CHAPTER FORTY- FOUR
AYA
As soon as we exited the hotel, I could feel something sinister lurking all around us. I turned around and no one was there, yet the feeling didn't cease. I started to think it was my imagination running rampant – it tended to do that from time to time. Of course there wasn't actually anyone following me. Though, I tried to ignore it as we started to wander away from the hotel.
We approached the end of the downtown area and that's when a heard a sharp snap. Like a twig had broken in two.
"Did you hear that?" I asked both Brennan and Trevor. "I think someone's following us."
After I said that, both of them turned around. Again, no one was there.
"I think everything had made you paranoid," Trevor said. "I mean I kind of feel that way too."
"Don't look, Aya's right," Brennan said. "I noticed someone back there. I think he's following us."
We took a left on the wrong street just to see if the person would stop following us. Brennan had told us not to turn around, but I couldn't help myself. Two men in trench coats were now following us.
"Now, there's two," I pointed out.
"I told you not to look," Brennan said. "Okay, when I say go, run. Got it?"
"Got it," Trevor and I said simultaneously.
"One, two, three..." Brennan whispered. "Go!'
I started sprinting. Well at least I tried. I wasn't in the best of shape. Never really had to be. I looked forward as my tired legs trudged along. The boys were way ahead of me and there I was out of breath.
"Hey stop!" One of the men yelled out as they were gaining on us.
"I think I know a place we can go that's not too far from here," I yelled to them. "We can go to the soda fountain."
"I thought that's where we're going," Trevor stated.
I was still mad at Trevor for that little incident back in the Hinterlands. I couldn't get the image of him and Wren out of my brain. It's like it was seared on with a hot iron. I wasn't trying to be rude to him, I was just acting aloof. I felt bad about being mean to Brennan, even though a few days had passed since we made up, it was still wrong of me. He wasn't like Trevor. He seemed to genuinely like me.
They slowed down letting me catch up. "Shh. We're going to throw them off..." I paused trying to catch my breath. I turned around I noticed the men were no longer following us. We had succeeded in throwing them off. "My mentor, Emmy. She told me about this safe place."
We continued running down the rest of the alley until we reached the cove. There was a small lighthouse structure sitting at the edge of the cove. We made it there in no time.
"What is this place?" Brennan asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," I replied coming upon the entrance.
Trevor tried the door, but it was locked. Then I spotted the keypad. A voice rang out, "Please provide a blood sample. Only those of Sciusian descent are allowed in".
The needle pricked the tiny surface of his fingertip, spilling a minimal amount of blood which drizzled down the length of his finger as he moved it over to the sensor. Several miniscule drops of blood dripped onto the surface. The door should have opened within one or two drops. Now, I realized something was off.
He turned to me. Panicked. "I think it's broken."
"Try it again." I nodded.
"There's no time—" Brennan commented.
"Just try it again," I repeated.
Trevor pressed the red button, and the injector hand popped open, moving toward Trevor's hand. This time he rested the palm of his hand against a row of the needles. I looked away as the streams of blood escaped down his wrist. He hovered his arm back over the sensor allowing more blood to be read. We waited in silence hoping the door would open, but instead an alarm went off.
"Human detected. Access denied. Human's are not allowed beyond this point."
"Human?" I looked at Trevor. Was there something he wasn't telling me?
His usually electric blue eyes had faded with disappointment. He hadn't been lying like I first thought. He really didn't know.
"How is that even possible?" Brennan threw his hands up in the air.
"His father isn't his father," I suggested. "Either that or the machine is broken."
"Aya, you're onto something. When I was little, my mom had this boyfriend and they used to joke about how much I looked like him. At least I thought they were joking, but maybe they weren't." Trevor admitted. "But Brennan's right. We don't have much time."
I stuck my hand out this time. Something I should have done from the beginning. As the needle pierced my index finger, I turned my head. They were catching up to us. I could see them in the distance. They were maybe less than a couple of minutes away, so we needed to hurry. Quickly, I wavered my hand over the sensor, letting blood seap onto it. Closing my eyes, I waited in fear, thinking that the door wouldn't open.
"Access granted," the voice spoke, surprising me.
We hurried through it, watching it close before they could get to us.
"Okay, now what?" Trevor asked.
That's the last thing I remembered before everything went black.
I was lying in the grass. My leg was not able to move as I tried to sit myself up. I scanned my surroundings. Fifty feet in front of me was the edge of a cliff, and underneath sharp rocks flowing light pink water. I was at Westercliff. Just like my dream in the very first test Emmy had given me.
A boom clapped in the distance and I watched as blue laser shot through the sky, like a lightning bolt. I tried crawling further inland. My fingernails dug into the moist soil. After, what seemed like ten minutes, I was only inches from where I had woken up. The feeling in my legs had finally come back. I clamped onto a pole, trying to get myself up without falling over back into the grass.
