Twenty
"Time to get up, sleepy head," someone giggled, and something soft and fluffy collided with my face. I sleepily opened my eyes and gazed up at Lillie, who had thrown a pillow, trying to get me to wake up.
"A pillow?" I muttered drowsily, picking it up. "Really?"
"Well, it got you up, didn't it?" Lillie responded.
I laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I sat up, stretching and yawning. My stomach grumbled.
"Let's go get some food," Lillie offered, pulling me up.
"You know I could just do this"-I snapped my fingers and a piece of toast appeared in my hand- "right?"
Lillie stuck her tongue out at me. "Well, if you want to do it the easy way." I laughed and handed her the toast, more appearing in my hand instantly. We munched on it as we made our way to the breakfast tent-thing, still in our pajamas.
"Is everyone who's going on the mission here?" Ashton asked as the two of us entered. He looked around at everyone, nodding before going on. "We'll leave a ten o'clock this morning, and I expect everyone to be ready." He looked at me, still standing in my pajamas. "And I mean everyone."
"Okay," I murmured, turning and leaving the tent. "I'm working on it."
I got ready and was standing outside of Ashton's office tent when the watch on my wrist showed that it was ten. I willed it away, not really liking watches much. I waited for Ashton to emerge.
"Are you ready for today?" I asked him. We started walking to the breakfast tent.
"Yeah," he said confidently. "I have a feeling it'll go well."
I nodded. "That's good. We need it to go well."
"Yep," Ashton agreed.
We reached the group of other people going on the mission.
"Okay, find your groups," Ashton called.
I made my way to Nash, and reluctantly found Valerie as well. We stood together, waiting for further instructions from Ashton.
"You're all very brave people," he said. "Thank you for volunteering. Now, let's go!"
People started walking towards the entrance/exit, and Nash gripped my hand, also taking a hold of Valerie's as well. He teleported us, and then we were near the town square.
"You guys ready?" Nash asked, letting go of our hands.
"Definitely," Valerie replied, tossing her hair.
"Of course," I answered.
The three of us headed to the town square along with everyone else. I lost sight of Nash and Valerie in the crowd, but didn't bother looking for them. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack; there were too many people here, and I didn't want to make a scene.
I stood in the crowd, standing on my tiptoes, trying to locate Nash, or Valerie, or someone else I knew. Nope. I saw no one I recognized. Sighing, I turned around and faced the front, where Phoenix would be appearing soon.
Sure enough, there he was. He walked up to the podium, a cruel smile upon his face. He looked around at everyone in the crowd and nodded to himself. He turned to two guards behind him, whispered something, and then they disappeared. I had a sinking feeling that someone hadn't shown up, and Phoenix was sending his guards for them.
"Good afternoon," he said into a microphone. "Glad you could make it."
"You threatened us," someone near me mumbled very, very quietly.
Phoenix didn't hear them, thankfully, because he continued. If he had heard... well, I know Phoenix, and what he would've done wouldn't have been pretty.
"As you all know, I am now in charge of the entire world." He smiled at everyone. "I'd suggest you not disobey me, because I will hurt you and your family. Understand?" Everyone nodded. "I said, understand?" Phoenix repeated.
"We understand," everyone chorused.
I glanced around at everyone. They all looked so miserable. Why couldn't Phoenix just back off?
He talked some more. I kind of zoned out, because, to be honest, it was boring. And that's coming from the girl who would listen intently to the teacher's lectures.
During his speech, though, I kept an eye on him. I wanted to be sure that he didn't try anything; if he did, I was ready.
"Now, before we go, I am going to request something of you," Phoenix said. That intrigued me. He never asked people, especially regular people, for favours. What could he possibly want from a crowd of normal citizens?
"You must all bow down to me, since I am your king."
Oh, no. He just crossed the line. First, he took over the world, and now, he's forcing them to bow to him? That's just sick, and twisted. Who does he think he is?
All around me, people slowly start kneeling on either one knee or both knees. Of course they are; they know that if they don't, Phoenix won't just kill them, but their families. They're only doing this for survival.
I looked around, and soon enough, everyone was bowing before Phoenix.
Everyone but me.
Phoenix automatically spots me, and I can tell from the look on his face that he thinks I'm just a regular human. He whispered angrily to another one of his bodyguards, but once I made eye contact with him, he froze. He recognized me now.
"Callie," he said slowly. "Callie Prespa."
How'd he know my last name? Focus, Callie. There are more important things at hand.
"Phoenix," I said, just as slowly, mocking him. I tried to remember if I know his last name. A memory from when I first met him and Ashton rose up in my mind.
"We meet again, Holland," a cool voice said. I turned to see another teenage boy, this time with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Ashton's eyes narrowed. "Phoenix Holton," he snarled.
The other guy, Phoenix, turned his gaze to me. "Is this the one I've been looking for?"
Holton. Phoenix's last name is Holton.
"Phoenix Holton."
Phoenix raised his eyebrow, obviously not expecting me to know his last name, but he didn't question it.
