My Last Breath (Book one of The Portal Series)

The Provence City of Elyria. CHAPTER TWELVE

Saying I am shocked by this situation is only an understatement. I'm unsure how to act seeing Koda and Lynn together making my body stiffer than the trees surrounding us. To run into Jane here was just a coincidence, a happy accident, but now discovering Koda and Lynn is something completely different. I'm almost convinced that this was staged, as if they knew we would be here, as if they knew each other personally. I mean, they were just clinging to each other like they'd known one another.

Jane suddenly steps back from her brother who is peering around watching the foreground like something is going to come for us. I almost look back behind me until my sister speaks, "Koda, how could this have happened? How could you leave Ellie behind? How did you find this girl?" She gestures to Lynn who is still hugging Estelle.

He doesn't stutter one bit, "Jane it was too late for me to save her!"

I'm completely uncomfortable standing out here in the dark, my eyes now refuse to look at any of my accomplices. I breathe in the crisp air admiring the beauty of nature yet afraid of what could be out here. My only assurance that there's no trace of Hunters nearby is how silent the forest is.

"We were already stepping onto the platform when the man pulled her from me. They were gone when I had come back up and there was no way I could chase them if I tried."

My eyes fall to the ground below me, only to find a crumbled stone platform a few feet away. My stomach becomes queasy again, knowing the last time I was here the men took me. The time before that I almost died. I attempt at swallowing the lump in my throat but am very unsuccessful.

Koda adds, "I came out here in search for Ellie during day when it was safer, but I found Lynn here instead."

I blink up from the ground at everyone staring at Koda, while Jane demands, "Come on, we've got to go." She sounds angry but not necessarily furious anymore.

My throat closes up for a brief moment as Koda and Jane assist the rest of us towards the platform. I am tense and from what I can see, everyone else is too. All I can think of is the sensation of drowning while my mind goes through pictures of what I imagine Elyria to be like. It could be refreshing to walk through its streets, to be in a world that's safe from Hunters, and to have freedom for once in my life.

Within a millisecond my mind goes blank as I feel Jane's warm hand grab my wrist and pull me onto the platform. I try fighting it but it's too late, my feet feel like they're covered in hardened concrete already. I can not move a muscle. It takes only a second engulfing my legs into the ground as I hear Estelle and Lynn suffering from their fears.

Being sucked into the Earth is an experience all on it's own. I thought the second time would be simpler than the first but this time it is more terrifying. When I'm fully submerged I've got no true feeling in any part of my body until then out of no where I'm standing with Jane's hand still gripped around my wrist.

It takes me a second to be able to regain myself and when I do I open my eyes to the pitch black cave. My ears pick up on Estelle and Lynn muttering about what just happened. While Koda tells them this is normal, but Lynn doesn't take his word, "What is the matter with all of you? This is insane."

The musty scent and wet atmosphere remind me how frightening it was when I was last here alone. The unpleasant horror deep inside my soul diminishes knowing that Jane is with me in this frightening cave. One thing that still gets to me is that presence that washes over me. It's like a powerful spirit of some kind is watching, which is true. The thought makes chills go up my body at how unbelievable it all still seems.

Jane clears her throat, "We are now in the gate," She announces to the others whom I almost forgot were with us because my mind keeps wandering. "It will take a minute or two for the portal to show its physical self."