by Amy Richie
The first time, I had burned for six days. I lay on my bed, thrashing around, the fever raged in my body. They had to use restraints because I clawed my own skin so severely. I was burning on the inside and I wanted it out. David told Neleh that they would have to find a new girl, start over. He said it was his fault, that the injection wasn’t ready after all.
Reva stayed by my side though; she nursed me through the worst part. And when it was all over, Neleh had smiled smugly at David. “See, I told you she was the one. I knew she would be.” Her eyes burned when she looked at me, but it wasn’t with kindness or affection. It was more for greed. Like she already knew she would get exactly what she wanted.
After the second injection, I only burned for two days, and the third time was less than twenty four hours. By the time I was thirteen, it only lasted a few hours. The intensity was still the same as the first time, but I had learned to control myself. I no longer needed restraints. I didn’t even lie down. I just sat very still and very straight and looked past the pain.
And then I turned fourteen and everything changed.
Chapter Four
I remember the day clearly, the day they took my Reva from me. I knew better than to cry, and I paid dearly for that, but I could not stop myself. The guards came to take her away, so I knew where they were taking her. What they would do to her.
I was fourteen. She hugged me tight to her chest and squeezed my hand. It was her tears that started mine. Things were not the same after that. Everything changed. Me most of all.
After I turned fourteen I got injections every month. The pain was intense but I learned along the way that I could deal with pain, ignore it. I could still function clearly when in pain. Like Dominick Letrell, pain became a part of me.
I didn’t learn the things normal children learned at school. Neleh decided I had no need for those things. What did it matter if I could add or read or know maps? Those things were not important. She would have been furious if she knew that David taught me to read.
“Eva,” he had said in a near whisper, “this is a book.” I couldn’t understand why he was whispering, Neleh wasn’t there. Even if she was, she would have heard his whispers too.
“What do you do with it?” I didn’t bother to whisper.
“You read it Eva.”
I stared at him with distaste. “I don’t know how to read.”
“It’s an injustice to you. You can go anywhere with a book.”
I turned the square object in my hands disbelievingly. “Is it like the time machine?” My eyes lit up.
“No.” He yanked the book from my hands and opened it to reveal pages filled with tiny words.
I watched him flip the pages in wonder. I was sixteen and this was the first time I had ever seen a book. “Have you ever read the book David?”
“Of course I have. I have read lots of books.”
Lots? My mind whirled. “How many books are there?”
“Millions.” He was watching my face and shaking his head. “An injustice,” he muttered.
“What’s this one called?”
“This one is called Jane Eyre. It was once one of the great American classics, written by Charlotte Bronte in the 1800’s.”
“What’s it about?”
“You’ll have to read it and find out. You can go anywhere with a book,” he restated his earlier claim.
I didn’t understand his sentiment but I did know that I wanted to know what was written on those pages. “Will you read it to me David?”
He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m not really...” He must have seen something in my face, an eagerness perhaps, because he didn’t finish telling me no. Instead, he opened the book to the first page and began in a soft voice, “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.”
David and I spent months at Thorn field Hall watching as Jane and Edward fell in love. I loved Jane as if she were a childhood friend. I could have been at Lowood School with her. I often daydreamed that I had been there. And then I would find my own Edward Rochester. But I was careful to only dream such things when Neleh was long gone.
I picked up quickly on the words. David said I was smart, which — coming from David — I took as a huge compliment. He brought me many books but most of them came from his lab and were full of long boring words. Only sometimes they were stories of love and pirates.
David warned me to not let Neleh know that I could and had been reading. And most of all do not let her know that I had a book. I flinched back. “She can read my thoughts. I can’t hide anything from her.”
“Yes you can. Neleh can only hear the thoughts you are thinking at the moment. She can’t really get that far in your head. Only the guards and Kiera can do that.” He saw the panic on my face and was quick to add, “and they won’t be paying any attention so don’t worry.”
And so I learned something invaluable that day. How to hide things from Neleh.
As I got older, Neleh often sat in on my lessons. Sometimes she added things to them. It made me nervous at first but as I grew comfortable in my knowledge of Dominick, I learned to enjoy her visits. It pleased her to see how much I knew.
“When did Dominick go to Rome?”
“When he was eleven.”
“How did he get there?”
“He walked.”
“Why did he go?”
“His father was abusive to Elizabeth. He and Elizabeth both went to Rome to train to become warriors.”
“What were his plans after he became warrior?”
“To return to his homelands, kill his father, and take up residence there — as master.”
“Tell me how Dominick became a vampire,” Neleh said, walking into the room. Her presence made everyone sit up straighter. Lix, who had been teaching me, slumped silent.
“The guard changed him,” I answered without missing a beat.
“Which guard?”
“Silango.”
“Tell me what happened.”
I had heard the story so often, I felt like I had been there. Many times I had imagined that I was there. The only thing I couldn’t imagine was Dominick as a human man.
