Human One

23. Home, Sweet, Highclere

I chuckle, ignoring the pain flaring in my shoulder and lifting my good arm to pat his small, blue back, hearing little monkey noises that sound like whines coming from his shaking frame.

"It's okay, Max. I'm fine, see? Nothing to worry about anymore." I say as gently as I can, touched that he seemed so worried for me.

I let a few more seconds pass, before I nudge him, gesturing for him to get off.

"Max, where's everyone else? Why are we at Highclere? Where's Lager?"

Max lets out a little screech, before covering his mouth with both hands. He jumps off me onto the ground and looks back up at me, before covering his eyes with his hands.

I nod, understanding his signal and close my eyes, squeezing them shut tightly as a flash of light goes off and I hear some scuffling.

"Alright, I'm decent." Max says and I open my eyes to see his pants are back on, but sadly not his t-shirt. He going to catch a cold if he keeps walking around shirtless all the time.

 Max rubs at his eyes, which appear slightly red, but I pretend to not notice as he breathes in a deep breath before looking at me.

"You don't know how worried everyone's been, Ashley." He says, and I swallow, nodding for him to continue.

"You'd disappeared from the face of Mount Lux without a trace, only to show up with Lager that night bleeding to death. Luckily there was a very trained Lightling Healer at the Villa who managed to stop the bleeding, but by then you had already lost consciousness. What on Dalton happened to you?" He rambles, eyes focusing on me at the last part, demanding an answer.

"I promise to explain my side of the story, Max, but first can I hear what happened after I passed out?" I plead, and he sighs, nodding while taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Her Lightling High Commander heard of what was going on and ordered for you to be moved immediately to a room to be looked after by the Lightling healers, but Lager adamantly refused, saying it was too dangerous or something at the Villa. Not gonna lie, Ashley, Lager wasn't looking all too pretty. He had this strange look in his eyes, I would almost call it desperation except he's the Darkling High Commander which means he doesn't get desperate. Malia allowed Lager to take you back to Highclere, on the condition he would take a Lightling healer with him, which is why I'm here. I may not be the best healer, but I'm the only one Lager would entrust you to at the time."

Wow.....that's a lot to take in, but first and foremost, "Thank you for helping me, Max." I say gratefully, and he smiles, scratching the back of his head.

"It was nothing, but there's more to the story."

"There's more? And where's Becky?" I question, wondering why she hasn't appeared yet.

"I was getting to that. My father didn't think I would return to Mount Lux and thought I'd stay at Highclere like I did after my punishment ended, so he's keeping Becky back at the Villa as a kind of hostage." Max clenches his fist and sighs. "But enough about me. Now, it's time for the freaky part."

I want to ask what could get more freaky than a secret, unknown island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle where three different races of people live, but by now it's become common knowledge to me. 

"Before you had showed up all bloody with Lager at the Villa, a huge earthquake rocked the entire island. It was dangerous for  Lightlings because of a few rock slides that occurred, but it had come out of nowhere. Malia made an official statement saying not to panic, and that it was a natural occurrence, but something doesn't feel right.  Her expression at the time was not exactly calm. The higher-up people are hiding something from us, I just know it!"