“You were the boy,” I said, making the connection. I didn’t need to ask. I knew it was him. He had those same sad eyes as he looked at me now.
He nodded. “We were on our way to visit you for the first time since your parents left. My dad said the blizzard would be good cover. When we saw the crash, we stopped. We didn’t know it was your car. There was nothing we could do about your parents, but you were still alive.”
I didn’t wipe the tears as they streamed freely down my cheeks, but this time they weren’t solely tears of grief. There was another feeling that accompanied the sadness. William had been there all along. The thought was comforting.
“I had no idea,” I said.
“I sat with you in the back seat on the way. You were out cold, but it was the first time I felt my skin burn against yours.”
I noticed the warmth of his arm against mine and smiled. I was getting used to it.
“We came to visit you a lot after that. My dad would always say, ‘Time to go see the girl you’re going to marry.’”
“I never saw you,” I said, too shy to respond to the last part of his sentence.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
I couldn’t believe Betsy had kept that kind of a secret from me, but I knew she felt it was for my own good, my protection. What would she think now, knowing I was smack dab in the center of it all? I felt sleep beckoning me as I thought of her. At least she came to visit in my dreams.
“Thanks,” I said, closing my tired eyes.
“For what?” he asked.
“Saving me.”
We hadn’t planned on sleeping together in my bed, but that’s where we ended up. Why not? I told myself as I drifted off, using his chest as a pillow.
14.
WAKING UP NEXT to William was both a thrilling realization and a horrifyingly embarrassing experience. I opened my eyes in the dim light of the morning to find him gazing gently back at me. I couldn’t dredge up a more pleasing image to grace the first moments of my day, but how long had he been watching me? I smiled back at him warily, taking note of my sprawled out legs and cowlicked hair. Smiling made my cheeks hurt, and I remembered my face. I must look like a train wreck.
“Hi,” I managed as I sat up pulling my knees into my chest.
“Hi,” he chuckled back. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” I answered, feeling the sore spots with my hands. “Does it look bad?”
He shrugged. “Purple’s not a bad color on you.”
I laughed. “Great.”
“The good news is the rest of your body seems to be working perfectly.” I gave him a strange look. “Bit of a bed hog, huh?”
“Really?” I moaned. How humiliating. What was I thinking having him sleep in my bed?
“Actually, it’s fine. You’re a lot less shy in your sleep.” He sat up as he spoke, propping himself against the headboard.
“How so?” I shot out anxiously.
“‘Snuggly’ might be a bit of an understatement,” he said with an overly-satisfied grin.
I laughed uneasily as I tried to hide my bruised and battered face behind my still untamed hair. The thought of my body quickly succumbing to William’s innate allure as soon as my conscious mind was out of the picture was unnerving. Who knew what deeply buried subconscious desires would make themselves known in the night. He was lucky I didn’t suffocate him. Suddenly, the image of a child squeezing its beloved new pet beyond its capacity accompanied my thoughts.
“You should have moved to the couch.” I hoped I hadn’t kept him up all night.
“Are you kidding? The more Elyse the better.”
“But what if I snuggle you to death or something?” I asked half teasing, half considering the possibility of such a thing.
“Well, if that were to happen, I couldn’t think of a better way to go. ‘Come, death, and welcome. Elyse wills it so.’”
“All right, Romeo,” I smiled at his witty reference, “but you do realize he dies at the end right?”
“A risk I’m willing to take.”
I glanced at the clock with regret. 11:26. “I guess we should get up,” I said without enthusiasm.
“Yeah, we have class soon.”
As soon as William headed for the bathroom, I let myself sprawl out again, burying my face into the gathered bed-sheets which had captured his lingering scent.
Then, out of nowhere, there was a knock at the door. I hopped down the stairs in my pajamas, expecting Rachel or Nics.
“Let me in,” Kara demanded, pushing me aside as I answered the door.
“Wow,” I said as she charged past me up the stairs.
“Who is it?” William asked.
“Me,” she answered.
I found the two of them in the living room and kept my distance.
“What are you doing here?” he said without welcome.
“Nice to see you, too.”
“What’s going on?” I asked with an angry voice. I hadn’t exactly forgiven her for standing back and watching while Sam and I got beaten to a pulp.
“Nice face,” Kara snickered.
“That’s it,” William said, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her toward the door. “Get out of here.”
She yanked her arm free. “This is the thanks I get for saving your little girlfriend from torment?”
William looked at me, then back at her. “Explain,” he demanded.
“Elyse is the one who needs to explain. Do you want to tell him your little secret or should I?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to tell William about Anna.
“Elyse, what is it?” he asked urgently. His eyes were fixed on me as if I were holding a grenade about to explode.
“My best friend is human,” I admitted. “She lives in Oakland.”
“She stayed the night there,” Kara added.
He brushed his fingers through his hair, pinning it back and out of his face. “So that’s where you went when you didn’t come home?”
