The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 29

I will not die not once more, Elena thought furiously as she writhed in pain, the invisible vise clamping d experience even harder on her. fairish fel to the grass, even paler than before, clutching her stomach in a mirror image of Elena.It cannot take meAnd so, just as absolutely as it had started, the deafening roar ceased and the crushing pain lifted. Elena col apsed to the ground, billet whooshing venture into her lungs. Its finished grinding bones to make its bread, Elena thought semihysterical y, and virtually giggled. Bonnie gasped loudly, letting bring emerge a smal sob.What was that? Elena asked her.Bonnie shook her head. It mat the want something was communicateting pul ed out of us, she utter, panting. I felt it before, too, skilful on before you showed up.That pul ing feeling. Elena grimaced, her mind whirling.I think its the shadow. Damon says that it sine qua nons to drain our power. That mustiness be how it does it.Bonnie was staring at her, her mouth just a precise bit open. Her pink tongue darted out and licked her lips. Damon says? she verbalize. She frowned anxiously. Damons dead, Elena.No, hes alive. The star bal brought him f kibosh for by and by wed already left the Dark Moon. I found out after the phantom took you.Bonnie made a little noise, a sort of eep that reminded Elena of a bunny, of something soft and smal and surprised. Al the blood drained out of her face, leaving her usual y faint freckles vivid spots against the contort of her cheeks. She pressed shaking hands to her mouth, staring at Elena with huge gamy look.Listen, Bonnie, Elena said fiercely. Nobody else knows this yet. Nobody but you and me, Bonnie. Damon wanted to keep it a secret until he could figure out the adept way to add up congest. So we cont shutting to keep quiet rough it.Bonnie nodded, stil gaping. The color was rushing clog up into her cheeks, and she looked like she was caught between joy and total confusion.Glancing all all o ver her shoulder, Elena noticed that there was something in the grass at the foot of a rosebush beyond Bonnie, something motionless and white. A chil went through her as she was reminded of Calebs body at the foot of the monument in the graveyard.Whats that? she asked sharply. Bonnies expression tipped over into confusion. Elena napped recent her and walked toward it, squinting in the sunlightlightlight. When she got close enough, Elena saw with amazement that it was matte, deceitfulness stil and silent beneath the rosebush. A sprinkle of black petals was scattered crosswise his chest. As she came close to him, sluggishnesss eyes twitched she could see them moving rapidly back and forth under the lids, as if he was having an intense dream and thence flew open as he took in a long, rattling drink of air. His pale blue eyes met hers.Elena He gasped. He hitched himself up onto his elbows and looked past her. Bonnie Thank God Are you okay? Where are we?The phantom caught us, br ought us to the Nether macrocosm, and is using us to make itself more powerful, Elena said succinctly. How do you feel?A little startled, Matt joked in a weak voice. He looked around, then licked his lips nervously. Huh, so this is the Nether World? Its nicer than Id pictured from your descriptions. Shouldnt the sky be red? And where are al the vampires and demons? He looked at Elena and Bonnie sternly. Were you guys tel ing the truth about everything that happened to you here? Because this place seems graceful nice for a Hel dimension, what with al the roses and everything.Elena stared at him. Its possible too some weird things guide happened to us.Then she noticed the hint of panic on Matts face. He wasnt unnatural y blase about what was going on he was just being brave, whistling to keep up their spirits in this newest danger.Wel , we wanted to impress you, she joked back with a tremulous smile, then quickly got down to business. What was going on when you were back main fa lseice? she asked him.Um, Matt said, Stefan and Meredith were questioning Caleb about how he summoned the phantom.Calebs not responsible for the phantom, Elena said firmly. It fol owed us home when we were here before. We have to get home right outdoor(a) so we can tel them theyre dealing with one of the Original ones. Itl be oft more difficult for us to get rid of than an ordinary one.Matt looked at Bonnie questioningly. How does she know this?Wel , Bonnie said, with a hint of the gleefulness she always got from gossip, apparently Damon told her. Hes alive and she saw himSo much for tutelage Damons secret, Bonnie, Elena thought, rol ing her eyes. Stil , it didnt real y matter if Matt knew. He wasnt the one Damon was safekeeping the secret from, and he wasnt likely to be able to tel Stefan anytime soon.Elena tuned out Matts exclamations of admire and Bonnies explanations as she scanned the area around them. Sunshine. Rosebushes. Rosebushes. Sunshine. Grass. Clear blue sky. Al the same, in every direction. Wherever she looked, velvety black perfect(a) blooms nodded serenely in a clear midday sun. The bushes were al the same, down to the number and positions of the roses on each one and the distances between them. Even the stems of grass were uniform al stopping at the same height. The sun hadnt moved since shed arrived.It al seemed like it should be lovely and relaxing, but after a few proceedings the sameness became unnerving.There was a gate, she told Bonnie and Matt. When we were looking into this field from the Gate rear of the seven-spot Treasures. There was a way in from there, so there must be a way to get out to there. We just have to find it.They had begun to clamber to their feet when, without warning, the sharp tugging pain struck again. Elena clutched her stomach. Bonnie mazed her balance and fel back to a sitting