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Chapter Eight
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2024-10-29 19:42:56I woke, surprised to find a blanket draped across my shoulders and a body beside me on the bed.
"I didn't think you were coming back."
"I wanted Lills to have her time with Dave," I whispered, terrified of moving and scaring him away. "Burney went to his own room. I figured it would be okay since I'd be here the whole time."
"I know, I saw him."
"You didn't get mad at him did you?"
"No."
I nodded. "Thanks for the blanket."
"You looked cold."
I lifted my chin and met his eyes. "For someone who hates secrets, you've got a lot."
"Fayle -"
"It's okay, I'm not asking you to talk about it."
He studied my eyes a moment, weighing up his next words. "I promised myself I wouldn't move on until I found her and freed her, and then you..."
"Messed with your plans?"
"Yes."
"Is that why you stayed with us? In case we found her whilst searching for Nick?"
"We knew th
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"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?"I flinched, the shouts filtering in from the hall hurting my already pounding head."It was Stan who said to do it!""And if Stan told you to put a gun to her head and fill it with led, would you do that too?""I was making sure I took her weight, but she caught me off guard!""It's Fayle!" Aaron roared, as if that were explanation enough."Would you two shut up?" I groaned. It felt like every word they said was a kick to the side of my head.Aaron bridged the remaining distance between us and came to a squat beside me. "How's your ribs?""Fine.""Your shoulder?""Still burnt.""Your head?""Better if you'd lower your damn voice."He shook his head. "There'll be no more practices with Stan. Got it?""What! No. Stan said -""I don't care what Stan said, I'm telling you no and never again!""Don
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"Come on Burney," I whispered, nudging him with my foot. "Wake up.""Seriously?""I need to pee."He pulled his blanket over his head. "Then go pee.""And if Aaron sees me?""He won't. No one will. Why? Because everybody's asleep!""Shhhh! You'll wake the love birds."He grunted."Come on, I really need to go," I whined, nudging him harder."Then go!" He hissed back, lowering his blanket to glare at me."Fine, but I'm not covering for you if I get caught!"He muttered something that sounded like a curse, but he didn’t get up. I shook my head, stifling a smile as I slipped from the room. I liked having Burney by my side, but being alone was nice. Really nice. I took my time walking the corridors to the largest cavern then turned right, heading past the dining hall and down to the very end.The water caves were made up of three separate rooms suspended over a fa
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"I couldn't confirm it, but I have few doubts.""No! It can’t be. Lillith would know if he'd been taken!""Has she... Dreamed or whatever it is she does since you've been here?"I sank down onto the step beside him. "No." Which meant it had been what? Close to three weeks without checking? How could we have gone so long without doing something to look for him?"So there's a chance it's him," Aaron prodded.I nodded, feeling like someone had reached in and yanked my heart from my chest. "Why do you think it’s him?""One of the things he had on him when he was caught was a silver locket with a picture of twin girls inside. I was told they were about thirteen years old, with white hair and purple eyes."I wiped a stray tear from my cheek. "That's the last picture we had taken of us before..." Before I'd hacked my hair to my shoulders and did my best to forget who I was and what I could do. "The locket was Lills. She gave it to him fo
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"Are you alright?""I'm fine. I just want this over with," I whispered back, keeping my eyes forward and locked on a twitching Aaron. I'd never seen him nervous before, and it was putting me on edge. My eyes flicked to the orange curtain that parted, allowing the beloved councillors to step through. "Here we go," Lillith breathed, taking my hand. I squeezed it, faining confidence. She still had no idea what we were doing here and I hadn't had the heart to tell her. As for the part about Nick... That secret would stay with me for as long as I could keep it. Forever if I had the choice. The five councillors, two women and three men walked in and took their places on the curved row of chairs facing us. They looked like normal, every day people, with grey in their hair and lines at their eyes. They were dressed in formal robes, stark white with a deep hood folded back over their shoulders. A blazing torch of orange fire had been stitched over their hearts, its colour
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"I wonder who will cover drills for Stan.""No idea," I said, leaning my head against the rock wall. We'd been told to wait in our rooms until called for our briefing. We'd been waiting two hours. "Me neither. I wonder where Dave and Lills are."I shrugged and he went quiet."I wonder why Aaron -""Would you quit wondering for two minutes?""Geeze, snap my head off why don't you.""Sorry.""I'm sick of waiting too you know.""I know.""And getting crabby at me isn't going to speed things up.""I know," I said again, eyeing our blue curtain.He sighed. "She won't let you leave without saying goodbye. What? You think I don't know you well enough to know what's bothering you?"I gave him a side eye. "Aren’t you full of suprises."He grinned at me as he rocked his chair back, balancing it on two legs. "I know you better than you think.""Yeah?" I said, his smile relieving some of my anxiety. "Like what?""Like you miss your gun."I rol
