The Fallen Ones
Page 31
CHAPTER 30
Ilyana:
I have never been a fan of public speaking, I took speech class as an elective in school at Mothers insistence and I remember arguing with her that it would never be useful to me eventually, I argued my way out of the class. Now as I stand up and prepare to make the biggest speech of my life, I realize that I may have underestimated the usefulness of that class I once hated. I am still dressed in the clothes from last night. None of us got any sleep as we sat around the table preparing for the journey ahead of us. My body is completely exhausted and I know that my makeup must be running. I silently wish that Lizzy were here to help me, but I know that she is helping make things right at the old enclave with Rose and that thought brings me comfort.
Levi suggested we take our time to introduce me to the citizens at the compound, win them over individually - help everyone feel safe on a lateral level as their friend, before I ever position myself as their leader or their safety blanket. Samuel and Marcus quickly shut down that idea though, pointing out that every minute we spent planning we were risking more Nephilim running off to join Guinevere out of fear. So here I am now, watching as Samuel offers an introduction to the other Nephilim, I don’t know what their response will be or how any words will come out of my mouth, but I know that I have to do whatever I can to stop them from joining with Guinevere and beyond that, I will need allies if I have any hope of ever getting Ephraim back. Kailand is holding my hand as he slowly pats my back “You can do this Ilyana, this is the moment you were born for.” I roll my eyes at the thought “If I was born for this, you would think that giving a speech to a crowd of scared Nephilim would come a little more easily.” He laughs and looks me square in the face as he responds “Destiny is seldom ever convenient and it’s even rarer for it to be natural. It’s in the moments you’re at your weakest and most vulnerable that you shine the brightest, you’re beautiful in every sense of the word, Ilyana. Never forget that.” He reaches down to gently cup the side of my face as he places a chaste kiss on my lips. “They are going to fall in love with you, maybe not immediately – it’s natural to fear change, but when they see you for all that you are – then they will love you.”
My cheeks grow warm at his compliment and kiss, never before has something so sweet felt so strong. I’m at a complete loss for words and before I have the chance to say anything, I hear my name being called by Samuel from the other side of the curtain. “Well here goes nothing!” I make my way through the curtains and up to the podium where the microphone is waiting for me. I am no more prepared for this moment now than I was last night and decide the best thing to do is speak from the heart. I look out at the crowd and see a lot of scared faces, Nephilim and servants alike, looking to me for the answers I’m not even sure of yet, but in that moment I want to do everything I can to protect them. For the first time since I have been here, I see children, presumably belonging to the servants, their faces dirty and small looking up at me, there is a little boy close to the front of the room with what appears to be fruit punch stains on his face. The site makes me smile and makes me feel more at home than anything I have seen since I got to this Island.
Before I can stop myself I begin speaking “I know a lot of you are here for answers, and the truth is, I don’t really have them yet.” They begin whispering amongst themselves but I continue on “The truth is, after what I witnessed two nights ago – what I was a part of. I know that I have a responsibility to everyone here. We were attacked internally by someone that many of you trusted and some of you may have even loved. We were attacked by someone that swore an oath to protect other Nephilim at all costs. We were attacked, trying to free prisoners that were being unjustly held for crimes they didn’t commit by the very same leaders that swore an oath to each of you here and the worst part is the entire time we were being attacked for doing what we believed to be right, she was standing alongside our enemies, commanding my slaughter for defying her.” At that several women in the crowd gasp “I was lucky to make it out alive and had there been more demons, I am not sure that I would’ve. We are our own strongest asset. The truth is, I am just one person, one person isn’t always capable of a lot, but if we join together, if we begin training and once again utilizing our strongest asset, we can protect ourselves, we can protect our future generations, our safety, our comfort, our homes. One person can’t do that, I can’t promise it will be easy, I can’t even promise that I know how we are going to pull it off, but I can promise you that I will die fighting for your safety, before I will ever allow anyone - no matter how powerful they might be, come to our island, into our homes and lead us with fear.” At that several voices in the crowd shout in agreement much to my surprise. “I am here today, proposing that we reinstitute our training programs, strengthen our own fortress and for the first time in a long time, I propose we take the war to them. No more waiting in fear for our world to fall apart. If you are with us, now is the time to let us know, if you are not, you have a week to make arrangements to go elsewhere, if you need any help with that at all – come to us and we will help you make arrangements and make sure you arrive securely to wherever it is you are going.” The crowd erupts, I see many people begin to leave, but what surprises me more are all the Nephilim that choose to stay, I see men talking to Levi and making plans for how they can strengthen our training programs, I see servants lining up and talking to Marcus, trying to find out what they can do to help, I am being met with pats on the back and smiles by some and scowls by a few others. I turn around to walk back towards the apartment building and immediately the little boy with the fruit punch stained lips steps in front of me, he has the most angelic smile on his face and I stoop down to his level to shake his hand “My name’s Ilyana. What’s yours?” he takes my hand and shakes it back “My name is Eli, can I tell you a secret?” I laugh and nod an emphatic yes. He stuffs a small toy car I didn’t notice was in his hand down into his pockets and then gets up on his tippy-toes and cups his small hands around my ears so he can whisper his secret “War is coming…”
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for reading my book! This has been a labor of love and has taken a lot of time, I am working on a really awesome sequel right now that is slated for release on October 31st, 2014. I can’t wait to dive back into Ilyana’s new world with each of you!
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Katie