Stir of Shadows
by Queen of Sarab
[email protected]

Chapter Fourteen

"He's waking up!"

Yuli's voice cut through his subconsious like a knife. Rowen winced.

"Rowen?" a soft female voice asked.

"Mia?" Rowen sat bolt upright, eyes flying open. A sudden pain cut through his
head, and he fell back with a groan.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm...." Rowen winced and bit back a cry. "Fine. What happened?"

"We're not exactly sure," replyed Mia softly. "After you blacked out on the boat, Sai managed to get us to shore, and then... we all found ourselves back home. We were all ok, but you...you've been out for almost a week, Rowen. We think Kurai launched some kind of psychic attack on you on the boat or something." Mia grinned as evilly as was possible for her. "Ryo said Kurai was really mad about being beaten."

Rowen managed a weak smile, which immediately disappeared. "Where's the amulet?" he hissed desperately, fumbling at his throat.

"Calm down," Mia laughed. "Right here." She reached over to his bedside table and handed him the emerald and gold amulet. "Now get some sleep."

Kurai stared up at Rowen's window. With a graceful leap, she landed in the tree beside it and scrambled up the rest of the branches needed to reach it. Within minutes she was in his room, the cold night air blowing her black robes around her. A soft green light emulated from Strata's bedside table.

Her amulet.

As soon as her hand closed around it, Kurai felt a surge of power jolt through her. This was her lifeline, her drug. She needed it. Her eyes lingered on Rowen's form for a moment. "I refuse to suffer," she whispered. "So I'll run from my tribe, my home- all because of you. I will get my revenge." As she slipped out the window, she couldn't help thinking how beautiful he was. But she quickly shook that off, and slipped away- into the shadows of the night.

Author's note- Do I smell a sequel?! I'm sooo glad I finally finished this...I feel like I need a parade or something...I've already got the sequel planned out, so it should be coming soon! Ok, I still want e-mails, so remember- [email protected]. Oh, and thank you for bearing with me in my first fanfic attempt!