Chapter 213
Valkyrie's POV
Valkyrie didn't know how long it had been, but her body was sore, her bones ached, and she could barely lift her head. Her throat was dry and her head pounded painfully. Militsa was stroking her hair softly. She was laying on her lap.
Valkyrie reached up, feeling the pain all through her ribs, and put a hand over Militsa's to stop her. She was rubbing over a sore lump on the side of her head.
"Val?" Militsa whispered. Her voice was sharp in the cold, silent cell. "Are you awake?"
Valkyrie grunted softly, unwilling to move.
"I need you to wake up," Militsa whispered.
Valkyrie moaned painfully but forced her body to comply, hissing when Militsa tried to be nice and help her sit but only pushed on her aching ribs. She sat herself up and shuffled back to ease against the wall. Her already sore skin didn't like being pressed against something hard, nor the freezing cold of the stone, but it was better than supporting her own weight.
Militsa stood and peed in the corner and Valkyrie waited for her to get back, trying to control her breathing. "We need a plan," she whispered huskily to whoever was listening.
The old man from the day before – she assumed she'd slept long enough for it to be a new day – grunted and spoke softly. "Agreed."
"Don't you think Skulduggery would have one?" Militsa asked as she came back over on silent feet.
"To be honest, Mil," she said somewhat harshly, "I wouldn't put it past him to entirely leave us. I like to think he hasn't but… I really don't know. I don't know if I trust him yet. But it's been hours, we need our own plan that doesn't revolve around him. He's a magnet for trouble, he most likely got captured."
"There were voices," the old man said. "Sounded like a scuffle."
"When?" She asked as quickly as she could. Militsa pressed into Valkyrie's side and opened her arm up to young Erembour, who snuggled into her warmth. The poor girl seemed frozen cold, her lips blue. Since she was from Australia, and considering her age, she may have only recently been allowed out of the Temple, so she likely wasn't used to being so cold without warm cloaks and blankets for so long. Valkyrie's heart went out to the poor girl. She seemed an age younger than Valkyrie ever had been.
"Not long before you woke up," he said. "They usually visit us in the mornings, bringing us our water and food rations. I expect they'll be by soon."
Valkyrie perked up. "Do they open the door for that?"
"Not usually. But they might be tempted, if you convince them."
Valkyrie restrained from rolling her eyes if only to not agitate her headache. "I'll think of something. If they open the door, do you guys think you could take them down? If it's just one person?"
"I am sure of it," he said, a menacingly cruel tone to his voice. Valkyrie doubted he was still capable of whatever horrible thing he used to be able to do 'back in the day'.
"Okay. Just, everyone get ready, and I'll think of something."
There was some sitting up, shuffling, taking turns using their bathroom corner, and then they settled back in to wait. It wasn't that long, though it felt longer considering there was nothing to do, say, or hear, but eventually they all perked up at the sound of footsteps coming towards them.
The woman from the day before, Portia, came into view with a scowl. She had an armful of plastic water bottles, no labels, and a tote bag of food. She looked over them all sceptically.
"You're alive," she said finally, looking at Valkyrie.
Valkyrie croaked her voice, barely letting more than a whisper out. "Just about."
Portia looked at her critically. "Anything bleeding? Broken?"
"Ribs. Think I'm bleeding internally," she said, not letting her voice rise. She stared in Portia's direction and let her eyes drift before settling back on her. "Water."
"Hmm," Portia said, and unlocked the door with her key, trusting them entirely too much. "You're not meant to die. You're not allowed."
Valkyrie grunted but didn't say anything. No one did anything, letting Portia come close. Militsa did take the bag of food when Portia dropped it and began shuffling in it and passing food down the line. Staying natural. Portia opened a bottle of water and held it to Valkyrie's lips. She drank gratefully, taking a bit over half the bottle before holding up a hand. Portia took it away and put the lid back on. "Thanks."
"Yeah, well," she said darkly. "Don't tell anyone. Let me see your ribs."
Valkyrie pulled her shirt up with her more painful arm. The grimace she made wasn't fake. Portia gently pressed around her ribs, checking for breaks around the black, blue, yellow and green marks. Some of them might have been purple but it was too dark to tell the difference in colour. "Doesn't seem broken," she commented slowly. "Can you breathe properly? Is it your lungs?"
"Don't know," she said, breathing in tensely to make her breath tattle. The old man began standing up.
