Celeste
"Somethings not right." I said, studying the inches of steel barbed gate that mounted over my head.
"What do you mean it's not right? We've checked the border a hundred times already Cel." Lani flicked her finger on the steel, and it rang with a clunk.
Dominic would think it looks funny. I shook my head, Stop! Why are you thinking about him?
I had never thought of Dominic before, at least not constantly. Not like This.
Ever since that night in the woods, the night I thought I lost him, he was all that was on my mind, and I hated it. I really thought he was gone that night, and I had so much to say to him, so much to say that I couldn't because I was too shaken up to open my damn mouth and speak. Since that night, I'd started to see him differently, and I loathed it. I loathed that when he spoke to me my chest tingled, and when he lifted up his shirt my cheeks flushed. He was my best friend, It almost felt as if I were breaking a law feeling like this. My whole life I had never perceived him this way, nor any boy.
I was convinced boys were not something I held interested in. But now? Now...I was confused. very confused. But most of all, I was angry. I cursed myself over and over, but the thought of him wouldn't leave my mind.
It's only because he almost died on you. Nothing more.
I pressed my finger to my lip, scanning the fence up and down impatiently. Everything was there, just something seemed off. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Who designed the gates?" I pondered, my gaze still high above my head.
"Kyler did I think." said Lani
"Oh, well maybe it's just in my head." Kyler was an excellent engineer, him making a mistake while preparing his sketches was a rare thing. The gates just didn't seem right. The edges of them were stuck together in an odd way, and the metal intertwined in parts it shouldn't. Ky's just being artsy with his designs.
It was as if I spoke my thoughts out loud, Kylers voice sung in the distance. I turned my head, and he and a little boy latched to his side were bolting towards us. I curled my brows, narrowing my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating from the sun beating on my face. I've never seen Kyler look so frantic. What had happened?
"Is that Kyler?" Lani tilted her head, "And?"
I recognized as they grew closer, that the boy was the curly haired one who consoled me at the courtyard. " Beckett, his name is I think."
What were they doing? And why were they running?
"Celeste!" Kyler reached me, his voice rung in a panic. He was doused in sweat, his breath tired and heavy. His long beige trench coat was tattered with dirt, and above the temples of his forehead, laid gauge of dried blood. Beckett beside him, was also covered in dirt, his mouth hung open, swallowing gulps of air, eyes wide with his back as stiff as a trooper.
I touched my fingers to the blood on Kyler's face, he cowered back. My heart pumped, a sudden strain of nerves flooding through me. "Kyler, what the hell happened?"
My eyes wandered to Beckett, he was trembling, holding tightly to Kylers hand, his eyes swollen with tears, which made me all the more worried.
"Celeste we don't have much time." Kyler turned his troubled eyes to me. I shook my head and held to his shoulders, "I-I don't understand? What happened?"
"Dominic." He said, his voice lingering in an eerie way that sent a chill down my spine.
"What about Dominic?" My heart surged into trepidation. I squeezed onto Kylers shoulder tighter, his gaze fixed on the gate behind me. He opened his mouth to speak, and his words came out in a stutter I couldn't understand. I gave his arms a shake, he broke his muse and blinked his eyes dazedly.
"They took him."
My body fell stiff. My grip on Kyler fastening harder, I almost forgot my own strength until Kyler unlatched my fingers and pushed me away. I couldn't think. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what Kyler had told me. They took him.
No no no no. I'm not losing you. Not again. This is a joke. Some kind of sick game.
"Who took him?" The smallest words mowed from my breath. My head pooled with questions, but flooded with worry.
"A raid of troopers." Kyler swallowed, his voice shaking like a leaf in the wind. "They somehow broke through the border they-"
I threw my hands hard on Kylers chest, shoving him back. Was I angry? Was I fearful? I didn't know, my psyche clicked into a panic. "How could you let them take him!" I spat out. It was a rare thing for me to yell at Kyler. Very rare. His mouth bobbed open trying to abet words, though my cursing guarded the way. "Why didnt you help him!"
"I tried Cel I-"
"How could you!" Why I was blaming Kyler, I didn't know. I didn't even know what happened, where they were taking him, or who was responsible. But the words, They took Dominic, were enough to consign tears of affright issuing down my cheeks. I just needed someone to blame, someone to lash my anger on.
"It was my fault." Becketts bantam voice peeked through the surge of my fit. I shifted my eyes to him. My lungs tied to seize air from entering my body, but I pushed the feeling back. I needed to be calm. At least try to be calm.
