Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) (7 page)

It was the biggest bruise yet. When the red mist appeared I had to hold in a scream. It felt like he was digging a knife into my skin and twisting it.

“I knew I should have gotten Emilie,” he whispered when he took his hand away. He looked sad as he looked away from me. It hurt him to know he caused me pain. He was supposed to be my guard. Pain was something he protected me from.

“I’m fine, really Yelson. Look all better.” I jumped off the bed and bounced around the room a little to show that I wasn’t hurting anymore. I felt silly but was happy. It was the first time I felt like myself since I got here.

Yelson laughed at my little get up. “Well now you have to eat something and change before we go back to Master Kai. It’s going to be a long day.”

It had been a month since I had started training with Master Kai. I had spent every morning and night practicing how to protect myself. Most times, I would practice with Master Kai. He knew I was holding back because of his age. Of course I could not hurt him but throwing punches at an eighty-year-old man did not seem right. So, every now and then he would get Yelson to practice with me. I was hesitant at first but when Yelson did not seem to hold back, I opened up to the idea.

Many of the exercises came easily to me. I was surprised to see what my body was capable of when I did not think too hard about it. Maybe it was because it was in my blood. This was something I was born to do.

I have grown to accept the idea that I was the only person who could stop Daruka from mass destruction. I still could not kill him. No matter how hard I told myself that I had to, if I didn’t everyone that I loved would die, but I couldn’t. He was still a living, breathing, person and I could not be the one to end that.

I looked over my body in the full-length mirror Emilie convinced me to put in my room. My body had slimmed down drastically in the past month. I pinched the area around my belly button and again on my side where most of my extra fat had been. My fingers grabbed nothing but skin.

My blonde hair was pinned into a bun behind me head. A few strands had found their way free and into my face. The blue eyes that stared back at me did not seem like those of a stranger to me anymore. They were my eyes. The excited, happy look in them was me.

I smiled at my reflection. I couldn’t remember the last time I had ever felt like that. Even on earth I was never truly myself. This planet was my home. Now I just needed my family back.

“Annie, come on.” Emilie busted through my door with a basket in her arm. She smiled at what I was wearing. “So glad to see they fit. I was getting tired of seeing you wear the same four outfits over and over again.”

I laughed and looked down and the jeans and t-shirt Emilie had given me. I had to admit when she first told me she was going to be expanding my wardrobe I was a little scared. I was expecting everything to be flashy colorful dresses like the kind she wears. When I saw the plain jeans and t-shirts she got for me, I was relived.

“Let’s go. Everyone is waiting for us.” She skipped down the hallway, not waiting for me, and out the back door. I quickly followed her.

Yelson was helping Arabella onto her horse while Weldon was waiting by Mary. His hand absently brushed back Mary’s mane. The black nail polish that was on his finger nails had begun to chip off. I had found out that the only reason he had that on was because of Arabella. She wanted to see how the color looked on a guy and Weldon volunteered to let her paint his nails. She had redone them four times in the past month.

He really was a sweet guy.

“Hey look, she finally came out,” he laughed as he petted my horse one more time before walking to me.

“Why does everyone swear I take forever?”

“Because you always do.” He gave me a quick wink before making his way to his horse that was lazily poking at the grass. Mary was already saddled so I quickly got on her so that everyone was now waiting on Yelson.

Once everyone was on a horse, we walked into the forest that surrounded the back of the palace. It reminded me of the one at my family’s cabin. I tried not to think of them that much now a day as all it did was make my heart throb. Cabel promised me they were still looking for them but the search was going nowhere. The only way I would be able to find them was to find Daruka. And if I found him I would have to kill him.

I just could not deal with that right now so I concentrated on the trees that we passed by. They were mostly the same ones that were around my cabin but every now and then there would be a green one like the ones on earth.

We rode for about an hour before a wide clearing appeared. White flowers spotted the ground around the blue tinted grass.

