Everything freezes and I whip my head in his direction. He's flying through the air towards me with his bow and arrow pointed at something. I'm tackled to the ground moments later, with Samuel on top of me. And Sebastian lands beside us. When I look between them, I see Malachi fighting either a guy or girl with long dark hair and pale skin. But the oddest thing is, whatever it is, it doesn't seem to have a face. And it moves like a snake.
"What is that?" I ask.
"A messenger," Sebastian rolls back onto his shoulders and launches himself back to his feet.
"Is she after me?"
"Yes," Samuel helps me to my feet. Placing himself between me and the messenger. But he doesn't look very well. His complexion is suddenly pale and there are black veins forming on his face that weren't there before.
"Sam, are you okay?" I ask. Touching his face.
It's ice cold.
Sebastian pulls from under Samuel who isn't moving or responding now. And I can see why. There's an arrow sticking out of his back.
"Samuel!" I shout. Worried. Bending down, I go to pull the arrow out of his back when Sebastian stops, me.
"Score us some permission slips and we'll take her back to our place," Sebastian instructs Liz. She disappears into the school building, and Malachi come over to help. Grabbing Sam by his collar and dragging him out of the cafeteria.
"Help me get him to his car," he barks at Sebastian.
Sebastian pushes me behind him. Protecting Malachi and Sam while I run alongside them. Once Sam is strapped into the backseat of his car, I'm shoved in beside him. And I race to put my seatbelt on before Sebastian peels out of the parking lot. He's driving so fast I'm clenching both the door and my seat. Bracing myself for every turn.
I'm glad when we finally get to the boy's home and spring from the car as soon as it's in park. Rushing to get Sam inside, where Michael quickly rushes to help.
"What happened?" He asks.
"Messenger," Sebastian explains.
Judging by the lack of surprise, and the grave look on Michael's face, something tells me he's as much a part of whatever this is as Samuel and Sebastian. He springs into action, disappearing into one room, while I follow Sebastian, Malachi, an unconscious Samuel into another. Malachi places him on a table, removes his shirt, and straps him down.
"Pull it out," Michael instructs.
I watch on pins and needles as Malachi pulls the arrow out of Samuel's back.
It disintegrates as soon as it touches the ground...
I file that away that information away for later. Because Sam's life hangs in the balance and that takes precedence over everything.
Placing his hands over Sam's wounds, Michael tries to heal him, but Samuel looks like he's getting worse.
"It's not working!" Michael shouts.
Sinking deep in thought, Sebastian curses beneath his breath then grabs my hand. Forcing me to hold it over Samuel's wound. Closing his eyes, he begins to chant unintelligibly.
It feels like something is being pulled from me, and our hands start to glow. I gasp, snapping my head up to look at Sebastian. Only, nothing could prepare me for what I saw. His eyes are fixated on Sam and glowing a bright blue. Looking around the room, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and open mouth gape when I see my gray eyes illuminating a bright silver light. Instinctively, I try to pull away out of fear, but Sebastian's grip on my hand is ironclad.
Looking down at Samuel, I'm relieved to see the black veins on his face are retracting. Smiling, I suddenly feel faint, and the room starts spinning. I leaned into Sebastian for purchase, and he uses his body weight to hold me up. Refusing to stop whatever it is we're doing.
A trickle down my lip startles me and I wipe my face with the back of my hand.
It's blood.
My nose is bleeding.
I'm starting to lose consciousness, and try pulling away from Sebastian, but can't. Either he doesn't realize he's hurting me, or he doesn't care. Because he's not letting me go. Not even as a bright light lights up the room, growing in intensity and power, until everyone in the room is hit with a blast of power that throws us all into the wall behind us.
I try to stand up, only to pass out before I can plant my foot on the floor. Then everything goes dark followed by silence.
Sometime later, a spec of light forms and spreads until everything around me is white. A room forms all around me and I can see Samuel lying on a bed with no shirt on. He's calling me to his bedside but I'm playing coy with him.
