“But you have part of the prophecy, don’t you?” I said it softer voice than I had hoped would come out, but they all looked at me anyway.
“We do,” Ares nodded at me.
“Can I see it?” I asked them. “I mean, if there’s any possibility that I am…this chosen one or whatever you call it…shouldn’t I at least be able to see it?”
All four of the men glanced at each other, none of them knowing who should speak, or if they should even answer me for that matter.
“It is not with us now,” Starck spoke almost quietly, like he knew it would disappoint me, “and even if it was, there is not nearly enough information on it.”
“But you want me to find this dagger?” I said bluntly. Okay, maybe Isaac was rubbing off on me… a little.
“We do not expect you to find it,” Odon spoke again.
“Oh, don’t lie, Odon,” Isaac said, jumping in. “You want her to find it. This war you guys started is getting out of hands. You’re so desperate you’re relying on a girl, and you’re not even sure she can get you what you’re looking for.”
Odon, the man sitting in front of me straightened up. It was clear Isaac never had a problem mouthing off to him, and Odon which I wasn’t surprised by from what Henry had told him. I figured it would be hard for Isaac to have any respect for him.
“Lily,” Odon said turning to me, “do you understand why we think this way about you?”
I felt myself nod before I spoke. “The way the demons react to me. They ask me about the dagger…like they ready think I have it.”
“We believe that the demons either have the other half of the prophecy or some inside knowledge, which is why they have chosen you,” Odon explained. “It’s not just random attacks on you, and even Isaac knows that.”
I looked at Isaac in the corner of my eye and he stiffened slightly and this time he didn’t speak, he knew Odon was right, and I knew it too.
“So, what do you want me to do?” I frowned slightly. “I don’t know how to find the dagger; I don’t know what it looks like or anything that’s even helpful right now.”
“We don’t expect you to go looking for it,” Henry told me. “What we know from the dagger is that that one who is supposed to find it will find it when they desire it the most.”
I felt myself breathe out. I would find it when I most desire it? Whatever that meant didn’t seem helpful. Probably why Henry didn’t mention it before.
“So for now,” Odon said, “we want you to stay out of danger and with Isaac while you are introduced into our world. We called you in here to tell you not to worry about finding it.”
I looked at Isaac who rolled his eyes a little. He didn’t believe what Odon was saying, and after the meeting I saw with Isaac, I didn’t really believe him either.
“Okay,” I nodded at them.
“Good,” Odon smiled. “Well, Isaac we would like regular reports on her progress, and the two of you are free to leave here whenever you would like. The council would like to thank you for your cooperation.”
Isaac immediately pushing his chair back from the table and stood and I saw him smile, but it was an extremely sarcastic smile. “You’re welcome. Let’s go, Lily.”
I was up immediately, barely looking back at the elders as I followed Isaac at a hurried pace. I heard the doors shut behind us as we exited the room, but I didn’t let myself look back these doors this time, but Isaac was hurrying down the corridor so fast I didn’t even get the chance.
“I want you to make sure you are ready to leave when I say so, okay?” he asked me, not looking at me.
“Yeah, sure,” I answered blankly.
“Good,” he said. “Go to your room now, I’ve got to find Eve, okay?”
Isaac didn’t give me much choice in the matter, as he took me to the corridor that lead to the guest rooms, before he then left down the corridor and towards the library. I knew I didn’t have any chance of following him without getting lost so I sighed and walked slowly to my room.
I sat on the bed for a long time once I had made sure everything was packed in the bag. I knew when I came here that Isaac didn’t like the council, and I knew why, and I was starting to understand exactly how he could feel that way. They weren’t the most honest people I knew, but I couldn’t blame them in a way. It must’ve been hard running a council that focused on the people who were breed to kill demons for a living. We all must be hot-headed and unpredictable.
I lied down on my bed as I realised that not even a week ago I was just an average seventeen year old starting my senior year in high school. Now look at me. I guess I had always figured I wasn’t normal, but I never imagined anything like this. I mean, I really believed in stuff that just wasn’t true when I was little. Not like Santa Claus or the tooth fairy or anything, I mean I believed in aliens and vampires and that there was something living under my bed…and I guess I wasn’t so far off.
Some of this felt right though, the more I learnt the more comfortable I felt, but part of me just wanted to be at Rhys’ house right now, arguing over which superhero was better, Iron Man or Spiderman. I missed Rhys more than anything right now. I had Isaac, but Rhys meant more to me in a different way. Rhys didn’t judge me, he looked after me, and he knew me better than anyone. He would understand how I felt right now, even if he didn’t understand what all of this was.
There was so much going on in my mind most of the time. Thoughts I had never thought would cross my mind, and thoughts I thought I would never think again. The scariest were about my parents. I knew to be what I am, it had to be blood related, meaning one or both of my parents were just like me. It was something so big I never knew about them, something that for the first time in my life actually left me questioning my parent’s death. Maybe it wasn’t a random car accident, maybe it had something to do with me and this dagger? Maybe they were killed by demons, they could’ve died protecting me.
