by Sophia Sharp
“Fine,” he said into her hair. “We can go there. But you have to promise me that if I say it’s getting too dangerous, or if I see something I don’t like, we turn back. There can’t be any protests either. I know you’re strong-willed, and it’s what I love so much about you. We will go, and seek out this repository, but I need the peace of mind to know that I can pull you out of danger if things get too risky.”
“Okay,” Nora mumbled into his chest. “I promise.”
Chapter Fourteen
~Disagreements~
Rafael was the first to wake, but before Nora could say anything he got up and stormed off into the depths of the sanctuary. He didn’t even look twice at her or Hunter before he went. Nora frowned. Had something happened in the dream during their meeting with the angels?
Nora looked over to Hunter, who simply shrugged. Then he pointed back at the other two sleeping bodies. Madison had started to stir, while Alexander lay still. After a moment, his eyes flickered open, and Nora was surprised to find him awake before Madison.
As soon as he awoke, he looked to the spot where Rafael had been. Finding him missing, he then looked to Madison, who had woken up by now as well.
“What happened?” Nora asked as she started over. “I saw Rafael wake up, and then he just ran off…?” She realized, as she looked at her two friends, that they both looked troubled. The edges of their eyes were creased, and their lips were pressed together. “What is it?” she asked again. “Is it something bad?”
“The angels,” Madison said slowly, as if trying to comprehend everything for herself, “seemed to have known Rafael from before.”
“What?” Complete and utter shock gripped Nora. The angels had been locked away in that terrible pool for such a long time. How could they possibly have known Rafael?
“That’s right,” Alexander nodded, agreeing. “They did not recognize him at first, but it was Gabrielle who finally noticed.”
“From where?” Hunter asked. “And when?”
Alexander shook his head. “I’m not sure, myself. But as soon as the identification was made, the angels just disappeared. I would like to say they fled, but…”
“They did not flee,” Madison corrected. “But they definitely left. They did not want to have anything to do with him, it seemed.”
“Why?” Nora asked. “What could he have done?”
“That is not for me to say,” Madison replied. “And even if I could, I would not know where to begin.”
“Do you know what might have caused it?”
Alexander answered her this time. “We have no idea. I was as baffled when I witnessed the whole exchange as I am now.”
“But you were there for a long time,” Nora said. “That means you spoke at length before this all happened?”
“We caught a slow drift,” Madison explained. “In the dream, we were only there for ten minutes, maybe less.”
“But, still, enough to have the start of a conversation,” Hunter said.
“That’s right,” Madison replied. “It was focused on the repository. Rafael insisted on me being the one to bring it up once the angels came, so I did. They seemed…troubled…once mention of it was made, but admitted that such a thing did exist before they were trapped in the pool. They were not sure if it survived to the day, though.”
“But if it did,” Nora asked, “did they seem to think it would help us against the elders? Did they say anything like that at all?”
Alexander tilted his head slightly. “They did concede there may be certain items there that could help us. What they were, they did not say. They…did not seem happy about any of it, though.”
“And then what happened?” Nora asked.
“And then, they recognized Rafael.” Alexander clasped his hands together. “And that was it.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Before they left, though,” Madison added, “they did tell me they would meet us next by the repository – if we find it.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow at her. “Really? I heard no such thing.”
“Maybe because I was the one to bring the repository up,” Madison said.
“But then…you didn’t find anything else?” Nora asked. “About what could have happened in regard to Rafael?”
Both Alexander and Madison shook their heads.
“But he told us before he wasn’t sure of the angels’ existence,” Hunter said thoughtfully. “Does that mean he lied?”
“Rafael…has a strange way with the truth,” Alexander replied. “He does not lie, straight out, but the words he says can often be misleading enough to suggest one thing while meaning entirely another.”
“You told me that before,” Nora added.
Alexander nodded. “And it stays true even now. I do not know what happened between the angels and Rafael, and it is not for me to guess. Especially after he has helped us so much already.”
“So what now, then?” Nora asked. “Do we wait for him to come back, or should one of us go seek him out…?”
“You saw the complexity of the sanctuary, Nora,” Madison replied smoothly. “I doubt very much one of us could find Rafael if he did not want us to. I think the best thing would be to spend the night, and then, in the morning, see whether anything’s changed. If he’s still not here, well – it means we should probably move on.”
“Move on? Move on to where? We don’t even know where the repository is!”
“Mmm…yes…and no.” Madison tilted her head. “We know it’s in Egypt from what Rafael has said. And there are only a few structures old enough to have housed something like that for all these years.”
“You’re suggesting we go there blindly, not knowing where to even begin looking?” Hunter demanded, sounding stricken.
Madison simply lifted her shoulders in a brief shrug. “What choice do we have? Ultimately, it’s up to Nora whether we go or not. The angels – despite their reluctance to stay once realizing they knew Rafael – told us they would meet us there next time. So for them, the choice is already made.”
“That’s what we do,” Nora said slowly, nodding her head. “If Gabrielle and the others will only meet with us once we’re there, it makes it an obvious next step. I just wish we knew what happened between them and Rafael.”
