And then, he was gone before Rebekah could say anything else, and in his place stood Holly, whose horrified expression told her the witch had heard everything.
“When were you going to tell me?” Holly questioned as she took a few hesitant steps.
Rebekah shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Rebekah, I…if I had known…” Holly gulped nervously. “I wouldn’t have pushed you to invite him. I’m sorry.”
“It’s done,” Rebekah said, her voice hard. The tears were still there, waiting to be shed. “Just one more thing Henri managed to take from me.” And then, she finally let the tears fall as she turned her back on her friend and began to make her way back to her room.
~~~
Andre: Munich, Germany
“I was wondering if it would be possible for me to travel to Roseway,” Andre told Jason the moment she got back to the facility. “There’s something I need to pick up.”
Jason just looked at her as if she suddenly sprouted two heads. “You’re asking me to temporarily lift the seal I created in order to allow you to venture into Roseway,” he clarified, “which, by the way, is across an entire ocean.”
Since she was expecting Jason to immediately let her go alone, Andre was taken aback by his response. “I need to do this. You don’t understand.”
“It’s one thing to go to a hotel for the night within Munich. It’s an entirely other thing to go to Roseway, which is about as far from Munich as you can get.” Jason paused. “Not to mention the fact that you are asking to go alone while I lessen the seal on that suburb, and depending on how long you plan to spend there, it could be enough time for Henri to take control of it again.”
Andre shuddered at that thought; she hadn’t considered that factor before.
“What do you want that is so important for me to lessen Roseway’s defenses?” Jason questioned.
“The knife William gifted to Rebekah,” Andre replied, forcing herself to look at Jason.
Jason said nothing for a while as if he were contemplating letting her go. “I can’t let you go alone,” was his conclusion.
“But who would—”
Just then, a knock sounded on the door, and Andre diverted her attention to the intrusion.
“Come in,” Jason said, sighing in frustration.
Andre watched the door swing open, revealing Arizona.
“Courtney mentioned you’d be here,” Arizona said to Andre. “I need to talk to you.”
“I was just about to…” Andre started to say, feeling conflicted as she turned to Jason for the final verdict.
“Arizona goes with you,” Jason declared. “I’m assuming Courtney and Kat will be taking your roles while you’re gone.”
“Wait, where are we—”
“We won’t be there long. I can assure you that,” Andre said a little too quickly, grabbing Arizona and leaving the office.
“Where are we going?” Arizona asked again in evident curiosity.
“Roseway,” Andre responded, leading Arizona down the hallway. “There’s something there I need to bring back.”
“But that means Jason will have to…” Arizona let her words trail off, unable to continue.
“Yes, he will,” Andre said, “but I know where to look, so we won’t be long.”
~~~
Roseway looked the same since the last time Andre had visited the suburb. The only difference was the place was deserted, as Andre expected it would be.
“I’ve never been here before,” Arizona said, her voice barely above a whisper, “but I’ve heard so much about this place.”
“It’s not much anymore, but back when Henri still had control over it, this place used to be very…busy,” Andre explained, leading Arizona through the downtown area to where the old cul-de-sac was. The house at the end of the street was where she planned to go, where the knife was located.
“Andre, I do still need to talk to you,” Arizona said suddenly once they reached the cul-de-sac.
Andre stopped in her tracks and turned to face Arizona.
“Holly lost control of herself yesterday,” Arizona continued. “She nearly killed someone in your assignment. Jamie, I think her name was.”
Upon hearing this, Andre started moving towards Arizona at a fast pace. “Arizona, I swear if this is another one of your stories to convince me that Holly is dragging me down, I swear I’ll—”
“It’s not!” Arizona snapped. “I swear; you can ask her about it later.”
Andre stopped advancing towards Arizona, studying her. Since she had known Arizona, the witch had never liked Holly. In order to try and keep Andre away from Holly, she would spin stories about Holly—stories that were mostly false and one of the many reasons Andre had barely spoken to Holly for years—in an attempt to convince Andre that she would be better off if she broke all ties with her mother’s side of the family. “Okay,” she finally said.
