Dangerously Beautiful

Chapter 22

Kaia's POV

     I close my eyes and lean my head against the cold window of the bus. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. My whole body is freezing from the little coverage my dress provided. I didn't stop by the group home. I couldn't. I ran without even saying goodbye to anyone. More importantly, Asher. I look down at my hands and notice blood underneath my fingernails. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

     *Ding* I look down at my phone that I've kept a death grip on since I left. I notice my hands are shaking and it's not just from the freezing temperature of the bus.

Asher: Kaia, where are you???

Asher: Please. Just tell me where you are.

     I close my eyes, feeling tears threatening to fall, but I don't let them. I built my defenses up again, to the way that they were before I came to this town. Before I let myself get too close to other people. Inhale. Exhale. I let my guard down around these people. I let myself begin to care again and look where that got me. I was weak. I've had three people try to sexually assault me because I wasn't strong anymore. I let myself begin to...feel things with someone and all that left me with was pain. *Ding*

Mia: Kaia, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to hurt Greyson. Just come back here, please.

     My knuckles were turning white from how hard I was holding onto my phone. Mia doesn't get it. I can't go back after what I've done. It's not because I felt sick at the thought of killing someone. It's because I liked the feeling of power. He tried to hurt me. So I hurt him. I'm not ashamed that I hurt him. I'm ashamed that I liked it so much.

     I looked out into the darkened sky from the bus window. I was headed to the last person I ever wanted to see in my life. My mother, if you can even call her that. The woman who led to me being raped. The woman who is indirectly responsible for the death of my brother. The woman who abandoned me when I need her the most. And the one who made me into the bitch that I am today.

     I still have around an hour until I reach New York, my home state. And no, it's not New York fucking city. We live in a poorer area...well, I used to live in a poorer area...she still does. I begin to breathe harder just thinking about everything that I'm leaving behind.

     Why does it feel so hard to breathe? My chest feels tight and warm. Not like laying in the sun warm, but standing right in front of it warm. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. I try to keep my breathing under control. *Ding* I breathe in. *Ding* I breathe out. *Ding* I breathe in. *Ding* I breathe out.

     "Kaia? Are you okay?" I squeeze my head in my hands leaning over my legs. I can't breathe. I can't move. I'm hearing voices that aren't there. "Kaia, it's Asher." I'm going fucking crazy. "I know you hurt someone. It's okay, we'll figure it out. Come back to me, baby." I breathe in. I breathe out. The feeling in my chest growing stronger and stronger. "Kaia..."

     I let out an ear-piercing scream from the feeling in my chest. I feel like my body is melting from the inside. I let it all out. I feel the metal bar on the seat in front of me bend and melt underneath my hands as I grip it.

     I scream louder and louder. The windows bust from the inside, raining shards of glass all throughout the bus. The bus began to swerve on the road, and that's when I finally looked up. Until I feel the bus roll over...and over...and over. People are screaming and yelling as I feel my body jerking with the movement of the bus. I felt like everything was in slow motion...until it stopped. I breathed in and breathed out. Repeating the process over and over again.

     I finally opened my eyes and looked around. Silence. No sound could be heard throughout the bus. I look up and notice that the bus is on its side. I look to my left and see eyes looking at me. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask looking at the young girl laying two seats away from me. Silence. I moved over pieces of glass, not caring that they were currently cutting into my skin. As I moved close, I noticed that she was too still and her eyes...they were empty looking...she was dead.

     I let out a breath, trying to calm myself down. I stood up on shaky legs and started climbing over seats towards the front of the bus. I came across an older man...holding hands with an older woman. Both were dead. I gripped my hair, choking on a sob. "No, no, no. This isn't happening. I didn't do this. I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster. I'm NOT A MONSTER!" I screamed into the silence filled bus. All nine people on the bus. DEAD.

     I climb out of the bus, reaching for my cell phone. "Hello, 911? There was a bus accident on '' I looked around the street. " on Jefferson road"..... "I was just driving by and saw it turned over. I don't know if there were any survivors." I hung up the phone, looking at the mess that I made. I looked down at the injuries from the bus crash. Only....there were no injuries. Even the small scrapes have healed. I closed my eyes trying to hold the tears in. If I let my emotions take over, then there was no telling what'd I do next.

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Asher's POV

     "She's not answering my texts," I said pacing back and forth in Hayden's living room. Hayden, Mia, Easton, and Sebastian stayed with me so we could figure out how to find Kaia. "Should I try and mind link her? It would probably work since half of our bond is complete. She just won't understand what's going on."

     "Do it. I've tried texting her and got nothing," Mia said with worry laced in her voice.

     "Kaia? Are you okay?" I spoke through our mind link. There was nothing, but I could somehow feel her pain through the half-completed bond. It almost felt like she was being suffocated...like buried alive. "Kaia, it's Asher." I started worrying when I felt her panicked state of mind. "I know you hurt someone. It's okay, we'll figure it out. Come back to me, baby." I could feel her heart rate pick up with each thought I sent out to her. I started to feel hot and began breathing harder and harder, unable to get any oxygen in. "Kaia..." Then nothing. I didn't feel her anymore. It was like she was dead. I felt tears running down my face.

     "Asher?....Asher?....ASHER?!" Hayden yelled in front of my face. "Did you reach her? What's wrong, man?" He looked at me with worried-filled eyes.

     "I can't feel her anymore. I-I...I don't know. It's like she cut our connection off or something." I didn't know how else to explain it. I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest.

     Mia looked at me hesitantly, "Look...I can try and do a locator spell to find her but I'm not a very strong witch on my own. So it might not be completely accura.."

     "Yes! Do it....I mean, please." I looked at Mia with pleading eyes.

     She sighed, "Okay...well, I need a knife, a few candles, and a map of the surrounding states."

     Hayden exhaled dramatically. "Great, now my dad's going to kill me for using one of the pack's maps," Hayden grumbled walking towards his dad's office.

     Mia took off her earrings and necklace, both were real crystals. She laid down the map that Hayden gave her and lit the candles, surrounding the map with them. She looked at each of us. "Turn off the lights." The room was plunged into darkness, the only light illuminating from the flickering flames of the candle.

     "Portudoelostem cateminae embrosiia," Mia spoke in an unknown language. She cut along the length of her palm with the knife, speaking the words while doing so. "Locatenum Katarina Jones," she said while dripping the blood onto the map. I could feel the magic swirling through the air as she chanted the spell.

     "Oi, what the bloody hell is that?" Sebastian said pointing towards the map. We all looked down as Mia continued chanting the spell. The blood that was dripping on the map started moving to one specific area.

     Mia's chanting abruptly stopped. She looked at all of us and said, "New York. She's going to New York."

What do you guys think about Kaia's powers? And what do you think will happen when she finally goes back to her mother's house?