I am Sam
Chapter Twenty-Seven

ATLAS

I had the worst sleep; my muscles are aching, and the tension in them drives me insane as I keep rubbing at my neck.

Sleeping in the middle of Aslan’s bed last night with Sasha on one side and Aslan on the other... I mean, you would think he would have instead opted to sleep elsewhere, but the stubborn fuck refused to let up; he probably thought I would cave first and sleep on the couch, but I refused to; there is no way that I’m giving him an inch with Sasha.

“Man, you look like shit.” Turning my head to look up at Noah, the sharp pain suddenly shoots right down my neck and has me wincing in response,

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” Noah and Circen suddenly start chuckling, and the moment my eyes move over to Liam, who’s standing not too far away from us, his hands wrapped tightly around Lana’s waist, he suddenly grimaces as he gives me a sympathetic look. Smirking, I can only shake my head at him; yeah, buddy, you got to have the best fucking night of your life last night while I had to play spare wheel sharing a bed with your new brother-in-law all so he wouldn’t try and claim Sasha, the things we do for our siblings; I’ll think of a way Sasha can pay me back for being such a caring brother, I smirk deviously, but another sharp pain instantly has me wincing as I groan irritably to myself.

I’m suddenly pulled from my scary thoughts of payback when none other than Aslan himself comes strolling outside right behind Sasha like a love-sick little puppy, and he has this smug grin on his face, looking so damn well rested as he smirks at me; I can’t help the sudden eye roll I give him. Aslan, however, suddenly furrows her brows as he looks out over all of us,

“Alright, listen up, as I promised my sweetest Sasha, I will be bringing a hundred of my best men along with me to help capture Lisbon and bring her out of the Unseelie realm,” I suddenly feel like barfing, Mr smooth talker over here seems to think he’s running the show. “Let me make this quite clear, my men and I are under no obligation to keep any of you alive; the only obligation my men have is to follow my orders and keep Sasha alive.” I can’t help smirking; of course, he doesn’t give a fuck about us, but that’s fine; I wasn’t expecting him to anyway.

“So how are we entering the Unseelie? Are we travelling down the river or...” But Aslan cuts me off,

“No, the Unseelie have the river entrance barricaded with huge spider monsters; we have better luck going unnoticed if we enter through their portal on the far east side and fight off the smaller beasts instead, they won’t be expecting anyone coming from the black fog side,”

“Wait, but that will mean we’ll be travelling through the Unseelie wilderness; there are way too many unexpected things lurking there.” Smirking as he raises a brow at me, he tilts his head as he eyes me curiously,

“You may stay behind, young Atlas if you are too afraid to come.” Narrowing my eyes on him, I’m glaring daggers at his head; typical Aslan thinks he’s the hero of the story; news flash, your not.

“I’m not afraid, Aslan, where Sasha goes, I go, end of the story.”

“As you wish,” He scoffs, “We leave now, make sure you have what you need to survive in there on hand; anyone who falls behind gets left behind,” He says, narrowing his eyes on me as he says it. Bring it on, asshole; you underestimate our abilities as elemental witches.

~

SASHA

We weren’t expecting this, to be ambushed when we stepped out on the other side of the Unseelie portal. Everything Caleb taught me about fighting suddenly kicks into gear; the thing is, these aren’t even Unseelie; they’re Ronan’s men; what the hell are they doing here and why are they attacking us?

Atlas instantly jumps in front of me, but Aslan pushes him out the way; rolling my eyes at them both; Aslan is starting to get on my nerves. I sidestep him as I wield my sword; this is insane; does Aslan seriously think I’m just going to stand here and let him fight for me? I’m not a damsel in distress; that girl is long gone and buried.

“Sasha, wait!” Aslan tries to grab for my arm, but I’m too quick for him, pulling myself away just in time as I turn to narrow my eyes at him,

“Aslan, I’m not going to stand back and let you fight for me; you can fight alongside me, but don’t try and stop me.” Narrowing his eyes challengingly, he nods sternly but doesn’t argue. He immediately pulls his bow and arrow from behind his back as he turns back, ordering his men to get into position.

