The Noru 2 : The Last Akon (The Noru Series, Book 2)

by Lola StVil

  “Maybe not, but you do,” she replies.

  “That’s why I was taking the mixture—so I’d stop regretting my decision. Look, we should go back and join the others.”

  “Wait, what are you going to do about The Center? You need to shut it down,” she asks.

  “I’m not the king yet, Key. I can’t have the place shut down just like that.”

  “Damn. And I thought it had something to do with Pryor. I’m sorry, Bex,” she says.

  “We should get back downstairs and help Randy,” Bex replies.

  “Bear, please tell me you forgive me,” Key says.

  “Key…it’s not just that you could have killed me. Every nice thing I’ve ever done you think I did out of some twisted sense of guilt. The fact is you don’t trust me. I don’t know where we go from here.”

  “Are you saying it’s over between us?” she asks.

  “I’m saying…I don’t know. For the first time ever, I honestly don’t know about us,” Bex says as he heads out the door.

  He makes his way out of the room and finds me standing halfway down the steps.

  “You heard everything?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “So now you know. I was suppressing regret. I am responsible for the worst experience in Silver’s life.”

  “You didn’t know what would happen. And I think you were trying to help him in a way,” I offer.

  “Don’t defend me. When I found out it was Silver, I tried to get him released but I don’t know that I tried hard enough; I think a part of me was happy that Silver was gone.”

  “Why?”

  He’s about to say something but then thinks better of it.

  “Bex?” I push.

  “Never mind,” he replies as he races down to the living room to join the others.

  Key stands in the doorway and looks down at me.

  “Hi,” I say simply.

  “Hey,” she replies as her eyes fill with tears.

  “Is it wrong if the girl you suspect is coming between you and your boyfriend reaches out and hugs you?” I ask.

  “Probably,” she replies as the tears spill over and slide down her face.

  “Too bad, cause it’s happening,” I reply as I reach out and hold her.

  She embraces me tightly as she sobs.

  “I’m supposed to hate you,” she says.

  “You can kick my ass afterwards,” I promise her.

  ********

  I don’t know about later but for right now, telling Silver about Bex’s involvement with The Center would be way too risky. Aaden is on the edge as it is. Things will only get worse. So I tell Key that I will keep Bex’s confession to myself.

  When we head downstairs, we find Randy looking overwhelmed and exhausted. Key asks him how he’s holding up and he says he’s fine. He’s lying.

  “Okay guys, we need to let Randy go home and get some rest,” I tell them.

  “No, I’m fine,” Randy swears.

  “You have about three hours before the sun comes up. You should rest,” Aaden says.

  “Okay, but I will be up at first light,” Randy replies.

  “I think I’m sleeping at your house tonight,” I tell him.

  “Are you worried about me?” he asks.

  “I couldn’t care less about you. I’m staying at your place because you have better porn than I do.”

  He bursts out laughing as we head for the door.

  “Hey, Randy…Thank you,” Aaden calls out.

  “It’s okay. I do this dangerous stuff all the time,” he brags.

  We head out into the street. It’s a little after one in the morning. Randy insists we not talk about the cave. Instead we walk in silence while he studies the New York City skyline like he may never see it again.

  *********

  Once we get to his apartment, Randy continues to act as if it’s just another day. Instead of focusing on the cave, when we get to his room, the first thing he asks is about Key.

  “Did you see how worried she was about me?” he asks.

  “Yes, I did. And I think she was a little turned on,” I joke.

  “Ha, ha, funny. Tell me what happened at the clinic.”

  I fill Randy in on everything that he’s missed, including Bex’s connection to The Center. Like all of us, he’s shocked.

  “Bex sent Silver away?”

  “Yeah, but don’t say anything.”

  “Wow, if Silver had rage issues before…” Randy replies.

  “I know. That’s why I don’t want it to get out. So please, do not say a word, Randy.”

  “Promise. Is it true what happened to Key?”

  “Yeah, it’s true.”

  “Is she okay? I mean is she really okay?” he asks, deeply concerned.

  “She doesn’t remember that it happened so right now the only thing upsetting her is her possible breakup with Bex,” I reply.

  “I wish I had been there; I would have bashed their fucking skulls in,” Randy rages.

  I keep thinking Randy is smitten with Key, but judging from his reaction, it might be deeper than that. He could have real feelings for her.

  “So did Swoop know about the alley too?” he asks.

  “Based on the expression on her face when Ruin was addressing Key, I think so,” I inform him.

