Someone was trying to get into my mind.

I felt my heart rate quicken and then I heard it.

A twig snapping.

I gasped in fear and stood up, looking around me. I wasn't alone. Someone was in the woods and they knew I was here. I squinted in the darkness, trying to see who it was. I thought I saw a shift of movement in the trees, a rustling of branches. I moved closer to the spot where I thought I saw a movement, racking my brains for a spell that could possibly help me out if I was in any danger. 

And then I felt a cold hand cover my eyes.

I let out a terrified scream, but the person who had covered my eyes clapped their hand over my mouth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Caley Lucia."

I froze.

The first thought that ran through my mind was, "Oh God. I'm going to die."

No shit, brain.

No! Stop it Caley! Focus! You have to get out of this!

The hell I can.

FOCUS!

I couldn't see anything. I had no idea who the voice belonged to, but it was a male. I knew that for sure. It was most definitely not Trey's voice. One, it sounded a lot hoarser than Trey's voice did and two, this person smelled a lot muskier than Trey did. Also, his hands were rougher.

What was I going to do?

I had to get away somehow, but how?

I could still feel the cold prickling feeling at my consciousness. He was still trying to probe my mind and I was pretty sure he was successful.

I tried struggling against his strong grip, but it was no use. He was strong. I heard him chuckle in my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine.

I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

Kick his ass, Caley!

Right, like that was so easy.

I evaluated my situation, trying push the stranger out of my mind. I fought hard against him, trying to kick him out of my head.

When I failed, I decided to take another approach, but I was going to have to be careful. A sliver of a thought formed in my mind, but I fought to keep it below the surface of my consciousness.

I was going to trick him, but I needed to be very, very careful about it.

Think of a spell, Caley. Think of a freaking spell!

"It won't help. I know of magic even your wildest dreams can't imagine," the stranger whispered in my ear.

Fu*k you, Merlin's balls-licker.

He laughed as he listened to my internal insult.

Levitation spell. That would work. I just needed to find a branch or something heavy.

I expanded my mind so that I could sense the movements and essence of the forest around me. I needed to find something heavy or sharp, or both preferably...

There! A fallen branch! Perfect!

"It won't work," he said.

I can still try.

I cleared my mind, still feeling his consciousness at the edges of mine, reading my every thought.

I have to do this right.

I took a deep breath and focused on the branch of my choice. Once the image was in my mind, I thought of the spell.

Levitatus!

Nothing.

Damnit.

The stranger chuckled again and I just wanted to kick him so hard that he wouldn't ever be able to reproduce.

Focus Caley!

It was really difficult to do that, though. The stranger's hands were still clamped over my eyes and mouth. My heart was racing in fear and the same thoughts of my impending death kept flying through my mind.

I had never tried to use a spell by just thinking it. I had always muttered it aloud, although I knew it was possible to use a spell without actually saying the incantation out loud.

You can do this, Caley!

Levitatus!

I thought hard, concentrating my very being on the branch. I thought it hadn't worked again and found myself growing frustrated. But then I heard a sound. There was a rustling coming from the trees and I could feel the branch's essence growing nearer to me.

It worked!

"Silly girl," the stranger hissed in my ear.

But I had done what I had intended to do. He had become temporarily distracted by looking for the branch that was zooming towards his head. I took this opportunity to bite down on the hand he had clamped over my mouth. Hard.

He cursed and shouted and I struggled free, running to the other side of the lake, as far away from him as possible. I spit on the ground. I had bit him really hard and I could feel the taste of blood in my mouth. It was salty, kind of like salt water, except thicker. And more revolting.

I glared at my attacker.

Bloody hell, he's attractive.

I blinked.

What?

I knew I should have ran. I should have tried to get away from him. I should have ran towards Trinity, screaming at the top of my lungs that I was being attacked. I should have reported the incident to someone so that they could take care of it.

But I did none of those things.

Instead, I stood there, staring at the stranger.

He was incredibly good looking. He was on the tall side, lean and muscular, with a chiseled jaw and toned muscles. His blue-grey eyes glinted in the darkness and his eyebrows were narrowed in my direction. He had his hand to his mouth, sucking at the blood that I had caused to escape from his flesh.

He dropped his hand and glared at me.

"You'll regret that," he hissed.

"Are you going to kill me?" I blurted out without thinking.

Shit, Caley. Way to play it cool.

He laughed a low chuckle that came from his chest. I felt the little hairs on my arms stick up in fear.

"That would be entirely counter-productive," he said, folding his arms over his broad chest. I couldn't help but notice how much his muscles stuck out in the black leather jacket that he wore.

"Wh-what?" I asked. Damnit, Caley. Pull it together.

"I'm not going to kill you," he answered simply.

"Then what are you doing here? How do you know my name?" I asked.

My heart was still racing at an abnormally accelerated pace. I wondered if he could hear it. I wondered if I would die of a heart attack. Please don't let me die of a heart attack, God.

"Twenty questions?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Gerrard. It's an honor to finally meet you, Caley Lucia," he responded. His gaze locked with mine and I found myself unable to look away.

"I ask again, how do you know my name?" I asked. What the hell? Honor?

I felt my heart rate deaccelerate.

"You will come to understand that in due time. I have a request, however, from Cain. He wishes you to meet him after graduation, if that is at all possible," Gerrard said.

I rubbed my forehead with my knuckles. I should be more scared than I was right now.

"Who the hell is Cain?" I asked. He just smirked at me.

"You'll find out. I will meet you here, precisely a week after you graduate. The time I am giving you is in the evening at 6 pm," he said.

"You just expect me to come here at 6 a week from now when you're not even going to tell me anything about why you want me to meet you here?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"And what makes you think I'll actually show up?" I asked, putting my hands on my waist.

"Because," he began, approaching me. I should have stepped back or something, but I didn't want to back down. I was going to stand my ground so that he didn't think he could take advantage of me. He stood extremely close to me, so much so that I could feel the coldness emanating from his body.

"Because?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

From up close, I could see that his eyes were mostly grey, but had hints of blue in them. Was he an Aguamenti?

"Because, it has to do with your mother," he replied.

And then, before I could say anything, he disappeared.

_________________________________________________________________________

A/N: What a start to the new Book, eh?

Who's Gerrard? Who's Cain? How do they know about her mother? Do you think Caley will meet them?

Stay tuned to find out!

Leave me a comment. I want to know what you think about the beginning. Does it feel too rushed? I kind of wanted a first scene that had a bit of action in it. Did this suffice?

Let me know!

And leave a vote while you're at it!

XOXO