My hands clenched so tightly that my nails dug into the flesh of my palms. “How can this be your decision?” Finn put his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off. I wasn’t in the mood to be comforted right now; I wanted to fight and argue and force them to see my way of thinking. “We have to do this. Tabitha isn’t going to wait long before unveiling her final plans. Whatever they are, they can’t be good. People will suffer if we wait.”
“This Council has spoken!” Kevin’s eyes narrowed at me until they were little more than angry slits, and I caught the gleam of fangs hidden just behind his pursed lips. He was angry at me once again, but I wondered if he was ever not angry at me. “You will not question us. Do you understand? Do you understand?” he shouted when I didn’t answer the first time.
“Yes,” I said, looking down meekly at the floor. Let them think that I was giving up and backing down. I would be out of this compound and sneaking off to meet Tabitha before they knew what I was up to. When I looked up, Marcel’s eyes narrowed a fraction, but he didn’t look angry that I was questioning them. Instead, he almost looked like he expected me to keep fighting. “I’m sorry for my outburst. I wasn’t thinking.”
Lisa nodded her head. “We understand. You’ve had a rough couple of months, and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. We all lose our cool every now and then. Just stay focused and be patient. Good things come to those who wait.”
Well, I don’t feel like waiting, I thought, nodding my head at Lisa. “I understand. When you learn something new about Tabitha, will you let me know? I don’t want to be kept out of the loop; this concerns me more than it does anyone else here.”
“We’ll let you know if anything develops. But for now, I suggest you keep training your powers. I know that with everything going on you haven’t had a lesson in a while, and I would hate for you to be rusty. And try to be patient, Ronnie. It may take a week or more for the High Council to reach their decision.”
A whole week? How was it possible that a group of powerful people could move so slowly when they knew how much was on the line? “Yes, sir. I understand. Are we excused, then?”
Marcel and I locked eyes for a second, and I got the feeling he was pleased with me for some reason. Finally, he cleared his throat and nodded. “Yes, you and Finn are excused. The two of you need to stay out of trouble…in case we need you.”
“You shouldn’t trust her,” Lisa said quietly as Finn and I were leaving. “She’s dangerous, Marcel. You know what the High Council said…”
I pretended not to hear her, and followed Finn out the double doors that led into an empty, dimly lit hallway. Finn hesitated by my side, like he wanted to stay and keep me company, but I could tell he had somewhere he needed to be. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked softly. He reached out to gently tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and his fingertips brushed against my cheek, lingering a bit longer than necessary.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. And I meant it. Now that I was out of that awful Council meeting room, I had some things of my own that needed to be done, and I didn’t want Finn breathing down my neck while I did them. What Lisa had said was already stuck in my mind, and I wondered what she could have possibly meant. “If you have somewhere you have to be…go. I could use a bit of time to myself.”
He nodded his head before turning and walking down the hall and out of sight. I watched him go with a dark sense of foreboding that was settling in the pit of my stomach. The next few hours would be risky and all kinds of dangerous, but I knew there was no other way to do this. I needed to face Tabitha before she got into more trouble, but first, I had something I had to check out.
She’s dangerous, Marcel. You know what the High Council said…
Apparently I had been the subject of conversation between Marcel and the High Council, and I needed to know what they thought of me. All of a sudden I was remembering Tabitha’s words to me at the preschool, and I wondered if this was what she meant. You’re too powerful for them to let you go...
Was she right? Was I too powerful? What did the High Council plan to do with me once this was all over? Somehow I didn’t think I would be allowed to just leave the compound and roam the worldly freely. Most likely, I was going to be under some kind of observation for the remainder of my very long life.
I had heard whispers about the not-so-secret room where a file on each of us supernaturals was stored, but I didn’t know where to find it. And even if I could somehow get into that file room to take a look at my file, it would no doubt be locked away someplace safe. Without the key, my only option would be to break in, but that would only get me into trouble once someone saw the damage.
Ezra…I thought to myself with a grim smile. He might be able to use his powers to help me unlock any cabinets or closed doors in my way, and I knew I could trust him to stay quiet from everyone except for probably Tanya. If I could find him, he and I could sneak into that file room and I could find out why the High Council thought of me as dangerous. It was only a little after noon, and a majority of the people here would maybe still be eating lunch. If I hurried, I might be able to do it real fast and nobody would ever know.
I wandered through the halls as fast as I could without arousing suspicion from anyone not in the lunch room, and I found Ezra curled up with Tanya watching TV in one of the recreational rooms. Thankfully they were the only two people inside. When they saw me looming in the doorway, Tanya flashed me a look of concern. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I said quickly. My hands had begun to tremble with either excitement or fear for what was about to come. “I actually kind of need to borrow Ezra for a minute.” He and Tanya traded uneasy glances, and I stifled an impatient sigh. “It’s really important and I promise I’ll explain later, but I’m in a big hurry. It may be a matter of life or death.”
Ezra disentangled himself from Tanya’s thin arms and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Don’t worry about us while we’re gone.”