Before I have a chance to explore whatever this is, everything disappears, and I'm left in darkness once more.
"Angel," Samuel calls to me.
I try opening my eyes, but they feel heavy.
Am I in heaven?
Am I dead?
Why do I have such a horrible headache?
"Her eyes are moving. Give her a minute," Malachi's gruff booms in my head.
My eyes flutter open and once my vision adjusts, I realize Samuel is holding me in his arms. Memories of him dying come flooding back to me, and I shoot up into a sitting position. Checking him for injuries.
But he's fine.
There isn't a scratch on him.
Looking up at Samuel, I'm surprised to find him undressing me with his eyes. Then it dawns on me... I just ripped his shirt open, and I've been running my hands all over his bare skin. Embarrassed, I let out a small gasp, and quickly back away.
"Not the response I was expecting," Samuel raises a brow at me.
"Sorry." I blush.
"You don't have to apologize. I'm used to girls fondling me," he teases.
"Please change the subject," Sebastian scoffs.
Following his voice, I find him staring out a window. Focusing his attention on everything but me. Confusing me more than I already am when it comes to him and Sam.
Then it dawns on me... Sebastian can't stand Samuel. So, why did he help him?
"Now-now boys," Michael chimes in as the voice of reason.
"Sebastian's a serial hater," Samuel whispers loud enough for Sebastian to hear. Not that he cares. Then he and Malachi both laughs.
"What happened to you?" I ask. "I thought you were dead."
"Close to it, but thanks to you and Sebastian I'm good as new."
"I didn't do anything. It was all Sebastian."
"Yes, and he nearly killed you. That was a very stupid thing to do," he glares over my shoulder at Sebastian.
"You're welcome," Sebastian scoffs. "You know, I could have let you die. You should be thanking me."
"He's right," I nod. "And please don't argue about me."
"You'll be staying here with us tonight," Michael tells me. "It's not safe for you or your family for you to go home."
"Here where?"
"You'll be rooming with Sebastian and Samuel."
"The two of you share a room together?" I frown.
"Unfortunately," Sebastian groans.
"Trying to understand you two becomes harder to do the more I learn. Nothing about you makes sense."
"There's nothing to understand," he shrugs.
"Sebastian and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but he's still my brother," Samuel gives Sebastian a look I can't decipher.
A look that tells me there's a history between them I've yet to scratch the surface of.
"Literal brother or figuratively speaking?" I ask.
"We have the same father you could say, but he didn't give birth to either of us," he answers.
"Yeah... thanks for clearing that up," I roll my eyes.
I mean, how do you answer a question like that?
Smiling wickedly, he tells me, "Don't you take that tone with me, young lady."
He playfully tackles me to the floor, and I allow him to get the best of me. Pinning me down by sitting on top of me and peering into my eyes.
"Can you two please control your urges?" Sebastian asks.
He looks and sounds annoyed.
"I think we're getting on Sebastian's nerves," Samuel laughs.
"I think so too."
"Seriously Sam, get off of her," Sebastian orders him.
Taking note of the seriousness of his tone and the look on his face, Samuel obeys him, and climbs off me.
Whoever they are, though Samuel is definitely an alpha male, Sebastian is definitely the one in charge.
"Since when do you take orders from Sebastian? I thought you two couldn't stand each other."
"I'm not taking orders from him. I'm heeding his warning. Once you know more this will all make sense," Samuel assures me.
"When will that be? So far, the only thing I understand is that you and I mean more to one another than anyone will tell me. I think those images I've been having are memories and one of them showed us making out in a room I believe was ours. Only we weren't us, we were as white as the snow, our eyes were gold, and our hair was gold," I study his reaction. "Oh, and you called me a different name."
Both Samuel and Sebastian whip their heads in my direction at the same time. Eyeing each other before shifting their gaze back to me.
Well, that struck a chord in them. And now they look worried.