I nodded. “I didn’t know about any of this when I met her. I’ve known her for half of my life. She and her daughter are as good as family.”
“What does she know?” William asked.
“Everything,” Kara answered for me.
He shook his head. “What about the daughter? What does she know?”
Kara watched me out of the corner of her eye as she spoke. “Not as much.”
His face was pained and full of furious concern as he thought about what to say. He sat on the couch, eyes dropped to the floor. “Why hasn’t Ryder killed them?” he asked perplexed.
Kara shrugged. “They’re flagged.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, moving closer now that I could see she wasn’t a threat.
“It means they’ve been granted amnesty. They’re untouchable. I don’t get it. I’ve never heard of a human being flagged before. It doesn’t happen.”
“Untouchable? According to your pal Ryder, Elyse is flagged. Didn’t seem to matter much to him.”
“It was the best I could do, okay?” Kara spat.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, getting frustrated with her.
“He was going to kill Elyse,” she shouted. “I didn’t have any other option.”
He stood quickly, nervous. “Kara, what did you do?”
Her eyes were apologetic. “I had to tell them, William.”
“What?” I begged. “Tell who what?”
“We’ve got to go,” William insisted. “Now.” He grabbed my coat off of the hanger and threw it at me.
“Why?” I asked confused.
“She told them who you are, Elyse,” William yelled.
“I had to,” she fought back. “I knew they wouldn’t touch her if they knew she was the new mother, but that’s it. That’s all I told them.”
“You know they’ll be investigating her now. What happens when they make the connection to the prophecy?” William asked with an edge to his voice.
“I don’t know,” she answered with remorse.
William grabbed my shoulder bag and nearly dragged me out the door, leaving Kara standing alone in my living room.
“I can’t believe it,” William murmured to himself as he drove like a maniac in the direction of The Institute. “After all these years of keeping you a secret, she goes and blabs.”
“She had to,” I defended her. “Would you rather he killed me?”
His face stayed hard and angry as we drove, but I could tell he was just as grateful for Kara as I was. “No.”
“I can’t believe he was just going to kill me,” I thought out loud.
“I can’t believe he hasn’t killed your friends.”
The thought was paralyzing. Anna and Chloe were in danger because of me. The idea that they would be killed simply for knowing me seemed too insane to be true.
“How do they get away with it, killing so many innocent people?”
“They say it’s for the greater good,” he answered honestly.
I sat dumbfounded for a few moments, gazing out the car window at the passing streets. The silence prompted him to speak.
“It’s completely backwards, I know,” he admitted, “but they get away with it because they claim it’s for our protection, that there is no other way.”
“Doesn’t everyone see the injustice?” It made me sick to think about it.
“We know it’s wrong, but what can anyone do about it?”
Only one answer seemed the appropriate response.
“Fight back,” I returned, but he shook his head.
“We tried fighting back. It didn’t work,” he answered, pulling into a parking spot. “And according to the prophecy, it won’t work without you.”
I heaved a sigh and shot out of the car slamming the door behind me. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know,” he said to me over the roof of the car, “and I don’t want it to be true any more than you, but that’s the reason nobody has stood up to them. That’s the truth.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes, but I was too frustrated to keep quiet. I felt William’s eyes fall on me, watching and waiting for me to say something.
“Well, that’s crazy,” I retaliated. “Isn’t it?”
How long had things been like this? It was one thing to withhold abilities for the safety of the communities, but to kill off innocent people? And what did everyone expect me to do about it? He stopped me in the middle of the maze of parked cars to answer me straight to my face.
“No, crazy is putting the ones you love at risk to challenge a force that will undoubtedly come raining down on you with an iron fist to destroy the very memory of your existence. That’s crazy. Why would anyone risk that when they know about the prophecy?”
“What if the prophecy isn’t even real? What if Christoph just made it up to keep people waiting for someone who will never come?”
“The prophecy is true, Elyse. My dad heard it from the oracle herself.”
“If it’s true, why doesn’t Christoph just kill me and get it over with? Why not take out the enemy before it all starts?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
15.
OUR CONVERSATION HAD generated a whole world of emotions I wasn’t ready for. There was no way of knowing what to expect. If I was truly in danger, what would happen if they did come for me? All I could control were my own actions, my own choices, and right now, I needed to figure out what to do about Anna before it was too late.
Sympathy shined through William’s soft expression as we stepped into the elevator. Only one man joined us, and when I looked at him I immediately began to smell lavender. The floral fragrance made me instantly relax, and for a moment, I let go of my worries. I felt like I was getting an ambush aromatherapy treatment. When the man stepped out, he winked a blue eye at me and took the scent with him.
“Thanks, Henry,” William said as the door closed.
“What was that about?” I asked as we rode the elevator to the top floor.
“I don’t know. Normally he makes it smell like chocolate. I guess he thought you looked stressed.”