Tanya watched us leave with apprehensive eyes, but I would worry about her later. For now, I needed to shut out all of my feelings and just get this done as quickly as possible.
“What’s going on, Ronnie?” Ezra asked when we were alone in the hallway.
“The Council knows where Tabitha is hiding, but they won’t let us do anything except study her and maybe do a bit of damage control until the High Council decides what to do with her. But that’s not why I need you. As Finn and I were leaving, Lisa told Marcel that he shouldn’t trust me and that the High Council apparently thinks I’m dangerous or something. What I need from you is your help getting into that secret file room. I need to know what my file says about me.”
“Why is this so important, Ronnie?”
I sighed. “When I spoke with Tabitha at the preschool, she told me that I was too powerful for them to let me go. And if I stepped out of line, they would lock me away for eternity, or maybe even worse, all because there is evil in my family. And now that Lisa said something, I’m really worried, Ezra. I think the High Council might be planning something for me once Tabitha has been taken care of.”
He listened to me in silence, and I began to worry that he thought I was overreacting. Finally, he frowned and nodded his head. “This sounds bad, Ronnie. You might be right. Everyone knows the High Council has a tendency to get rid of those they see as a possible threat to their power, and you definitely fit that description. Alright, I’ll help you get into that room. But if we’re going to do it, we’ll have to hurry. There won’t be time to dawdle.”
“So we’re going now?”
He nodded his head and began walking down the hall. “Yeah. We’ll stop by my room real quick and get a flashlight–we won’t be able to turn on the light while we’re in there or we’ll be spotted. We’ll have ten minutes tops before we have to leave. Do you understand?” he asked, looking over at me while we walked.
“I understand. I’ll just take a quick peek at
my file and we’ll be out of there. You can undo any locks with your powers, right? Because I don’t have the keys.”
“It won’t be a problem.” He seemed sure, so I didn’t question him. I didn’t have time to question him even if I had wanted to, because we reached his room, and I followed him inside as he turned on the light and began looking through a dresser drawer for a flashlight. While he rooted through his clothes, I took a quick glance around his room, not wanting to stare at his underwear.
Instead of spotting his underwear, I found some belonging to somebody else. A hot pink bra rested over a lamp on a desk in the corner, and Ezra caught me looking at it. His cheeks turned nearly as red as his hair, making his freckles disappear completely. “Um…”
I shook my head, stopping him before he could say something that would embarrass him even more. “Don’t worry about it. Everyone kind of assumes the two of you are sleeping together. I’m not really that surprised.”
“Oh.” He didn’t say anything else, but he handed me a thin, black flashlight while he tucked the hot pink bra away in one of his drawers. Without another word, he and I left his room, and I slid the flashlight into my pocket and pulled my shirt down over it. Ezra seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him through the halls without question.
We didn’t pass very many people in the halls, but the few that we saw didn’t spare us a second glance, and they hurried on their way. We took two left turns and I found myself in a part of the compound I had never been in before. This hallway was even more dimly lit than the others, and it ended with a gray steel door with no window. Ezra pressed his ear up against the door, and I noticed his hand hovered over the doorknob.
Precious seconds passed, and just as I began to grow worried, there was a soft click, and the door swung open to reveal a dark, narrow stairway. It led down into a pit of black nothingness, and I took the flashlight out of my pocket and switched it on. I stepped in front of Ezra and led the way down the stairs, noticing that the air got chillier and chillier with each step I took. After fourteen steps, I ended on a hard, concrete floor.
Ezra nudged me forward a bit, and pointed to our left. “The files are kept in a metal cabinet in that corner somewhere. We have to hurry, though, or we’ll get caught. Then we’ll be in big trouble.”
“How many people have come down here?”
“Only a few,” he said quietly. “To be honest, I was surprised you knew about this place. Normally us half-demons keep it to ourselves since out of all the people here, it does us the most good.” I glanced over at him, and he sighed. “The life of a half-demon hangs by a thread every day of their lives. Most of us get curious during our stay here if the High Council will allow us to live, or have us terminated.”
“That’s awful!”
Through the powerful beam of light I saw him shrug his thin shoulders. “We’re used to it. I know you and I are friendly, but we’re not safe, Ronnie. No amount of training can truly make us safe enough to live freely in the human world. There’s always that possibility that I’ll snap, demon-out, and destroy everything and everyone around me. You should remember that.”
“We’re friends, Ezra. And I trust you. So does Tanya, Finn, and Holly. You would never hurt any of us.”
He sighed. “I hope you’re right,” he said, sounding far older than sixteen. “Now, let’s find this cabinet and get you the answers you need before we get caught. I don’t wanna know what the Council would do to us if they found out we’d been sneaking around.”
