Awakened

by Inger Iversen

  I leaned further back on the wall, amused by the assessment. I’d heard much worse. Alex seemed so sure of himself that I almost wanted to tell him the truth right then to see the blood drain beneath his skin from fear and shock.

  “And don’t get me started on that fact that you and Jace both seem to be too young to have the fighting skills that you both have.”

  Jace stood and drifted to the window, and Mia shivered in his absence. Jace stared pensively out the window. “There are things that happen in this world that you know nothing about, yes?” His question was directed to Mia and Alex.

  “Yeah, what are you getting at?” Alex asked suspiciously.

  Mia cocked her head, eyeing Jace. I wondered what Jace knew of our kinds’ origins compared to what my Grand-père Grey had told me long ago. I wavered between the options of dismissing Alex and Mia completely and of granting them the secrets they wanted. What would happen once we retrieved Ella? Would something as vital as the existence of Immortals, the Chorý race, and vampires stay contained?

  “Is Ella a psychic or something?” Mia’s question chased away my thoughts.

  “You know of the Council, but you don’t know how it was truly created.” Jace glanced at me. He wasn’t going to tell me anything that I didn’t already know about his master Aleixandre. “There is a common story that a group of men travelled in search for eternal life and found what they had searched for. Many have said that it was a spring called the Fountain of Youth, but that is a myth—”

  “Just wait a minute,” Alex interrupted, his brow knitted in disbelief. “You’re asking us to believe that this Larry guy has never-ending life?”

  He seemed to think that this was either a joke or some way of getting him and Mia to want out of our new ill-formed group. Though I wanted to search for Ella alone, there were too many obstacles in my way, and pushing Mia and Alex away without so much as a small explanation could be hazardous to my search for Ella. Who knew what stories they would carry to the FBI?

  “Laurent,” Jace corrected coolly. “And if you would please be seated and keep your mouth closed, I will tell you all about ‘Larry,’ as you called him, and why your very life depends on the information I give you never leaving this room.”

  Chapter 10

  Ella

  About lunchtime, Ana and I sat at the round stone table in the dining hall, waiting for Darke to return. The past two days, all I had done was wait. I was sick of it. Ana had taken perfect care of me, and Darke proven not to be the jerk ogre I’d originally thought he was. He still wasn’t friendly, but he was bearable to be around.

  Neither would tell me exactly why I was waiting for Laurent. He had waited so long for me, and now I was here, and he was nowhere to be found. It didn’t make sense.

  I still hadn’t figured out where I was, but from the looks of it, I was in some lavish home. I could only imagine what it looked like on the outside, based on the over-elaborate furnishings and decoration inside. Being here was like being in another country, and I wondered if Ana and Darke had lied about us not being in France.

  The dining room was the only room that I’d been in with a window, and it was blacked out. Two days, and I was no closer to figuring out where I was or how I could get in touch with Kale or Jace. The only thing I was lucky enough to get was the necklace that Kale had given me out of my pants pocket—snatched in the one time I’d been left alone.

  “What are you thinking about?” Ana’s soft accented voice pulled me out of my reverie. She was perched on the edge of her chair with her chin in her palm, giving me a probing stare. She often studied me, and it was starting to creep me out a bit. What was she looking for in me? Recognition? Understanding?

  “Where is Laurent?” I knew she wasn’t going to tell me; she hadn’t answered any of the million questions I’d asked in the past two days. Darke had answered one question—one I’d chosen, and I’d made the wrong choice. He had to babysit me “because Laurent trusted no one else with you but Ana and me.” I should have asked about Agnes and her father. I wasn’t sure how that would help me, but Darke had hinted that knowing who they were would be the answer I needed.

  “I don’t know,” she answered, to my surprise.

  Oddly enough, I believed her. Either she told the truth, or she was just a darn good liar.

  “He doesn’t tell me these things. I am here for you.” Though it was the first time she’d explained that to me, I had figured that out two days ago. She catered to my every need and had even brought me a movie to watch one night when I couldn’t sleep.

