by Jade Frances
Again I touched my face.
“Guess I’m lucky then, huh? Where are the others?”
“They’ve been in and out. Rosemary brought you some clean clothes. Do you feel up to going to find them?” He placed a bag on the bed and walked over to pull the curtain across. He stood politely on the other side.
“Sure, I actually feel ok.” I said as I changed. Although my mind was still a bit foggy, physically I didn’t even feel like I had been in a fight. “What happened? After I passed out.”
“The portals closed, they must have decided they weren’t going to get through.”
Odd that they would just give up, oh well. Good for us. I pulled the curtain back and nodded for Pearce to lead the way. The medical wing was busy, we past rows of occupied beds. The smell of antiseptic was too strong for my newly awakened senses. Many of the Zaruba clan were still in here receiving treatment. I tried not to look at their injuries. Judging by most of them, we had a lucky escape with our attack. Once we hit the fresh air, I could finally breathe properly. I paused and looked toward the back of the building. Pearce took my hand.
“You’re ok. We all survived,” he told me.
“It’s not that. I just, I have a bad feeling,” I told him. The fog clouding my brain was irritating me. I shook my head. Not that it helped. Smiling at Pearce, I carried on walking.
We walked into the auditorium where another meeting was taking place. Avetta was congratulating the ten of us that had defended the academy, as well as the five guardians who had caught the tail end. Theodore was by her side, looking somewhat dishevelled. I slid into a seat at the back with Pearce. The others were near the front and I didn’t want to draw attention to our arrival.
“This was a victory. We have not been directly attacked before, and the way you defended the grounds with such valour and efficiency is something to be proud of.” Avetta was saying. “Now that we are aware our wards are not strong enough to keep portals from opening on the grounds, we are pulling our guardians from the perimeter and they will be stationed just outside the academy. News will spread of our success with such small numbers, and hope will rise through the communities.”
I watched Theodore silently leave the stage and slip off into the shadows. I told Pearce I would be back in a moment and walked in the direction that Theodore had left in. It only took me minutes to catch up with him.
“Theodore,” I called out down the hallway. He turned slowly. When he saw me, the corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile.
“Nzuri, I am glad to see you up. That was a very brave act you took on. Not something that many people would have. You should be proud.”
“Er, thanks. Just doing my job. Are you ok?” I leaned in to look at him more closely. His hands held a slight tremor and his eyes were darting all around.
“Just fine, going to check on my family and the rest of the clan. I shall see you at dinner tonight, I am sure.” Again he tried a smile but didn’t quite manage. Then he turned and walked away. We had survived the attack with minor injuries. So why was everyone acting so melancholy?
Something’s not right.
I snuck back into the auditorium just as Avetta was wrapping things up. Again, what should have been cause for celebration certainly didn’t feel that way. I joined the others at the front as people moved past me to leave.
“Girl, you look hella better,” Sandra said, looking me up and down.
“Thanks, I certainly feel it.”
“That was some scrap huh, but we done it and survived. Most action I’ve seen in forever.”
“Stop being such a prude and you would get more action.” Taylor winked, picked her up and spun her round. She hit him on the shoulder and wrestled herself out of his arms.
“Twat,” she huffed, but she couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. I laughed at their playful interaction. It was nice to see them not arguing for once. Avetta was making her way toward us, and an uneasy feeling made its appearance in me. I shuffled to the back of the group, not wanting to be front and centre.
“Evangeline.”
Damn it. I dragged my feet along, forcing them to move me back to the front.
“My office, now,” she said and walked off. I felt everyone’s eyes on me. Taylor clapped me on the back.
“What you done now, young one?”
“You tell me,” I mumbled. “I’ll catch up with you guys after.” I gave Pearce a probing look as I past, but he just looked back blankly.
As I was walking to Avetta’s office, the uneasy feeling within me grew stronger. What is up with me? I didn’t bother to knock; she had demanded my presence, anyway.
“Take a seat, Evangeline,” she said. Her lips were pursed, and she didn’t look up from the papers she was rifling through. “Do you know why I’ve called you here?”
“No,” I said as I sat down.
“We survived an attack, no thanks to all of you. I heard about your escapade, running off alone after three shapeshifters. Do you understand the consequences you could have caused?” Her tone was laced with disappointment. Which it shouldn’t. Did she expect me to have let them throw grenades at the academy?
“Yes, the academy would have been blown up with whatever explosives they were carrying.” My answer was full of snide, but the unease mixed with the rising annoyance in me couldn’t hold back.
“Wrong. You put yourself in harm’s way, unnecessarily. The guardians had arrived at that point and could have taken care of it. So I hear.” She looked at me then, devoid of emotion as she had been every day for the past week. I narrowed my eyes at her.
“What do you want from me, Avetta? You asked us to defend the academy. That I did. You congratulated everyone else, yet call me in here for a scolding.” Fleetingly, her eyes shone darker than their usual crystal blue before going dull again.
“I want you to listen Evangeline! Heed my advice,” she snapped.
“What is your advice? Because you certainly haven’t told me. Where were you when everything was going down?” I snapped back. Rage was building inside me at her lack of communication. She was quick to jump down my throat at any given moment, but never quick to openly say what she wanted from me. And I thought she had understood from our last talk.
