"I'm okay Alec. I'm safe you see?" I tell him. I can sense the fear he felt.
He pulls me back again to look at me. "Yes, I see." With both his hands he brushes back my hair from my face. His hands land softly on my cheeks and he lifts my head up to his. The butterflies dance in my stomach as his lips reach mine. He kisses me gently at first and then it turns into a passionate, hungry kiss.
I stiffen when a feeling of embarrassment and awkwardness roll over me. Most startling of all is an overwhelming sense of jealousy that nearly takes my breath away. I pull out of the kiss and take a deep breath.
Alec, doesn't seem to notice my hesitation. He just pulls me into another hug. When he releases me, I look to Connor whose face is red and he looks uncomfortable. I'm sure that kiss raised the temperature in the room a bit.
Hesitantly and slowly, I turn around to see Tony standing on the other side of the room. If I didn't know him better, I wouldn't have noticed his tense posture. No, I know him more than I ought to because I can feel the jealousy and hurt that has enveloped him. I instantly feel horrible and guilty. I shouldn't feel either of those, but I do.
Alec whispers in my ear. "Who is that?"
I turn towards him. "Tony. He's helped me and has protected me since I left the shelter."
"Really?" Now I feel the jealous undertones coming off Alec.
I nod my head. I really need to stop using this ability because I don't think I need to know exactly how everyone feels. Right now, I'm way too keenly aware of it. I grab Alec's hand and lead him over to where Tony stands. Connor follows as well.
"Tony, this is Alec and Connor." I try to ignore the hurt look in Tony's eyes.
He masks it well though. He reaches out his hand to my friends. "Nice to meet you." He says while shaking their hands. "Willow has been looking for you for quite some time." His eyes land on Alec's face.
Alec smiles down at me. "I've been looking for her too." He kisses my head softly and looks back up at Tony. "Thank you so much for helping her Tony. I am indebted to you."
Tony shakes his head. "No, it's my pleasure. Plus, I did it for her mom."
I don't know why that stung a little. It shouldn't but, what, he didn't do it for me? That's stupid, I know.
Alec looks at me. "Your mom?" His eyes open wide in surprise.
Unable to control my smile I beam up at him and nod my head vigorously. "Yes, both her and my brother made it!"
He pulls me into another hug and spins me around once. "That's amazing!" He says.
"That's so awesome Willow!" Connor's eyes light up. He hesitates before he asks. "Did you by any chance see my..." The emotions won't let him finish his sentence.
I look up at him and shake my head sadly. "I didn't." When Connor's face crumbles I quickly add. "But, there are a lot of people there. I very well could have missed them."
"Yeah." Connor says.
"What are their names?" Tony asks.
"Scott and Laura." Connor answers looking all too hopeful.
Tony shakes his head. "I don't think we have a couple by that name. Well, we have some Scott's and some Laura's but not any together.
Not wanting Connor to focus on what that may mean, I quickly add. "We’ll look for them when we get out of here, I promise!"
He looks hopeful again. "Deal!"
"What about Lily, did you check on her?" I ask Connor about his little sister.
Connor nods. "Yes, she's doing great. I wanted to take her, but Alec's right. She is safer here. Especially with those monsters out there."
Alec puts his hand on Connor's shoulder. "We will get her back as soon as we find a safe place."
"I know." Connor nods.
Alec turns to me. "How did you know we were here?"
"We found Claire." I tell him.
"Claire! Where is she, is she okay?" Connor demands.
"Yes, she's okay. She's here with my mom." I tell him.
"She's in the shelter?" Connor starts heading towards the wall. "She's not safe here. We need to get her."
"My mom will protect her. They will meet us here tonight." I tell him.
"No, if she's here, I need to find her now." He tells me.
"I’ll go with you." Tony tells him.
Connor hesitates, not sure how he feels about going with a stranger, but then he shrugs his shoulders. "Fine, let's go."
