“Where do you think you’re going?” Jarod called from behind him.
“I’m going to do what I should have done when she first arrived,” he yelled as he made his way down the hall. He didn’t even reach the lobby before he felt someone grab his arm. Expecting Jaron, or perhaps even Jarod, had ahold of him, he spun around violently with his other arm, hoping to at least land one good blow before they dragged him back into that room kicking and screaming. Yet to his dismay his hand was caught in mid-air and he found himself hopelessly restrained.
“Let me go!” he yelled to whoever had ahold of him. His attacker surprisingly obeyed, but when he spun, expecting to confront Jaron, he instead found himself eye to eye with K herself. Trying to hide his shock and embarrassment at almost striking a woman, he stood his ground and continued to loudly voice his discontent over the situation.
“Go ahead threaten me, or better yet let’s skip that step and kill me now. Because that’s what your kind does isn’t it. If you can’t control it, exterminate it.” He was so mad his whole body was shaking. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
K stood in the hallway staring at him; if she was angry about the swing there was nothing about her expression that revealed it. “I already told you, I have no intentions of harming anyone. Is there anything that I have said or done that would make you think otherwise?”
In the dimness of the hallway all he could make out were those eyes, piercing cold and calm, it felt as if she were staring into his soul and reading him from the inside out. But despite her eyes, there was nothing else either threatening or frightening about her. And as he stood toe-to-toe with her slight feminine stature he found himself slowly begin to calm.
“No, not you yourself,” he answered angrily, “but your two friends in there have done nothing other than threaten and demand of us since your arrival. None of this is fair, why of all the places you could have ended up, did you end up in my clinic?”
“I would like to think it was meant to be,” K answered in her same cool, calming tone, Mikel was beginning to wonder if she had the ability to control people’s emotions as he suddenly found himself unable to be angry with her anymore.
“I have never believed in coincidence, so for me it seems that my turning up here the same day Jarod arrived was more than dumb luck.” She glanced behind her at Dirik and Citera, who having heard all the commotion, had snuck down to the bottom of the stairs and were peeking around the corner. “And I apologize if we have, in any way, made you feel as if you are prisoners in your own house. I assure you that was never our intention.” She paused as Dirik and Citera eased by her to join their father. “I myself have been held against my will and it’s an experience that I would never wish on anyone, especially not someone I consider an ally, if not a friend.”
Mikel found himself looking down toward her wrists, remembering the layers of scars that were now covered by his wife’s shirt. Slowly he placed his arms around his kids, pulling them in close. “They mean everything to me and I have to do what is right for them.”
“I understand,” K said, smiling at the family huddled before her. “Please, come back in the room and let us discuss this matter together, all of us.”
Mikel looked down at his two kids—their eyes gazing up to him, longing for his guidance—and nodded. Once they were all back in the room together, K began, “We won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.” Jaron and Jarod immediately began to protest, but were instantly silence by a wave and a glare from K. “As I was saying, we won’t force you to go with us. But I fear you staying here places your family in more danger than leaving will.”
“Remember, tomorrow I am going to return to the Tower and resume my position as the Enforcer,” Jarod interrupted. “I can’t promise they will not send me back here, and if they do, I will have to take someone with me.”
“He can’t save everyone,” Jaron joined in. “As much as he tries to avoid it, there have unfortunately been many innocent people who have lost their lives during his years of service.”
“That is why we would like you to join us, not as a prisoner, but as an ally. We could definitely use someone with your talents at the camp,” K finished off.
“Is this the same camp where Janil is?” Citera asked from under her father’s arm.
“Yes, as well as many others, all joined together with the common goal of freeing ourselves from the rule of the Shadows once and for all,” Jaron answered happily. “We live in peace. There is no forced labor , no fear of inspections or raids, and no ration controlling. I won’t say it is an easy life, but we are free and happy.”
Mikel listened to everything they had to say, before turning to Dirik and Citera. “I won’t make a decision like this alone, it affects you two as much, if not more, than it does me. Both of you know the risks of staying as well as what we will be leaving behind if we choose to go.”
There was a lengthy silence as the two of them thought hard about the decision they were being asked to make. Finally it was Citera who spoke first.
“Dad, I love you and will back whatever decision you make,” Citera said, holding tight to him as she looked over toward Jarod, “but I think we should go, not just for us but for him as well.” Jarod dropped his gaze, no longer able to look at her as she continued. “Besides, we have spent these last few months since Mom passed simply going through the motions, maybe this is a sign it’s time for a change, to move on and start fresh.”
Mikel squeezed her tight, then turned to Dirik. “And you, what do you think?”
“The two of you are all I have. You rescued me from a death sentence and taught me that there was more to life than just scraping by day after day. But more importantly you gave me a purpose, a house, and a family.” Dirik smiled. “That being said, I would follow you into the Tower if you asked me to.”
Mikel studied their young, determined faces. “You are both sure this is what you want? We will be leaving everything behind, and there will be no coming back.”
