Page 153 of Hell Fae Captive

My legs gave out beneath me, sending me to the ground in a pose similar to what I’d seen Lucifer in just moments ago. On a page of a book that shouldn’t be real.

Maybe I’d fallen asleep.

Maybe this was all just a nightmare.

All I could do now was supplicate, hope, and pray for mercy.

Apologies left my lips, none of them heard. But I felt them deep in my soul.

I tried to return the tendril, to expel it, to remove the foreign power.

It slowly drained from my veins, right along with my life, leaving me cold and alone and boneless.

In the middle of a bed.

Wait…My eyelashes fluttered, my gaze suddenly clearing to reveal the familiar settings of my college dorm room.

Allison’s twin bed came into view, her fluffy blue quilt unmade and falling off the edge.

The actors on her posters seemed to stare at me, judging my sweaty, naked form.

Because I was unclothed.

And sticking to a comforter I didn’t recognize.

I glanced at my desk to find foreign objects there as well. The partially opened wardrobe revealed skirts and blouses that I would never wear.

And the dresser at the foot of my bed had a makeup kit on top of it.

“What the…?” I sat up, my head spinning from a toxic mix of confusion and exhaustion.

Giggles in the hallway sounded, the noise so foreign in nature that I frowned.Was it all just a bad dream? The Hell Fae Trials? The Source? This room?

My mind couldn’t compute the sequence of events or the strange sense of wrongness in this room.

Another mirage?

Another test?

Another trial?

Another dream?

I shivered, ice drizzling through my veins. Nothing about this felt right. If anything, a sense of foreboding trickled down my spine.

I slipped from the bed, my legs weaker than normal. From my run? Was it real? Did I expel all my energy? Even my own powers?

I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling more vulnerable than I had in a very long time.

I needed clothes. No, I neededfood. And water.

Oh God, water.I crept forward into the bathroom, my knees threatening to buckle with every step. It felt as though I hadn’t moved in years. Which was strange. It’d been minutes since I’d fallen asleep reading, or whatever that had been.

But how am I here?I wondered as I finally reached the bathroom.

My fingers shook as I twisted the faucet, then I carefully bent to drink directly from it. The action left me feeling dizzy and all out of sorts.

However, the water sent a splash of soothing tranquility through my system.