They had taken him. They had taken one of the people I loved most and they shipped him off to some facility in Egypt.
Rage now coursed through me as well and I couldn't contain any part of it. It was hot and it was heavy and I needed a release. So I threw my dining table through the floor to ceiling windows without thinking about the consequences once. It came to a halt just in front of my rose bushes and I could hear a gardener gasping.
Shaé came running down the steps, her curls dripping water, her towel barely clinging to her. "I heard a crash! What's wrong?!" she yelled and ran towards me. I didn't face her for a long moment. She took in the carnage before her and sighed. "What's wrong now?" she sounded irritated beyond belief, for the first time it was directed at me. "They have Xavier." I bit out harshly. Shaé looked baffled for a moment before I shoved Abney's letter into her hands. She read only the part about Xavier.
Another sigh.
"We don't know that what she heard was true. Have you tried calling him?" she asked, her voice smooth now. Smooth and patronising. I shook my head and she grumbled. "I'll do it." she leaped to the phone beside the painting of our family on the wall and dialed.
For a full minute, the phone kept on dialing, but no one answered. She put the phone down and looked awkwardly at the contraption. "Try it again." I encouraged her and stepped closer. My black board shorts swished against each other as I walked, my tank top stuck to the contours of my back. She dialed his number again.
Nothing.
We kept calling until finally, someone clicked the green button on his phone, but it wasn't his voice. The man spoke with a harsh tone, quick stride and the pronunciation of a two year old. His Indian accent was thick as well. "Hello?!... Hello?!..." the man kept repeating the word, as if he expected us to talk back. I wanted to. But before I could Shaé slammed the phone onto the receiver.
"This is bad. This is really fucking bad!" she hollered, pacing up and down the length of the room. Her fingers tangled into her hair, tugging at the roots now and again. She had a wild look in her eye and I knew she couldn't handle this any longer. "Shaé. My love. Come here." I cooed and opened my arms for her to run into at any moment. She kept staring at me.
Finally she walked straight into my arms and I closed them firmly around her. "We'll get him back. We'll end all of this. Don't you worry yourself. Everything will turn out fine." I kept cooing into her ear, stroking her still very wet hair. "I took this world by a storm eight years ago. I overpowered all my opponents, I can end this little rebellion with just a swipe of my hand. Don't worry. Everything will be fine."
Not long after her little break down, Shaè retreated up to her room once more and I was left to call maintenance to fix my windows. They weren't very pleased with me.
For the rest of the day, I sat in my study, working out every possible way for us to win this civil war of sorts. And every way I had to go at it, needed Abney and all the Intel she could get.
Soon, my head hit the papers in front of me as the moon climbed high into the sky. Fatigue subdued me and that night I dreamt of a dark skinned girl in a plane, watching a dragon sore beside her.
And I didn't scream...