“This is as good a spot as any.” Yelson said to the group as he slowed down.

We all agreed and stopped. It was the first big clearing we had seen since we left and who knows when we would find another.

I was the first one to get off my horse and survey our surroundings. Trees of all kinds encompassed the entire oval shaped clearing. The sun shone bright as it peaked in the sky letting out rays of heat. Yelson was right this would be a perfect place.

I helped Emilie lay out the blankets she had brought and unpack the basket.

“Is that for me?” Weldon brushed his finger against the frosting on the cake and put it into his mouth.

“Yes, birthday boy. And that is gross.” Emilie swatted away his hand when he went for seconds.

We all laughed. Today was Weldon’s twenty third birthday. He told us that he was tired of being cooped up in the palace and wanted to go out for once. We all decided a day in the woods would be nice. After all, we technically were not allowed out here so we jumped at the idea.

Yelson invited his sister, Mari, to come along but she declined when she heard I would be going. I did not know why she didn’t like me. We have never really talked with each other since I had gotten here. The only time I had even seen her was when other people were around and she would quickly leave once I entered the same room as her.

“What are we gonna do?” Arabella asked as she eyed the cake.

“Well, I vote cake first.” Weldon spoke up. His brown eyes were also trained on the cake.

“No, that has to go last, before we leave,” Emilie said as she pulled the cake away from them.

“But, but, cake.” Weldon and Arabella threw their puppy dog eyes at Emilie. I looked at Yelson. He was trying holding in a laugh but failed. We all knew she would give in to them after a while.

“Oh, fine.” She said after a minute. She handed him the knife and let him cut the cake. To celebrate Weldon, Arabella and Emilie decorated the cake to look like the ocean with a tiny island on it. A mermaid tale poked out of the water.

“It’s alright Em. We will still do everything. I promise,” Yelson said earning a smile from Emilie.

I lay back on the blanket and looked up to the sky. Only a few clouds were around. It almost reminded me of earth, if earth had a purple sky and two moons. I closed my eyes. I could almost forget everything that was happening. Almost.

“Hey,” Yelson whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes to see him lying on his belly next to me.

“Hi.” As much as I have seen of Yelson, we have yet to really talk to each other since my first days here. In all honesty, I kind of missed it even if it were just a few times.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.”

I lightly laughed off his apology. Master Kai was trying to teach my how to protect my midsection from attacks while still fighting off the enemy. I had left my right side open and Yelson punched me hard in the ribs.

“It’s okay. There is not even a bruise,” I lied looking back up to the sky. A small cloud covered the sun blocking its warm rays from reaching us.  

“Liar,” he laughed. He lightly poked the area he hit earlier laughing a little harder when I slightly flinched away.

“Not nice,” I said trying to cover my side.

He had asked me last night if I wanted Emilie or him to heal me. I declined because I had to get used to some sort of pain. Daruka certainly wouldn’t be nice to me and offer me a healer when things got bad.

“So, when will we be leaving the village?” Cabel thought it would be best to go back to the cabin to search for any clues as to where my family could be. I was surprised to hear that no one had gone back in the last month.

I was hesitant at first. I didn’t want to see the result of what happened there but I had to. It was my home. No one was going back without me. Yelson asked him if I could go along. My training was going better than expected so Cabel, after three days of deliberation, agreed to let me go.

“A week from today. I will have everything ready for you to go.”

“Thank you Yelson.” I whispered. He knew how much this trip meant to me. It took a lot for me to even think of returning to my family’s cabin. I knew what waited for me, knew what wasn’t going to be there. My family.

Every fiber of my being hoped and prayed that this mission would lead us to getting my family back. Daruka had them for far too long.

“Yel, here’s your cake.” Arabella held out a huge slice of cake for Yelson. His eyes grew into saucers when he saw it. Arabella giggled before she handed me a smaller piece and skipped back to Emilie.

