A Modern Myth

by Clara Wake

  “Skye?” He asks, his tone laced in shock and a slight pinch of happiness that she’s there.

  Skye can’t wipe the smile from her face now. No. It’s permanent, and she doesn’t care. Even with her cheeks flushing brightly at Nickolai’s reaction to her being there, she’s screaming internally.

  “Hey,” she squeaks. She knows he’s wondering why she’s still there, and able to be there with him, so she’s rather quick in telling him, “I have a month,” she tells him, although that is never going to be long enough.

  “Nicko, what happened?” Jake breaks the cute reunion, while his questions screamed at him. He needs to know what happened.

  “I pulled a bullet from your shoulder,” he adds on, just to recollect what he’d done to keep him alive, and he can’t help but gaze at him with a pout.

  Lowering his eyes and clearing his throat, Nickolai takes a second before letting a small grunt slip his lips, as he tries to move his shoulder, attempting to pull or move the sling off him.

  Of course, Jake made sure it was secure in case a very fussy elf decided to play with it.

  “Want me to start from the beginning?” He finally looks up, eyebrows raised as he watches them both, eager and riddled with apprehension.

  “Go ahead,” Jake nods slowly to him, and hangs on every second he’s silent.

  Seething, Skye’s livid, and she can’t help but hold on tightly to the tears that trap at the corners of her eyes – she’s tangled in rage – her throat is scarred from the pressure.

  She knew The Governor was a very unkind and intimidating person – that’s describing her very lightly, but this is pure proof.

  Even after seeing what she’d done to Nickolai in The Chamber. The Governor continues to top it off every single time Skye’s made aware of her actions.

  It’s not long before they’re in full discussion and theory mode about The Governor and her actions.

  The way Nickolai has described it to Jake? It is as if she had a mental break or a full-blown panic attack that resulted in violence.

  However, it struck Jake immediately when her mood changed from being so full of rage to desperate and dripping in lust.

  “You said there was a nurse?” Jake asks, searching Nickolai’s bruised and sore face for answers.

  “Yeah, the one that was nice to me,” he points out. “The blonde one.” He adds quickly, as there were two nurses that were kind to him so many years ago.

  Making it clear who he was speaking of; as Jake was there to witness both nurses as caring as they come.

  “I’ll be right back,” Jake nods and moves towards the door; he’s on a mission, and he wants to find out what was going on. He knows he has to leave as soon as possible before Nickolai protests.

  “Hey!” Nickolai shouts after Jake, his tone clearly drenched in concern, but he’s left to watch Jake leave without a sound. He can feel his chest ache, worry overshadowing any other emotion. What is he doing? He feels scared for Jake’s safety – he has no clue what he is doing, and he’s incapable of doing anything.

  “I have to go… I don’t want to…” Skye chimes in shaking her head. She’s pouting and clearly worried to leave him alone. She grabs his hand gently and squeezes it, her eyes locking with his for a moment. She doesn’t want to leave, knowing now that leaving will become harder each time. She dreads it, and her chest becomes tighter every time the clock ticks.

  “Tomorrow?” Nickolai asks her, just as she did every night. Instead, he asks to make sure she is coming back. He too, feels that same heavy feeling in his chest, wishing she could stay.

  “Tomorrow,” she tells him with her cheeks becoming rosy once again. She leans in and gives him a gentle kiss on his forehead and releases his hand before heading out of the window and back to her squad before a new day arrives.

  Exhaustion pulls him down, forcing him to pass out and sleep, resting his mind while it screams and hammers with the concerns and worries for Jake.

  Hours pass and he is still gone. Missing? He has no idea. He can’t move, his head forces him straight back down if he plans to move. Drowned in agony, he waits and silently begs for Jake to come back. He can’t stand it, and what makes matters worse is that he has this damn sling on his arm and he has no clue where Jake has gone in the first place. He is infuriated, frustrated, and purely fed up.

  The hours are slow, draining, and killing him. His body eventually shuts down and lets him rest. Otherwise, he’ll stay up until he walks back into his room, and who knows how long that will be.

