“Alexander,” I start again, but he stops me.
“You put my life in danger Adaline. I not only helped a prisoner escape and defied my oath to the King, but I helped a gifted escape,” he says, shaking his hanging head.
“So you’re saying if you knew I was a gifted you would have turned me in?” I ask shocked at what I am hearing.
“No, of course not,” he says, his eyes meeting mine for the first time, “But I should have known what I was getting myself into. Do you realize how much of a fool I look like to Paylon now? I didn’t even know the girl I have been best friends with my whole life has the gift. She didn’t even trust me enough to mention it,” he says under his voice, more to himself.
“How do you think I feel?” I say softly. “You didn’t trust me either.”
Alexander doesn’t respond so I stop fighting him. I’m about to get up and leave when I see Alexander toss the journal back by my feet. I bend over and pick it up. I try and open the journal by lifting the cover and find it magically unlocked.
“Leave and get to freedom, you have what you wanted,” he shoots.
“But what about you? Where will you go?” I say.
“Back to the castle I suppose,” he mumbles.
“Alexander, are you crazy? If you return you’ll be killed!” my panicked voice says.
“Adaline you have what you want, now just leave!” he shouts back at me. He’s trying to sound forceful, but I can hear the shakiness of his voice.
“But you’re wrong. I don’t have what I want,” I say in a small voice.
“Then what could you possibly want?” He shouts and turns to face me.
“I want you, Alexander. I need you.” My grip tightens on the journal as I get up to leave, not wanting to hear what more he has to say because I know it’s nothing that will make this any better.
I make it back to the clearing and into the bunker, my eyes full of tears but not letting any go. I sit down on my bed and open the journal, the only thing I have left to turn to. On the first old tan page is one sentence in bold letters. I can’t believe what it says. I wipe my eyes clear of tears as I reread my mother’s handwriting.
If I could only tell you one thing it would be: Never Let Alexander Go.
I turn to the next page in the journal. “Why can I never let Alexander go?” I think to myself. The words start to magically appear down the page as if they were being written right now.
Adaline, if you let Alexander go your life will be over. I’ve seen the future happen in many different ways, but any without Alexander by your side ends with an early death for you. Alexander is the reason you have made it this far. He is the reason you have survived. If you let him go you will die. Together you have an immense amount of power. Each of you contribute in a certain way, and even without one, you will all fail. If you are reading this it may be too late. Adaline, you have to hurry.
“But I already know he won’t come back. I’ve tried everything,” I whisper to no one in particular, almost as if I was talking to my mother. I flip through the rest of the journal, but all the other pages are blank. It registers to me that this journal will only give me information when my mother would want me to have it. Knowing too much about the future would surely change its course.
I close the journal and put it back in my bag. My eyes catch on Alexander’s navy uniform jacket, still lying on his bed where I had left it this morning. How naive I was to think a jacket could make me feel safe. I truly hadn’t understood the level of forces King Renon had sent after us. I rise and make my way out of the shelter and sprint through the forest.
I go to the one place I know he might still be at, the river. When I reach it I’m terrified to see that he isn’t there anymore.
“Alexander,” I hear myself choke out. What if I am too late?
“Alexander,” I shout.
“Alexander!” I hear myself scream with a deathly shrill, sending birds into the sky, but still nothing. I look on the ground and notice a path of where the leaves have been parted heading down deeper into the forest along the river, right in the direction of Paylon. I turn and run down the path.
As I run my mind starts to bring up memories of the two of us before my life in the prison. Birthday parties and weekend adventures flash in my head. A particular memory starts to surface, the last time we were together before I was taken to the castle. We were so young back then.
The morning of the day my family was taken in as prisoners Alexander and I went out in the woods behind my house. We just walked in silence, listening to the song of the forest. We walked into a clearing full of white daisies. To us, it looked like they stretched on for miles.
“I’ve never seen this before,” I said as I reached down and pulled up a small daisy. I examined its white petals closely.
“We’ve been all over these woods, how have we not seen this before?” Alexander asked confused.
“It’s beautiful,” I said. I took a seat on the ground in a nest of daisies. Alexander sat down next to me and plucked up a flower. He turned to me and gently placed it in my hair behind my ear and said, “You’re my daisy princess.”
I laughed and leaned against him, “Then you’re my daisy prince.” The memory starts to fall away. I can’t lose him.
After running for what feels like hours in the burning summer sun my speed is now nothing, and I’m losing hope since I lost the trail a couple of yards back. The sun has started its descent. It’s early afternoon, but I know there’s no way I’ll find him in the dark. Just when I’m about to turn and go back I hear a low laugh coming from up ahead. I move closer, making sure to stay hidden. I kneel behind a tree and try to make out what is going on.
Looking at the scene it’s hard to make out what’s happening. In front of me is Paylon and the twins standing in a triangular formation, Paylon is front and center as always. I can see the Lost Souls lurking closely behind. Suddenly Alexander steps in to view and I take in a sharp breath.
Paylon and the twins are laughing hysterically at the stupidity of Alexander. All I want to do is leap forward and beg him to come back, but that wouldn’t help. I hear the laughter die down and Paylon begins to speak.
