They knew I was hiding something.
Kronan handed me a bowl of steaming soup, which he’d carried through on a tray. I stared at the milky-yellow substance. I perched on the edge of the white chair, picked up the bowl and let the aromatic steam make its way over my lips, curl up into my nose and over my cheeks, savoring the remnants of the elixir as I poured it down my throat all in one go. I shot Kronan a look. “What was in this soup?”
“Tranquilizers.” Troy grinned.
“What?”
“Well, that’s what you get,” Robert said from the other room.
“Shut up, Robert!” I screamed back. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Yeah, well you did, and now my perfect tan is ruined.”
Really? I rolled my eyes.
“You can tell my wife you’re sorry one day,” he grumbled.
“You’re hurting me,” he shouted at Tatos.
“Sit still, or I'll stitch up your mouth, too.” Tatos wasn’t joking either, I thought he really would do something like that.
I lay back on the seat. “I really am sorry.” I looked down at my empty bowl, swirls of steam still emanating from its white bottom. Looking up once more, I saw Troy exchange a look with Kronan.
“What is it?”
“That soup was piping hot to the touch. If you hadn’t noticed, I handed it to you on a tray.”
“Oh.” I shrugged. “Maybe the fire had something to do with that.”
“Indeed,” Kronan said.
My stomach rumbled. “I’m starving.” I was in the process of shooting out of my seat to head toward the kitchen, but was stopped mid-stance and gently pushed back into my seat by Troy.
“What happened out there?”
“Where?” I looked past him, because all I could think of was food.
“Ava.” Troy gently pulled my face to meet his. “Look at me.” He stared into my eyes, my stomach twisted, turned, cramped. I needed food. I pushed him out of my way and ran to the kitchen. Within a matter of seconds, I was in the fridge but an empty, chilly tomb stared back at me. I fell to the floor, stomach burning, cramping; the hunger tearing through my veins left me quaking as I pulled my knees into my chest to make it stop.
“What the hell?” someone shouted.
“Food. We need to get her some food.”
“Replicator!” Troy shouted.
I was lifted from the floor, and for a moment clarity struck. I looked up at Troy, his face a dark cloud of concern. He led me to the sofa.
“Troy, what’s happening to me?” I swallowed dry, hard saliva, like acid rocks as it slid down my throat. It was like I had never eaten before in my entire life, and that soup had brought it on. He set me down on the couch and pulled his arms from under my legs, held my head in his hand as yet more cramps prevailed throughout my body. His other hand rested on my forehead. “She’s burning up.”
I smelled it the instant the replicator spat it onto the plate, in fact, I had smelled it before it had even left the replicator’s metal tube. I sat up, pushing Troy from me. My mouth watered and I groaned like a beast. Kronan handed me the plate. I stared down at it.
“What is this?” I spat back.
“Meat.”
That was the problem; it was only one single piece of meat the size of my fist. I grabbed it and tore a huge chunk off with my teeth. The juice mixed with my drool trickled down my chin, continuing its path down my throat. I think I felt my eyes roll back in pure bliss.
“More.” I shoved the plate into Troy’s hands.
David shook his head. “We have to give you what the general would be eating right now, because if the system picks up any irregularities…”
Troy spun around and handed David the plate. “I am sure there have already been many irregularities, now get the lady some more.”
“Fine.” David spun, and moved off.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kronan said, stroking his chin.
Troy handed me a glass of water, which I literally threw down my throat. “Wow, that was delicious.”
“It’s only water,” Robert said as he entered the room, staring at his wound.
“The water might be different than in the city schools,” Troy said to him.
“You know what they do to the water there,” he said, eyebrow raised.
“What?” I queried, even though I already knew.
“Do I really have to answer that?” He stroked my hair.
Kronan handed me plate, after plate, after plate of meat. Finally satisfied, I fell back lying sprawled and supine across the couch, my stomach a huge, bloated ball.
“We need to get out of here soon,” said David from across the room.
“What about Maya?” I asked, staring up at the high, metal beams that held the compound together.
“We will have to wake her,” Troy said as he stood.