"Hey, sit down or I'll put you down," Portia glared.
"I'm just going to relieve myself," he said primly. "And I'll need help to stand. Jackleg! Help me up! And you, Tooth, don't think I forgot about you."
Portia looked as the two men tried to help the old man stand, and the old man struggling, and then turned back to Valkyrie. The three pretended to struggle until they were almost past Portia, and then turned on her. The men had taken her out before she had a chance to realise her mistake. She dropped on Valkyrie, who cried out loudly.
"Quiet, you fool!" The old man hissed. Jackleg and Tooth rolled Portia off of her. She took a deep breath and accepted their help to her feet. It felt like hundreds of needles were piercing her right through the bones, but once she was standing, she didn't think she'd just topple over. Militsa handed her some food from the bag, a banana, and Valkyrie ate it quickly while everyone else consumed their rations. They may need the energy so Valkyrie didn't feel inclined to stop them.
Jackleg searched Portia while they finished up and pulled out the gun. She didn't suggest giving it to her, Jackleg just found spare bullets for the handgun in Portia's jacket pocket and made sure it was loaded. He seemed much stronger, much more capable than her when she was so weak. After she thought everyone was ready enough, she whispered for them to go, and they filed out of the cell.
She noticed immediately that she couldn't use her magic, which was a big pity because she knew full well her magic would have been powerful enough to incapacitate low level enemies or outright kill any particularly nasty criminals the rest of them might not be able to deal with. Plus, she seemed to be the only one whose magic didn't rely on an object. And no one had their objects.
Within two minutes of leaving the cell and slowly racing with their best guesses towards some type of exit, Valkyrie and the old man began to lag. His joints slowed him down, quite obviously as he grabbed onto the nearest individual for support, and Valkyrie's injuries made speed difficult. Their breaths echoed in the dark, barely lit dungeon, their footsteps more so, but it wasn't as horrible as Valkyrie feared. The Spiders didn't suspect any wrongdoing, just as they hadn't noticed Skulduggery was gone – although she was still very aware that the old man claimed he heard some sort of fight before she woke up. She was pretending it was some Spiders getting into an argument and had nothing to do with Skulduggery being captured and if she got away she'd have to come back for him. She wasn't sure if she'd bother.
They came across their first two guards at the bottom of the stairs. A woman and a man, leaning against the wall and talking with smiled on their faces, possibly flirting. Valkyrie made everyone hide behind the corner and got Jackleg and Tooth to take them out. The men sidled up to the two easily, sticking to the shadows and lucky the pair were so deep in conversation. They took them out quickly and Valkyrie rushed forward and opened a nearby cell for them to be dumped in. She almost told them not to kill the pair, but Jackleg and Tooth let them go at a good time and laid them down carefully, with more care than she had thought. She guiltily held the door open for them and closed it softly behind them. Jackleg locked it and flashed her a grin.
Indicating for the others to follow, she swallowed her pain and followed the men up the stairs. They saw as two people left a room and another made a joke before going in. She mouthed the word "Staffroom" at the men and they nodded once. They jogged off and opened the door like they owned the place.
It shut softly behind them and Valkyrie watched, heart pounding, to see if their ballsy approach worked. There was silence for a long moment and she felt herself begin to sweat from the stress and then – a gunshot, and another, and another. Silence.
She stayed utterly still, crouched on the top step with the others hovering behind her. It was lighter up there, at least, and seemed cleaner also. She didn't see any spiders, though there were a few small webs in the corners of the stairwell. And a camera.
She stared at it in horror before looking away resolutely. It was like they had already seen them if they were checking. She just had to keep moving.
Knowing that, she got up and pushed forward, hearing the group more follow. She got to the door as Tooth opened it. He ushered her in.
She grinned painfully when she saw the control panel, five people lying prone on the floor and cabinets of security paraphernalia. "Close the door, quickly," she whispered. "Where are the lights?"
"Do we want to do that?" Tooth asked cautiously.
"The camera screens are in here," she reasoned quietly, indicating her head to the screens, "but there could be more. I'm don't know The Torment well, but people like him like to personally be able to watch their cameras at all times. So he might already know we're here. I've been told some Children of the Spider can see in the dark, so we may as well have a level playing field and get out fast rather than try to be slow and walk right into a trap."
"What about Pleasant?" Jackleg asked, already looking over the control panel.
