I have a few apologies for all my lovely readers:
- Firstly, I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN SO LONG (things have been crazy busy)
- I actually need to apologise for this chapter just because I know it will kill you all
Its my birthday tomorrow:)
Hopefully you enjoy this chapter no matter how much it is probably not what you wanted.
So here is CHAPTER 22
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT (I want to hear what you guys think)
I awaken with a jolt and a groan. The light kisses my face softly, calling to my eyes to open. Are we there? I sigh heavily, leaning my forehead against Gray's shoulder.
"Tired?" Grayson asks amusedly. I respond with another groan. Gray chuckles lowly and my lips stretch into a languid smile.
"Go back to sleep. I'll wake you when we arrive." Gray says.
The light dims and I open one eye groggily. We're still in Grayson's copter, submerged in the opaque night; far above the Exile's dwelling and any other place. The light comes from the myriad, glowing lights that the pilot fiddles with.
"We'll help them won't we?" I ask, trying to contain my yawn. Grayson leans back against the window. "Mikay and all the others. They could support us against Mangold?"
"That boy seems to have made quite the impression." He mutters under his breath. My eyes roll involuntarily at his bitter resentment.
"A life saver tends to have that effect." I smirk. Gray shakes his head with a scowl and I can't help my smile.
"Sour puss." I say, pushing up the corner of his sulking mouth with my forefinger. At first he resists, but a few seconds pass and his resolve soon fails.
"We'll talk about everything tomorrow. We both need to sleep."
"You're tired?"
"I haven't slept very much." He sighs.
"How much exactly?" My eyes flutter to a close as I settle back against Grayson's side. He moves his body and pulls me back against his chest.
"Insomnia was the only company I managed to keep in your absence." He answers. I feel his chest vibrate as he speaks.
"Your brothers?"
"They knew what I needed."
"Which was?"
"Solitude." Gray replies. "Lets not get into a heavy conversation tonight though. We'll talk in the morning."
"You'll answer all my questions then?"
"I promise."
I relax contentedly against Grayson's chest, feeling at peace for the first times. However I also feel completely at a loss. I have no grasp on anything.
All I know is we have to get Mangold and quickly. My sister is in jeopardy. I feel myself begin to slip into the oblivion sleep brings, with the firm resolution that I shall not let either myself or Grayson rest until she is safe. The day Mangold's filthy hands are bound behind his back, unable to harm anyone else with the streaks of blood red poison that surge through his veins will be the day I am fully able to give myself to my life in the 5th dwelling. Until then, I feel half full; stuck in the middle between love and hate.
Blinded by my irrevocable love for Grayson and the searing animosity for the man who dared to lay a hand on my sister. It seems I am back to square 1 again.
"Don't dream of any other crazy plans Elle." Grayson murmurs.
"Too bad - I was just planning my escape route." I say wickedly. Immediately I feel Grayson stiffen. Paranoid but with sound reason to be. In the darkness, my fingers find his and interlock them. I bring his hand to my lips and place a gentle kiss on his knuckles.
"It was a joke."
"Good." Gray says gruffly. "I was trying to figure out how I would execute my earlier threat."
I smile against his knuckle. "You wouldn't really handcuff me to the bed."
"Sweetheart, your naivety is facetious and I assure you that I always follow through."
"So domineering." I sigh to myself.
"Please do not forget narcissistic. I like my personality to be thoroughly illustrated." Grayson answers, but the light tone he uses portrays his amusement.
"Go to sleep." I mumble, stretching my legs across the seat.
"Promise me something first."
"What is it?"
"Promise me that no matter what happens, you won't give up on me."
"That is only too easy to promise."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I awake to the sound of the slurred whirring of the copter blades. I open my eyes groggily, lifting my head from my firm pillow to see a sloped roof, fashioned out of twigs. The aroma of an earthy musk chokes me and I cover my nose with my hand to try and mask the smell. Where am I? Is this the fifth dwelling? Gray said he would wake me.
"Gray are we here?" I murmur. However I receive no answer. Immediately, I feel my skin begin to prickle.
I sit up slowly, trying to remember. But the memories don't collect themselves in my mind. As I rise, a woven blanket slips from my waist but remains tucked around my legs. It looks so familiar...where have I seen this before?
"Hello?" A voice says, my eyes snap up immediately.
"Mikay?" I ask in astonishment. "What are you doing here?"
Mikay's eyebrows furrow in confusion. He stares me down as though I am an alien, as if he has never laid eyes on me before.
"Mikay?" I ask again, a little more uncertainly.
"How you know my name?" He asks slowly. What the hell? What is going on here?
"Mikay we've met - you saved me from the woods and brought me here."
"I do not know you." Mikay says. "All I know is you are Knight's."
"What are you talking about? We met yesterday but Grayson came and took me back to the fifth dwelling."
"You were asleep. I find you two days ago." He says.