We’re surrounded, Ronan’s henchman equalling our numbers, when Atlas suddenly screams out to them, a low growl and hiss of his dragon reflecting in his eyes,

“What are you doing? How dare you attack us!?” But the men seem to replace it all to be funny as they laugh menacingly, one man sneering as he slowly steps forward towards me,

“Ronan commanded us, boy, the girl, we’re here for Sasha unless you want to die today; I suggest you get out of our way,” Atlas suddenly gives a low chuckle, and it’s like it’s contagious because pretty soon the whole gang is doing the same. Noah, Circen, and even Miera and Eris are chuckling to themselves. I mean, it’s intimidating to be surrounded by about a hundred of Ronan’s men, but what magic abilities have they got? Oh yes, that’s right, none.

“This is treason,” Atlas sneers at the one in front of him, but our great numbers don’t seem to phase them one bit. Instead, they snickered at him; oh well, I suppose they're really doing this then. And just like that, Aslan commands his men to draw their arrows, and all hell suddenly breaks loose.

My blade slices through the first henchman that comes at me, and the sound and feel are enough to have my stomach churning, but I don’t think about it; I don’t relish in killing anyone, but it’s not like we have a choice now do we. I’m not going anywhere with them, and it’s not like Aslan, Atlas, or the others are just going to clear a path for them to take me either.

It’s a flurry of hands, arms, swords, shouting, screaming and grunting as everyone swings back and forth between the mass of bodies around us.

I’m incredibly grateful to Aslan that he removed the ring around my neck, but none of the others uses their elemental powers on these men; they’re fighting them with swords or their natural raw fighting abilities. Is it because Ronan’s men don’t have capabilities like ours that the elemental witches choose to fight them the same way?

It seems incredibly honourable, far more respectable than Ronan’s henchman deserve.

Swinging around, one of Ronan’s men is suddenly right on me, catching me by complete surprise. Knocking me down on my ass with a grunt, I’m glaring up at him as he sneers down at me, pointing the tip of his sword straight at my throat.

“Ronan plans on draining your powers, bleeding out your wolf gene and then killing you slowly for the bothersome pest you’ve been in his kingdom,” I’m glaring up at him as my nostrils flare, swallowing down hard the tip of the blade is touching my throat. I sense him come up behind the dirty henchman, and I instantly pull back as the blade slices right through his back, protruding through his stomach, his blood spills over me as my arms steady him. The henchman’s eyes instantly widen in shock as he gasps exaggeratedly, gulping for air. I can physically see the life draining from his body, and I know I should feel bad, but I don’t; I don’t feel a damn thing towards this corpse, who held a blade to my throat so wickedly a moment ago.

Pushing the man’s dead weight off of me, I look up into Atlas’s eyes, and the blue electric spark in them as he swiftly holds his hand out to me before pulling me up to stand has my own eyes sparking with a sudden excitement of fighting alongside my brother for the first time.

It feels satisfying as I feel our energies feeding off adrenaline of the chaos.

“I’ve got your back, kiddo,” He smirks, scoffing I suddenly roll my eyes at him as I play shove him against his arm,

“Who’s your kiddo? I’m older than you,”

“No, your not,” He scolds playfully,

“Yes, I am,” I tease. But before he can respond, my eyes widen as I shout, ’Behind you,' And Atlas swings around with such vigorous strength, his blade suddenly slices through one of the henchmen, cutting him straight in half. All I can do is stand there and stare at him in disbelief as my jaw goes slack, but a sudden presence behind me has me swinging around, suddenly facing Aslan who's standing right there, staring down at me with such excitement in his eyes as he gently wipes away at the blood against my cheek.

“Are you going to get this one?” He whispers to me, and it’s instinctive the moment I step forward, my eyes locking with his as the blade of my sword slides right past his rib cage and straight into the chest of a henchman coming up behind him. The slashing sound of the blade as it slices into him instantly has Aslan wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him.

