Fractured Truth (9 page)

“But why didn’t you escape when you had the chance? And the other night, when I was running, was that you?”

He nodded. “I’m not supposed to see you. They’ll kill me if I’m caught. That night I was going to show myself, but at the last second I realized I was being followed and had to leave.”

“But why stay with them?”

“To help you, of course. I figured it would be good to have someone on the inside.”

“That’s extremely dangerous.”

He stood up, taking me with him, as if I needed to be steadied. “But necessary.”

“Do you know where Sophie is? The Auras?”

He frowned. “Not yet, but I’m getting closer. They just recently allowed me to get out.”

“But why do they trust you?”

He glanced away. “I had to do some things to gain their trust.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “What kind of things?” The rain continued to fall. I wiped at my face.

He looked back at me. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m free now. We can see each other again.” He leaned into me and gave me a kiss. It was harder than I expected, and I gasped.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re back, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Does your father know?”

He smirked, a sarcastic expression I’d never seen on him before. “That’s the one good thing that’s come out of all this. I never have to see him again.”

“But I thought you loved him.”

He shrugged. “I’ve moved on. So what about you? I saw you with Liam.”

The way he said it made me feel like I’d done something wrong. I stepped away from him. “What’s your deal?”

“It’s just that I’ve only been gone, what, a few months, maybe? And then I see you with Liam and—”

“I wasn’t
with
Liam. We—as in May, Aaron, Arik, Liam, and I—were chasing after Jackson. Speaking of which, where is he?”

“He’s around.”

Now I was getting really annoyed. “Where?”

Christian reached for me. “Forget about him. Forget about Vykens and Auras, and just be with me. I’ve missed you so much.”

I looked at him. Really looked. His eyes were different. Not just more blue, more cold. “How are you handling the effects of the Vyken poison?” I asked.

He looked past me. “It was hard at first, but I’ve gotten better at it.”

“But how? There was no one to help you.”

“I don’t need a ‘Liam’ to help me,” he said, his voice bitter. “I did it on my own.”

I didn’t know what to say. He clearly had some darkness going on, but how much? “I’m worried about you, Christian.” I was starting to feel cold, and I silently cursed the rain.

His expression softened. “Don’t. Everything I’m doing now is for you. For us. We just have to be careful, but that’s nothing new for us, right?” He reached out and rubbed the necklace he had given me with his thumb.

He was right. We were familiar with keeping our
relationship a secret. “But does it have to be that way now? Come back with me. We will find Sophie and the others without your help.”

“How?”

“There’s a warehouse. In Albion. The Council discovered that Cyrus had purchased it several years ago.”

“I’m familiar with it.”

“Is that where you were being kept?”

“No, but not far from there. In a house in this ritzy neighborhood.”

“Have you been to the warehouse? Could Sophie be there?”

“I’m not sure. But if you check it out, don’t go alone. Take Liam.”

“Now it doesn’t bother you?”

He took hold of my hand. I ignored how foreign it felt. “Sorry about before. I didn’t mean what I said. It’s just that, well, my emotions are sometimes hard to control.”

“I understand completely.”

He brought up my hand and kissed it softly.

“So you’ll come back with me?” I asked.

He lowered my hand. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’m so close to uncovering the truth about where Cyrus is keeping Sophie and the others.”

“Please, Christian. I’m begging you. Come back with me. We’ll find another way.”

He shook his head and stepped back. “I need to go.”

“Now? But when will I see you again?”

“Soon.” He kept backing up. “Tomorrow.”

“But can’t you tell me anything? Where’s Cyrus?”

“If I tell you, then you’ll just run off and get yourself killed.”

“So you’re saying you know?” My voice was growing louder.

He raised his arms as if I had a gun pointed at him and kept moving away from me. “I didn’t say that either.”

“You haven’t said much of anything!” My hands had become fists.

He laughed. “I love your feisty side. It’s so adorable.” He was almost hidden within the trees.

“Adorable? What is wrong with you?” I would’ve gone after him, but he was pissing me off.

