I waited for Rick to make the first move.
“Hi Lizzie. How are you feeling?” he asked, slowly walking towards me.
I shrugged my shoulders, trying to look indifferent to his approach, but I knew my goosebumps gave away how I really felt.
“I feel I owe you an apology,” he said after a little pause.
I didn't answer, just looked at him curiously.
“The last time we saw each other, I put you in a precarious situation. I'm sorry that had to happen.”
Well, that was the type of apology I'd tried to make to Zack many times before and got punished for. It wasn't really an apology at all, but I wasn't going to challenge my father. Not yet. I didn't have to anyway, as Rick was perfectly tuned into my feelings.
“Okay. I understand. Let's move on. It seems you are in a slightly different situation now? Let's talk about it.” He pulled a chair back for me and after I sat down, he took a seat opposite. “Have some breakfast, Lizzie. I'll have some too.”
He put a croissant on his plate and started smothering it with jam, just like I like it too. I hadn't said a word yet, but I knew it wouldn't be long before he got me to talk.
CHAPTER 25
Zaphire
“Hey, Zack!” I shouted at the fast disappearing figure in the corridor. “Come back!”
He slowed down reluctantly.
“Not now, Zaph,” he said slightly irritatedly, doing his utmost best not to look me in the eyes.
I caught up with him nevertheless.
“I get the distinct feeling you're avoiding me. I haven't seen you in days and you're not answering my messages,” I accused.
“No, no. It's not like that. I'm just incredibly busy.”
He blatantly lied. He couldn't cloak that sentiment to save his life.
“Oh, come on Zack. You can do better than that! We need to talk. Please?”
I meant business and Zack responded, realising he wouldn't be able to fob me off today. I ushered him back to my room and pushed him inside. He stood in the middle of my room, feeling awkward and still busily avoiding eye contact.
“What the hell is up with you? Do you know something? Is it bad?” I pressed.
No answer. He turned his back on me again, making his way towards the door. I blocked the exit. He wouldn't push past me. I could feel it.
“Look Zaphy, I need to go and see Vivian. You'll fucking get me in trouble,” totally ignoring my questions.
“No. You don't get to do this. We need to talk, think of a strategy to find out why Eliza left and try to get to her before Markus does,” I pleaded, talking fast.
Zack turned to face me. He stepped towards me and put his hands on my shoulders.
“Listen Zaph. You need to let this go. Eliza betrayed us. I know it's difficult to accept but it's the truth and you need to face up to it sooner rather than later. This desperate belief of yours that there's a different reason she left is just self-preservation. I get it, but it's not going to help you in the long run. You have to accept she's gone and move on, heartbreaking as it is.”
His eyes were filled with compassion and urgency. I detected cloaking too though.
“What are you not telling me, brother. There's something. I can feel it.”
“Stop Zaphire. Trust me. There's nothing else. I'm just worried about you. Please don't do anything stupid.” His turn to plead.
“Why are you saying that? What would I do?”
“I don't know, Zaphy, but I know how stubborn you are. You're hurt and you'll do anything to avoid dealing with that pain. I know you.” His voice soft and caring now.
I started to lose control over my emotions but I I fought hard not to give in to them.
“You've given up on Eliza,” I stated despondently.
“She's given me no choice, Zaph. She fucking absconded. What else can we believe. She had a choice to stay. No one forced her to run.”
“Maybe she got it into her stubborn little head that she would challenge her father herself or something...”
Zack interrupted me abruptly.
“Stop fucking torturing yourself, Zaphy. Get over it.”
His voice had turned all gruff. He spun around and left the room. He was hiding something from me and I vowed to try my hardest to find out what it was. And what I did know for sure, is that I was going to get to Eliza, with or without my brother's help.
I had not given up on Eliza.
CHAPTER 26
Eliza
“Look, I understand you're uncomfortable with me for now, but I also know of your difficulties settling into the Sensorian community. I wanted you to have a chance to find a different lifestyle; with me. Then you can decide, for yourself, where your loyalties lie,” my father proposed.
I had so many questions and things to say that I reluctantly lifted my silence. Though I tried to reign in my curiosity and just tackle one thing at a time. It was going to be of no use if I looked too keen to find out all the secrets about Rick's organisation. I kept it personal, at least to start with.
“I took the opportunity to run away because I want to find out more about who you are Rick. You're my father and I know so little about you. What I do know is that you care so much about changing our society, you were willing to sacrifice me.”
I couldn't let it go. I needed to hear his regret, at least.
“I know what you want to hear, Lizzie. But you'll be disappointed. It was a risk, but I knew the likelihood I actually had to follow through and hurt you were minimal. The gamble paid off, as I had predicted,” he insisted.
There was no remorse.
“However, I'd much rather spared you the ordeal, had you chosen to stay with me. Maybe I can have a second chance this time?”
He observed every little sensory output I produced for minutes on end. I felt like I was under a microscope.