“Dad, there is nothing left. Mom is gone, Janil is at their camp,” Citera paused, “even Maya won’t be here after tomorrow. The only thing we have left is this building, and they could take that away from us at any moment. At least if we go, we will be safe and surrounded by people who all feel the same as we do.” She smiled at him. “It’s like you always said about Rigar, like-minded people have a way of finding each other.”
Mikel grinned, proud of his daughter; she was right, there wasn’t anything left for them here but the boards holding up the walls.
“Well I guess that is your answer.” He turned back to the trio, who were watching them silently. “Now, how do we do this? The patrols are sure to notice us trying to leave town.”
“We need a way to get the three of you out that won’t be suspicious,” Jaron replied, trying to work it out in his head. “You all move very slow, and the trip is exceedingly long, so it would be helpful to have a cart or something to take some of the stress off the three of you.”
Citera’s face lit up. “Rigar has a cart. Can he come with his family?”
“That’s it. We could say that I need to travel to one of the nearby villages to help out. They wouldn’t suspect anything because we have done it before. However, I don’t know how we will explain having Rigar’s family with us,” Mikel pointed out, his mind still trying to grasp the reality of leaving his longtime home.
“Do you think he will be willing to do it?” Jarod asked from behind K and Jaron. “It is no secret how he feels about us.”
Mikel didn’t hesitate a moment. “I’m sure of it, he is fed up and has been for years. He has been counting the days, knowing that at any minute they will knock on his door and force his daughter to join her mother in the factory.” Mikel rubbed his forehead, something he often did while he was working out a problem. “Only, he already told me he wasn’t coming here tonight and I have no way of getting a message to him.”
“Leave that to me,” K interjected. “
I planned to go out tonight anyway. I will tell him of our plan and offer him the same opportunity, but it will be up to him to make the final decision. In the meantime the rest of you get ready, pack up only the essentials and get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow will be a long day.”
As much as he wanted to ask why K intended on going out, the more he thought about it the more Mikel decided that some questions were better left unanswered. Instead he turned to leave, but as he was about to head through the door he was stopped by Jarod calling to him, “Mikel, do you still have the tag for K? She will need it tonight.”
Mikel patted down his pants and feeling the bump, reached inside his pocket and pulled it out. “Yes, here it is. I had almost forgotten, I found it in the laundry room earlier today.”
“Put it on her.”
Mikel looked at the tag in his hand as he walked toward K who held her arm extended to him. He slipped it carefully onto her wrist, and hesitated. “This feels wrong,” he commented, seeing it dangling loosely on her thin wrist.
“It is wrong,” Jarod mumbled, “but that doesn’t change the fact that she will be arrested on site if she doesn’t have one on.”
Mikel took a knife off the table and used it to tighten the screw in the tag until it fit snuggly on her arm. K held it up and studied the device for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. “I still don’t understand how they managed to get this much control over the Full-bloods.”
“Little by little,” Jaron answered. “Starting with the formula, convincing them that it was the only thing they could eat. Once they had, the next step was to take control of the formula itself, then finally eliminating the elders and anyone else that could refute what they were telling them.” Jaron shook his head in disgust. “The whole process took less than twenty years.”
“It will take less than that to destroy them,” K declared as she headed out the door. “I will see you in a little while.” She paused, looking over her shoulder at Jarod, “Until then.”
The three of them watched her walk out, followed closely by Dirik and Citera who bounced up the stairs to start packing for their adventure ahead. Once she had cleared the room, Jaron spun around on Jarod. “What did she mean she planned to go out tonight? Why would she need to go out?”
Jarod smirked at his brother. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
“Have you lost your mind? She will be spotted a mile away with that hair!” Jaron declared angrily. “And any signs that someone in town has been bitten will immediately triple the patrols and alert the Tower. How do you think we will get out of town then?”
Bitten, that was the answer to the question he didn’t want to ask. Mikel felt light-headed and braced himself against the wall. Jaron and Jarod, both taking notice of his state, stopped their arguing for a moment.
“Sorry, Mikel, I forgot you were still here.” After walking over to Mikel, Jaron helped him to the chair.
“Can I ask you something?” Mikel inquired as he had a seat.
“Sure,” Jaron answered. “What is it?”
“If this all works like you say, and you manage to free the world of the Shadows, what happens to the Terrians?”
It was a question that had weighed on his mind since both he and his daughter had been bit. He had gone his whole life thinking that the drinking of blood was a thing of the past, a dark past long since forgotten, but obviously there were still some who continued this tradition, and it made him nervous and sick to his stomach.
Jaron and Jarod glanced at each other; it was a delicate question that neither one of them truly wanted to answer. Surprisingly it was Jarod who decided to take on the challenge. “What exactly are you asking?”
“Right now the Full-bloods think that formula is the only thing that keeps them alive. What happens to us when they find out that we can be used instead?”
