The Violet Awakening (The Elementum Trinity Book 2) (8 page)

I hadn’t visited any of the other Neighborhoods in The Facility, much. I’d never really had a reason to. I had grown so used to the other floors, I’d forgotten how fantastical it was to see such things inside, underground. Mattie was dumbfounded by The City, a somewhat dirty place with multi-level apartment buildings. Parts of the computer-generated sky still flickered, giving the impression of surrounding skyscrapers. A skipping soundtrack of car horns and ornery cats bounced off the walls, and the sudden lack of silence was unnerving.

The innards of the buildings were just as gory and depressing as I’d expected them to be. Whether it was due to the fact that I had not been comprehending how many lifeless bodies I’d been stepping over and it finally caught up with me, or because I had become so unaffected by the sight that my mind felt the need to slap me in the face for being an insensitive psycho, a wave of nausea rushed over me and forced me to kneel down against a wall in an empty bedroom. I would have liked to think the tears that were rapidly streaming down my face were caused by remorse, but they weren’t. They were tears of hopelessness for a race that could produce such a monster, capable of taking so many lives. Reagan had told me our kind
avoided harming other living things, if at all possible, but I still returned to the thought that if The Destructive Ones didn’t exist, neither would the pain and terror they caused to us, to the planet, to their own kind. And I didn’t feel guilty for thinking it.

I was pulled from the midst of my philosophical-wonderings by
a shuffling sound from within the closet. At first, I was nervous that I didn’t have any sort of weapon to protect myself with. But then I remembered that I could shoot fireballs from my hands. I swiped a pack of matches from next to a candle on the bedside table, and moved toward the closet. For a brief moment, I considered retrieving Al and Mattie from the other rooms, but there didn’t seem to be much of a reason to end my eighteen-year-long trend of stubbornness just yet.

I lit a match, taking the fire into my palm, just in case. As I reached for the closet door, another shuffle came from inside, followed by a distinct shushing sound. I ripped the door open and held my hand at the ready in front of me. My jaw dropped at the sight of two familiar, illuminated young faces. We had never been close, but I remembered them from my last birthday party.

“Angie!” the girl I recognized as Sarah shouted, bounding from her spot on the closet floor to embrace me in a trembling hug.

I closed my fist behind her
back, extinguishing the unnecessary flame-of-doom after noticing the other girl, whose name I couldn’t remember, was staring at it nervously. I was at a loss for words. I honestly hadn’t expected to find any other survivors, let alone a couple of teenage girls.

“Are you guys okay?” I asked, looking them both over for bullet-holes.

“Kayla’s leg is hurt,” Sarah said, helping her friend out of the closet and onto the bed.

Kayla. I knew that.

“Let me see.” But the injured girl leaned away from my reach. My temper took off, and showed no sign of sensitivity to the fact that these girls had lost their families. “Look around you, kid. If you want help, it’s gonna have to come from me.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. For a moment, I thought she was going to burst into tears—I wouldn’t have blamed her. I was surprised to see her roll up her jeans, revealing a very
deep—and very infected—gash, with just the slightest hint of bone sticking out. She kept her gaze trained on me as I examined the wound. Even if she was only letting me help her because she was terrified of me, at least she was letting me help her at all.

“What happened?” I asked, feeling around the leg in the way Al had done to my nose. I didn’t really know what I was feeling for, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

“We were in The Farm when they started shooting. We hid under a pile of hay, but the cows freaked when they heard the shots, and one of them stepped on her.” Sarah held her friend’s hand as she explained.

“Al!” Mattie shouted hurriedly from the door of the bedroom, catching me off guard.

Kayla and Sarah jumped at the sight of another person, eyeing her with apprehension.

“It’s okay, she’s with me. She’s
like
me,” I explained, which didn’t seem to ease Kayla’s concerns.

“There… there are more of you?” Sarah began, gasping as Al rushed into the room. “You?
!”

Al smiled gently and nodded at her. I found it a bit amusing that, even in the midst of all the horror, this girl had the nerve to blush.
Don’t get me wrong, Al was an attractive fellow… but the sight of his face probably wouldn’t have been enough to distract me from the death of my parents.

