Strength (The Descendant Trilogy)

by Theresa M. Jones

  But he wasn’t the one that would be scared. This night felt too much like my dream…

  Chapter 8

  Kisses

  We are being kicked out because Amber wants some alone time with Al. You up for a walk? I asked him as he turned to look at us walking back. Don’t make a big deal about it though, she doesn’t want to make it weird for him. He nodded, but just slightly.

  Then he stood and stretched. “I don’t know how y’all can sit for so long. Who wants to go for a walk?” He winked at me after he said it, like he was a savior who had solved all our problems. I couldn’t help but smile at him as the butterflies swarmed my tummy.

  “I don’t wanna walk. I like it here. Will you stay with me, Al?” Amber asked him, she looked all cute and flirty. And I was pretty sure she actually did bat her eyelashes at him. Not like he would ever say no to her anyway.

  “Yeah of course I’ll stay with you,” he told her, completely disregarding Andrew and me.

  “Well, I’ll walk with you, Andrew. Let’s go to the other picnic table on the other side of the pad.”

  “Cool,” he mumbled as he walked over to me.

  As we walked back toward the trail I tried to ignore the fear that started crawling up my skin. There was nothing bad around here. I even released my Power to search for any signs of Rising members around. Feeling confident there was no one else around, I turned back around to Amber one last time.

  “You two behave and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” I chuckled back at them. They both rolled their eyes in unison. And I laughed harder.

  As we walked, Andrew grabbed my hand again, and I grabbed his back, holding it tight. It was warm and strong. If it weren’t for him, I would have totally been freaked walking out there at night after those crazy dreams.

  “If you wanted to get me alone, all you had to do was ask,” he teased.

  “Oh I know. Remember, all I have to do is bat my eyelashes at you and I’d have you wrapped around my finger.” As I said it, I held up my other hand, showing him my tiny finger. He laughed.

  “So, why do you wanna go to the other picnic table?”

  “It doesn’t matter to me where we go, but unless you can fly a helicopter, there aren’t many places to go up here. And anyways, it was Amber’s idea.”

  “Do you even know if the other table is still standing?” The question made me laugh because I really didn’t know.

  So I shook my head.

  “Well, I guess we’ll find out.”

  We walked across the helicopter pad and straight across to the other side. Right before we entered the trail through the trees he stopped, and since we were holding hands, I stopped too.

  “What’s up?” I asked him.

  “Look,” he said, and pointed up to the sky. “It’s so beautiful. I think that after my Core classes, I’m gonna study astronomy. The stars are so amazing. So many different shapes and potential. That’s the only unknown left. Everywhere on the Earth has been seen, but out there, there is so much we haven’t seen and don’t know yet.”

  I did as he said and lifted my head up. My hair fell down behind my back reaching almost to my butt when I stood like that. The sky was dark, almost completely black, except for the stars. The moon wasn’t in sight, and there were no clouds. Since we were way up on a mountain with no lights for miles, it was a perfect chance to see the stars.

  “There are so many possibilities with the sky.” He sounded almost like he was dreaming.

  “You’re right. It is beautiful,” I told him. Then he looked down at me, and for a minute our eyes locked again. We had been using our Power to communicate telepathically, so his eyes still had their gold flecks spotting the dark brown.

  The air sizzled with electricity around us. We were still holding hands, but then his other hand found my lonely one. And we stood there, staring deep into each other’s eyes. My body gravitated towards his, as he started leaning closer too. For a minute I thought I might get my first kiss, and as I thought the words, his eyes moved to look at my lips. I couldn’t help but lick them. Then mentally chastised myself for it. I probably looked hungry, and not at all sexy.

  But then he stepped closer and wrapped his arm behind my back, pulling me in for an embrace.

  Dance with me.

  I nodded, not sure I would be able to form coherent sentences. We both loved to dance. And we did it often, but rarely with each other.

  It wasn’t a specific dance, just an easy swaying to the beat of our hearts. I could feel my Power surging beneath the surface, budging against my skin looking for an escape. So I released it.

  And our dance grew, the passion built. We spun around each other, together and apart. But then when I opened my eyes and looked at him, I stopped moving in shock. He was gorgeous. The tips of his hair were gold, like someone had dipped the tips in metallic gold paint. His eyes were blazing like pure gold shining in the sun. The air around him shimmered in golden Power.

  I looked down and saw my own Power surrounding me. The plum purple shimmered, encasing me in satin air that swam around me.

  “You are so beautiful.” He said it out loud, but also in my head at the same time. Our Power was too raw right now with our excited energies.

  He took two deliberate steps toward me, stopping only an inch or two from my face. He was taller than me, so I had to tilt my head back and look up at him.

  Then he placed his hand on my cheek. It was even warmer than before from the use of his Power. As he stepped closer he kept looking into my eyes. It was like he was searching for something, an answer to an unspoken question. I think he might have been afraid to kiss me. Everyone was kinda intimidated by me. Not just because I’m super powerful, but because both of my parents are on the Council and my little sister is the freaking Descendant.

  So instead of waiting for him to ask the question that was burning in his eyes, I answered him first.

  You could kiss me, if you want.

