My eyes were hard to open. I’d been crying in my sleep. Watching James’s death was the worst nightmare I’d ever had. But, Audrey hadn’t shown up to laugh at my fear after.
It must have been a nightmare. Audrey was messing with me again. That was the only explanation. Thinking carefully, the word pain came to mind.
Pain.
I remembered my arm would be broken if it had been real. I stopped breathing, but didn’t feel anything. Relief began to come to me.
Then, I felt it. A dull twitch in my arm. It was most likely just asleep. I forced myself to look down at my chest. My arm was set in a splint.
It was broken. My body jerked up, and I sat on the edge of the bed. Breathe, just breathe. A clinking noise to my left drew my gaze and the moments of trying to calm myself ended. My pearls lay on the ground next to me.
I screamed, collapsing onto the floor next to the bed. There was no dream last night. It had all been real. It was real.
It was excruciating work, forcing my lungs to breathe in and out as I tried to remain strong enough to keep my body upright, kneeling. A million thoughts rushed at me at once. The more I replayed the events from the previous night, the shallower my breathing became, until it barley sounded like breathing at all. I was panting, struggling to get oxygen to my brain.
I wept uncontrollably, and my chest constricted brutally. I coughed and cried as I experienced everything all over again. The dry heaves that moments before I’d assumed were just a result of nightmarish memories started up again, ripping through my body from its very core.
I was alone and James was gone. It was my fault. All hope was lost. Riley was right. Without hope we have nothing. The sobbing and heaving subsided after who knows how long, but the tears didn’t stop their steady trickle down my face.
I gathered the energy, from where I couldn't say, to crawl back into the bed to lay back down again, feeling the heaves dying down a bit, and stared up at the ceiling.
James was dead. I shouldn't have antagonized Audrey. I should have thought of something better to say. There must have been something I could have done that would have prevented it.
I heard my door open but didn’t move. I didn’t care who came in now. Maybe the gift would come in handy after all. Maybe I could be pushed far enough over the edge that no emotion would come through. The tears slowed. I could almost feel ice crawling over my heart, wrapping it up in an unrelenting way. I would let it take me, turn me cold. That was the best way to ensure I would never help them again. They could kill me if they wanted to, but I wouldn’t give them another drop of my blood to help them.
My bed dipped down, and I could see Audrey in my peripheral vision, but I kept my gaze up, watching the ceiling.
“You know you’ll thank me one day for saving you from their grasp,” she said, quietly. If I didn’t know better, I would say it was almost a kind tone.
I kept silent. I wasn’t going to speak to her. How could I? I was done and had nothing left they could hold over me. I could only pray Caroline and Nick had Riley, and they would keep him safe if he was alive still. They would hear of James’s death and protect themselves, hopefully. Maybe go into hiding for a time. A small voice told me that I knew that wasn’t true. They’d keep looking for me.
“Ariya, he didn’t love you. To be acting this way, it’s childish,” she pointed out, now more unsympathetically, and much more in line with her true character.
This time my eyes found hers. Slowly, my body was able to come upright into a sitting position. Not once did my eyes leave hers. “I didn’t love him on the condition that he love me back. It doesn’t matter what he felt for me. The knowledge that his feelings weren’t love doesn’t just shut mine off. You’re the fool for not understanding that love is unconditional.”
That was it. That was the last time I could speak of him. I had to turn it off. I had to. Turn it. Off.
Audrey stood up, furious at me. I remained there, watching her. I could feel emotions draining from my face and was stunned at my ability to remain so calm. I took advantage of the lack of irrationality in my emotions that had seemed to disappear this morning.
“We have another attack planned, and you need to be ready.” Her voice was hard now. I had angered her with my comments.
“No,” I replied, flatly.
She grimaced. “You don’t have a choice.”
“I do have a choice. I choose not to help you. You took everything from me, and therefore I have nothing else to give you. Kill me if you want. I’m done.” The lack of emotion in my voice would have scared me just yesterday, but now, it felt normal. Like I had succeeded in getting rid of them.
She laughed coolly. “You don’t want to be a prisoner. I’ve allowed you to live quite well with us. Don’t force my hand to make it harder on you.”
“I’m a prisoner either way. You will never have another drop of my blood.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong.” She walked to stand over me, smiling down at me in a very evil way. “I will have it unwillingly if that’s what it comes to. I don’t care.”
She grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me out of the bed. My arm throbbed in pain, and I know it showed on my face. My emotions were in check for the moment, but actual physical pain could still get a rise out of me.
“You’re done in here. Tristan!” she yelled. He was in the room in an instant. “Escort Ariya downstairs to the cellar, please. She is not welcome in the house as a guest anymore.”
He grinned a bit too wide and sneered. “It would be my pleasure.”
I was roughly led out of the room. Tristan pulled me by my broken arm on purpose. The pain was intense. The hatred that I thought couldn’t grow for him did, and I realized that the feeling of hatred didn’t hurt me. I would allow that emotion to remain in me.
The rooms passed by me until we got to the kitchen. There was the door leading outside that I had walked through last night and another that I hadn’t noticed before. Tristan yanked it open to reveal a rickety, wooden staircase leading down into blackness.
He pulled me down the steps and flicked a switch at the bottom. There was one light bulb that didn’t cast nearly enough light to make the cellar appear less frightening. There were hidden corners everywhere. I was pushed towards a cell, complete with lock and key, a few feet in front of the end of the stairs. A splintered wooden bench was inside along with what looked like an old toilet and sink sitting further off in a corner, but nothing else.
Great.
Tristan shoved me inside, hooting, as he did. I fell to the ground. He knelt next to me and ran his fingers through my hair. If I hadn’t thrown everything up in my stomach last night, I was sure his touch would have caused me to now.
“There, there. If you continue to piss her off, I might get to have some fun with you. And trust me when I say I can make you forget about your vampire.” He stood back up and walked out of the cell, locking me in.
I didn’t acknowledge him. I just sat on the ground and put my head on the wooden bench, wishing for this to end. I laid my head down, still feeling like there was nothing inside me. I didn’t think I was alone down there for long before there were thuds on the steps as someone approached.
“Now that you can see how different your arrangements will be, I expect you’ll want to do what I say to get back into my good graces and into a nicer room again. We are going to be together for quite some time so, I suggest you shape up. A couple weeks in here should do the trick, don’t you think?” Audrey’s voice echoed, making it sound like she was surrounding me. That hard, cold voice could only come from someone who had no goodness left in them at all.
I merely stared back at her with a blank expression on my face.
“I will come back for you tonight, and you will be ready to heal the others when we return. You’ll need to eat to keep your strength up, so I brought you some food,” she snapped before she threw a wrapped up sandwich at me and set a coke inside the bars.
I looked over at it and frowned. Food was the last thing on my mind, and I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t think I could stomach anything anyway.
“Eat that or you’ll regret it.” She stormed off.
I left the food there. I wasn’t going to touch it. Without strength I couldn’t give blood. Ha! I thought. Let’s see her get past that one. I was confident she couldn’t kill me, because then she wouldn’t have her magic blood to heal her army.
I hoped again that the others would be safe, otherwise she could use them against me like she did Riley and James.
Oh, James. I closed my eyes watching the replay of the previous night’s events. Of course, I didn’t get control over everything easily. I shook with the feeling of extreme loss. I couldn’t do this. It was all I saw. I had to stop caring, stop this agony from taking over. Just a little longer to mourn, that was it. I couldn’t do it longer than that. I set my head down and lost it.
After some time with my head down crying, my body slowly calmed down. It reverted back into a shell, a new hard casing around me that I knew I had to create in order to survive. It seemed stronger this time. I had to turn off everything I was feeling if I had any hope of getting through this. I took some deep breaths. Forcefully, I told myself this was enough. I had mourned and now everything was done.
Clearing my mind should have been harder than it was. Maybe now that I was being stern with myself, it was easier. Or, perhaps my body was finally breaking down to a point that it physically needed to shut off in order to survive at all. Confident in my success, I decided to take a look at the place I’d be staying in for who knows how long.
Audrey had left the light on but there was no way of telling the passage of time down here. It was almost an underground cave. It was unfinished and there were bricks and rocks everywhere. There was an echo whenever people walked around upstairs, but not as loud as Audrey’s voice had been. Other than that there wasn’t anything to look at. The cellar was about the size of the kitchen, from what I could tell. With no light, those dark corners could go back further than I thought though. I leaned my head up against the wall and shut my eyes, taking in the complete silence surrounding me.
