by KD Knight
"I'll tell you whatever I know." I said as I eased into the armchair.
Aunt Dar stood beside the chair rolling nervously on the balls of her feet.
I took a deep breath, "It began …"
"How long had you and Marcus been fraternizing?" Millicent cut me off as she flipped through the pages of her notepad.
"We have never fraternized," I answered. The question caught me completely off-guard.
"So you never spoke with him before the accident?" Glenroy asked accusingly.
My head was still spinning from the first question. "I did speak to him, but it was only to try and get him to leave me alone."
They both looked to each other and raised their brows. I suddenly felt a rush of heat to my face and a burning ache in my chest. I looked up at Aunt Dar whose wide eyes indicated she was just as shocked as I was.
"So, how did he know about you?" Glenroy pressed.
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Did you reveal yourself to any other students at Kingston Academy?"
"No!" The pressure in my chest was mounting. I need my inhaler.
"Are you being completely truthful with us, Ms. Miller?" Millicent asked, her grey eyes piercing me.
"I get attacked and you call me a liar? This is how the Council treats one of its own?" Yesterday, when Dr. Coy and Mark spoke about the Council, I sensed resentment in their voices. I now see why.
"What about the beach? I have confirmed reports that you did reveal yourself, in front of hundreds of Normals." Glenroy rose to his feet.
"There was nothing intentional about the beach. I was drowning."
"Are you upset, Miss Miller?" He let out a throaty chuckle and smirked. "Your eyes."
I looked away.
"Such unique, sharp eyes," he continued. "Maybe it was your eyes that betrayed you." Glenroy approached, grasped me firmly by the elbow and lifted me out of my chair. He pulled me by my elbow toward the front door. We stopped by the mirror Aunt Dar had recently hung by the doorway. I pulled myself free from his grasp.
I was struck silent as I stood in front of the mirror. I had never seen my eyes like this before. My eyes were transforming from brown to sharp silver. This is what my friends see when they look at me?
I stepped closer touching my face and eyes. My eyes were different from Lisa's, Mark’s, and Boothe's. While their eyes were grey, mine were silver. How have I not noticed this before?
"Fascinating, isn't it? The full brightness of your eyes are only seen when your emotions rise." He leaned forward, holding his head just above my shoulder. "You must be a young lady of incredible power to have eyes so striking," he whispered.
Seeing Glenroy's reflection behind mine made me shudder. I turned swiftly, folding my arms across my chest. He held his hands up in surrender as he stepped back. There was something about his small round eyes and twitchy expression that put me on edge. I stepped back until my back touched the cold mirror. He stared down at me for a few silent moments. A feeling of dread washed over me, growing in intensity with each second that passed.
Millicent cleared her throat loudly, breaking Glenroy’s concentration. He straightened his jacket and stepped back.
"I want you two to leave," Aunt Dar said angrily "Now! She’s had a hard enough time without you two trying to make it seem like she brought this on herself!"
Millicent nodded as she rose to her feet. "We will be in touch should we have any further questions."
"Not in my house you won't!" Aunt Dar held the front door open.
"Are you close to catching Marcus and Aramos?" I asked Millicent as she passed.
"We will be in touch," she responded without breaking stride. Before exiting, she looked back. "A word of advice, Miss Miller, do not go throwing Aramos's name around so freely. If you must say his name refer to him only as the General."
"Why?"
"Nothing good ever comes to those who provoke him," she smirked.
I took a deep breath. I looked to Aunt Dar, still holding the door open. She looked like steam was about to shoot out of her ears. She hurried Millicent and Glenroy out the door. I followed closely behind. The sun was high and hot.
"What happens from here?" I asked as they made their way to their vehicle.
"For you, nothing." Millicent said, turning back. "We'll be handling the situation from here."
I walked back inside. The cool tile felt good against my burned soles. "There's got to be something I can do."
Aunt Dar bolted the door shut behind me.
I paced the floor, hoping that a light bulb would go off and I'd have the answer. Instead, I felt lost.
"Those two were rude and completely out of order. But catching Nephilim offenders is what they do. Leave it to the professionals, Jane."
"Did those two sound like they were ready to solve anything? Officer Glenroy Mamos was more concerned about the colour of my eyes. And Millicent would rather blame me for what happened."
I can't let my only opportunity to live a normal life slip through my hands. Not when I am so close. If I could just find Marcus…
"Did you hear me, Jane?" Aunt Dar's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“I do not want you going after those Nephilim lunatics. If you get hurt… if we lose you…" Tears misted her eyes.
I bit my lip hard. I wanted to protest, but I knew it wasn't a good idea. She was afraid I'd get hurt, kidnapped, maybe even killed. I was afraid, too. But there was a nagging, biting feeling inside urging me to take action. I don't know much about this Eshkar Council. Maybe they will catch Marcus and eventually Aramos. Based on the two representatives they sent to my door, I highly doubted that.
~Boothe~
Chapter Twelve: The Plan
"How many times have I apologized?" I asked after a long period of silence.