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I opened my eyes, staring at the wall a few inches in front of me, the hushed voices drawing me back into the waking world. Lillith? I steadied my breathing, hoping it was enough to keep them from noticing the change from my sleeping state. "Are you going to say goodbye?" It was Burney."I don't think I can.""She's pretty upset about not seeing you.""I know she is," Lillith whispered, sounding like she was about to cry. "You'll take care of her for me, won't you?""You know I will.""If anything happened to her...""I'll keep her alive, I promise.""Thank you," she said, her voice hoarse. "I'll go now, and let you get some sleep.""Where are you guys sleeping?""With your brother.""Lucky you.""I don't understand how you two could come from the same mother," she said, a mystified smile filling her voice."Me either.""Don't tell her I was here, okay?""I won't.""Thanks Burney. Oh, one other th
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Mike strode over to Stan and Ronnie. He was the tallest of us, a sandy haired string bean of rope like muscles dressed in dark green trousers and a checkered shirt. He beckoned us over. "You two ready to go?""Yep," Burney said, his face smeared by a giant grin. I nodded, unable to match even half his enthusiasm. We were leaving and Lillith hadn't come. She'd told Burney last night that she probably wouldn't, but somewhere in me I'd held to the hope that she would. Probably wasn't a no. Burney put his hand on my shoulder, as if reading my thoughts. "Time to cover up," Stan said, handing Burney a strip of cloth and a clean pillow case.He took it, shooting me an apologetic look before stepping behind me. "Ready?"I sucked in a deep breath and nodded, searching one last time for Lillith's face before landing on Aaron's. His blue eyes met mine, piercing me, holding me steady as Burney lowered the red blindfold and knotted it, blanketing my world i
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I lay on the only bed in the room, the one I'd been made to share with Burney, feeling like this part of my motel hopping life had never stopped. "Do you think it'd fall on us if I touched it?""Huh?" Burney asked, opening his eyes. "Nothing," I said, staring back up at the custard coloured roof. There had to be a leaky pipe running above us, or a hole in the roof somewhere."The lights are done," Mike said, striding from the small bathroom nestled in beside the kitchenette. The room's layout was almost identical to the last place I'd stayed in, it just looked a heck of a lot older and not as well lit. "I'm going next door for a bit, stay put til I get back.""We will," Burney answered, closing his eyes again. "Bang on the wall if you need me."I waited til he'd shut the door behind him and I'd reach the count of thirty before I got up. The lighting in our room sucked and I wanted to make sure Mike had done the best he could with our extra
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I bit my lip. "You make me feel like a girl.""You are a girl," he said, his warm breath tickling my skin. "I mean a normal one... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when June called me pretty. I've never been called that in my life. I was just happy not being a freak." "You're not a freak."I closed my eyes, frustrated with him for being so close and not touching me. I wanted him to kiss me, and I wanted to hit him for not doing it. Why wasn't he doing it?"Will you kiss me already?" I whispered, opening my violet eyes to look at him."I can't." "Do you even want to?""You have no idea how much," he said, his hand hovering a breath away from my bruised cheek. I felt my insides boil. He was refusing me out of duty? This can't be happening. Again. Would I never come first? I rolled away from him and sat up."What are you doing?""Nothing," I said, stripping off the last of my clothes before lying back down."That's no
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"In case you hadn't noticed," I said, closing the gap between us, "I'm not your typical girl. And this whole jealousy crap you're pulling isn’t going to fly with me. Grey is not interested in me, he's helping me out, that's it."She lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing. "Say what you like, but you're playing with fire."I shook my head and left the bathroom. Talk about jealous banshee, and over what? Grey? Yeah he was hot and it’s not like the thought hadn't crossed my mind a time or two now that Aaron was out of the picture, but Grey wasn't into me. He'd kept his eyes to himself, which said a lot about a man’s interest level. He was choosing to keep things professional. Kind of."You alright?" he whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. I nodded, forcing myself to stab a chip with my fork and take a bite. "So Fayle," June said, looking up from her half eaten plate, "Why did you run away to your... What did you call him? Rude sod of a