"I wouldn't if I were you." I recognized Rayne's voice in the distance. "There's no point." I turned my neck and noticed her smirking as she crossed her arms.
"Rayne, please. You're not a villain. You can still go back," I tried to persuade her to fall back.
She took a few steps closer, her eyes were like darkened windows. A dark hoodie covered her hair. She was almost unrecognizable. It was like she was possessed.
"You're being brainwashed," I said stumbling back a few steps. "They're just using you. You have to understand that."
She shook her head. "I don't have to understand anything." She rolled her eyes. "You know what, I'm really tired of people telling me what to do," she said. "You're just as bad as those ignorant humans." She laughed. "Some phony prodigy you are."
Maybe there was some truth to what she was accusing me of. Perhaps I was a phony prodigy. I couldn't let that get to me. Even if she was being somewhat candid, she was still playing mental games with me, trying to get inside me head. It was as clear as day. It was a good strategy. Perhaps I could give her a taste of her own medicine.
I stared straight at her, trying to stare into her eyes. Her evil eyes looked back into mine. Bingo. I had the key. Well, at least I thought I did. That was until she flung me five feet back toward the edge of the cliff. There had to be another way into get into her mind.
"What would Nova say about this?" I called out getting back up. "You think she'd be proud of this? Proud of what you've become?" I asked her loudly.
She started walking in my direction. It was exactly what I wanted from her. The darkened window in her eyes had grown colder and filled with flames of rage. Yes, drawing her in like this was risky, but I had no other choice. She needed to be stopped.
"Don't you dare bring Nova into this," she screamed at me and gripped onto my thought squeezing so tightly, I could hardly breathe.
Realizing I had very little time, before I would stop breathing, I tried to stare in her eyes again, while gasping and trying to loosen her grasp on my neck. She did look back again, falling right into the trap. The longer I stared, the easier it was to get inside.
Her mind was filled with fire and rage. I had never seen someone harvest so much anger before. It was almost like I was in Hell. There she was. Her subconscious staring into a mirror. As I looked into the same mirror, I realized I looked exactly like Rayne. I was probably part of her subconscious now.
Noticing me in the mirror, she turned around, angier than ever. The stare ended and I was back outside her mind. Her hand was no longer around my neck and she was thrown, flying backwards, like she had done to me only a minute earlier.
"Aya!" Brennan ran toward us. "How did you do that?"
I shook my head. "I don't know," I said. "It's not safe for you here, run."
"No, let me help. I'm not leaving you here," he insisted.
I looked back toward Rayne, she was already getting up from the grass. She seemed stunned that I had used her own power against her, but she wasn't ready to back down just yet. I needed to brace myself to continue this battle.
This time Rayne didn't go for me, she turned her focus to Brennan. Her endgame was probably to hurt me through hurting him. I wished he had just stayed away. He was no match for her.
"Come and get it." Brennan smiled egging her on.
Rayne tried to use her powers to destroy him, but he was too quick with his reflexes. I was shocked. With every beam of electricity she sent his way, he was able to avoid it by being one step ahead of her at all times.
"How do you like me now?" He said after he had avoided her fifth beam.
A second later he stopped. His feet planted in the grass. He wasn't moving, just standing still. I knew it she had gotten into his head, making him stop fighting her, so she could defeat him.
"Rayne! Stop!" I saw Lake yelling in the distance. "Don't do this Rayne."
Rayne turned her neck and glanced at Lake. Brennan was able to move now.
"Lake?" She said softly. Her whole demeanor changed.
"Whatever they're making you do, this isn't you," Lake said kindly. "These are your friends. They don't want to hurt you."
Rayne seemed confused and saddened. "What am I doing?"
"It's okay, it's not you're fault. You didn't know what you were doing," Lake said. "They put you up to it. They made you think Aya was the bad guy, but in reality they are the bad men." Lake explained.
"What's going to happen to me know?" Rayne asked. "I'm not going back to prison." She said raising her voice.
Lake shook her head. "Nothing, if you drop it and come with us, nothing will happen." Lake said sincerely. "I promise, I won't let you go back to prison okay?" She said. "You trust me right?"
Rayne nodded and I started to make my way toward them.
"Then let's go. Let's pretend this never happened," Lake said. "What do you say Aya?"
I was mad. I didn't care that Lake was trying to make peace, trying to deescalate the situation. Rayne had choked me. I could still feel the feeling of her hand closing around my throat, taking my breath away. Truth was, I didn't want to make piece. I wanted revenge.
"Right, Aya?" Lake repeated once more.
I shook my head slightly, forcing myself to come to peace with Rayne, as much as the thought of it, killed me inside. "Yeah, fine. Whatever." I replied rudely.
He nodded. "If Aya is okay with it, so am I," he said
"Let's all go inside, before we get soaked." Lake pointed up at the sky.
I trudged along following closely behind them. How could Lake just forget this ever happened?