"I was wandering through the woods. I got lost...this place has confusing twists and turns. I thought I was still within the borders though, I saw that gate!" Beckett covered his shaky hands over his eyes, and rubbed his skin. I hunched down to meet his size, and placed my hand on his shoulder. His body felt like he had been stuck with lightning. A fear, maybe even a bad memory wrenching through him.
"Breath Beckett." I said in a hushed tone, and he heaved a quivering lick of air. "Tell me what happened."
He huffed another breath and nodded, his eyes meeting mine. I felt his fear, his worry. Whatever happened had really shaken him up. He was only a kid, there was no way I could be angry.
"I was in the woods, and a group of five troopers approached me. I tried to run, but they attacked strong. They were much faster than me, and I couldn't run any longer. There was a big trooper, he had a red cape, and his armor was different from the others. It was shiner."
My breath caught, and my mind ran to the battle in the woods. That horrid lavish armor and oblong crimson frock. Grado. I knew what Grado was to Dominic, which chilled me more.
"The big trooper grabbed my hands and held them behind my back so I couldn't move. He pressed--" Becketts voice cracked and he hesitated, "He pressed a blade to my throat. And-and he told me to scream. I-I was afraid. So I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could. That's when Dominic and Kyler showed up. They-they must have heard me."
I glanced up at Kyler, he returned a nervous look, his hand grasping tight to his coat, twisting the wool anxiously.
Beckett continued, "Dominic looked at the big trooper for a long second. I could almost see him glaring back at him through his mask. They talked for a bit...exchanging insults almost. The big trooper lowered the rake from my throat, and Dominic and Kyler pounced at them. They began fighting, and Dominic told me to run. I tried, but a trooper grabbed a hold of my feet, and dragged me to the ground. They stood me up-and-and pressed another blade to my throat. The bigger trooper said he would offer an exchange. Dominic to come with them, in exchange for my life. I...I tried." Beckett sniffed, and tears flooded down his cheeks, "I tried to tell him no. I would have been willing to die at that moment. The Chamber had taught me a lot of things...the biggest one was not to fear death. So I didnt. I tried to tell him to stop but he wouldn't listen. Dominic nodded, and held out his arms to be cuffed, turning himself in. Kyler pushed through a trooper, trying to seize Dominic, but was struck in the head by the butt of a rake."
Kyler rubbed the wound on his forehead, and shifted his eyes to the ground. I knew Kyler. And I knew he felt ashamed of himself. He had never liked battle, but was always willing to put up a good fight. He did what he could, and I had no right to be angry.
"The big trooper punched Dominic, knocking him to his knees. He then pulled out this gun...but it wasn't a gun, because when the bullet hit Dominic, it bursted with electricity. Almost like it was some sort of tazor-like thing. The troopers forced him to his feet, and shackled his hands and legs. The big trooper looked at me, said I was lucky, then left with Dominic." Beckett shook his head, the tears harder, his face flushed and eyes red. "I don't understand...why...why would they take him?"
He was right, why would they take Dominic? Grado didn't care for Dominic, and wouldn't waste his shackles taking hostage. He wanted Dominic to willingly come back to him, not be driven against his will. So why did they need Dominic?
Leverage. I thought.
This was their plan...to take one of us. If they couldn't get to Evelyn, they'd get to one of us first...Dominic happening to be that person in reach. Grado took Dominic, knowing Evelyn would come looking for him. He must have seen him with her at the Chamber.
They were going to use Dominic as bait to trap Evelyn. My heart hammered.
"Did you tell anyone else about this?" My eyes widened
"Just Evelyn." Beckett sniffled.
Of course! Out of all people!
"And where is she now?" my panic rose.
"I-I don't know...she said she had to go."
No Evelyn. Oh my god no.
I knew Evelyn, and I knew exactly where she was. She was going to the Chamber to get him. She was walking directly into the mouth of the monster.
My legs shot up, my vision slightly blurred and my head spun as I stood up. My nerves engulfed my senses. I was trying to keep myself relaxed, I really was, but it was so hard too. It's difficult to stay calm when your best friend is being held hostage, and your other friend is walking into a trap.
They were in danger, both of them, and they needed my help.
"Come on!" I yelled to Kyler, my feet carrying me forward before I could strangle another thought. "Evelyn can't go into the Chamber, we have to stop her!"
Kyler caught up to me and huffed breath, "Oh no. She's walking into it." He gasped, "an ambuscade."
