Evanescent (9 page)

I shook my head in disbelief. “How would the Council have gotten to Maya to implant a tracker in the first place?”

Tatos shrugged. “We need to explore every situation. The Council is not to be underestimated.”

“Besides, we need to find out what Enoch could possibly have done to her,” Kronan added.

“She is not an experiment!” I yelled.

“How else do we help her?” Kronan frowned, handing Tatos some healing crystals.

“I’m not sticking around for this, I’m gonna take a shower.” I stomped off.

I looked at Rob as he entered the compound. His arms folded over his chest, the glare sent my way… almost judgmental, his eyebrow raised. I stared back blankly. He pointed down a narrow corridor to where, I presumed, I would find the bathroom.

“Sam sent some of your clothes over.” He handed me the navy, blue bag, our school badge of mermaids and daggers mocking me, a reminder of a life I had never had, and never would.

“I miss her,” I said as I walked away, truly feeling an empty spot in the pit of my stomach.

He smacked my arm and I turned; only because of the slapping sound on my naked flesh. I wouldn’t have been aware of it otherwise.

“I know,” he said. “I do, too.” He looked down.

“Sorry, Rob.” I didn’t look back.

“Not your fault.”

But it was. If only I hadn’t been caught up in my need for affection, my desire to be loved and touched by another. If only I had stayed clear of Enoch, I would have seen things unfolding and been able to stop them from happening. These thoughts prevailed, but felt untrue to me. Could I have truly changed that much within one shift?

“Ava, make sure you keep your activity low in this house, the system will pick up on irregularities in behavioral patterns very soon,” Rob’s voice floated up the stairs.

I turned back. “So, I’m a prisoner here, too?”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Tatos grinned. “You are alive, are you not?”

I stomped off again. “Men just don’t get it!”

The passage was constructed of glass, which cut through the forest below. I stared outside into the thick of night surrounding the woods, the soft glow of yellow light pale against the gray bark. The compound was totally hidden by the edge of Silverwood Forest. I headed up to a smooth concrete staircase, lights flickering on with each step I took. I stopped on the top landing, where different doorways and two corridors glared at me. Damn, this place was like a maze, a huge modern maze. I stared at the white, glass paneled door before me. I felt a tug on my consciousness, almost like I was in the wrong place. I shook my head and continued anyway. I went into the bathroom, the door slowly slid closed behind me. No mirrors, no monitors. I moved to the large window near the shower, and stared at my reflection on the dull shimmer of glass. I shifted my eyes to the shower door, not wanting to linger on my reflection for a second longer, like seeing a secret that was not meant for my eyes. It didn’t look, nor did I feel like
me
in anyway. My hair was tattered, dirty and knotted from my crown to my shoulders. My legs had lost all its muscle. My face was streaked with dirt and sweat, but I had a feeling it was much more than how I appeared. I dropped the bag to my feet with a soft thump. That feeling of being in the wrong place heaved at me again, like a thousand monsters hammering down on my every step. I stared at the shower. I didn’t want to wash myself, scared to lose any piece of me that might have prevailed beneath the dirty surface. Suddenly, I found myself down the stairs and out of the general’s bunker, shoved from behind by some kind of fire nipping at my heels. Tatos and Kronan were so caught up with treating Maya, it was so easy for me to slip away unnoticed. I searched for Robert, but sensed he was not near. I stared down at my clothes as I slinked from the sliver of golden light emanating through the front garden, afraid the white stood out like a beacon – not the best camouflage. I took off, and ran through the forest. My mind remembered every hidden path we had taken, as if my memory was now etched with a map. The cool smells of the forest were comforting in some way. I felt almost free again, jumping over thick, tree roots covered in green moss, the dark of the forest floor covered in purple creepers that tangled into the branches above. I was aware that the wind rushed over my body and even though I could not feel it, it held an invigorating notion to it all. But much too soon, I came to the hangar door, and slumped behind the golden beams of light cast onto the dark grass and into the darkness ahead of me. I could hear them talking, so close, almost as if I was holding a device to my ear. I heard Robert there, too. Keeping myself low to the ground and as close to the thick grooves of the metal wall as possible, I listened in. Something was driving me, I was to gather information, find clues, gather secrets.
Their secrets
. I rubbed my eyes with my fists, perhaps hoping it would unleash my conscience.