I cringed. “If she shouts like that again… I don’t know if I can take it.”
“So, we’ll do a muting spell.” Robert joked.
I growled at him.
“I’m only joking, Ava.” He smiled from where he had taken a seat by my feet.
“I have to go get a few things from my dorm,” Troy said. “Are you gonna be okay here?”
“No.” Raising up on my elbow, I stared at him bluntly. I felt I had to be near him, his presence held me together somehow, and there was something else. Like a hunter that had caught his prey; it was possessive and feral.
Possessiveness: Phase Three.
He grinned at me. “On one condition.”
“Troy…” Dave started.
Troy raised his hand to silence him.
“You’ll tell me what is going on with you?”
I nodded. Anything to get to go with him. I sat up quickly. “Let’s go.”
He took my hand. “We have to move quickly and quietly this time, no burning things down okay?”
“Ha, ha.” I couldn’t help but be sarcastic. I looked at our hands, almost expecting to physically see the wave of feeling ripple over my skin at his touch.
We made our way toward the door. “We’ll be back in a few.”
Robert glared at us. “Whatever.”
“Here.” Kronan handed me a pair of lace-up boots – red oxblood, which brought on a subtle memory in the way they smelled. It was a delightful memory and just like that, I was sucked into an entirely different time. The powdery, aqua shimmer of three glittering moons, pinned high against an amethyst morning sky. Pink reflected hues streaked the sand beneath my feet. I sensed the soothing motion of the ocean, the breeze chilly on my skin, nipping at my ears, my hair much shorter then, and I was on a horse. I actually rode on a magnificent beast, auburn hair burning in the early hours of dawn. I was robbed of the wonderful memory and taken into a nightmarish world of a horrid memory – the attack on the beach snapped my breath, my surroundings faded to black. I could hear and feel like I had never felt before, the tremors in the earth, the coarse sand against my body. A quiver in my chest, a quake in my soul. The fear was crippling, gluing me to the sandy surface of gravel, which felt like grains of glass against the heightened sense of feeling over my skin. It was the first time I discovered these abilities. Then there was the cut on my cheek where the poison had seeped in; perhaps that was where the activation of the disease had begun. There was a voice, one that drowned out all the fear, wrapped itself around the ties which bound me to fear itself. It was as if through the darkness of my temporary blindness, it gave way and I felt him, all of him. His fury, the thundering beating of his outraged temper, the dangerous tear between his soul and his heart as I lay on the sand, Enoch hovering over me. Troy. His scent an intoxicating aphrodisiac. I remember Troy on the beach the day of the second attack. I remember the confusion I felt in being drawn to him, yet bound to Enoch through his voodoo. It had started then already.
“I remember.” My breath left me as the memory retreated back to a place where memories hid when not in close proximity to Troy.
He was like a filter, sifting out the real and the not. How could I not have seen it? Troy was somehow lifting me from some kind of spell that Enoch must have placed over me. I changed around him, inside and out.
I slipped my feet into the boots, absently waiting for it all to sink in.
“Hmm, what?” Troy asked, while turning to hand me a gray cloak. I stared at the turquoise and silver clasp. My gaze was entrapped by its unique luster, a milky stone that radiated a faint glow.
“Ava,” Troy whispered in my ear.
I pulled back. “What?”
“Wow.” I heard David behind me.
“Hey.” Troy held my face in his palm, gazing into my eyes. For a second, I had totally lost myself.
“You sure you are okay?” His warmth was magnificent, and for a moment all trouble had left me.
“Fine.” I smiled, more to convince myself.
He sighed.
I rolled my eyes as I looked at the shimmer in the gray coat. Troy swiftly flung the cloak over me and clasped it around my collar bone. His touch didn’t linger as long as I would have liked it to.
“Thank you.” I smiled up. The voluntary, pleasurable curl of my mouth felt almost great.
“When we trek through the base, I need you to be very cautious, try not to be seen. I can’t trust anyone right now.”
“Oh,” I said, spun around and headed back up the stairs.
