by Shana Vernon
They all chuckled and dispersed, each going back to their beds, Brielle’s hand still firmly planted in Hailey’s.
Who knew?
As I reached my bed, I realized I needed a new uniform for the following day. I turned to Sofia as we both sat down. “Did they tell you where we can get extra jumpsuits?”
“Yup, you need to go down one floor, and it’s at the end of the long hallway to the left,” she explained while taking out her toiletries. “Do you want me to come and show you?”
I shook my head. “I’m sure I can find it; get some sleep.”
I walked out the door and headed down the halls, my footsteps echoing as I walked. The torches that lined the walls flickered as I passed, giving off a chilling vibe that caused goosebumps to pop up on my skin. I quickened my pace and hurried down the steps to the floor below.
As I was rushing through the passageway, I heard voices emanating from one of the closed doors to my right. I hesitated, and pressed my ear against it, listening closely, then jumped when Master Abbott’s voice sounded through the wood.
“We are getting close, I can feel it. He’s going to crack soon.”
“It’s been more than a month now, Abbott. Get your shit together and find me some answers or else it’s going to be your head on the chopping block,” an unidentifiable voice commanded.
I didn’t hear anything for a moment.
“It’s not as easy as you think going to and from the bunker every day. People are going to get suspicious.”
He has Papa in a bunker? Finally, something solid.
“Do you think I give a flying fuck what people think? You’re a goddamned assassin, Abbott. Take care of your mess,” the voice yelled.
I heard chairs screech against the floor and feet shuffling. I pushed the cool invisibility through my body and ran down the hall as quietly as I could, my heart threatening to burst from my body.
I couldn’t believe it. How many bunkers could there possibly have been in Boston? I dropped my invisibility as I reached the clothing room and grabbed a few new jumpsuits and a pen and paper, before making my way back to the initiates’ quarters.
Back on the ground floor, I saw an open window and rushed to it, sticking my head out and whistling.
A few moments later, a hawk soared through the open window and landed on my shoulder.
I hastily wrote a note to Maximus to check for any bunkers around the city, then stuck it in the hawk’s beak, and apologized, “Sorry about that, sweet thing. I didn’t have time to find some rope to tie it to your leg.”
I communicated to the hawk to bring the note to Maximus and watched as he flew back out the window and disappeared from sight. I was about to continue back to the room when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“What was in that note, Lenna?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the unexpected sound, and whipped around to find Ryder.
Uh oh. Think fast.
“Hey Ryder, what are you doing over here?” I said, attempting unsuccessfully to keep my voice steady.
“Lenna, I literally just watched you send someone a private message. With a bird. Are you a spy or something?”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and glanced quickly over my shoulder.
What do I do?
I could either take the risk and trust him, or I would have to kill him. Neither of us had any weapons, so I would have to use my hands or my gifts. I didn’t know enough about my new power to try that now.
Can I really trust Ryder?
If I had asked myself that question when I had first arrived, I would have said no, and killed him without hesitation. I had seen his skillset up close and personal, so I knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but I was confident that I could manage it.
My heart sank. No, I can’t do it. This better not backfire on Papa. I would have to trust that Ryder would understand and then maybe make an ally out of him.
He raised his eyebrows, still waiting for a response.
My shoulders sagged a bit and I let loose a breath. “Yes, I am, but it isn’t what you think.”
“And what exactly do I think?” he said, crossing his arms.
I glanced around the room, making sure it was still empty. “I’m not here to do anything to the Guild, or anyone inside it. I’m looking for someone.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
I swung the bag of clothes over my shoulders and held my hand out for him to take. This had worked on the knife, so it would hopefully work on a person too. “I think it’s better that I start off by showing you what I mean, and then explain,” I said, my pulse growing quicker second by second.
He looked suspiciously down at my outstretched hand, before taking it hesitantly.
I pushed out the cooling sensation slowly, starting with just my body, so he could watch as I disappeared.
He let out a gasp as I began to vanish from my head downward until the cooling flow reached our intertwined fingers. I knew the moment I reappeared for him, because he met my gaze.
“You can turn invisible?” he asked incredulously.
“Yup, and now you can too. That’s why you are able to see me again. We are invisible to everyone else.”
He lit up with excitement. “This is amazing! Definitely makes our line of work easier.” He paused momentarily as he worked out his thoughts. “I don’t understand how you hid this manifestation from the rest of the group. Does anyone know?”
I shook my head. “Just you, and you can't tell anyone.” I led him outside with a finger over my mouth so he knew to be quiet.
Once we stood in the field outside, I lowered the hand covering my lips, keeping the other one firmly squeezed inside Ryder’s. “Ryder, this isn’t a joke. They will kill me if they figure it out.”
“Why would they kill you for having that skill? The highest ranking assassin at the Guild has invisibility too, and he’s still alive.”
My throat constricted at his words and my heart ached for Papa.