The expressions on their faces said it all; they had no more of an idea about what would happen than he did. He felt the anger begin to boil inside once again. “I see,” he mused, slowly standing. “If that’s the life my daughter has to look forward to then I think we should stay here, perhaps we are better off with the Shadows.”
Mikel headed toward the door, only to have his path blocked by a very weak and unsteady Jarod. He was barely standing, almost tempting Mikel to try to storm by him, but considering he was still massive even in this condition, he decided it was probably better not to. Instead he looked up into his face and asked, “What would you do, if you were in my place?”
Jarod braced himself in the door frame. “Mikel, I know this is hard to understand, but we are not monsters. Most Full-bloods when given the option will not choose blood over formula, but I can’t honestly say that there won’t be some who will decide to go back to the old ways.” As he spoke Jarod’s arm slipped, causing him to nearly plummet to the floor. Struggling to stay on his feet he continued, “I was never given a choice, the Shadows decided my fate for me. This isn’t the life I would have would have picked for myself, it was forced on me.”
“What he is trying to say is that if given the various options and the benefits versus risks, we believe most Full-bloods will choose to keep to the formula.” Jaron sighed, “Especially when they find out that once you start drinking blood, you can never stop.” He stepped in to help his brother back up as best he could. “That’s how it works, the blood provides you with increased strength and abilities, and in exchange you are addicted to it for the rest of your life.”
“But no matter what happens,” Jarod asserted, reaching out and grabbing Mikel’s shoulder, “no will ever try to feed on you or your family ever again. That is a promise.”
Staring the pair of them down, Mikel was still unsure of what was to come in the days ahead, but for whatever reason, he found himself trusting what they were saying. “Well, I guess I should be off to pack. I have a new life to prepare for,” he remarked calmly, but deep down a heaviness and fear of the future weighed in on him.
Chapter 12
New Beginnings
The group spent the rest of the evening packing and preparing for the next morning. Mikel devised a plan to hide some of their clothing and personal items inside false compartments that he and Jaron would create in the bottom of some supply crates. Together the two of them worked most of the night converting the crates and filling them with what personal items and belongings they needed, then after sealing off the compartments, they filled them the rest of the way with medical supplies and straw.
Citera and Dirik worked upstairs, searching rooms for what items they felt needed to be brought with them, while packing a few clothes into packs that they would carry on them. After all the crates were packed and with the help of Jarod, who had finally regained his ability to walk, they gathered the supplies by the back door in hopes that K would be able to convince Rigar to come with his family and the cart in the morning to drive them all out of town.
Citera was finishing with her last bag when Mikel came into the room to check on her. “Almost done?” he asked, smiling as she hurriedly shoved a stuffed toy inside. “No second thoughts?”
Zipping the bag to conceal its contents, she turned to him. Though her face was serious, she couldn’t disguise the excitement sparking in her eyes. “Not a one, I think this is just what we need, a chance at a new life. Like in one of those adventures you used to read me stories about, fraught with danger and excitement, and something new waiting around every corner.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. “I don’t remember any of those stories having a white-haired, blue-eyed Full blood in it, or for that matter an Enforcer.”
“No, but I think that’s what makes our tale so exciting, talk about unpredictable,” she said, tossing her bag by the door. “Who would have ever thought there would be a day when we would have the Enforcer in our clinic and it actually made us feel safer.”
“I don’t know if safe describes how I feel.” Mikel mumbled, “I thought he was going to kill me th
e day he took Janil.” Mikel couldn’t suppress the shudder that traveled down his spine with the recollection. “Here, I brought you something,” he declared, quickly changing the subject while holding his closed fist out to her.
“What is it?” she asked. Taking the item she opened her hand to reveal a necklace, one that she immediately recognized as having belonged to her mother. She held it in the air, carefully examining the small circular shaped locket that dangled from a dainty golden chain. On the front of the locket was engraved the image of a bird rising, wings spread from a blazing fire. The image was striking to look at as the multiple layers of different colored gold and silver used to create it sparkled in the low light of the room.
“It’s a phoenix,” he explained, “a bird of ancient legend that when killed would rise again from its own ashes.” Carefully Mikel undid the clasp and placed it around her neck, then stepped back to admire it. “She would have wanted you to have it, and with all that’s going on I can’t help but feel this is the right time to pass it along.”
Citera lifted up the locket to get a better look; turning it over she found the latch and opened it to reveal a black and white portrait of her mother staring back at her. It had to have been done in her younger years before Citera had been born. “You look like her,” Mikel whispered, stepping beside her and looking at the picture. “The both of you are so beautiful.”
Citera reached around and grabbed ahold of her father and embraced him. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too, and I hope I never do anything that makes you think otherwise,” he said, holding her tightly. “You and Dirik are the only important things in my life and I will do whatever I have to do in order to protect you both.” Slowly he released her, kissed her on the forehead, and turned for the door not wanting her to see him cry. “Now finish up and get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
K: The Awakening (The Shadow Chronicles Book 1) Page 29