He puts his hand on Tony's shoulder awkwardly and they both disappear through the wall leaving Alec and I alone.
Alec comes up behind me and putting his hand over my stomach he pulls me in closely to him. He whispers in my ear. "I'm so glad you are okay."
"I'm glad you are okay too." It seems surreal that I finally found Alec. Filled with happiness I move to where I can see his face. Closing my eyes, I initiate a kiss. We kiss tenderly for a few seconds before Alec turns me back around to where I'm fully facing him again. He kisses me hungrily. His hands rub across my back as mine run through his hair. We both express with no words how much we missed each other.
When the kiss comes to an end, Alec leans back and looks deeply into my eyes. "I love you so much Willow."
My heart soars. "I love you too."
We can't get enough of each other, so we stay in each other’s arms as I tell Alec what happened with Dr. Hastings and Zack. I tell him how I escaped and he is just as surprised as I was that Candy let me go. I relay all that I've been through since getting out of the shelter. I tell him about my new powers. He tells me about the Reapers and how Erik's people saved him. It's amazing how much we need to catch each other up on especially since it's only been a few days.
Time passes by fast when we are together and before we know it Connor walks through the cave wall with Tony, Claire, my mom and my dad in tow.
"Dad!" I bolt up with lightning speed and run into my father’s arms.
"Willow!" He pulls me close and holds on tight. "I'm so glad you are okay honey. I knew you could make it!" He tells me.
My mom joins in on our hug. "Yes, we raised a strong one here." She says rubbing my shoulder. I laugh but secretly I'm overwhelmed with happiness. Things are actually going right. My life that once was torn into tiny pieces is being mended right in front of my eyes.
Poor Tony is the only one left out of the love fest. I feel bad about that but I don't know what else I can do. Connor is being lovey dovey with Claire. After my mom is introduced to Alec she pulls my dad to the side and properly makes up lost time with him. I don't know if I should be excited or grossed out that my parents are making out in the corner of the cave.
After we end the love fest, my mom and Tony update my dad on all that's been going on outside the shelter. He tells us about everything that's been happening inside which includes a growing movement of people wanting to revolt. Some people are whispering rumors about the temperature outside and they want to be released. The government has upped the ante by having weekly assemblies where they show false temperature readings of 180 degrees and video shots of sandy deserts that I doubt exist in our country.
We aren't sure why the government would want to keep everyone inside the shelter but my guess is if they have satellite imagery as good as they say they do then I'm sure they've been able to see what's going on with the reapers. I wouldn't be surprised if some higher ups are formulating a plan to deal with it. I just hope the plan doesn't include mass bombings or military infantry...Not that we have much of an infantry left after the virus killed off so many of them.
When the sun begins to set and the lanterns and flashlights are lit, I go with Tony through to the other cave to see if Candy shows. I know it's a risky move and that's why I deny everyone else's requests to come with us. I trust Candy in a strange way but the logical part of my brain tells me that I should be ready for anything. Who knows if she is going to tell her dad and have a huge party of people on the other side ready to arrest us?
I'm confident that if there are people waiting for us, Tony and I can take them.
All is quiet in the first cave. The l
ight from the small lantern barely shows us half of the cave. We wait for several minutes. Right when I figure that she will be a no show, I sense the conflicted emotions. A moment later they are followed by a flashlight emerging from the tunnel.
Candy makes her way over to us slowly. When she gets close enough for me to see her better, I notice her eyes are red and rimmed with tears. Her cheeks are puffy and tear stained.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, even though I can feel everything she's feeling: fear, nervousness, sadness and anticipation.
"I will be." She says quietly.
I know I wouldn't want to be coddled so I take her hand in mine and Tony's in the other. We both walk through the wall into the other cave.
She takes a deep breath when we step out. "Wow!" I'm sure that experience just blew her mind a little.
Everyone’s attention immediately focuses on us. I introduce Candy. Sensing that she's feeling overwhelmed we all quiet down and don't hover over her much. It's getting late so we make plans for getting out in the morning. My mom takes Candy under her wing and I can sense a feeling of longing coming from Candy as my mom tells her about what to expect on the outside.
