The Calling

by Destiny Hawkins

  “You are.” Soren looked amazed. He liked my light and would probably be the first and only person to like it. “You’re incredible, and if I have to, I’ll break into Lytonia and get you out of there.”

  I turned back to him with furrowed brows. “But…”

  Soren smiled. “I’m a Gods Son.” He gently rubbed my cheek with his knuckles. “And you’re important to me.”

  My lips parted to take in air, and as we gazed into each other’s eyes, the darkness in the water started to fade into light. A bright light. A turquoise blue light. The entire area around us was tinted in turquoise blue, so we could see the fishes again in the glowing water.

  Soren chuckled and looked up at the sky. “The gods gave you a gift.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was talking about my powers or the turquoise light. It was a standard color, it was solid, and it didn’t pulsate into another color. I knew that the other colors were still inside of me, representing some god－or gods that the professors didn’t teach us about. If I could bring this color to the surface in Lytonia, then they’d label me a Vex, and with my strength , I’d be a high class Vex, but first, I had to be able to draw my light and control this power, or else I’d still fail.

  I smiled, appreciating Soren’s presence. “The gods gave me you.”

  Soren smiled down at me, his eyes flashing a bright green. “Maybe they did.”

  My eyes dropped down to his lips, and an unfamiliar feeling occurred. It was as if they were calling to me, and I didn’t know how to answer. I was confused on how I was supposed to feel, because these feelings were still so new to me. Physical contact, closeness, emotions—the academy raised us not to want those things. To believe that we were too strong to need them, but in reality, not feeling those things is what made a lot of us weak.

  Soren used his knuckle to raise my chin. His curious glowing eyes were searching mine for something, and when he found it, his eyes brightened. Slowly, he leaned in towards my lips, and right before they touched, he hesitated.

  The both of us were panting with our lips only centimeters away from each other. I thought about pulling away, but there would be no point in trying. I was frozen. I could feel Soren shaking and was surprised that he could get this nervous. It made me feel bold and impulsive, so I was the one to press my lips against his.

  My eyes closed as the heat in my chest swirled around before shooting into various parts of my body, and I couldn’t help but notice that most of the heat that I was feeling had moved to my lips. Soren’s were warm, soft, and welcoming. When he slowly pulled away, I felt cold again, and the fire inside of me vanished.

  Soren’s eyes slowly opened, and at first, he seemed confused, but then his lips curved upwards into a handsome and satisfied grin. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.”

  —

  For the rest of the night, Soren and I lay on that rock together. Neither of us commented on it, but tonight, I rested my head on Soren’s chest while he held one arm around me. It wasn’t awkward, and there was too much on my mind already for me to be feeling shy, so it was relaxing. Especially the sound of his heartbeat.

  Across the water, I spotted Sora emerging from the darkness of the trees. She made herself comfortable on the ground next to a small blue fire that she started.

  Soren explained to me that he and Sora had gotten away from Psycho after putting up a good fight. Sora managed to catch Psycho off guard and took him down, then they ran off. They hid all throughout the day and didn’t come out of hiding until Soren sensed my presence. It was the first time that he mentioned being able to sense me, stating that whenever I visited the Wild Lands, he could feel my energy.

  It was getting to that point where I was slowly but surely drifting off, which meant that I’d wake up to my everyday reality. I now knew the colors of my light, but that didn’t mean I could use them. Hopefully, this place made me more in touch with my energy, so that I could trigger my powers with my real body.

  Soren took a deep breath, “It’s almost sunrise.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed, not wanting to leave.

  “And you’ll be back tonight?”

  “I hope so.”

  He took another deep breath. “I can’t protect you from here. I don’t want you to go back there. It’s Dangerous.”

  I sighed again, my stomach twisting in knots. “I don’t have a choice.”

  —

  “Remember that you have to be strong in there, okay?” Carmen reminded me, pushing a few loose strands of her hair back. “Try to focus on anything else but him.”

  The two of us sat on my bed while waiting on the disciplinary officers to retrieve me from my dorm. I was appreciative of Carmen coming to give me my regular pep talk but was having a hard time listening to her. Before every pain testing session, my mind would only be on Artemis, wondering what he’d planned or if my body could sustain the torture.

  My eyes were focused on my reflection in the mirror as I hoped that I wouldn’t accidentally use any of my powers. I never thought about how the Hot Spot might have helped me until now. Sure, it showed me the colors of my energy, but I wasn’t sure if it had done anything more. Was I in touch now? If I was, then now, would that be a bad thing. Artemis could put me through so much pain that I’d accidentally use my energy, and it may not come out the standard color.

  “Rayah?” Carmen rested her hand on my shoulder, disrupting my thoughts.

  My eyebrows furrowed before I turned to look at her.

  Carmen’s expression clearly displayed worry, but her eyes were trying to read deeper, below the surface. “Are you going to be okay?”

  I licked my lips while taking in a deep breath, then offered her a half-hearted smile. “Yeah, I have to be. I’ll be fine.”

  Carmen observed me for a moment longer, still trying to read me. Only for a second did her eyes reflect suspicion. I wasn’t always able to read Carmen, but lately, I couldn’t help but notice how she was always looking for more. What could she have been thinking?