  “So if it’s your job to be nice to me and take care of me, what’s Darke’s job?” I asked just as he walked through the archway with bags of food.

  We weren’t in the U.S. anymore. The takeout bags’ messages were in French, not English. They had both lied to me; we were in France—at least, that was my best guess, since both Laurent and Hélène were both from that country. Had my room actually belonged to Hélène? I thought that I felt her there, but maybe it was all in my head.

  Then again, why had I expected them to be anything but dishonest with me? I schooled my angry expression.

  Darke approached us and placed the food down on the table in front of Ana. She proceeded to serve it. He moved to the corner and stared at me. “My job is to ensure that when you try to escape, you do not get far.”

  He smiled at my expression and leaned a little toward me. “Also, I am here to make sure your Council guardian and Chorý friend don’t try anything stupid—like, say, a rescue attempt.”

  Though Darke’s mood sucked, I was getting some info I wanted. I rolled my eyes at him but swallowed my snarky remark. “So, you think that if I run, I could get away? I don’t even know where I am.”

  Neither Darke nor Ana was stupid. I needed more information, so I didn’t let the rising anger hinder me. If I weren’t careful, I was bound to say something that would anger him. He was wrong if he thought I wasn’t learning anything from what he had just told me. He couldn’t take Jace and Kale alone, so somewhere in this house, there were more Chorý.

  “Eat,” Ana said.

  I hadn’t even noticed that there was food in front of me, but as annoyed as I was, my stomach reminded me that I needed to eat. I looked around for the bags, hoping to see a label again, but Ana had already taken them in to the massive kitchen and returned to the table when I wasn’t watching.

  I picked up the fork and continued the conversation with Darke. “What is it you all want from me?”

  Ana shifted. It was the first time I’d seen her looking the least bit uncomfortable. Darke chuckled, and I ignored the anger that drifted through me and settled in my stomach.

  “Anastaise, she acts as if we do not know that she knows what she is.” Darke’s sarcasm was the least of my worries.

  In a day, I would find out firsthand what Laurent truly wanted. I knew what Kale and Jace and Darke had told me, but I wanted to hear it from Laurent’s mouth.

  “You know what’s expected of you, so don’t play dumb with us. It’s annoying. And what’s with all the questions?” Darke pointed a finger at me. “The past two days, you have been asking questions you already know the answers to or know that we won’t answer. What are you playing at?”

  “I have not, and I’m not playing at anything,” I retorted around the piece of bread in my mouth. “I have asked you questions about Laurent and yourselves. How could I possibly know the answers if I have never met any of you before?”

  What was he, nuts? I didn’t know any more than what they had told me. I tried to be content with my ignorance. Kale and Jace had told me surprisingly little about the people that Laurent associated with, and on top of that, even if I’d known an iota of info about Darke and Ana before I had arrived, I was sure that it wouldn’t have been enough to stop me from asking them questions.

  “And what’s with the attitude all of a sudden?” I turned around to face Darke.

  Ana ran her hand through her hair and released
a nervous breath. “Listen, we are all here for our own reasons. Upsetting Ella will get you nowhere but on Master’s bad side, Darke.” Ana moved from the chair and continued speaking to Darke in French.

  Ana and Darke finished their conversation and headed into the other room. I ran to the window and peeled back the black cloth covering. I was extremely disappointed about the lack of clues outside. Other than a bunch of trees and a stable, there was nothing that could help me decipher where I was. Maybe the apparently conflicting details were a ploy to confuse me, or maybe we were somewhere that spoke French that wasn’t in France, like Canada.

  I was still confused. Darke had been gone for quite a while. I hadn’t seen him since that morning, and I wondered what that meant if anything.

  I looked outside again. The only difference between the view outside and the view in Cedar was that there was far less snow here, and the house—or whatever we were in—sat on a hill. To the left was an actual stable, horses and all. Earlier I’d heard a plane overhead, so we had to be in a travelled area, with plenty of people around—I hoped. The idea that I could be close to an airport excited me. Airport police were bound to be all over the place. I could use a horse to get there if it wasn’t far.

