Hollow

Chapter Fifteen - Found

Truth was meant to set you free, or so the bible and philosophers and poets had forced everyone to believe since the beginning of time. But complete truthfulness or honesty was non-existent in this day and age.

People changed ever since we came out, as rumours and lies spread around every one believed anything and everything and then they stopped believing in anything. They stopped trusting, stopped telling the truth and starting living in their fairy tale worlds.

Humans didn't want to know the truth, they wanted you to make up a story and tell them it was the truth. They wanted to believe whatever sweet sugar coated drivel you fed them just so their minds would be at ease.

I saw it constantly, husbands lying to wives, mothers lying to children, leaders lying to the world, saying whatever they needed to say to make the other happy, to keep the peace.

Lying was the norm for humans.

But I was not human, nor did I care about keeping the peace or satisfying some ones fantasies.

The boy was still quiet, not completely silent because he had said a few words since the revelation of my past. But they were few and only necessary words.

Humans were weak, needy and fragile. One word could ruin them or heal them. And the story of a murderer's past could silence even the most curious of mortals.

"Where are we going now?" the boy asks in a small voice as he sits across from me in a diner. We had been stuck here in Oregon City for almost 2 days now and all the while he had remained silent.

"I couldn't get what I needed from Dominic it seems he hasn't been in contact with them for a while either." I reply.

"Is that normal?"

"A lot of us have been separating from the Origene over the last few decades or so. Ever since we have had more freedom in the world there is no point to staying underground." I explain and he listens quietly. "I think the only way we are going to get to where we need to go is if we get closer to the source."

"The source?" he asks and I can hear the curiosity rising in his tone once again. Perhaps this boy wasn't as weak as I had believed.

"We need to find someone who is still connected to the Origene, like the Hollow's that took your friend."

"Are you saying they were hired goons?" he asks with more energy and a hint of anger, like my words were a bucket of icy water on warm skin and now he was awake.

"I thought you would have realised that by now. You told me yourself the two Hollow's didn't seem to have any real control, they were just taking orders."

"So what do we do?" he asks leaning forward with an eager willing expression.

"We need to find someone." I had learned how to track in another life of mine, but it was dangerous for any mortal within the radius that caught my attention which is why I hadn't thought of doing it before this, but we were running out of options.

"I know, that's why we're here, remember?" The boy asks as I glance up at him eating his meal.

"I'm going to try and do something. I want you to remain perfectly still, don't move or speak and just keep your breath even and quiet. Can you do that?" I ask.

He pauses for a moment then nods and sits still. I wait until his breathing is calm and even then close my eyes. I let go of my feelers carefully, leaving a wide birth around the boy I spread them out slowly.

Tracking a Hollow was hard even without a human's soul distracting you and needed complete concentration. I knew if he moved or coughed or even sneezed my feelers would latch onto his being and I wouldn't be able to see or feel anything else.

I stretch my feelers inch by inch ready to reel them back in just in case. Weak auras come into focus around me but they were easy to ignore and they weren't what I was looking for. I tune my feelers so that they pick up Hollow's they were easy to sense because of the curse we shared. It united us like brothers and sisters so even if I had never met the person before I would know they were one of us. I begin searching out of the city and into others, spreading my feelers out like tiny combs as they scoured around me in a small radius, until it hit. The Hollow opens to me instantly and hears my message and then it lets go and so do I.

I pull my feelers back instantly and open my eyes.

"What happened?" the boy asks after waiting for a moment to see if he was allowed to move, his voice anxious and eyes wide.

"I found what I was looking for." I answer as I tightly wrap my feelers again and begin eating my meal.

"Found what?" he asks.

"A Tracker"

"A what?" he asks, his face a mask of complete confusion.

"A Hollow whose chosen path is to track, to find, locate." I explain as I swallow mouthfuls of some type of casserole.

"I know what tracking is." He exclaims with an offended tone. "I just didn't know they existed in the Hollow world, so what is he, part Native American?" he smiles but I don't reply. He sighs and shakes his head. "So he knows where we are?"

"Yes"

"Well what do we do now?" he asks glancing over his shoulder as if he expected the Hollow to burst in at any moment.

"Eat."

"Will he come here?"

"Eat." I tell him again.

He sighs again but eats his meal. It was better than I had planned. I didn't need to find a Hollow who still worked for the Origene, not with a tracker to find the girl we were looking for instead.

I definitely knew the answer to the boy's question, because I knew the Tracker. There were few Hollow's I didn't know because I was there for their re-births. I was there bringing them in and watching them change.

Graylandwas only a few decades younger than I was and we had spent over thirty yearstogether. He had taught me how to track, though I would never be as good as hewas, he taught me the basics. It had been almost twenty six years since I hadseen him and I knew he would follow me here. Whether he would help was anotherquestion.