“‘Okay’? Is that all you have to say?” Arizona said. “Andre, your cousin nearly killed someone!”
“I’m sure she had a good reason to,” Andre stated plainly. After everything you’ve done, Arizona, you can’t expect me to believe that.
“You’re so difficult.” Arizona sighed. “Also, Kat’s not at the ICW. She left around last night.”
“What?” Andre nearly shrieked. “She didn’t let Jason know?”
“I don’t think that’s nearly as important as why she would leave in the first place.”
“Yes, it is! With Kat gone and you here, that means no one is with the Russian clique!” said Andre. “What about Tatiana?”
“What about her? She may be an Innocent, but—”
“That’s what’s wrong. I’m not a big fan of leaving Kat alone with them, but if she’s not there and Jason finds out, then—”
“He’ll blame Kat,” Arizona said. “He knows I’m with you. What’s important is the fact that Kat left, and I have no idea where she went.”
Andre remembered hearing bits of the conversation that Kat had with Melissa about possibly meeting to discuss a move against Henri Anderson. “I think I know why she’s gone.”
“Why is that?”
“She’s meeting with Melissa Young,” Andre paused, “about possibly betraying Henri Anderson.” Andre could tell Arizona was taken aback by this, and she quickly turned and started up the steps to the house at the end of the street.
“She’s never really been fully sane,” Arizona noted. “She won’t succeed; you know that.”
“I don’t know. She might.” Andre pried the front door open, which, unsurprisingly, opened with ease, since Henri’s influence was no longer prominent. “I don’t know where they’re meeting, though.”
“Well, where are some possible options?” questioned Arizona. “Perhaps we can let Jason know and—”
“Look, I don’t know,” said Andre, “and frankly, I’m not going to worry about it right now.”
Arizona didn’t say anything after that.
Silently, Andre led Arizona through the house, going upstairs and then down the hallway. Upon entering the room where broken jars and dried blood still littered the floor, Andre identified the knife on the far side.
“I’m assuming you came back for that knife,” a voice said to the left of her.
For a second, that voice startled Andre; she didn’t expect anyone to still be here. After noticing it was Alison, Ava’s mother, she let herself relax. “Yes, I was told I would need it,” she said. “You know, Jason temporarily lowered his seal on Roseway, so you could leave.”
“Who said I wanted to leave?” Alison questioned, emerging from the shadows. “Roseway has been my home since its creation in 1830. Since before the creations of the other Seattle settlements.”
Andre went over and picked up the knife, clutching it tightly so that her knuckles turned white.
“I’m sure by now Ava told you what she found out,” Alison said. “How’s Rebekah?”
“She’s fine, and yeah, Ava told me everything.�
��
“Promise me you’ll teach her how to use that thing. We don’t want a repeat of last time.”
“Yeah, I will,” said Andre, turning towards Arizona. Without another word, she left Alison alone in the suburb as she and Arizona traveled back to the ICW facility in Munich.
And Jason sealed the suburb up once again.
~~~
Holly: Munich, Germany
Rebekah wasn’t given a choice. As soon as Andre returned with the knife that was left in Roseway, the Innocent was taken by both chaperones to the courtyard in order to work on self-defense with the weapon, their reason being that she didn’t prepare herself enough with Roseway.
Holly chose to remain behind in pursuit of Tatiana Andreivich, whom she was only recently informed was an Innocent. While searching for the room of the Russian clique, Holly felt nauseous about possibly having to deal with Kat and Arizona. She was well aware of Arizona’s dislike of her, and Kat was an entirely different threat.
Yet when she finally reached the room, she was surprised to find that Viktoriya was the one who answered her knock. She tried peeking into the room, but she saw no sign of Arizona or Kat.