  “So the ones who didn’t know were you and Bex. Why aren’t you furious with them for not telling you?” Randy wonders.

  “I want to be, but the truth is I did leave them. So I don’t think I can fault them for feeling like they couldn’t come to me. I abandoned them.”

  “Still, they should have told you,” Randy says.

  “Maybe but it’s done now,” I reply, looking out at the window.

  “So are we going to talk about it at all?” Randy asks.

  “You said you didn’t want to talk about the cave,” I remind him.

  “No, not the cave; I’m talking about something far more interesting than a death cave: you and Silver.”

  “What about us?”

  “C’mon, Pry! You stood there and heard him tell Ruin that he’s not into her. You heard her say she thinks he wants you. You expect me to believe you have no thoughts on that at all?”

  “I don’t,” I reply, surprising myself.

  “Wait, you really didn’t stop to think what Ruin and Silver’s conversation means?”

  “No, I didn’t. Why didn’t I?” I ask myself.

  “I think you are putting your feelings on the high shelf. That means you are putting off dealing with them,” he replies casually.

  “Where did you get that from?” I ask.

  “Oprah’s master class,” he says proudly.

  I can’t help but laugh at him. He breaks into a smile and takes my hand.

  “Seriously, I know you’re on ‘Leader mode’ but if Ruin is right then Silver does want you. How do you feel about that?”

  “I don’t know,” I reply.

  “Are you thinking about being with him now that you know he’s not with Ruin?”

  “I know the conversation I overheard is supposed to make me happy, but it didn’t. For one thing, he kissed her while he was telling her he wasn’t into her.”

  “Maybe he was trying to find a way to let her down easy,” Randy says.

  “You know what, none of that matters. Ruin wasn’t the only reason why we couldn’t be together. There are a thousand others. For one thing he has more secrets than any angel I know. And Ruin said there was some major reason why we couldn’t be together no matter what he does.”

  “And you don’t want to know what that reason is?” he pushes.

  “Yes, okay, yes! I want to know everything. I want Aaden to knock on my door and say

  ‘Hey Pry, I want to tell you everything because I want you to know me as well as Ruin does,’ but that’s not going to happen,” I snap.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “It’s not you. It’s just…I have to shut off th
e non-leader part of me. I can’t get pulled into Aaden’s drama no matter how much I want him. I have a team to run. And if he wanted me, I mean really wanted me…he should come get me.”

  “So dark and unavailable isn’t sexy, huh?”

  “Only in the movies or Young Adult fantasy books. In real life, it sucks.”

  “You want a guy who is open, honest, and courageous enough to let you know who he is and what he wants?” Randy offers.

  “Exactly!”

  “A guy like Bex?”

  “What?”

  “Pry, c’mon. I have seen the way he looks at you; Key has a reason to freak out.”

  “There’s nothing going on with us.”

  “I know; would you like there to be?”

  “I’ve always seen Bex as a friend. He never made me cold,” I reply.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When I first started having feelings for Aaden, it started with a crazy chill that spread all over me. It was…electrifying. It made me shiver. And I wanted nothing more than to have him pull me into an awesome screw-the-world-we’re-gonna-be-together- movie kiss.”

  “So no chills when it comes to Bex?”

  “No, and more importantly, he’s taken,” I remind Randy.

  “Just because someone is taken doesn’t mean they are where they belong. Sometimes they just can’t see that it’s you they should be with…”

  “Randy, I know you like Key but…”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s mission impossible.”

  “Aw, Randy…do you want me to get Mr. Frog?” I ask as I head over to his closet.

  Mr. Frog is an overstuffed giant green frog that Randy’s mom won for him at a carnival. She told him it had magical powers and that if he squeezed really tight, he’d be protected from anything bad. And that no matter what was going on, Mr. Frog would make it all better. As a joke, whenever Randy was having a hard time, I’d pull out the frog from the closet and tell him to hug it just in case the frog still had some “magic” left.

  “I’m getting Mr. Frog,” I tell him.

  “Very funny,” he muses.

  “So you don’t want it?” I ask, standing in front of the closet.

  “It’s stupid and childish.”

  I pay no attention to him. Go into the closet and pull out his favorite “pet.”

  “You know I’m an adult,” he says proudly.

  “I know.”

  “Okay, hand it over,” he says.

  He pulls the stuffed animal close. The fear he’s been pushing away this whole time starts to surface. He holds the frog tighter.

  “Randy, you know you don’t have to go into that cave, right? You can still back out. No one will think less of you.”