It's funny how hard I thought my life was. I can't imagine going through what Candy's been through or what she's about to go through. She will have nobody out there on the outside.
Before we settle down to sleep for the night I ask Candy privately what she thinks will happen when they realize she's missing. She tells me that she set a note to be delivered to her brother via his tablet tomorrow afternoon. She doesn't think her dad would give a crap but deep down she still cares for her brother even though he's a hot mess. She didn't reveal much other than the fact that she’s found a way out and was going to take it.
CHAPTER 9 (ESCAPE)
None of us get much sleep and I feel the effects in the morning. The first beams of light filter through the ceiling waking me up. I'm wrapped up in Alec’s arms. I’m shocked my parents didn’t say anything about us sleeping next to each other last night. My guess is they were either too tired, happy to have each other, or knew we couldn’t really get in trouble when the two of them are here supervising anyway.
I get up before anyone else and take the opportunity to study Alec’s face. My fingers trace along his strong jaw and pouty lips. I can see his eyes rolling around in his sleep as if he’s dreaming. I move my fingers through his shiny locks and see a smile light up on his face.
Before he opens his eyes, his hand reaches up and embraces mine. He whispers to me, “Even if I lived a thousand years, I would never tire of waking next to you.”
I can’t help the smile that envelops my face. Feeling shy I try and break eye contact but Alec isn’t having it. He places a finger under my chin and raises my eyes to meet his once again. He moves my face from side to side shining the light on the different areas of my irises. “I never got a chance to really look at your eyes yesterday. The light was too dim in the cave.”
I let him look me over, trying to suppress the feeling of being self-conscious. This is Alec we’re talking about. I should feel comfortable with him looking at me. After all, I am his girlfriend. Alec places his palm on the side of my face and gives me the sweetest, most heartfelt kiss. The sound of someone waking up causes us to break away from one another.
“Later,” he whispers in my ear. Goosebumps form along my arms as I think about what ‘later’ might mean.
“Morning Willow,” I hear my dad say behind me.
I roll over and smile. “Morning Dad. Sleep well?”
He nods his head. “Better than I have in a long while.” He takes a deep breath and stretches his arms above his head.
Soon we’re all up and moving around. My mother passes out some energy bars and canned food. Unfortunately we don’t have enough for everyone to have their own so we each pair off and share…except for Tony. He gets to have an energy bar all to himself after Candy politely refuses any food we have to offer.
You would think Tony having his own meal would be a good thing, but he doesn’t look too happy about it. Every time I look over at him he averts his gaze elsewhere. I have a difficult time not utilizing any of my powers to try and hear his thoughts or know his feelings. I guess I want a quick fix to something that looks to be in shambles.
Alec places his hand at the small of my back while we eat. Not wanting to break contact for any period of time. When he tries to feed me a piece of the energy bar, I turn my head, cracking up. "You are so not feeding me like a child!"
"Hey, I think it's romantic!" Claire jumps in.
"Well, I don't." I turn and smile at Alec hoping he doesn't take offense.
He laughs, "Ms. Independent. No feeding food to you, duly noted." He acts like he's making a check mark in the air. Then he hands me the piece of food and I accept it with a thank you.
I look around at everyone in the room. It kind of seems unnatural that everything is finally getting better and turning around. Almost like it’s an impossibility to be this serene and at-ease. I can’t help the smile that lights up my face. As soon as we reach the compound tonight my family will be reunited for the first time in what seems like ages. I can’t wait to show Sabby his daddy again. He will be ecstatic! My heart goes out to that little guy and all that he’s had to endure these past few months. Hopefully this will help make things right in his small world again.
We all huddle around my mom waiting for instructions. "It's about time to meet up with the others. We have two options. We can go back through the shelter to get to the original rally point or we can make our way outside here and walk in the daylight to the rally point." My mom tells us.