It seemed like eternity before the door opened again. Audrey came into sight smiling until she saw the food that remained exactly where she had left it. She stood there watching me, and I smiled as sweetly as I could back at her. She frowned for a moment as I turned away from her.
She cackled. “Have it your way, Ariya. Have it your way.” Then she walked back upstairs. Maybe they wouldn’t attack now. Serves them right!
Before long though, the banging of footsteps coming down the stairs flooded my ears again. This time Audrey wasn’t alone. She unlocked my cell and stepped aside ushering a man with her in.
“Ariya, this is Dr. Stad. He will be collecting your blood. Since you have decided not to do it yourself that is.” I held my gaze on the doctor steadily, reminding myself not to feel anything, not even fear.
The doctor looked at me, sadly, for a moment before starting to set up some sort of equipment on the wooden bench, equipment that included needles. So they intended to take my blood from me unwillingly? Let them. I hadn’t eaten so I’d pass out, and the doctor wouldn’t let me continue to give blood if I was passed out.
“Audrey, please bring me that cola.” He glanced over at me. “Have you had anything to eat today?”
I shook my head no, smirking as I did in triumph.
“This will be unpleasant then,” he replied.
So much for him being a good doctor. I sucked in a sharp breath at his comment. I hated needles. I had a terrible fear of them. They made me sick to my stomach, which worried me since there was nothing in it. I really was going to pass out. I’d tried to give blood once in high school. I completely passed out in the chair, and that was on a full stomach, too.
He finished his preparations and took my non-broken arm in his hand. His grip was soft, but I jerked away at the unwanted touch.
“You can’t do this.” I looked at him, hoping for some kind of compassion to win out.
Suddenly, I felt a slap across my face and a stinging sensation right under my eye. “Not another word, Ariya,” Audrey said, sharply.
I sat there hating her and hating this stupid doctor who was forcing me to give my blood. This pushed me further into my shell, which was where I wanted to go, so I supposed I should be thankful for that.
Dr. Stad stuck the needle in and I couldn’t help flinching. My stomach lurched around and the haze over my vision made me sicker. I felt woozy, incredibly woozy. He was done quickly which sent more anxiety through me. I thought it was supposed to go slow. Audrey grabbed the vile and stomped upstairs.
I looked over at the doctor. “Why?” I asked.
“My sister is a werewolf, bitten by some freak. Audrey has the power to hurt her. I do what she asks.” He shrugged as he spoke.
He didn’t care about hurting other people if it meant he was protecting someone he loved. I couldn’t be angry with him for that, which was a pity because I wanted to hate him, too. Animosity seemed to be better than understanding for me right now. I didn’t want to respect him for watching out for someone he cherished.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered unable to help feeling for him just a little.
He hesitated, looking me over. Shaking his head, he simply replied, “Me, too.” Then he held up the cola. “Please drink this, please. She won’t stop. You’re going to be forced to do this. I’m going to have to keep coming. At least have something in you to keep you from getting sick.” He set the cola down close to me when I didn’t make a move to grab it myself. Then he was gone.
He was right. I felt sick, and as much as I didn’t want to, I took a couple sips of the drink. It went down smooth, and with a few calming breaths, it did seem to help. I concentrated on slowly willing the sick feeling away. I closed my eyes and continued my steady breathing.
I heard a noise that sounded like footsteps, and my eyes flew open searching the blackness surrounding me. Nothing was close by. I squinted, trying in vain to see somehow.
“Ariya,” I heard a woman say, but I didn’t recognize the voice.
“Who…who’s there?” I demanded.
My body felt weak as I tried to stand. I hadn’t eaten in at least twenty-four hours and just had blood drained out of me. Not a good combination.
“Ariya?” the voice called again.
I had no idea who would be calling my name. I spun around too quickly and the wooziness was back, stronger than before. I grasped for the wooden bench before falling to the floor hard.
I didn’t wake up again until the door upstairs flew open, slamming into something and making a loud enough noise to jerk me out of unconsciousness. The light switched on, and I saw Tristan grimacing.
“I’ve been told to get you to drink and eat, forcefully if necessary. Apparently the good doctor thinks you won’t be able to do another donation if you don’t get something down. We used much of your blood last night, so we need more.”
He was smiling as he finished talking and opened the door to my cell. An attack had happened after all then. I wasn’t as well informed now that I was imprisoned down here. Tristan had said last night. Could that mean it had been over a day since James’s death already?