“In the year 826, Vladimir sent his guards to find warriors. He wanted to create an army that was bigger and better than Vance’s. Dominick was a man by then but still only training to be a warrior, but Silango changed him anyways because of his impressive fighting skills. Elizabeth, mistaken for a man, was also changed that day. It’s believed that Dominick was in too much pain to stop them from changing his sister.”
“And how does that make you feel?” Neleh’s eyes were opened wide, giving her a slightly insane look.
I moved my eyes subtly to follow her crazy pacing around the room. “The fact that he became a vampire?”
“No.” She glared at me.
“That his sister became one too?”
“No.” In a swift motion she was leaning down to bring her face inches from mine.
My mind drew a blank. What was she talking about? I kept my face calm. “Which part then?” I asked evenly.
“The part where he was in pain.” Her eyes lit up. She really was crazy.
“It doesn’t make me feel anything.” I didn’t let my eyes show my confusion.
She laughed shortly and then put her hands up to cover her mouth. “I wish I could be there when you kill him Eva.” She began pacing again. “I wish I could see his face when he realizes he has been beaten by a mere human girl.” She threw her head back and laughed again. She looked at me for encouragement.
“You’ll just have to be satisfied with imagining it,” I said softly.
“Oh, I will,” she grinned widely.
Later, when I told David about it, he agreed that she was crazy. “I guess she has been so obsessed for so long with killing Dominick Letrell. It has made her a little...” He didn’t need to finish. I got the idea.
A few years later the lessons changed from a classroom setting to a more hands on approach. I h
ad always had combat lessons, but they always held back most of their strength. Neleh announced one day that my knowledge of fighting was complete, now I would be tested on my strength.
That first week was brutal. Most of the bones in my body were broken at some point during that week. I was able to endure the pain and lay still while David mended my bones with his green laser. I clenched my jaw and saw past the pain, vowing to not let it happen again.
David beamed at me when my victories came more often than my defeats. “You learn so quickly Eva,” he gushed.
“I have to David.” I didn’t look at him as he washed the blood from my arms. “Your little green laser won’t fix everything and she won’t stop.” He stopped moving. He knew I was right.
“You will fight Henri tomorrow,” Neleh announced, coming into the room.
“Henri?” David was outraged. “She’s not…”
His words were stopped with a look from Neleh. “Not one broken bone today, right Eva?”
“Not one,” I conceded proudly.
She grinned and turned her icy eyes to David. “Finish cleaning her up. She needs her rest.”
The fight with Henri lasted seventeen seconds. His head rolled at my feet. David controlled his clapping, but only barely. The guards rushed to put Henri back together again before there was too much damage. Neleh sauntered towards me, smiling, but not happy. Did she want me to lose? I resisted the urge to fight.
“You have come a long way young Eva,” she drawled.
“Yes Neleh.” I didn’t take my eyes off of her.
“Capir,” she called sharply. One of her guard was by her side in an instant.
It took me four heartbeats to realize what was going on. It took David even longer. Capir crouched low to the ground and a short sword materialized into his hand.
“No!” David finally caught on. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other three guards step forward to stop him.
I switched my attention back to Capir. He wasn’t smiling. Instead, his face showed complete concentration and seriousness. I heard the air whooshing in and out of my lungs at an accelerated pace. Neleh wanted me to die.
Neleh gave the nod. The fight was over before it even began. I didn’t feel the pain of the knife plunging into my stomach, but the shock pulled me up short. I looked up at Capir, who was glaring at me. As if in slow motion, he pulled the blade back out, nodded, and turned to rejoin the guard.
From somewhere far away I heard David’s voice. “What the hell are you doing?” I saw his face above me, which meant I must be on the ground. I tried to get back up, but David pushed me back. “Don’t move Eva, I’ll fix you right up.”
“No you won’t.” Neleh’s voice rang loud and clear, full of authority.
I turned my head to the side and saw a growing puddle of blood on the ground. I hoped it wasn’t mine. “What are you…?” Emotion cut his words off. “She’s going to die.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Really David. Capir didn’t touch any of her organs.” She sounded disgusted by David’s emotional outburst.
“You have gone too far, Neleh.”
“Eva has never had to heal herself. In all the fights, she’s never been really injured. Do you honestly think Dominick will be so kind?”
“There’s other ways.”
“No. We can’t strengthen the blood. We already give her too much. You said so yourself. Her blood has to become stronger on its own.” She came to stand over me. Her pale blond hair hung down in thick curtains. “Practice makes perfect.” Her expression remained stoic. “Eva, can you hear me?”
I nodded, unable to speak.
“Don’t listen to David. You’ve proved him wrong before. Capir will take you to your room and we will monitor you from there. After you’re all better, we’ll try this again.” She smiled, revealing her perfectly white teeth. “Don’t give in Eva, stay with us,” she said to my mind. Her smile never faltered but I thought I saw worry or fear flash in her eyes.
