Awakening

Chapter 29

Amra nodded at Elaine and turned around heading to the elevator; he grabbed Caliope's hand and held it tightly as Pronab was following them at a few steps behind. He was nervous, and once they were out of the elevator, he headed towards the reception where a sleepy manager was still a little shocked with the news of some of his more private and wealthy visitors deciding to leave so abruptly.

Caliope was tense, and Amra noticed it. He caressed her arms slowly first, then held her in his arms. She sighed and closed her eyes, they felt so heavy. She finally admitted she was exhausted "how long for us to leave? I feel so tired..."

"Soon, I would speed things up but, we are in an open space with too many people around.

"I wouldn't ask you to do that, ever... I was just... wondering..." she yawned. He smiled softly at her and kissed the top of her head. After some minutes, Caliope heard Elaine return, she was saying goodbye to the manager in the most friendly yet hurried way possible. She was struggling to open her eyes and wondered if she actually felt asleep while standing.

Finally Elaine reached to Pronab, who was standing against a column some steps away from them, and together they all headed out, where the limo was ready and the driver was more awake than the rest of them. As soon as they got in the car, Amra pulled Caliope to his lap and into his arms. She laid her head on his chest, her face buried in his neck, she sighed and finally fell asleep.

When she slowly recovered conscience; she felt as Amra lifted her with him and got out of the car, the murmurs around her were still a little blurred as her tiredness was winning. She could hear Maxwell close to them "Welcome back, please come in, your rooms are ready..."

The General was barely whispering, but even though she was half asleep, she could still hear him. Amra was moving calmly as they were about to enter the residence when she finally heard the others speak. The first one Elaine "I am sorry it had come to this..." trying to apologize but hearing Maxwell deny any inconvenience "Shh... it is ok... everything will be ok... I feel better having you all here to be honest..."

Pronab was tense, she didn't have to see him to sense him. He was cautious as he spoke "we need to discuss security measures as soon as possible." But Maxwell replied with some coldness "with all due respect, but I trust in my security team, nothing has ever happened so far in between these walls..."

"Please lets us just calm down from this, and we can talk it all later..." Elaine said, her voice almost too far.

Caliope was hearing all these whispers, and started to recover conscience a little, surprised that she could hear Angels whispers. Her mind was still heavy, she knew she still had to rest more, but what little she slept on the way made her batteries reloaded for a few more minutes. She was still on Amra's arms, he had no problem lifting her body and carrying her anywhere. He lowered his head and brushed his lips on hers, whispering 'You are awake...? my love, you should sleep... I am not leaving your side...' She smiled, his lips warming her. 'I... I will sleep more... I am ok...'

Suddenly, a hard and deep pain pierced her skull. She shuddered and Amra stopped immediately, making everyone stop as well.

Elaine focused on him, and saw him look down at Caliope, only then noticing her shivers "Amra?"

The pain became stronger, and the immediate silence from the voices around her was quickly replaced by darker whispers, voices so deep and empty at the same time. She took her hands to her ears but the voices kept whispering strange words she could not understand. The pain stopped but the voices went higher, now almost like normal people talking, and she finally opened her eyes and looked around her, finding Maxwell and everyone else exchanging looks from Amra to her without understanding. And then she saw them; hollowed ghosts floating around them, creatures resembling humans but without a full shape and body. She gasped and cringed to Amra's chest "Go away!"