Ch. 128: Amplifying Sleep

CHAPTER 128:
Kyle~
My gut tells me we won’t find him this way, but I don’t dare say that to Ally. She needs this. She needs me to try. So I do.
I pull Ally along with me as I go searching further than my initial length of feeling can go. But he’s not here. There’s got to be something around him, with him, that’s blocking me. Even if he were wide awake I should be able to feel an inkling of him, like a faint scent of pizza when it comes through the door. But there’s nothing here. I keep pulling Ally along anyway, just to be thorough, but while I am physically doing one thing, my mind is spinning with any other way to find him. I hit dead end after dead end in here, and with my ideas. I don’t even notice that I’ve opened my eyes until I feel Rachel put her hand on my shoulder.
I can’t explain the look she’s giving me. But it’s something like - searching. She’s looking to me for an answer I don’t want to give.
Finally I swallow and look away.
“He could be-,” I start to tell her, before Ally comes to.
She nods. She knows what I’m trying to say. He could be gone.
Ally is blinking, her face etched with worry. “We have to try again. That can’t be it. Kyle, where is he?”
I look into her eyes and try to say something but nothing comes out.
“Don’t- don’t even think it. I would know if he were gone,” she insists. Ally holds both hands over her heart like she could protect herself. “I would feel it!”
No one says a thing.
“Kyle! Take me in again, this time I’ll push more. It’ll work!” she insists, her voice getting louder and higher.
I open my mouth to reply but Rachel cuts in.
“Al. You’re right, you’re right,” she consoles her. “But that still doesn’t mean that we can find him like this. Maybe we should start thinking about other ways.”
Ally brushes her off as she tries to hug her. Her eyes flare with anger. “No Rach! I can’t find anything on my own, this has to be it! I can’t just sit and wait for someone to finally pick up Jake’s calls! He could be in danger! What if this were Jake, would you just sit and wait?!”
Rachel slowly shakes her head and says, “No, I wouldn’t.”
Ally nods, to confirm her point.
I’m about to say something when Rachel puts her hand on Ally’s shoulder and after a moment, Ally is out cold.
“What was that?!” I ask, my pitch high as a kite with panic.
“I had to,” she mumbles, and readjusts Ally’s passed out form. “I had to,” she says again, like she’s talking to herself.
“Rach, really - what?” I ask again.
Her eyes flick to me and then to the floor. “I used your sleep, but… it’s mixed with me. So she’s going to be out for a long time. I could feel her slipping - and we don’t have a lot of time. It has to be you and me.”
“And what are we doing?” I ask her, exhaling a breath I didn’t notice I had been holding.
“We’re going to find Nick,” she said in a matter-of-fact way.

Rachel~
I am not one to advocate for doing anything against anyone’s will. But something in me, the light, it spoke to me. Soft whispers, and a gentle tug on my hand told me I needed to let Ally rest.
Since getting rid of Sean and the first battle with The Collective, Ally, Kyle and I had done a great deal of training. And I had done a lot of work pulling little bits of energy and magic. But what we weren’t telling people was that Kyle and I had been working a bit on our own theory. That I could gain enough magic and energy from one person to replicate their ability. That I could hold on to how to do things that eventually I could do totally on my own.
And for some reason I had to do that to Ally just now. I created my own sleep, amplified it a bit, and sent it rushing into Ally. I hadn’t pulled from Kyle in a while and it looked like I didn’t need to. Not anymore.
“We’re talking about this,” Kyle waved a hand at Ally’s sleeping form, “later. After we find him. She’s going to be pissed at you.”
“I know,” I mumbled.
Kyle and I readjusted to sit on the floor, legs crossed, knees touching, across from each other. Then he placed his palms up, waiting for me. I was about to place my hands in his when he closed them.
He squinted at me. “That wasn’t my sleep was it?”
“No,” I answered.
After a moment he nodded and opened his palms once more. This time we joined hands. And in a second we were off.

Nick~
My head throbbed. The overbearing pain made it hard to see anything. The only thing I knew for certain was that I was not in a good place, I needed to get to Ally, and I was an idiot for coming out here and doing this alone. I knew better. And now there was probably some search team out looking for me, wasting precious time that should be spent training, preparing traps at the border - and Ally. Ally was probably freaking out. Which made her vulnerable. Her emotions being clear makes her strong. I was risking her safety. I needed to get back to her.
The stone cold, hard, unforgiving floor of wherever I was made me sore all over. I must have been thrown in here like a sack of potatoes, I was all splattered against the floor, my arm twisted at an uncomfortable angle. I listened for a long few minutes before trying to move.
Finally I was turned towards some light source and started blinking, trying to make something out. The light looked to be coming from a sliver in a boarded up window a few feet from me. There were thick black lines… bars. I turned to look around and take in everything I could. My head swam when I sat up, and I had to close my eyes and will myself not to vomit at the sensation. Whatever they gave me really messed me up. I got my breathing under control before I opened my eyes again. Everything was still out of focus but I was able to confirm I was in a cell, in a dark basement. There was some boarded up window right on the other side of the bars. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around.
I tried to stand and failed, my legs not cooperating. I stilled and listened again, trying to pick up on anything at all, but still came up with nothing. Scooting against the floor I made my way over to some bars to try to pull myself up. I put my hands on the bars and got ready to pull.
“Goddess!” The sharp stinging pain sent me right back down to the floor.
I looked at my palms to see them covered in red welts. The bars were coated with something that hurt me like nothing else.
“What the hll is this place?” I whispered to myself, staring at my hands.
“Oh it’s here and there,” a voice answered from the dark.
I looked up to see someone making their way to my cell. How could I have not heard them? What was wrong with my hearing?
The person got closer and I made out three figures in total, not the one.
“See? What did I tell you?” the figure furthest away said. I recognized his voice as the vampire who kidnapped me.
“Yes, yes,” the first figure came closer to my vision. Callum. That piece of bane.
Callum stood there examining me like I was some pig at the county fair. I didn’t react, I couldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Shall we discuss pricing?” the vamp oozed.
Callum walked off, joining the vamp someplace far off in the dark.
“Sister Maxine, please keep an eye on him,” Callum added before they walked out of view.
I knew that name. Maxine. I tried not to react.
The third figure had been standing still a few feet from viewable distance. But once the other two were out of range she moved forward.
Maxine’s long blond hair peeked out of her hood which covered her head. It cast a shadow over most of her face. But I knew it was her. Recognized her from the battlefield where she had been attacking Ally.
“Well,” she sighed. “Ally’s got to be worried.”
My gut sank. She recognized me too. Knew I was important to Ally. Could use that against her. I can’t react. Can’t react.
“I wonder where she is now…” she stretched the last word out like a song lyric. Maxine moved again, this time trying to line herself up with my vision. She smiled viciously as she asked, “You wouldn’t be her mate, would you?”