Code Black [The Experiments Book 1]

Chapter 24: Lighthouse

            My eyes were burning and my heart was racing, I was flying again and it was raining a little, but it looked like it was going to let up in a little while.  My eyes were filled with water and wind, and I was racing to get to the other side of the lake before my wings gave out from the water pressure.

            I saw a tree ahead of me, one of its branches looked sturdy enough for me to land on.  I went full speed at the tree, my arms out in front of me so I could grab it.  My wings ached from lack of flying and the rain water batting down on them.  I grabbed the tree trunk with my hands, and twisted around, coming from full speed to a stop.  I slid down the tree, and sat on the thick branch.  I jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground with a thump.

            I walked through the forest and to the campsite that Amber and Rosabella stayed at.  I made it for them, gathering materials one night, then sending them there.  When I got there, the fire was lit, and Amber was sitting up, poking at it with a stick.  Titus decided to sleep with them last night, to make them feel safer.  His dark clothes blended in with the dirty ground, his lump of a body hardly moving against the ground.  He snored loudly which only made me laugh.

            Amber looked up at me and nodded, she was ready to move everyone back to Wyoming.  I called my parents asking them to come with our private jet to come and get them tomorrow.  Titus decided to leave the camp with them, but I wanted to stay.  They would have a few weeks without me.  Rebel and Barren were going back with them.  I needed to sort some things out with Jerome and my friends before I left, and that could take a while.

            I sat down next to Rosabella’s small head, and stroked her dark brown hair.  She immediately woke up, and looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes.  She new where we were going and she knew it was safe.  She trusted me more than anyone else, especially after her dad left her in the cave.  He ran away from the government, hiding her in the cave when she was only three, and a week before I found her, he left her there.

            “Is it time to leave,” she asked, stretching her small body.

            “Tomorrow sweetie,” I replied.  Rosabella sat up and smiled at me as I played with her hair.  She looked at Titus and tapped his head to wake him up.  He stopped snoring and groggily got up, moaning.  If we didn’t know that Rosabella and Titus came from different places, you’d think they were siblings.  Their eyes and hair are the same color.  But Titus knew his father was dead, he watched him die a few years ago, and Rosabella’s father is nowhere to be found.

            Rosabella put her head into my lap.  Amber was looking at something behind me curiously. I turned around and looked at the camp, where she seemed to be looking.  The lighthouse’s light was shining brightly for the first time.  I was told it didn’t work, and nobody goes over there anyways.  Only Melissa could have done it, unless someone walked in.

            “Something’s wrong,” I said, getting up, “I’ll be right back.”  I started running, and took off with no effort.  I flew to the other side of the lake, and I saw a crowd a few yards away from the lighthouse.  I landed right in front of them, watching all of them as they stared at the lighthouse, in flames.

            “Who is in there,” I asked one of the campers.  I didn’t recognize him, but he looked scared out of his mind.  He didn’t reply, he only gawked at the lighthouse.

            “Karissa,” Jerome said, pushing to the front of the crowd, “Grace and Vanessa went in, they said they heard screaming from inside.”  Just then, a loud shriek came from the top of the lighthouse.  It wasn’t Grace’s scream, but it was a girl who was obviously distressed.  I would be if I were stuck in a haunted burning building.