“So I heard that Master Kai was going to give me the next three days off.” I took a bite of the chocolate cake. I moaned from the delicious taste. It had been so long since I had this sinful treat.

“Yes,” he laughed. “He is going to leave town. Don’t ask me where because I do not know.”

I nodded too busy with the cake to comment any further.

When Cabel told me that Master Kai had canceled our next three day’s I thought it was a big joke. Master Kai would get mad if we arrived on time saying we were late. We had never had a day off since I met him. I guess the business he had to do outside of the village was important.

“Hey Weldon what’s that?” Arabella giggled while pointing to his face.

“What?” Weldon tried to look at what she was pointing at but failed. Arabella quickly painted his face with frosting startling him and causing him to fall backwards onto the grass.

We all erupted in laughter. The sound was beautiful in my ears. I rarely had the chance to hear it now a days so I cherished it when I could.

The next few hours went by quickly. Arabella and Emilie kept everyone occupied with playing games and making jokes that we barely noticed when the sun had started to set. We hastily packed away our things and saddled the horses before we made the way back to the palace.

The walk was peaceful in the cool air. The only sound came from the horses as they walked down the path. It was a little odd though. No sound came from the other animals that usually filled the air with their music.

“Yelson, does something feel off to you?” I asked him when I saw him looking around as well.

“It’s like you read my mind.” He motioned for everyone to stop as he looked around. Nothing seemed to be hiding behind the thick tree line but I could not shake of the feeling that something was wrong. It felt as if someone’s eyes were on me but as we looked into the forest around us no one was there.

“Maybe we should keep going,” Emilie whispered in a scared voice. Her eyes moved franticly around. She could sense the same thing we did and she did not want to face it.

“She’s right. We are almost back to the palace anyhow.” Weldon motioned for his horse to start walking without waiting for Yelson’s reply. Emilie followed him with Arabella in tow. Yelson still looked into the forest trying to see something that was not there.

“Yelson?” I asked him when he didn’t move to follow the others. His face looked strained as he tried to look for something that wasn’t there.

Without a word, he continued down the path. I knew we both were feeling the same sense of uneasiness but Weldon and Emilie were right. We were close to the palace, which was our safe place. If we got there, we would not have to worry about it anymore.

A high-pitched scream echoed around the trees coming from in front of us. The other half of the group had already turned a corner on the path so we could not see but it had to be them. Without hesitation, Yelson and I motioned for our horses to run towards the sound.

Emilie was sitting by a tree emptily staring into the forest. Blood gushed out of a gash on her left arm, bleeding into her shirt. Weldon and Arabella were nowhere in sight and all three horses were gone.

“Em, what happened?” I asked getting off Mary. I ran to her side and gently checked on the cut. It was a small gash but deep, like a stab wound. Yelson took off his jacket and pressed it to her arm. I was about to tell him to heal it for her but he would just cause her more pain. That was the last thing he wanted to do to Emilie.

“Where are Weldon and Arabella?” Yelson’s said threw closed teeth. His eyes scanned the area while he kept pressure on the wound.

Emilie shook her head back and forth. Her purple eyes were glued to the forest. “I-I don’t know. T-they came out of nowhere. Grabbed Arabella off her horse. Weldon ran after them. I-I didn’t know what to do.”

“Shh, Emilie it’s okay.” I pushed back her purple hair, wiped away the tears that were on her cheeks, and helped her up to her feet. “Okay you need to go back to the palace. Come on.”

I guided her to Mary. I helped her on and told her to run home.

“You are going too.” Yelson grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me onto his horse.

“No,” I replied to him. “Not until we find them.”

Mary ran off toward the house and I motioned for his horse to follow leaving Yelson and me alone once again. His gray eyes pierced into mine showing me how enraged he was for my staying. It didn’t matter to me, I was not about to leave him alone out here with who knows what trying to get us.

“You stay by my side,” Yelson ordered before turning around and entering the forest where Emilie was looking.