.

He put his arm around my shoulder and sighed.

"I feel strange, Helena."

"Strange? How?" I asked.

"I have these little...tingly things dancing around in my stomach. And I feel like we just ran through a fire." I saw he was tapping his fingertips along his chest.
"Gosh it's warm it here." Then he slipped off his robe. Underneath, he was wearing a grey shirt and black sweatpants.

"Are you serious? It's bloody freezing! in here!" I said in disbelief.

Something was bothering him ,and he looked around anxiously.
"Hey. What's the matter?" I asked. Then I casually pecked him on the cheek.

He seemed to relax, tilted towards me, and kissed me back.
It felt so comfortable,we didn't notice one of the candles had burned out. Leaning against me, he wrapped his arms around my waist. But I pulled back for a second as I saw it was darker in the room.

"Valentine, a candle went out." Then I looked towards the door.
Curling, smokey mist started crawling through.
"Valentine look! Hurry, we have to relight the candle! They're coming in!"

He snatched the pack of matches, and tried to get one lit,
while I grabbed the candle. With a breath of relief,
he got one match to stay aflame, and we lit the candle once again. The shadows retracted,
scared of the glow.

"I thought we were rid of them!" He muttered.

"We have to keep it bright enough in here until I can think of a way out of here!"

Valentine removed the candles and placed them in front of the entryway. We both scurried to the back of the room.

That's when I smacked myself in the head.

"That's it!" I exclaimed.

"What's it?"

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, a perfectly round window had formed in the wall.
I unlatched it, and began to crawl through.

"It's about time!" Valentine said as he struggled a little,
but managed to squeeze through the window as well.
Then we both bolted off. By the time I looked back, the shadows had engulfed the dome, and it shined in an icky black substance.

"This way! C'mon, this way!" He snatched the sleeve of my shirt and tugged me to follow him, while we ran off towards an empty landscape.