“I forgot my bag!” I hollered back, feeling the urgency rise up inside. What if someone had looked inside and taken my box containing Mom’s journals? My feet slipped in the unlaced boots and then on the smooth surface of the stairs, but I quickly regained my momentum going into the bathroom. The door slid closed as I stood in a crisp, white tiled room, my navy bag still resting near the window.
“Oh, thank you,” I whispered out loudly.
I plucked my bag from the floor, quickly rummaging through it. The wooden box with metallic filigree was still in there. A pair of undies – check; toothbrush – check; gray, tank-top – check. iPod – nope, and a pair of my oldest but most favorite denims. I rushed back with the bag held tightly to my chest.
“What’s in there?” Troy asked, eyebrow raised as I took my place by the door beside him again, eager to have him all to myself. Somehow, his curiosity made him that much more appealing. I pushed the bag deep into my stomach, hoping it would dampen the bugs fluttering inside it.
“My stuff,” I said, feeling the desperation of clinging to my former.
“The clothes Sam and Sage managed to salvage for you?”
“And Mom’s box.”
“The box comes, the clothes stay.”
“What?” I was appalled. “I will not stay in these clothes!” I shrieked.
“Clothes. Hand them over.” He put his palm out.
Opening the bag, I felt so angry I could tear it. I pulled everything out except the wooden box, and my toothbrush.
“Is that all?”
“Fine, take it all!” I smashed the toothbrush into his palm.
Troy chuckled. “You about done?”
Troy then exchanged my bag with his, placing the wooden box inside.
“Yes. No – I don’t know. Let’s just go okay, this place is strange. It’s killing me to be here while my sister is comatose in the next room.” I looked down. “I feel like I hate it.”
“I know.” He pulled me in under his arm, and handed Dave the last of my belongings. I couldn’t help it and caught myself staring at the pull of his muscles in his arm as he stretched it out, and then brought it in to rub my other shoulder.
“Get rid of that, will you?” He nodded to Dave.
“Why?” I questioned as we headed out the door.
“If the Council allowed them to keep something, there is a reason.”
“But they stole it,” I whined.
“Trust me, if they have it, it’s because the Keepers wanted them to.”
The door glided shut behind us. I felt an exhilarating beat to my chest at the thought of being alone with Troy; it was almost too much to control. Troy led us through the back of the compound’s garden. I expected something elaborate like the interior of the general’s place, but there were overgrown purple roses, a bush gone totally wild creeping with fine, blue blossoms all the way over one corner of the house. A few lights from the compound shone into the edge of the thick forest, melting with the early morning rays. I touched bark as we headed in, feeling the rough texture, taking in the rusty earthiness. When I held on to Troy, I could not only feel him, I could feel everything. The wind, the bark, the feel of his hand in mine, the warmth of the slight sun, and the coolness of the shadows. I smelled the tang of pine, an oaky wholesomeness to the silver barks. The same blue flower twirled around mossy tree stumps. Emerald green and silver shimmer of the oval silverwood leaves fluttered in a subtle breeze. Dust particles floated in the lilac glittering rays that stole through thick branches, creating the feeling of serenity as we started to run, dodging trees and jumping over uprooted ash-gray, tree stumps. For a while, the forest noises were all I heard.
As we slowed down behind a huge tree, Troy whispered, “You said you remembered something.”
“Hmm?” I questioned, coming out of my daze.
I wiggled my toes, my feet really felt filthy inside the oversized boots, sand grating against the sweaty, leather innersoles.
“It’s nothing,” I replied.
“You sure?”
I nodded.
“And I suppose what happened earlier, was also nothing?” he asked softly.
“I promise, I have no idea what brought it on, or why.”
He looked to me and knew I was lying. I didn’t want to have to tell him about my disease, how it was affecting and corrupting my mind, my emotions a tool to its foul wills. He wouldn’t want me like that – ever.
“Why do your healing abilities not work around me?” I shot back.
He just looked at me, shocked I had figured it out.
