Oppression (29 page)

Life. A labyrinth of crossroads and blind turns that you’re never really intended to find your way through. Full of defining moments and significant landmarks that could at any time take you by surprise, turning your whole world upside-down. Whether I’d lost my sight or control of my consciousness was unclear, but it didn’t matter, soon it would be over, and so I let go of my last ounce of strength and waited for the end. Then, nothing. The blackness carried me away, and I lost touch with where I was, who I was, what I was waiting for.

Nothing.

28.

TIME TRICKLED ON like spilled water, slowly and in all directions, so when I felt myself moving, weightless in the world around me, I couldn’t guess how long it had been since I was last conscious. But was I conscious? The dizzy, numbing weakness that had me whirling told me yes. Whether in life or in death, or maybe somewhere in between was uncertain, but I was aware of my body and its distress. I had not left it. My mind was still imprisoned by its solid form, registering the agony of its complete inability to function. I was unresponsive, only able to process pain, confusion, and the sound of quick, uneven steps that belonged to somebody else. Then, through the haze of my broken and disjointed thoughts, I realized I was being carried.

Each breath that dragged in and out of my lungs was a struggle as I instinctively began to panic. Where was I? Where was Anna? I couldn’t remember what had happened. Did it work? The footsteps quickened to a run, reacting to my panicked breath, sending blinding pain through me with each jolt forward. I wanted to open my eyes, to beg them to stop, but instead, it became too much. Darkness, soothing and peaceful, took me in once again.

***

Waking from the blackness was sharp and abrasive. The light seeped in like fire, shattering its coddling tranquility. All I could see was white. I didn’t understand why I fought against it. Light was good. Light was the other side. It was hope, and though my eyes ached from it, I forced them to open and stare into the source.

Fear pinned me down and stole my breath as my surroundings came into focus. Goosebumps crawled up my arms and legs as my skin recognized the cold sting of the metal table I was stretched out on, or maybe it was just the fear that sank in when I realized where I was. Three lights hung like still pendulums above my head. To the right was a blacktop counter covered in beakers and chemical solutions that had been left to process. I was in a lab.

As my senses returned, I noticed that the only real discomfort I felt was the IV plugged into the crook of my arm. Remembering the deep incision I had made into my right wrist, I checked for the wound, but there was nothing but my bracelet. Not even a scar. My first instinct was to tear out the IV and make a run for it. There were no windows, but maybe I could sneak out the door, assuming there weren’t any guards. I still felt the need to escape, despite the fact that I was healed and apparently alive. I had no way of knowing the intentions of whoever had me here, but before I had the chance, I was interrupted.

The sound of a squeaky door opening stopped the blood in my veins, and I slammed my eyes shut. The click of hard heels came closer. Nothing was spoken, but I could tell it was a man. He hummed aloud as he busied himself with the beakers, pouring one liquid into another. Then, without warning, he turned his focus on me. His fingers found the pulse in my neck and ran the length of the invisible scar that should have been an open wound on my arm. A cottonball was pressed against the inside of my elbow as the IV was removed. He was surprisingly gentle, but I still cringed internally at his touch. What did he plan to do with me? Before I had time to consider my next move, the door creaked again.

“She’s awake,” said the man standing over me. My ears perked at his familiar voice—Iosif.

“Finally,” I heard William say. Had I imagined him? My eyes acted before I had time to contemplate it. I had to know. They snapped open and found his face, laden with worry. To think that I was never going to see him again, never going to feel his touch or hear his voice, seemed unimaginable. He was as essential to my being as air and water.

He was beside me before I had a chance to speak, lacing his fingers through mine and reaching for my face.

“William, I’m so sorry,” I said sitting up, feeling the need to explain.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” he said lying me immediately back down. “Take it easy. You’ve been through a lot, Ellie.”

His sad eyes showed so much hurt, and I felt it ten times over for causing it, but I couldn’t say I regretted my choice. It was a painful one, but Anna would live a long and healthy life now, and that meant the world to me. I wondered how she was, where they were, and finally realized I had no idea how any of this had played out. How did I get here? Why was I with William? How was I alive?

“Anna and Kara?” I asked, preparing myself for any answer. “Are they alive?”

He nodded with a comforting smile. “Yes. They’re together, but I had to bring you here,” he answered with tender eyes.

“How did you find me?” I asked, hoping to pick up on where he had come into the picture.

“When I woke up, you were gone. Your note helped me put the pieces together. I knew it had to do with Anna. The day you mentioned having to heal her, I knew there was more to it. I remembered her address was on your refrigerator.”

“I couldn’t have told you, you . . .”

He nodded in agreement. “I
would
have tried to stop you,” he admitted.

I sighed, thankful he understood.

“When I got there,” he continued, “the door was wide open, and I heard noises upstairs. I almost went right up, but I heard Kara in my head. She told me Ryder was there, and that he was going to kill all of you. So, I tried to be as quiet as I could, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and surprised him from behind. I stabbed him in the back, straight in the heart before he could freeze me.” It seemed hard for him to explain, and I could tell that reliving it was difficult.

I couldn’t believe all of it had happened while I was unconscious.

“So, he’s dead?” I asked. It was hard to picture William killing someone, even if it was Ryder.

“Yes,” he answered, “very dead.”

The thought was such a relief. “Thank you.” The words seemed so inconsequential. He couldn’t imagine how my heart overflowed with gratitude for saving us.

“When I saw you, I thought you were dead,” he said, remembering.

The walls of my heart fell in at the thought of him finding me that way. How he must have felt, what he must have thought of me.

“I’m sorry,” I choked, falling into his arms. “I had to.”

