by Tara Chau
“Get out of my way,” he says, spying Liam laughing with some of his other friends.
Not taking another second to rethink what I’m about to do, I lash out, landing a hard punch right into Ty’s jaw. A splitting pain arches through my fist as Ty staggers back a few steps, rubbing his jaw, blinking to clear his watery vision. A few months ago, I would have cried myself, would have had to bandage my own fist. Quickly glancing around, I let out a sigh when I know that only a few other kids saw, except my own group, who are currently gapping in disbelief. Returning my gaze back to Ty, I see that he's straightened again but still caressing his jaw.
“Calm down,” I say sternly, not one bit of weakness showing. “Go back to eating your pasta. She'll tell you what happened when she's ready."
Ty watches me for a few moments. He seems to be debating whether or not confronting Liam is worth earning another few punches to the face. When he decides against it, he turns around and stalks back to the others, muttering something under his breath. That was probably a bit harder than necessary, but I’ve been waiting a while to do that, gathering a list of reasons in my head.
Turning towards where Liam is sitting, I see that he’s watching me with greedy eyes. Maybe I should have let Ty beat him. No. I'll do it if it comes to that. Walking back over to Anne, I smile at Ty. He returns it, assuring me that there are no hard feelings.
“You’re absolutely crazy,” Anne says, handing me back my dinner.
I smile proudly at her, looking around the circle, laughing softly as Hayden throws a wink my way, along with an approving nod.
“I wish you would have told me you were going to do that,” Jess complains. “I would have liked to get it on camera.”
The three of us laugh, turning into squeals as we try to save our falling pasta. I look at Helen. She smiles genuinely at me, her eyes alight with amusement. I remember the time when I punched Ty in the stomach. She had just told me that he was probably making it more dramatic than necessary. She'd undoubtedly laughed as well when Ty came over, rubbing his bruised jaw.
By nine o’clock, all of us are in our tents, whispering quietly, Anne and Jess between Helen and me. When Miss Lenox orders silence, I lay on my sleeping bag, looking up at the tent roof, listening to the sounds of the others sleeping. Tomorrow will be our last full day of camp. Feeling relieved and disappointed at the same time, I turn over so that my back is facing Anne. Wanting to fall asleep so badly, I sigh in frustration.
My body and mind are on full alert. Even though I have two trained Protector's between Helen and me, admittedly, I am still scared. Flashes of Death come to life as I close my eyes, randomly popping out of the dark in my mind. My eyes fly open as another image comes to life, making my breathing ragged and uneven. What feels like hours later, I fall into the darkness of my unsteady mind.
* * *
A blinding white light blooms before me, revealing a green meadow. I blink several times, confusion overpowering. In front of me, there is a girl facing away - Me.
I'm in a dream. As I cautiously approach her, she turns to face me, a look of concern plastered onto her features. I know now that this is Dyla, visiting me in my dream, like the time when I fell through the earth. I thought that this would never happen again. I thought that she would never speak to me again. When her words ring through my head, I flinch.
Her voice doesn't match my own. It's cold and harsh, but somehow soft and angelic at the same time; it's dangerous. I know that it's Dyla's voice.
“Run,” she commands.
“What?” I ask, even more confused.
“Lucien Novell, he is to invade the Sanctuary tonight. Run, stop him,” she says desperately.
* * *
Bolting upright, I ignore the ache in my head as I scramble to open my bag, yanking out my hidden staff, waking Anne. My head swims with drowsiness, but I shake it away frantically, focusing on what is in front of me.
“What are you doing?” she hisses.
“Just cover for me. I’ll be back,” I say urgently, shoving my black hoody over the top of my singlet and pulling on some jeans.
As I exit the tent, a thought hits me. Crap, I'm three hours away from the bloody Sanctuary! Okay, okay, okay. Even if I do run as fast as I can, using my extra powers from Dyla, it will still take at least forty minutes to get there. My head sprints through a dozen other options, nothing even remotely possible presents itself. With no other choice, I run.