I looked at my watch and I figured it must be dark outside. After sleeping in, the day was just slipping away from me. It had been nearly two hours since the meeting and I figured that Isaac would be back, even though he hadn’t come to see me. I was getting bored though, and anxious not knowing if we were leaving now or when or if we were staying, or even what was going on.
I got up and opened the door to my room, and Isaac’s room was directly across from mine, and it took me only a second to see that his door was open and he was in the room. He was standing near his bed and as I walked to his doorway I felt myself freeze up as I realised something.
Isaac was shirtless, but it wasn’t just the fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt that made me freeze. I felt my mouth open a little in amazement of what I was seeing. His mark, his mark covered most of his back, and it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was so hard to explain, the mark was just not like anything I had ever seen before. That’s when I started to realise something else.
I put more pressure on one of my feet as I stood at the door, but as I did it made the floorboards creek, alerting Isaac to my presences. He turned his head to me as he straightened up, he turned around to face me. I wasn’t going to lie, his body was pretty impressive too, but I was so focused on his mark, I was barely aware of musclier Isaac was.
“Enjoying the view?” he said with a bit of laugh.
I shook my head and I struggled to speak, realising how awkward this seemed. “I wasn’t…I…I was looking at your mark.”
His face dropped a little before he spoke. “You don’t know what it is, do you?”
I felt myself frown. It was what I had been realising before that something wasn’t right. Usually upon seeing a mark a few marks might swirl around in my head and the word will come out of my mouth as I see it in my head, but this there was nothing. Not even marks flowing around in my head like what I saw looking at the entrance door of the council…there was just…nothing.
“No,” I whispered softly.
“That’s why I didn’t show you,�
�� Isaac shrugged, turning back to his bed. “I mean, I know that you have this gift for marks and whatever, but I knew…just knew you wouldn’t know.”
“It doesn’t mean it doesn’t do anything-,” I started to argue.
“It doesn’t do anything,” Isaac said firmly, looking at me slightly before walking over to his bag, my eyes again on his mark as he walked. “It’s just there.”
“But you are still and Insigne,” I said quickly, “you still have all the other skills.”
“Like you, Lily, in a way, I’m just different,” he said as he pulled a shirt of his bag. “Besides, every one of us has the natural fighting ability; I just had to focus on it more.”
“Does it bother you? I asked him slowly. “Not knowing what it is?”
“Not really,” he admitted. “I’m kind of used to it now.”
Isaac finally put a shirt on after selecting one out of his bag, but I thought I could’ve stared at his mark forever. Now with his loss grey shirt on I found myself just wanting to see it again. I had to mean something, something like that; it just had to be something.
“We’re leaving first thing in the morning,” Isaac spoke suddenly.
“What?” I asked surprised. “So quickly?”
“I called Felix, he’ll be here in the morning,” Isaac nodded. “I just don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t trust the elders, something is not right…and I don’t know what it is.”
“But…I…I don’t know enough to go out there again,” I said quickly.
Isaac smiled a little. “Eve is going to give you some books to study, as she seemed to have the same thought as you.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “And I’m just going to…go where?”
“You’ll be staying with me,” Isaac nodded.
“I’ll be staying with you? For how long?”
“Not sure,” Isaac admitted. “Until its safe or you find the dagger.”
“You realised neither might ever happen,” I told him.
“I know,” he agreed, “but unfortunately that’s what it is.”
I felt my breathing become shallow as suddenly the thought of never seeing my uncle or Rhys again crossed my mind, and it utterly terrified me.
“But I’m going to try get you back home,” Isaac said, as he noticed the look on my face.
I just nodded at him, not really sure how to respond right now.
“Go sleep,” Isaac ordered me. “I’ll get you in the morning and I think Eve wants to say goodbye.”
I felt myself just nod again as I turned around and started to walk out of Isaac’s room. I paused however as I turned back to him.
“Can I ask you something?” I said to Isaac who now wasn’t looking at me.
“Sure,” Isaac said slowly as he turned himself back to me.
“My parents… you said that all of this Insigne stuff was blood related, right? So they…they would’ve been…”
“Like us?” Isaac suggested as he slowly started to nod. “There’s no doubt really, they would have to be.”
I felt myself breathe out heavily. “And what about my Uncle…would he be too?”
“If his parents were, which they more than likely were also…possibly,” Isaac nodded, “but I did check. We tend to keep names of us, and addresses…”
“And you didn’t find anything on him, did you?” I guessed.
Isaac shook his head slightly. “But the records aren’t always correct.”
“If he was…I think I would’ve grown up differently,” I admitted. “I think I’ve always been able to see demons. When I was younger, I had night terrors, constantly, and they…well a therapist, put it down to the traumatic death of my parents. I mean I used to be afraid of the dark because I always thought I saw something in it, and I don’t know…sometimes I wasn’t scared of it, I liked it…if my uncle is one of us, then why did he let me live my childhood without knowing the truth?”
