Safe

She found herself in the dark, the intense odour of burning wood filling the air. Before her was a quiet fireplace, and a tall shadow behind it.

"You came" His familiar voice said and Ava instantly recognized it.

"A…Aaron?" She said shakily, as the shadow came forth. His bright blonde hair and mysterious aura emerged. She had a lot of questions to ask but he spoke first, slowly and urgently.

"You are not supposed to be where you are, taking you to the spellbinders was a mistake"

"Then take me home, why did you put me there anyways" Ava said boldly, if there was anything she really wanted now; it was to go home, to be with Sir Asher, to be safe.

"You cannot go home, you need to be somewhere else but not home"

"Why? What do you mean_"

"You need to learn"

"Learn what? Magic?" the pungent smell grew, it was getting hard to breathe.

"Yes and a lot more than that. There's a huge burden on you" his face was still but his words said danger.

Ava breathed deeply, she felt so much in the dark. "Then teach me" she said insistently

"I can't"

"Why?" Ava asked watching as he moved away from her, quickly.

"I don't have time, we do not have time"

"Wait!" She tried to go after him but something stopped her, like a huge wall she couldn't see. She was gasping for breath, her knees felt wobbly. Her head throbbed, her vision grew blurry.

"You aren't safe, no one is…"

And he faded into nothingness.

...............

"Wait!" Ava's voice sounded like a whisper even if she intended to scream.

The bedsheets were in disarray, her body was cold. It was a dream.

Another dream.

Even still, it felt like her throat was being suffocated. And her head still ached. She tried to remember the details but her headache increased. Why was did she always feel like that when she saw Aaron.

Why was he speaking in those strange words? Was she really in danger?

It took a while to regulate her breathing pace and then, she finally turned on the lamp. Her stomach growled, she hadn't eaten dinner.

Ava checked the time, it was nearing 11pm. She needed to find something to eat.

On the table beside her was a bowl of blueberries, she sat up and ate slowly as she tried to recollect all that happened in the dream. What did Aaron mean by 'no one was safe?'

After eating the whole bowl of blueberries, Ava was reluctant to sleep. What if she had another bad dream? She thought.

Then one silly idea struck her mind. What if she snuck out, perhaps to the garden? She was bored anyway and still wasn't able to see the place well enough because of training. It looked even better at night because of the lights.

So she tied up her hair into a ponytail and opened the doors. She looked left and right, there were no guards around. Excellent!

Her heartbeat tripled as she walked out of the room, the silence was spooky and gave her an impression that someone was watching her even when no one was. She had always been good at escaping, especially when she had spent most of her lifetime planning escapes from her home.

She walked slowly across the hallway and down the stairs, and then caught sight of two guards who were moving upstairs, they were both talking about something, whispering. Oh no!

She hid behind a corner and watched them pass by, then heaved a sigh of relief as they didn't see her. Then, she ran out of the building.

The breeze hit her, she wasn't prepared for that and she felt cold instantly. She slowly crossed to the other side and ran towards the garden. A large group of shadows walked past and she froze. Did they see her?

She hid behind some bushes and watched as more figures walked past again. What was happening? Was there an event?

Curiosity got the better of her and she abandoned her garden trip. She headed to where all those people were coming from, slowly moving between bushes as more strange people moved. There was something about these people's presence, it felt heavy and thick and became hard to breathe as she came closer. She wondered why

Ava saw one of them come from a corner and watched him leave before walking briskly to the place. There was a long dark hallway and her heart beat rapidly as she ran.

She could have gone back this time because it seemed very risky but she wanted to see, her mind told her something wasn't right. Aaron told her she wasn't safe, maybe it was true.

She saw a door left ajar which led to a dimly lit room crowded with people. They were whispering some things she did not hear. She tried to peep behind the door but there were too many people. What were they doing?

Then one of the strange men slowly headed to the door motioning to walk out of the room. Ava was alarmed, her eyes roamed round for a hiding place.

The person moved nearer and she took quiet steps backwards away from the door, what was she going to do?

The strange man held the doorknob and widened the door before he took a step out.

In a flash! Ava felt someone pull her to a corner, her heart skipped a beat. She looked to see who it was and his familiar said to her.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"