“I wouldn’t let it trouble you too much,” Alexander said, in a very fatherly way, but his words were betrayed by the crease lines on his forehead. “Rafael has taken care of himself for a very long time, and I don’t think he has seen many things he cannot handle. This is simply another one of those, I’d bet.”
“Do you think he’ll come back to us?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s hard to say. The only thing we can do is wait and see what happens.”
“Alright,” Nora agreed reluctantly. “We’ll wait until morning to see if he seeks us out again. And if not…if not, well, I guess it’ll be time to move on.”
“To Egypt,” Hunter said, still sounding a bit disbelieving.
“That’s right,” Nora countered. “Where we can find the repository and arm ourselves for the fight against the elders.”
Hunter exhaled a long, deep breath. “I told you we’d do it…” he muttered quietly. “Alright. Might as well figure out how we’d go about getting there. Unlike what we’ve done the past few weeks, we won’t be able to get away with trekking through the woods and avoiding civilization.”
“I think I can help with that,” Madison said smoothly. “There is someone I know who may be able to help us get there.”
Nora instantly turned her attention to Madison. “Who?”
“Someone I knew a long time ago. He was like a father figure to me in the first years following my transformation.”
“Another Vassiz?” Nora asked.
Madison nodded. “Yes.”
“You don’t mean…Jacob?” Alexander looked at her intently. “Do you?”
Again, Madison nodded. “I do.”
�
��Wait a minute,” Hunter said, holding up his arms. “This is going too fast. Are you actually suggesting we involve another Vassiz? One who will likely be hostile toward us?”
“Not Jacob,” Madison said. “Not if I speak to him first.”
“But all Vassiz are on the lookout for us,” Hunter said. “The elders have surely spoken to every single one about us. And all would be eager to turn us in if they so much as caught a whiff of our trail. There’s no way we can trust another one of them!”
“You trusted us,” Madison told him simply, “when we first met you in the forest.”
“Yes, but…that was different. You knew Rafael, and he helped us escape from the packs coming after us. And amazingly, the two of you shared similar sentiments toward the elders as he did. There are not many others like that.”
“Perhaps not,” Madison said. “Perhaps you are right. I would not trust any others to have similar ideas about the elders as the four of us do, not even Jacob. And that could be a fault. But I think, if I speak to him first, if he sees it’s me who’s asking him, he’ll help us.”
“Are you sure, Madison?” Alexander asked, coming over and taking her hands. “I would not want to endanger Nora, not after everything we’ve done, by revealing ourselves to another of our race.”
Madison bit her lower lip, looking from Nora back to Alexander. Nora wasn’t sure, but she thought for the first time that Madison looked a little…uncertain. But then, that uncertainty quickly evaporated as Madison nodded with a renewed conviction. “Jacob would not do anything that would put me in danger. You know that. As long as I go to him first, and explain our situation delicately, I’m sure he would help us.”
“Okay.” Alexander nodded. “If you believe you can persuade him to help us, I think that’s what we should do. Nora?”
“Well, if Madison says he can help us…” Nora began, “…then I think we should try, at least.”
“But we still need to be careful,” Hunter interrupted. “We’ll need to take every precaution before speaking to him.”
“Of course,” Madison said. “I would not expect any of you to come with me when I meet him.”
“We’ll be there,” Nora said determinedly. Just as Hunter started to say something in protest, Nora cut him off. “Whether or not you like it, we’ll be with you. We can’t have you risk yourself in case this Jacob doesn’t agree with what you say. He doesn’t have to see us, but we will be there with you.”
“Thank you.” Madison whispered, so quietly Nora was sure she was the only one who heard. She smiled at Madison.
“All right then,” Hunter agreed loudly, snapping Nora out of her small moment with Madison. “You said Jacob can help us get there. How?”
“He’s a pilot,” Madison explained. “A good one. He should be able to fly us overseas without the need to go through any public airports…”
“…and without the risk of being seen by any other Vassiz,” Nora said, finishing the sentence. “It’s brilliant! What would we have done without you?”
“Probably not gone to Egypt,” Hunter said under his breath, but when Nora shot him a look, he just smiled and shrugged.
Madison laughed. “We’re not there yet, Nora. And it will take time to plan the encounter with Jacob. We’ll need to catch him sometime when he’s away from his pack.”
“Well, where is his pack?”
“Not far from here. They’re in Portland.”
“Portland?” Nora felt herself grow dizzy. That was right beside her home town! How could she go back now? What if someone recognized her? What if somebody saw her? She was sure there would be pictures of her face plastered all over the community walls of Vancouver, and it was very likely that some would have made their way over to the neighboring big city. And what if one of her friends decided to go out to Portland on a shopping spree and recognized her there? She’d been to Portland before, and seeing the familiar city would be like murder. Knowing she was so close to her family, and yet not being able to allow herself to see them…and knowing that every eye on her might be the one that gave her away, either to the Vassiz or to the police – who must no doubt have a search going on. It was too much right now. Too much and too soon. And what about Gray? She hadn’t even thought of him since realizing she’d be going to Egypt! Could she just leave him here? Could she just…
“Nora?” It was Hunter, and he was holding her by the shoulders. “Nora, relax. You’re breathing hard.”