I crawled backwards, trying to get as close to the wall as I could and away from the monster barging into my cell. He stormed towards me, grasping my throat. All the energy I had was gone, so I wasn’t putting up much of a fight, but it was all I had.
He took a burger he had brought with him and shoved it into my mouth hard. I spit it out, aiming for his face, which only made him laugh, a deep, dark sound. Tristan shoved me onto the wooden bench and jerked my face in his hands so roughly that speckled black spots danced in front of my eyes.
“You’ll do what I tell you, Ariya.” Tristan’s voice was close. The smell on his breath was disgusting.
I opened my eyes to see his blurry figure right in front of my face. His coarse mouth hit mine. My lips felt like they were going to bruise. I shoved at him and let out a scream.
“Get off of me!” I shouted. He laughed gruffly in my face.
“Eat your food then, Ariya, or I’m free to do as I please.” He shoved the burger at me again and I chewed, wanting to crawl into a hole and never come out.
Contempt coursed through me, and I knew I was dangerously close to turning into someone I wasn’t. Hate wasn’t an emotion I enjoyed, but it was becoming all I had. When I finished the burger, Tristan patted my head like a child.
I heard his footsteps retreating, and I knew Tristan wasn’t in the cell with me anymore. I tried to open my eyes, but they didn’t seem to want to cooperate and open all the way. I closed them again and started taking deep breaths. My food was coming up, and I prayed desperately that I would be able to keep it down.
I took shallow breaths in through my nose. I leaned my head back against the wall and passed out, hoping Tristan wouldn’t be there again anytime soon as I drifted off.
***
The torment continued. I didn’t know anymore if I’d been trapped here for weeks or months. Thankfully, Tristan’s kiss was the last he tried with me. Sometimes there was a look in his eyes when he’d come to feed me that told me I shouldn’t be alone with him. Normally he was sent with the doctor to make sure I ate.
They didn’t tell me when attacks were coming anymore. They just sent the doctor down occasionally for more blood. My body grew weaker. I only ate when Tristan forced me, and sometimes the food would come back up right after he’d left. I’d lost weight and felt more fragile than I ever had before in my life.
The only good thing was that my emotions seemed to have been effectively shut off. If I were able to feel anything anymore, I imagined I’d feel proud of myself for stopping the pain. I guessed in a way that meant I was healing. Granted, it was more putting up some heavy-duty, indestructible, emotional walls than dealing with it, but it was working, therefore I considered it healing. I was healing physically too. My broken arm seemed almost back to normal, and the bruises from being hit were probably gone. I didn’t have a mirror so I couldn’t actually assess the remaining damage.
I considered trying to feel something again. If I did let an emotion in, I hoped it would be anger. I was too afraid to risk letting in the sorrow that almost swallowed me before I turned everything off entirely. “You’re a mere shell of a person, Ariya. Please feel something. You have to feel something,” the familiar voice spoke to me in my head. Caroline.
She was begging me to feel something. How could I even begin to? It was either a dream, or I’d just imagined her voice, but still, it had felt so real. Like she was here somehow with me, scolding me for giving in and ceasing to resist, or even exist. For letting them win.
If Caroline knew about James, she wouldn’t be telling me to feel something. She’d be shutting down right there with me. And Nick? I couldn't fathom what Nick would think. They would blame me. It was so obvious how much of this was my fault.
I halted my thoughts abruptly. I needed to feel something powerful instead of feeling sorry for myself. I needed revenge. If I focused and tried to let the feelings of anger back in, it wouldn’t take long for the rage to build up in me and allow me to fight back.
I heard the loud footsteps coming down the stairs. I’d learned to tell by the sound of his gait it was Tristan. He walked purposefully, but when he saw me, he faltered like he was holding something back. I knew what it was. The sick freak wanted me—that’s what he was holding back.
I needed something to take my mind off the nothingness that my life had become. Anger would come easily from riling Tristan up. I saw his glowing eyes as he unlocked my cell. Knowing it didn’t take much to rile him up, I spat at him when he knelt beside me.
“Getting some of your strength back?” he asked cruelly.
“Enough to tell you how much you disgust me, yes,” I retorted, in an equally cold tone.