“Have you told her anything?” I heard David ask.

Immediately, my attention was on full alert.

“No,” Troy answered flatly.

I felt my heart sink to my feet, draining my body of all its blood. I held on to the wall to steady myself, bracing for the worst.

“Oh, that’s bad. Don’t you know anything about girls?” Robert teased.

“You know I’m not allowed to…” Troy began defensively.

“Oh, right, being a guide takes priority?” David snapped.

In between the chatter, I could make out the turning and grinding of metal tools on a hard surface.

“Since when do you follow rules?” Robert half joked.

“I’m glad you can find humor in my turmoil, Robert!” Troy snapped.

David cleared his throat before he continued, “Especially rules enforced by Truth Seekers, who you believe are all wrong in the way they go about following this prophecy.”

“You know. You know I have no choice!” Troy seemed furious and incredulous at the same time.

“You have to tell her the truth, because if she finds out, or manages to figure it out by herself… I thought we’d been through this. She’s not just an assignment, you told me that yourself. You told me what it meant to have intruded on her life. You knew what was going to happen. You took the risk when I told you not to fall for her, you made things really difficult for all of us, for you, for your father. You either go the entire way, or leave her alone. That’s how I see it.”

“I have this under control, and you know I loved her before all of this,” Troy replied, solemnly.

“I would never have let you do this if I knew who she really was!” Dave shot back.

“No one knows who she really is. Besides she
is
my assignment – that is the damn problem!” Troy was shouting now. “I won’t use her.”

“Any more than you already have?” Robert retaliated.

“You’d better get out of my face right now.”

My heart was racing; nothing made sense, yet made sense at the same time. I wanted to sprint back in there and slap each one of them but instead, I swallowed my anger and felt the pain lacerate deeper into my restraint. I should have stayed longer, but I was too afraid to. I didn’t want to hear anymore. Forming fists either side of my body, I stood from the dry, prickly grass unaware that I could feel somehow. Something was changing inside me; all sensation came back to my skin. The wind, the heat of summer peaking, sweat dripping down the front of my dress, but it was soon drowned out by the tidal wave of anger narrowing in on me. Troy was going to pay for this, this pain I felt so strongly, my chest wanted to explode from it. It was more than pain, it was something tangible growing inside me, strangling me, and I was afraid of what might surface in its place. Ice replaced logic, froze over my feelings. My instinct crippled my emotions. Buried them far and beyond. I hated that he was now being another of those people who lied to me! I bit down on my knuckles as I walked back into the forest. I had not realized I was on fire, just heard the wild crackling of burning bushes around me.

“Ava!” a voice screamed from behind me and I panicked, I had been caught. Before I was fully turned, an electric bolt shot from my palms, making me scream as the pain tore through me. It was too late to stop it. Someone tackled me to the ground and we rolled through bush, twigs cutting into my skin, stones and sand scraping against my knees, palms and elbows.

Once we finished rolling, I stared up at Troy’s face, my eyes wide with shock.

“What happened?” I asked. I truly couldn’t remember.

He lifted himself off me, took my hand and gave me the once over.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes I’m fine.” I patted smoke and debris from my singed dress.

“What are you doing here?” He pulled my hand, and we started making it up the small slope we had just stumbled down. I noticed his limp had worsened.

“You better get that checked,” I said.

“I’ll live.”

He pushed away branches as we hit the clearing where I had almost singed the entire forest.

“It’s nothing!” Robert was shouting.

I looked up from the forest floor. David and Greg were fussing over Robert’s arm. A fire extinguisher lay disregarded at their feet.

“Ouch!” Robert slapped David across the face.