“You know I can’t answer that,” Isaac said softly.
I realised he was staring at me when I spoke, and I can only imagine what was going through his head.
“I can’t see him, can I?” I guessed. “Not even to just ask?”
Isaac shook his head. “Not straight away. It would put him danger, and right now your house is safe, they don’t know you live there.”
I just nodded at him and I breathed out. I felt myself shake my again. I was suddenly feeling so stupid for speaking my mind.
“I’m going to go to bed then,” I told him.
“Okay,” Isaac nodded.
I gave him a bit of weak smile before I again turned to leave his room, but as I stepped out into the corridor I heard him say something to me.
“Your life will never be the same again, Lily, but maybe that isn’t a bad thing…because you finally know the truth about who you are.”
Chapter Sixteen
It was early when I woke up, there was no white light pouring through my window believing me to think it was still in the earlier hours of the morning. I had figured out they controlled the light on the windows so we could at least stay on some sort of schedule. Isaac had not come to wake me up to leave, not that he needed to anyway. I had been sleeping on and off all night, in fact it barely felt like I slept at all.
It was seven in the morning according to my watch when Isaac tapped on my door to see if I was awake. He didn’t really say anything, he didn’t need to. He wanted to sneak out of here as cleanly and quietly as he could this morning, and I knew he didn’t want to be seen. So, with a slight nod as he left the bedroom door open I knew that meant it was go time.
I hoisted my duffel bag over my shoulder after I made sure I hadn’t left anything behind. I proceeded to walk out of the room to where I found Isaac in the hall waiting for me with his bag also over his shoulder too. He again gave me a nod as we started to proceed back down the winding corridors of this place and back to the portal.
Rounding the corner to the portal exit I should’ve realised that Eve and Seth would be there waiting for us before we left. I was glad to see Eve too before I left, but not as glad to see the amount of books she held in her hand.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Eve said softly as she walked over to me, leaving Seth free to speak to Isaac for the moment. “Everything here will help you, I promise.”
“Everything?” I asked her suspiciously.
“Yes, yes,” Eve rolled her eyes. “There just a book or two on marks, the rest mostly on demons, but I threw another one in there just for you. And Annabeth’s diary is here for you, after I had sneaky look. I think it could help with some of what you’ve been dealing with, but Isaac always has my number for when you need to talk.”
I felt myself smile a little as she put the books in my hand. Eve could see right through me and she knew that I was more terrified of this dagger then any demon they could throw at me. Knowing, right now seemed to be half the battle and no one seemed to understand that better than Eve.
Isaac didn’t stick so close to me as he had done last time, as we walked back out through the portal and into the forest, he barely let me say goodbye to Seth after I had said goodbye to Eve, he was in such a hurry to leave, it made me anxious. It didn’t help that he decided to walk at an extremely fast pace along the path through the trees.
It felt like a shorter walk then I remembered from last time, and as we broke the line of the trees I again saw the site of the SUV with Hadley leaning on the front of the hood and Felix next to her. Hadley sighed a little at the sight of us and pushed herself off the hood of the car and walked around to the driver’s side. Felix walked over to me and took my bag off me before I could protest.
Barely any of us spoke to each other, not even as we all got into the car to drive home. Other than the occasional whisper between Hadley and Isaac in the front seat, no one spoke. I was sure Felix was going to ask me something, ask about what happened at the council, but he never spoke a word to me, none of them did. It made me wonder if when Isaac called F
elix, he had told both of them not to say anything, or ask, or maybe they weren’t allowed to ask.
I didn’t feel like I was home as I walked into Isaac’s apartment. We passed my street on the way home and all I wanted to do was to tell Hadley to turn down it and take me home. I was in the same city, I was still in Brooklyn, but I left like I was so far away from my own home. It felt like I was never going back.
“Put your stuff in my room,” Isaac told me as he sat down on the couch, as he started to fiddle with the bandage on his arm.
“Your room?” I asked surprised.
“You need somewhere to sleep, don’t you?” he said. “I’ll have the couch, you have my room.”
“But-,” I started argue.
“Just do it, Lily,” Isaac interrupted me, shaking his head.
Felix sat down next to Isaac as he started to help him get the bandage off his arm and I realised Felix was going to heal it, but Felix looked at me first, kind of apologetic, he wasn’t the one who should apologise for Isaac’s sudden attitude change.
I put my bag down onto Isaac’s bed and sat down, putting my feet on the bed too and pulling my knees up to my chin, curling up. Whenever I had sat in Isaac’s room I never really paid any attention to what was him his room. It was clear he wasn’t the sentimental type from glancing around. He had no pictures, nothing other than a deodorant can on his wardrobe in the right corner of the room, and he didn’t even have a book shelf. His bed was located in the middle of room up against the right hand wall. The wardrobe was placed in the corner, right of the only window in the room. Along the left hand wall of his room he had desk, and other than some speakers, a stack of papers and a laptop, the room was fairly empty. The room hardly felt lived in.
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