AMANI: Reveal (6 page)

Amya Priam

“What are you doing here?” I asked the silhouette in the darkness with a shaky voice. I would have recognized the sound of knuckles cracking everywhere.
              Jeffrey Archer stepped out of the shadows and smiled with his bright, shiny teeth. “I see your opinion of me hasn’t changed.” He made a step forward and I instantly got up, ready to flee at any moment. Why was he holding a knife? “We got off on the wrong foot. But don’t worry, you will learn to trust me before you know it.”
              I snorted, more out of nervousness than confrontation. “You could start by letting go of your weapon.”
             
Don’t let him feel your fear
, I told myself.
              “Oh, but I can’t.” He moved a little closer and I, much further away. “Amya, you will have to trust me on this.” Jeff smiled, his eyes remaining firm. “Michelle’s order.”
              “Do you believe me so stupid as to think Mrs. Cohen would want to hurt me?”
              His sudden laugh echoed all around and made its way up my neck in a raw shiver. “You silly, silly girl. If I wanted you hurt, you’d already
be
hurt. And don’t you remember you still own me a favor? You see, you are much more valuable alive and well.”
              “Then how do you plan on using this?” I asked, dreading his answer.
              I’d never really trusted him. From the first time we’d met, he’d appeared to me like a spoilt teenager who thought he controlled the entire world. Of course, he didn’t have parents and, according to Samera’s boyfriend, Joshua, he actually did control most of the Red Dimension, but that did not excuse his nonchalant, disturbing way of interacting with others. Like he knew everyone’s deepest secrets.
              Jeffrey positioned his hands behind his back, cracked his knuckles, and started pacing left and right on the stair. “You see, Michelle called me earlier in a panic, saying that you, Samera, a boy named Xander, and Mr. Karl Jensen would meet me here. She also mentioned that I needed to remove your tracking device as soon as possible, in case the Protectors would come looking for you.” He stopped walking and displayed his knife proudly. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to buy effective painkillers.” He grabbed something from the inside pocket of his silver suit and threw it at me.
              “Acetaminophen. You’re kidding, right? And if you think I’ll allow you to use that thing”—I pointed to his blade—“on me, you’re crazier than I thought.”
              Now that I knew he wasn’t here to kill me, I felt more at ease to speak my mind. Still, I regretted calling him crazy as soon as the word was out and I stepped back to keep a good distance between us.
              Jeff shrugged. “You may keep the tracker, but you won’t be allowed to leave with us. And that is not part of the plan.” He paused. “Speaking of the others, where are they?”
              “Xander’s on his way. And there will be no others. Where are you supposed to take us?”
              I was curious. Why did Michelle trust this man so much? He was creepy, scary, and his detached attitude just proved he only really cared about one person: himself.
              Reluctant, Jeffrey shook his head. “I made a promise to Mrs. Cohen and I intend to keep it. I came here to take four people away from this city, and that is exactly what I’m going to do.”
              Determined to see this through, he started up the stairs and, after much consideration, I decided to follow behind. After all, Xander still hadn’t shown up and I was starting to fear that something had happened to him. But before I even made one step, I Sojourned into Jeff’s head to validate his true intentions.
              The purple spot quickly transformed into the shadow of a curvy woman wearing a skirt and high heels. The silhouette slowly cleared…
              “Amya, are you—what are you doing?” Jeffrey asked, sending me right back into my own body.
              Unable to explain myself, I babbled a few words. But I could see from the frown forming on his forehead that he knew what I had just done. I wasn’t used to invading other people’s private thoughts. I’d first hated my ability because of that, but my personal fear had clouded my judgment. Seeing Jeffrey’s insulted and almost hurt expression, I regretted Sojourning without his permission.
              “Michelle told me about your special ability,” he said, trying to hide how upset he was. “She promised you had it under control.” He paused, closed his eyes, and seemed to gather his feelings together. When his eyelids raised again, he bore his usual cold, unconcerned attitude. “Tell me what you saw.”
              “I—it was a woman. I’m so sorry,” I burst. “I didn’t want to. I normally don’t do this, but I wanted to make sure you were—well—that you weren’t—”
