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Hope you like it!
It was exciting writing it.
MJ
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As the food arrived, an awkward silence hung over our table in the restaurant. The magic bubble that protects my empathic ability has been down since we got here, I need to know how he feels and this is the only way I know how to read him.

Feeling special since I did it, I chased after the subject. "Have you noticed? Since Lina hasn't been around, the girls are getting jealous? They get on my nerves, they are so possessive of you." His lips curl up and he looks at me with an amused expression, he shrugs his shoulders, "They come back to me and say that we spend too much time together and they don't believe that there is nothing romantic between us." He leans forward and my heart jumps. "The audacity of these girls knows no bounds. I need Lina back." The mood changes, am I angry? I just can't put my finger on it. Something to do with the potion I was fed for so long. His eyebrows raise for a second and he shakes his head. He shakes his head.

Men can be slow sometimes, and he is no different. He does not seem to understand the dilemma I am in? How can I convince him that our relationship is strictly platonic? If it weren't for his duty, we wouldn't even be together. My heart dropped and something bubbled up inside me for no reason. I lifted my eyes, he was tapping into my head again. Was this emotion mine or his and what did it mean?

Deciding to leave it at that, I took a full bite of my hamburger and chewed it.

"Honestly, you don't get it," I sigh after looking at him. "Let me paint the picture for you. Whenever I go to the bathroom, they follow me and nag me with questions. They even push the boundaries and play games just to get to me. One time, one of them grabbed my hairbrush and held it over the toilet to make me give them answers. Another time, the other one pushed me against the wall to treat me. When I tried to create space between us, she tried to get closer to me, but I avoided her." The last words made his eyes shake. My blood was already boiling with the memories and this feeling, I had known it long enough to recognize it. I just couldn't figure out who it belonged to. Was it him? No. "Can't you just go on a date without me or something? Please ease their minds, I just want them to leave me alone?" Trying to control my emotions, I took a bigger bite than I expected.

Slowly he crosses his arms.
"Why do you bother? You're skilled, why can't you handle such a trivial matter?"
I had struggled with the contents in my mouth, but I was still angry. No, that was his feeling.

What are you suggesting? Do you want me to fight them? I mean, I could if I wanted to. I am getting good at it, but I am not an animal. Staring at him, I remained silent, letting my thoughts sink into his. Suddenly, his eyes broke contact with mine and he took a mouthful of jus.

Unless, of course, you are suggesting the use of magic? After all, you use people's thoughts against them in so many ways. Is that what offends you? Does it bother you that I refuse to do so? Why should I for such a trivial matter? Besides, this is a human matter, and I will resolve it in a human way.

I raise an eyebrow and look back at him. It's always harder to speak up when he's so close. But the people in the restaurant would be curious as to why we are silent during the whole meal." "Why is it so hard to give me some slack and let me do night classes with Lina? You could use this time to go out and relieve your stress". I tried to smile, but my lips wouldn't cooperate.

He stared at me, his eyelid twitching for a second before closing it. Then he reached for his phone and read a message that made his facial muscles twitch for a moment. My blood rushed through my veins, making my head feel light.

I dropped my fry, now convinced that something big was about to happen. He waved to the server. My legs wanted to go, but where? In no time, our plates were taken. Half of my hamburger went with it, but I was slow to catch up. Emotions flooded in like waves.

Is my family okay? Why is he so upset?

" We are not going home."

I raised my arms to my head and shook them.
" No, don't tell me something happened to my siblings."

"No, it's someone else."

My chest relaxed enough and I could finally breathe. "Please tell me we are not going to have another crazy night with your friends! Let me go home."

After everything that happened during the day, all I wanted was the comfort of my bed. I dreamed of a quiet and cozy night, not a pub full of people, music and his friends.

The waitress came with the bill and gave us a warm smile, her eyes moving between the two of us. I looked at her and gave her a shy smile before looking at my bag, knowing that she might have the wrong idea about our situation.

"It's not what you think, this is good news, I hope," he smiles, making me pout as I wait for the worst.
"We have someone to meet, so let's go." He said, already moving in his chair and reaching for his wallet.

Quietly, Tom put his hand on mine and led me to the car, and I followed him.
This was a conversation that couldn't be had without further precautions.

"I sent a message asking them to do a little research on your father's whereabouts." We were finally on our way.

