Evanescent (8 page)

Wow, she actually sounded stupid. She must be in denial – so not Sam.

“You really believe that,” I said, sounding disbelieving.

“It’s for our own good, Ava. You told me about all those things, what we really are; we’re dangerous, and we need to be protected from ourselves.”

I shook her, her red curls bouncing on her head, falling over her face. Sam pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, not noticing how quickly I had just snapped.

“It’s fine, you were never one to handle pressure very well.”

I felt ashamed. Yes, I never was and it was a weakness, one I had to cut out.

“Wake up! Remember the trackers, the deaths of those two students on bonfire night?” I crossed my arms, trying to hold back. “The break-in at the vault, one we never knew about? Now the hit on me and my sister, on Troy – they are hiding something, something worth killing over!” I stopped talking immediately; it was all making sense to me. Enoch was working with the Council, there was just no other way. But what scared me the most was my selective memory. It should have been a guide, a clue to what I was becoming.

“Ava, what’s going on?” Troy stroked my arm in comfort to my reaction.

“Where is Kronan, and Anaya? Should they not be here!” It was a demand not a question. Who else was in on it, who else wanted to see me fail? I redirected Troy’s attention.

Manipulation: Phase Two
.

“The Truth Seekers should have known this!” It was like before, the more I felt, the more emotions came trickling through, words spilling from a place I had no control over. Blame and suspicion were always my back up. I couldn’t think straight in those heated moments, just felt an overwhelming need to be defensive.

“This is pathetic, you are all liars, all of…” That was how far I got.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” Troy stepped forward, taking hold of my arms.

“It will be okay.” His words dampened my cinders of cynicism, my dark paranoia pulling back at his magic touch.

I stared into hazel-green eyes. Calmness came over me, thick, solid and true.

“The Council is watching them, Ava!” Greg retaliated irritably.

“Apparently, not good enough,” Sam said, turning her head toward the door.

“You guys really need to learn to keep your voices down,” someone announced from the entrance.

“You found a blocking spell, or…” Troy squinted as he scrutinized his father.

My eyes caught Sam, who was staring at Kronan, no – studying him. She was up to something.

We all bowed in greeting as Kronan, Willard and Tatos came to stand before us. I felt my body, my reaction to every sound and smell react automatically, as if I was taught how to act in certain situations, very much like I needed a wall guarding me from certain people. Then, I remembered their telepathic abilities. And for some reason, I could not allow them to touch me. My mind filled with the certainty of the how they managed to read my mind; by touch. How I knew this, I couldn’t explain at the time.

Kronan smirked. “Yes, I have learned how to be in two places at the same time.”

“Awesome.” Greg nodded, and grinned wildly.

“Where is Maya?” Tatos asked.

“I gave her some peace elixir.” Troy sighed. “She’s not in a good way.” He indicated to the craft.

“Arriana?”

The dark, hollowness filled the room with a thick cloud of remorse as Troy shook his head.

Kronan and Tatos bowed their heads in respect.

“So.” Troy crossed his arms.

I stared at his bulging biceps.

Kronan put his palm up as if to stop Troy’s pattern of thought, and said, “So far, I can only generate enough energy for one person, and that’s why Anaya is still held up at the summit.” I stared at the dark purple on Kronan’s robe, golden patterns snaked around his wrists and collar. His turquoise beads clattered together with his graceful movements while gesturing with his hands.

“What summit?” I interjected. I needed to know everything, every small detail, like my existence depended on it.

Tatos’ eyes racked over me, immediately sensing my change. But young Willard gave me a goofy smile, his eyes lingering on my very short dress.

“The dean has had a change of… heart,” Tatos shared, his stare remote as he spoke.

I glared at his long multi-beaded, braided hair, and wondered when I had met him for the first time. Why were memories of certain people so vague? But the need to gain information was stronger than the one pertaining to the missing gaps of memory. I shook my head, as if to clear it from the clutter. “Explain please.” I stared up at him.

I actually said
please,
although being polite was the furthest thing from my mind, especially after finding out that Troy had hidden things from me. I guess our etiquette teachings had an effect on me after all – wouldn’t my Keepers have been proud of me – that’s if they didn’t want me dead!

Tatos looked down, his turquoise eyes staring at the floor.

“They are reinforcing the rule between your kind and ours.”

My eyes narrowed on him. I stared at the bow strapped across his back, the tip sported blue and purple feathers – just like Enoch’s. I pushed out a sigh. Would everything remind me of him?

Tatos continued without meeting my eyes. “They are putting a lockdown on Vista. Minoan and human interaction will be banned once again, with more force this time.”

I looked to Sam. “You see, Sam, this is how it starts.”

Sam’s glare still held a perfect hollowness. Was she back on her meds? Had the Council found a way to poison their drinking water with the numbing drug once more?

“Look, Enoch must be working for them. It’s a way for them to have a reason in cutting us off from other civilizations, telling us Minoans are a threat. That way, it reinforces their initial ruling that we are safer in the compounds of our schools,” I kept looking at Sam as I spoke, pulling my hands through my hair. Was I actually believing what I was saying? My words, my ideas, felt somewhat forced into my head, like I was trying to distract them from something.

