Uncontrollable

Chapter Twenty-Two

My first instinct was magic.

I imagined myself disappearing out of this dark abyss and back into the street with my mother; I refused to let her slip through my fingers that easily.

I raised my right hand, closed my eyes, focusing on only that image, concentrating so hard that I felt like I could force my body to go there.

The feeling of transportation I was so accustomed to began, but about halfway through I felt a sensation I had only experienced once before in my life.

It was as if my body had broken apart into different particles that were traveling in a pack, but hit a wall, and were thrown off of it.

With an angry grunt, I opened my eyes, taking a deep breath. Someone knew who they were dealing with, using magic to prevent me from getting out.

Without the ability to transport myself out of this place, I moved on to other options. I imagined a ball of light appearing at the tip of my finger. Within the second, there was a small ball of light flowing freely from my finger tips.

I concentrated on the light and aligned my energy with it, forcing it into the shape of a tight ball. When it was, I could illuminate whatever area I wanted. 

I held the light out in front of me. I was standing on frozen dirt, with hay dusting the top of it. For a moment it reminded me of the horse barn I'd been in with Vanessa when I'd seen those slaves beaten, although the terrible smell in this area was much different than the one there; I couldn't place my finger on exactly what the smell was.

I took a few cautious steps forward holding out my finger in front of me. The area that it irradiated was just the same as the last; nothing except dirt.

An exasperated sigh fell out of my mouth before I could stop it. I wasn't worried; if anyone tried to attack me I would just use my magic. But, I needed to find my mother, and the urge to do so burned like a fire hotter than ever before.

There was one idea that came to my mind that would help me get a better feel for where I was trapped.

With the flourish of my index finger, I sent the ball of light flying upwards, allowing it to flow more freely as it went up.

It kept traveling up through the sky until it slammed into an invisible force. The light flickered for a moment before regaining it's full brightness. I stopped sending it upward and instead began focusing more of my energy into making it larger. Slowly, the darkness was repelled away by my light.

As the light grew larger and the darkness was forced back, I could see the confinements of my cage; I was surrounded my metal bars built close together like a jail cell. The area was fairly large.

While I scanned my eyes around the cell, I noticed that there was one wall that was built of wood, not metal.

Flicking my gaze downward, a repulsed gag was elicited from me; rotting corpses lay piled against the wood.

The putrid smell of death wafted into my nose, seeming to smell worse than before now that I knew what it was.

Etched into the wooden poles were names and symbols. I walked over to the poles and bent down, ignoring the skeletons nearby, and breathing through my mouth to try to eliminate the smell. Trent Smith. Next to his name was symbols for fire, wind, water, and earth. There was also an intricate picture of a brain.

A shiver ran through my body, my eyes fixated on those specific pictures and name. I felt a strong connection to that name, although I couldn't figure out why.

It felt as if I was frozen like a deer caught in headlights, unable to move.

The knife landing right over my head was what pulled me out of my daze. It had stuck into the wooden pole directly above me. Had it been an inch lower, it would have impaled my skull.