Dave pulled his thumb out of the wound. “I just needed to see how deep it was.”

“It’s deep, thank you, Doctor David,” Robert huffed, and pulled his arm free from the prying vultures.

“You need some blood cleaner,” Greg said, tugging a metal canister free from his cargo belt, twisting the lid off.

“What is that for?” Robert’s eyes widened.

David nodded, so Greg and Troy each grabbed one Robert’s arms. Before Rob even had a chance to protest, the screaming and swearing echoed throughout the forest. I spun, thinking I had heard something.

“Warn a guy next time!” Robert spat to the ground and inspected the wound in his right arm.

“Luckily, you didn’t have a shirt on, or we would have had to surgically remove the cloth,” David said, touching Robert’s wound again.

“Stop that, dammit!” he yelled. “It’s my arm, and there will be no operations.”

“Calm down, will you,” Troy ground out.

“But, it hurts.”

“Poor baby,” David couldn’t help but tease.

Then all four pairs of eyes darted my way. I couldn’t remember what I was doing there, what led up to me almost taking a friend’s life. I was shivering, trying to push my mind behind the wall of ice keeping my memories from me.

And all I could think was why in heaven’s name he needed the blood-cleaner. They could not have known about the disease already, could they?

Our walk back through the hidden forest path to the general’s, was lit by the early morning rays burning into the start of a new day. The forest was submerged in a radiant purple haze, the hazy glint of silverwood trees shading the light from the dark patches. I was having trouble focusing on anything after the fire I’d somehow started, and was counting on the light patches to guide me. The walk was torturous with Robert’s moans and David’s teasing. But no one said a word about what I had done. Why I had done it, or why I was spying on them?
I think that’s what it was
. The door to the compound slid open with a low, swooshing sound. A gentle gust of wind blew my hair from my face. Kronan was already waiting for us, his arms tightly crossed over his chest, and a slight scowl on his face as Troy took my hand leading me to sit. All I could focus on was how Troy made my physical sensations flutter to life, and then I put it all together. I had blood-shifted, and that too had brought on feeling to my skin earlier. I hovered over the crisp, white sofa for a while, staring down at my charcoaled dress, trying to forget what was going on with me. Trying to find some kind of clarity.

“Just sit,” Troy said as his hand left my arm.

“Yes, sir.” When I tried to sit, my butt hit the sofa harder than I thought. I giggled. It would take a while to judge things without the sense of feeling guiding me.

Troy
kept his eyes on me. “It’s not funny.”

“Ouch!” Robert screamed from the medical room.

I sat forward, peering around the corner to take a look. Tatos was pulling and twisting his arm. “Minor tissue damage,” he said.

“Will it leave a scar?”

“It might,” he replied. “Do your kind scar?”

Robert swore. “I don’t know! I have never been hit by fiery lightning before.”

“It was unintentional…” I started, but swallowed any apology when his eyes kept their lock on mine in a heated stare.

They knew I was hiding something.

Kronan handed me a bowl of steaming soup, which he’d carried through on a tray. I stared at the milky-yellow substance. I perched on the edge of the white chair, picked up the bowl and let the aromatic steam make its way over my lips, curl up into my nose and over my cheeks, savoring the remnants of the elixir as I poured it down my throat all in one go. I shot Kronan a look. “What was in this soup?”

“Tranquilizers.” Troy grinned.

“What?”

“Well, that’s what you get,” Robert said from the other room.

“Shut up, Robert!” I screamed back. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Yeah, well you did, and now my perfect tan is ruined.”

Really? I rolled my eyes.

“You can tell my wife you’re sorry one day,” he grumbled.

“You’re hurting me,” he shouted at Tatos.

“Sit still, or I'll stitch up your mouth, too.” Tatos wasn’t joking either, I thought he really would do something like that.

I lay back on the seat. “I really am sorry.” I looked down at my empty bowl, swirls of steam still emanating from its white bottom. Looking up once more, I saw Troy exchange a look with Kronan.