“He’s the one I’m here to find.” I tried to calm the panic rising in my chest at the thought of what I was about to say. Please don’t make me regret this. “He’s my father.”
He stared at me, his mouth gaping wide. “Alexei Turgenov is your father?”
My fingers started to tingle when I failed to manage my panic, and white, glowing tendrils emanated from my fingertips.
Ryder jerked away from me, snapping us both back into view. We gawked at my hands, which were still emanating glowing whorls of light.
I brought them close to my face to examine the tendrils. “What do you think it is?”
Ryder leaned closer to get a better look. “ I think it’s raw light.” A look of sudden realization overtook him. “So that’s how you can become invisible, you’re bending the light around you.”
“How do you know that?” I asked disbelievingly.
“If I’m keeping this massive secret for you, then you need to keep this a secret for me.”
“That seems fair,” I said and gestured for him to continue.
He hesitated.
“Come on Ryder, just tell me!” I said sharply.
He looked at the empty space around us before whispering, “I watch anime.”
I burst out laughing.
“That's what you’re so worried about? Millions of people around the world watch anime, Ryder. Don’t be embarrassed by your interests, especially not when they can help me,” I said with a grin.
He relaxed his stiff shoulders. “Alright. Well, in anime, there are several characters that have light powers and they can do all sorts of amazing things.” He pointed to me. “They can become invisible by bending the light around themselves, which you could have been doing without even realizing it from the beginning. They can also send bolts or beams of light in attacks, which you already did to Master Abbott.”
I shifted on my feet, my panic ebbing away when I realized Ryder wasn’t going to
out me. “I actually haven’t been able to see that clearly either time I used my gift.” The last swirls of light faded away with my panic.
“You’ve used it before?”
Oh right, nobody knows about that.
I studied my fingernails intently. “I might have had a slight mishap with one of the Guild members when I first arrived.”
His brow furrowed. “A slight mishap?” He then realized what I meant. “That was you? Lenna! You can’t go around killing Guild members!”
I rolled my eyes. “I know that, Ryder. He saw me use my invisibility, so I had no choice. If it makes you feel better, he was a sexist tool.”
He tilted his head from side to side. “Yeah, I guess it does a little.” He sat down, crossed his legs, and patted the ground beside him. “Why don’t you start from the beginning.”
“Wow, when I saw you sending that letter, this was the last thing I expected you to say.” Ryder pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. His green eyes focused on me. “Do you think he knows who you are?”
“Who?” I asked.
“Master Abbott. He nearly beat you to death trying to help you manifest your gift.” He put his fingers up and curled them in air quotes when he said the word help.
I shook my head. “I think he’s just that savage. I’m sure in his twisted mind, he was trying to help me,” I said as I leaned back on my elbows, more at peace than I expected to be after revealing my secrets to Ryder.
It felt as if a huge burden had lifted off my shoulders by finally including someone in my plans. Who would have thought it would be Ryder?
“Are you going to ask Master Locke if she’s your mom?”
“I don’t know. If she is, she gave me away for a reason. She’s clearly not interested in being a parent,” I said, trying to keep the pain of that notion out of my voice.
“Or,” Ryder said, “she might have thought you had a better chance at survival if only one parent was around you. Your dad is a much better fighter than Master Locke. I actually haven’t even heard of her being active on missions in years. Alexei was the better option for protecting you.”
“You make it sound so logical.”
“I’m going to help you find him, Lenna. It isn't okay what they are doing. I hear the other members talk about Alexei sometimes during meals and it doesn’t seem like anyone has a clue what’s going on.”
My heart warmed at his pledge and I could feel my eyes water. I blinked and cleared my throat. “That means a lot to me, Ryder. Thank you.”
“You’re always going to want to know, but it’s ultimately your choice to find out.” He got to his feet. “Come on, Lenna, let’s go spar. I want to see how you fight without holding back.”
He picked up my bag from the floor and held out his hand to help me up.
“Do you have your energy gift under control?” I asked.
“Yup. Master Locke has been helping me focus the pressure to certain parts of my body so accidents don’t happen. I tried breathing it out of my mouth once which was pretty cool. I’m like a weird energy breathing dragon!”
“Who would have thought you were an anime watching, dragon loving nerd.”
“Hey!” he said in fake animosity.
I tensed when we walked past Guild members as we re-entered the compound, but nobody seemed to give us a second glance. I looked at Ryder. “Either we are still invisible, or nobody cares that we are out this late.”
He shrugged. “They’ve never given us a curfew; I think we just assumed we were supposed to stay in our rooms. It’s better this way, now we can go spar and nobody will care.”
“Let’s go to the lower level training rooms, I still can’t have other people seeing me use my full skills.”
“You’ve been really good at hiding it, Lenna.”
I smiled at him and opened the door to the training room, relieved to find it empty.
“I need one of my jumpsuits, I don’t want to get all sweaty in my pajamas,” I said, holding out a hand to accept the return of my bag from Ryder.
He passed it over and turned around to give me privacy.
