Chapter 241: A Deal of Exchange
Annalise blinked her eyes furiously as she tried to adjust them to her surroundings through the haze of brightness that almost blinded her when she first returned to consciousness after what seemed like a really long sleep.
She was expecting her body to be in pain, her temples to be aching, and her powers to be silently buried somewhere deep inside her but that was far from the reality. Her body was warm, she had no headaches, and her powers felt just as active as usual. It was almost like everything she experienced was just a mere dream and nothing more than that, but she knew better than to believe that what she went through was just a result of her imagination that was running wild during her sleep.
The pain was too real, and so was her discomfort and the feeling of numbness. Even the dark energy latching on her without any mercy... all of it was too real to be ignored as a dream, she knew at least that much.
And while there was no physical evidence of all that transpired with her, she could still feel how scared her body and mind were of everything. It was undoubtedly the most dreadful experience she had gone through in her entire life, even more than when she previously got attacked by the dark energy.
"You are awake."
The sudden familiar voice surprised her, pulling her out of her thoughts and making her turn her head to look in the direction from where the voice came.
To her surprise, she found no one other than Esme standing nearby with his back resting against the wall which also made her realize that she was still stuck somewhere inside the Secret City.
The masked man turned to look at her as if he was aware of her fixed gaze on him. His own bored directly into hers as if he was looking straight at her soul.
Looking into his deep green eyes and hearing his voice, Annalise suddenly recalled every single moment of hell that she went through right before falling asleep in some sort of pool or tub that was filled with icy chilled water. Her entire body shivered at the recollection of the thoughts and it was more than enough to shake her to the very core.