"I don't want to go back through the shelter!" Candy's voice gets really high as she proclaims this.
I look over at her and nod my head. "I think we can go out here and Claire and I can keep everyone invisible as we make our way to the others."
My mom looks to my dad first, then Tony and finally she nods. "Okay. I think with it being dawn, the chance of running into a Reaper is minimal. If you both can keep us invisible we should be able to avoid detection just fine."
"We can." Claire says confidently.
"Let's do this!" Connor throws his arm up in the air in a fist pump. Claire and I giggle. It's good to be around my quirky friends again.
With the decision made, Connor and I split everyone up evenly and begin taking them out through the wall. We take Claire in the first group so she can work on keeping everyone invisible. Halfway through the wall with Alec, I almost lose focus. He kisses me between the rocks making me lose my train of thought. We end up tumbling out of the wall with me landing on top of him...Oops. I get to my feet and brush my hands off on my pants.
My dad gives me the stink eye and I try and act as innocent as possible. “What?” I ask him hoping he realizes my intention of the question being rhetorical.
As soon as we’re all gathered on the outside my mom, dad, Candy and Connor all connect with Claire. Their group takes the lead leaving me with Alec and Tony. Alec holds my hand and stands close to my right while Tony stands as close, if not closer on my left. Tony's hand lightly cuffs around my upper arm. Awkward.
As if knowing my thoughts Tony leans over and says to me, “Your mother’s orders still stand until we’re back at the compound.”
I smile and nod my head trying to not show my annoyance that he's been assigned to protect me. As if I can't protect myself. I have to not think emotionally though. It is logical to have Tony protect me. He has a lot more fighting experience than me and nobody wants to chance a Reaper getting ahold of what I have. A Reaper with my abilities would be horrific.
The walk around to the rally point is longer and more uncomfortable than I thought it would be. You can cut the tension right now with a knife. Knowing Tony is standing close on my other side, Alec squeezes my hand even tighter. I squeeze back and forget my strength. He gives a small shriek as he pulls his hand to his chest.
He becomes visible again and I qui
ckly grab ahold of his elbow. Biting my lip I say, “Oh, Alec. I’m so sorry! Sometimes I forget I can do that.”
I watch him heal his own hand and catch sight of the grin on Tony’s face in my peripheral vision.
Luckily Alec can't see Tony. I have to remember that nobody can see each other since we are invisible. The only reason why I can see them is because I have Candy's ability.
Accepting my apology Alec puts his hand around my shoulder. “How about this instead?”
I nod and keep up the pace walking behind my parents.
“You know Alice, I can’t quite figure this out but I feel like I've walked around this corner before. It's almost like deja vu." My dad looks back in my direction and in the same instant says, "Watch your step Willow."
I gasp in surprise. His eyes have taken on a coppery orange hue. The direct sunlight must have accelerated his change. My dad turns his head back around to face forward and I blink several times trying to clear my thoughts. I haven't seen that color before and I can't help but be extremely curious as to what gift is in store for my dad.
I let out a screech as I stumble over a loose rock. Tony, having a hold of my upper arm, is able to right my balance quickly and I don't even hit the ground.
My dad turns around and says in my direction, "I told you to watch your step honey."
I look up at him and ask, "What? How?"
He just shakes his head like he’s not sure himself. He looks slightly to my right since he can't see me. The sun hits his eyes and I am instantly reminded of a penny. He turns back around.
When we near another bend at the base of the mountain, my dad stops and his posture turns rigid. "This is so bizarre. I know I've been around this corner before but I really don't think it's actually happened. I know this doesn't make sense." I watch my dad run his hand through his hair.
My mom's hand squeezes his and she tenses slightly. "What do you mean by you can see them?"
"I can see the people with the same eyes as you. They are right around the corner. It plays in my mind like a memory or a sort of deja vu. I can't really explain it." He says.
Finding ELE (ELE Series #2) Written By: Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels Page 12