“I can’t believe I’m about to fight someone brought up by Alexei Turgenov!” Ryder exclaimed, bouncing on his toes. “You better live up to the name, that’s all I’m saying.”
I pulled up my zipper and snapped the clasp in the front. “I guess you’d better turn around and find out.”
I waited until his body was facing mine before letting the cool waves wash over me and fading myself from view.
“No fair! We can’t compare skills if you’re invisible,” he said spinning around, trying to locate me. “Change back and fight me without gifts, or are you too scared?”
At his last words, I snapped back into sight and pounced, landing a shove to his chest.
He stumbled back and after regaining his stability, grinned. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
Without warning, he rushed forward quickly, throwing a fist toward the side of my face. He was fast, but I was faster. I countered and twisted around his strike, pulling him into a relaxed arm bar, then pushing his head to the floor.
He broke out of the hold, his eyes twinkling, and made an attempt to sweep my feet out from under me.
I deflected the movement and spun around him, landing a punch to his ribs and then failed to land a second blow when he pushed my wrist out of the way.
He kicked at my leg, cursing when I danced out of his path, and aimed a jab for my throat.
I backed away just in time and he advanced again, the determination clear in his expression.
We continued sparring, Ryder still unable to land a blow, when the doors opened and two people entered.
Cade walked in, followed by Quinn, who walked right up to me and swept me into a tight hug.
“I’m so happy you’re okay, love. We were worried about you,” Quinn said, before releasing me and holding me at arm’s length to check me over, presumably for injuries.
“I’m okay, really. Just showing Ryder who’s boss,” I said with a grin.
Ryder scoffed. “Sure you were.”
“Just you wait, after I train her up, she’ll be kicking your ass in no time,” Cade said, winking at me.
My stomach fluttered when I met his silver eyes, noting the way they softened when they landed on me. I needed to get away before my resolve crumbled.
I walked over to my discarded bag and picked it up. “We’ll let you get to it then,” I said, motioning for Ryder to join me.
We said our goodbyes and went back to the room. I opened the door and halted in the entryway, causing Ryder to slam into my back.
He grabbed my waist to steady us. “What’s wrong?”
I entered and moved to the side to permit Ryder to see the chaos happening inside the quarters. Guild members were ransacking the room, going through all of the initiates’ belongings.
Sofia ran over and pulled me back out of the room. “They’re about to reach your safe. Lenna, they’re going to find your knife!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Oh no!
This was bad. Very, very bad.
“Lenna!” Sofia shook my shoulders. “Did you hear what I said?”
Words. Open mouth. Use words.
I pushed the alarm to the back of my mind and straightened my back. “I need to get that knife out, now.”
“What can we do?” Ryder asked.
Sofia suddenly noticed the tall, sandy-haired man standing next to me. She looked at me incredulously. “Ryder knows about the knife?”
I rolled my eyes. “If he didn’t before, he definitely knows about it now.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We don’t have time for this. Can the two of you create a distraction for me?”
Sofia grinned. “Hell yeah, we can.” She grabbed Ryder’s arm. “Come on, pretty boy, let’s go give our girl time to fix her fuck-up.” She looked back at me over her shoulder. “Listen out for our signal.”
“I’ll preten
d you didn't say the first part of that” I said to their backs as they re-entered the room, and I heard Sofia’s chuckle through the closed door.
A few minutes later, I heard a loud bang and several shouts echoed from inside the room.
That’s my cue!
I pushed the cooling sensation over my body and noticed the customary strain in my energy. I had used my invisibility too much already, so It took me a few extra seconds to make it work. I didn't have more than five minutes at most before my ability failed.
I ran back into the room, trying to ignore the pandemonium inside, then headed straight for my safe. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of an explosion, which knocked half of the cots over.
I withdrew the knife and quickly backed out of the room, not bothering to stay quiet, since all the noise in the room masked me. I kept my footsteps light as I sprinted back out to the field Ryder and I had sat in earlier, trying to figure out what to do with the blade.
When I arrived, I flicked my eyes around frantically, searching for a spot to bury it. My heart pounded in my chest when I failed to control my nerves.
I found a small cluster of trees and ran around to the back, dropping to the ground. Digging my hands into the earth, I pulled out clumps of grass and dirt, going deep enough to hide it.
My hands shook as I clumsily shoved the weapon into the ground and covered it with the discarded debris. Once I was satisfied no part of the knife was visible, I jumped up and jerkily stumbled back toward the compound.
The cooling sensation faded just before I made it to the door and I popped back into view. I glanced around, but fortune was on my side, because I saw that everyone had vacated the area. Which was a good thing because I couldn’t keep dropping bodies, or they would get even more suspicious.
When I returned to the room, everything had calmed down and the cots were back to their usual, upright positions. I went straight for my safe, noting that it was tipped over, the door hanging open and the contents spilled out in front of it.
I lifted it back up and placed my meager possessions inside, catching Sofia’s eye while I peered over my bed.