The wind whips harshly against me, making my face sting and eyes water. The whole world is one big, massive blur. I have to stop a few times to read the road signs, running too fast to catch all the information.
I can see a car up ahead, but I don't stop. Instead, I run further into the dark side, shadowed by the trees. Passing the car easily, I would have laughed if the circumstances were different. Running with the wind, an idea blooms inside my racing head. Using all of my focus, I stop time.
The car behind me stops, the bats in the sky freeze, and the writhing shadows halt. This will give me extra time. I know that I won't be able to hold this for the entire time, so I draw out as much energy as I can to fuel my running, remembering to conserve some energy for when I have to confront Lucien. Fear so plain and blinding makes me shake.
My arms flail as I regain my balance.
About twenty minutes later, time starts again. I let out a relieved sigh as the pressure releases from my mind. I'm so close. There should only be another ten minutes left. Pushing away the exhaustion and the aching feeling in my legs, I focus on breathing. The trees rush past me, somehow clear and bright despite my inhumane speed and the night's darkness. Though every muscle and limb in my body screams in protest, I force myself to travel faster, pushing one last blast of energy out.
I exhale a deeply relieved gasp as I enter a familiar street, so, so close. The edges of my vision start to blur. I can feel the burning on my cheeks where the wind is hitting me. A moment of clarity washes over me. This is so surreal. This should be impossible, but I am doing it. I am running faster than any car ever created.
Winding between streets, I gain more speed, faster and faster. There's a fork in the road up ahead, along with a fence blocking the straight path. I know that if I were to jump over the fence, it would save me at least five minutes. Cursing colourfully, I let out an uneven breath as I approach the wall and realise how tall it really is. There won't be enough time or room for me to stop. If I slow down now, I will smack straight into it.
When I know that I have to jump, I take a deep breath and leap, using every inch of power I can muster. I soar over the brick wall, arms flailing about, with inches left to spare, laughing triumphantly.
The relief is short-lived as I spot Lucien striding down the road. Slowing my speed, I make myself stop about three metres in front of him, resisting the urge to double over with my hands on my knees, panting. Walking forward confidently, I force my screaming lungs to quiet and smile sweetly, stopping a metre away.
"We gotta stop meeting like this. I seem to only see you when I'm trying to stop you from doing something sadistic,” I say casually.
Lucien just smiles, tilting his head to the right slightly. “Thought you were at camp,” he replies.
"Was thought a midnight run would be nice,” I say with a shrug.
“Long run,” he says simply.
“Not as bad as I thought it would be,” I say. Pulling out my staff, I extend the blades, flashing him a smile. "Now, why not explain to me what the hell you're doing?"
“Right, I’m just on my way to the Sanctuary, have to pass on an urgent message,” he says smoothly.
"Oh, damn, see, this might come as a surprise to you, but it is a Sanctuary, meaning that cold-blooded killers such as yourself are unfortunately a no-no,” I say, speaking as if he is a five-year-old.
He simply shrugs, not denying my accusation.
"What are you planning, Lucy?" I ask more softly, hoping the sound of his old nickname wil
l make him open up a bit more.
“Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride,” he chants.
I look at him confused, trying to force my brain to work and digest what he’s just said.
“The seven… to rise,” he says, a look of pure amusement painted across his features.
Lucien attempts to walk forward, but I step in his way, shoving my staff between us, so if he were to continue walking, the blade would skewer both of us. Lucien looks up into my eyes and gives a disapproving look, shaking his head.
“You do get very reckless without the bodyguard constantly watching you, don’t you?” he says, eyebrow raised.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.
Lucien clicks his tongue, rolling his eyes. “What would Gabe think of this?”
"Gabe isn't here right now,” I answer, not allowing myself time to think about him.
“Too true. He's in Maline, a beautiful city,” he says, grinning.
I know that he's just set the perfect trap, but I can't help but plunge face-first into it. "How do you know that?” I ask cautiously. “What did you do, Lucien?”