  I memorized that barn area—noting the lock on the barn door and the window just big enough that I thought that I could fit through—then ran back to my seat. I had less than a day to be left alone long enough to find a door leading outside, get into the stall, saddle up a horse, and ride in order to leave.

  Ana and Darke only left me alone when I showered before bed. That was a problem. It would be hard for me to navigate the horse in the dark. Maybe there was a house nearby where I could get to a phone and call Kale or Alex. Then I could hide out until they came for me.

  The plan seemed like a long shot, but it was the only one that I had. I had to try it, no matter the consequences.

  ***

  Later that afternoon, Darke had disappeared again, and Ana and I sat in my room, silently watching a movie on the tiny TV in the corner. The conversation from earlier still weighted on my mind and I couldn’t help but wonder why Darke’s attitude had changed so drastically and so quickly. It bothered me. Maybe something had happened to that Leif guy that he was worried about, or maybe it was something else. “Ana?”

  She turned to me, losing interest in the movie we were watching and straightening her blue frock. What was the deal with the clothes that she wore—and, for that matter, the ones that she’d given me? She was always wearing the same shade of blue, and tonight I wore a blue and white plaid dress with elasticized puff sleeves, red flower buttons, and small scalloped edges. The dress had a plaid collar, panel, and sash that seriously dated the dress, taking it back to the fifties maybe even the forties.

  I kept Hélène’s necklace in the hidden pocket on the inside of the dress. I had thought about hiding it somewhere in the room, but as often as Ana cleaned it, she would have definitely found it. “What is going on with Darke?”

  She turned away.

  “Come on,” I coaxed. “Why he does he hate me so much, and why does he think I know you guys?” I scooted to the edge of the chair and peeked at her face. I seriously wanted to know. Even though I hoped to be long gone in the next hour, gathering more information about my jailers couldn’t hurt.

  Ana rolled her eyes and turned to me. “He doesn’t hate you; he hates what it cost him to find you.” Her straightforward answer surprised me. “You think we are all bad, do you not?”

  I didn’t want to admit that and have her clam up on me.

  “You do, I know it.”

  I still didn’t respond, and how hurt she looked surprised me. What was I supposed to think of her? I may not have known her past or even Darke’s past, but I had seen Laurent murder. Ana and Darke had somehow played a role in it, whether I’d seen them in the memory or not.

  She snorted and moved from her chair and stood in front of me. She pulled the collar away from her neck, revealing a bright red tattoo. She leaned toward me, giving me full view of the snake eating its own tail and her name Anastaise beneath it.

  She had to have been nuts, to show me that. “Are you trying to prove to me that you can’t be trusted? Because I saw that same tattoo on the bald guy who tried to snatch me from the mall and ogled my friend in her home. That tattoo tells me more than your mouth could ever!”

  Ana laughed and corrected her collar. “Of course, bald headed, tattoo, and he tried to take you from the mall,” she said pensively. She placed her finger on her chin. “If he tried to take you, then his tattoo was definitely not the same as mine. I am not allowed to leave this place ever, and my tattoo proves it.”

  I rolled my eyes. There were some things that I could forget, but that tattoo was not one of them. Her tattoo was smaller and red, but it still looked just like baldy’s.

  Ana shushed me before I could retort. “He is a warrior, so he has a dragoon eating its own tail, without his name under it.”

  She crossed the room again and absently poked the fire. I waited patiently for whatever excuse she was going to create. I frowned. My memory was a little fuzzy, but I did remember the tattoo. It looked exactly like Ana’s, only his was black and much larger. Ana was right, there wasn’t a name under it, but what difference did that make?

  “My tattoo is a snake, not a dragoon, and the name given to me, Anastaise, means ‘rebirth or resurrection.’ The bald man you speak of is Xavier.”