  “Someone will. Me.”

  I plop down beside him on the bed. It’s funny, but as I sit there worrying about him, his focus is on me.

  “I know Aaden’s hurt you. And sometimes I want to deck him, hard. But I know one thing for sure about him.”

  “What?”

  “He’s a fighter. So whatever this thing is that’s keeping him from you…it’s gotta be big.”

  I wish Randy didn’t say what he just said. Since I dismissed Aaden at the park and told him that we weren’t even friends, I’ve been trying to turn off anything in my head that had to do with him. And now, thinking that there may be a reason why Aaden has been so distant makes me do something I’ve been trying not to do all day: question.

  I don’t want to question my decision to walk away from Aaden. No questions. No pondering. No reconsidering of any kind. But it’s too late…

  What is the reason Aaden can never have me? What does Ruin know about The Center? Is The Center somehow preventing him from being with me? Why can’t he tell me what took place in there? What did they do to him in the White Room, and does it have anything to do with why he can’t be with me?

  Why did he tell Ruin and not me? Aaden has never been one to follow the rules. If The Center said not to be with me, he’d just break the rules, right? Or do they have some crazy hold on him?

  What horrors happened at The Center and why won’t he talk to me about them? I’ve accused him of being unavailable but sometimes I go into “leader mode” and that makes it hard to talk to me. Wait; have I been unavailable to him too? Was it wrong to push him away? Was there even a chance he’d open up to me? Was I pushing too hard or maybe not hard enough?

  He told Ruin he didn’t want her, but does that mean he wants me? If he does, why doesn’t he fight for me? And who would have a problem with me getting together with Aaden? Who would even care what two Norus do?

  Should I keep trying to get through to Aaden? Or take a hint and walk away? What should I do? What should I do?

  NO! Stop letting him get into your head! Don’t be the stupid clingy girl who can’t take the hint. He put up walls to keep you out, so keep out!

  But what if he really does want me?

  Argh! I’m so stupid! This is so stupid! I hate him. I want him so much! Agrh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  “Pryor! Stop it!” Randy shouts.

  I look in his eyes and see chaos inside them. Someone near us is screaming but I don’t know who. Who the hell is screaming?

  Suddenly, Randy shakes me hard and that’s when I realize who is screaming—me. I’m screaming. I quickly stop and look at him, baffled.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize I was…I’m sorry,” I tell him.

  “It’s okay. Thank Omnis, my dad is working late,” Randy says.

  “I’m sorry, Randy. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I don’t know what happened.”

  “It’s no big deal,” he lies.

  He is super freaked out and is trying to calm himself. He goes to the bathroom and comes back with a wet towel. He dabs it on my forehead. And for several minutes we just sit in silence while Randy takes care of me.

  “Thank you,” I reply when he’s done.

  “You’re welcome,” he says, finally starting to sound like himself.

  “I don’t get it. I just started screaming?”

  “Yeah, I thought you were under mind control or something.”

  “No, I was just…I just lost it for a sec,” I reply, trying to steady my voice.

  Randy studies my face to make sure I’m okay. He lovingly takes my hand. He thinks we should go to the Healers but I promise him that I’m okay.

  “What set you off? I mean, what were you thinking about just now that made you freak out?” Randy asks.

  Aaden…

  “Uncle Rage.”

  “Oh.”

  “He’s in a lot of danger and I just want to get him out of the forest.”

  “I thought it might have been you and Aaden.”

  “It wasn’t,” I lie.

  “So you’re officially saying ‘no’ on Aaden?” he asks.

  “I’m saying ‘no’ on unavailable guys who shut you out. It’s crap. I’m sorry, but I have enough going on.”

  “Wow, Pry, that is very mature,” he says.

  “Thank you.”

  “Do you want to hold Mr. Frog?”

  “Yes, please.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE LAST SUNRISE

  For the rest of the night we don’t really say much. Each of us is lost in our own thoughts once again. We set the alarm to wake us up at half past four in the morning, but honestly neither of us ever closed our eyes.

  The team is ready and waiting for us outside at five on the dot. I confirm with Bex and he says he did what I asked: he placed extra security around Ruin’s room to ensure that she didn’t go snooping around. I’m not sure what damage she could cause, but I’m in no mood to find out.

  We head for Upstate New York. The Cave of Nor is located a few miles just outside of Howe caverns. The entire area is filled with caves, large rock formations, and stones. The air is warm and calm. The sun announces itself by painting a stunning sky, using a palette of orange, red, and gold.