              “The bad guy?” he replied, a half-smile lifting the corner of his mouth. “Oh, Amya. Let me tell you something about myself before we continue. I am a very honest man. I am upfront with everything I say and do. And mostly, I expect people around me to grant me the same respect.” He looked intently at me. “If you don’t meet this criteria, I’m afraid we won’t get along very well.”
              Ashamed, I answered, “I am very sorry. It won’t happen again. I didn’t even see the woman, just her shadow.”
              He tried to hide it, but I discerned the shadow of relief in his eyes. I wondered who this woman was. Without another word, Jeff turned around quickly and resumed his ascent toward the street, followed closely by me.
              Regretting my impulsion, I realized how disrespectful I had been, after all he’d done for us since I’d gotten out of the hospital. He’d taken Samera, Gareth, and me to England in his convy and had waited for us when Michelle had told him we were in danger.
              On the other hand, I was glad to have witnessed a new side of this cold-hearted man—teenager. I was used to his poker face or even his arrogant smirk, but those façades had completely disappeared for half a second as soon as he’d realized what I was doing. They’d been replaced by softer and more human emotions: hurt and fear.
              This proved to me that Jeffrey’s heart wasn’t entirely made of ice. And because of that, I gave him a fair shot at being trusted.
              We hadn’t climbed two staircases when we heard Xander’s voice. And then Samera’s.
              “Wonderful. There they are,” Jeffrey proclaimed.
              I ran to join my friends and was surprised to see Mr. Jensen asleep in Xander’s arms.
              “Amya!” Sam blurted the second she saw me. “I’m so sorry for my father! Something isn’t right.” She came to a halt in front of me, panting. “As soon as he started running after you guys, I knew he wasn’t himself. I tried to follow him, but my ankle hurts so much!” She sat down. “I didn’t know what else to do. Thank goodness I was able to remember where the map led. I’ve been waiting at the top of the stairs for you two for, like, ten minutes. Then I saw Xander coming toward me with my father completely knocked out and he explained what happened. My dad is under some sort of influence. He caught up with Xander and—and I really don’t know why he’s acting this way.”
              Xander cut in. “He was calling too much attention to us. He just kept fighting me. I had to do something and that was the only way I could stop him.” He shrugged, setting Mr. Jensen on the stairs, his back leaning against the wall.
              “Well,” Samera responded. “You could have reflected on the subject a little longer. I mean, there must have been a solution other than inflicting him with a concussion—”
              “No, there wasn’t,” Xander affirmed sharply. “Besides, he might not have a concussion. We should be thinking of a way to keep him steady for when he wakes up.” He glanced at me, and then at Jeffrey, as if just realizing we were not alone. “What’s
he
doing here?”
              Before I could answer, Jeffrey stepped in. “We don’t have time. We must leave right now or the Protectors will find you. When Mrs. Cohen called me earlier, she said we needed to be gone as soon as your trackers were removed…”
              “Excuse me?” Sam interrupted. “My mother asked for your help? Goodness, both my parents have gone mad.”
              I wanted to tell Samera about my earlier discovery and insist on the fact that, at least for now, we had to trust Jeffrey, but Xander replied faster.
              “He’s right. We need to get going or all our efforts will be in vain. Especially if the trackers give our location away.” He turned to Jeffrey. “What do you have in mind?”
              Satisfied, Jeff ordered us to each take two to three mild painkillers. We waited a few minutes to feel the effect. I, for one, couldn’t discern any difference except for a usual nausea that came up every time I took medicine, when he started removing the tracker from Xander’s ankle. But the latter didn’t feel a thing. Or that’s what he wanted Samera and me to believe.
              The whole time, I avoided looking at the scene, a thick ball of anguish building in my abdomen. I’d always hated knives, blades, and every object that was sharp enough to cut a person’s flesh.
              Mr. Jensen was next, as we concluded it would be best to do it while he was still unconscious. In the middle of the surgery, Karl stirred and whispered incomprehensible words, but the pain wasn’t sharp enough to wake him.
              Still, I dreaded that my turn was coming, an increasingly more painful stomachache growing… Jeffrey’s knife seemed so sharp and threatening.
              Samera’s turn followed. Unfortunately for her, the tracker had been placed in her left ankle: the same leg she’d hurt during the explosion. She had to bite into her own sweatshirt to keep herself from screaming. Seeing tears fill her eyes just added up to the big pile of reasons I didn’t want to be next.
             