  Her words piqued my interest, but I tried not to show my curiosity. I sat back and waited for more.

  “We were all given a name when we were recruited.” She paused. “We were all named by how Master came upon or stole us. My name was Sophie, but when I was changed, Master named me Anastaise, because my rebirth was on Christmas day.”

  I wasn’t sure how to process that. If I believed that not everyone with Laurent was there by choice and that Laurent had stolen some of his people, maybe Kale and Jace were wrong. Maybe they could recruit people to their side—maybe even save a lot of them.

  That is, if I believed her. She hadn’t convinced me yet. “You’re saying you were forced to be here?” I asked skeptically. “You are Chorý. You can defend yourself, Ana, and it’s hard to believe that, in all the years you’ve been here, there has never been a time when you could escape.”

  How dare she pretend that the lives she helped take weren’t on her head, too! Hélène took responsibility for the things that she was made to do for Laurent, and none of it was truly her fault. She was human. How could she defend herself from Laurent like a Chorý could? “You’re making excuses, Ana. You could help me get out of here. You could help me get home. But you won’t. You will sit here until your Master comes back and hand me to him on a silver platter!” I yelled, surprising myself—angry at her for seeming so helpless, angry at Laurent for holding her here, and angry at myself for not fighting harder to get away.

  Ana didn’t defend herself the way I’d thought she would, her face slackened, and she backed away from me as if she could dodge my words and my anger. I wanted to hate her, but I hated myself, as well. The fact that I was an Arc and had the ability of second sight was the reason why I was here, because without that, I wouldn’t have been in the stupid situation. Ana was visibly shaken.

  “You cannot tell him that I feel forced to be here!” Ana put her hands over her face, then ran them through her hair, knocking out the dark green vine tangled throughout it.

  Her outburst of fear—and toward Laurent—surprised me.

  Darke rushed into the room and ran straight to Ana. He calmed her in French and then sent her into the hall. Her widened eyes shone with unshed tears, shocking me further. Why was she so weak? She had the strength of ten men; what was I missing?

  Darke approached me, and it took everything inside me not to run. If I’d ran, he would catch me—and maybe without the control he used as he grabbed my arm and pulled me close enough to speak directly in my ear.

  “Fine. You were
taken from your home, your friends, and your family, and it angers you.” Darke took my chin in his hand and pulled my face to meet his black eyes, which were flooded with anger and hate. His breath was hot; his voice was low and sharp as a knife as it sliced through me. A shiver went down my spine and snatched every bit of stability from my knees, causing Darke to tighten his grip.

  A pained cry escaped my lips as he and I stood so close I could smell the winter air on his skin. He squeezed more tightly, and I felt myself bruise beneath his grip. I bit my lip to offset some of the pain, but it was no use. His anger had truly been tested, and his inability to control his strength was proof.

  My heart sped up. I lost my breath and began to panic, trying to pull his hands off.

  “You know nothing of what Ana has been through. You don’t know how much you and that girl have in common, so watch your mouth when you speak to her.” He abruptly released me.

  I fell hard, knocking the wind out of my lungs. It rattled my bones and awaked old aches and pains in my side and down my legs.

  I scrambled up and away from Darke as he battled what seemed to be the urge to punish me the way he thought I deserved. Emotions played across his face, and none were what I wanted to see, but anger and fear helped push the adrenaline through my veins.

  “You d—don’t know me,” I gasped, holding my arm as it started to throb. “You don’t know what your Master will do to me! Or do you?” I asked growing more confident as I gained my voice back and as the anger and fear that I had somehow been able to hide continued to make its attempt to rise to the surface. Darke turned away from me and strode toward the door.

  How dare he tell me that I should understand their problems, their situations? He had no right, none whatsoever. If the roles were reversed, I would help them escape, and I wouldn’t think twice about it.

  “You are so naïve. I thought that the Council would have at least taught you what you were up against.” He still faced the wall, seeming to try to calm himself, so I tried as well.