Enemy Among Us

Chapter 14

Eli
I paced back and forth as the princesses stood close to their securities. I paced back and forth as Laney watched. “Eli please stop, I'm getting a headache just watching you.” I sighed and leaned against a tree. “Cameron was trying to warn us. We should have known. I mean it has to be someone who knows Anaiya right?! They literally kidnapped her and now we’re trapped in the middle of the woods with no way out because of the giant fence that now barricaded us in with god knows what!” It was like a horror movie gone wrong. Laney sighed as I sat down as I looked out of the fence trying to see if anyone was out there but it just seemed to be endless woods outside of it as well. It was a miracle we even found the fence. I could already tell the forest had gotten bigger, we all did, but no one wanted to believe it.  We had already tried climbing it but if we touched it just seemed to go up for miles, we tried cutting it but the fence links were too thick. Bolt cutters weren’t even strong enough.

As we waited for a bit a sudden ringing began, as if someone was holding a microphone to an amp speaker. I covered my ears because of how loud and painful it was before we then heard the clearing of someone’s voice. We looked around us as it seemed to echo….. Like the voice was coming from all around us. I looked over at Laney who was staring off into the woods with a fearful but angry expression as if she just watched a stranger kill a random person for no reason. She always hated senseless violence, especially if there was no real cause for the anger.  “Welcome agents one and all, you have been chosen to participate in the testing of my daughter Anaiya!” The voice was loud and clear, it was also familiar. I then remembered the voice. Back when Cole had died, Anaiya had gotten into an argument on the phone with someone after his funeral, when I asked what was wrong she said her mother was driving her nuts and that she should block her calls. After that she never got any calls from that person.

“It has to be…” Laney looked over me. “What is it Eli? Do you know who that is?” I nodded but then shook my head. My thoughts were racing so I took a deep breath. “I’m not sure, remember when Anaiya had gotten into an argument after Cole’s funeral over the phone?” Laney nodded as Gabby, Johnny, Savannah and Andy listened in. “Well when I asked she said it was her mother. This is the voice I heard during their conversation so it could be her mother but how is she doing this? How could she do this?” I mean it would explain why they are only targeting Anaiya but we never met her mother, at least, she’d never let us meet her mother. I paced, not caring what Laney had to say. I needed to think but then I froze as I looked over at Andy at least in his direction.

Andy

I was watching Eli pace and Laney was right, it did make my head hurt but suddenly this look of shock appeared on Agent Reeves face as he straightened. “There’s an old library near the entrance of the woods, it's falling apart but there's still rooms that are strong enough to keep us safe.” “Good work, let's head there. You'll lead us.” I sighed in relief before patting Eli's shoulder as he started walking in the opposite direction of the agency. It was about 20 minutes later when we heard the unnerving sound of screams, we all looked back and knew someone just met with one of the mysterious obstacles in the test. Just the screams told us that whatever it was, it wasn’t good and that it was probably painful. That's when I saw it, a blur of white rushing towards us.

Laney stepped in and swung the axe at it but it went straight through it, the axe started glowing a bright shade of blue as the spirit disappeared into the blade. We all stared at it, Laney was just as stunned as we were because she dropped it and backed away. I picked it up and tapped the blade of the axe. “What in the heck?!.” The woman we had listened to while Eli was formulating a plan explained that we needed to collect ‘souls’ to get out of here and that they would also help us kill whatever was coming after us, she didn’t explain what but she said they were obstacles. They all looked at me and gasped, that's when I felt a strap form around my chest and the axe transferred itself to the holster on my back. I jumped back as I looked down at the holster, the sudden weight on my chest startled me a bit. There was no logical explanation to how it did it. We all just stared at the axe in awe.

I adjusted the strap so I could at least wear it more comfortably when the familiar voice of an unknown enemy made itself known. “Congrats, you've collected a soul. I hope you can survive the challenge. I'm counting on you six to make it through this.” We could all feel the smirk that made itself onto her face and we all shuddered at the thought of why she wanted us to survive but one thing was for sure, it wasn’t going to be good. I looked over at Johnny who seemed to be staring out into the forest. “We're close now guys, come on.” Eli's voice broke me from my thoughts as we continued to follow him deeper into the woods.