"Interesting," Samuel examines me from head to toe.
"Indeed, it is," Sebastian adds. "Angel, have you read any of the journal lately?"
"No. What's interesting?" I ask.
"Nothing. Focus. We can only help you if you decide to help yourself," he tells me.
"Help me?" I scoff. "How can you help me if you wont even look at me anymore? Seriously... why have you been keeping your distance from me? And don't tell me it's because you had things to take care of."
Sebastian gives me his full attention. Focusing his unwavering gaze on me and causing my heart to race. He's trying to prove a point, and I hate that I buckle under the weight of his gaze and look away first.
I just proved his point.
Whatever that may be...
"You have no idea what's at stake here, and you're not taking anything seriously," Sebastian sighs. "That means I must work twice as hard to prepare you for something you are not prepared for. At all. So, forgive me for not being as present in your life because I'm trying to save your life."
"How can I take it seriously if I don't even know what it is?" I fire back.
"You trust me and follow my instructions. Lives depend on you Angel. More importantly, your family's lives. And unless you want that on your conscious, which I can guarantee you don't, then you need to gain back your memory. All of it. And stop screwing around."
"I've had memories about you too, Sebastian," I confide.
"What kind of memories?" He tilts his head. Curious.
"Memories of us kissing."
"You sure it wasn't a daydream. I know how much you girls like to daydream about guys."
"Don't flatter yourself," I glower at him.
"He doesn't need to. You're doing a pretty good job of flattering him all by yourself," Sam chimes in.
"Oh, so now you're on his side?"
"No. I'm merely pointing out the obvious."
"There is no obvious," I frown. "You know what... you're both crazy."
"He's not crazy, he's manipulative," Sebastian replies.
"Manipulative how?" Samuel balks.
"You're trying to persuade her," he tells Sam. Then he turns to me and says, "He's trying to persuade you."
"Persuade me to do what?" I ask.
"Choose him over me."
"Why would he need to do that? What is he hoping to gain?"
"Don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth," Samuel tries hard to convince me otherwise.
Which means Sebastian is probably telling the truth. Sam has a terrible poker face.
"And what... believe you?" Sebastian shakes his head. "Enjoy this while you can. I can't wait for it to blow up in your face."
"You're just mad because she chose me. Perhaps if you tried listening to her instead of being a jerk you might still have her," Samuel tells him.
"Am I missing something?" I glance between the two of them. "I don't belong to either of you. We are all just friends. Nothing more."
Quietly, they both glare at one another. Their gazes unwavering. Because whoever looks away first, loses.
I'm not used to two guys fighting over me. If you can even call this a fight. And I don't want them fighting over me.
"We need to move her," Sebastian suggests. Looking over at me.
"Hello, I'm right here," I wave to him. "I can hear you."
"Girl's home," Samuel nods.
He's ignoring me too.
"I'm not going anywhere, until the two of you start treating me like a person and talk to me. Not at me."
"We know you're a person, but we're trying to brainstorm," Samuel explains. "It's this thing we do."
"I'll make the call," Sebastian tells him. "What about her family?"
"They're safer with her gone. And we have Guardians watching over them. They'll be find."
"I'll have Elijah tie up those loose ends. She's not ready, and this is taking longer than it should be. We're running out of time. The Girl's home is the best place for her right now, but I doubt she's even attempted to convince her aunt to send her there."
"The Girl's home it is," Samuel smiles at me.
Sebastian starts making phone calls and leaves the room for some privacy. Meanwhile, Samuel notices me shivering and wraps a thick blanket around me.
I'm not sure I like the thought of being stripped away from my family against my will. But what choice do I have?
They're right. And I've been stalling because I'm not ready to give up my family yet. I feel like I just found them.
In the end, ever the impatient soul, Sebastian takes care of it for me. Somehow getting Aunt Sarah to agree to release me to the group home. And I suspect he used his powers of influence to get it done.