“What is it?”

“That soup was piping hot to the touch. If you hadn’t noticed, I handed it to you on a tray.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “Maybe the fire had something to do with that.”

“Indeed,” Kronan said.

My stomach rumbled. “I’m starving.” I was in the process of shooting out of my seat to head toward the kitchen, but was stopped mid-stance and gently pushed back into my seat by Troy.

“What happened out there?”

“Where?” I looked past him, because all I could think of was food.

“Ava.” Troy gently pulled my face to meet his. “Look at me.” He stared into my eyes, my stomach twisted, turned, cramped.
I needed food
. I pushed him out of my way and ran to the kitchen. Within a matter of seconds, I was in the fridge but an empty, chilly tomb stared back at me. I fell to the floor, stomach burning, cramping; the hunger tearing through my veins left me quaking as I pulled my knees into my chest to make it stop.

“What the hell?” someone shouted.

“Food. We need to get her some food.”

“Replicator!” Troy shouted.

I was lifted from the floor, and for a moment clarity struck. I looked up at Troy, his face a dark cloud of concern. He led me to the sofa.

“Troy, what’s happening to me?” I swallowed dry, hard saliva, like acid rocks as it slid down my throat. It was like I had never eaten before in my entire life, and that soup had brought it on. He set me down on the couch and pulled his arms from under my legs, held my head in his hand as yet more cramps prevailed throughout my body. His other hand rested on my forehead. “She’s burning up.”

I smelled it the instant the replicator spat it onto the plate, in fact, I had smelled it before it had even left the replicator’s metal tube. I sat up, pushing Troy from me. My mouth watered and I groaned like a beast. Kronan handed me the plate. I stared down at it.

“What is this?” I spat back.

“Meat.”

That was the problem; it was only one single piece of meat the size of my fist. I grabbed it and tore a huge chunk off with my teeth. The juice mixed with my drool trickled down my chin, continuing its path down my throat. I think I felt my eyes roll back in pure bliss.

“More.” I shoved the plate into Troy’s hands.

David shook his head. “We have to give you what the general would be eating right now, because if the system picks up any irregularities…”

Troy
spun around and handed David the plate. “I am sure there have already been many irregularities, now get the lady some more.”

“Fine.” David spun, and moved off.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kronan said, stroking his chin.

Troy
handed me a glass of water, which I literally threw down my throat. “Wow, that was delicious.”

“It’s only water,” Robert said as he entered the room, staring at his wound.

“The water might be different than in the city schools,” Troy said to him.

“You know what they do to the water there,” he said, eyebrow raised.

“What?” I queried, even though I already knew.

“Do I really have to answer that?” He stroked my hair.

Kronan handed me plate, after plate, after plate of meat. Finally satisfied, I fell back lying sprawled and supine across the couch, my stomach a huge, bloated ball.

“We need to get out of here soon,” said David from across the room.

“What about Maya?” I asked, staring up at the high, metal beams that held the compound together.

“We will have to wake her,” Troy said as he stood.

I cringed. “If she shouts like that again… I don’t know if I can take it.”

“So, we’ll do a muting spell.” Robert joked.

I growled at him.

“I’m only joking, Ava.” He smiled from where he had taken a seat by my feet.

“I have to go get a few things from my dorm,” Troy said. “Are you gonna be okay here?”

“No.” Raising up on my elbow, I stared at him bluntly. I felt I had to be near him, his presence held me together somehow, and there was something else. Like a hunter that had caught his prey; it was possessive and feral.

Possessiveness: Phase Three
.

He grinned at me. “On one condition.”

“Troy…” Dave started.

Troy
raised his hand to silence him.

“You’ll tell me what is going on with you?”

I nodded. Anything to get to go with him. I sat up quickly. “Let’s go.”

He took my hand. “We have to move quickly and quietly this time, no burning things down okay?”

“Ha, ha.” I couldn’t help but be sarcastic. I looked at our hands, almost expecting to physically see the wave of feeling ripple over my skin at his touch.