“Don’t tell anyone about me, Llona. This is our dirty little secret.” He laughed again, making me feel like I needed a shower.

“Get back here, Christian!”

“Good-bye, Llona. I’ll come see you tomorrow.” He turned and disappeared into the trees.

I was breathing deeply, water running down my face and onto my already drenched clothes. That wasn’t the Christian I remembered. Not even close.

I turned toward the road,
feeling miserable. I had to help Christian. The Vyken poison inside him was stronger than I liked and would only grow the more he was around Vykens. Maybe Liam could help. I longed to see him, to have him help me make sense of all of this. This thought spurred me on, and I ran all the way back to Lucent Academy.

The halls were quiet as it was still the middle of class. I looked at my phone and checked the time. Shoot! I was late for my sparring class with Kiera. But did that even matter right now? I’d seen Christian not more than thirty minutes ago, held him, kissed him even. Nothing else seemed important.

I checked the time again. May was still in class too. Besides her and Liam, I didn’t want anyone else to know about me seeing Christian. Not yet anyway.

Maybe I should check in with Kiera, just in case there was a sudden surge in attendance. I glanced down at my soaked clothes, wondering if I had time to change. I decided to go straight to the classroom to see who had showed up. If there weren’t many, I’d skip out early to change before lunch.

The new sparring class was over in Denelle Hall. I hurried across campus, the freak rain and windstorm finally letting up. On the way over, I passed two Lycans standing eerily still near the clock tower. Man, they were huge.

I reached my destination and peeked into the elongated window of the door. Kiera and two Guardians, Mason and Alex, were practicing different fighting techniques with the Auran girls—all four of them. I took a deep breath and opened the door. “Sorry I’m late,” I said.

Everyone stopped moving and turned toward me.

“What happened to you?” Ashlyn asked. “You look like a wet dog.”

“Thanks.”

Kiera glanced out the window. “Was there a hurricane I didn’t know about?”

“Sudden storm is all. I got caught running in it. So what happened to our class of six? Where are the other two girls?”

Kiera began to unwind her wrist wraps. “They quit the class when Lycans showed up.”

“Lycans may be strong and fast,” Mason said, “but they’re not always going to be here. You’d think the Council would get this, especially with the shortage of Guardians.”

I liked Mason, who was a couple of years younger than me. He was one of the few Guardians who agreed that Auras should learn to fight. He reminded me of Christian. “Thanks for helping us out, you two,” I said.

Alex dropped into a nearby chair. He was so tall that his long legs stretched out far. We were the same age, but because of his height he looked much older.

“How are you doing?” I asked him. He hadn’t talked much since Chase died. I hoped in time that would change.

“Getting by,” he mumbled.

Mason patted him on the back. “He’d probably do better if there were more Auras to train. No offense, girls, but we’re bored.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I think I’ll have some more recruits for you tomorrow.”

“And just how do you plan on doing that?” Ashlyn asked. The other girls were standing behind her, looking at me as if
they were afraid. Probably sensing my Vyken half, but unsure what to make of it.

“I’d like to know that too,” Mason said.

“No, you don’t. Trust me.” It would’ve been nice to share my plan, but I was afraid to involve anyone. There was a good chance that by night’s end I might no longer be welcome at Lucent, and I didn’t want anyone else to share the same fate.

I turned to Mason and Alex. “Can you two be at dinner tonight with the girls? I may need your help.”

Alex shrugged, but Mason said, “You’re not going to do something you shouldn’t, are you?”

“You know me well. Back to fighting?”

“We’ve got this,” Kiera said. “Why don’t you go change? I’ll meet you at lunch.”

“You sure?”

She nodded.

“Great, thanks.”

I left Denelle and headed back to my room where, instead of changing right away, I collapsed into bed and thought of Christian. Had I really just seen him? I smiled, remembering when we first met. I’d liked him early on: his loyalty to a cause he believed in, his strength, and his unwavering determination. But most of all I loved the way he looked at me as if he’d found the secret to life.

I rolled over. He didn’t look at me that way today. This realization stung. So did the fact that he hadn’t come to me the moment he was away from Vykens.