Every day for the past week had been the same. I'd pick Jane up at 8:00 a.m. at her home. She'd hesitate outside the car door briefly before getting in. She was very polite, always said her good mornings and thank yous. Many days that was all she said.
"Jane, I'm sorry I didn't stop Marcus." I said curtly.
She responded with just a slight raise of her brows.
"It's time you let this go. You'd think I was the one who kidnapped you," I murmured.
"I don't blame you for what happened," She said as silver flecks began to fire through her brown eyes.
"Why are you giving me the silent treatment?"
"Not being in the mood for conversation is not the same as giving you the silent treatment. Believe me, my silence has nothing to do with you." Her eyes completed their transformation. This meant her emotions were high.
"You're a terrible liar."
She looked away and fidgeted slightly. "How do you know I am lying?"
"Our eyes are linked with our emotions." I gestured to the mirror. "Strong feelings of anger, love, sadness, or any other emotion triggers an instant transformation. Plus, lying makes you uncomfortable. When you are uncomfortable you fidget."
She looked at me through the corner of her eyes.
"The first night I drove you home, I suggested that you lie to your aunt about the accident. You did the same thing you're doing now." I pointed to her now folded arms. She immediately dropped them onto her lap.
"We've been driving around together for a week. I've noticed a thing or two. Oh shoot!" I slammed on the brakes and Jane braced herself against the dashboard as the car came to a screeching halt.
"When did that get there?" asked Jane, perplexed.
The 'that' that Jane was referring to was a road block stretching across both lanes of the street. It was made of giant tires like the ones on tractor trailers, metal scraps from old appliances and other unidentifiable odds and ends.
"Looks like some sort of protest." I suggested.
"Protest?"
"Here, when people don't feel like their voices are being heard, they take to the streets, block roads, shut down services," I explained.
"Back home th
ey write to their member of parliament," she responded.
I let the car idle as I looked for the protestors. Oddly, there was only one person marching up and down the picket line. I looked at the wheels and metal scraps, then to the slim protestor. It's hard to imagine this man pulling in all this heavy debris into the road. He'd have to be as strong as, well, me.
I adjusted my rear view mirror and took stock of the line of cars that were behind me. No matter how he pulled this off, one thing is certain, his mission was successful. He single handedly brought the traffic on one of the busiest roads in Kingston to a grinding halt.
"I going to see what's up with this one man army," I said as I exited the car.
Behind me, a few others had exited their cars as well. They were angry and heading straight towards the protestor. He's lucky I was the first to arrive.
The protestor was a tall, slim man with a narrow jaw line and a straight nose. He wore a three piece grey suit. His jacket, vest and shirt were pulled out and unbuttoned. The man's arms and legs twitched as he chanted his slogans. In between his chants, he blinked wildly as he searched his surroundings.
"You alright?" I approached him slowly.
"Injustice!" he yelled, shaking his fist high in the air. "Corruption!"
I looked back. A small angry mob was quickly drawing near.
"You're blocking one of the busiest roads during the busiest time of the day. A lot of people aren’t too happy about that." I pointed to the fast approaching mob.
"They took my house and my land. My wife is gone. My children…" He shouted fiercely.
"Who took them?" I had a suspicion about the 'who' he was referring to. But then again, there is a lot of evil in this world, not all of them are Nephilim.
He opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by the mob's shouts.
"You better move these scraps from the road. I'm late for work." A woman in a black skirt suit yelled. "You don't look like you can compensate me for my lost wages, so you had better move this garbage."
The protestor clenched his teeth. His nostrils flared. "Injustice! Corruption!" he shouted as he resumed his march up and down the picket line. "I cannot and will not stop!"
An angry murmur rose from the crowd.
"If you can't hear you must feel!" a man said as he searched the ground. He soon found a steel pipe and charged for the protestor.
I stepped in between them. "Put down the pipe and return to your car. In fact, everyone return to your cars," I shouted to the crowd. The crowd sneered in reply.
"Oh," the man said, waving the pipe. "You two are in this together? Both of you deserve a good beating!" With that, he swung the steel pipe.
The pipe connected with my forearm. I thought about feigning that I was in some sort of pain, but it was too hot outside to be playing games. So, I let out a bored sigh instead. This made the man even angrier. He raised the pipe with both hands and brought the steel pipe down toward my head. I grabbed the pipe before it made contact. I pulled it from his grasp and bent the straight pipe in half.
I held the pipe up to his face and watched as his eyes grew wide. "This man clearly needs help," I said, gesturing to the protestor. "So please, everyone get back to your cars." I threw the bent pipe on the ground. "Find another way to get to wherever you’re going."
I must have scared the crowd because they ran like someone was chasing them. Everyone, except one. The man who had picked up the pipe stood frozen, staring at me with his mouth wide open, and his eyes filled with embarrassment and anger.
"Look," I said putting my hand on his shoulder. He swallowed hard but still attempted to maintain his tough demeanor. "I know this is an inconvenient situation. But hurting him is not how you deal with it." I squeezed his shoulder gently. His collar bone was like a twig in my hand. I could snap it with just a flick of a finger.
He grimaced. I kept my eyes on his, watching as he went from tough to tender.