“It will be like when we grew up. Always being watched, closed in.” I was starting to remember things I shouldn’t have, things the Council had tried to hide from my mind before. I raised my eyes to meet Sam’s as she spoke.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. They have been nothing but good to us, maybe someone on the Council just had a minor objection; after all, Enoch was Minoan, and magic is a threat to all of us.”

I grabbed her arm. “You are not listening! Where is Robert, maybe he can make you see things more clearly.”

“He is jamming my signal from our apartment, remember?”

“Sam, you better go before they order a hit on you, too,” I sneered bitterly, wanting her out of my sight with her stupid reasoning. But most of all, the quicker she got back to the school, the quicker I could study what was going on with her and figure out what the Council and Keepers were up to.

“Well, you guys can’t go back to Arriana’s, or to your dormitory. As far as the Council knows, all four of you never made it back,” Greg reminded us.

“Why are they doing this?” I looked to Troy, my lids pushing back hot tears of anger and frustration.

“You’re a threat to them now, you didn’t see that coming?” He lifted an eyebrow.

I shook my head.

“What?” Troy looked stunned as my face lifted in realization of something.

“There is something my grandfather left me, we have to get it back before they discover it.”

“We know,” he said, narrowing his eyes on me. “We need to get that tracker out of you as soon as possible first.”

“How do you know what my grandfather left me?” I pulled my arm from his, my skin dulled over a second after his touch left mine.

Troy just stared at me blankly, like he didn’t trust me all of a sudden.

“The question is rather, how do you know?” he asked, curiously.

I really had no idea, but I felt the urgency to break into Vista’s hall of vaults and discover it for myself. “Whatever,” I said in almost a whisper.

Greg leaned over me, his tiny scanner buzzing softly as he pulled it over my rigid body. I was uncomfortable with him so close to me.

“There is no tracker,” he confirmed what I already knew.

“We knew that already,” I snapped.

“One can never be sure.” Greg’s glare was sharp.

“Why do they want us dead anyway, what did we ever do to them?” I asked again, not quite believing it. I was always treated differently, because I knew they needed something from me; the secrets within my DNA my grandfather left behind. Things they never knew about the prophecy, but I guess something had changed – they knew everything about me now.

“What did you think was going to happen if you kept breaking rules, pushing their boundaries, and then became a threat against them? They can’t control us anymore. They know that now.” Troy sighed. “
We
were not to make it back,
any
of us.” He stared me down, as if to reinforce the thought into my head.

“How are we going to hide from the entire planet?” I yelled. I was so vexed, I didn’t want to hold back the feelings slowly choking me. I didn’t want this life for us.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Greg interrupted, his head dotted with beads of sweat. He wiped his dark, wet hair from his forehead. His light green, leather glove came away darkened with moisture.

“What are in those bags?” I asked them, making sure I was not insane.

“Resources.” Greg chuckled.

“We have someone working with us on the inside. Let’s just say the military base is the safest place for you guys right now. But not for long, as there are eyes everywhere. From there, we move to the Zulu kingdom,” Kronan said, nervously twirling his beads.

As soon as everyone turned to leave, Troy pulled me closer by my hips. My stomach tingled with a heat that penetrated my chest, and broke my resolve. I couldn’t stay mad at him for keeping so much from me. Maybe
I
couldn’t be trusted.

“Go with Tatos and my father to the general’s house, get yourself cleaned up, and eat something. I’ll be there in an hour or so,” he said gently.

Troy kissed me on the forehead, his kiss burned feverishly on my skin.

“Greg, see to it that Sam gets back safely, will you?”

Greg nodded.

Sam and I hugged, but the feeling was lost to me, almost as if we were secretly rivaling against each other. Sam never liked to be wrong, and neither did I. A common thing amongst our kind – competition and pride.

The distance from the hangar to the general’s place was short, one we could easily navigate through the thick of the forest without being noticed. It was dark out, and once again the three moons lit every step of the way, penetrating small gaps through thick, silver branches. I took in the scent of the purple flowers carpeting the floor and the almost pine-tang of the forest leaves. The golden shine of the general’s compound glowed from a distance away. I sighed in relief that I would soon get clean and be able to quench my almost burning thirst. The door slid open as we neared. The general wasn’t there of course, he had to be in the summit, be our ears and eyes. I had no idea how elaborate a Keeper’s apartment was until we entered. From outside, the glass and concrete compound looked like one single, square room. Inside, I stared at high ceilings of glass and metal-barred arches, and huge concrete walls on all four sides. High-tech sleek was obviously the design, with glossy surfaces and luxury chairs including a huge fireplace. I looked around – no monitors. My feet touched the modern glass floors, which lit up when I moved from one floor panel to the next. Huge screens on almost every gray wall surrounded us. I watched as they placed Maya on what looked like an operating table in an open room near the kitchen. She lay flat on the cold looking surface. Tatos inspected her pupils, while Kronan tied back her hair and pulled on some black, rubbery gloves.

“What are you going to do to her?” I snapped. But the feeling was more out of defense, rather than one for her concern. The feeling left me sick inside.
How had I become like this
?

Kronan looked up startled.

“Well, first we need to inspect her. Troy mentioned a spell. He also said his scanner picked up some strange signals, and that perhaps Enoch has tampered with her. I don’t really want to tell you what his cruel mind can come up with.”