“That’s some leg you got there,” he said, staring grimly at the wound. “You’re going to need something to bite down on.”

Sarah retrieved a plain leather belt from the closet, but Kayla clamped her jaw shut and turned her head. Sarah sighed, placing her palm softly on her friend’s cheek.

“If you don’t trust them, then trust me,” she said softly, locking eyes with Kayla.

The girl surrendered, glaring weakly as Sarah shoved the belt into her mouth and kissed her on the forehead. Al took a deep breath, precisely placing his hands on her leg before shifting them with a swift crack. Kayla writhed on the bed, her howl muffled by the belt. As soon as Al had set the bone, he poured light into the wound, until her pain was completely eradicated.

“Better?” he asked.

Kayla nodded meekly, eyeing her newly-repaired leg in awe.

“Thank you.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but it was a grateful whisper.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Al said, patting her hand before moving to Mattie.

“Have you found anyone else?” Sarah asked, helping Kayla sit up.

“Emmy Stein is the only other survivor we’ve found,” I said softly. “You should go wait with her while we finish searching. You know which house is hers? Up in The Village?”

The girls nodded, but seemed entirely terrified.

“You don’t have to go alone,” Al said kindly. “I’ll take you. Angie, you and Mattie go on. I’ll catch up.”

Sarah gave me another hug before we parted ways, which felt odd. She was a couple of years younger than me, and we had rarely talked before. I’d always thought she and Kayla were bratty, but I really hadn’t ever tried to get to know them. Sarah seemed like a good enough person. I wondered how many other people within The Facility I had ignored because I’d been so quick to judge. How many of the bodies had belonged to good people. I would never get the chance to find out.

Al had caught up with us by the second-to-last floor, bringing with him the news that Emmy was obsessively cooking all the food in her kitchen because she thought Jason was too skinny. The words pushed a short wave of
uncontrollable laughter out of Mattie, as Jason was far enough from the realm of underweight that Emmy surely must have been talking about someone else. I knew she was only cooking to distract herself from the darkness that shrouded The Facility. Her husband had died not long ago, she thought her son had been kidnapped, and nearly everyone from her life was dead—I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if we returned to find that she’d repainted the exterior of the garage.

Not unexpectedly, we hadn’t come across any more survivors. Even the animals in The Farm had been shot, which explained why they’d been spooked enough to trample Kayla. Poor cows.

The last few floors had been quick enough to search, as they were only used for lab-runs. There wouldn’t have been any reason for people to be down there without having me around to test on, and they were still pretty damaged from the quake. Which was why the sounds of raspy breath caught me off guard as we entered the thirtieth floor.

Al grabbed my arm, stopping me before I could strik
e a match to light the darkness.

‘Mattie, wait in the stairwell,’
his voice resonated.

I squinted in confusion. If the owner of this raspy voice was dangerous, why was he sending away one-third of our power?

‘I’m not going in with you,’
he began, voice absent of an echo.
‘You’re not in any danger, don’t worry. But you have to do this on your own.’

I couldn’t understand why he followed Mattie back up the stairs, leaving me behind to deal with the last survivor. If the person was not dangerous, and was in as bad of shape as their breath suggested, why would Al want me to heal them on my own?

I stood with my back to the room, until Al fell out of sight around the corner of the stairs. I sighed heavily, lit my match, and immediately began following a trail of blood that led underneath a desk. The raspy breath quickened as my feet grew nearer, making it clear that the owner of those lungs was conscious. I forced down the lump in my throat, and knelt to the floor.

“You,” Mr. Gray said in accusation.

Of all the people… this was who Al wanted me to heal? He tried to scuttle away from me, but the wall behind him proved to be a bit of a hindrance. Both of his legs seemed badly damaged, and I could see where a bullet had grazed the side of his head. Judging by the blood that led all the way from the steps, I assumed he’d been shot on the stairs and had taken a nasty tumble.

“I’m here to help,” I said sharply.

