The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 29

I will not die not again, Elena eyeshot furiously as she writhed in pain, the invisible vise clamping stack even harder on her.becoming fel to the pile, even crazyr than to begin with, clutching her stomach in a mirror image of Elena.It cannot take meAnd then, just as suddenly as it had started, the deafening roar ceased and the c bang pain lifted. Elena col apsed to the ground, air whooshing dorsum into her lungs. Its finished grinding b iodines to make its bread, Elena belief semihysterical y, and almost giggled. becoming gasped loudly, letting expose a smal sob.What was that? Elena asked her. beautiful shook her head. It snarl wish c mislay tothing was getting pul ed out of us, she utter, panting. I felt it in the beginning, withal, secure before you showed up.That pul ing ghost. Elena grimaced, her mind whirling.I pretend its the phantom. Damon says that it wants to drain our power. That must be how it does it. middling was staring at her, her mouth just a tiny import undefended. Her pink tongue darted out and licked her lips. Damon says? she verbalise. She frowned anxiously. Damons dead, Elena.No, hes alive. The star bal brought him foul later on wed already left the Dark Moon. I found out after the phantom took you.Bonnie made a miniscule noise, a separate of eep that reminded Elena of a bunny, of something soft and smal and surprised. Al the blood drained out of her face, loss her usual y faint freckles vivid contends against the white of her cheeks. She touch shaking hands to her mouth, staring at Elena with huge dark eyes.Lis ten, Bonnie, Elena said fiercely. Nobody else knows this yet. Nobody but you and me, Bonnie. Damon wanted to keep it a abstruse until he could figure out the right way to fetch back. So we need to keep quiet about it.Bonnie nodded, stil gaping. The color was rushing back into her cheeks, and she looked like she was caught surrounded by joy and total confusion.Glancing over her shoulder, Elena notice that on that point was something in the mark at the origination of a blushbush 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 brushed last(prenominal) her and walked toward it, squinting in the sunlight. When she got close enough, Elena saw with amazement that it was Matt, lying stil and smooth beneath the rosebush. A sprinkle of black petals was scattered across his chest. As she came close to him, Matts eyes twitched she could see them moving rapidly back and frontward under the lids, as if he was having an intense dream and then flew open as he took in a long, rattling gulp 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? W here are we?The phantom caught us, brought us to the Nether World, and is using us to make itself much powerful, Elena said succinctly. How do you feel?A little startled, Matt joked in a unclouded voice. He looked around, then licked his lips nervously. Huh, so this is the Nether World? Its comme il fautr than Id project 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 to each onething that happened to you here? Because this place seems pretty nice for a Hel dimension, what with al the roses and everything.Elena stared at him. Its possible too many preternatural things fool 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 pronto got down to business. What was going on when you were back root? she asked him .Um, Matt said, Stefan and Meredith were call into dubiousness 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 away so we can tel them theyre dealing with one of the Original ones. Itl be much 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 glee she everlastingly got from gossip, apparently Damon told her. Hes alive and she saw himSo much for tutelage Damons inexplicable, Bonnie, Elena thought, rol ing her eyes. Stil , it didnt existent y matter if Matt knew. He wasnt the one Damon was keeping the secret from, and he wasnt likely to be able to tel Stefan anytime soon.Elena tuned out Matts exclamations of wonder 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 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 amidst them. Even the stems of grass were uniform al fish fillet 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 minutes the monotony became unnerving. in that location was a gate, she told Bonnie and Matt. When we were looking into this field from the Gatehouse of the Seven Treasures. There was a way in from there, so there must be a way to get out to there. We just have to m another(prenominal) it.They had begun to clamber to their feet when, without warning, the sharp lugging pain struck again. Elena clutched her stomach. Bonnie lost her relief 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 wa ited for the pain to fade again before she answered 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 weigh it needs us here to do that. And if we dont convalesce the gate soon, we might be too weak to make it home.She looked around again, the uniformity almost dizzying. Each rosebush was center 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, calm 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, look foring. 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.Wel 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 world-class there was only the silence of focused dousing as they searched. There was no sign of a gate. Step by step through the field, nothing changed. Endless rows of identical rosebushes stretched in al directions, spaced about three feet from one another, enough room between them for one person to easily pass. The eternal midday sun dress down down uncomfortably on the tops of their heads, and Elena wiped a bead of eliminate 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 neer passed.I wish there were a breeze, Bonnie complained. But I dont think the wind ever blows here.This field must come to an end sometime, Elena said desperate ly. It cant just go on forever. There was a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, though, that suggested to her that mayhap 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 try 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 corporeal body. The last time I saw him, he told me that 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.Just 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 gambol that would sometimes appear over the highway on the hottest, most stil days of summertime as the suns rays bounced off the asphalt.No asphalt here to radiate back the suns heat. But something had to be causing that shimmer.Unless she was imagining it. Were her eyes playing tricks on her, show 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.mayhap? Bonnie said hesitantly.I think so, Matt said. Like hot air rising, right?Right, Elena said. She frowned, estim ating the distance. Maybe fifteen feet. We should take it at a bombardment,she said. In case 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 turned around, theyd never be able to tel this spot from any other. They al three took one anothers hands, staring at the smal distortion that they hoped was a gate. Bonnie was in the warmness 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 sensory hair. She couldnt let go of Bonnie and she couldnt stop, so she just yanked her head forward despite the eye-wateringly painful tug on her hair and kept running, leaving a tangle 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 cold and fix 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