"Precisely. Now pick up your bloody feet and move!"
"Wait!" Kyler held out his hand, stopping my stride. I exhaled, I must have forgotten to breathe as I ran. "What if Evelyn's already in the Chamber?"
"Then we go in after her!"
"And how do you suppose we get inside?"
I hadn't really thought of that, I hadn't done much thinking at all honestly. My mind was tangled around one thing; making sure Dominic and Evelyn were safe. But how could we get past the guards? Not like we could just waltz right in. That's when the thought hit me, something that I hated debating may have been our only option. We needed a Mind Wielder. A Deja prehapes.
"No." Gemma shook her head violently as I pleaded for her help. "I am not going back to that wretched place, sorry." She turned around, her auburn hair swaying behind her back while she walked away.
"Wait!" I reached out to her and grabbed her hand. She jumped, and revolved her head over her shoulder, her amber eyes wide with worry. "Evelyns in trouble. Please."
It was as if a switch was turned on in her. She reached down and held my hand in hers. "Oh my gosh, why didn't you just tell me that in the first place!" I grasped her gaze for a moment, her warm touch feeling oddly nice against mine. I took a deep breath and nodded.
We cut through the woods, the same path we used only days ago. There was no sign of Evelyn. No distraught leaves, nor prints of her shoes in the mud. Though I knew she was heading to the Chamber. I always trusted my gut, and it told me that Evelyn went after Dominic. If we got to her, we could convince her to stay back, and Kyler and I would go in and get Dom. But would Evelyn even listen? I've noticed the way she looked at him. I noticed him turn around and go with her instead of coming with me. She cared for him...alot. And why do you care? You don't.
I peeked through the branches of the trees lining Detras border. The Chamber stood in front like a brick wall, and I studied the demesne. We needed a plan, and fast. There were two guards blocking the entrance, two more inside the second gateway. The guards held the pistols tensely, wobbling on their feet like they had just seen the face of a walking corpse.
"Looks like Ev beat us here." Said Kyler, pointing his finger to the ground. The grass near the entrance was drugged into a pile of dirt, a toiled gash ripped through the ground, as if a blitz was set off in the center of the proximity. My chest tightened. She definitely had been here.
Oh no Ev, what did you do?
"Okay listen." I said, snapping Kyler and Gemmas attention. "Here's the plan. They want us to walk right in, so that's what we're gonna do."
Gemma's eyes lit up, "Are you crazy? We can't just walk in! They'll never let us through!"
"That's why we have you."
Gemma winced with a confused lift of her brow. I continued, "How fast can you put people to sleep?"
"Uh...within seconds if I try hard enough."
"Good." I nodded, "You're gonna put the guards in the front gate asleep, then Kyler and I will steal their armor to pass as troopers and sneak inside." I fastened my knives in the pocket of my belt, and tied back my hair in a clumsy top knot. "Gemma, when you're done with the guards at the gates, I don't want you to come with us, chances are Grants are probably looking for you too. Go around the gate, and dig out a hole underneath the artillery section, big enough we can crawl under. Wait for us, and if we're not out within an hour, go back to the Rogues and tell them what had happened."
"Oh-Okay." She seemed hesitant.
"Gemma." I placed my hand in hers and held it, her worried eyes meeting mine. Like a bunny in the paws of a lion. "I know you don't like using your...abilities, but we really need your help. Evelyn needs you."
She grasped my hand and inhaled a breath of air, "I need to make up for being a shity friend. She was always there for me, and I...I wasn't there for her when I should have been." She looked down, I'd never seen her face filled with so much sorrow. I didn't know what she'd done to Evelyn, but she sure felt awful about it. "I'll do anything for her."
I squeezed her hand, and she smiled nervously. Was I asking too much of her? Was this a bad idea? Of course it was a bad idea...but my options were rather limited. Kyler was surprisingly quiet the whole time, usually his input would oversee mine. I glanced up at him, he bit onto his lip and he brows furled in distress.
"What do you think, Kyler?"
"Oh...uh, I think your plan is good. We can use the air vents to escape through the back. It's likely wherever Dominic is hidden, Evelyn isn't far behind. By the look of the attention she's drawn so far...she's probably being hunted throughout the building. And if they planned for her arrival, I wouldn't be surprised if they already got ahold of her."
I swallowed. I had no idea what I was about to walk into, or if Evelyn and Dominic were even within reach of Kyler and I, but it didn't matter, I was doing this for them...for him. My stomach churned with nerves, my palms clammed and brow doused with sweat. Just get them out. Dominic would do the same for you.