  For only a millisecond, he was shocked, but then he smiled and pulled my head closer to his. When our lips met, it really was everything I had been hoping for in a first kiss. I saw fireworks behind my eyelids (or maybe that was his Power) and felt all the butterflies within me go crazy. I felt my body relax and get excited at the same time.

  His lips were soft, but strong. Moist, but not too wet. And hot. Man, were they hot. I pushed closer to him, and his other hand snaked around my back pulling my body against his.

  I wrapped my arms up around his neck and held him tight. It was a chaste kiss, though it sure as hell didn’t feel that way.

  And in that moment, outside under the stars after dancing beneath their beauty, I got my first kiss with an awesome guy. I didn’t think of the wars, or the Rising, or even my bad dreams. In that moment I only thought of how great it was to be kissed by my best friend.

  Chapter 9

  Good Night

  When Amber and Al walked up to the Helicopter pad, Andrew and I were just laying back against the camouflaged padding looking up at the stars. We were still talking, but only in our heads. It’s not like it was hard to verbally speak, but this was more fun and more…intimate. Plus, we never got to use our Power, and sometimes it felt like instead of learning to use it, we were being taught to hold it back.

  “Don’t use too much.” “Be careful.” “Control it.”

  Just like the things I was always telling Gabby. The problem was that she really did need to control it. But laying outside, just using it freely without any reprimands from the Council or my parents was super wonderful.

  “Hey guys,” Amber said, and just by the tone of her voice, I knew she was beyond happy. I turned my body, leaning up on my hand so that I could see her face, and it was glowing. Yup, I was sure she got her kiss. So I smiled big back at her, hoping she would see it in my eyes that we both had awesome nights.

  She nodded slightly, and her smile grew bigger. Andrew pushed himself up into a sitting position. Then stood, offering me his hand for assistance,
which I took willingly though I didn’t need it.

  Nobody spoke as we walked back to the doors. The doors to the entrance were huge, beyond anything you could even imagine. Everything in The Compound was big, but the doors were massive. They were sculpted and engraved with nine Angels representing the Primitus. Though the Primitus were human women given Power by one angel, it was still a pretty door anyway.

  We stepped up to the doors and felt our Power grow. It was immediately released as we were all shrouded in different colors. My familiar plum surrounded me, making me feel safe. Andrews was gold, just like his eyes at the moment.

  Amber was surrounded in this pinkish, rose color. It was lighter than red, but more orange than just pink. It wasn’t dark enough to be coral, and too dark to be peach, like Sharon’s. It was perfect for her, and she looked awesome in pink. And Al’s was dark green, like a forest green. Not as bright as David’s, more bluish than greenish. Al’s prominent ability is healing, and it seems like almost all the healers have a shade of green.

  We walked in together, a rainbow of Power, and the heaviness of the Power underneath The Compound’s ceiling weighed down on us. I closed off my mind to Andrew, released my internal shield that I no longer needed up, and closed up my Power within my core.

  “But I want to walk with you.” Amber argued with Al. I hadn’t been listening to their conversation until she raised her voice.

  “But the boy walks the girl to her door, not the other way around,” he replied, and then I realized what they were arguing about. Amber stayed in the same hallway as I did, as did Andrew and most of the other parentless kids. But Al lived on an entirely different floor, staying with Christopher instead of Steven like the other kids did. She didn’t want Al walking by himself. And as sweet as that is, it’s kinda dumb. I agreed with Al, he should walk her, not the other way around.

  “Don’t be sexist. I’m walking you, end of discussion.” He looked like he wanted to argue some more, but she put her hand to his mouth and shook her head. So he shrugged his shoulders, grabbed her hand, and turned around.

  “Night guys,” he said before walking away from us. Amber just waved at me, winked, and smiled this goofy, excited grin.

  I waved back and shouted, “Night,” back to them.

  Andrew and I walked, hand in hand toward our quarters. I was fairly sure my parents would be up waiting to interrogate me on the night’s events. What would I say to them? There was no way I would tell them about the kiss. I tried to stifle a little sigh at the memory of that amazing kiss. Maybe I would tell my mom later…but so not with David there. What if they found out Andrew and I had gone off alone? Or that I had left Amber and Al alone? They would be pissed. Ugh.

  I decided to reach out with my mind, not to read their minds, just to see if they were sitting up waiting for me. As I reached out, I realized they weren’t in our quarters at all, but in the Council Chambers. The only reason they would be in there is if they were having another meeting, but what the hell would they have a meeting at this time of night for?

  “What’s wrong?” Andrew asked me. I hadn’t realized it, but I had stopped walking when I realized where my parents were.

  “The Council is having a meeting right now,” I told him honestly.

  “That’s weird.” His head cocked to the side as he thought about it. “How do you know?” I blushed a little because I could get into serious trouble for trying to get into the mind of a Council Member. That was like, ten times worse than a regular Order Members mind, and that was forbidden too.