Lucien’s eyes sparkle with joy, a deathly chill washing over me. Tapping the tip of my blade idly, he looks me straight in the eyes.
“Let’s just say he’s a bit… stuck, well he was when I left him, that is. Now, if you don't mind, I have other things that I have to do, so would you deliver my message?"
Without waiting for a reply, he vanishes, leaving me with a very confused brain and an extreme case of the shivers, but it isn’t from the cold.
* * *
Stiffly climbing into the tent an hour later, I bite back a scream as I see Jess and Anne sitting up, watching me. Zipping up the door, I crawl over to my mat, fumbling for my things, stuffing them into my bag.
“Where the flip have you been?” Anne hisses quietly.
I want to answer, but I can’t. Confronting Lucien, being one step away from being impaled by my own blade, running hundreds of miles per hour with his riddle muddling up my brain, exhaustion overriding all other senses, and finding out that Gabe might be hurt, has sent me spiralling into a panic attack. My hands started to shake as I try quickly folding my clothes, giving up instantly, I simply stuff them in. My body starts to shake as I recall Lucien's wicked, conniving grin, tears threatening to surface.
“Okay, stop,” Jess says, turning me around and grabbing hold of my hands tightly, looking me straight in the eyes. She silently challenges me to escape, not breaking eye contact.
“First question, where were you?” she asks clearly.
“Home,” I reply simply.
A look of confusion flashed across both Anne and Jess's faces. Anne asks the next question.
“Why?”
Quickly thinking up the shortest explanation, I say, “Dyla sent me. Lucien was about to enter the Sanctuary; she contacts me through dreams.”
“What did you do?” Jess asks.
“I stopped him, but he said Gabe is stuck in Maline, he’s in trouble, I’m leaving,” I say, refusing to drop my gaze, refusing to look away from their horrified features.
“What else did he say?” Anne asks quietly.
I hesitate before replying, "Nothing, he said nothing else." The lie is tasting bitter in my mouth.
“You can’t leave,” Jess says, her grip tightening, wise.
“She’s right,” Anne agrees, unwise.
“Care to say why?” I ask coldly.
“You won’t be able to get into Maline, and also, you can’t just disappear from a camp in the middle of the night,” Jess says calmly. "Gabe is one of the best. He can take care of himself for another few days,” she says unsurely.
“Jess, you haven’t seen what Lucien can do. He can kill with one snap of his fingers. Gabe is in Maline, a whole city of Protector's, and more people could be hurt. Lucien wouldn't make the journey there, for one person,” I say, trying to calm down my heartbeat.
“How did he even get in?” Anne asks.
“He would have needed clearance from someone inside, and he couldn’t have had a nai-dre’. We need to find out how he got in, so we can stop him from doing it again,” Jess explains.
“Yes, yes, all very good, but first, we help the people who are stuck,” I say, removing my hands from Jess’s and fiddling with the zipper of my sleeping bag.
Anne shakes her head, looking at me with impatient eyes. "I want to leave as well, but we can't just go racing off to Maline. We're at a school camp."
“And, we'd need to ask Daniel for our nai-dre'. He's keeping them for us while we're here. It would be suspicious if we were to walk in in the middle of the night demanding entrance to Maline. Plus, if what you think is true, and there are more people than Gabe who could be hurt, we'd need back up,” Jess states smartly.
"Right, we have no idea what has happened or what is happening right now,” Anne says.
What they're saying makes sense, but the fact that people, especially Gabe, could be in trouble makes my blood boil.
“So, what do we do?" I impatiently ask the million-dollar question.
“We stay until the end of camp,” Jess holds up her hand, motioning for me to stay quiet as I try to protest. "When we get home, we go straight to the Sanctuary and talk to Daniel. Assemble a team to go in and assess everything. The people in Maline might already have things under control, might not, we should expect the worst."