“You feel uncomfortable, but not completely adverse to the possibility of staying with me. That's a good sign.” He nodded to himself with a satisfied smile on his face. “You'll understand I have to take it easy, introducing you to my world. You're still a risk.”
Again he checked my reaction, thoroughly. He seemed to be happy with whatever he could read in me. It wasn't so difficult to cloak at the moment, because I focussed on the other feelings that were real to me too. I wanted to get to know my father better and I wanted to find out more about the world he had created for himself. I understood why he didn't fully trust me, so it didn't make a spike in my outputs. As long as I didn't think of my long term goals of being here and the inevitability of my subsequent betrayal of my father, I was convinced I could pull this off and make him trust me.
“I'm happy you helped me escape my cell in the compound. I have to find out what my path is in life,” I offered. Still more or less truthful, so shouldn't raise any suspicion.
“What will happen to Jessica?”
He didn't like that question. Possibly because it would shed a bad light on him.
“She was desperate to help out. I gave her that chance. She'll face her punishment feeling content she helped the cause.”
“But she could be...”
My thoughts went black. They could sentence her to death.
“Don't worry about her. She's under twenty one. They won't give the maximum sentence. We can help her when we've executed the first stage of my plan.”
I sensed his instant regret in mentioning that. He didn't want to talk about his strategies yet. I couldn't help prodding him a bit. I felt he was referring to the Sensorian community specifically.
“What is the first stage then, Rick?”
“In due time, Eliza.”
Ah. He used my full name. Bad sign. I wasn't going to find out anything about that yet.
He made his excuses and disappeared off with no clue as to when I would see him again. He'd left me in the kitchen and just when I was about to explore my surroundings I was joined by a young man, early twenties with a head of long strawberry blond curls. I couldn't he
lp but notice he was bloody handsome and smelled divine.
“Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm here to look after you.”
He strode up to me and firmly shook my hand. I rolled my eyes.
“Pleased to meet you Daniel, but I don't really need looking after,” I sighed.
“Boss' orders. He seems to think you do, so here I am. I'm going to take you to meet some people later so whenever you're ready, let me know.”
He had a pleasant tone of voice and it calmed my initial misgivings down a little. He wasn't ordering me around at least.
“Okay. Can we take a walk first?” I wanted to see what the house and area was like and suss Daniel out at the same time.
“Of course, we can go to the garden if you want?” he suggested.
“Is that your way of saying we're not allowed to go outside the house boundaries?” I challenged. He looked up, slightly perturbed.
“Just for now. But if you want to go, just say so. You're not a prisoner. You'll understand we have to be careful about our location. If you want to leave, we'll take you back, but blind folded.”
We walked in silence towards the patio, stepping over the runners, the only reminder there normally would be a glass set of sliding doors there. The garden was huge. It wasn't well kept, but beautiful nonetheless. I sniffed the fresh air. It made me instantly feel good. There was something about the smell of grass and trees that reminded me of my childhood, playing in the garden. All that was missing was the sea air. We were definitely in the countryside, not a hugely built up area and nowhere near the coast. The slight breeze felt like little feathers tickling my skin, giving me goosebumps. I zipped up my fleece a little.
“So, what's your story Daniel? How do you know my father?”
He didn't answer straight away, but I could see he was thinking about what to say. He knew there was no point in lying, but he also wasn't bound to tell me anything. I didn't pressurise him, instead sat down under a tree in a patch of slightly shorter grass and waited. He squatted down next to me, picking absent-mindedly at the daisies in the grass.
“He helped my family find justice. There wasn't enough evidence to convict my sister's rapist and he walked out of court a free man. She was only thirteen when it happened and she has never fully recovered from the ordeal. She's seventeen now. On the outside she looks fine, but inside she feels broken.” He spoke with such anguish it hurt. His anger and disappointment with the system still raw. “That would never happen in the society your father wants to create.”
“It must be hard, knowing he's out there living his life as if nothing happened,” I probed a little further.
“He's not though. Rick made sure of that. As I said, we got our justice in the end.”
“What did he do?” I asked reluctantly, fearing the answer.
Daniel looked at me in silence. He didn't have to say anything, I knew.
I sighed, shaking my head. Rick had been recruiting people by meting out his own punishments to people who he thought deserved it, but had escaped the system somehow. Clever but dangerous. People like Daniel would be loyal to him forever, but he would also make enemies, not to mention the risk of being caught himself.
“Don't judge your father too harshly. He won't have to go to these extremes when he puts his own system in place. In the end there wouldn't be a death penalty for a start. He believes once people know they can't get away with lying and covering things up, they won't try anymore and crime will be so rare it will be easy to deal with.”
“But we have to go through this phase first?”
It was a rhetorical question and Daniel picked up on that. He just nodded.
“Are you ready to meet some more of us? You may be surprised. We're quite a nice bunch.”
He smiled a little and it made me feel at ease. I was ready to face anybody or anything at that moment.