“I know,” he whispered, holding me as long as I wanted him to. When I pulled away, he knew it was because I wanted him to continue.

“You lost so much blood. I don’t know how you survived, Elyse,” he trailed off in disbelief.

“Her body has an amazing ability. It can withstand a loss far beyond the normal capacity.” Iosif spoke for the first time since I’d opened my eyes. I wondered why he had stayed to watch William and I reunite, but something told me he played a large part in my survival, so I was nothing but thankful for him. “Even so,” he continued, “I would say it was amazing you survived, but we all knew you would. There was never any question of that. Your sacrifice set things in motion. Now it’s only a matter of time.”

His prophetic talk always threw me off a bit. I never knew what I should take to heart and what I should disregard as babble, but Iosif had been right all along. He’d told me whatever path I chose would lead me where I needed to be. With Anna cured, Kara protecting her and Chloe, and Ryder dead, it seemed to be exactly where I needed to be.

“You survived because you were meant to,” he concluded with finality. “To fulfill the prophecy.”

“And because I’m your cure,” William added, holding up his arm. A cotton ball was taped over the inside of his elbow. “I want a little of the credit.”

“You healed me?” I asked, touched by the thought of it.

“Well, once we got you here, Iosif and my dad donated too. You lost a lot.”

I moved to sit up, this time slow and easy so they’d let me stay that way.

“Kara said she was planning on healing you, but she was beat up pretty badly, so I cut my hand and gave you a little of mine. You regained consciousness for a second. You said ‘funny how trees are people too, huh.’” He laughed a little as he recollected, now that I was okay. “Adorable, even when you’re dying.”

I took a moment to smile. His laughter meant he had forgiven me. Something I had toiled over up until the moment I thought was my last.

“Your power was magnified by my touch.” He took my hand, reminding me of the warmth that was supposed to protect us. “I think that’s what really saved you, because even after that, you needed more, apparently lots more, and neither Kara or Anna were capable of it. I drove as fast as I could, and Iosif did the blood transfusions when we arrived.”

The thought was terrifying. I only hoped it was all worth it.

“So, even though I survived, do you think it worked? I mean, do you think I healed her?”

The question was mostly for me. Of course he wouldn’t know, nobody would know. The plan was that no one would need to. In a perfect world, I would be sitting next to my best friend, basking in her transformation from near death to renewed with life. Instead, here I was, recovering from my own near-death experience, guessing how she was.

“Where are they?” I asked.

“The thing is, Elyse. I killed an agent, you healed a human. It’s too risky to stay here,” William confessed. “When they figure out Ryder’s out of the picture, there will be an investigation.”

I looked up at him. “So, what should we do?”

“Kara is going to play it off as though she came across the three of us already dead—you, me, and Ryder—and that she killed Anna and Chloe when she realized Anna had been healed.”

“So they think we’re
all
dead?” I asked, confused. “How is that going to work?”

“Well, we can’t stay in San Francisco,” William answered truthfully.

“What about Anna and Chloe, though? Are they coming with us?”

“Kara is hiding them for now, and they’ll meet up with us after we leave.”

“Dr. Nickel will be taking care of loose ends at Headquarters and The Institute, and I will be speaking to your landlord,” Iosif chimed in. “A funeral will be arranged for the both of you, closed casket of course . . .”

“William, I . . .” there were no words to explain how sorry I was for everything. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Oh, yes it was. Everything that happened needed to happen. This is the first of many foreseen events to take place before the war,” Iosif said mysteriously. But there was no time for more of an explanation.

When the door creaked for the third time, I expected it to be Dr. Nickel or Kara, but instead a woman entered. I recognized her, maybe from a dream. Her face was aged nearly as much as Iosif’s, but her eyes were gentle. I noticed right away because they were locked on me intently, as if she knew me. Her wispy white hair hung freely around her delicately framed shoulders.

“Hello.” She turned her attention to Iosif when she spoke. “It’s time. They’re coming.” Although her words were a warning, she spoke them with a smile.

Her warning wasn’t directed at me, so I didn’t think to consider who was coming or what it was time for. Instead, I looked at Iosif to respond.

“Your father’s arranged a car. It’s waiting out back,” he urged, suddenly on alert. He grabbed two vials off of the counter containing the clear green liquid he had been brewing and placed them delicately in William’s hand, wrapping his fingers around them as if the liquid was of high importance. “Do you know how this works?” he asked him with uncertain eyes.

“Yes,” William answered anxiously. The tension had spiked. I could tell he was eager to leave at the woman’s warning, and I got the feeling there was something I didn’t know. “Come on. I’ll explain in the car.”

William slid his strong forearms under my knees and behind my back.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he carried me out the door and down the stairwell.

His voice was rushed and worried. “We have to get out of here.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

When we got outside to the alleyway behind the building, he set me on my feet, and I saw the car waiting there as Iosif had said—a black hearse sitting idly just outside the door.

“That’s the car?” I asked in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening now, right? I wasn’t ready to accept it. The sight of it made me shiver.

In place of an answer, William opened the back. “Come on, get in.”

“Whoa, wait. Now?” I reacted with shock. They had told me a funeral would be arranged. That registered somewhere, but now? Here, so suddenly?

“Yes, now,” William urged.

The panic seemed to be emanating from him, and it made my mind swim with frantic questions. What would this mean? We hadn’t discussed what we would have to give up, where we would go, how things would be.

“What’s the plan after this? I mean, is this it? Where are we going?”

“Elyse,” William said with urgency. “You don’t understand. They’re coming.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said finally frustrated. “I
don’t
understand, because nobody has told me anything.”