I’m sure if we did get caught, whatever the Council did to punish us wouldn’t be nearly as bad as what the High Council is planning for me…
Ezra and I found four gray filing cabinets hiding in the corner. Judging by the dust and cobwebs that covered them, it looked like nobody had been down here in some time. Ezra slid up beside me and I held the flashlight at level with the top drawer nearest to the wall. Each drawer was locked and labeled, and Ezra and I studied each one, looking for the one my name would be in.
“There’s generally one drawer for each of the types of supernaturals, so we have to find the one marked with necromancer. Ah, here it is. Third one down,” he said, kneeling on the concrete floor. He waved his hand in front of the lock and I heard the drawer pop open. He pulled the drawer out with a screech that echoed in the dark basement and sent shivers up my spine.
He began to thumb through the files while I supplied the light. He pulled two files out and handed them both to me. “Yours and Tabitha’s. Read them fast; we don’t have much time.”
I flipped open Tabitha’s file first, and scanned the information inside. The first page was all about her life before the two of us had met, and I read her history in silent fascination. She had gotten poor grades in school, and had been in numerous fights with several students. It seemed that she enjoyed fighting and would pick a fight with anyone for any reason, but there wasn’t much in her file that was useful that I didn’t already know.
I handed her file back to Ezra and opened mine. I was surprised at how much information was tucked away in my file behind my last year’s school photo. The first page was all about my mother and her death, and how I had dealt with my powers in the earlier years of my life. As of right now, they were keeping the man I had thought was my father for years under surveillance, in case they were able to learn anything about me through him.
I skimmed over that stuff, until I found an entry near the back that had my stomach clenching painfully as I read out loud. “Veronica Parker exhibits enormous amounts of power and a desire to help those close to her. She appears to be intelligent, resourceful, and loyal to her friends. However, it is likely that her headstrong attitude will cause her to disobey Council orders if she does not agree with them. Due to her dark heritage, she cannot be fully trusted. As two of her immediate family members have committed treason against the High Council, it is very likely that she may turn evil and will someday become a threat to the High Council. It is recommended that she be terminated once her usefulness has served its purpose.”
My hands began to tremble as I reread that passage over and over again. Each time I got to that last sentence, I felt an intense jolt of fear that shook me to my very core. The High Council was planning to terminate me once I had served my purpose, and it was possible that they would come for me in the next few days, once Tabitha was no longer a threat to any of them.
Ezra slid the file from my hands and tucked it back into the cabinet alongside Tabitha’s. There wasn’t much he could say, but he put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “It was just a suggestion, Ronnie. They may not go through with it. You can prove to them that you’re useful and trustworthy. Who knows, Marcel may even speak up for you. He doesn’t outrank the High Council members, but they respect him. Don’t do anything rash just because of what’s in this file.”
I nodded, but I was too numb to speak.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here before we’re caught. Getting in trouble now certainly won’t help your case.”
Ezra slid the cabinet drawer closed and locked it again, before leading me back to the stairway. Once we reached the hallway, I clicked off the flashlight and handed it back to Ezra. “Thank you for doing this for me,” I said quietly. “Even though I don’t like what I found, at least I know not to trust anyone but you guys.”
He nodded his head. “Are you gonna be alright?”
“Yeah. I think I’ll go find Finn and talk to him about all of this. He’ll know what I should do.”
I waited until Ezra was gone before heading back down the halls to my room. I probably should have looked for Finn, but right now I just wanted to be alone. I had a lot to think about, and I needed time to clear my head before tonight. I couldn’t let what was in that file cloud my judgment or I would be a sitting duck later on tonight.
So I closed the door behind me and climbed into bed next to Two Socks. He curled up on the pillow beside my head and I listened to his soft purr while everythin
g in that file flowed through my mind.
I remained hidden in my room until half past eleven, when I was sure that everyone would be either asleep or at least tucked away in their rooms for the night. I pulled on my boots, grabbed my sweater, and checked to make sure the coast was clear before slipping into the empty hallway. I wasn’t sure what I would say if I ran into someone, but I didn’t think my presence would be questioned. I could just say I was going for a walk to clear my mind.
As I crept through the empty halls, I tried to focus on anything but what the Council would undoubtedly do to me if I was caught. A shudder went through me, and I sighed. Even though I knew I was doing the right thing by not waiting to seek out Tabitha, I was surely going to be punished. I just couldn’t bring myself to really care. This was the right thing to do, whether anyone agreed with me or not.
I could have easily found my way to the front doors, but I was sure they would most likely be guarded. Instead, I decided to slip through the cafeteria and out one of the large windows that was at ground-level. It was completely dark out and I didn’t have to worry about being spotted by anyone on watch; my black sweater and dark jeans had me fading into the darkness, looking like nothing but a moving shadow that nobody would even notice.
I crept around the side of the building, looking to make sure that I was alone. When I found my way to the garage where half a dozen decent cars were kept for use by the supernaturals that resided here, I stopped in my tracks, frozen in shock. The nearest car was already occupied by three people, and Finn was leaning against the passenger side door, twirling a set of keys in his hands. “Where do you think you’re going this late at night?”
Dark Heritage Trilogy Page 37