Hollow

Chapter Thirty Nine - The Final Return

Before too long my thoughts turn to Eli and I begin to make my way back.

There was no denying this boy had changed me, I was no longer living to live, I was living for him, living to keep him alive.

I had allowed myself to be affected. I had let him inside in an irrevocable way. He has given me wants, something I had not had in two centuries and now I have to face the fact that I cannot make that want happen.

I cannot make him safe and happy.

His happiness would result in my saving Isobel; his safety would result in mine.

I reach the train station at midnight and wait until I am alone before making my way underground.

I could sense the darkness covering me as I cross the threshold entering this place for what would be the last time. I do not wander or stray as I make my way to my room until I am there and the door is sealed behind me.

There I sit on the ground, my back pressed up against the wall and eyes closed as I take hold of my mind.

I let go of my feelers, sending them out wide, I pick up Eli first, in his room then Isobel as their mortal souls glow brightest for miles. I circle Eli, knowing he would not feel me or sense my feelers, but I could feel him, almost see him in a way, his life force creating a shape in my mind. He was huddled near the door, in the corner where I had found him last time. His body is a limp vessel, it was dull, perhaps he was sleeping, he was restless and exhausted, all feelings I wanted to keep far away from. But being close to him in this very distant way helped to keep me grounded somewhat.

I thought about Gray, sensing him among those guards, his mind blocked from mine. I had always been able to reach him, and now I did not know whether he was merely blending in or if he in fact had become one of the Origene's guards again.

Gray had one of the strongest minds I knew. He could get in and out of anything and everything, he could find anyone. He could hide from anyone and to see him as a guard again felt like we had gone back to when he was growing in power. His abilities were just coming known to him and it would not be long until he would be sent out to search with me. We would become a well-oiled machine, hunting down deserters and serving the Origene.

I knew him too well to let myself believe he had succumbed to the Origene and was serving him once more.

I send out my feelers again, hanging onto Eli but searching for Gray I find him quickly, he is alone but guarded. I try to reach his mind, there is something stopping me but it is not a rejection. He senses me but is pushing me away, there is a warning, a signal that now is not the time, he pushes me again and I back away. Searching around him I realise he is in the great hall, he has an audience with the Origene, among twenty other guards all standing at attention.

It was a routine report but I knew the Origene would be able to sense a mental connection if Gray let me in his mind. I would have to wait until he was alone.

I pull away and centre back on Eli, still slumped over and lost in sleep or a dream or perhaps his own thoughts, it was hard to tell.

I think of Isobel and her whispered words.

Her knowing of this time, knowing her life would end this way, being so determined to die if it meant staying with her brother.

She mentioned her parents and again I thought of the possibility of them being Hollow's, or maybe their death was not an accident. Maybe it was merely a way of removing them from the picture, making the connection between brother and sister grow and Eli's need to protect Isobel and her life mean more than his own so that he would give his life up willingly for her safety.