“I am,” I said, as we stepped into the flowing mass of Descendant students. Those who passed stared at my swollen face. “I need to find Iosif.”
“Okay, let’s go,” William said decidedly. Obviously he assumed I needed advice on how to deal with The Council’s new knowledge, and maybe I would ask about that, but my main concern was Anna.
“I think I should go alone,” I said, stopping him in his tracks.
He looked at me, and I could tell he thought I was upset with him about our conversation.
“Sure,” he answered, and he let go of my hand.
I thought about explaining, but there was nothing I could say. He couldn’t know about my plans for Anna. I knew he would try and stop me, so I let him think I was mad and turned to find the door to Iosif’s office without a word.
The professor answered before I knocked.
“Please, come in,” he welcomed me with a mangled toothy smile.
“Hi,” I said, as he closed the door behind me.
“I thought you might be back.” He seemed pleased with himself, and took a seat behind his desk leaning forward with interest. “You must have more against The Council than you’d originally thought.” His eyes strayed away from mine as he took notice of the bruises on my face. “How can I help you, my dear?”
Although the answer to his question popped into my head immediately, I thought carefully about how to word it.
“Well, I thought maybe you could tell me more about my ability,” I explained, sitting down to face him. He didn’t need to know more than that.
His expression became curious. “Ahh, but there is another reason. A specific goal you seek to accomplish, and this is why you hope to learn of your ability. Am I right?”
He was more than right. He was dead on. My heart began to thud. Did he know what I was planning? Was it a crime to even think of healing a human? I should have expected this. I was in a school for people with special abilities, and here I was trying to pry information out of one of the eldest professors. I felt stupid for not considering the fact that he might be able to decipher my plan. I bit the inside of my upper lip. This was a bad idea.
“I assure you I am on your side, child,” he continued. “Destiny has chosen you to do its bidding and appointed me to assist you in the process. Whatever it is you don’t want me to know is safe with me.”
I didn’t like that he could come so close to my thoughts of Anna. Even if he was trying to help me, it was best for him to do so in the dark.
“So what is your ability?” I asked changing the subject.
“Intuition.” The source of the deep lines in his face became clear as he smiled widely. “My bloodline is of Metis. I do not know your thoughts, but I can sense the essence of them. Do not let this frighten you. I am here to help.”
His face still held a kind smile, making it hard to not trust him, but as soon as he spoke again, the lightheartedness fell from his expression.
“This goal, I am supposed to ensure you accomplish it. Whatever it is you need to know, I am here to provide the answers.” The sincerity of his tone was nothing to be questioned.
“Why would you do that? You don’t even know what it is.”
“My wife told me to.” He seemed to find humor in these words as well. “But as you know, my wife is no ordinary woman.”
Although he spoke of the oracle lightly, I picked up on the reference instantly. She was still meddling, still pulling strings, trying to control the outcome of my future.
“She is here to help you and is putting herself at great risk to aid in the success of your destiny.”
“My destiny.” The idea of someone plotting out my future for me was unsettling, especially when I had my own plans. To think this woman had seen something in my future worth risking her safety for didn’t help either. “I wanted to ta
lk to you about that actually.”
“I know you struggle with the truth, but it will unfold before you.”
“Even if I have other plans?”
“I imagine so. No matter what path you take, it will lead you where you need to be.”
“What if the path I take involves breaking Descendant law?”
He scratched his chin, and his lips pulled together in a tight apprehensive line. “Your choices will dictate the course, but in the end, it will play out as foretold.”
“I know how my ability works if I apply my blood directly to a wound,” I said getting to the point.
“Yes. Obviously, the larger the wound, the more blood you’ll be forced to sacrifice.”
I knew that in order to heal I would have to inflict pain upon myself, but thinking about it still made my stomach churn. I dreaded the answer to my next question.
“What if what I want to heal is not a wound but a body?”
Picking up on the essence of my thought, Iosif gave me an understanding nod. “That is something that comes with great risk to you.” His eyes focused on me intently, gauging my reaction.
“All right,” I accepted, sitting up straight in my chair. I knew there would be consequences, but I was willing to pay the price.
“In the case of a sick body, the person would need to ingest the blood like medicine, but depending on the severity of the illness . . . the amount you would have to give could kill you.”
My heart nearly stopped. Kill me? I had to make sure.
“To cure a body of progressed cancer for instance . . .”
“Would be a sacrifice,” he finished.
I had assumed I would have to run away, hide, fight back against The Council, but I never expected the act alone to kill me. I needed a second to digest it. I looked down at my thumb which had nearly been picked raw and forced myself to stop. He couldn’t be right. My body was meant to heal. How could it be so weak? There had to be some other way, a loophole, a trick.
“Couldn’t I just draw a little at a time? Save it until I have enough?”
“As the blood is preserved outside of your body, it loses effect. The only way is to do an immediate transfer to the injured being.”
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