“I am?” she asked, feeling a little faint.
“Yes.” He looked her up and down. “Come, sit down. Take a deep breath in. Good. And back out. Over here, come on. You’re alright. Everything’s ok.” Nora felt herself being lowered onto a hard rock. Blinking a few times, she slowly regained her composure. She saw that Madison and Alexander were both looking at her with concern.
“I’m alright,” she told everyone after another few breaths. “Just hearing that we’d be going back to somewhere so close to my hometown took me by surprise, that’s all. I wouldn’t have thought I’d find myself back there until…well, until after we’ve encountered the elders.”
“I completely understand,” Madison said soothingly. “I had the same reaction myself, the first time I went back to my hometown after being transformed. It’s completely normal to experience that feeling of…well, apprehension.”
“Yes,” Nora said, nodding. “That’s what it was. A bit of a shock to say the least.”
“You understand of course,” Alexander added, “that going back this way will not be the same as going back. For we have to be extremely careful not to be seen or recognized. You, especially.”
“I know,” Nora said. “That’s what I was worried about.” She swallowed. “To be honest, it’s a bit of a relief to know that you have the same concern.”
“Of course,” Alexander said gently. “We’re all in this together.”
Hunter knelt beside her. “You’ve taken on a lot of responsibility,” he said. “These past few weeks must have been absolutely torturous for you. I can’t even imagine.” He lowered his voice. “But know that I mean it when I say I’ll be there with you every step of the way. Everywhere we must go, everything we must do, you should never fear facing it on your own. I’ll be right there beside you no matter what.”
“Thank you,” Nora said quietly. “Thank you.”
Chapter Fifteen
~Plans~
“We have an advantage in crowds,” Alexander told Nora, as they made their way through the forest. “In a crowd, we can blend in easily. None of us have a scent that other Vassiz can pick up. So, if there are enough people around, we are all but invisible.”
They had left the sanctuary early that morning after Rafael failed to show up. While Nora didn’t like leaving like that, she was assured by the others that none of them would be able to find Rafael in the twisting pathways of the caves, anyway.
Nora had found Gray outside, and he was now trailing after them. They were making their way to Portland, to the first big metropolitan area Nora would visit since becoming a Vassiz.
“And what about me?” Nora asked him. “The elders have shown everybody what I look like in the dream, right?”
“Yes, but you’ve changed since then,” Madison piped in. “A little makeup, a little disguise, and you’ll be completely unrecognizable.”
“Hmm.” Nora had heard Madison say that before. “And what about Hunter?”
“Hunter?” Madison looked up ahead, where Hunter was leading the way, approximately fifteen feet away from them. “The same thing goes for him. We dye his hair, and get him to walk with a limp. Who knows, maybe we can even give him a bit of a fake tan.”
Nora burst out laughing at the thought. An image of Hunter with bleach-blonde hair and a too-orange tan popped into her mind, and it was hilarious.
“I’m glad you’re amused,” Hunter chimed in from up ahead. He didn’t turn back but Nora swore that his back stiffened after she’d laughed. Which made the whole thing all
the more entertaining.
“Besides,” Alexander told her, “it’s you they’re after, not Hunter. Finding both of you would be ideal for them, of course, but they would do just fine if they only got you.”
“Not that we’re about to let that happen,” Madison said.
“Of course,” Nora noted.
“Now, the only thing we have to worry about is what to do if there aren’t any crowds to blend in with. In that case, any of us would stick out like a sore thumb to a Vassiz who might come across us. Of course, Madison and I don’t have anything to worry about, as nobody is looking for us just yet…”
“But you,” Madison continued, “would attract attention even if the others didn’t recognize you as the one the elders have shown them. A newborn Vassiz, one without a pack, is a novelty that few would ignore.”
“So then we stick to the places where there are crowds,” Nora said. “Walk through the streets when they’re busy, only go out during the day, that sort of thing?”
“Right,” Alexander said. “And get you disguised, of course. We wouldn’t want any of the humans recognizing you as the missing girl from Vancouver, either.”
Nora shrugged uneasily. She had told Alexander and Madison her worry about being discovered by one of her friends, or maybe by one of the police officers in the city. They had been amused, but didn’t think it was enough of an issue to worry too much over. Nora did. She didn’t like thinking of herself as that missing girl who had run away from home, but in reality, what more was she? Not that it mattered that running away had been the only choice at the time, or that she was trying her best at the moment to do everything she could to get back home. Get back home and be safe. Tell her family what happened – well, maybe she couldn’t tell them quite everything, but at least she could see them – and stop living her life in fear of being caught by the elders or their cronies. And then go away with Hunter.
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Madison said. “Even if we change nothing about her, none but the most astute would be able to recognize her. And definitely nobody from an old photograph they may have seen.”
