But I also believe that you were the first that London created,
or finished anyway. I don't know why she made the others; it
could've been out of loneliness or it could've been because she
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missed you; what her intentions have been this entire time I'm not sure, but honestly I think that if you survived all that time under her iron fist you can take all of the things I will do to test your mind."
I nodded but I wasn't really listening. Nothing Winter could
do or say to me would be worse than what I had already endured.
I knew it was time to try to change the subject.
"Winter," I said, " how exactly did you manage to do all this?"
I asked gesturing around her wondrous cave.
"With the help of a couple of friends," she replied softly.
"Who?" I asked looking at her curiously.
"One you already know," she said looking slightly
uncomfortable, "and the other, you've never met."
"Who do I already know?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
She got to her feet and walked over to one of the cavernous
holes in the wall and leaned in. "You can come out. I know he won't try to fight you."
Craning my head, I wondered who she could possibly be
talking to. It took some more kind words from Winter into the
dark hole and me patience I never knew I had to sit there and wait for the mysterious being that was hiding in the wall.
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I drew in my breath sharply. I was sure she would've been
dead after she failed London, but peeking her head slightly out of the wall with her head wrapped in a scarf, much like the one
Winter wore around her neck, was the angel face of Cassara.
"But, but you spoke of her as if you didn't know her," I said confused. "You heard me tell you about her, you see what she did to me," I practically shouted showing her my arm.
At the sound of my raised voice, Cassara ducked back into the
hole and Winter looked at me sharply.
"She's different now. I've helped her past London's tortures
and she helped me build this place. You shouldn't judge her so
quickly."
"She's no less of a monster than either of us," I replied through gritted teeth. "I may not harbor London's evil inside me anymore and maybe neither do you, but Cassara can't be trusted.
She tried to take my life. I will not trust her. Ever."
"But if you can change, why can't any of us?" asked a voice behind me.
I turned and saw a pale beauty who was a small as Winter and
Cassara. She had light brown eyes and onyx colored hair which
was cut blunt in the front and tucked into two small balls on either side of her head. She had a small metal ball over one cherry red
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lip and colorful markings on her chest.
"The name's Jett," she continued walking around to face me.
"And I was made just like you, only most of my insides are made from airplane parts and some of my outsides," she said walking into a small sliver of sunlight, "is made from reflective materials."
I watched as she lifted her face toward the light and stared in
awe as she demonstrated parts of her shimmering. She herself
looked like a ray of light and I was completely taken in by her.
Glancing back at me she made a face, "I'm sure you can see
why I'm partial to being underground now. I don't like looking
like a walking disco ball."
"Anyway, you see that key?" she asked gesturing toward a large golden skeleton key. "We used that to fix sugar and spikes over there," she said jerking her head toward the hole where
Cassara was hiding. "When she starts to get all 'London is my master'", she said holding out her arms and speaking in a robotic voice, "We wind her up again."
"She'll come out of the wall when she's sure you're not gonna hurt her," she continued with a shrug, "But for now, we're all counting on you to ensure our survival. Sorry to drop such a
heavy burden on you but it's the truth. Winter already put you
through one test, now, I'll put you through one of mine," she said.
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In a matter of moments, Jett had somehow gotten behind me
and was on my back with her arm around my throat grunting in
my ear with effort and cutting off my air supply.
I heard slight tearing around my neck and knew I was going
to lose this fight.
Seconds later, I died.
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Twelve
I opened my eyes to find Winter, Jett, and Cassara looking
down at me. I guess I hadn't died after all, but whatever Jett had done to me, had put me closer to death than anything else I could
ever imagine.
"See? I told you he was okay," Jett said nudging Winter.
"You almost killed him," Winter said accusingly to her.
"No. I didn't. I still can't believe you freaked out when you heard that tearing noise," Jett said with a laugh. "I tore my favorite jacket and you thought I was ripping his head off."
"Caelum, are you okay?" Cassara asked leaning closer while Winter and Jett bickered back and forth.
I groaned and rubbed the back of my neck. I still felt light
headed and my neck was sore. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly
and managed to nod. Grabbing me by my shoulders she yanked
me off the ground with little to no effort and got me to my feet. I winced at the sudden movement and looked down at her in
minimal pain.
"I'm sorry," she said, "But I need you to be able to stand up and bounce back from any and all injuries you may take when
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you face her. She will not relent and you must be able to fight
back no matter what the circumstances are."
"I don't need help from you," I said shoving Cassara gruffly away.