“What do you think you’re doing back here?” he asks, his confident voice booming through the forest.
“I have nowhere left to go,” Alexander responds with a very hoarse and cracked voice. He lifts his head back, making sure to keep eye contact, and reveals his cold, red, swollen eyes.
“What happened? Your girlfriend found out you’re a Sensor and kicked you out?” Chadian spits at him. I watch as he and his brother break into another round of laughter. Alexander’s face twitches and I know he’s trying to process how they had known he had that gift, but he can’t let them faze him.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Alexander says as he rolls his eyes in frustration, “and she was never even my friend. We needed to get to the same place and that’s all. I’m here to be turned into one of the Lost Souls.” Immediately the forest falls silent. My eyes are filling with tears, and I’m not even sure why. Was it because of what he said about our relationship? Or because I don’t want to lose him and have him be a Lost Soul.
“Really? You’re going to go down without a fight?” Paylon asks, not believing what he is hearing.
“I have nothing left to live for,” he says, hanging his head. I can see it in his face. He is without his friends and his family. His mother and father have both left him, and he can’t return to his hometown.
“Fine. You know the procedure,” I watch as Paylon pulls out a small container that conceals a purple potion. Alexander walks forward and falls to his knees, letting his head hang back with his mouth open. Paylon removes the cap and an eerie purple mist floats out.
I can’t let this happen. I scan the clearing confirming that they still haven’t found the horses, which means they don’t have their weapons. I act quickly, and just as the first drop is about to be poured I fling the bottle out of Paylon’s
hand, smashing it into a tree. I blink hard not sure what I just did. I’m starting to feel as though this gift controls me more than I control it.
Codian and Chadian whip around in confusion. In seconds Paylon flips out a long knife he had concealed on his belt and slices it across Alexander’s leg. Alexander screams and falls to his side, red blood running from his thigh I try to freeze Paylon, but it’s no use. I see the glowing green rock around his neck and I know I won’t be able to stop him.
Alexander sees me through the trees, but relief is not on his face. Instead of staying to fight I clench my eyes shut and try to teleport Alexander back to our camp. I remember the night in the castle with the coin. I focus hard and picture him lying back in the clearing by the bunker.
“Where’d he go?” I hear Codian yell and when I open my eyes I see that it worked. I scan the clearing looking for Toby, but he’s not here. Paylon’s gold eyes see me through the cluster of trees and I feel the blood leave my face. He races toward me, and my adrenalin builds. I close my eyes and just like I teleported Alexander, I also send myself back to our camp.
When I open my eyes I’m back at the campsite. Alexander is sitting next to me. His hands are pressed against his thigh, and I can see a distant and painful look on his face. At first, I’m confused, but then I realize the blood seeping through his fingers and running down his leg.
Out of instinct, I run over to him. I place my hands over his, but he shakes me away, “No! Adaline, you can’t help! I don’t want your help!” Tears start slipping through his tightly closed eyelids.
I ignore him and place my hands over his. Before he can push me away I make him freeze with my mind. It feels wrong to use my gift against him. Suddenly I feel the warm blood start flowing through my fingers. I need to move fast, even though I’m not sure what exactly I need to do. I move his hands and see the slash down his left thigh where Paylon had cut him. He’s going to need stitches. I rip his backpack from his shoulders and take out the first aid kit.
My hands start shaking as I dig through the kit. I grab the needle and nylon thread I had seen earlier. I grab my water bottle and try to twist off the cap but my hands won’t stop shaking. I take in a deep breath and my hands fall still. I twist off the cap and pour water over the needle and thread to try and clean them. Then, I pour what I have left on Alexander’s leg. His red blood washes down into the ground. I attach the needle to the thread and position myself above his leg.
I try to remember back to the night my mother gave me stitches. I had fallen and busted my arm open on a rock on my way home from Alexander’s. My family couldn’t afford to go see a doctor so my mother sat me down in the bathroom and gave me stitches.
“I’m going to squeeze now and it’s going to hurt but you can’t pull away Adaline, okay?” my mother had said to me. I sat on the chair in the bathroom while my mother knelt next to me. I shook my head and agreed. She squeezed the spot on my arm and I remember screaming really loud. “It’s okay, Adaline. I’m sewing it shut now, don’t look and don’t move.”
I clenched my eyes closed and felt the cool needle pierce my arm and weave itself in and out. When my mother finished she told me I could open my eyes. I did and watched her tie off the end of the stitching thread. She handed me a small blue pill for pain, but I remember it didn’t seem to do much. We never got to take medicine since it was too expensive. That was one of the only times I ever did.
I look down at Alexander’s thigh. I take my left hand and squeeze the wound together. Then, with my right, I send the needle through the bottom of the cut and out the top. I pull the thread through and then send the needle back through his skin. I do this until I’ve made my way down the gash and then work my way back, making sure to cross the stitches so they make a little “x”. Just like my mother had done with me. When I get back to the end I started at I tie off the stitching thread and cut the extra away with the small pocket knife from Alexander’s bag. I unfreeze Alexander and he lets out a scream of pain. He looks at his leg in disbelief. My hands are stained with his blood. I take his water bottle and pour it on the needle to clean it.
