The Alpha’s Contract novel Chapter 603

Brax

We watch Indy as she stands at the edge of the cove. Water laps around her ankles as she inhales.

“I can’t do this. I wasn’t made to do this.”

“Try and concentrate,” Klaus mutters while frowning at Xavi.

“I know you mean well, but telling someone to concentrate does not help them concentrate.” She curls her hands up into fists and stares out at the water, “Are you even sure it was me?”

“It only slowed when you were standing in the window. It didn’t do that for anyone else.”

“And it rose to catch you,” Klaus adds.

“It did?” She sounded sceptical.

“Indy, you can do this. Just like when the walls were going to crush us," I remind her quietly while trying to keep the urgency out of my voice.

“No pressure.” She blows out her cheeks. “You want the sea to retreat, right?”

“Just enough so we can get around the side of the cliff. It doesn't need to go back far.”

She holds out a hand and beckons for me to come forward. ‘Maybe the bond will help,’ she links me.

Stepping into the water, I grab her outstretched hand. Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes. Nothing happens at first. As the minutes passed, I wondered if I had been wrong; maybe she hadn’t stopped the crashing waves, but that would mean someone else had.

I was about to drop her hand when the sea began to retreat from around my ankles, pulling back on itself as though it was being sucked out.

Looking at Indy, I see that her golden eyes are wide with a slight glaze. Her brow is creased in concentration. Her soul is incredibly bright, as though someone had just switched on their Christmas lights.

Souls were becoming more and more unpredictable.

The water continues to pull back until there is a gap of a couple of metres around the cliff's edge.

“We need to move,” Klaus mutters as he steps onto the wet sand.

Xavi glances at Indy as he trots past. Orion stares at her in frustration but follows the others.

‘Keep doing what you are doing,’ I mutter to Indy, ‘I will guide you out of here.’

Tugging her forward, her footsteps are heavy, and she sways a little as though she is drunk.

We hurry along the sand, keeping as close to the cliff as possible. Looking back, I already see the water is starting to break free, smashing up against the cliff as though it was angrier than before.

“Indy, we have to move.”

She doesn’t respond and appears to be completely zoned out.

The water was coming in faster and faster. If we didn’t move, we were going to be stranded and will likely drown. Pulling her on my shoulder, she hangs there like a rag doll as I quicken my pace, and finally, I see our way out.

Climbing up the sand bank, I put Indy on her feet, steadying her just as the waves completely break free, crashing around the edge of the cliffs and sending a spray over us.

“I did it?” Indy asks as she rubs her eyes, “We are free?”

“Not yet. We still need to make it to Black Shadow.”

She nods and looks around. “Where are the others?”

“Good question.”

We were alone, standing at the bottom of the cliff that leads up to the Witch. Thalia must be pissed, or she was confident we didn’t survive. I can’t wait to see her face when she sees we are alive.

Indy’s hand tightens around my wrist as a van approaches.

“It’s okay, Klaus is driving.”

“What about you? You haven’t exactly had good experiences with Witches.” I ask

“I grew up not knowing what I was, never understanding why I didn’t fit in. But I guess that helped me look at the good and bad in people. People like Thalia and Cooper are just dark all the way through. However, there are others that fight between doing the right thing for others or the right thing for themselves.”

“Point taken.”

“And Indy has done the right thing over and over.”

I glance over my shoulder at her. She has curled herself up into a ball as Orion drapes a blanket over her.

“Her soul is bright. It's the brightest I have seen in a long time. But when she was focused, the brightness became like nothing I have ever seen. It is so bright that it hurts my eyes.” I tell Brax.

“There were no clouds,” he mutters.

“What?”

“Magic leaves behind a trail, well, that’s what Xavi told me. I learned to see it. The river outside White Cliffs could be crossed, but you had to find the remnants of magic. Amy’s prison cell was cloaked in it. Above White Cliffs, it was dark.”

“Okay.”

“Indy doesn’t have that. There were no traces of magic left with the sea. There were no traces when she ripped a hole in the stone wall.”

“What does that mean?”

He shrugs, “I’m still trying to figure it out. And Xavi is just as confused.”

“Maybe now that we are all in one place. We can figure it out together. We are here.”

“Where?” Indy mumbles sleepily.

“Black Shadow.”