"Oh be nice will you? We're all just trying to help you. I mean we could just as easily tie you up and take you to London," Jett said from where she stood with Winter.
"Besides," she continued placing her hands on her hips, "She's a lot smaller than you. If you want to shove someone around,
shove someone your own size or bigger."
Or bigger, I thought to myself causing my mind to wander off
to Edison. He was bigger than me, height wise, but he seemed so
gentle. Even when he was chopped that tree down with one strike.
Where are you when I need you?
"What are you thinking about?" Winter asked me curiously.
"Nothing," I replied shaking the thoughts of Edison away.
"However, I do have a question for the two of you," I said looking from Jett to Cassara.
"Shoot," Jett said sitting down on the hard cavern floor and stretching her legs out in front of her.
"What's your number?"
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"Oh yeah, Winter told us you'd probably ask that," she said with a smile. "I am standard issue model number one two three zero."
I nodded at looked at Cassara, "And you?"
"Nine one zero," she answered quietly.
Even though Winter told me that she didn't think our numbers
had any significance I couldn't help but wonder if the three of
them were made before me because of their numbers.
"Don't read much into the numbers, Caelum. I honestly don't
think they mean anything," Winter said reading my thoughts.
"Where did you get your name from?" I asked Cassara.
"My name? Well the day London decided I was ready to go
out and kill you she told me that I reminded
her of a lynx she saw at a zoo one time and the zookeeper had told her the name of the
lynx was Cassara. I never really understood what she mean
because I don't know what a lynx is," she said shyly.
"Nor do I," I replied glancing back down at Jett. I wasn't sure if I trusted her for some reason but I also knew that she meant
well and wanted to help me so for now, I would put my trust in
her because Winter had done so.
"Blue over there called you Caelum," Jett said jerking her 155
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head toward Winter, "Where did you get your name from?"
"Finnegan. A being that I met when I first escaped from
London's hell. I met her in a park one night and she named me
after the stars in the sky."
"Cool," she said getting to her feet. "Let's start beating on him so he can go after London already."
I watched Jett crack her knuckles and give me a steely look. I
braced myself as she ran at me and tackled me to the ground. She
positioned herself so that she would be able to use her knees to
hold me down to the ground and began to viciously punch me in
the face. With each blow I felt as if pieces of me skin were flying off in bits and chunks. I laid there taking my brutal beating not
knowing how to get her off of me when I was suddenly reminded
of Morrison's words to me about being strong and I found my will
to fight back. I used my shoulders to throw her off of me and I
jumped on her the moment she landed on her back. I could easily
tell I had surprised her by the look on her face. I felt a burning pain as Cassara jumped on me from behind and dug her long,
sharp nails into me. She wasn't trying to pull me off of Jett, she was trying to attack me and now I had to fight them both. Turning
slightly I looked at Cassara attempting to hit her, when Winter
suddenly appeared behind her staring at me with almost dead eyes.
I felt myself becoming dizzy as the world began to spin around
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me. It felt as if though she had some kind of mind control she was using against me.
I closed my eyes tightly and used every last bit of strength in
me to hurl Cassara off of my back into Winter, sending them both
flying backwards. Leaning down I grabbed Jett and raised her off
the floor, flinging her onto the pile of deadly dolls behind me.
Falling to my knees I gasped for air and felt my body shaking
with a few sporadic ticks somewhere deep inside of me. I swayed
on my feet and turned to face them unaware that they too had
already gotten to their feet as well and were now circling me.
"I know your deepest desire Caelum. I can see it shining in
your eyes," Jett hissed. "Would you like to see him again? I can show him to you."
She's talking about Edison, I realized in horror. I watched as
she slowly started to gleam and grow to Edison's height. I
watched as her hair changed color and I watched as her eyes did
the same. Before she had a chance to shift into him completely, I
ran at her and got her to the ground again. I wouldn't let one of
London's creations, regardless of who they may be, destroy my
notion of Edison.
"Don't ever attempt that again," I screamed at her as I kept banging her head against the floor violently.
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"Caelum! Caelum, stop! You're going to kill her!" Winter shrieked behind us.
It sounded as if though she were yelling through a tunnel. I
could barely hear her over the loudening whirring inside of me. I
felt as if though I were losing control and because of what I knew I would have to do soon, being out of control would work in my
favor.
Trapped beneath me, Jett was laughing. It made me even
more furious. I hit her head against the hard ground again and she laughed harder still.
"You can't hurt me Caelum. I told you, I'm made of many
unbreakable parts," she said through her laughter.
