Nefarious

C181 - The nameless one

Without time to react, I stood before Rain in her room. She shook her head faintly, waiting for me to defend my actions, or so I assumed. "I'm not going to serve you some lie to cover up the reason for me being here. You can go snitch on me if you have the conscience to do so," I said. "I messed up, Valerie. I used to be nothing but a face in the crowd for Xylan, but now I'm working for him around the clock. It's exhausting and honestly, I'm living in constant fear. We have to do something," she sighed loudly. I couldn't help but scoff at her answer, and she didn't seem to understand why. She quirked a brow as I approached her, her eyes fixed on my face. "A twist of fate and suddenly you're regretful of something that you were warned about numerous times. You made it seem as though you were privileged, granted a position which none of your acquaintances could even dream about. Stabbing Jace in the back, you abandoned everyone you had for the sake of Xylan. Do you really believe we'll come crawling back to you just like that?" I asked, my voice filled with acrimony.

I'd left Rain speechless, which kind of surprised me. "You mentioned Jace, I-" she stammered, avoiding my gaze. I slightly bit my lip, holding back any comments I had to her mention of Jace. Of course I was boiling with anger after her selfish decision in the past, but I wasn't pitiful and in need of snapping back at her all the time. "Our son is nameless. I thought it would be easy to come up with a name and raise him on my own, but I'm struggling and no name seems to fit. Also, he already looks so much like Jace, so my son is a constant reminder of one of my biggest mistakes. I don't expect you to help me, but I know you care about Jace and that you would help him in a situation like this. Would you please consider helping me out?" she said, almost whispering. "Where is he?" I asked, choosing not to answer her request yet.

The second Rain hesitated to answer where her son was, I realized she'd put her trust in someone I've shown disapproval of before. She mumbled out the name of Alex's dad to which I experienced a memory flash of violent episodes. I parted my lips, almost too shocked to even answer her. "Have you lost your goddamn mind?" I stuttered. "I said I can't do this alone!" she argued. "Lower your voice, Rain. I'm not supposed to be up here, remember?" I blurted out. Exhaling deeply, she closed her eyes and sat down on the bed, her hands covering her face. "I'm so naive. I should've known Xylan acted decently toward me because I was having Jace's child. All Xylan wants is to make Jace's life miserable, and through me, he's succeeded perfectly. I refused to help Xavier, so Xylan got the leader position and Jace got sent away. I agreed to whatever Xylan said and now Xylan is in charge of the lives of Xavier and our child. I served everything Xylan wanted on a golden plate and completely disregarded my morals. I don't know how to get back on the right track, Val," she said, sounding nothing but regretful and discouraged. "If you want my advice then follow me. You should join me in searching for proof against Xylan. We all know he's a shady person with tons of dark secrets waiting to be divulged. If we gather enough evidence, we could speak against him. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for your son. You shifted the guilt onto me by dragging Jace into the picture, and now I'll do the same. You owe it to both Jace and your son to do this, Rain."

To me, it was apparent that guilt was pushing Rain to the edge, making it relatively easy for me to persuade her to join me on my quest. Naturally, she hesitated at first but eventually agreed to start working against Xylan rather than alongside him. "I should warn you, though. Lately, I've slowly gained Xylan's trust in the sense that I get to attend some meetings. Xylan wants to do something very bad in a short amount of time, so our time to search is limited," Rain informed. My eyebrows drew together, forming a frown that I couldn't rid myself of. "Go on," I said, unintentionally sounding daring. "He wants to invade the Evanstons as they invaded us, only worse. Since they chose Dane as their leader, that worked as a motivator for Xylan to work faster. Hayden has officially left the castle and so they're under Dane's rule. Dane's a fresh leader with limited leadership experiences compared to Xylan, thereby it's the perfect time to strike for our castle," she explained. "Damn it!" I cursed under my breath repeatedly. "Well, that means we have to move quickly as hell," I said lastly.