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"I thought you were just getting me some basics.""So did I.""So what's all this?" "The basics, according to the girl behind the counter. She was around the same size as you so I told her to get what she thought while I sat on a chair and contemplated not killing myself.""You don't mean it," I said, smiling at his lingering distress. "Yes, I do. And you better hope it all fits because I'm not going back.”I picked the bags up and took them over to the bed, aware of him following me. "Curious huh?" "You'd be too if you knew how much I spent."“My Uncle with pay you back.”I emptied the first bag, relieved to see two pairs of jeans fall out. One was faded blue, the other dark denim, both hipsters and both the right size. The next bag had three sets of underwear, a white set with inbuilt push-ups and matching boy legs, the same set in black, and a dark red set made of sheer lace with a matching g-string. "Y
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I finished my toast and got up, needing to pee. He'd left the bathroom in a mess, so I straitened it up while I was there. It really was boring here on your own, and I quickly understood why he loved his TV so much. All three channels of it. I sighed, flicking it off again. It had only been half an hour. I walked over to his bed and lay down. It was still early and the chances of Lills being asleep and waiting was tiny, but I couldn't help but wonder. I hadn’t had the courage to go there yet, not with the news I carried. But I was finally alone, safe and feeling homesick for her. I closed my eyes and slipped the silver band from my finger. The back of my eyelids glowed white and the world around me changed. I was standing in the middle of our room at the scorchers nest. I let out a defeated sigh, knowing it'd been too much to hope for. I should've gone back then and there, but I had time on my side and nothing else better to do. I walked through the cur
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"My sister and I had been shadow hunting for eight months when we met them. There were three of them. They offered their resources in return for ours. We didn't know they were Scorchers, we just knew we couldn't turn their food and light connections down. I was injured two months ago, saving us from two taken and they thought I was dying. They took us to one of their nests, fixed me up and sent me on my way.""And your sister?""She stayed behind."He sat back, studying me. "Do you know where the nest is?""No. I was unconscious when I arrived and blindfolded when we left."He nodded. "Why were you shadow hunting?""We were searching for our brother. The scorchers were searching for one of their own." "You know I'm obligated to report this.""I know," I said, spinning my ring. And now for the next part. If I'd trusted him enough to say this much... What did I have left to loose? My odds were already near impossible."But my gut is
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He undid it as gently as he could and peeled back my dress, my strapless bra the only thing left covering me from his scrutiny."He got you good," he said, checking over every mark and bruise, "But it doesn't look like he broke anything.""The pain would suggest otherwise.""Looks like you’re tough enough to handle it," he said, tracing the burn on my shoulder with his cool fingers.I shrugged, feeling self conscious beneath his eyes as he let his hand fall."I'll get you something for your head."He shuffled through one of the lower drawers in his small kitchen until he found what he was looking for. He filled a glass with water and staggered back to dropp two tablets into my hand. I popped them into my mouth and swallowed, hating that I didn't know what they were, though I wasn't about to argue.I needed the pain relief. Even if it was only for the physical. "Do you want a shower?"I shuddered, thinking of
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"You'll be staying with me until your inquiry is over.""No I will not!" That would throw more than a spanner in my effort to find Nick, and I needed every spare second I could get my hands on."This is not a discussion, it's an order.""You can't make me.""Yes I can," he said, his voice dropping as he stepped towards me.My eyes narrowed. He was serious, and even more infuriating was the fact that he could take me down. Easily, by the looks of it."Let's go then," I said, frustrated with not having a choice. If it wasn't the Scorchers forcing me into something, it was residents of Quanu. First my uncle, and now him. Was there no such thing as freedom anymore? "What about your things?" "I have this," I said, pointing to the scrap of satin material I was wearing, "and the clothes I arrived in." The clothes soaked in memories of Burney's death."We'll fix that tomorrow," he said, leading me into the foyer."Why, don't you like me in
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"If that's what you would have me do.""Indeed it is. Molly?"She appeared beside me, seeming to materialise out of thin air. "Show my niece to her room where she can shower and rest, then pop out and find her a dress for tonight. Red I think. You know what I like," He said, swivelling back to his desk.I shuddered. We all knew what kind of dresses he liked. The type that didn't leave much to the imagination, ones that made the word whore explode into even the cleanest of minds. Molly bobbed her head and led me out. She took me past the marble topped kitchen where two chefs were already at work and down a side hallway to my new room, the one directly opposite my Uncle's. "There's a bathroom with a shower and toilet back there," she said, pointing to a door in the far corner, "and you'll find towels in the walk in 'robe."I forced a smile. It's not that I didn't appreciate her telling me the obvious, I just wanted her gone. I was past the point o