She got a grip on my hands and pried them off of her with
brute strength. I looked down at her as she put her hands behind
her head and looked at me quickly through Edison's eyes.
"Never do that again," I said through grit teeth.
"Ooooh! Looks like I hit a nerve," she said with a grin. "I won't do it again; scout's honor," she said holding up two fingers.
I had no idea what that meant so I just gave her a sharp nod
and helped her up from the cold ground.
"Not bad Caelum," Cassara said as she ran her fingertips over 158
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a bruise on the side of her head.
"I don't need your approval any of you," I said glaring at the three of them. I was beginning to wonder now if Winter was so
different since she kept company like Jett and Cassara.
"Don't do that mind control on me again," I said staring hard at Winter.
"I didn't! I just stood there and stared at you and tried to
distract you to see what would happen. You let yourself get
distracted and because you were fighting, you got dizzy," she explained wringing her hands.
"You're a liar," I screamed at her.
She looked taken aback for a moment and I could almost
swear that she had tears in her eyes, but that couldn't be possible unless London gave her that emotion, which I seriously doubted.
"I'm not Caelum, I swear I'm not," she said her voice breaking.
"If you ever do that to me again, I swear I will kill you before I kill London," I seethed.
"Good luck on that one, honey," Jett said crossing her arms over her chest and giving me a level stare. "Winter helped us get out of that hell hole and if you so much as lay a finger on her
outside of training, I'll rip you apart faster than a seam ripper
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can."
I held her gaze to show her I wasn't afraid of her even though
for a moment her posture and calmness struck a chord of fear
inside of me. I knew I could kill them all if I had too, but my
main concern was and always had been London.
I turned and walked away from the three of them; Winter with
her somewhat silent whimpering, Jett with her hard look and
anger radiating throughout the room, and Cassara with her look of
confusion. Into the dark hole that Cassara had first refuse to come out of, I laid my head down on the cold, cavern floor to rest
myself. I knew I had a lot of work in front of me because that
small skirmish that Jett had referred to as training had taken a lot of me.
I could hear the three of them talking or possibly arguing with
voices rising and another voice telling the risen one to quiet down that I might hear. What they didn't know was that I wasn't the
least bit concerned about what they were talking about. I just
wanted silence so that I would be able to rejuvenate long enough
to go out and take the three of them on again with no problem.As
it stood I could feel pieces of my skin starting to stick to the
ground, and I could feel myself becoming tired more frequently
as the time went on. I have to hurry, I thought as my eyes closed.
I didn't have time for this training everyone was trying to put me 160
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through. Edison had tested my strength, obviously I was strong
enough I just needed to think of things seconds before I did them.
Winter tried to use her wiles to distract me an
d Jett and Cassara
used brute strength and speed to take me down.
It wouldn't be easy to not be distracted or seduced by the
beautiful things that London would try to entice me with, but I
knew I could surpass them as I had surpassed Winter's attempt at
seduction. It would be mere seconds to be faster and more brutal
than what Jett and Cassara had thrown at me, but I was smart
enough to surpass that as well.
The only thing that would honestly be able to distract me
would be Edison and I knew he wouldn't be there. I'd never see
him again and I could feel the human parts of my heart starting to break at that thought. I wondered if his heart was still beating or if he thought of me. My last thought before I drifted into my rest
was Edison.
I don't know why or how but I had my first dream in that
resting phase.
I dreamed that I was in a cold, snow ridden place. Nothing but
barren snowlands and mountains covered in snow. I walked
through the snow by myself but I felt no cold and no fear. I felt
nothing. I made my way from one end of the land to the other
until I found the tallest mountain in the arctic cold.
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When I reached it I looked up at it and started to make my
way up the mountain. There were no obstacles at first making it a
smooth climb, until I had made my way one third of the way up.
I was suddenly faced with an open cavern. Inside the
beginning of the cave was a net of seam rippers. I glanced around
and saw there was no other way to go to get to the top of the
mountain other than to go straight through.
That was the first time I had felt the fear. I knew that if I made one wrong move I could become entangled in the net and ripped
to shreds. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the mouth of the
cave and stepped cautiously inside.
In the distance I could hear something oddly familiar sound
that would strike a paralyzing fear in me. I leaned a little further in and listened as hard as I could until I was finally able to
identify the sound.
It was her and she was humming her song in a soft, mocking
tone. The net started to sway to the humming and the seam
rippers suddenly turned into small buzzsaws, spinning and
whirring ferociously like my insides when I became angry.
I didn't know how far the net extended but I knew that I could
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