Valkyrie didn't answer for a moment, instead looking over the monitors. "I'm not sure. But there's a fifteen year old with us. We have a duty to get her out safe. She comes before Skulduggery. That's it."
He shrugged. "Sure. What do we do if we see The Torment?"
"Run. Fight if we have to," she said simply. "We need to find your Necromancy objects. Not that they're much use if we don't turn off those magic dampening signals anyway."
"Um, Miss?" Someone asked. She looked into the anxious crowd grouped up on one wall, trying to stay out of the way of them and the bodies on the ground. "There's some signals here?"
She waved them aside and got to the signals at the same time as the old man. They were similar to the ones on standard magic dampening shackles. "That's it," she nodded, trying to be hopeful even though she wasn't certain. "But I'm pretty sure we need someone to break it. Is anyone any good at signals here?"
"I can do it," the old man groused. "Get me something sharp."
Militsa found a fountain pen after a short search and gave it to the old man. He opened it. Checked the sharpness of the tip. Held it up the to signal delicately. And scraped a line through the whole thing.
Valkyrie felt her magic come back to her more and more powerfully as the signal was destroyed and its bonds in the building ruined. "I wonder how long it'll take for them to notice."
"With the Skeleton skulking around? Not long," the old man grunted as he continued to ruin the signal. "I can feel my object close by."
The Necromancer's began searching and some of them found their objects in a bag in a cupboard. Not all of them, including Militsa, but some of them. Valkyrie was glad Erembour had hers, a choker necklace.
"Give me that broom," the old man said. Valkyrie did. "It may be beneath me. But I will not be without a weapon."
He held the broom in his hands and had a look of concentration on his face as he transferred his magic over. Valkyrie hadn't known Necromancer's could do that, but considering his age, Cleric station and his supposed abilities, it made sense he could do things others couldn't. When they were as ready as they could be, Valkyrie took a breath and activated her Aura Vision. She saw people down the hall coming towards the room, people below, probably in cages, and other moving and stationary blobs. Smaller Auras, assumable children, somewhere above them. Children sitting in rows, probably for a class. A group of adults moving quickly… perhaps training, working or cooking. She tried to search for Skulduggery but didn't find him before filtering through the layers gave her an awful headache and she had to stop.
"Someone's coming," she whispered and took her place with the other Necromancers who were now armed. Tooth had his object and Jackleg had the gun.
They jumped out and Tooth immediately wrapped shadows around a young man's head, knocking him out with efficiency. They darted from the room and got everyone out, dragged the man in and started down the hall. Valkyrie kept Militsa close behind her, and Erembour followed Militsa. There was no way of knowing how deep down they were or where the stairs were, so they just kept going, taking out any person they found and leaving them unconscious. They came upon the first set of stairs without much trouble, brutally taking out two more people with shadows and leaving them in cupboards and empty rooms. Occasionally she flicked her magic into view and still didn't see Skulduggery's red aura.
Five minutes into searching the new level, Valkyrie noticed a spider on the wall uneasily. Then they opened a door to find a fully transformed Child of the Spider, and Valkyrie blasted them to dust at the same time as several waves of shadows came to slash the person. She turned on her Aura Vision to see dozens of orange orbs moving and directly ahead, and one floor up – Skulduggery.
"We need to get upstairs again," she said, adrenaline overtaking her pain quickly. "Skulduggery's up there, he might know a way out."
They ran as quickly as they could with the old man, an overweight woman and a man with asthma allowed them to. She felt as if they went in a big circle and the layout made no sense. Spiders were creeping up the walls, above their heads on the ceiling, and although they encountered fewer people, the ones they did were ready for them. She heard when someone in their group yelled out about the stairs and they all went for them, jogging up as fast as possible. More spiders came, getting larger and stronger, crunching under all their feet. Valkyrie had to slap one off her hand.
She was worried she wouldn't find Skulduggery before they escaped, but they barely took two steps before Skulduggery was thrown through a wall straight into their path. "Skul!" She shouted. "We need to leave!"
"Working on it," he groaned, standing up. "Get out, I'll meet you."
She almost argued to stay together before she heard the hard nubs of a gigantic Spider running full pelt towards them. She barely stayed long enough to see the start of the Spider before she took off in the other direction. No one needed telling to follow her.