“Look, Alexander, there’s something I need to tell you,” I pause, waiting for him to ask me to continue, but he doesn’t. He just looks at me with red swollen eyes. So I continue anyway.
“I’m really sorry I kept my gift a secret. I know it could probably take years, maybe even forever before you even consider forgiving me. I want you to know that I truly am sorry and that it will never happen again,” I look at him and see that his facial expression hasn’t changed and I know that it is pointless.
I place the needle back into the first aid kit, my bloody hands shaking. Tears are forming in my eyes, and I just can’t take all this right now. I rise and take off into the forest. I think I hear Alexander yell my name, but all my senses are muffled. I can’t change his mind so what’s the point of trying? I’m so frustrated with myself that I just keep running, and running. I’m telling myself I’m breaking down because I don’t want to lose Alexander, but it’s more than that. His blood on my hands, the needle in and out of his skin, it sends a nauseous wave over me. I keep running trying to get away from it. Make it to the river. Wash the blood. I keep thinking over and over again. I almost got him killed. The thought seeps into my head and I’m sent into another wave of panic.
When I can’t physically run anymore I collapse to my knees, sending a shooting pain up my back. I fall to my side, letting out a shrieking cry of pain. My breath comes fast and shallow. Tears are streaming down my face, and suddenly I'm overcome by a feeling of exhaustion.
It feels like someone has dropped a hundred pounds on my chest knocking the air out of me. I suddenly can’t move any part of my body. I’m about to scream for help when, suddenly, I seem to have lost the ability to speak. Soon I can’t hear anything either, each sense slipping farther and farther away. I’m starting to panic more, which isn’t good, especially when I’m already paralyzed on the forest floor. Another shot of pain courses through my body, and then everything goes black. The last thing I see is the quiet world above me.
Chapter 9
When I regain consciousness it’s dark all around. I try and sit up and find my body able to move again, but extremely sore. Slowly I brace myself on a tree and drag my body to my feet. The river. I see it through the cluster of trees. I’m not overcome by panic from the blood and death from this morning anymore.
I walk to the river’s edge and clean Alexander’s dried blood off my hands. I can’t do that anymore. I can’t freak out. I have to stay in control. I try and lecture myself, but how do you control waves of panic and anxiety? One step at a time I make my way back to our camp.
When I step into the clearing the first thing I see is a fire brightly lit. I move closer and see Alexander and Zavy sitting near it. Zavy stands and races towards me, still limping on her foot.
“Where have you been?” she asks, her hands gripping my arms.
“The river,” I say and my tired eyes meet hers. “I’m sorry, I said we’d go get Toby,” I start to say but Zavy stops me.
“We have another plan.” Zavy leads me to the fire and hands me some meat and berries. I try and catch Alexander’s gaze through the flame, but he doesn’t look at me.
“What’s our plan?” I ask and scan the rest of the clearing for the first time. The dead soldiers from this morning’s battle still lay scattered around the forest rim. We are camped out on a battlefield, and I have to avoid looking at them to keep myself from getting sick.
“We’re going to stay in the bunker tonight,” Zavy says and I look to her in disbelief.
“Paylon knows that’s where we’ve been hiding. That’s the first place he’ll look,” I say between bites of food.
“That’s the point.” Zavy tosses another piece of wood on the fire and it explodes with sparks. “You and Alexander will be in the bunker. We’ll lock it from within so you are protected. I’ll wait up in a tree and when Paylon comes I’ll shoot him.�
� She drives the small stick she’d been holding into the soft dirt by her foot. “He’ll never see it coming.”
“Why don’t Alexander and I stay out of the bunker and help you in the attack?” I start to question.
“The Lost Souls will smell your scent. They’re here to track you, not me. They’ll know you’re out of the bunker and the plan will be ruined,” Zavy says and I nod understanding.
“And if Paylon doesn’t come?” I ask.
“Then we’ll go after him,” Zavy says flatly and I nod agreeing. It’s better for us if he comes here. Then we have the advantage.
“Toby wasn’t at his camp,” I say, remembering that I had looked for him when I saved Alexander.
“Alexander says they’re holding him at one of the Stake Points,” Zavy says.
“What’s that?” I ask and direct my question to Alexander.
He still doesn’t look up when he answers. “They’re camps set up throughout the woods with cages. We use them to lock up the runways we find out here until transports can be sent to get them.” While I may have struggled to trust Alexander in the beginning because he was a guard at the castle, I now see how valuable it can be to us. We have inside knowledge.
“So we take care of Paylon and then go save Toby,” I say and finish off my late dinner.
“Let’s get into position,” Zavy says and stands. Alexander begins to move toward the bunker, but I stay put. My eyes stare into the bright red flames of the fire and I am fighting the wave of nausea setting in at the idea of going down underground again.
“Take a minute, but you need to go soon,” Zavy says when she reads the fear on my face. They both leave the clearing and I watch Zavy climb high into a tree just over the bunker lid.
I reach into my bag and pull out my mother’s journal. I lift its worn cover and turn to the page where I left off. Again the words appear to form down the parchment as if my mother is writing them now.
The Markings Page 9