  His eyelids flutter slightly, as he begins to stir in his sleep. Nickolai finally wakes up, grinding his teeth and still stressing out before he snaps his eyes open and shoots upwards. It immediately sparks a headache to form and flood his mind.

  “I told you to get up slowly. You never listen,” Jake grunts at him with a hollow huff, moping at him as he sits beside him.

  Nickolai lets a sigh of relief huff from his lips, thank fuck he is okay.

  “How about you tell me where you’re going next time?” He barks back at him, gritting his teeth and snarling at him. Clearly unimpressed with his actions, Nickolai glares at him before he pulls at his sling just to annoy Jake.

  Jake can tell he was worried, but he doesn’t voice it. He notices, and he’s finding himself smiling inside. Nickolai barely ever showed his true emotions – afraid of being abused if he did so. He knew Nickolai did this and accepted it.

  “Hush baby, do you want to know where I went? Or are you going to keep annoying me?” Jake teases him, flashing his eyes down to meet his hand on the sling and playfully smiles at him before he straightens himself. He clears his throat and activates the serious mode.

  Nickolai gives him that deadly glare of his and stares at him for a second. His lips sealed, he scans him for a second before sighing deeply, tilting his head to the side slightly and raising his eyebrows. “Go on then, spill.” He roughly states, waiting for him to explain his disappearance and ease his worries.

  “Ok, well after you mentioned the nurse? I went to see her,” Jake starts, with a low and slightly fearful tone. He is afraid Nickolai will deck him right there and then for asking questions, and he‘s left to flinch and wait…and after a few silent heartbeats, he looks up and sees him just staring at him. His face is red, and he knows he’s angry, but he continues. Adding fuel to the fire, some might say.

  “Look, I didn’t ask questions, so you can stop giving me that evil glare. Okay?” Jake grumbles at him, waiting for Nickolai to stop staring at him with such an angry grouch.

  “I went through some old newspaper articles and history books,” He assures Nickolai carefully, before placing an old newspaper roll on his bed. Tapping it, “Does it look familiar to you?” He asks Nickolai and slides it over towards him, hoping not to strain him as he leans forward and takes the paper in his left hand and scans it.

  His ears twitch as he scans the page. The article title is large and demanding. He ignores it and doesn’t read it. Letting his eyes relax, he focuses on the largely photographed photo of an old building. It’s two stories high with old bricks and a large gate, white and metal. Large and thick vines twined, laced, and decorate the building and entangle around the large arched sign above the gate.

  He finally looks up to meet Jake’s lingering gaze, waiting for him to notice. His eyes bounce from his, and back to the paper and the title. Swallowing hard, he gives the photo another looks, “This is… hidden, out the back of the compound? Beyond the gates and forest…” Nickolai furrows his eyebrows, confused, and puts the pieces together as he reads the title.

  “Exactly!” Jake bounces and flails his arms about for a second, before smacking his index finger on the paper and tapping it.

  “The other pages were missing. I couldn’t find anything else in the article,” he adds. He’s sparkling and beaming with excitement that he might have started the investigation Nickolai has wanted to start for years.

  “Let’s go, let’s have a look!”


  Nickolai is impulsive, ready to take a closer look and dig deeper into The Governor’s past.

  “Whoa hey! Have you looked at yourself?” Jake snaps, shaking his head and shutting down his desire to investigate something that wasn’t meant to be found.

  “I don’t care, I’m fine. Come on!” Nickolai protests, grumbling loudly/ “Look, I’m fine! We need to go and have a look!” He adds on, insisting they go and look, right now. His impatient nature shining brighter than ever.

  “Nickolai, No. At least, wait a while okay? What if something happens, Hmm?” Jake starts, “What if a guard sees you?” He continues, with a very heavy heart as he explains what could happen if they’re caught. Fear colliding with concern.

  “You know I can’t…” Nickolai growls, that familiar glare flashing once more at him.

  “Wait until your arm is better, please?” Jake insists, as he pleads him to stay put, to recuperate and gain his strength, and wait until he’s stable and steady enough to use his own arm once again but he knows how impatient he is and that frightens him the most.