There were footsteps now, running for them, and shouts rallying people into place further away. She used her Aura Vision to help know where to go at a cross section in the corridors and pushed them to go left, where there was only one person rather than the massive mass of light waiting on the right. The left way led to a big hall with lots of tables for eating or meeting.
Craven stood on one of the tables on the other end, grinning madly. He lifted his arm and shadows came to life above him, a black mass that would crush them all. Valkyrie shouted and pushed Militsa and Erembour out of the way as Craven threw his arm down.
She really thought they were going to die, so when she felt no more pain than before, she got confused. Looking up, she saw the old man straining with his broom held high, keeping Craven's shadows off of them.
"Get up," the old man rasped, stepping away from the man he was holding onto to keep balanced. "Go!"
Valkyrie grabbed the girls and pulled them with her. Craven tried to send his shadows at Valkyrie with an angry snarl but the old man intercepted again and pulled up an immediate whirlwind of shadows he began throwing at Craven. They commenced battle, throwing attacks violently and with more power than Valkyrie had ever seen before. She got caught in the crossfire trying to get everyone out on the other side of the room, a table slamming into them all and throwing them to the floor, little sharp flicks of shadows cutting into their sides. She used her larger body to protect Militsa and Erembour but she had no idea how well it works, especially when a larger shadow slammed into her, knocking her into them and making her scream.
They stumbled out the doors on the other side and she pulled them quickly upright. Not waiting for anyone else, she immediately began down the corridor with a single-minded focus. The area they were in now had pictures on the walls, the floors were polished clean and doors lined the corridor. She flicked on her Aura Vision and felt instantly sick seeing all the little orange Aura's crouching down, probably under their little desks. Feeling incredibly guilty, she urged the small group that had followed from the hall to hurry.
They found another double door, which Valkyrie blasted with her magic, leaving it gaping open. The new area seemed much as the work area they'd been in before the school area, perhaps for sleeping or another sort of workforce. A flick of her Aura Vision only showed they were surrounded. She turned it off.
Pressing on, she demanded they found more stairs. Almost instantly, they came upon a large, double wide set of stairs with a sign leading up stating 'Offices/Lounges' and a woman gliding down the stairs.
The woman and Valkyrie looked at each other at the same moment. Valkyrie couldn't see the woman's face but she recognised her. Madam Mist. Mist instantly bent over, vomiting thousands of spiders over herself and down the stairwell. Holding onto a burst of speed, Valkyrie ran close enough, held out an arm and blasted white energy at the woman. Mist threw herself down the last stairs, somehow still gliding as she did it, but Valkyrie didn't let up. She sent another beam, then another and another, turning spiders and parts of the stairs to dust.
Mist began to transform and Valkyrie's eyes widened in barely restrained panic. She skidded to a stop, jarring herself painfully, took aim and fired a consistent beam of energy towards the woman, turning to ash the wall, floor and furniture. She scrunched her eyes up, feeling the strain too quickly, and let it suddenly go when she heard a scream. Militsa grabbed her arm, though she remained hiding behind Valkyrie, and pushed her on from the horrifying scene. Madam Mist, on her knees, screaming, quickly reverting back to her human body, surrounded by spiders that were writhing painfully. Blood. A missing arm and parts of her torso.
It was disgusting and Valkyrie was disgusted at her own magic. There was a ringing in her ears and she could feel the sick trying to rise up her throat, and her adrenaline was quickly transforming into panic. She was better off throwing up on herself running than stopping to do it and getting mauled by savage Spider terrorists hellbent on using her to kill her family, then her country, and then the wider world.
She staggered up the stairs to the sounds of Madam Mists screaming which seemed to be devolving into a panic attack Valkyrie tried very carefully not to listen to. She ran quite literally into the front of a man, followed by a few more, and she didn't even have time to gasp in horror before reacting with another beam, turning Pippin Black, leader of the Wild Brothers, to ash.
The Wild Brother's look of horror was almost the same as her own. She toned down her power as much as her fear stricken mind could manage and she got two of the Brothers before the others rushed her. She screamed and panicked, falling to her knees, but Erembour and some of the others from their slowly shrinking group were able to throw shadows at the mercenaries and threw them into walls and right down the hall.
Valkyrie scrambled to her feet. "Run! The other way! Go, quick!"