“Stay safe. Being a leader does not mean I put myself on the front-line Evangeline. It means I protect what I can when I can.”
“Stay safe. That’s your advice? You expect me to sit back and watch my friends defend this entire academy and do nothing?”
“Yes, that is what I expect. You are destined for greater things, which means you must survive,” She roared and stood to glare down at me. I shoved my chair back and also stood up to level my face with hers.
“Well, that’s not what I’m going to do. I will fight alongside my friends and you won’t stop me. Ever.”
I watched her amble back to her seat with leaden steps and exhale.
“You are excused Evangeline.”
Without replying to her, I stormed out of the room. If I could, I would have slammed the door behind me for extra effect. My hands were trembling and my heartbeat unsteady.
“Crazy old bat,” I mumbled whilst trying to pull myself together. What was her problem? Surely she couldn’t expect me to do nothing. I was sick of her riddles and contradicting behaviour. I stormed through the halls, heading to my room. Darkness fogged my mind, but the ring suppressed it enough that I wouldn’t implode. Or explode at the next person that I saw.
Girls, meet me in my room now. I reached out to them.
Woa, talk to me like that and I’ll be inclined not to.
Sandra shut up. Everything ok, Evvy?
No. See you there.
I paced up and down my room until I felt the girl’s energy outside the door. Swinging it open, I ushered them inside. They took a seat on the bed while I continued my pacing.
“Evvy, are you ok? I can feel quite a bit of turmoil in you. Is the ring still working?” Rose spoke gently.
&
nbsp; “I just don’t get it, what does she want from me?” I shouted.
“Er, you’re going to have to elaborate on that. Don’t get what and who are you talking about?” Sandra said.
“Avetta, obviously. You want to know why she called me in to her office? For defending the academy. The disappointment in her was palpable. First she tells us to defend, then I get a talking to for doing it. She keeps going on about my destiny or whatever, yet doesn’t tell me what it is that I’m destined for. She is constantly disappointed in my actions and doesn’t tell me how she expects me to act! How in the hell am I supposed to adhere to her whims when she contradicts herself every second. Well, whenever she is actually around!” I threw myself onto the window seat after my rant. Rose was right, there was a lot of turmoil in me. But there was nothing I could do to lessen its build up. Not without understanding anything.
“Well I must say, it makes us feel quite inadequate. I knew that she was holding you on a higher pedestal than us.” I gave Sandra a scowl.
“Sandra, this isn’t about us at the moment. We need to help Evvy understand.”
“It’s never about us, and how can we help her understand when we don’t know any more than she does,” Sandra bit back.
“Maybe our guardians know something, they always seem to be in the loop before us anyway,” Rose indicated. “I’ll go get them, if that’s ok with you, Evvy?”
I waved my hand in the air non-complacently. At this point, I was open to anything. Rose waltzed out of the room, leaving me and Sandra in silence. The turmoil within me had started to lessen after my rant, and I was beginning to understand Sandra’s bitterness.
“I’m sorry you feel inadequate Sandra, that’s not what I want.” I moved from the window to sit beside her on the bed. We both laid back and looked at the ceiling.
“It’s not you. It’s everyone else. Sometimes it just feels like we aren’t a part of the bigger picture. Like we are just tagging along for the ride,” she sighed and reached out for my hand. “We are supposed to strengthen each other. We have always been told to be a team. That’s what they raised us to believe. Yet on tour, and now, well... it all seems to me like you’re the only special one here.”
I twisted onto my side to look at her. It made me uncomfortable that she and Rose were feeling this way. I didn’t want to be in the spotlight. Not in the slightest.
“When all this is over, maybe we get to have relatively normal lives,” I whispered. Sandra looked at me then, tears filled her eyes but didn’t fall.
“People like us don’t get to have normal lives Evvy. There will always be something or someone in our way. You know we lost our parents when we were only two. Nomads that wanted to join The Veil killed them. Nomads that used them in their initiation process.” I gasped as it occurred to me that I didn’t know about the girl’s past. I had never thought to ask. “Avetta took us in and raised us in hiding. Taylor knew of us and often visited. Darryl was the first person she took in after us. We became a family quickly, but nothing replaces that of your own. Avetta has always been a mother figure, yet lately she’s been so absent. I don’t know who she is anymore, Evvy. I don’t trust her.”
Her tirade only strengthened my unsettling feelings towards Avetta. At least I wasn’t alone. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’ve felt the same for some time now. I just want to know where we all stand,” I replied. “And Sandra... thank you for confiding in me. I’m sorry about your parents...” I trailed off, not knowing what I could say.
“It’s a life we have to get used to. We will all lose someone we love at some point.”
A rap on the door announced that the guardians were here. This time I crossed the room to pull it open. Standing aside, I gave them the space to walk past me. Rose looked at me dubiously and I raised my eyebrows in return.
“You’re a lot calmer...” she said in a hushed voice.
“Girl chat, works wonders,” I replied, giving her a smile. Nodding, she continued into the room. Which, with the three guys in it, seemed a lot smaller than it usual.