“I’m looking for Tatiana,” Holly said rather plainly. “Is she here?”
Viktoriya only stared at her, saying nothing at first.
“Is Tatiana here?” Holly tried again.
“Tatiana!” Viktoriya finally said before finishing her thought in Russian, none of which Holly could understand.
Within moments, Tatiana appeared in the doorway, her long, blonde hair falling down the sides of her face.
“Holly, is it?” Tatiana greeted before speaking to Viktoriya, who stepped to the side of the doorway. Then, she motioned for Holly to enter the room—and there was still no sign of Arizona or Kat. “What brings you here?”
“I know what you are, Tatiana,” Holly said, trying to sound intimidating.
“And I, you,” Tatiana replied, an amused smile playing on her lips. “If that’s what you want to talk about, follow me.”
Holly was soon led into the bedroom that she presumed was reserved for the chaperones.
“You have to excuse Viktoriya,” Tatiana stated as she closed the door behind them. “She doesn’t really understand or speak English well.”
“I kind of figured that.” Holly took a seat on one of the beds. “Where are Arizona and Kat?”
“I assume Arizona is with Jason.” Tatiana paused. “As for Kat, I have no idea where she went, but I do know she left the facility.”
“She did?” Holly questioned. Is she seriously meeting with Melissa and Victoria so soon?
“Yeah.” Tatiana nodded. “By the way, I know about what you did to Jamie.”
“I suppose you don’t support it,” said Holly, a little surprised Tatiana would bring it up, considering the fact that she had wiped the memories of every human who had seen it.
Tatiana laughed a little. “Jamie is way too competitive. She won’t let me talk to Rebekah.”
“How did you know about Rebekah before meeting her?”
“My group keeps a very good record on those who are presumed to be Innocents,” Tatiana explained. “We are very informed about Roseway, which marks Rebekah very high on our list.”
“Your clique?” Holly questioned. “Are they all Innocents?”
“Not my clique,” Tatiana said. “I only formed my clique so I could come here because I knew Rebekah would be here. The members here are friends of mine, of which I told them this competition would be fun. But as soon as this competition is over, we will be no more. None of them know about my true intentions.”
“Then, who?”
“My group in the Athens area,” Tatiana said. “Surely you’ve heard of them.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well, there’s a group of Innocents in the Athens area, and I have interest in Rebekah joining it,” Tatiana said. “Yet, I can’t get too close to her without Jamie getting in the way.”
“No,” Holly said. Just the mere thought of Rebekah leaving was enough to send her into a panic. Too much was at stake for them to be separated. “I’m not letting you do that either.”
Tatiana looked at Holly questioningly. “Might I ask why?”
“Rebekah needs to stay with Mandy and I,” Holly argued. “We need to stay together.”
“I can assure you she’d be safe.”
“No, I refuse to let you,” Holly said, turning to leave.
Tatiana reached out and clutched Holly’s arm. “Will you at least inform her of my offer? Allow her to make her own decision.”
Holly shook off Tatiana’s grasp, and without another word, she left.
~~~
Rebekah: Munich, Germany
Rebekah clutched the knife tightly, staring at the blank face of the human-like target in front of her. Only one objective was issued: she needed to throw her knife at the target as accurately as possible. The only problem was that Rebekah had terrible aim when it came to throwing objects.
Courtney stood beside her, trying to help her get into a good throwing position, but she wasn’t listening. Instead, her eyes were fixated on the target itself and Andre, who stood next to the target.
As soon as Courtney was done explaining, she took a step back, leaving Rebekah to throw the knife at the target. Though, since Rebekah barely heard anything that Courtney had to say, she improvised, taking a step back and throwing the knife like she would a Frisbee.
Yet, the knife didn’t sail in the direction she wanted it to go—towards the target. Instead, its blade decided to take a detour, hurling itself towards Andre.