  “Well, good.” Her hand left my shoulder and slid over my cheek, oddly calming me. She pulled up a soft smile, like a mother would to her child. “You know that I love you, right?”

  I nodded. “Yes, of course.”

  Carmen sighed and dropped her shoulders. “Just…keep that in mind the next three days, okay? I’ll be here when you get out.”

  “I’ll try,” I said in a low tone.

  My door slid open and two officers entered the room. I stood up and waited for them to cuff me, and once I was restrained, they led me out into the hallway.

  “How loud are you going to scream this time, Rayah?” the officer on my right asked.

  I didn’t answer but kept looking forward so not to make eye contact with any of the other students or professors. My mind was on getting in and getting out in three days, but I knew once I was in there, I’d be more focused on my survival. Artemis had been getting more brutal by the testing, leaving me with broken bones and internal wounds that took longer than normal to heal.

  The officer tightened his grip on my bicep. “I asked you a question, Null.”

  “Just answer his question, so he can shut up,” the other officer said. This time there was a blonde haired brown eyed woman on my other arm instead of the regular officer. Apparently, he didn’t level up to ten before his birthday, so he was collared.

  “I don’t know,” I tried to say as calmly as possible.

  The male officer chuckled. “You were pretty loud the last time. Artemis must’ve been doing a serious punishing. Probably preparing you for what’s to come.”

  The female officer shook her head. “Sometimes, I think you talk just to hear yourself.”

  The male officer frowned, his grip growing tighter around my arm. “Why don’t you just shut up?”

  “Why don’t you act like an officer instead of some little boy before you’re collared like your ex-partner?” The female officer shot back.

  When the male officer cl
enched his teeth, I felt a bit of satisfaction, but it was gone as soon as he roughly yanked me around the corner. I stumbled forward, but the woman made sure that I didn’t fall, and once I was upright, we continued towards the steps that led to the P.T. Sector.

  “I wonder what Artemis has in store for you this time?” the male officer asked.

  Once we made it to the steps, I started to slow down. I wanted to fight against them and run away after the door was opened, but I would only get into more trouble. I couldn’t be a Null and a runner. My life would be over at that point.

  The male officer pulled out his notepad and took a moment to read what was on the paper. When he smiled, my stomach started doing back flips. “This way.”

  Me and the female officer made eye contact before they led me down the hall for my room. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, seeing Soren’s smile flash behind them before opening them again. We stopped in front of a silver door, then the male officer let me go to open it.

  “Just three days,” the woman whispered in my ear.

  I nodded, feeling my heart sink. Three days was a long time when you were tired, hungry, and suffering in agony.

  When the silver door slid open, I was led inside. I recognized the room that we were in and almost lost my balance. This was the worst one of them all, because I didn’t get to sleep and recover. I would be cold and would temporarily go insane. Not to mention that I would be bleeding from my neck because of the pointed collar that’s usually placed around it.

  The female officer uncuffed me and stepped back, waiting on the other officer to speak.

  The male officer looked me up and down with a grin on his lips. “Take off your suit.”

  I stared at him, and then my eyes moved to the woman. “Okay, well, where’s the thin suit? The cream one?”

  The male officer chuckled. “Apparently, you’re not supposed to wear one.”

  I stared at him in embarrassment and discontent before letting out a shaky breath, still trying to keep from fainting. This meant that Artemis was going to use knives. The type of discipline that I was used to, the type that I was raised on, which made me wonder why I was still so afraid?

  “Come on,” the male officer cocked a brow. “Or do you need my help undressing?”

  The female officer flared her nose. “She needs you to get out. I’ll hook her up to the shackles.”

  The male officer’s eyes flashed with anger before he looked me up and down with a smirk. “Like I want to see a disgusting Null’s body anyway.” He then shook his head, turned, and left.

  The female turned back to me with a frown still on her face. “You go ahead and undress while I get things ready.”

  I licked my lips nervously. “What exactly does he have planned for me?”

  “Not sure.” She walked over to the shackles hanging from the ceiling and began unlocking the first one.

  I went ahead and undressed down to my underclothes, shivering when the cold air hit my skin, and then walked over to the officer so that she could hook me up. She wasn’t like the other officers that had walked me down here before but didn’t seem like the type to want to make friends either.

  The officer secured my wrists in the shackles, then gently locked the pointed collar around my neck. I had my eyes closed the entire time but opened them once the officer exited the room. I hoped that she’d say something encouraging before leaving, something that could ease my fear, but she said nothing.

  Now, I was alone, cold, and waiting.

  —

  As usual, I was shackled in the same spot for hours, shivering from the cold and bleeding from the back of my neck. I wondered when someone would come and take me to the restroom since we received only one trip a day unless our pain executioners were lenient enough to take us themselves.

  I closed my eyes and tried to think of Soren, or even of Tristan, but my mind just kept coming back here, to the last place on earth that I wanted to be. Eventually, I started to doze off, but was startled awake by a rippling pain in my shoulder, causing me to grunt loudly.

  The chains rattled as I was pulled up higher, just enough so that I was uncomfortably on my toes.