My heart jumped out of my chest, "He's contacted the Resistance." Holding my purse tightly between my hands over my legs, I controlled my emotions and pulled the spell around me, severing the emotional connection between us.

"Dad, Annie please reverse the spell. What about Dad?"

"Hum," I nodded. "My dad, do you think..." I began, unable to finish the sentence due to the whirlwind of emotions inside.

He lifted his shoulders without losing his smile, giving me hope. I smiled back, filled with joy,
" Hey, it's a real possibility, we're supposed to meet the spy after all."

My pulse quickened, my mind racing with a thousand possibilities that made my hands tremble. "Spy." I remembered that this world was different from this one. If Dad was there, this spy would know.

"Annie, ask for more details. What exactly did he get in that text. Let me talk to him."

"I can't, Leah, the emotional strain is too much for me. I am at the end of my rope. I mean, Dad. How should I feel about him? All my memories are twisted and incomplete because of Mom's spell."

"But I am not. I know! Her magic could endanger my soul, it could only imprison me in a corner of your mind with a thin line to the outside world for so many years."

"But it's also strange, don't you think? Why would mother give you a line to the outside world if she really wanted to kill you? I mean, that line is what kept giving you the strength to come back to me. Why would she do that?"

"Exactly! Why would she? Dad must have done something before he left."

The car was finally parked at the end of the parking lot where no cameras could see us, Leah now quietly muttering theories about the line and how different it was from the one she shared with Tom or Phil. We entered the woods. Surrounded by the darkness of the night, the forest seemed more frightening, but I had no time to dwell on that. Tom grabbed me by the waist and teleported us to an unknown destination.

I adjusted my eyes to the dim light and walked forward. This was Phil's place.
"I don't see anyone."
My sentence was cut short when a person appeared behind me, pressing a knife along my main vein and holding me with the other.

His deep and threatening voice made my mind go blank.
"We are nothing but a small link in a chain."

My hands went cold.
Was this the guy?
What did that even mean?

" I can fall, but the chain will resist." Tom replied, walking towards us and showing his unarmed hands.

Blood rushed to my head, but I bit my lip instead of saying.

"It will hold." They finished the sentence in unison.

The stranger extended the hand that had been holding me and shook Tom's in a strange way.

"Can someone tell me what is going on?" My voice became hysterical, my emotions overtaking me. "Better yet, can this guy take the knife out of my throat?"

Tom nodded at the man.

He pulled the knife from my throat and grabbed Tom in a friendly manner in front of my disbelieving eyes. To someone else, they might look like old friends, but I knew they didn't know each other. This was the way Hunt's unknown men celebrated the fact that he had made it to his destination.

What the hell! I was ready to kick his ass. Why didn't you let me sneak in? Why did you have to play damsel in distress? Do you know how annoying that is? I am a predator, not a pet. Leah pouts in my head.

Closing my fists, I agree with the feeling, but then I thought it might be a human and not a magical being. But humans don't go around kicking and hurting people. My reaction was clouded by my need to be human and meet human standards when I am,
I,
am,
am not.

"No, Annie, you are not human." Leah tells me. My vision flickers and my chest compresses my lungs.

I get my attention back from their exchange, a much needed distraction.
" Many meshes were carefully placed, we began an infiltration some time ago, knowing it would be a delicate mission, but it was worse than expected. Many were sacrificed to achieve the goal and even fewer came out alive." Weariness filled his features and I knew he wasn't making this up.

With my heart pounding in my chest, my throat went dry, making me wish for a cup of water. It was real. None of this could be made up. His ragged, dirty clothes and the blood that covered them were proof enough.

" Do you mean they died?" I asked, noticing his old features and deep dark eyes.

He solemnly places his hand over his heart.
"Honor and recognition for the fallen. Death is better than falling under its claws. We have all made this sacrifice and it is our only option if we are captured, we are but a small pawn on a chessboard."

Stunned, I studied the man in front of me, bruised and injured with cuts from some kind of knives, it was clear that a battle was raging somewhere where there were no gunshots. His old clothes and cape only showed how different our worlds were. There was indeed another realm.

"Do you have any news?" Tom asks, breaking the silence after the man and his prayer.

"Some of those who were taken are still alive. Women, children, men."

A shiver runs down my spine, preventing me from hearing more. So it was true, the abductions were real, my father could have been taken to that realm, could he? I gathered my courage, but I couldn't hold it any longer.
"What about my..."

A hand appeared close to my face and made me stop, it was so fast that I thought he was going to slap me.