David came to my bedside often over the next week. Constantly he was checking on me, making sure I was healing. “It isn’t right,” he muttered that first night.
I tried to smile, but it probably just looked more like a grimace. “S’ok,” I slurred.
“She could have killed you.”
“She didn’t even have the sword,” I croaked out.
David shot me an exasperated look before lifting my shirt to examine the wound. “This whole thing,” he shook his head, “it’s different than I thought it would be.” He smiled sadly and then turned his face.
It irritated me that he was feeling sorry for me. After all Neleh was just trying to help me. “Are you finished?”
“Yeah.” He pulled my shirt back down. “You know Eva…”
“She was just trying to help David.” I couldn’t yell at him like I wanted to, but I hoped he could tell how angry I was.
“You are just a child.”
My mouth dropped open in disbelief. “I am not a child.” I coughed from the effort of trying to be angry.
He looked at me for a long moment and then got up. “I think you’ll be fine, but I still think she went too far this time.” I kept my face turned away from him.
It took nearly a week before I was able to stand up on my own. It was another week before David gave the go ahead for me to fight again. I never fought the guard again after that, but everyday my skills at combat grew.
And every day, my blood grew stronger. Every night, before I returned to my cell, Neleh would have one of the guard take a razor blade and make a single cut along the length of my arm. As time passed the cuts didn’t even bleed very badly. A cut, even a deep cut, would heal on me in twenty minutes.
Finally, after a very long time, Neleh was satisfied enough with my progress to leave me alone with David. It was during this time that David taught me another of his secrets.
Two days after she left, David came to my cell. “Eva, I want to teach you something,” he began.
“Ok.”
“You can’t tell Neleh.”
This got my attention. I looked at him carefully. “She wouldn’t want me to know?”
“The guards have the ability to form a protective shield around themselves and anyone standing close to them.”
“A shield made of what?”
“Energy.”
I crinkled my nose. “Why wouldn’t Neleh want me to know?”
He sat down on the only chair in the room. “The guards were created to protect — Kiera mostly, but protect is the only thing they know. They are loyal to Neleh right now but…”
“I already know all this. It doesn’t explain...”
He held up his hand in an impatient gesture. “I believe the shield is purely a defense mechanism. I don’t know if they can put it up at will. There has never really been a need.”
“And it’s never been fully researched?” I rolled my eyes at his serious expression.
“Neleh can’t do it at all. That is probably why she didn’t want you to. That would make you more powerful than her, at least to defend yourself against her.”
“She can’t get through this shield?”
“No. Nothing can.”
“Can you put up a shield?”
No Eva. Only the guard can.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why do you think I can?”
“The guard’s blood flows through your veins. There is no reason to believe that you cannot. With a lot of practice of course.”
“Who will teach me?”
“I will. You will have to practice on me. No one else can know about it.”
***
I felt the pressure on my back change. The lights whirred on. At first I was slightly disoriented. It took me a minute to remember where I was —in my pod. In the decam room.
Sols and Max stirred behind me. “Is it done?” Max said out loud. His voice echoed in the silence.
“I don’t know,” Sols whispered.
A door slid open.
Chapter Five
“I guess that means we’re done,” Sols said with a nervous laugh.
I got up slowly. David had told us that he didn’t know for sure how decam would affect us. I subtly checked the strength in my legs and arms. I was slightly stiff from sitting for so long, but other than that I felt fine.
“Alright,” Max said with a ring of authority, “everyone ready?”
Both men looked at me expectantly. “Yes.” I gave a short nod.
Sols led us through a narrow doorway that went to Orbex, the machine that would take us back through time. I had never actually seen Orbex — only pictures — so the scene was a little intoxicating. “Now there won’t be much room inside of Orbex,” David’s words echoed in my memory, “but the shape and size are essential for speed and easy concealment.”
The small sphere shaped time machine was set on a high platform in the middle of a large room. I couldn’t make out a door, or any kind of window. In fact it appeared to only be a large grey colored ball. I had serious doubts as to whether the three of us could fit inside. Well, one of them would be staying, I thought dryly.
Most of the walls in the large room were bare. Only one wall had a small panel of controls. The coordinates for our destination were already programmed, but Max went over to the panel to check them again before we left. It was best for everyone if we didn’t go back to the wrong time. He pushed a series of buttons and a door on the opposite wall slid open. I hadn’t seen the door when we entered but I knew it had to be there somewhere, we were still naked.
Without a word we all three filed into the small room. There were three lockers and a small bench inside. The two men quickly filled the bench. I opened my locker and pulled out the clothes set aside for me. I put them on as fast as I could without looking suspiciously embarrassed. They would not know of my discomfort. I slipped the shirt over my head and looked at the men, who were moving much slower.
My pants were a looser fit than I was used to, and the shirt went down a little further. They were both a matching pale brown and made from a material I was not familiar with. I raised my arms, experimenting with the stiff fabric. It didn’t move with my body the way my normal clothes did. We should have practiced with these clothes, I thought dismally.