  I grunted while trying to keep myself upright, so not to dislocate my other shoulder, and took deep breaths through my nose with my eyes on Artemis. His hair was pulled out of its pony-tail and draped over his shoulders, and he wore his black suit. Usually, he would grin with excitement, but today, his expression was completely blank. Unreadable even.

  “Good evening, Rayah.” He walked around to face me and stopped only inches away. During our stare off, I couldn’t help but notice the chains rattling from my shivering, and when he reached out to me, I flinched so hard that the chains rattled even louder.

  I’ve always hated the sounds of chains since I was a little girl. Keys jingling, chains rattling, knives being sharpened－ I hated them all. “Calm down.” He reached behind my head and pulled out my bun, letting my hair fall over my shoulders and back, then stepped away and looked me up and down. “Good. Kaydar will love the photo’s that I’m going to send him.”

  My eyes widened before my brows drew together in confusion.

  Artemis chuckled, but his piercing eyes were hard. “Kaydar was seen walking out of your dorm the other night.”

  I swallowed when I noticed the anger slowly displaying across his face. “That wasn’t－”

  Artemis was quick as he threw a punch. After his fist collided with my cheek, I was so dazed that I lost my footing and dropped. My shoulder didn’t dislocate, but it hurt so badly that my eyes began to water. “I didn’t say you could speak!”

  I dizzily pushed myself up with my toes, not even noticing how bad I was bleeding from the side of my neck and onto my shoulder. Artemis noticed it before I had and quickly took the collar off, then tossed it onto the floor. After roughly shoving my head to the side and examining my wound, he went to the corner of the room where bandages were kept and used them to stop the bleeding.

  After he was finished, he stood across from me with a look that I didn’t fully understand. His face was blank, but I could tell that he was seething below the surface. “I’m going to let you heal tonight.”

  I lowered my head, relieved that I didn’t have to start any suffering yet, but I wasn’t able to pass out because Artemis roughly grabbed my chin. “I wouldn’t relax so soon, Rayah, because tomorrow will be only one of the worst days of your pitiful life. It took me some time to think on it, but I’m not going to kill Kaydar. I’m going to show him just what problems he has caused you by going into your dorm that night. Maybe when I’m done with you, you’ll understand that you only belong to me. If not, you will end up just like her.” When he let me go, he was heaving. He backed away with a crazed look in his eyes, but then took a breath, calmed down, and left the room. I let go of the breath that I was holding and blinked my tears away. I wasn’t only shaking because of the cold now, but because I was truly afraid.

  —

  When I opened my eyes, I was in Soren’s tent, but for the first time I didn’t feel the relief of being near him. There was nothing that he could do to help me, and no words of comfort would help me control the fear pulling at my chest.

  Soren slid his hand over my stomach, sensing me in his sleep. When I turned my head to look at him, I sighed in disappointment because he looked so peaceful. I wanted to talk to him, to be distracted, but if he knew what I was going through right now, he’d flip knowing that there was nothing he could do to help me. No one could help me.

  —

  Artemis pressed his knife into the center of my back, and then drug it diagonally down to the lower part of it. I tensed as he cut me again, clenching my teeth while grunting, and praying that this would end soon.

  “How many?” Artemis asked.

  I sniffled, trying to remember how many times he’d cut me already. It was rare for me to let tears fall in front of him, but almost half a day went by, and he had gone from punching, to tasering, and fi
nally to cutting me. My other shoulder had long dislocated by now, and my wrists were bleeding.

  “I asked you a question, Rayah.” He twisted the tip of his knife over my shoulder. “How many?”

  “S－sixty.” I mumbled, letting my head fall forward.

  Artemis chuckled, “I don’t think that’s the correct number. Maybe we should start over?”

  My voice shook. “N…no.”

  The knife quickly sliced across my back, making me throw my head back as I cringed. “You don’t get to tell me no.” Artemis walked around to face me with splatters of my blood on his face, his hands dripping with it. He smiled. “I think that you’re ready for your pictures now, don’t you?”

  I coughed, tasting blood in my mouth from the multiple blows to the stomach. So much came up that I nearly choked on it.

  Artemis rubbed his chin. “No, I think that you’re missing something.” He slowly began to circle me, and when he came back around on my right, my eyes widened in horror. “Yes, it took me a while, but I learned how to form one of these. I wanted to surprise you.” He raised the white iron rod with a steaming hot tip, looking as if it had just been pulled out of a fire. “Being a dim really works in my favor when it comes to you.”

  I panicked inside as he brought the rod towards me. My breathing was starting to go out of control, and I was on high alert, trying to move back using the tips of my toes. “Don’t,” I whimpered.

  Artemis chuckled. “You should start getting used to this, Rayah. When are you going to understand that you can’t tell me no?” He slowly brought the tip of the iron towards the center of my stomach, and I cringed before he actually placed the tip against my skin.

  I clenched my teeth as hard as I could, trying to fight the urge to scream as my skin sizzled, but when he pulled the iron away, I let out a cry and slipped off my toes. I yelped as the pain in my shoulders vibrated throughout my body. It was as if my areas of pain were all connected, and I felt them all at once.