The Descendants Series Vol. 2

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Once I’d messaged Rowan, I leaned back against a tree and waited for Nash, Xander and Slade to come and get me.  I clutched my necklace in my hand and stared straight forward.

Seeing Kade and Roth, knowing that my dream wasn’t just a dream like I had thought it was…It was just too much to take in.  And knowing that they were both alive! 

But the one thing that I didn’t understand was why Kade was the way he was now.  Before he saw me, he seemed like he was angry at everything.  He seemed like he was happy to see me.  Well, at least a little happy.  

But when I’d threatened to scream if he didn’t tell me what was going on, everything changed.  I didn’t know why he didn’t just kill me when he had his hand around my neck.  It would have just made everything easier, seeing as he had an assignment to kill me – just like I was assigned to him.

After a few hours of just sitting there, I heard the blades of a helicopter thrumming closer and closer to me.  If it was Guards, I didn’t really care what they did to me.

“Rayney!” I heard someone yell.  “Rayney, are you okay?”

“What’s wrong with her?’

“I don’t know.”

“And why is she crying?”

“Rayney, can you hear me?”

When my eyes focused, I could see Nash kneeling in front of me with Xander and Slade behind him.  When I saw the three of them looking down at me with concerned expressions on their faces, they suddenly blurred.  And then I realized they were right.  I was crying.

“Nash?” I whispered.

“God, Rayney, why’d you go off like that?” he asked, putting a hand on my face.  “You don’t know how many people want to kill you right now.”

“Yeah, I do know,” I said.  “The Directrix wants to kill me.  Those five Guards wanted to kill me but I killed them first.”

“What?” he asked.  “What happened?”

“I was in some house,” I said.  “It was like our control room.  They have cameras all over the forest, keeping track of everyone who goes through.  They saw me and came to find me.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked.

“Not from them,” I said.  “And that wasn’t the only time I’d almost gotten hurt.”

“What happened then?” he asked.

“Kade and Roth…they want to kill me,” I whispered.  I looked up at him.  “Kade almost did.  He just let me go, though.”

“Kade and Roth?” Xander asked, his eyebrows furrowing.  “They’re gone, Rayney.”

“No, they’re not,” I said, shaking my head back and forth.  “I saw them.  They were…they were…”  I closed my eyes, tears falling down my face faster. 

“Come on, Rayney,” Nash said.  I felt his arms go around me as he lifted me up into his arms.  “Let’s get back.”

I leaned my head back against his shoulder and he walked toward the helicopter.

“Why was she talking about Kade and Roth?” Slade asked quietly as Nash carried me toward the helicopter. 

“I don’t know,” Xander said. 

Xander and Slade got in the front and powered up the helicopter while Nash and I sat in the back.  He still had his arm around me and was looking me over to see if I was injured.