We made our way toward the door. “We’ll be back in a few.”

Robert glared at us. “Whatever.”

“Here.” Kronan handed me a pair of lace-up boots – red oxblood, which brought on a subtle memory in the way they smelled. It was a delightful memory and just like that, I was sucked into an entirely different time. The powdery, aqua shimmer of three glittering moons, pinned high against an amethyst morning sky. Pink reflected hues streaked the sand beneath my feet. I sensed the soothing motion of the ocean, the breeze chilly on my skin, nipping at my ears, my hair much shorter then, and I was on a horse. I actually rode on a magnificent beast, auburn hair burning in the early hours of dawn. I was robbed of the wonderful memory and taken into a nightmarish world of a horrid memory – the attack on the beach snapped my breath, my surroundings faded to black. I could hear and feel like I had never felt before, the tremors in the earth, the coarse sand against my body. A quiver in my chest, a quake in my soul. The fear was crippling, gluing me to the sandy surface of gravel, which felt like grains of glass against the heightened sense of feeling over my skin. It was the first time I discovered these abilities. Then there was the cut on my cheek where the poison had seeped in; perhaps that was where the activation of the disease had begun. There was a voice, one that drowned out all the fear, wrapped itself around the ties which bound me to fear itself. It was as if through the darkness of my temporary blindness, it gave way and I felt him, all of him. His fury, the thundering beating of his outraged temper, the dangerous tear between his soul and his heart as I lay on the sand, Enoch hovering over me.
Troy
. His scent an intoxicating aphrodisiac. I remember Troy on the beach the day of the second attack. I remember the confusion I felt in being drawn to him, yet bound to Enoch through his voodoo. It had started then already.

“I remember.” My breath left me as the memory retreated back to a place where memories hid when not in close proximity to Troy. He was like a filter, sifting out the real and the not. How could I not have seen it? Troy was somehow lifting me from some kind of spell that Enoch must have placed over me. I changed around him, inside and out.

I slipped my feet into the boots, absently waiting for it all to sink in.

“Hmm, what?” Troy asked, while turning to hand me a gray cloak. I stared at the turquoise and silver clasp. My gaze was entrapped by its unique luster, a milky stone that radiated a faint glow.

“Ava,” Troy whispered in my ear.

I pulled back. “What?”

“Wow.” I heard David behind me.

“Hey.” Troy held my face in his palm, gazing into my eyes. For a second, I had totally lost myself.

“You sure you are okay?” His warmth was magnificent, and for a moment all trouble had left me.

“Fine.” I smiled, more to convince myself.

He sighed.

I rolled my eyes as I looked at the shimmer in the gray coat. Troy swiftly flung the cloak over me and clasped it around my collar bone. His touch didn’t linger as long as I would have liked it to.

“Thank you.” I smiled up. The voluntary, pleasurable curl of my mouth felt almost great.

“When we trek through the base, I need you to be very cautious, try not to be seen. I can’t trust anyone right now.”

“Oh,” I said, spun around and headed back up the stairs.

“I forgot my bag!” I hollered back, feeling the urgency rise up inside. What if someone had looked inside and taken my box containing Mom’s journals? My feet slipped in the unlaced boots and then on the smooth surface of the stairs, but I quickly regained my momentum going into the bathroom. The door slid closed as I stood in a crisp, white tiled room, my navy bag still resting near the window.

“Oh, thank you,” I whispered out loudly.

I plucked my bag from the floor, quickly rummaging through it. The wooden box with metallic filigree was still in there. A pair of undies – check; toothbrush – check; gray, tank-top – check. iPod – nope, and a pair of my oldest but most favorite denims. I rushed back with the bag held tightly to my chest.

“What’s in there?” Troy asked, eyebrow raised as I took my place by the door beside him again, eager to have him all to myself. Somehow, his curiosity made him that much more appealing. I pushed the bag deep into my stomach, hoping it would dampen the bugs fluttering inside it.