Everyone pushed to go to the right or left, splitting their ground down the middle. There was no way for Valkyrie to know which way was going to keep them alive, she just had to trust if they kept moving they might manage it. She kept Militsa's hand in her own out of fear of being separated from her friend, and Erembour stuck right beside them.
They all skidded to a halt when the building, even though it was underground, shook violently and the floor ahead of them cracked and then suddenly smashed open. Shadows protected them from the debris, and then a ball of fire, shooting back down into the hole, let them know Skulduggery's fight had brought him to them.
"Skulduggery!" Valkyrie screamed. "What do we do?!"
The shadows disappeared and Skulduggery, floating in mid-air, flicked his head to her and back into the hole. He clicked his fingers as millions of black little spiders came spilling out over the hole. "Go up on level, that's the way out! I'll keep The Torment busy!"
"Oh my god," she muttered painfully and then turned around and shouted for everyone to follow her again. She'd just have to fight the mercenaries, that was better than The Torment. And getting in the way of Skulduggery in a fight in a small hallway was not a good idea for her group.
Large spiders followed them now, ones as big as dinner plates, and littler ones on the ceiling but hanging down. Valkyrie almost turned the corner to where the mercenaries would surely be on them in an instant before she heard Erembour screaming her name. She came to a dead stop and turned quickly, worried something had happened, but Erembour was right there.
"The ceiling!" She was saying.
"We need to leave!" Valkyrie reiterated.
"The ceiling! Blast a way up!"
Valkyrie didn't question the girl, just put both her hands above her head, felt the power, and obliterated the ceiling and whatever else was above that.
It wasn't a big hole, but it was enough for a person to fit through.
"Right, Erembour up, take Militsa," Valkyrie commanded. The young women grabbed each other and Erembour flew them up and into the hole above. There was a shriek from The Torment in his Spider form, and then Skulduggery screaming like he was being tortured. She turned his way. "Get up, find a window and run!" She shouted, pushing through the group. "Go!"
She had no idea what possessed her to think helping Skulduggery was more important but the idea of losing him after everything was suddenly her greatest fear and she ran full pelt back towards them. She grasped at her power and found enough to throw it at the Spider, who was on Skulduggery with a leg going through his sternum and out the other side, rearing on his back legs and keeping Skulduggery pinned against the wall. It jumped from the pain of her magic but it wasn't enough to penetrate the thick skin. He turned, dragging Skulduggery's impaled skeletal body with him. The terror she felt at being opposite The Torment in spider form though… it was like nothing she'd ever felt. She'd been calmer going to save Laila. But this monster? It was otherworldly.
She took a step back in fear and The Torment clicked his pincers. She took another and he reared suddenly, Skulduggery's body coming loose and falling to the ground. She stopped breathing entirely. One wrong move and he'd be on her and there was nothing she could do. She didn't know what she was thinking but one moment she was standing, waiting for him to strike, and the next she was sprinting in the other direction, The Torment pursuing her with a hissing, incredibly fast pace, and Skulduggery following behind The Torment in agony.
She flew up into the hole above and began to run, knowing the group would be looking into the nearest doors, some of which were blacked out with spiders, for windows. She was shaking from the fear, her mind fuzzy and pleasantly blank with no thoughts at all, only command after command distantly telling her what to do. She didn't process any of it, just running, feeling something hit her leg, blasting it with a scream and seeing eight legs and no spider body when she looked down after the damage.
They were so close to freedom. "Mil! Militsa! Erembour!" She screamed, running out of the room she'd flown into and out into yet another hallway. There had to be more hallways than rooms in the building, Valkyrie vaguely mused as she stumbled down the hallway. She thought she heard someone screaming, but when she kicked open a door in hopes of finding some of her group, hopefully halfway out the wall and running away, she was instead greeted with a massive back Spider, and behind them, a woman and four young children screaming in fear of her.
The Spider reared up and she, stupidly, closed the door before continuing to run. The Torment and Skulduggery seemed to have resumed their fight, from the sound of things and the lack of Spider killing her, which gave her some hope even in the millions of spiders all around her, crunching underfoot, falling on top of her head, in her clothes. When she heard screaming again, she turned on her Aura Vision to see three orange auras floating away from a larger aura – three people backing away from a Spider. Knowing in her gut it was some of her group, she put on as much speed as she could and burst into another dining hall, this one smaller than the last, and on the other side, one of the male prisoners along with Militsa and Erembour. Erembour seemed to have given her choker to Militsa, who gripped it in her hand and slashed at the Spider with more skill than she expected from the redheaded bookworm, and the man was on the floor backing up, throwing shadows wildly at the Spider. She ran to them, watching at Militsa threw a perfect rod straight into the side of the Spider, who screeched and stepped back.