“We don’t know what we need to do till we get there,” Anne explains. "We just have to stay calm and not do anything dramatic,” she says directly at me. "Gabe is like a brother to me. I want to get him safe as much as you do, Di."
Nodding reluctantly, it takes the rest of my energy not to scream in frustration and anger. Lucien did this to hurt me, maybe he had a bigger plan with Maline, but he targeted Gabe because he knew that it would affect me. The seven words ring through my head, making me more agitated. What could it all be? What is the planning? I haven’t gone to the Sanctuary, hadn’t delivered his message. A deadly thought comes to mind, one that could possibly be worse than facing Lucien. Looking up at my friends who are still watching me, I smile slowly.
“Now, who’s going to tell Ty?”
The last day of camp feels like it goes on forever. After getting yelled at by Ty for a solid hour, plus his lecture about being reckless, and a billion questions like why on earth would I go out in the middle of the night to confront Lucien Novell on my own, it turns out to be one heck of a day. The next day, I find that Ty is just as eager to leave as I am. His bag is packed before the teachers are even awake. On the hike back out of the campsite, I barely stop for a drink or to rest. The urge to get back and to take up my weapons drives me for the whole two hours.
When we are on the bus, I sleep for an hour due to the fact that I am still recovering from the massive cross-country run I did the other night. I'd told Anne and Jess about it; they didn't believe me till I showed them my intensely blistered feet.
We arrived back at school and rushed off the bus, Miss Lenox barely having time to get my double arrow to me before all five of us run full speed to the Sanctuary. Ty had told Helen not to worry and to go home, promising to fill her in later.
Appearing in the foyer of the Sanctuary ten minutes later, we all march into the lifts, Ty leading us straight into Daniel’s office. All five of us line up in front of him, surveying the scene before us. He is clearly in a meeting, oops. Daniel nods his apology to the other man, also a sign that their meeting is done, or at least postponed. Once the door has been shut, and we are sure that Daniel is listening, I speak.
“Maline was attached by Lucien Novell. People are hurt. Gabe is hurt,” I say flatly. It's the best I can do without bursting into a flaming death trap. Lighting down the overpowering urge to scream at Daniel as he slowly looks between the five of us, I sit stiffly in one of the two chairs across from his desk.
“I know,” Is all that he
says.
My anger rises exponentially, rippling in waves out into the room and bearing into Daniel’s chest. Before I can snap something very rude and offensive out at him, Ty beats me to it.
“What do you mean you know?” Ty barks.
We all stare at him in shock. Ty walks forward and slams his hands down on the wooden desk. He continues, "what's being done then? Why are there still dozens of Protectors out there," he says, pointing furiously out the closed door, "when Gabe is hurt and Maline's been infiltrated by our number-one target?"
Anne takes hold of Ty's hand, holding it tight. I can see his chest rising and falling unsteadily, see him trying to wrangle his anger back in. A moment later, he's calm again and back in his spot in the loose line, but he doesn't apologize.
Daniel takes a breath and leans back in his seat. Looking at me, he asks a silent question. Are you sure?
“Yes, we want to know what happened,” I say confidently.
Daniel nods and leans forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “The Counsel had just given Gabe permission to track and bring in Lucien. They were all prepping to leave the great hall when someone set off the lockdown alarm. The guards rushed the Council to the only open exit but found it blocked by fallen stone pillars. Gabe raced off to find who had set off the alarm and blocked the exit. He found Lucien."
A silent gasp travels around the room. No one here has seen what Lucien can do in person, but both I and Gabe had described it to them thoroughly.
"Gabe managed to get away with a deeply sliced shoulder, a broken leg, and cracked rib,” Daniel announces.
I flinch at the description. Daniel says it as if it is nothing, as if those injuries are so insignificant compared to it all.
"Lucien escaped but took nothing. We don't know his aim, what drove him to attack, but he's trapped the Council, three guards, plus Gabe inside the hall."
Everyone is silent, not sure of how to react. It is Hayden who breaks the silence, asking the one question all of us are too afraid to ask, considering how normal it is.