He needed help, that was all. Vyken poison was almost impossible to overcome, but it was possible. I clung to this hope.

A short time later, after I had showered and dressed for lunch, I was about to leave when there was a knock at my door. I opened it.

“Kiera said you were up here,” May said and came into my room.

“Yeah, I went running but got caught in a freak storm. But that’s not all that happened.”

“What storm?” She was adjusting her hair in my dresser mirror, completely unaware of the bombshell I was about to tell her.

“It’s kind of a long story.”

She pulled on my arm toward the door. “Tell me on the way down. I’m starving.”

I hesitated briefly, thinking I should probably tell her about Christian in my room and not where someone might hear, but she tugged on my arm again.

“It’s a long ride down,” she said. “Come on.”

I sighed and followed her out. By the time we exited the elevator and I’d told May the story about the rose, she was laughing. “You made this up, right?”

“No. Serious. The rose turned to dust in my palm.”

“So cool. Think we can go back there and see if it will happen again?”

I shrugged as I sidestepped two girls passing by us. “But it wasn’t just the rose. It’s like as soon as I picked the flower, storm clouds appeared.”

“I’ve really got to see this,” she said.

“Wait, May,” I said, stopping her at the dining room doors. “That’s not all that happened.” My expression turned serious. I had to tell her about Christian. “On the way back I saw—”

“May! Llona!”

I looked into the dining room. Kiera was sitting with Tessa, waving us over.

“Tell me later?” May asked.

I resisted the urge to shake her to get her to hold still. “First thing after lunch, promise?”

She nodded and went inside. I almost didn’t go in after her. It seemed strange to pretend like everything was normal when it wasn’t even close. The man I loved and thought dead was alive.

“Come sit by me,” Tessa said, motioning me forward.

I took a deep breath and went to the table. “I thought you had class?” I asked her and sat down.

“Cancelled. Sick professor.”

I looked around the table. May, Kiera, and Tessa sat laughing and talking. I smiled. These were my closest friends: Tessa, a Lizen who no longer served Auras; May, a female Fury; and then Kiera. She and I had lived on the outside for so long, we didn’t quite get the Auran culture and often offended the others. It was just as well. I liked our small group.

The next hour turned out to be highly therapeutic for me. Not because I told them about my problems, but because I didn’t. We talked about everything and nothing, laughing like normal girls do, and at the moment this meant more to me than I could possibly imagine.

It wasn’t until the chimes sang their familiar tune that we all quieted down, remaining where we were because we didn’t want to get back to the real world.

Kiera was up first. “I have to get to class.”

“I’ll walk you,” Tessa said, joining her.

I stayed with May until all that was left in the room were a few Lizen women who were cleaning up. I should have told her about Christian right then, but I felt it was more important to address something else.

“I want you to know,” I said, “that I have a plan. We’re going to find Sophie and the others so you don’t need to go to your father.”

She tore at the napkin in front of her, a sudden sadness in her eyes. “Maybe I want to see him.”

“But why? He’s with them.”

She looked up at me. “Because maybe he can tell me about my real mother.” She took a breath. “I want to know where I come from.”

“It’s too dangerous, May.”

“Maybe I can convince him to come back here. He’s not a Vyken, after all.”

“But he is a bad guy.”

“How would you know?” she snapped, startling me.

“Um . . . because he tried to kill us.”

She looked down at the torn napkin in her hands. “He told me in a letter that he didn’t know it was me until at the end of the fight. He said he would never have hurt me or my friends had he known.”

“But he’d hurt other Auras? Besides, he was with Vykens.”

“But so am I.” Her eyes met mine.

I struggled to keep my voice calm. “You know it’s not the same thing.”

She was silent for a moment and then said, “I’ve gone over it in my head several times, and there are just too many reasons to meet him.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but she stopped me.

“First, I can possibly find out information about Sophie and the other girls, or at least find out where all the Vykens are. And maybe even find Christian. Did you think about that?” I straightened in my seat and was about to tell her about seeing him, when she said, “But most important, I can find out about my past.”