We'd opened the door several times to check whether someone was out in the hallway, yet somehow we managed to oversee a certain person. As we stepped out from Rain's room, I heard an all too familiar voice greeting me. "Dizary?" I said confusedly, bowing automatically as a result of stress. "Don't feel the need to greet me formally, Pennington. I'm deeply sorry that you feel like I've failed you. I strongly believed that through my objective and efficient work I would be able to lay the basis for a fair judgement. However, ultimately, I failed to gain confidence in making a decision and consequently, I withdrew my vote. I understand it if you blame me for shocking the people into panic strong enough to vote for Xylan. I must be partly at blame for Alex's chances dropping, which they did evidently." "I don't hold a grudge, Kai," I lied, "what's done is done." Forgiving Kai for withdrawing his vote would take time, but he didn't have to know that. If I would've admitted that I still held a grudge against him, then he would want to talk about it, and there was no time for talking. "Right, um, I wish you good luck. Goodbye," he said. "You're leaving?" I gasped, failing to keep my reaction muted. "Yes, my work here is done, though its results are controversial. Do you believe there's a reason for me to stay?" he questioned. "No, no," I shook my head, "I just wasn't prepared for such an abrupt goodbye." "I see. Again, I'm incredibly sorry, Valerie."

Kai's apology didn't lack genuineness, that I knew. However, he directed his apology to the wrong person. I was never a candidate in the election, Alex was. I didn't point that out either as I tried saving time, but perhaps I should've for the sake of Alex.

I tried to create a map over the third floor in my mind so that I would have a rough outline of the place at the very least. Whether or not I succeeded I couldn't tell yet, though luckily, Rain knew the place in and out. She'd spent a lot of time on the third floor lately, particularly in the area where the Caizars stayed, which only benefited us to a greater extent.

We reached the common area for the Caizars just in time for Blaze to leave. Jace's son slept peacefully in the corner of the room, placed in an ancient crib it looked like. "We don't have much time before Blaze returns," Rain whispered. "You don't get to bring your son back to your room as you please? What is this? Forced babysitting?" I rambled on. Rain seemed to forget my questions the second she saw her son's face, highlighted by the tall lamp beside the crib. I leaned closer, seeing the baby opening his eyes slowly. Swallowing oddly, I looked away as I was paranoid that my unfamiliar face would upset him. However, through my peripheral vision, I could see him looking at me. Soundlessly, he kept switching from looking at Rain and me, seeming completely unbothered by my presence. I wanted to ask if he normally kept quiet like that, but once again, I feared I would disturb him.

Breaking the silence, Rain finally said something. "You can look at him. Jeez, Valerie, are you afraid of babies or something?" she chuckled softly. Hesitatingly, I turned my head and met his eyes, which felt indescribably strange. "Oh wow, he normally looks away when he sees strangers. I'm not sure why, but he lacks fascination for whatever's new. The eye contact makes for a calming connection, though it's rare with him it seems," Rain said. "I see he inherited Jace's eyes," I said in a low voice. "Please, he inherited all of Jace's features. He doesn't look like me at all," Rain answered. "I didn't want to point that out as it could be upsetting for you, but yes, you're right," I said. "Valerie, listen," Rain said, her tone shifting from calm to worried in an instant. I stopped breathing, listening intently as Rain's facial expression gradually changed. She pointed to the closet, indicating that I should hide in there. Considering that she had to show me a hiding spot soundlessly, I figured whoever was coming was dangerously close.

I ran so quickly to the closet that I feared I would trip and fall, but I managed to get into the dark closet right in time. The door closed, causing a thud which made me jump slightly. "Carradine," Xylan said coldly. Curse words came flowing through my mind like a river of thoughts, testing my willpower to remain calm and quiet. I couldn't help but ask myself how the baby remained quiet, though. The door closed loudly and surely Xylan's presence couldn't be soothing for such a small person?