Still holding my hand, he led me through a small, beaten path that cut into a bushy area; the forest giving way to a row of dormitories, which I assumed were the military students’ quarters. A long solid wall about 8 feet high ran parallel with the one-story buildings. On the other side of the wall, separated by a row of jacaranda trees that by now had fully bloomed into a purple haze, was the Glass Tower. Our Keepers’ headquarters. The sun’s rays lit the glass tower to a solid, golden glow peeking over treetops and towering over everything else in that sector. I looked away as we headed into Jaguar territory, not wanting to feel the betrayal. Their dormitory looked much the same as the girls’ school, except it was more covered with trees and walls. I started feeling a tad on edge all of a sudden at the thought of being alone with him; there was a matter of me telling him something… but once again, my memories were not coming to me as quickly as they should have. He stopped as we headed around the bricked wall. With my hand still in his, he pulled me to stand before him at the door. Bunker One stared at me from the gray, metal door. His hand lingered on the small of my back, his touch welcoming, warm, and my skin tingled to life where his hand rested between the cloak and my thin dress. The pins and needles sensation zinged over my arms and legs, begging for life. The silver panel slid open with a low swoosh. He cleared his throat as we headed in, and I understood why they called it a bunker as I forged ahead. Just beyond the door were stairs and another door leading downward.
“Ava,” he called, his voice echoed and bounced off dark walls, the sound of it like a solid sustenance to my soul.
He pulled me back, giving me a solid glare. “I need to know what is going on with you.” His eyes hazel pools of pleading concern.
“Why is that, Troy?” I asked all-knowing, suddenly remembering the fury that had sparked my tempered flame. He was hiding something from me. His eyes narrowed on me. “How much did you overhear? I didn’t mean for you hear that.” His jaw pulled tight.
I drew in a long breath. “Do I really have to say it?” I mo
cked him with his own words. He kept his emblazed stare on me.
My arms stiffened against my chest, biting down on clenched teeth, pushing the bag and Mom’s box into my skin, wanting to feel things on my own.
“Do you think I like being like this? So pathetic, so whiney and weak!” I tried to throw him from the conversation.
“You are not weak, but whiney?”
I smacked his arm. He pretended to be hurt by rubbing at it, dimples deepening, his smile full in his lustrous eyes.
“Stop that. I am still mad at you,” I said, trying not to grin.
“Stop what?” he asked, looking at me innocently.
“Stop smiling, just stop being so damn cheery all the time, like everything is fine.”
“But it is fine, you just don’t see it.” He tilted my chin to his, and my stomach threatened to explode in a fluttering frenzy.
“No, I don’t.” I gazed up, staring at the skylight above us, tree branches hung overhead.
“Yeah, sorry for being such a big baby.” I half smiled.
He took my hand, and I turned to face him. My heart quivered a bittersweet pain as he gazed down at me. “Just promise me you’ll never lose this.” He placed his other hand on my chest. My heart sped up and for a second it drowned out our voices, its thumping was all I got.
“I’ll do my best.” I smiled. “I know you have things to tell me, so when you are ready to tell me, whatever it is you need to tell me – I am here – always.”
Gently, he closed his eyes, as if to take in my words and let them linger for a while.
“I am going to hold you to that.” He smiled brightly.
His arms pulled me in close to his neck, where I took in every feel and smell that belonged to him, my lips just inches away from the soft, smooth, golden skin above his collarbone.
“Come, I need to get some things from my room.”
I looked up as he kept me close to his chest, my hands resting on his very muscular pecs. I smiled seductively. “Your room?”
He in turn smiled, and pulled my hand to follow him to the door a few steps down. After his biometrics were scanned, the door slid open. The thought of being in Troy’s room left me feeling strange, and two kinds of feelings hit me at once; I was eager and frightened. There was the unmistakable horrid, trapped feeling again, the pull inside me, a dark twist of thoughts telling me it was wrong to tell him. To tell him about how I had gained my dark abilities by trading my virginity for it, with the man he despised more than anything. I felt the ice clamp down on my courage. Down another set of stairs and we were in his room. I became a coward once more. What if he hated me? That would be my undoing.
Evanescent Page 8
