Chapter 9
Cleo POV
"So how do you feel?" Rose gently pulled the needle out of my arm, after collecting the blood samples that she needed.
"I'm okay I guess," I stared down at my green satin dress.
I didn't know why Rose was in such a hurry to deliver these blood samples to Central. I didn't see why she had to leave tonight.
"Good," she lifted the little vials into a small cooling box.
I suddenly felt like a child again, it was strange since this time I was staying and the people around me were leaving.
"Is everything okay?" Rose's voice sounded concerned.
"I just don't understand why you have to rush to Central now? Why can't you just stay for a little while?"
She smiled weakly, "Well, my job was only really to make sure that the first steps of the Mentor process went smoothly. Now that the bonding ceremony is done, I really have to prioritise other things."
Her mention of the ceremony involuntarily sent shivers down my back.
"So for how long will you be gone?"
She reached over and gave me a hug, "Hopefully not for long. But it might be for a few weeks... maybe a month."
At her last words I heard myself let out a huff of disappointment. I was really starting to act like a child. It was certainly time to pull myself together.
"Alec will be looking after you when I'm gone. He's your Mentor and you can trust him. He will be able to protect you against anything," her voice was soft and reassuring.
"What do you mean with he will be able to protect me against anything?"
"Alec is a Fighter Basati. His main job at Central has been to protect people," she looked at me softly and added, "Not everyone in the world likes us Cleo. There are always dangers out there. But you can feel safe with Alec."
She turned away from me, adjusting the small shoulder strap of the cooling box and swung it over her shoulder. She brushed her hair away from her face, composed, and turned to me.
"I'll always be just a phone call away," she reached out a silver high tech little box.
"What's that?" I looked at the little square box that she had placed in my hand.
"It's a hologram phone. Alec can show you all the details. But basically what you do it press this button," she pointed to one of the small buttons on the side of the box, "and say my name. It will call my device for you."
"But nothing like this is even available on the market?" I looked stunned at this futuristic piece of technology.
"Central has a lot of technology that is not available on the market. We like to keep that to ourselves too. So keep it hidden and don't show it to anyone."
I nodded and continued to marvel at the little silver box in my hand, its stainless steel cover was flawless.
"I have to go now. But you can call me whenever," she reached down and gave me another big hug, before promptly turning around and walking out of my front door.
I hid the little silver box in one of my nightstand drawers before letting the green dress fall off my shoulders and land in a pile around my feet. I swiftly stepped out of it and crawled underneath the covers of my bed.
Burrowed deep under my down comforter, my mind started drifting through the events of the day. I had a hard time understanding the magic that the circle had evoked. I saw the almost see-through fog whip around us like a tornado, there was no other way to explain it than ancient magic. It was strange to know that in the circle I had understood old Latin, which I have never come across before. The whole thing should really have freaked me out more, but oddly thinking about it made my heart flutter. The whole bonding ceremony had been exciting and it had felt right. I didn't know why Alec's eyes had changed colour to a dark red amber. I saw them in my mind as I pictured what had happened. His red amber eyes looking at me, for a moment I felt a small jolt run through my body. I could feel Alec, his thoughts rushed through my mind and I could tell that he was asleep. The sensation of that feeling, the soft darkness that cloaked his mind in deep sleep made me drift off as well.
~*~
The morning light pushed its way through the window, its soft golden rays were persistently pushing me further and further away from my state of blissful sleep. After a good twenty minutes I gave up and crawled out of bed. My alarm clock was telling me that it was just after seven, far too early to be awake on a Sunday. I stretched my arms above my head and grabbed my robe.
I stepped out the steaming bathroom, wrapped the robe tight around me and meandered down to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee, mentally congratulating myself for turning it on before stepping into the shower. I had no plans for the day but my feet took me back up to my bedroom to get dressed anyway. I had always been too restless to be able to lounge around in my robe all day anyway.
I had just buttoned my jeans when I received a text from Alec.
'Want to go to the library and do some research for that stupid mural?' I smiled to myself, he clearly was not excited for this.
'Sure.' I texted back and threw the phone on my bed as I pulled a black top over my head.
I was just about to search for my leather jacket when a thought struck me, I had not told Jackson what had happened yesterday. I grabbed my phone from my bed and quickly scrolled down to his number in my contacts.
"Good morning beautiful," his voice was steady and happy.
"Good morning," I smiled down the telephone at him.
"So how's things?" I asked him.
"Yeah, they are good. A group of us are going to chill at the lake today. Practice really starts to kick in serious tomorrow. So we wanted to have one last day of hanging out before then."
"Cool," I let the silence hang between us for a moment.
"So what were you up to last night?" Jackson's question brought me back to the reason why I had called him.
"You will never believe it, when I tell you," I took a deep breath ready to start telling him the story of the bonding ceremony when I felt a pair of arms grab mine and pin them behind my back.
I saw my phone, as if it was happening the slow motion, fall to the floor as I screamed. It slammed against the hard wood floor and the battery slide underneath my bed.
Author's Note: So what do you think now that the result of the bonding ceremony is starting to show? Do you think Rose was right to be so worried about it? Also - how do you think it'll impact Cleo's relationship with Alec?
I know this was a fairly short chapter - so I might post two this coming week. Maybe one on Thursday and one on Sunday? Please vote and show me some love in the comments if you would be up for two chapters next week and I will try to put some extra time into it this week.
Also do you like the songs that I have been selecting for the chapters? What did you think of this chapter's song? Personally I love it, it's got a sense of discovery and a bit of a romantic feel too it. Which goes well with all of the chapter apart from the ending which I think was a bit dramatic for this song. But I guess it can't fit to it all...
Thank you for reading, voting and commenting - you are the reason why I keep working on this story and posting it on Wattpad :)
If you've read this far (I know I rambled on a bit), please comment 'What will happen to Cleo?' :)
Song: SIAM - Loneliness