It was weird conceiving a plan without Dominic. His strategies were always straight, much better than mine. Theo had spent much time teaching him the ins and outs of maps, war, weapons and land. If Theo were here, he'd know what to do. Why hadn't I gone to Theo? Because your time is running out dumbass. How would I even tell him? Oh hey Theo, the boy who is basically your son was taken by troopers, and is being used to bait the deadliest person in Detra. But it's ok! We can get them back hopefully!
I took a breath and grabbed Kylers hand, he flinched and looked down at me. "You ready?" I glanced at him then moved my eyes to Gemma. They both nodded, and we pushed through the trees, entering the grounds of the Chamber.
The soft soles of my shoes clicked on the tattered ground, catching the attention of the two guards in front, warning us with the raise of their long rifles. The gun wobbled in their hands, still scared quietus. "S-Stand down!" A trooper raised their voice, a slight quiver in their tone.
We kept our stride straight, and I glanced at Gemma. She nodded and stepped in front of us, making her way to the soldiers. I heard a cock of a gun, a click as they raised the barrel at Gemma. She didn't flinch, her confidence was almost concerning. Even I flinched at the cock of a gun in my face.
"I'm not looking for trouble boys." She said, the loveliness of her silky voice grasping their attention by a rope. They lowered their guns immediately.
"State your business Miss." A trooper said, titling his head to Gemma.
"Oh it's nothing..." She stumbled to the trooper, pressing her hands on his shoulders to hold her faux fall. She was quite the actress. "...I'm just feeling a bit tired, that's all."
Gemmas grasped her hand tightly to the armor of the troopers arm, and he started to slip over his feet. His head bobbed around his neck, and fell back, leading his body like an anchor to the ground. "What the-" The other trooper immediately grabbed a hold of Gemma, violently grasping her body and pulling it towards him.
"What are you?" he shook her shoulders
"I'm only a woman." She batted her eyes
"You're a witch!" He growled
Gemma lifted up her hand, pressing it to the cold plate of the guards helmet. She laughed, I could see a spark of something in her eyes. Revenge.
"Yes..."she hummed, her voice a whisper while her rosey lips lead up to the side of the troopers mask with a smirk. "A witch."
She clenched her hand, and the trooper collapsed to the ground. I thought he might of been dead until I heard the obnoxious grunt of his snore.
"See?" I said, walking up to Gemma, my gaze shifting to the troopers sound under her feet.
"That wasn't bad at all."
She laughed, "I've been waiting a long time to do that to one of those bastards."
I couldn't help but draw a smile. Getting revenge on the people who have tortured you for so long is a congenial thing. I wished it was that easy for me to feel satisfied.
We made our way through the second entrance, Gemma effortlessly worked her magic on two more guards. Kyler and I stripped the troopers of their armor, and tossed the metal quicky over our bodies. The heavy armor weighed down my muscles, and the stench of the musty helmet burned my nose. Everything around me was tinted black, my vision blurred by smudges and prints, making my head whirl. I hated those goddamn helmets. It wasn't a pleasant thing, but in a dome of death, pleasantness is as rare as an emerald flame.
Kyler clipped the helmet to his head, and brushed his hands over the black armor. He nodded, and I raised my chin in return. Gemma left us to go around back, I hoped she'd find the right spot to dig out. My focus was distraught immediately by a shilling siren that blasted inside the building. I pushed open the door, and lines of troopers came parading down the halls in frantic arrays, arms in hand, their feet synching with every march. The sirens continued, a blinking light glowing the walls bright red with every bark.
What did you do Ev?
Kyler and I glanced at each other, a surge of panic bushing under my skin at the sounds of the screeching alarm echoing through the isles of the crowded halls of the Chamber. It was like a crow was constantly cawing in my ear, I hated every second longer the siren sounded, my ears thumped with pain with every scorching screech. Kyler held onto my arm, steadying my weight. I must have looked as dizzy as I felt.
"We need to go." Kyler whispered. "Follow the line of troopers up the stairs, we need to blend in."
