At first, Kai figured that someone had blindfolded him. His eyes felt heavy and hard to lift, but when he finally did open them, everything was pitch black. He tried to lift his hand to check if there was anything covering his eyes, but his whole body felt weak and shaky, like someone had drugged him. Worry and fear began to rise in his stomach, but he forced himself to take a deep breath through his nose and figure out the situation. 

Could he speak? Maybe he could raise his voice enough to wake his friends. He figured it was in the middle of the night because of how dark it was. He forced his mouth open to call for his friends, but no sound came out. His throat felt dry and scratchy, and he let out a strangled cough. 

He couldn't move, and he couldn't call for help. What was he going to do now? 

Linda. 

He could reach out to Linda's mind and call for help there. He knew she was probably sleeping, but something strange was going on with him, and no one would like it if he hid it from them. He had to tell someone before something bad happened. 

Kai took a deep breath and tried to extend his thoughts to Linda's head, but his thoughts were disoriented and hazy, like his brain didn't know what to do. He pulled back into his thoughts again, hoping he could get his mind together, and then reached out again. 

This time, something happened, but it wasn't what he had been planning on. 

His mind fell back into a hazy, thick nothingness. He suddenly couldn't think. Nothing he even thought made sense. Everything felt lopsided and blurry, including his own vision when he tried to open his eyes. Somehow the darkness had gained a blurriness to it. He forced his mind to crawl out, but nothing happened. What was going on? Where was he? What was he going to? 

Why couldn't he think??

His head began to feel clogged, like someone had wrapped it in cloth. If there was sound before, he couldn't hear it anymore, because it felt like someone had stuffed cotton balls in his ears. He couldn't think past What am I going to do? His brain kept going in circles. 

Faintly, a voice whispered through the haziness of his thoughts. At first he didn't realize that it wasn't his own voice in his head, until he heard it again. It was a voice, calling his name, and getting louder each time.

"Kai!" 

Finally it was loud enough to wrench Kai away from everything - the haziness, the ringing in his ears, his thoughts going in circles, and even the darkness. When he opened his eyes again, it was a little lighter than it had been before. He took a gasping breath, not realizing that he had needed it, and blinked a few times.

The person standing over him gradually came into focus, and Kai realized that it was Linda. She was shaking his shoulders gently, saying his name as loud as she could without waking any of the others. She must have heard his call after all.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she helped him sit up on his elbows. "You look really pale. Do you want water?" She touched his forehead gently, and Kai jolted back. Her hands were cold, like there was ice wrapped under her skin.

"N-No," he said, but his throat was still thick and scratchy. He coughed once, wincing as the gesture made his ankle throb. "It's alright." 

"Are you sure?" Linda asked skeptically, leaning back slightly. 

He nodded, closing his eyes briefly once more. He felt Linda gently touch his forehead again, but this time he didn't flinch away from her cold touch. He kept his eyes closed and took a few more deep breaths.

Linda's hand slipped away from his head, and a moment later, there was a muffled thump. Kai opened his eyes in a panic and sat up all the way. He found Linda lying her back, her eyes closed. Kai flung himself off the couch and crouched on his knees next to her, ignoring the pain in his ankle while he did so. 

"Linda?" he said frantically, taking her shoulders and shaking her gently. "Linda!" Somehow through his panic, he did something sensible - pressed his fingers up to her neck, where her pulse would be. 

And found nothing.

"LINDA!" he screamed, this time not caring if he woke up anyone else. He shook her harder this time, leaning forward to check if she was breathing.

She wasn't.

No was the only word that Kai's mind formed. He shook her again, panic and confusion rising inside him. What had happened? He couldn't see any injuries, but she hadn't simply passed out. What was going on? 

"Kai?" a groggy voice asked to his right. "What's going on?" 

Kai didn't even look at who was speaking. Before he knew it, Chase was by Linda's other side, sparking up his Light Magic to help her. Even though he was doing it over and over, nothing happened.

"What did you do?" he finally asked in a frantic voice, turning to Kai. 

"What did I do?" Kai cried, the words coming out of him at lightning speed. "What makes you think I did something? Why are you even asking me that? Help her!"

"I can't!" Chase yelled, his Light Magic disappearing. He reached up and gripped Kai's arm with the force of a steel trap. "What did you -" He suddenly stopped. His facial expression went from anger and confusion to shock and pain.

Then a bolt of darkness went through his body - literally. Kai watched it sail from his hand all the way up to his chest, then expand and wash over his whole body, all in a matter of two seconds. Then Chase flopped over onto his side, his eyes closed and his body pale like Linda's. 

"Chase?!" Kai screamed in confusion and shock, his mind reeling. What was going on? What did he do? That was obviously Dark Magic, but he hadn't tried to hurt them, let alone kill them.

No, his mind stubbornly decided. They're not dead. They can't be dead.

"Kai?" his father's voice said, and Kai jerked away. He turned and found Falte sitting on his knees beside him. "What's going on? Are you alright? Wait, are they alright?" He scooted forward on his knees toward them, then froze. "Kai, what's wrong with them?"

"I don't know," he whispered, tears starting to run down his face. He felt foolish for crying, but he was hurting his friends - no, killing them - so how could he help it?

This had to be some dream. Just a nightmare. This wasn't real. 

Was it?

"They're not breathing, Kai," Falte warned, his voice rising in panic with each word. "Why aren't they breathing? What happened?"

"I don't know!" Kai yelled. He jumped to his feet, putting most of his weight on his right foot, and retreated onto the couch. "Stay there. Don't touch me." 

Falte raised his eyebrow at him. "Why not?" His voice sounded a little hurt, but Kai shook his head furiously.

"Just stay away," Kai said, his voice breaking. "Don't come any closer. Don't touch me." He shrunk to the corner of the couch, tucking his legs as close as he could to him. His ankle throbbed in protest, but he began to realize that the pain was dull and hazy, like it wasn't actually there, but his mind was telling him that it was.

That meant...

This was a nightmare.

That was all. 

He just had to wake up. 

His friends weren't dead.

This was only a dream.

The scene before him suddenly changed drastically, and he found himself on his knees in an empty space of a wrecked building. There was Dark Magic swirling around him furiously, as if they were shadows waiting to break out of their cage. He blinked a few times, unsure of why he was angry, scared, and panicked suddenly. 

Suddenly, Chase was in front of him, squatting and leaning forward with a smile that made Kai's heart break. It was sad, like he was saying goodbye, but it was full of knowledge. He knew something was going to happen. His eyes were gentle but upset and worried, and when they met Kai's, Chase's smile became warmer. He said something, but Kai couldn't hear it. 

Then a dark figure strode up behind Chase, though Kai couldn't make it out. It was tall, lean, and had dark wings sprouting out of its back. There was darkness swirling around it as well, mixed with red and black. The figure was enveloped in darkness, and the only thing Kai could make out was claws coming from its dark hand and red eyes staring straight at Chase.

There was a burst of darkness, 

and then 

Chase

screamed.

~

Y'all, I'm so excited right now. 

Literally my stomach is doing flips. This book may be shorter than the first one, but that's fine, because it's going to better. 

I can't wait to get to the climax. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Y'all, now I don't want to stop updating this-

EEEEGH-

Y'all are probably so confused 

and

you're

going

to

stay

that

way

UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER-

Welp, on that note,

Peace out!!~~