Taming the Hybrid Mate: Desired by Five Alphas-Chapter 200: A trance

Andria’s POV

"Aria..." Becca called again, but her voice sounded distant, muffled, like someone speaking through a closed door underwater.

I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. My heartbeat pounded too loudly, drowning everything else out. I turned away from the dining table and walked toward my room, each step heavier than the last.

As soon as I entered, I shut the door behind me.

The moment it clicked shut, my chest tightened.

The air around me thickened, and a sudden charge of strange energy was sweeping me very fast.

My fingers trembled against the wood, my eyes got heavier. "What... what is happening to me?"

A sudden wave crashed over me, consuming my whole being, and sending my head backwards.

I stood still behind the door, my head fixed on the ceiling, the room blurred.

And suddenly everything else dissolved.

I found myself somewhere outside my room. I tried to pinch myself, but I couldn’t; this wasn’t real.

I stood at the school’s outer gate. It was still ten minutes past ten this morning, I looked around, and everywhere was calm; no student or teacher was seen loitering on the premises except me.

A guard patrolled lazily near the gate, humming under his breath.

Then, twhip!

A dart zipped through the air, coming towards the guard’s direction. I tried to stop it from getting to the guard, but I couldn’t move. I just stood there, rooted to the spot.

It hit the guard directly in the neck.

He froze, then collapsed silently.

The shadows shifted, and a figure approached.

My breath stopped.

It was Liara.

She bent swiftly, rifling through the guard’s pocket until she found the heavy bronze key. Her movements were quick, practiced.

She looked around to make sure everything was safe. It was apparent she couldn’t see me, even though I was directly in front of her, except, of course, I wasn’t actually there.

She pushed the gate open just wide enough to slip in.

"No..." I whispered, "Liara, stop there. Someone help, something wrong is..."

It was of no use; no one could hear me.

The world jerked, and I was suddenly behind her as she slipped through the shadows of the hallway leading to the detention block.

I wasn’t walking because I wasn’t feeling my feet move, but I was somehow following her movements until she reached the detention block.

She walked briskly and silently, no one could even notice her, as if she had been a trained assassin, towards Jackson’s cell.

Two guards stood before the corridor that held Jackson’s cell.

Liara didn’t hesitate.

twhip...twhip!

She shot those darts at those guards, from behind them, and they both fell, limp, before their bodies even hit the ground fully.

That’s a sleep-inducing laced dart, I guess. This could probably be what happened before the fire.

Everything points towards Liara or Jackson having caused the fire in the detention block.

She moved to the nearer guard, snatching the smaller silver key ring from his belt. Her hands shook, but she steadied them, tucking the key into her hooded coat pocket.

She sprinted to Jackson’s room, her breathing ragged.

She quickly took out the key from her coat and snapped open the detention room’s door.

She walked into the room, and a few minutes later, Jackson stumbled out, looking half-starved and dizzy, but the moment his feet stepped outside the room, his eyes sharpened. "Liara? You...How...what are you doing?"

"We don’t have time." She grabbed his wrist. "Move."

They ran.

But as they rounded a corridor, a distant shout echoed.

"Hey, who’s there?"

I turned quickly to see who owned that voice, which sounded very familiar, but I couldn’t catch a glimpse.

Jackson cursed.

Liara reached into her small pouch and grabbed a cylindrical, metallic object.

No. No. I already knew what it was before she threw it.

A fire instigator.

She hurled it against the wooden wall, and sparks exploded outward like ignited stars.

And just like that, Liara, Jackson and the voice were lost.

Flames roared up in an instant, licking the walls, crackling violently. Smoke billowed so fast it swallowed the ceiling.

Liara yanked Jackson into the growing smoke, using the flames as a shield, as a distraction; they escaped into the smoke.

The fire spread across the corridor to the old detention room, slowly consuming the block, as the smoke rose, swallowing everything.

And then once again, everything cleared, blacking out, and slowly giving way to my ceiling.

I had seen a vision while awake, not even in my sleep, and that’s very strange to me.

I gasped violently, staggering back until my knees hit the edge of my bed, trying to regain my balance, and adjusting myself to my environment.

My head was heavy, and a deafening sound echoed in my ear, causing a temporary splitting headache.

My skin was cold, sweat trickling down my forehead and down my spine. My heartbeat hammered so intensely it hurt.

"I... I saw that," I whispered, pressing a hand to my chest. "I actually saw that."

Another power, how many more powers do I have? But why do I have to see this one after it already happened?.

"What is happening to me?" I muttered under my breath. "I hope I can handle all my powers if they keep falling out this way."

I stared at my trembling fingers. They didn’t feel like mine anymore.

Another pulse shot through my temples, like my mind was still vibrating from the vision. My lungs felt too small, too tight.

I hurriedly walked into the shower, amidst my trembling hands and my splitting head, and took my bath.

Ran to my wardrobe, I threw it open, my hands fumbling as I dragged out the first appropriate outfit I found: a fitted black top and straight-cut trousers. My fingers barely worked as I zipped the side. My breath came in loud and shaky bursts.

"Get it together," I whispered to myself, but the fear clawing inside me didn’t loosen.

I put on my shoes and opened the door.

And nearly crashed directly into Mel and Becca.

"What happened?!" Mel shouted. "Aria, your face...why are you pale? What’s wrong?!"

"Did something happen?" Becca grabbed my wrist.

But I pulled my wrist free.

"I can’t explain right now," I breathed. "I need to go."

"Aria, wait...!"

But I was already running.

My legs moved on instinct, barely even understanding me. It just walked towards the door, almost as if it were floating.

I ran out of the apartment building, down the path leading to the school block, my feet striking the ground faster than I could think.

"I needed to tell them what I saw, before it’s too late."