Come on, it can’t be that bad,
I tried to convince myself.
              After Xander tied the ripped sleeve of his shirt around her ankle to keep the blood from flowing, like he’d done to Mr. Jensen, and after Jeff sanitized the blade for the fourth time with a small plastic bottle of rubbing alcohol, it was my turn to go under the knife.
              “I can’t,” I said, still refusing to look at my friends’ wounds. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”
              Jeffrey sighed. “Oh, but you don’t have a choice, Miss Priam.”
              He moved in my direction as I tried to remain still. Everybody else had done it. And not one of them had complained. Not even Samera.
             
You can do this,
I repeated in my head.
Come on. Don’t be such a baby
.
              But my body refused to be inflicted with pain. My legs backed away from the threat without me realizing it, as my heartbeat increased. But Jeffrey wasn’t giving up. He kept walking in my direction with a sly smile on his face. I felt trapped, like a pig at the abattoir. Everyone was staring at me. Everyone was waiting for me to be strong. But I couldn’t. All I wanted to do was to run away from all the pressure…
              “Wait,” Xander intervened, which snapped me out of my nightmare. Someone was on my side. “Let me just—” He walked to me. “Can I try something?” I nodded, extremely happy he was standing between me and the blade. “Give me your hand.”
              I suspected he wanted to feed on my fear and I let him. I willingly gave him my hand and closed my eyes as courage overcame my irrational terror. The feeling was amazing; warmth filled my abdomen, as if a golden sun was growing inside me, expanding and enfolding my body. The ball of light grew bigger and brighter, until I had a sense of wholeness and confidence I’d never had in my entire life. I felt good. I felt at ease.
              I opened my eyes.
              At that moment, I could have jumped over a campfire; I could have climbed the highest mountains; I could have played with blades all day long; I could have done anything, really, but I only chose to be as brave as my friends. Looking directly at Jeffrey, I said, “Go ahead.”