Without batting an eyelash, Rebekah noticed Andre’s concentration go into the knife, forcing it to suddenly stop and then fall lifelessly to the ground. Picking up the knife, Andre began to walk to where Rebekah stood.
“I’m so sorry,” Rebekah said apologetically. “I was aiming for the target.”
“It’s fine, but maybe you should use less wrist,” Andre paused as she handed Rebekah back the knife, “and actually listen to Courtney.”
How does she know I wasn’t listening? Rebekah wondered, accepting the knife.
“Your movements were too jerky,” Courtney started to explain as if she had read Rebekah’s thoughts. “I told you specifically that your movements had to be smooth. Try it again.”
Shrugging in response, Rebekah concentrated heavily on smoother movements as she flung the knife at the target—barely nicking one of its edges.
“Better,” Courtney said, “but not good enough.”
“I don’t get why I have to learn how to do this,” Rebekah grumbled as she was handed the knife back. Getting into the position for another throw, Rebekah caught sight of Jeffery a little ways away right as she let go of the knife. Sailing over the target, it landed on the grass.
“Okay, that was even worse than before,” Courtney said bluntly.
Rebekah barely paid attention to her. Instead, her eyes focused on Jeffery as he started to make his way over to their training session, her heart skipping several beats.
“Rebekah, focus!” Courtney commanded.
Rebekah ignored Courtney as she went to Jeffery and flung her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.
“Unbelievable,” Rebekah heard Courtney say. “Jeffery, you need to leave.”
“I came to watch,” Jeffery declared as Rebekah broke away from him. “I promise I won’t be any more of a distraction.”
“Fine,” Courtney caved. “Rebekah, come back over here.”
Rebekah did just that, watching as Jeffery positioned himself behind her and Courtney. Her knife was handed back to her, and she readied herself to throw the knife again. Using even less wrist, she let the knife go, watching it pierce the left nipple of the target.
“That’s the best one you’ve done so far,” Courtney congratulated. “Keep at it!”
Rebekah watched as Andre yanked the knife out of the target, and soon, the knife was pressed in
to her hands. “If I accurately throw this,” she asked as she readied herself, “can we be done with this?”
“If you do that, I don’t see any reason why we need to continue,” Courtney replied.
Briefly, Rebekah stared at her reflection in the knife’s shiny surface before her eyes darted to the target. Bringing her arm back, she let the knife fly from her fingertips, burying itself within the neck of the target.
For a moment, Courtney said nothing. Then, she commented, “I guess we’re done, then.”
Turning away from the target, Rebekah went to Jeffery, trying to conceal a smile.
“Is there any particular reason why they’re having you do this?” Jeffery asked her, motioning towards the target, where the knife still dug deep into the neck.
“They…claim I need to learn self-defense,” Rebekah said lamely. “Why did you come here?”
“I needed to see you before…” Jeffery’s voice broke suddenly.
Rebekah looked at him questioningly. “Before what?”
“I’m going to be leaving for the night,” Jeffery told her. “I need to get away from this place for a while.”
Before she could rebut, Rebekah noticed Holly out of the corner of her eye—and she broke away from Jeffery as Holly approached them. Courtney and Andre went over to her, and as they started talking, she couldn’t help but be curious as to what they were talking about. “Excuse me,” she said as she left Jeffery and went to join them. Squeezing herself next to Holly, she said, “What’s going on?”
The first thing she noticed was that Andre’s expression became distraught. No one answered her at first.
“What’s wrong?” Rebekah tried again.
“It’s Kat,” Holly replied. “I heard her talking on the phone with Melissa yesterday while you were gone, and she mentioned that she would be meeting Melissa and Victoria in Barcelona. I suspect they’re visiting someone there in order to have aid in the rebellion. Apparently, that’s where she is currently. That’s why she’s not at the ICW facility.”
“Barcelona is where my father is,” Andre added, glancing up at them. “Surely, they’re not referring to him.”
Bleeding Misery (Threatening Souls Book 2) Page 23
