CHAPTER 14 – Collapse
"Vic? Victoria?"
"Mmmm," Victoria mumbled. She woke up feeling tired every morning now. Time was ticking away. She hung on to the fact that she would see Kaden again soon, even though she would hate for him to see her like this. Either way, he would be back tomorrow.
"I'm going to school, okay?"
"Jacob!" she gasped as she slammed into consciousness and flew upright, her breath catching as pain spiked across her temples. "I'm so sorry I slept in! Did you eat breakfast? Do you have a lunch?" Her mouth was working even as her head was spinning.
"Yeah, I got it all," Jacob said. His brow furrowed, looking concerned and… troubled. "Go back to sleep," he told her. "You don't look so good." She swung her legs off the couch and stood even as he said this, catching the back of the couch in a white-knuckled grip to stop herself from swaying on her feet.
"What are you talking about? I look great," she joked, plastering on a smile. She nearly sighed in relief when he bought it, smiling back.
"Whatever you say, Vic. See ya."
"Bye Jake. Have a good day at school." She sank back down on the couch as soon as he left, taking a deep breath. Weariness crashed down on her, and she found herself drifting to sleep again. One day off wouldn't hurt…
Victoria slowly woke up one sense at a time. She could feel the lumpy couch underneath her, and her mouth tasted fuzzy. There was the sound of quiet but not silence. Her eyelids felt stitched shut, but she slowly pulled them apart.
Sunlight was slanting in through the kitchen window at an odd angle, like it was late evening. Her heart jumped up into her throat when a beep echoed through the room, and then relaxed when she realized what it was – just the answering machine in the other room. She heaved herself up, feeling stiff, like she'd been lying there a long time. Shuffling across the room, she opened the door to the garage and walking over to her desk. The answering machine beeped again. She rarely used the phone, and hardly ever got messages.
She pressed the play button.
"This is Toronto Public School calling to inform you that your child was not in school today…"
"Jacob," Victoria breathed, her heartbeat picking up again. He'd never missed a day of school since she signed him up. Her head pounded. Something wasn't right.
She ran back into the house, throwing open the bedroom door, already knowing he wouldn't be there. The bed was made, and the digital clock blinking on the side table caught her eye. The tiny flashing date in the corner shocked her.
How could she have slept for two days?
If this clock was right, it was the day after Jacob had woken her up to tell her he was leaving for school. That meant she'd slept the rest of that day, and all through this one until now, 5:48 PM. She could hardly breathe. It couldn't be true.
She burst outside, the sun streaking gold across the sky as it set. She pounded down the street towards the school, her body screaming at her to stop.
A scream built in her throat. Jacob! Where are you? Traffic whizzed by her as she stumbled to a stop at a main intersection. Her muscles burned. She was being irrational. She knew she wouldn't walk down the street and see him there. She ran back to the house as fast as she could. She had to get in a car, she had to find him–
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it. The symbol was spray-painted across the back door that led to her house behind the shop. She knew it, she recognized it. She felt like she was drowning, her emotions overwhelming: despair, anger, confusion, fear…
Julian. Her mouth spoke the name aloud without her permission.
"Oh, so you recognize it. He wasn't sure you remembered." Victoria nearly screamed again when the man stepped out from the shadows, although she knew the sharp face and elegant voice well. His long black coat fell to mid-calf and his pointed black boots clicked against the concrete.
"Christian," she said.
"Victoria," he replied, a faint smirk on his lips.
"Still doing his dirty work?" she sneered, wiping the smirk off his face. It was not nearly as satisfying as it usually was to see him scowl. She was hurting too much.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "What do you want with Jacob?"
"You know why I'm here," he replied, the smirk returning. He's coming for me, Vic thought with little surprise. Julian's found me. What surprised her was how much that still scared her. A nightmare coming true.
"As for your little warlock pet," Christian continued, staring at her with purposeful maliciousness. "Well, if you want him back, you'll cooperate."
"Bastard," she hissed, clenching her shaking hands into fists. "You took him!" He's just a boy! she wanted to shout. Christian's smirk was a Cheshire-cat grin now. Vic couldn't seem to catch her breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, teeth grinding as she tried to hold onto her balance. The bracelet was tight and burning hot.
"Don't forget you need him too," Christian said, grabbing her wrist and twisting the solid silver links encircling it. She wrenched her arm away from him, eyes wild. Her heart pounded against her ribcage so hard it was painful, threatening to burst out of her chest.
"Go away," was her brilliant retort before she wheeled around and ran back towards the house. Black spots scattered across her vision as she stumbled inside, thoughts racing.
He took him. Julian took Jacob. She caught the edge of the kitchen table to support her sagging weight. Her legs refused to hold her up, and her knees buckled. She was fairly certain that if she'd eaten anything in the past 48 hours she would have thrown it up. Jacob.
Her chest burned as a sob built in her throat. She tried to get up – she had to find him, she had to get Jacob back – but the room was spinning, the ground tilting at odd angles as she slumped to the floor.
"Jacob." Her voice was little more than a hoarse whisper before the darkness reared up and swallowed her whole.