Amya Priam

It hurt. It really did, but at least the tracker hadn’t been inserted too deeply into my ankle. Well, that’s what Jeffrey told me after he was done carving into my skin.
              The effect of Xander’s feeding wore off quite rapidly as I looked down my leg at Jeff’s work. There was blood—a lot of it—and a small hole just above the top of my foot.
              Our next move was to follow our surgeon down the stairs, where he said no one would ever dare to look for us.
              “Of course nobody will come looking for us,” Samera snapped, refusing to move. “We’re heading directly toward the Cave. There’s no way I’m going down there again.”
              A month ago, Samera, Xander, Gareth, and I had been forced to walk into a Cave to escape from Rascals. The small but deadly creatures that had attacked us were like nothing we’d ever seen. They had nearly killed Gareth, tearing off the flesh from his legs and eating up his muscle using their shark-like teeth. Were it not for the Banimos and Ocelitos from the Yellow Dimension, he wouldn’t have survived.
              Sam was right. Nothing in this world would make me go back there either.
              “What if I tell you I know how to keep bemoths away?” Jeffrey replied.
              Samera snorted. “Those creatures have a name?”
              “Oh, you still have so much to learn, dear. Not only do they have a name, but they also have a weakness.” His right eyebrow lifted as he smiled at Sam. “They’re afraid of water.”
              My friends and I exchanged looks of disbelief, but Jeff did not let us ponder on the new information much longer. Time was ticking and, according to him, we were far behind Michelle’s schedule. Apparently, Jeffrey was only our first guide. We were to meet somebody else on the other end of the Cave.
              Everyone finally agreed to go along to avoid getting caught by the Protectors, and then we planned how we were going to proceed. Jeffrey knew his way to the other end of the Cave. Apparently, it wasn’t the first time he’d needed to cross the city without being seen. After we were all assigned a specific task, our guide started walking down the stairs, followed by Sam, who kept shooting worried glances at her still-unconscious father, me, and Xander with Mr. Jensen in his arms.
              It was only when we got to the bottom, when darkness engulfed us completely at the entrance of the Cave, that we all started running like our lives depended on it. And they actually did. I grabbed Xander’s hand and Samera’s, while my best friend was forced to hold on to Jeffrey’s. Since light apparently attracted bemoths, only our guide carried a small flashlight in order to avoid running into a wall or a stalagmite.
              We raced like this for about five minutes, until Samera had to take a break.
              “My leg’s killing me, guys!”
              “Hush! Keep it down,” Jeffrey snapped. “If we stop, we have more chances of a bemoth finding us.”
              “And if we don’t, I have no chance at all of making it to the exit. How far is it?”
              Jeff looked around and turned off his flashlight. “You have a one-minute break. After that, we get going—”
              He hadn’t finished his sentence before we heard a piercing sound that lifted the hair on my arms and made all my muscles contract at the same time. 
              Jeffrey swore. “I’ve crossed this Cave three times this year,” he whispered angrily, “and I’ve never woken up those creatures. Never since I learned how to make myself invisible to them.” I couldn’t see him, but he sounded really upset. “How hard is it for you kids to have some discipline?”
              Another sharp cry echoed through the Cave, though it sounded further than the first one.
              “You should know that we’re all older than you,” Samera retorted.
              “Then stop acting like a child. We need to go. Stay here if you wish. I’m not dying today, even if I have to disobey Michelle’s order and leave you here as the bemoths’ dinner.”
              Just by the sound of his voice, I could tell this was an empty threat. Jeff didn’t move right away, waiting for Samera to get up. I nonetheless promptly helped her on her feet as Jeff turned the flashlight back on.
              “I’ll assist her,” I told him. “Guide away; we’ll follow you.” I turned to Xander and he nodded to let me go first. Then he took my unoccupied hand. “Let’s go.”
              Jeff reluctantly held onto Sam’s hand and we kept rushing toward the exit.
              We jogged for a while, hearing no sound except for our feet against the ground.
              It seemed to me like we were heading to Canada or Mexico… How far could the end of the city be?
              A while passed before we heard a third cry, but this time, it sounded much closer to our immediate location. I was out of breath, Samera kept wincing at every step, and—
              “What in God’s name are you doing?” That was Karl.
              He’d woken up.
              “Dad!” Samera exclaimed, throwing herself on her father, who was struggling to break free from Xander’s grasp.
              “Let go of me!” Mr. Jensen shouted, confused.
              And that’s when we heard four consecutive, acute howls coming from a group of bemoths that seemed to be surrounding us.
              “Stay behind me,” Karl ordered Samera and me, putting himself in front of us.
              “Mr. Jensen, we have a plan to get out of here,” Xander told him.
              “I don’t want to hear any of it. I don’t know where we are or why we’re here, but I will be calling the shots from now on.”
              I heard knuckles cracking and a soft laugh. “Oh, no you won’t. If you want to get out of here alive, you’ll need to let those kids do their magic.”
              “Jeffrey?” Karl replied, baffled. “What are you doing here?”
              “Dad, it’s true,” Samera continued. “We came prepared. Although we didn’t plan the eventuality of being
surrounded
by bemoths, I think we can make it. We just have to stick to what we said earlier.”
              “Sam’s right,” I intervened. “It can still work, especially with one more person on board. Mr. Jensen, if you don’t mind, you might have to work with Xander.”
              The cries of the creatures became more frequent and loud. We really needed to hurry. Xander explained to Mr. Jensen what his task was and the latter finally agreed to leave us in charge. He didn’t seem angry at my friend anymore, which was strange. I hoped the blow to his head hadn’t damaged his brain.
              We then kept jogging in silence. The bemoths’ feet were now easy to hear on the moist floor, echoing like a war song. Their cries, however, became less frequent as we approached our destination. And soon enough, we could perceive a faint light coming from the end of the Cave.
             