He brought his hand up, slapping me across the face, immediately making me question my earlier thought about any progress on my physically healing. “What, it wasn’t enough you broke my arm?” I snapped.
He laughed at me. “Oh, I’ll break it again before I leave if you don’t shape up. Come here.” He grabbed me and shoved a sandwich down my throat. I spit it out and he took my face in his rather large hand. His mouth was moving towards me, and that was the last thing I wanted. I pulled away, but he grabbed my recently healed arm. “So be it,” he jeered.
I screamed as he twisted it yet again. Me and my big mouth. The pain shot through me and I thought I was going to be sick.
“Don’t ever back away from me again,” he said in my ear.
“TRISTAN!” I heard Audrey’s voice for the first time since she’d introduced me to Dr. Stad, however long ago that was. “What the hell is wrong with you? Get upstairs!” Audrey walked in and surveyed the damage. “Send Dr. Stad.” She called up after Tristan as he stomped up the stairs.
“It’s your own fault, Ariya. You should learn to cooperate. I don’t understand why you want to live like this,” she said, frowning at me and kicking the sandwich towards me. “Eat or I’ll send him back down.”
Tears stung as they rolled down my dry face, and the pain in my arm was nearly unbearable. My arm had now been broken twice in my life, both times within a matter of…well, I didn’t know how long it had been since the last time it was broken. The tears were hot just like my temper. Anger was working. I was feeling. It was more than I might be able to handle, but it wasn’t as debilitating as love or loss would have been.
Dr. Stad walked into the cell eventually, shaking his head. “She needs to be treated just a little better, or she won’t be around for as long as you’d like,” he stressed to Audrey quietly, but not quietly enough that I didn’t hear.
“Just fix it,” she fumed before walking out.
The doctor didn’t say much to me. He reset my arm and took more blood when he was finished. I swayed, feeling dizzy afterwards. With the forced feedings, I hadn’t been that dizzy in a while. The doctor eased me back to the wall for support. His gentleness almost caused me to feel something again. Not wanting to deal with that, I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, it was to a far more shocking site than Dr. Stad standing in front of me. A woman with long blonde hair and a petite frame was sitting on the wooden bench in my cell. I felt the cold of the floor on my face and realized I must have passed out at some point. I looked at the woman who sat there, watching me with a quizzical expression on her face.
“Who are you?” I asked, trying to sit up but not succeeding in getting very far before my light headedness forced me to stop again.
She was quiet at first and then said, “Hello Ariya.” Her voice was ethereal and beautiful, familiar somehow.
“Were you here earlier? Were you looking for me?” I stammered as I recognized the voice as the one that called out my name earlier. There weren’t many beautiful things here at all so the one thing that did sound like beauty stuck with me.
“Yes, I was, and here you are,” she stated, smiling slightly.
I started at her, wondering why Audrey would have sent her.
“Do you work for Audrey?” I questioned, training my eyes on the ground. For some reason I was feeling strangely vulnerable in her presence. She seemed good, but there was also strength to her. I wasn’t sure yet if that strength was a benefit or a curse to me.
A delicate laugh escaped the woman as she shook her head. It wasn’t a forced sound like I had grown accustomed to hearing from the wolves and Audrey. It was a glorious sound, one that would have the ability to bring hope if I allowed myself to feel that.
“No, no, Ariya. I don’t work for anyone. I’m here because your friends were worried and sought my assistance.”
“My friends? How can you help? Who are you? How did you get down were without being seen?” I berated her with questions, suddenly not understanding how it was possible that she was here with me speaking to me.
Her features became troubled with my questions, and she held her hands up. “I’m not actually here in person, Ariya. I mean I’m here, but you’re dreaming. You do know you’re dreaming, right?”
I looked around the cell thinking the woman was clearly insane. We were sitting here having a conversation, and yet she was trying to tell me I was dreaming it up. I couldn’t possibly dream this vividly of someone that I’d never met.
“Oh dear,” she said, her voice laced with concern. “I’m afraid this may be more difficult than I thought. Ariya, this is a dream. I assure you. Do you believe me?”
No, I thought to myself, but didn’t say that to her, though. “I guess. What purpose do you have to lie? How come I don’t know I’m dreaming? It feels real.”
“I’d like to figure that out for myself, too. I will need to in order to help you. But first, I’d like to see if you are worth helping.”