I let Rose and Sandra catch them up on the questions and doubts we all had, while I sat staring out of the window feeling as miserable as the weather. The grounds were empty, and rain showered down from the heavens. It was a major change from the usual hustle and bustle when all the students were here.
“Evangeline needs to stay safe, she is a child born from prophet,” Egan said, drawing my attention. I jumped down from the window seat and joined them all in the centre of the room.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I probed.
“Your birth wasn’t an accident, or an act of true love. You were born because a prophet told your parents of your importance and the energy you would possess,” he replied to me. “Sorry,” he added sheepishly. But his words didn’t upset me. I had long grown past the idea of loving parents. Pearce skirted over and put his arm around my shoulder. I leaned into him and listened to Egan continue.
“Everyone knows you haven’t unlocked your powers to their full potential. What no one knows is just how powerful you will be. Have you ever considered that maybe Avetta is afraid of the power you wield?” I had never considered Egan to be contemplative. In fact, I had thought nothing of him. He was always so silent unless he was arguing with Sandra. For him to be the one speaking out now, somehow it held more weight.
“Why would she be afraid?” Rosemary asked.
“I think this tour was for the purpose of scrutiny. Like you girls had originally believed. Evangeline, it wasn’t for you to be a beacon of hope. It was for Avetta to assess who would accept you as a leader. To see who would follow the path you set them on. Avetta has been losing adherents for some time. Maybe, she thinks at some point you could overthrow her.” Shock coursed through me as his words sunk in.
“I don’t want her position.” I stated. Everyone was looking between me and Egan and back again. He was shaking his head at me.
“No one said you did. But enough people will follow you blindly. Theodore has proven that much. You think Avetta wants you off of the battlefield for your own safety?” Again he shook his head. “No chance. I think it’s because she doesn’t want anyone seeing your power and determination to protect those who mean something to you. Look at yesterday, you sensed the attack first and who was the first person you needed to protect. Kady, a young girl you only met this year. How much do you think Theodore respects you for that? Especially when Avetta, like usual, was nowhere to be seen when all hell broke loose?”
Oh God, oh God, please don’t tell me I’m in the middle of a political war as well as the current one. Especially when I didn’t want to be. I looked around at the others, watching as they all understood the meaning in his words. No one looked angry or shocked, it was more like Egan had put puzzle pieces into place and we were finally seeing the world as it was. I wondered how long this had been on his mind, and whether or not Pearce had been aware and shared his views. As I looked back to Egan, the intensity in his stare unnerved me.
“We are all pawns in this world Evvy, how, and whether they use us is down to us to decide for ourselves.”
Everyone had left my room other than Pearce. We were sitting in silence on my bed while I tried to wrap my head around everything Egan had said. I thought back to when I had been desperate to find out who I was and where I came from. I had an unyielding desire to find my place in the world, and I was sure I had been destined for something greater. But this reality, was it everything I had dreamed of? As much as I had gained friends, that I love dearly, the bad that came with it was staggering at times.
“You ok?” Pearce broke our silence.
“It’s just a lot, you know. I thought having gifts and being in this secret world would be amazing. All it’s been is one battle after the other, and I can’t see an end in sight. Can you?” I laid back and waited for his answer. He pondered on it for a while before speaking.
“It might seem that way now, but things always have a way
of working out. You have strong supporters behind you, Evangeline.” I huffed and threw myself on my side to look at him.
“That’s the problem beast, I don’t want supporters, I just want my friends and an easy life. Did you know that Egan was thinking that? About Avetta?” I knew it was silly to admit it while we were in the throe of a silent war. But the heart wants what it wants. A simple life was what I wanted. And I didn’t want to be a pawn anymore, or a beacon of hope, and especially not a leader of any kind. Part of me also hoped he that he’d had no idea about Egan’s judgement on the matter.
“I get that, I’m sure everyone feels the same way. And no, I hadn’t discussed anything with Egan. His thoughts are his own. Are you ever going to stop calling me beast?” He asked with a slight smile. Relief washed over me. I yawned and forced my eyes to stay open.
“Never,” I whispered. “Will you stay?”
Alarm set on his features and I couldn’t tell what his answer was going to be. He looked at the top of the bed, then at the door and back to me again.
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
“It is,” I managed between a yawn again. I shuffled my way to the top of the bed and pulled the cover back. As I climbed in, I patted the empty space beside me. Pearce stood and walked around the side of the bed, raising his arms to take his top off. I tried not to look, but his rippling abs were hard not to notice. His tan skinned only added to the appeal. He caught me staring and threw me a sly smile. As he climbed into the bed, warmth spread over me. All of a sudden, I wasn’t so tired. Pearce wrapped a strong arm around me and pulled me over to him. I laid my head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat.
“Goodnight little siren,” he mumbled into my hair.
“You ever going to stop calling me that?” I asked playfully.
“Never.”
As much as I was aware of Pearce’s highly attractive body in my bed next to me. The silence other than his heartbeat lulled me into a peaceful state. And faster than I thought I would, my eyes closed, and I fell asleep. Content in the arms of a guy I knew would always try to keep me safe.