The Cage Of A Sovereign: Book One Of The Kieran Series

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Do you know why my sister and I came here in such a rush?" He tenses slightly but doesn't speak. "I assume you must have heard something, people do love to gossip, and I imagine that Zillah are no exception, they're probably worse with how long they live, gossip and secrets must be one the few things they still find great enjoyment in." He sighs slowly, I can see from the corner of my eye that he turns his head to look at me, but I don't turn to him, just continue looking up at the beautiful sky.

"There were rumors that you were being chased by hunters, which is rather surprising because as far as I know most people don't realize they're anything but normal humans before they get the invitation, so I assume that your weird habits didn't alert the hunters to your presence, so what did?" I sigh, preparing myself to look at him after I tell him the truth.

"I lied." I turn my head and gaze into his eyes, expecting hate or outrage, but the only thing that gazes back at me from his eyes is confusion. "We were never found by the hunters, they didn't even know about us, nobody did. We lived in one of those human only buildings. I mean we were running from something, but it wasn't hunters."

"I am sure there is a good reason you lied." He sounded so trusting, like he couldn't believe I could do any wrong.

"Yes, there was reason I lied, but that doesn't make it any less bad that I did. You see.... My sister and I, well actually our entire family have been running from this thing our entire lives, I don't know what it is, but we call it the Darkness. I have this trick where if I close my eyes, I can see the world in my mind, but its different, everything is an outline and almost see through, except people, well anything living really.

You for example are this burning red fire in my mind, a giant ball of heat and light that is impossible to look away from. Humans are these tiny pin pricks of golden light, plants are green, I think the amount of light has to do with lifespans. Trees have a larger glow than say a flower, just like Zillah have a larger glow than humans. Though Zillah are different, they're the only thing I've come across that come in different colors and brightness, I kind of suspect that it has a bit to do with the level of power someone has." I trail off as I think about it, that had to be the reason they were so bright to me, they were powerful Aegis after all.

"Ah, so that's how you saw Cade's knife." I smile lightly, before turning away to look at the sky, I had almost forgotten about that.

"Yes, I don't even know why I chose to antagonize the three of you, I was feeling cocky I guess, but the three of you just shine so much brighter than the rest, your colors are so vivid. If I reach out with my mind and touch the balls of light, I can see who it is, I get almost like a snapshot of their face and then it fades away as their energy separates into colors, I think it turns into an aura I can see, their emotions, their truths, their lies, I think I could see it all if I tried hard enough.

But the Darkness is different, it's like this cloud of black smoke always hovering around the edges of my mind, clouding out everything around it, twenty feet from the epicenter in every direction and I can no longer see anything, they are covered in a Darkness that my mind's eye cannot see through. My father died when I was very young, I have very few memories of him, Lucinda doesn't even remember him, but that day the Darkness found us, and he stayed behind so that we would have long enough to get away.

Years later, I think I must have been eighteen, Lucinda must have been about fifteen, it caught up to us again, this time it took our mother. The next time it caught up to us, I was nineteen, Lucinda had just turned seventeen and was out at a party, I sensed it closing in, but I thought she would have enough time to enjoy her birthday before I had to rip her away from all her friends and the life we had built. But I was wrong, it moved a lot faster than I had thought it would, in a matter of hours it was closing in, I grabbed everything I could, grabbed Lucinda away from her party and we ran for the airport." He was so quiet next to me, not even moving an inch, I feared for a moment that he had fallen asleep while I was trying to open up to him.