Free Oriana's Eyes by Celeste Simone

speak?” he replies with mild surprise, “Well, it doesn’t matter now anyway. I don’t have any more time for this.”
    A door opens, and I look up to see a woman, her face a pure white light. Yet my gaze is quickly captured by the glint of something held in her hands. My lungs constrict at the sight. It’s a large needle.
    I begin to scurry frantically away from her. I break into a sweat that makes my hands and legs slip upon the floor. There is a high-pitched hum in my head as the room grows brighter. I must still be trying to escape because the guards grab hold of me. One latches onto my head and offers it to the woman.
    I yell in a rage, kicking and jerking, but I am not strong enough. I know my screams are loud; they echo through the corridor, but no one will be coming for me. Above all the noise, I can hear him speak.
    “He will come for her. I am certain.”
    The needle enters my neck, and I feel something forced into an artery. It sends a chill throughout my body, so cold that it burns. My eyes swell with a pressure and feel as if they might burst. As I slip into an unconscious oblivion, the man’s last words invade my ears.
    “Now we wait …”
     

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Where am I? There is complete darkness, except I begin to discern a flickering light coming from a barred window. I remember—there was a girl.
    “Azura! Are you still here?” There is silence. Where is she? I can’t be alone here! “Azu—!”
    “I’m here, you don’t have to panic.” The sound of a voice with emotion behind it is reassuring, even though she is clearly irritated.
    Silence returns. I try to recall what happened to me. I remember them taking me away, and then a bright room. At this moment my head begins to split. The pounding is unbearable, and I can’t seem to form any thoughts. Why can’t I remember what happened? The pain in my skull grows.
    “You didn’t say you were a pureblood.” Azura’s voice switches the prying headache from full force to nonexistent.
    “What? What do you mean?”
    “I mean, I heard what that man said. Are you really a pureblood?” Azura seems to despise the word. I feel the hatred emanating from her, and I hesitate before answering.
    “Why does it matter?”
    “Because you’re the reason I’m down here! You’re one of them!” Her shouting rips through me. “You’ve ruined my life and killed my friends! And when I thought I could at least escape your kind for a moment in between the constant torture—I find out there is one sharing the same cell!”
    I feel a lead weight on my chest. How could someone I barely know make me feel so worthless?
    “You act like you know me.”
    “I don’t need to. I know what you are.” There’s no mistaking her distaste. “Just don’t talk to me.” I want to return her hatred, but I can only empathize with her anger toward me. Could I blame her? I was once that girl—the one she thinks I am. I followed Odon blindly. Now in all this darkness, far below the bright lights of the University, I can see clearly.
    “Azura, I’m not …” I begin to make peace but am hushed by the sound of approaching feet. “Do you hear that?”
    “Shh!” she hisses. We wait in fear.
    My eyes begin to water. I hold back a cry. Biting my lip, I taste the bitterness of my own blood. My stomach sinks as the footsteps halt behind the windowed door. I hear Azura’s breathing falter. I press my back against the stone wall, despite the chill. Watching the window, I see the visitor is carrying a lit torch. Its flickering light illuminates the room. I look for Azura who is also making the futile effort to escape through the wall. She senses my gaze and turns to meet my eyes.
    My muscles freeze as we share a moment stricken in terror, holding our breaths, and seeing the flames dance in each other’s gaze. Somewhere in the sway of fire, we see the being behind the blood.
    “Oriana.” My whispered name scurries across the stone like many spiders. “Oriana?