position on the ground, her eyes clenched shut. Matt gave a choked-off exclamation and gasped. What is that?Elena waited for the pain to fade again before she issueed him. Her knees were wobbling. She felt dizzy and sick. Another reason we need to get out of here, she said.The phantoms using us to increase its power. I think it necessarily us here to do that. And if we dont find the gate soon, we might be too weak to make it home.She looked around again, the uniformity almost dizzying. each(prenominal) rosebush was centered in a smal circular bed of richlooking dark loam. between these circles, the grass of the field was velvety smooth, like the lawn of an English manor house or a real y good golf course.Okay, Elena said, and took a deep, calming breath.Lets spread out and look careful y. Wel stay about ten feet apart from one another and go from one end of this rose garden to the other, curious. Look around careful y anything thats at al different from the rest of the field could be the clue we need to find the way out.Were going to search the whole field? Bonnie asked, sounding dismayed. Its huge.We l just do one little bit at a time, Elena said encouragingly.They started in a spread-out line, gazing intently back and forth, up and down. At first there was only the silence of pore concentration as they searched. There was no sign of a gate. mistreat by step through the field, nothing changed. Endless rows of identical rosebushes stretched in al directions, spaced about troika feet from one another, enough live between them for one person to easily pass. The eternal midday sun beat down uncomfortably on the tops of their heads, and Elena wiped a cliff of sweat from her forehead. The scent of roses hung heavily in the warm air at first Elena had found it pleasant, but now it was nauseating, like a too-sweet perfume. The perfect stalks of grass bent under her feet, then sprang up again, uncrushed, as if she had never passed.I wish there were a breeze, Bonnie complained. nevertheless I dont think the wind ever blows here.This field must come to an end sometime, Elena said des perately. It cant just go on forever. There was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, though, that suggested to her that maybe it could go on forever. This wasnt her world, after al . The rules were different here.So wheres Damon now? Bonnie asked suddenly. She wasnt looking at Elena. She was keeping up the same steady pace, the same careful, systematic gaze. But there was a note of strain in her voice, and Elena broke her own search to glance at her quickly.Then one possible answer to Bonnies question hit Elena and she stopped dead. Thats it she said. Bonnie, Matt, I think Damon might be here. Or not here, not in the rose garden, but somewhere in the Nether World, in the Dark Dimension. They looked at her blankly.Damon was going to get wind to come here to look for the phantom, Elena explained. He thought it fol owed us home from here when we came back to our own world, so this is probably where hed start searching for its physical body. The last time I saw him, he told me th at he thought he would be able to fight it better from here, where it came from. If he is here, maybe he can help us get back to Fel s Church.Damon, please be here somewhere. Please help us, she begged silently. bonnie then, something caught her eye. Ahead of them, between two rosebushes that looked just the same as any other two rosebushes in the garden, there was the slightest shift, the tiniest distortion. It looked like the heat twinkle that would sometimes appear over the highway on the hottest, most stil eld of summer as the suns rays bounced off the asphalt.No asphalt here to transmit back the suns heat. But something had to be causing that shimmer.Unless she was imagining it. Were her eyes playing tricks on her, showing her a mirage among the rosebushes?Do you see that? she asked the others. Over there, just a little to the right?They stopped and peered careful y.Maybe? Bonnie said hesitantly.I think so, Matt said. Like hot air rising, right?Right, Elena said. She frowned , estimating the distance. Maybe fifteen feet. We should take it at a run,she said. In pillow slip we have any trouble getting through. There might be some kind of barrier we have to break to get out. I dont think hesitating wil help us.Lets hold hands, Bonnie suggested nervously. I dont want to lose you guys.Elena didnt take her eyes off the shimmer in the air. If she lost it, shed never find it again, not with the sameness of everything in here. Once they got dark around, theyd never be able to tel this spot from any other. They al triple took one anothers hands, staring at the smal distortion that they hoped was a gate. Bonnie was in the middle and she clutched Elenas left hand with her thin, warm fingers.One, two, three, go, Bonnie said, and then they were running. They stumbled over the grass, wove between rosebushes. The space between the bushes was barely wide enough for three to run abreast, and a thorny branch caught in Elenas hair. She couldnt let go of Bonnie and she c ouldnt stop, so she just yanked her head forward despite the eye-wateringly pestiferous tug on her hair and kept running, leaving a dredge of hair hanging from a bush behind her.Then they were at the shimmer between the bushes. Close up, it was even harder to see, and Elena would have doubted that they were at the right spot except for the change in the temperature. It might have looked like a heat shimmer from a distance, but it was as mothy and bracing as a mountain lake, despite the warm sun right above them.Dont stop Elena shouted. And they plunged into the coldness.In an instant, everything went black, as if someone had switched off the sun.Elena felt herself fal ing and clung desperately to Bonnies hand.Damon she cried silently. Help me