I blinked my eyes, and followed Kyler. My heart rose into my throat, the alarm still screaming at me. It burned through a painful memory I tried to shut away. A memory of when I tried to escape the Chamber by myself years ago. Dominic was gone for weeks, off to training camp with the troopers, and I had grown to think he wasn't coming back. Hopeless and irritated, I planned to escape. I was able to reach the gates of the Chamber by climbing into a sewage pipe that led out the back of the building. The smell itself was enough to send me into sickness, though I tried my best to keep together. I reached the ends of the gate, the land of the woods so close I could almost grasp it, the cool air brushing against my cheek, luring me in like a siren. I was so close...until the alarms sounded. With the alarms, tens of troopers surrounded me immediately, and my heart fell to my feet.
In seconds, my limbs were pinned to the ground by troopers who were half my size, holding down my helpless boney body as if I were a threat. I wasn't a threat...I was only a little girl who dreamt of freedom. Freedom that was so close, pulled away from me in moments.
Grado entered my view, his feet clicking in front of my eyes. He shook his head, and bent down to meet my size huddled on the grass. I stared into the depths of his pitch helmet, the stripe of blood red. "You shouldn't have run, little one." He picked up his hand, his leather fingers brushing against the rims of my cheek, then tangling in my hair.
Little one. He always called me that, and I loathed it with every aching bone in my body. He told me I needed to learn a lesson, that my actions would not be tolerated. So right there, as I remained pressed on the cold ground, he ripped a long villainous rope from the latch of his belt, and marked me with ten ruthless slashes, the alarms ringing in the distance as it happened. With every ache of pain, the louder the alarms screeched a wicked song in my ear. it horrified me. For days, all I could hear was the jarring cacophony replaying over and over in my head.
That's why here, when the alarm sounded through the Chamber walls years later, I could still feel the sharp edges of rope stinging across the skin of my back.
Kyler and I followed the troopers up the stairs. Kyler was a natural at keeping a sync step with the others, but I found myself tangled in my feet with every incline. It wasn't much longer until someone was bound to notice, and our cover would be blown. I felt a hand grasp onto my arm, I almost screamed but was silenced by a reassuring shhh. I was so distraught, I hadnt even noticed Kyler escape the line and pull aside. We whipped behind a corner, my breath beating under my heavy mask.
"What's the matter?" I asked troubled
"Hush." Kyler tilted his head, a silence drawing through the vacant corner,the alarms a distance away. "Do you hear that?" He whispered
"Hear what?" As if the universe sensed my ponder, a loud bang rumbled above our heads, nearly shaking me off my feet. Kyler grabbed my shoulder and held me still, but another bang sounded, then a clash. A repetition of clash, bang, clash, bang. A small rumble of voices following.
Kyler and I exchanged glances, we knew exactly what the other was thinking. The alarms stopped ringing in the halls, yet one blared in my head. What the hell is Evelyn doing?
Kyler and I pushed through the troopers, they grunted and gasped, immediately suspected our displacement, but we didn't care. Evelyn was in trouble, and we didn't have time to stand quietly in a line until we reached the sounds. We approached a white door, and the bangs and clashes grew louder, and intensified with every step nearer. A deep voice of a woman laughed, a wicked laugh. A laugh I had heard before and a laugh I had feared. The alarm in my head was now a brawl. Oh no.
Without thinking, I pushed my hand on the white door, swinging open to greet the depths of the mysterious room. I thought my heart might have stopped at the sight before my widen eyes. My jaw must have hung open and hit the floor. Was I okay? Was I hallucinating? But the longer I looked, the more it sank into reality.
What the fuck. What the actual fuck.
The room was tattered with papers and medical equipment. Shards of a glass table scattered across the floor, within the glass stained red of what I frightfully presumed was blood. The walls were dented and caved in, one spot even struck right through, blue sky peeking in. A group of people stood in an observant circle, I didn't make out who any of them were, because my focus was stuck on the two brawling in the corner of the room.
I blinked my eyes once more to make sure what I was seeing was real. This was real, very real, but god how I wished it wasn't.
Evelyn's back was pinned against the wall, her throat wrapped tightly by the grip of a large fist, lifting her high enough so her feet no longer reached the ground. I trailed my eyes up the hand, to his broad arms, to blue eyes and dark hair. I thought I had espied the worst of him...but the look he had was a foreign thing I had never seen. This wasn't him. This was cold and vacant. This was terrifying.
His hands curled tighter around her neck, Evelyn gagged, her lungs gasping for air she couldn't seem to find. She clawed her fingers into his arm trying to break free, but his grip was too strong. Her lips moved, forming quiet words that I couldn't hear. He grasped tighter, a fuming spark of wrath in the depths of his eyes. She gasped once more.
Oh my god.
He was strangling her. Dominic was killing her.