  “I was just checking to see if my parents were up waiting for me.” I looked down, feeling ashamed. I had just admitted to him a very great sin in this place. Then added quickly, “I didn’t listen to what was being said or anything. They would know instantly if I tried to read their thoughts.” Which was 100 percent true. I had tried it one time when I stole and ate Gabby’s last pieces of chocolate and I wanted to see if they really did know that I had done it or if they were just tricking me into telling the truth. But they knew instantly and I had been grounded for a week and given a lecture nearly every night about it.

  “Sam, I don’t care you searched for them.” He smiled as he said it, then added telepathically, Hellooo, we just sat outside breaking all the rules together anyways. I smiled back at him. But I am pretty curious about what they are meeting about. He added with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. And I’m pretty sure my eyes twinkled back at him, because my smile grew and we grabbed hands to head off to the Council Chambers.

  We snuck into Christopher’s office, because I knew he wouldn’t notice anything about me being in here, whereas my parents would both know instantly. Not to mention, if he did notice I had been here, he wouldn’t think anything about it, because I came to talk to him pretty often. He was good at helping me work on controlling my Power. Though he wasn’t the oldest Council member, I was pretty sure he was the most powerful, other than my parents.

  Also, Christopher’s office was the closest to the Council Chambers, the room they always met in, so we had a better chance of hearing something. I almost felt like tiptoeing, though I knew they wouldn’t hear me either way. I was the shit when it came to sneaking around. Awesome ninja skills? I so got ‘em.

  Chapter 10

  Eavesdropping

  We knew we couldn’t really eavesdrop, not on their minds anyway. So instead we had to do it the old fashioned way, with our ears pressed against the wall. Our bodies were angled strange, trying not to disturb the furniture or decorations on the wall, while still trying to have our ear pressed firmly against it.

  The voices were muffled, but we could still make them out. Thank God for super hearing.

  “So, what are we going to do? We continue to have this same conversation, month after month, with no change.” That was Henry’s nasally voice. He always was the most negative out of the Council Members.

  “We just keep doing what we have been doing. We try to find all the Rising members we can and continue to kill them,” David answered. He sounded so sure of himself even though he was talking about killing people, though I guess they weren’t really people. I mean, they were human, but they were evil incarnate.

  “That is what we have been doing, David, to no avail. Where we kill one, they find and kill two of us. And we have less than they have to spare.”

  I heard my mother sigh. Though it was just a huff of air, I could tell her sighs anywhere.

  “Well, it’s what we have to do. They still have the Virus, and we all know they are considering using it. Not to mention nuclear warheads. Everyone is at war with everyone. We cannot control the Powerless, we can only continue to fight the evil. That is what we’re here for.” My mom was seriously the strongest woman in the world, and when she spoke, you had no choice but to listen.

  “Allison, that isn’t enough. The virus has been mutated, we all know that. If they release it, it would make those infected turn into mindless killers with no care for human life.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve seen The Walking Dead, I know how to fight a zombie apocalypse.” She chuckled. It was funny, but I guess they didn’t think so.

  “This is not a joking matter!” Henry almost shouted at her.

  “You think I don’t know that? But really, what are we discussing this for? We fight them, and try to win. Why is this even being debated?”

  “Or, there is another option. Gabby is alive, she is here for a reason.” For a minute I could almost see my mother sneer at him, and could almost swear I heard her growl. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that anger.

  “That is not an option. She is only eight years old! There is no way she is ready. She would be devastated at any damage she did, and she would probably die quickly.”

  “Really, what I think we should do is focus on their Leader. They must have one and this is the first time in history that we don’t know who it is. He is out there somewhere, keeping hidden very well, but still there. I think we should find him and wor
k on killing him,” David said, effectively taking the conversation to something other than Gabby. “Every time we have taken their Leader, it takes them a good while to regroup and continue on. That’s what we need to do. We need to stall them, just for a while longer. I mean, isn’t every single one of us curious how and why they have hidden their Leader from us?”

  “Rising Members are running rampant. The Wars are causing enough devastation to the world without them wreaking their havoc, but we aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think we need to focus more on taking down the Rising Members. Going out on hunts for them twice a month is not enough.” That sounded like Nicholas. Another Council Member that I both liked and respected. Not as much as Christopher, but he was still okay.

  “We could do both. Get more into the guard, so that we can go out on more hunts a month, but instead of just killing, we should try to get information on their Leader out of them.”

  “We shouldn’t send out more, that’s only more that will continue to risk their lives. And twice a month is already a lot. It takes a lot out of them to go on these hunts. Many continue to come back injured,” said Christopher. He was always concerned primarily with defensive strategies, not offensive.

  “Then perhaps we work harder on training the healers. Aren’t a few of the children going to be healers? And many have the ability to heal, though it isn’t their primary ability…” That was Henry.

  “Well, that’s all good and fine, but I still think we should focus on getting rid of the Viruses so they are no longer a threat.” That sounded like Jonathan, not one of my favorite Council members. I didn’t have anything against him or anything, not like how I didn’t like Henry, I just didn’t know him too well.

  I pulled away from the Wall and sighed. Andrew looked over at me.

  “This is what they talk about in their meetings? Death and how to solve it. When to get rid of Gabby.” I sighed, because I would freak out on anyone who tried to send her out there. “How to save this God-forsaken planet.”