  “Ok, in a few days. We’re going to find out what it is.”

  CHAPTER 16

  “I knew it!” Skye laughs, as she crawls through his window. She’s already looking at him before she makes her loud entrance. He’s done exactly what she knows he’d do – taken his sling off early. Impatient little shit.

  His long ears twitch at her announcement, but he doesn’t bother to look at her. He’s smirking behind a book, taking no notice of her whatsoever.

  “Hi, to you, too,” she thumps him on the arm playfully and lays down next to him, nuzzling his side slightly. She attempts to catch his attention, much like a cat would waiting to be fed.

  “You're late,” he finally grumbles. She’s half an hour late to be precise, finally pinning his eyes down to meet hers.

  Skye stares, wide and filled with love as she looks up at him.

  “Sorry, you know I’m not any later than this.” She pokes his side. Unfortunately, she’s been late a few times recently. Sighing deeply, she rolls to her back and grumbles softly to herself. “What are you reading?” She asks, feeling that sense of happiness and safety override her.

  “Can’t you read the cover?” He scoffs, but the faintest of smirks curves his lips before he smacks her over the head with the paperback book and leans back into his pillow.

  “Hey!” She growls at him and hisses with a frown, before she drops and flops her head gently down to rest on his chest. The faint heartbeat sends her straight into a trance, peaceful and happy.

  “Are you feeling better?” She asks him, noticing the bruising is fading slowly, becoming darker and diminishing with purple and almost blue and yellow discolouring, indicating that they are now old and dissolving.

  “Yes, that’s why I took that damn thing off,” He grunts, shaking his head and scoffing. “I’m fine,” he insists as he shoots his eyes to meet her gaze.

  A gentle and soothing look slithers across his face. She is always so concerned, and it is something he can never get used to. Someone being so worried for him. It is such a different and alien feeling to notice that about someone. While of course, he invites it, he just can’t grasp the concept or even believe it. Even to this day, he still can’t accept it.

  “So, how many days did he tell you to keep it on?” She raises an eyebrow and watches him carefully, waiting for that famous deadly glare to strike her any second now. The second she sees it, she can’t help but blush and giggle at him. It’s both scary and adorable to her.

  “Another three days,” he replies bluntly, with a small shrug of his shoulder. His ears perk, and he lets out a tiny smug smile, he loved to stir Jake up.

  Another giggle erupts from Skye’s chest and slips through her grinning teeth., shaking her head at him. Wrapping her arms around him, she moves in close and just embraces him. She’s thrilled and riddled in pure love as she holds him. She can’t wipe the smile from her face, even if she needed or wanted to. Her stomach is fluttering with butterflies, and her heart is hammering in her chest.

  There’s a spark in Nickolai’s heart, as he watches her. She’s so gentle and caring, so sweet, and funny – let alone cheeky. Full of happiness and dreams. She is the light in his darkness. She brings an emotion and feeling that he’s never felt before, never dreamt or imagined ever feeling before. Yet, there she is giving a man who’s never smiled a reason to smile. A reason to wake up.

  These true emotions are held deep within, a mask to hide them, to shield the young and lost boy. He’s found that keeping everything to himself and never exposing to anyone how he truly feels is the only way to survive. Even if she is breaking down the walls ever so slightly, he won’t let anyone in. No one has ever truly witnessed Nickolai’s true self, and he’s willing to make sure, no one ever does.

  Don’t let them see you.

  “Come on, you know I’m fine now. How about we go and check it out?” Nickolai’s tone is strict and clearly saturated in haste, waiting to find the gold mine they found almost a week ago. Jake, of course, makes sure Nickolai heals up, but Nickolai being the impatient child he is, eager and ready right now this night.

  He’s already taken his sling off, the bruising has improved, and he has in fact recuperated well. However, in Jake’s eyes, he isn’t ready to get back into leaping around everywhere like a ninja.

  Luckily, for Nickolai, Jake is too irritated, and his stubbornness makes him too tired to deal with him this night, so he reluctantly agrees.