She could only watch in horror as the male prisoner stood and, fearing the Spider would come for him, grabbed Erembour's shoulders and pushed her.
The Spider was on her small body before Militsa had any chance of defending her, and they all felt the vibrations of Erembour's screams when she was impaled through the stomach.
Militsa screamed with her and didn't do anything, having no training or real knowledge on how to deal with a situation like this. Valkyrie barely did also, and it wasn't anything she was taught when she ran up behind the man and rugby tackled him, throwing them both under the Spider with Erembour.
A giant Spiders foot went straight through the man's head, crushing and killing him instantly. Valkyrie used her white magic to blast the Spider, hearing it scream to begin and then adding more power, more power, more power, more power, MORE POWER–
She let out a short, dry sob and looked down at Erembour. She was breathing fast, gasping as her body went into shock. Militsa threw herself down by her head and waved her hands around, panicking. The leg was still inside of Erembour but only a bit of it. Valkyrie didn't touch it, just pushed an arm under her legs and under her back so her hand was hooked around the young girls' armpit and forced herself to her feet.
The girl was unfortunately somewhat heavyset, making her much harder for Valkyrie to carry when she was so injured. Erembour sobbed and begged Valkyrie and Militsa to help and Militsa's voice made a lot of promises Valkyrie was sure were entirely empty and void of hope. She marched herself, barely, through the throngs of spiders and Militsa used Erembour's choker to sweep the larger spiders away from them. Valkyrie didn't know what to think, didn't have enough sense of mind to tell Militsa a type of plan, just kept. On. Moving.
She was saved, quite literally, when Skulduggery appeared, like a dead saint in ruined armour, skull etched with cracks and his expression full of pain. She gasped at seeing him, choking up as she thought at least our last moments would be together.
This was broken abruptly by Skulduggery turning and running.
Like a panicked child, Valkyrie burst into sobs and ran after him, feeling Militsa running next to her and holding onto Erembour's head to keep her stable. Skulduggery didn't stop, his dark suit blending with the ever-growing spiders that were all at least as large as a paperback and some getting as large as six foot in length. Only the dirty white of his bones kept him in vision, little black spiders obscuring parts. She could feel them on her neck and face, one on her lip she couldn't remove. She felt pinchers snapping at her skin.
She didn't know how he did it, but Skulduggery went out of view, giving her what felt like a heart attack, and when she ran hazardously after him, she next saw him at a window, smashing it and making all the spiders keeping it hidden fall away with the glass. Skulduggery waited for her and she didn't know what to do with herself other than pass Erembour over and wipe her eyes with her arm as Militsa got herself out of the window. She followed and Skulduggery appeared by her side on the wet, muddy and spider covered ground below.
Her heart lurched and she knew they still had a way to go.
"Militsa!" She screamed. "Fly!"
Skulduggery didn't need telling twice, the air picked him up and he flew quickly into the sky and disappeared into the clouds. Militsa didn't hear her shouting and kept up her adrenaline filled pace. Valkyrie felt herself getting weaker as she pursued her friend, at the very end of her nerves and energy. Only her superior strength and leg length let her get to her. She didn't stop them, didn't say anything, just wrapped her arms around the girl from behind and threw them into the air.
She hadn't noticed the Spider following her. Any of the three that had been right behind her.
The Spiders began turning back to people, she noticed as she shot them into the air as fast as she could manage. Militsa screamed until she was out of breath and didn't seem to take in any air. They were lucky it was a cloudy day, and more so that there were clear skies above the clouds for her and Skulduggery to immediately find each other in.
They flew together, Skulduggery with the air and Valkyrie with her white energy at her feet.
"Are you okay?" Skulduggery rasped. His arms were shaking from holding Erembour's body.
Valkyrie tried to breathe a few times as Militsa turned in her arms, so she was hugging Valkyrie painfully tight. "You left me," she gasped out. "You left me."
Scary! But extra long for your enjoyment ;)
Please leave me a review if you're reading, sorry for the long waits between everything, I am incredibly busy procrastinating.