"This man needs help, not harm." I said, releasing him.
He nodded painfully then ran back to his car. I turned back to the protestor.
"How did you do that?" He gripped his jacket nervously. "You're one of them, aren't you?"
"Never mind that. You need to go home. If you want to protest, write a letter to your member of parliament. Blocking a major road during rush hour is going to get you beaten up."
He nodded nervously.
Piece by piece we moved all the scraps from the roadway, until the path was clear. I made sure he got back to his vehicle safely then returned to mine.
"Sorry that took so long," I said as I entered. I turned the air conditioner on high and let the air blow on my hot face.
"It was nice of you to help that man," Jane said, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
"Someone had to." I put the car in drive and raced towards school. That ordeal knocked us back about twenty minutes. We're missing Ancient Civilizations for sure.
"You never struck me as nice," she raised an eyebrow as she spoke.
I turned to face her. "I must be nice. I'm driving you around."
"You're not doing this out of the goodness of your heart. You're doing it because you were told to."
"Ungrateful," I mumbled. "You have no idea what I have to put up with, all because I’ve decided to drive you."
"What do you put up with?" She asked curtly.
I grit my teeth. "Nothing."
"No, you brought it up," she folded her arms. "Now I want to know. What about me do you have to 'put up with'?"
"It's not you."
"Oh," Her arms dropped into her lap.
"My adopted father has done everything in his power to keep me out of the Eshkar life. In walks Jane Miller and suddenly everything he has worked for is gone. You can imagine his reaction."
The cabin got quiet.
"Sorry," she said finally. "I didn't know."
"Well, now you do." My reply was cold.
The cabin got quiet again. Through the corner of my eye, I watched as she pulled the chain from under her shirt and ran her finger over the pendant.
"You're adopted?" She asked.
"By my grandparents."
"What happened to your birth parents?"
"My mother was killed when I was a baby. I don't know anything about my father."
She looked up at me. Her eyes were silver. "We have something in common. I never knew my father either. He died when I was a baby. My mother raised me on her own."
"Your mom did a good job."
"Aside from the smothering, the lying, and paranoia, she did okay."
I chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
"You mom sounds like my father."
"No one is like my mother. Once I asked to go on a field trip to the zoo with my third grade class. She took one look at the permission slip, then packed us up and moved cities."
I couldn't help but snicker. "I got one better. When I was ten, I made friends with another Eshkar. My father found out and father moved us to England."
She looked down at her hands. "My mother spent the last fourteen years lying to me about who I am. My life has been turned upside down, again. I want so badly to be a normal teenager, with normal teenage problems. I thought coming to Jamaica and Kingston Academy would give me that. But that's never going to happen, thanks to my mom. I want a normal, uneventful life."
This girl and I were not so different. Our lives were inverted images of one another. She was robbed of a normal life. I was robbed of an Eshkar life. She lived without her father. I had to live without my mother.
"You'll have a normal life, I promise," I watched her sullen face.
"You can't promise something you can't give," she replied, her face still fallen.
"If I could give it to you, I would."
"Why?"
"Because I know what it is to feel incomplete."
The cabin grew quiet again. Jane flicked her finger against her pendant. Her eyes stormed.
"You were Marcus's friend
. Did he tell you where he was planning on taking me?"
I shook my head.
"Did he ever talk to you about the General?
I shook my head, again. The truth was I didn't know much about Marcus. Ignorant bliss I guess. But I did know about Aramos the General, every Eshkar knew. But I wasn't in a hurry to scare her with the stories, she’d already been through enough.
"Suppose someone wanted to find the General, where would this person begin looking?"
"I can't think of any reason a sane person would go looking for that kind of trouble." I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
"Because I realize that Marcus was just the foot soldier carrying out a command. The real evil is Ara…, the General. So why waste time fighting with the branches when I could cut the tree down from the source."
"Cut the tree down?" I was in shock.
"You just finished telling me how much you wanted to give me a normal life," she said mockingly.
"This is not what I meant. Clearly, you have no idea who he is. He is the destroyer of cities. He's the killer of not only men and women but also children." I gripped the wheel tighter with each word. "I can't believe you would think of doing something so stupid. You can forget that idea. I won't let you do it."
"Let me?" Her eyes narrowed. "I don't need your permission. I am so sick of everyone trying to hide me away for ‘my protection.’ What good has been done so far? The General is still out there and no one is doing anything about it."
"What about the Council's investigation?"
"The EI's think it's my fault, that I somehow created this whole mess."
Aramos is not a character to mess with. His cunning and total disregard for life is what allowed him to live so long. I had to think of something quickly, or this headstrong girl was going to run head first to her death. Maybe she was right, she didn't need protecting. What she needed was a good dose of the truth.
"You never grew up an Eshkar, so you've missed all the bedtime stories, so let me fill you in. He creates armies by mating with Normals. He uses his army to prey on the desperate, leaving behind nothing but carnage and death. He stirs up hatred and anger among Normals then sits back and watches as they destroy the land and kill their own. Whenever they talk about evil, violence and corruption, it's him they're talking, without even knowing it."