"What brings you here, Callie?" he asked coolly, not bothering to hide his distaste for me.
I gestured around at the people. "Should we really discuss this here, with all these humans around?"
I noticed people looking at each other, obviously confused, but I ignored them, keeping eye contact with Phoenix.
"I suppose you're right," he mused. "Everyone; leave. Now!"
The citizens quickly scrambled to their feet and all hurried to leave. I continued to stare at Phoenix, my eyes not leaving his.
During everyone's rush to leave, someone stopped and stood next to me. From my peripheral vision, I could see that they were an elderly woman.
"Thank you for standing up to him," she said in a feeble voice. "You are a very brave young woman."
"Thank you," I murmured. "Now, you need to leave. You don't understand exactly how dangerous this boy is."
The old woman nodded and hurried off.
I felt happy that someone would actually take time out of their panic moment to thank me. It was my duty to stop Phoenix after all, and it just felt nice for someone to thank me for doing this.
When everyone had left, Phoenix started to descend from his platform and advanced towards me. He stopped, though, when Nash and Ashton appeared at my side.
"What are you doing, Calypso?" Nash muttered, pulling a knife from his belt, getting ready to fight.
"I'm going to finish Phoenix, no matter what it takes," I answered quietly. "He's hurt too many people."
Ashton shook his head, also pulling a knife from his belt. "You're crazy," he murmured, "but you have the right idea."
"Well." Phoenix smiled, but it was obviously forced. "They come to the Chosen One's rescue. How romantic."
I ignored his comment. "Why are you doing this, Phoenix?" I demanded. "Why'd you take over the world?"
"Because I like commanding people," he replied simply. Honestly, that was such a stupid reason. A person shouldn't cause this much fear and pain just because they like commanding people. How ridiculous.
I narrowed my eyes, summoning a dagger. "This ends here and now." I started advancing towards him, but he just smiled, like he knew something that I didn't.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Callie," he said, and I hesitated.
"Why not?" I inquired.
"You wouldn't want to hurt your dear brother, would you?" he asked, and I froze.
"What do you know about Dorian?!" I nearly screamed, trying to keep my anger under control. The last thing I needed was to lose my temper when Phoenix possibly had Dorian.
"The boy? Oh, don't worry, he's safe." Phoenix smirked. "But I meant your other brother."
I frowned. "What do you mean, other brother? I only have one brother."
Phoenix cocked his head to the side. "Your mother never told you?" he questioned innocently.
"Told me what?" I pushed cautiously.
"You've got another brother, Callie," Phoenix said. "Even though you might not like it... You and me? We're related."
No. No, no, no. I could not be related to that sick minded, twisted, sadistic creep. I refused. It was impossible, absolutely out of the question.
"No," I said quietly. "No, you're wrong."
"Am I, though?" Phoenix smiled evilly. "Look at me. We look alike."
I scrutinized him. Yeah, he had blonde hair, just like I did. Yeah, he had a tiny bit of freckles on his face, just like I did. But he had blue eyes, I had gray eyes. Difference right there.
I sighed. Although I hated to admit it, Phoenix and I were related. I hadn't realized it before (or maybe I had, I had just deemed it coincidence) but Phoenix was a splitting image of my mother. They both had blonde hair, blue eyes, dimple in the right cheek; you could definitely tell that they were related. Which meant that he and I? We're related.
"See?" Phoenix raised an eyebrow at me, exactly like how Mom would when she knew she was right and I was wrong. "Just admit it. We're related."
"How?" I whispered. "How can you be so evil, and then I'm total opposite?"
Phoenix shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe you got more of Mom's personality and I got more of Dad's personality."
"Dad wasn't evil!" I protested, grip tightening around my dagger.
Phoenix laughed. "You didn't even know Dad, Callie dear. I was actually old enough the comprehend what he was like, and let me tell you, he was anything but nice, unlike Mom used to tell you. You were only one when he died, whereas I was three. Still young, yes, but old enough to understand that Dad was evil."
"Why didn't Mom tell me?" I asked desperately. I had no idea why my own mother would lie to me about so many things, but it hurt.
Phoenix shrugged. "Maybe she didn't want you to hate her and leave. Like I did."
I guess it made a little bit more sense now: why Mom was so protective, why she was always asking how I was, why I remembered next to nothing about my childhood, why Mom told me great things about Dad, why she hid the world of the Powers and the Goldbloods from me. But I would rather she had told me. If anything, her hiding everything from me would make me want to leave anymore.
"So, now the question remains," Phoenix said, leaning against a pole. "Are you going to try and kill me, now that you know I'm your brother?"
My hand tightened even more around my dagger, and my knuckles were white. A whole bunch of pictures flashed through my mind; Aunt May, dead; Lilac, dead; the school burning; Phoenix putting a bullet through my leg; Carter, dead; Valerie crying over Carter's lifeless body. Phoenix had caused too much pain.
"I don't care who you are, whether you be my brother or a complete stranger," I hissed venomously. "You've caused too much pain for everyone. And you need to be eliminated."