Just Trust Me

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

          I finally headed home after a long and tiring day.  As soon as I entered my house, my mom leapt at me with questions.

          “Where have you been?  Who were you with?  What were you doing?” she asked, not giving me time to answer.  I sighed heavily and shook my head.

          “I told you, I was gonna go to Carter’s place,” I muttered, trying to get to where my toothbrush and pajamas were.  It was already dark and as I had headed back I had been worried about being attacked.  There were so many stars in the sky though, so many more than I could see back in Chicago.  It was truly beautiful.  

          “You were there all day?” she asked in disbelief, raising an eyebrow.

          “Yep,” I said shortly, finding my pajamas and turning to change into them.  Mom huffed at my non-cooperation and I heard her shuffling around.

          “Well, be careful, I don’t trust the people here,” she said, and I heard her getting into her side of the bed.  I thought vaguely how ironic it was that she was afraid of the people here, when there were much worse things to be scared of...

          I woke up with a start and lay there for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had startled me from my sleep. It was still evening and not that dark out since I had gone to sleep early. Then I heard the sound that had woken me up.  A scream.  No, multiple screams.  And the sound of running and crying and more screaming and it sounded like the village was being attacked or something.  I jumped out of bed and didn’t bother to change out of my pajamas, throwing open the door.  I quickly glanced over to see my mom still sound asleep in bed.  I stepped outside and turned toward the source of commotion and my eyes widened at the sight.

          Standing in front of the fire at the center of village was a man who I knew by now to be the leader.  He had his arms raised, almost as if in a trance, looking towards the sky.  People were scattered in a rough circle around the man and I crept closer.  I looked around for Carter and immediately spotted his messy hair, then turned to go towards him.  I stopped for a moment, not sure if I really wanted to talk to him, or even be beside him right now, but I didn’t want to stand alone and I needed to know what was going on.  I hoped desperately that the sinking feeling in my stomach wasn’t true.

          I caught up to him and grabbed his arm, getting his attention.  He, Damon and Emerald all turned to me at the same time.  Emerald shot me a disgusted glare and turned back towards the man with his arms up.  I glanced at the man to see him still standing in the same position as before and turned back.  Carter and Damon gave me sympathetic looks and I saw Damon’s eyes shift warily over to Emerald, who still had her back turned.  It was obvious that they knew what had happened earlier between Emerald and me.  

          “I’m so sorry,” Carter whispered apologetically.  “Neither of us knew she would.  We’re gonna keep a close eye on her from now on, I promise.”  I shrugged in reply, and asked the question that was bugging me right now.

          “What’s going on?”  Carter and Damon exchanged a glance and I knew my suspicions were confirmed.

          “But it’s not...it’s not Elliot or Alexis, right?” I asked, fear in my voice.  But I already knew neither of them would do that.

          “No, it’s the one that saved you from Emerald,” Carter said.

          “How do you guys know every detail?” I asked.  He acted as if he was there with us.

          “We’re really close, we can tell things about each other,” Damon answered for him.  “Kind of like mind-reading, but not exactly.  Only what we want the others to know.”