Duality

part eight

Firstly, Mila felt something scraping along her back. The blood had drained from her arms, so it took her a moment to understand that someone—or something—pulled her across the ground. Her dress caught against something and tore, cutting into her skin, leaving another long gash along her back.

Blinking to clear the darkness from her gaze, Mila looked to her dragging legs and then up to her captured hands. "Anna?" she asked in confusion.

Their progress stopped; Anna kept a grip on Mila's wrists only to set her in a sitting position. "I didn't know how long you'd be out," she said, releasing Mila. Mila placed her hands in her lap, waiting until she felt steady enough to stand.

She stood and expected to see the hut close by—she hadn't run far—but they were out in the thicker parts of the woods. Following the trail she'd left against the ground with her eyes, Mila couldn't find evidence of Ashton. Anna remained behind her, forcing Mila to turn. "Was I alone again?" She couldn't remember if he'd fallen with her.

"No."

Mila waited for more. Anna stared over Mila's head, mind seemingly elsewhere. "He left me alone?" Mila prompted. Or like last time, had he woken up first and disappeared?

"I dealt with him."

No matter how many scenarios Mile ran through in her head, that didn't end well. Anna couldn't see and anticipate his attacks, and Ashton didn't know Anna... "What do you mean?" she asked, hating how her voice hitched. She moved closer to better watch Anna's stoic face.

With a faint smile, Anna said, "You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"What did you do?" Mila's heart clenched in her chest, dread filling her. The grass underneath her feet turned to dirt, a warning, but she couldn't stop the panic. "He said we couldn't die. I tortured him, like you said—"

"He lied, like I said," Anna dismissed. "I killed him quite easily."

Lightning struck a tree not ten feet away. While Mila hardly noticed, her thoughts a constant hum, Anna flinched. "A storm?" she asked, reaching her hands out in a bid to catch rain.

"He's probably woken up," Mila said, trying to think. If she'd woken up, he should be doing the same. "Where did you find him?"

Anna's hand found her shoulder. "Mila..." Shrugging her off, Mila waited, even if she wouldn't like the answer. "You're not going to be able to find him. He's not going to wake up, either." Mila exhaled and felt the beginnings of rain on her skin. Lips pressing into a thin line, Anna asked, "Did your powers change again?"

While her mind raced like she had to beat a countdown, she forced herself to think. "He said that would happen, when we kill each other. Our powers switched." She had no time to test: she had to find him and ask what happened. She only remembered kissing...

"But if he's dead, then you have both," Anna pointed out, breaking Mila from her memory. "It's just what we wanted!" She sounded more enthusiastic than Mila had ever heard, and it sickened her. Nothing about the situation felt right. Her body shook, the rain picking up, and Anna smiled. "Those are his powers, right?"

Struggling for the words to make Anna understand, Mila tried, "But he'll have mine."

Anna's head tipped back, catching the rain on her face. "Except he's dead. So you have both." Wiping a hand down her face, Anna said, "There's an outcropping this way. Let's get there before the rain really picks up."

She started walking, thinking Mila would blindly follow.

Mila had many points to protest, and the easiest one seemed to be her powers. Flexing her fingers, she looked at the ground, waiting to see the beginnings of grass. Like before when she'd died, she'd lost her powers to grow plants. All around her, everything had decayed. "He's not dead," Mila declared. "I don't have both powers."