  “Don’t come whining to me if you hurt your shoulder,” Jake frowns and whines at him, mocking him.

  Only, Jake’s just flashed with that stare of his and left to watch Nickolai head out of his room, with a flashlight; like a child ready for Halloween night.

  “You do know where we’re going, right?” Jake asks Nickolai as soon as they step outside and enter the night.

  Nickolai doesn’t answer as he leads Jake out and towards the large gate that leads them into the Girls’ quarter. It’s a large distance from their squad to the gate that separates them, and the night is still young.

  Owls perch and watch from the tall trees that surround the Compound’s grounds. The moon peers from behind the small hovering clouds, and the breeze is gentle.

  A soft crunch is heard, and Nickolai’s ears rapidly flinch at the sound.

  “Hey!” The bark comes from behind them, and the boys are quick to turn their heels and confront them.

  It’s Aiden. He’s followed them outside and looking for a fight with clenched teeth and fists. He watches them “What are you doing?” He asks, yelling at them. His eyes fixate on Nickolai the entire time as he eases in, attempting to intimidate them.

  Jake is quicker than Nickolai to respond, chiming in swiftly as he steps between Nickolai and Aiden to create a barrier.

  “I’m just making sure he gets some fresh air,” Jake tells Aiden, with a small bob of his head and a slither of a smile.

  “And he needs you to babysit him?” Aiden is fast to reply, jerking an eyebrow at Jake before he smacks him on the shoulder and pushes him out of the way to stand face to face with Nickolai.

  “What-the-fuck-are-you-doing?” Aiden asks once again, but this time he is slow with each word and carries each word with annoyance spreading through his tone.

  Before Nickolai can part his lips, Aiden strikes him, exactly where he knows it’ll cause more harm than anywhere else: right in the shoulder – where the bullet wound is still recovering. A roar escapes Nickolai’s lips as he calls out and quickly holds his shoulder.

  His feet stumble from the harsh impact. He grinds his teeth before pinning a deadly glare at him, with a hiss rolling from his lips. He steps towards Aiden before his eyes capture figures in the background approaching them and he stops in his tracks.

  The Governor and a guard enter the scene, standing behind Aiden. The Governor, with her hands behind her back, stands tall, and her eyes scan over the three of them.


  “What seems to be the problem?” The Governor demands an answer immediately, watching over them. Her eyes flicker to meet Nickolai’s pained gaze, and she swiftly turns her head to snap a good look at Aiden, a scowl surfacing her features.

  “These two were wandering around, so I came to stop them,” Aiden attempts to look high and mighty in front of The Governor, but she’s quick to cringe at him.

  “Who did that to you, Nickolai?” She ignores Aiden’s reply, and slowly turns to watch her star – specifically locking her eyes on his shoulder which has started to bleed.

  Nickolai doesn’t have to say who, as his beautiful vibrant eyes slowly looked to Aiden, and with a blink, he looks back to The Governor, remembering her words, No one can touch you but me.

  “Take Aiden to The Chamber,” The Governor orders her guard, turning to him and looking up to meet Nickolai’s surprised gaze. Nickolai’s ears spring upwards the second he hears the words escape her mouth.

  “What!? Why!?” Aiden protests, screaming at her in a panic before The Guard restrains him and smacks the back of his knee, ushering him to start moving.

  “You should know, no one touches my Star,” she bluntly replies as Aiden is pushed and shoved towards the Chamber’s direction. Already forgotten.

  “No one?” Jake starts, and the second he releases the words from his mouth.

  Smack!

  Nickolai reacts quickly with a very hard blow to his cheek, cracking him hard enough to land his ass on the ground to shut him up!

  Jake falls fast, landing on his side. Grabbing the leaves below, he holds his jaw and looks up with wide doe eyes.

  Staring at Nickolai intensely, What the hell was that for!? He’s shocked before he concentrates on the pain that throbs and radiates through his teeth and pinches his cheek.

  “Get back to your rooms instantly,” The Governor insists with a very heavy and disgruntled tone.

  Waiting for them to move, with her sharp eyes she watches them like a hawk on its prey. You’d think she never blinked.