His eyes are alive as he stares down at me, not even looking back at the henchman as he drops back and slides right off of my blade, and Aslan slowly brings his lips right beside my ear as he whispers,

“Sweet Sasha, with you by my side, we would be an unstoppable force of nature." His grip tightens around me as he brings his hand up to cup my chin and tilt it up, the swirls of crystal blue making him look even more devilishly handsome.

He’s about to dip down and kiss me when I turn my face, and his lips smack against my cheek. Raising a brow at him, I pull back as I give him a curious look,

“You don’t care that I have a mate, do you?” Smirking, he suddenly has a seductively charming grin creeping up at the corners of his mouth,

“No, I don’t. Besides, you’ll be mine soon enough, little wolf,” Smirking I roll my eyes at him,

“A bit overconfident, aren’t we?” His eyes light up challengingly as he gently rubs the pad of his thumb across my lower lip,

“I know what I want, and I rarely ever not get what I want.” Tilting my head to give him my most earnest smile, I suddenly flutter my lashes teasingly at him,

“Well, prepare to be disappointed then,” A slight twitch in his eye has him squeezing me up against him so hard that a puff of air passes through my lips,

“You, my sweetest Sasha, could never disappoint me.”

At that very moment, Atlas comes up right behind me and instantly clears his throat,

“Do you mind getting your hands off my sister,” Aslan merely narrows his eyes on Atlas before sighing as he reluctantly lets go of me. Only then do I get a chance to look around and see the scattered corpses of bodies all around us; we annihilated Ronan’s men in under five minutes. And I can’t help but feel confused by the carnage before us as I shake my head at Atlas,

“Surely Ronan must have known that his men didn’t stand a chance against us, but what gets me is how Ronan knew we would come this way?” Atlas’s brows furrow in response as he thinks it over before slowly shaking his head in response,

“I don’t know; I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Ronan is conspiring with some woman to capture and ultimately kill you once he’s taken what he wants from you. I mean, who is she?”

“It can only be one of two people, surely,” Asher says, suddenly stepping up beside me, and he’s caked in his usual white clay from head to toe to either disguise who he is in the Unseelie realm or to blend in as one of them, I’m not too sure right now.

“Lisbon or Malvessa,” Atlas says, clenching his jaw in response, and Asher nods once as he narrows his eyes. In the next moment, the others come up beside Atlas, and Noah uses the back of his arm to wipe away the blood smeared across his face; somehow, seeing Noah kill someone seems wrong for someone as sweet as him, but I guess if you have to, then you have to, right?

“I think it’s safe to say from here on out, we all watch each other’s backs because if Malvessa, Lisbon or heaven forbid, both of them are now working with Ronan, then we need to treat this whole situation as incredibly volatile, what we thought was our plan just went right out the window.” We all agree with what Noah just said, and the tension is suddenly so thick you could slice it with a knife.

“So are we still pushing on, going through the doorway into the wilderness?” Circen asks questioningly,

“We don’t have a choice; we can’t turn back and go back home to Aeonian with what’s going on; chances are Ronan’s waiting for us to do just that,” Atlas says, clearly irritated with the whole situation,

“Well, let’s make our way through the doorway and assess things from there, see if any other surprises are waiting for us,” Aslan suddenly says, still standing very close behind me, and we all nod before quickly gathering our stuff.

Aslan explained what the doorway was in the Unseelie realm earlier this morning; it’s a frame in the middle of nowhere made from twigs and sticks; the true meaning behind the doorway, however, is the enchanted magic that has been cast on it which seperates what they call the Shadows which live inside the black fog, I remember seeing it on the map Asher gave me. Him saying that the black fog was a place to avoid at all costs, a similar doorway sits on the other side of the black fog, separating it from the witch’s forest.

The moment I’m standing in front of the doorframe, I can’t help thinking how simplistic and beautiful it looks in the middle of nowhere, and I suppose, knowing what everyone has warned me about on the other side of this doorframe, I’m suddenly feeling apprehensive about walking through it.

“It’s alright, my sweetest Sasha; I’ll be right behind you; it’s completely safe for us to pass through here, just not the Shadows,” Aslan whispers beside my ear, and I hear Atlas groaning with irritation as he scrubs a hand over his face,

“Okay, Sasha, just move, please.” He almost snaps at me, yet I know his irritation isn’t with me, so I can’t help the little smile forming against my lips as I roll my eyes at him.

