Darkness Fades

Chapter 11

My eyes are heavy and I struggle to open them. It feels like I’m moving, although I can’t remember why. Then it all starts to come back to me in bits and pieces until suddenly I remember that I was betrayed.

I jerk my eyes open, panicking as I realize I’m lying on a cot in a room surrounded by brick walls. I slowly lift up my arms, wanting to move, but they feel like lead.

I glance around. There are no windows anywhere; only a large, metal door on the wall farthest from me and a pile of bricks in the corner, the ceiling is leaking something grimy.

Aching from head to toe, I sit up and stumble out of the cot then walk over to the door and try to pry it open.

Locked, of course.

Dammit. What is going on?

I’m pretty sure that I saw a Higher before I was sedated. But why? I know Nichelle wasn’t lying to me earlier when she told me her story about why I needed to come with her. So why do they have me locked up and where are the others being kept?

Pacing back and forth, I feel the tension inside me begin to coil, knowing I need to get out of this. I glance over at the door and center all of my strength on it, backing up and then running forward, ramming my body into it as hard as I can. Pain shoots throughout my body and the door doesn’t budge. The only visible damage is a small dent from where my shoulder connected with it.

I rub my shoulder and let out a frustrated sigh, smashing my fist into the brick wall over and over again until bits and pieces crumble. Then I stomp back over to the cot and flop onto it. Folding my arms across my chest as I silently wait to see what will come next because it feels like everything is out of my hands now. I’m supposed to save the world, yet I can’t even control what’s going on around me.

A few minutes tick by and then I hear the lock on the door click. Nichelle enters wearing black pants and a shirt with her hair pulled back. She looks like she’s cleaned up, smiling at me as she shuts the door.

“Hi, Kayla.” She acts as if she’s innocent and hasn’t done anything wrong.

Anger fires through me and I hop off the cot and storm towards her, ready to beat the shit out of her. “Don’t ‘hi, Kayla’ me.”

She pulls out a long knife and aims it out in front of her. “Relax and let me explain.”

I stop a few feet in front of her, eyeing the knife in her hand, knowing I could stop her from stabbing me if I really wanted to. “Explain what? How you lied to us; tricked us into believing you, only to lock us up?”

She keeps her knife pointed out and steps back, putting space between us. “That’s not how it is. This was only a precaution to make sure that there’s no chance that any of you will attack our people.”

I can feel the truth radiating from her, but I’m still skeptical. Plus, I’m still not over the fact that she stabbed me with a needle. “If that’s true, then why did I see a Higher with you earlier?”

Her brows dip. “A Higher? I’m not sure what you mean. There are no Highers here.”

Anger consumes me. I ball my hands into fists. “I saw him before I was injected and knocked unconscious.”

She shakes her head and opens her mouth, ready to speak, but we’re interrupted when the door creaks open and a man walks in. His hair is white like the outer part of ash, he has creases in his skin and his clothes looks old. He carries a stick that he leans on, as he hobbles as if it’s hard for him to walk, yet his pale eyes make me wonder if it’s all a trick.

I’ve lost all my trust, and in a flash, I lunge forward, snatching the knife from Nichelle’s hand and quickly skittering around her. Then, I dive for the Higher, grab his arm, and twist it behind him as I move around him, putting the blade to his throat.

He drops his stick in a panic. “Oh, no.”

“Kayla, no!” Nichelle shouts with her hands out in front of her. “Don’t hurt him.”

The Higher tips his head back and looks up at me and I’m surprised by his fearless expression. “Well done, Kayla. Monarch has turned you into exactly what he had hoped for.”

I press the knife closer to his throat, but he still keeps calm. “Then you know that I’m not afraid to use this to finish you off.”

“I’m sure you aren’t, but I’m not a Higher,” he says evenly. “I’m just an old man that was bitten a long time ago.”

I don’t want to believe him, yet my little gift lets me know that he is telling the truth, even though it’s confusing the shit out of me—everything is. “What are you then? You have the eyes of a Higher.”

Nichelle inches closer to us, her hands still out in front of her, her movements calculated and cautious. “Kayla, please put the knife down. This is Mathew and he’s here to help you.”

Mathew motions his hands at Nichelle, ushering her back. “It is okay, Nichelle. Kayla has a good reason to not trust us. We didn’t exactly give her and her friends the best welcome, did we?”

A trickle of blood runs down his throat from where the blade is pressing. With reluctance, I remove the knife from his neck and back away, letting him go. I have my answer; if he really were a Higher, he would not be bleeding, he would heal. I shove him over next to Nichelle and she catches him in her arms.

“Both of you better explain where my friends are and what is going on,” I demand.

Nichelle shoots me a glare as she examines Mathew’s neck while he fights to get his footing. “Are you okay?” she asks him and he nods.

Nichelle still checks the wound then pulls out a cloth from her pocket and hands it to him. Mathew takes the cloth as he picks up the stick and puts his weight against it. Then he presses cloth over the wound to stop it from bleeding.

As I watch them, I can tell that there is a bond between the two of them, almost like Nichelle treats Mathew as if he is her father.

“You are good at what you do,” he says to me. “And I’ll explain everything I know. But first, how about I take you to the rest of your friends? I’m sure that they’re just as anxious to see you as you are to see them.”

Again, I know he speaks the truth, but for some reason, I feel wary. Still, having no other choice, I nod and follow him out the door with the knife clutched in my hand, not ready to fully trust them just yet.