I begin to have an inkling. Surely not? Surely my subconcious would not be so cruel. I quickly drag down the shoulder of my dress. I feel like bursting into tears as the desolate sight of my bare shoulder confirms my theory. My face falls to my hands, cradling my heavy thoughts.
"So Grayson isn't here?"
Mikay's head nods towards the door of the hut and the quietening whir of the copter blades.
"He come to get you."
Instantly, I'm filled with the same dread I was earlier...or in my dream. I feel almost numb from feelings of loss of a reality I wanted so badly. My mind tricked me into thinking everything could be okay again.
But perhaps it could? Maybe Gray will react in the same way he did in my subconcious? My spirits lift a little at the thought. I could convince him again. I hope I can convince him again.
"Will you take me to him?"
"He said you don't want him but you want to go to him?" He seems baffled again, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Of course - he is my match." I answer. I'll always want him.
"We wait here." Mikay says after some deliberation on his part.
I bring my knees to my chest, trying hard to avoid the aching lump in my throat. That dream tempted me with everything I desired. I want so badly it begins to eat away at me. My body feels as though it is being squeezed, so tight that my lungs are in danger of collapsing.
I hold on for a few more minutes before I feel as though I can wait no longer. I need to see him.
"How did you know I am Grayson's match?"
Mikay lifts his head so that it is no longer resting on the wall.
"He visit days ago. He tell us to tell him if you came. My friend also inform me that you would come."
"Who is your friend?"
"Maybe not a friend, maybe an ally. We protect each other."
"You won't tell me who he is?"
The boy shakes his head.
I hesistate to ask my next question but decide it is necessary. I need to hear about him, what is doing, what he looks like, how he is feeling. Everything in my mind revolves around him.
"Was Grayson angry?"
"No - sad." Mikay responds. "Triste. Muy triste"
"Oh."
I am about settle back down against the walls of the hut when the door is thrown open and 3 men charge in. Their arrival is so swift and alarming that a muffled shriek leaves my lips. I cannot see their faces as they are clothed with black balaclavas. 2 of them grab either arm and hold me down firmly. I struggle against their grip but my attempts do not prevail. My panic is alluded as the third man advances with a small needle in his hand. Before I scream for Mikay to help, my skin is pricked and the immediate fatigue besets me.
My body seems alien to me as all I can focus on is trying to keep my eyes open, despite their lead weight. My vision begins to blur. The last thing I see before my eyes betray me is a fourth figure striding into the room.
"Got her." His words slur and merge into each other.
Somewhere in my mind, 5 words are plucked out of a foreign memory.
Promise me that no matter what happens, you won't give up on me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wake up." A harsh voice snarls through the semi permeable barrier that seems to separate me from everything else. I can feel something jabbing into the side of my stomach but not enough so that it hurts. I try to stretch out my limbs but they don't respond to my brain's commands.
"The doctor said she should have woken up by now."
"Her finger twitched."
"Knight will be furious if anything happens to her. She better wake up soon or I'm calling the doctor."
"Relax - she'll be fine."
I push away the rigid mental barrier in my mind. My thoughts suddenly begin to become more coherent and everything seems less oppressive. My arms remain unyielding; I find myself unable to move. What has happened to me? The only suitable explanation seems to be sedation.
Nausea overwhelms me as I wonder where I am. What if the men who took me were not in fact Grayson's but Mangold's. If he has found me, cowering away in the Exiles dwelling. The nausea soons converts to terror as I sucuumb to the thought of returning to Mangold.
Feeling the ground beneath me, it feels cold and solid. Nothing like the comfort of the 5th dwelling that I am used to. I curse internally.
"Dan look. Her eyes are fluttering."
"Bring Carson in - he needs to explain everything."
The mention of Carson triggers the few memories I have of him and calms me slightly. If Carson is here, maybe I am home. But in every memory is the omnipresent figure in my mind. And once again I'm left with the question of how I can possibly fix this. I'm almost frightened to face Gray.
After the brutal attack, I have a feeling that he will be anything but accepting.
Slowly, I open my eyes grimacing as my head pleads with me to shut out the light. Resisting the urge, I glance around trying to make some connection with where I am. But nothing springs to my mind.
The light is fairly dim but from what I can see, I'm in a cell. There is no other way to describe it. The prodigious door outsizes half of the room, the slitted bars in the door provide the only source of light. I'm stymied from moving from the lumpy cot by my sedated limbs.
The footsteps have barely echoed into the room before the light from the door is blocked by a silhouetted head. The lock clicks open and the glow from outside of the room streams into my cell. The figure walks into the door and settles down on the end of my cot with an exhausted sigh.
"Oh Ellie - you've really done it now." Carson says.
"I'm in trouble aren't I?" My words grate against my parched throat and my body is soon shaken by a volatile coughing fit.
"Sweetheart, I cannot even express the amount of trouble you're in."
"Where is he?"
"He's currently in a meeting."
"Is he coming?"
Carson sighs again and I can see the despondency in his eyes. "Ellie he's not coming. At the moment, you're considered a prisoner in this dwelling."