CHAPTER 27
Zaphire
I needed to get in touch with Laura. I thought I might be able to persuade her to let me join them up North. It had been the plan to go there anyway, before Eliza decided to run away, but now I was made redundant of that job there was no chance Markus would include me to go. Laura would not go against Markus, unless she thought it was absolutely necessary, so I had to be clever about it. When I had a moment, I sneaked off to my room, avoiding the endless nattering of my colleagues at break time and decided to be brave and give her a ring.
“Hey sweetheart, what's up?”
She'd picked up straight after the first ring. Her voice slightly worried as I hardly ever rang.
“I...I'm not good. I'm not coping. Laura, I need you,” I managed to squeeze out a sob.
“Oh honey. I'm so sorry sweetie but I can't come down South. You know that right?”
I sniffled loudly and sighed deeply.
“I need to see you, Laura. Please?” I tried to sound as desperate as I could, which wasn't difficult because I needed this break. I had to get away from Markus' watchful eye and to a certain extent, away from Zack.
“Can't you talk to Zack, sweetheart? You know he's always there for you if you need him.”
“I know, but this is different. It's difficult. He's a man, you know. It's not the same.”
It went quiet for a while on the other end of the phone
“I'll sort it,” she sighed, but sounding determined.
She blew me a kiss through the phone and rang off.
Markus came to my room not long after the phone call and told me curtly that his wife had told him I was to come up and see her, no questions asked. He felt my relief and instantly realised this request had not materialised out of thin air. Laura had played the 'mum' card and Markus knew better than to challenge it. Even though we never called them mum or dad, and they referred to themselves as our carers, it was exactly what they were. I knew they loved Zack and me deeply and would always want the best for us, though what I thought was best for me and what they thought was, didn't always match.
The next day, I was booked on the train to go up North.
“I told Laura you're grounded and she supports that. She won't be able to pick you up from the station so she'll send Sam,” were Markus' parting words before he dropped me off at the train station. I was happy it was going to be Sam. I missed her so much.
I'd wanted Zack to take me so I could have a last ditch attempt to convince him not to give up on Eliza, but he was nowhere to be seen and Markus wouldn't have let him anyway. It was probably for the best as he would only have tried to persuade me to stay, or worse, ordered me to do so. I would try and ring him later and explain my actions as he'd be wondering what I was up to. But for now I switched off my phone, to avoid confrontation. He'll be less likely to kick up a fuss when I'm already with Laura.
“Sam!” I couldn't help but shout excitedly, when I spotted her freckly face and bopping curly hair in the crowd of people waiting on the platform. She moved effortlessly through the crowd, anticipating everyone's moves and embracing me within seconds of first laying eyes on each other. Her familiar scent nearly made me cry. I'd missed her so much. She whisked me to the car park and in no time we were on our way to our new compound.
“Things have gone a bit crazy over at your side. Wow. Who'd have thought Eliza would turn like that?”
Sam looked at me inquisitively, noting my ambivalent feelings towards the events. I wasn't going to tell anyone my intentions yet, not even Sam. I had to figure this out by myself, so I just shook my shoulders and said nothing. She didn't press any further and instead we just caught up with general chit chat and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the journey, singing along to Queen classics.
When I saw Laura, she gave me a proper hug and strong as I was, I really needed that. It made me feel safe and able to cope with whatever life threw at me. I knew that just being up North and therefore probably nearer Eliza wasn't going to solve everything, but I felt I had a better chance. If only I could get an opportunity to talk to her, I was certain I would be able to find out what was b
ehind this stunt of hers. But I had to be patient, find out as much information about Rick's whereabouts as possible and then work on Laura to abandon Markus' stupid grounding punishment. I had more chance of that here than being around Markus, but it would still be difficult to achieve. For now, I just enjoyed being looked after by Laura who looked genuinely concerned and went out of her way to make me feel better.
“Come talk to me, sweetheart. When you're ready. You must feel heartbroken.”
She gave me a kiss on the head and left me in my room to freshen up somewhat.
As I'd expected, when I turned my phone back on it was full of missed calls and text messages from Zack asking what the fuck I was thinking leaving, and to get my arse back to the compound straight away. The messages getting more irate the longer I hadn't answered. Bless him. I decided to give him a call.
“Hey.”
“Hmm.”
Okay, he was still pissed at me.
“It was killing me staying down South, not being able to do anything to help Eliza.”
“She doesn't need to be helped. She betrayed us.”
“I need to speak to her and ....”
“You'll do nothing of the sort. Stay the fuck out of it Zaph. I mean it.”
His voice was low and threatening. Something else was definitely up. I just knew it.
“What do you know Zack? Tell me. Please.”
“You need to leave it. I told you before, I just don't want you to get into trouble...or hurt.”
“I can't,” I simply stated.
“You fucking can, sis. Listen to me. Don't. Get. Involved.”
“I'm sorry Zack. I have to.”
Zack growled frustratedly.
“Vivian plans to be going up there in a few days. You won't be able to fucking avoid....”
The Sensorians: Trust Page 10