We made it!
I wanted to scream. But Jeff’s order had been clear. No one was to say a word or make a sound until we were out and safe. Samera and her father were the first to step into the sun, then Jeff followed, and me…
              I didn’t have time to make it to the second stair up before I felt like something was tearing off my right shoulder. The pain was like nothing I’d ever experienced. In the lapse of about two seconds, I turned around, came face to humpy nose with a bemoth holding a red piece of what must have been my skin between his razor-sharp teeth, Xander—who had been following me—punched it off me, and I heard a woman cry.
              It was me.
              Then the world started to spin.
              Xander was in front of me, his bright blue eyes turning to black as something jumped onto his back.
              My head was pounding. I thought my heart was slowly migrating into my skull.
              Xander was out of sight.
              So many voices around.
              I struggled to keep my eyes open.
              I struggled to stay conscious.
              But my eyelids were too heavy.
              So I surrendered.
              The last thing I remembered was how cold it became before I fell into oblivion.

***

“Holy moly—crap… Seriously.”
              “Keep walking.”
              “I think I’m going to be sick.”
              “Not the time, Sam. Focus.”
              “Do you think she’ll make it?”
              “Yes.”
              “But she’s… well, it looks pretty bad.”
              “No kidding.”
              “We’re here.” That was Jeff.
              I tried to open my eyes and that mere effort sent me straight into a black hole.

***

When I came back to my senses for good, the temperature felt warm. I could nearly see the sun through the thin layer of skin blocking my eyes. The air smelled like fish and salt, and silence had befallen around me. Except for the occasional sound of waves.
              I was definitely in Blue.              
              Wondering if opening my eyes would trigger the same effect as the last time, I began with a smaller step. I focused on my fingers, much like I had done when trying to wake up from a coma a month ago, and tried to move my thumb.
              The second I succeeded—and I was relieved it was so easy—someone’s hand grabbed mine.
              “Amya,” Xander whispered. “She’s awake! Guys, she’s back!” he shouted.
              Certain I felt good enough to take a step further, I let the sudden rush of adrenaline and glee open my eyes, only to realize I was lying on Xander’s lap. Then, smiling from ear to ear, I twisted my upper body so that I could throw my arms around his waist, and I swore I would never let go. We’d made it.
              “Don’t you dare scare me like this again,” he whispered, tightening his hold around me. “Don’t you ever dare…” He kissed the top of my head reassuringly.
                After a moment, I heard a pair of feet walking toward us and I suddenly remembered what had happened in the Cave. “Are
you
all right?” I asked Xander, tilting my head so that I could have a good look at his concerned face. “I saw a bemoth jumping on your back before I lost consciousness.”
              “I’m fine.” Brushing a rebellious lock of hair from my forehead, he smiled. “Don’t worry about me.”
              “You should keep your arm still for a few hours,” a woman’s voice said from my left. “The ointment stopped the bleeding, but part of your muscle was damaged.” I straightened my back to a sitting position and tried to identify the woman walking in our direction through the blinding sun behind her. “As soon as the lotion we applied on you becomes ineffective, you will feel much less enthusiastic. It is a powerful natural painkiller, but taking too much of it would result in severe symptoms like vomiting or extreme headache. Especially for, as Xander told me earlier, someone who reacts badly to other types of drugs.” She halted right in front of me, a large, bright smile on her face. “And we wouldn’t want that, now would we?”
              That is when I realized who she was. No wonder I hadn’t recognize this fifty-year-old woman by her long, silky black hair, her tired brown eyes, and her funny way of walking. I had never seen her. I’d only pictured what she could look like in person. And now that I had my answer, I understood I hadn’t given her enough credit. She was everything I wished I would look like at that age.
              She was my Blue-self, Amya.