“Excuse me?” I bristled indignantly. Who does she think she is?
“No need to get defensive, Ariya, although I can see how this could be difficult for you. I just want to look through your past a bit, that’s all. Then, I’ll explain everything.” She smiled so sweetly that I had a hard time doubting her intentions were anything but good.
I stood up from the cold floor not taking my eyes off her. I frowned for a moment, but decided what the heck, I was dreaming after all. This might not even turn out to be anything real. I approached her cautiously.
“What do you need me to do?” I questioned.
“Come sit here, next to me.”
I headed over slowly to her and sat on the dingy, splintery wooden bench jutting out of the wall.
“I’m going to rest my hands over yours. That’s all. You just need to relax.” She smiled.
She seemed like some sort of higher power and I assumed it was the strength I’d felt earlier coming through now. There was an air about her that screamed innocence, but that probably was because I was currently surrounded by so much evil.
She lightly placed her hands over mine after giving me a brief nod and closed her eyes. Immediately, visions swirled around in my head. I saw my youth group volunteering at a shelter, giving out food. The vision that followed was of my parents and I running a clothing drive during some of my sports days. It seemed to be a highlight reel of my life, which I could feel making me smile. I wasn’t sure what memories she was looking for, but all of these seemed random.
I saw myself going to college, and my friendship with Riley and Caroline played out in front of my eyes. My whole life seemed to fly by like watching a movie in fast forward. Meeting James flashed through my memory. I saw myself meeting Emma, almost being killed by her, and the aftermath of that whole debacle from the previous year.
I watched James and I fall in love all over again. I quickly reminded myself to shut out the pain as the vision flipped to Audrey showing up and taking me away. Some scenes were hazier than others, but I knew what was coming next.
I opened my eyes and pulled my hands back defensively. I couldn’t face what would surface in the coming scenes. The woman opened her eyes as well.
“Ariya,” she started. “I’m not quite caught up yet.”
“I…I…” I stammered.
My heart ached, pounding hard like it was going to rip itself out of my chest.
“I don’t want to relive anymore.”
The woman sat nodding her head. “Something bad has happened here.”
It wasn’t a question, but an observation. She watched me curiously as I hid my hands from her instinctively. If my friends really had called her, didn’t she already know something bad had happened?
There was absolutely no way I wanted to let this stranger in on the pain I’d been shutting out. She may have comforted me with her warm, friendly smile, but that didn’t mean she should have access to memories that cut me so deeply. It was too intimate. It was my secret.
She would see too, that I didn’t try hard enough. That I antagonized Audrey into killing the one person who could have brought me safely home, the one person who I needed now more than anyone.
Oh no. My stomach dropped. What if they didn’t know James was dead back home? They might think he was being held prisoner here with me.
The woman watched me carefully, her eyes sparkling as if she was enticing me to trust her with whatever it was I was holding back. If she truly was here to help, and my friends had sent her, they deserved to know the truth. I was being a coward by holding it in and keeping it to myself. Somehow I was petrified that if I gave her my hands and let her see, that it would make everything more real than it already felt.
They needed to know he was gone, though.
I couldn’t quite find my voice at the moment, so I tried to be brave and suck up the next few seconds. Pushing a breath out of my lungs and feeling my eyes start stinging with tears for the first time in a long time, I decided to have courage.
Reluctantly, I gently placed my hands back into hers and opened my mind to the vision that I knew could send me spiraling down into a hole I might not be able to come back from this time. I felt her hand on top of mine, and the vision came. The memory paused for a moment on James’s face and then sped through. I stopped paying attention and didn’t realize the woman had let my hand go until I heard her say my name.
She didn’t say another word about the vision she’d just seen. Pity shone in her eyes. She placed my own hands back into my lap and patted them once. I felt foolish crying in front of her. I tried to hold it in, but I couldn’t. Having to see it again hurt. I clearly couldn’t shut things off as well as I’d thought I could.
My life really had become nothing, worthless. I was letting Audrey win. What happened to me? I had lost all my courage, my fight. I had to say something to make myself stop sitting here blubbering like a baby.
“Did I pass?” I sniffled wiping my face with my hand.
She sat staring into my eyes as if debating the best way to address me after seeing something like that. Then, without breaking eye contact once, she said, “Ariya, my name is Ingrid. I’m a White Witch and I believe I can get you home to your friends.”