I’m doing this for Wolf, I’m doing this for Wolf; I keep reminding myself why I’m here, and what I need to do because Wolf wouldn’t be scared, he wouldn’t hesitate to save my life, so I can’t hesitate, not now, not ever from this moment forward. And with that mindset, I suddenly step on and over the threshold of the doorframe into the Unseelie wilderness.

Quickly spinning around to face everyone, I’m smiling brightly as I look up at Aslan; I’m so relieved nothing terrible happened when I stepped through; it’s got to be a good sign.

Aslan nods as he steps toward me but then groans when he’s met with an invisible barrier. My brows furrow in response as I watch him try again and again,

“What in all that is Seelie’s name is going on here?” He grumbles irritably, and now it’s become clear that he can’t walk through to meet me on this side. I’m suddenly feeling panicky as I decide to go back, but the moment that I do, the invisible barrier stops me too, wincing as I’m met with this invisible wall; my heart rate instantly picks up as I look over to Atlas; he can see the panic in my eyes and immediately steps up to the doorframe inspecting the frame like he’s trying to figure out what’s going on,

“If it wouldn’t let me pass, I doubt it will be any different for you, young Atlas,” Aslan snaps at him in annoyance. Rolling his eyes at Aslan, Atlas smirks but then keeps his eyes trained on mine as he takes a chance and steps toward me. The moment he steps right through and wraps his arms protectively around me, he turns his head back at Aslan and scoffs,

“You were saying?” Aslan suddenly grumbles, screaming out in frustration as he tries again, but still no luck; Aslan is stuck on the other side, the doorframe won’t grant him access, and it’s starting to get to him.

Everyone else tries but has no luck; they are all met with the same fate as Aslan. Asher is the last to try, and by some miracle, he’s able to come through to our side; the smile on Asher’s face as he comes to give me a hug and high-five Atlas suddenly pushes Aslan right over the edge.

“What trickery is this!?” He shouts out and suddenly focuses all his energy on the doorframe as his eyes swirl with crystal blue madness, but nothing happens, and he bellows out in anger, which only has a smirk of satisfaction escaping Atlas,

“I guess someone doesn’t know how not to get what he wants,” and I’m suddenly elbowing him in the ribs earning me an ‘oof.’

“Sasha,” Aslan says sternly, instantly having me look up at him, “We are going to go around and enter from the riverside; I need you to stay here and wait until I come and get you, do you understand?” Nodding, my brows furrow in response, “Good girl, just stay here, and whatever you do, don’t move.” I can see this whole situation has wholly rattled Aslan; I don’t think he’s ever experienced something like this.

And as his eyes stay trained on mine a minute more, he reluctantly nods before spinning back around and heading back towards where the Unseelie portal is with everyone else following behind him.

Noah and Circen are the last to turn away as they stare Atlas dead in the eyes as if an unspoken three-way conversation is suddenly going on between them which I missed. Eventually, they, too, turn back and head towards the portal, and now it’s just the three of us left standing on this side of the doorframe,

“So what do we do now?” I ask as I turn to face Atlas and Asher, scoffing. Atlas rolls his eyes as he turns and starts walking in the opposite direction of the doorframe, “Um, Atlas; Aslan said to stay here.”

“And we’re going to listen to him; why?”

“Because he knows the Unseelie realm better than we do,” Smirking, Atlas spins around to face me as he narrows his eyes on me,

“Who knows how long it will take Aslan to get here? Are you willing to sit and wait that long? Does Wolf deserve you waiting another week or two?” My brows furrow in response, anger suddenly pulsing through my veins with new determination; but instead of answering him, I start walking past him in the direction he was going, “See, now you’re thinking with your head, little sister.” And if I weren’t too fired up to get to where we’re going, I would bite back with a comment, but I’m suddenly not in the mood.

As I keep walking, I can’t help but get an eerie feeling running down my spine the further we go, and I don’t know if it’s just because of knowing where we are or because of something else.

Guess there’s no turning back now.