"Don't say anything that can identify you. I can't know who you are. It's a security protocol."

I frown in disbelief. How am I supposed to ask any of my questions? Tom looks at me and knows what I want to ask. After all, he made it happen.

"The man you were sent to find, is he still alive?"

His voice made me look between Tom and the men, but my anticipation was cut short by a crack from the forest. We are not alone.

Silence fell over us, the man now in a defensive position, his eyes scanning the surrounding woods. Tom touched our shoulders and tried to teleport us away, but he couldn't. We were now trapped under a magical dome. The only way out was on foot.

"We have to fight our way out." Tom concluded, my stomach filling with butterflies.

"Don't get caught alive," the stranger commanded in a harsh voice, as if we had agreed to be part of this fight.

As he finished his motivational speech, two werewolves came into view from behind the trees, while a third lurked on a branch. They made their way towards us, the trees around us providing the best camouflage in this cloudy night.

The man next to me let out a piercing war cry and flew toward the enemy, who was already coming at us in a straight line. Many spells bounced back, but they were enough to change the beast's direction, preventing it from making a direct attack and giving it enough time to prepare a counterattack, using the trees to hide its true intentions.

Once close enough, he prepared for hand-to-hand combat, pulling a blade from under his hood. He concentrated on attacking the hind legs and the pit of his limbs. The knife shone in the moonlight between the clouds. The blade was obviously too short to kill the beast, those wounds, but they were enough to keep it in one place for a short time before it healed itself.

I understood then that this was not his first fight. He was aiming at the ligaments of the beast's limbs to buy enough time to deliver his final blow. Now he aimed for the beast's neck. This man knew all along that his spells, whatever they were, were no good against a werewolf and used them to shield himself.

Damn, there is a human in there!!!How are we supposed to fight them knowing that? It was an impossible situation.

"Tom? Do we run?" I ask with a trembling voice, refusing to get into a hand-to-hand deadly fight with a fellow creature.

"Fight. Annie, use Leah." It tones up and looks at me while I shake my head.

The second beast lunged at us after the one on top hissed a signal. I knew it was only a matter of time. It was surprising enough that it hadn't done so before, as if the wolf on top of the tree was considering whether or not we were a threat.

Tom teleported us nearby to avoid the attack.

"But they'll know I can't fight." I just couldn't reveal my possible identity and turn my life upside down, but he wouldn't let me. My eyes pleaded, even though I knew the precarious situation we were in. They would probably follow us anyway, but some irrational part of my heart hoped they wouldn't and that my life wouldn't change after this.

Holding me by the shoulders, he cunningly shook me back and forth,
" They will know anyway! Fight!" His anger was clear, he wanted me to fight and take a stand. I looked at him with doe eyes instead.
"You know what, have it your way and stay here until I get back unless you come to your senses and fight for what is right."

With that, he used his magic to appear above his opponent, knocking him backwards. Tom didn't have a knife, he had to make do with his fists. How could he defeat his opponent with such a suicidal means? How could he not see that?

I gathered my courage and looked around, hoping to find another solution, another way out. One that didn't involve killing the people around me.

" Why is the third just watching from above, why doesn't it attack?" Part of me wished this was an opportunity. If I could talk to the human inside, then we could all get out alive.

"Impossible! Scan the area, a mage controls the leader on the tree, he is a puppet. This is how the Council works." Now, he kneed his opponent down with his weight, he didn't even look at me.

A puppet, then their human minds were fried, leaving only the beast and it's shell. Driven by instinct, they need a master to tell them what to do and keep them like a dog and a man.

As I walked between the trees where they came from, I finally saw an arm coming from behind a tree farther away. Without Leah, I wouldn't have noticed it because it was so far away.

" I can see them." My voice cunningly covered the pounding in my chest.

" If she calls for reinforcements, we are doomed. You must stop her at all costs." He hastened in my mind as he separated the werewolf's arm bone from the marrow, sending a crackling stabbing sound that brought my hearing back to reality.

Both men were busy, I had to be the one to take care of her. I lifted the hood of my windbreaker to hide my identity and added a spell to hold it in place.

This was the only way out.

This was real, someone was going to die, and it couldn't be me. Gathering my courage, I stepped out of the magic barrier.

"Please, let's get out alive!" I whispered to Leah.

"We will."

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Note
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Hum, how do you feel about this?
Yes this story is about to end.
😂