Mr. Gray winced as he laughed, keeping his harsh eyes locked on mine.

“Help? Here to clean up this mess you caused?” Some blood trickled from his mouth as he choked on his words.

“William did this, not me,” I said plainly, trying to get a better look at his wounds. He wouldn’t let me touch him.

“The trigger was pulled in your name.” Mr. Gray’s eyes were fiery, and his voice was thick with disgust. “They should have put you down as soon as you were born. You are an aberration.”

I felt resentment and fury burn inside me. I tried to force it away so I could focus on healing the jerk’s wounds, but my temper wouldn’t cool.

I didn’t flinch as Mr. Gray continued to choke on his own blood. I just watched him. I watched him struggle to find breath. I watched him twitch and grasp at nothing. I watched the life drain from his eyes. I watched him die. And I did nothing to stop it from happening. I didn’t kill him, but I didn’t save him. Was there really a difference?

Around the corner, at the top of the steps, Al was waiting for me with Mattie. His eyes blankly met mine, without any sort of apparent judgment.

“He didn’t make it,” I said, calm gaze
briefly shifting between them before I continued up the stairs.

‘Was that a test?
’ I questioned inside my head, keeping our words from Mattie.

‘No.’

‘Then why did you send me in alone?’

‘Because you need to know what kind of person you are.’

“I really can’t eat anymore, I’m sorry,” I heard Jason say just as we walked back into Emmy’s house.

Sarah and Kayla emerged from the sitting room with looks of expectation on their faces.

“No one else?” Emmy asked from the kitchen doorway.

Al and I glanced at each other. I didn’t know whether to mention that there had been one other survivor, or to keep quiet.

“No,” Mattie spoke up suddenly, before joining Jason at the table.

Emmy’s face was void of any emotion. She simply nodded, stepped up onto a chair, and started wiping the chandelier with a damp cloth.

“What do we do now?” Sarah asked.

The thought crossed my mind that neither Sarah nor Kayla had ever been outside of The Facility. Their families
, along with everyone they had ever known, were gone. They had absolutely nowhere to go, and wouldn’t have the slightest clue how to make a fresh start on the outside. Their only option was to stay in the Eden, possibly for the rest of their lives.

“We’ll take you to a safe place,” Al responded, much to Jason and Mattie’s
obvious surprise. “We need to leave soon, though.”

Sarah didn’t seem too concerned about where we would be taking them, but Kayla looked absolutely terrified. She attached herself to Sarah’s arm, without any apparent intention of ever letting go.

My attention shifted to Emmy; it saddened me to watch her scrub each dangling crystal of the light so obsessively, seeking out anything that would distract her. I walked over, raised a hand to her arm, and lowered the cloth.

“Come on,” I said softly.

Emmy seemed to be on auto-pilot as she stepped down from her chair, meandered over to the mantel in the sitting room, and retrieved a plain, silver urn. She cradled it protectively against her chest as she dusted the top of it, then looked around expectantly, waiting for anyone to do anything that involved getting out of that terrible place.

The trek was slow, and full of gasps and tears and dry-heaves, and one unexpectedly explosive breakdown from Kayla at the sight of a body she obviously recognized. None of us asked who it was, because no matter how she knew him, there wouldn’t have been anything any of us could have said to lessen the hurt. Our white light could do nothing to fill the aching void left behind by the loss of a loved one. Fortunately, the comfort of Sarah’s arm around her shoulder was enough to keep her moving.

We eventually maneuvered our entire caravan to the top floor. Al illuminated the darkness for us, but the constantly-shifting shadows left me feeling like a child afraid of the monster under the bed, except I was under the bed too, and the monster was breathing down the back of my neck—or maybe I was the monster, and some other poor soul was trembling under the blankets above me.

“Mattie, Jason… will you be able to hide this many people?” he asked.

Mattie and Jason glanced at each other, before regretfully shaking their heads.

“Each of us can only cover two at a time,” Mattie said.

Al cracked open the door above us, peeking outside to check that the coast was clear.

“At least it’s dark out. Jason, you take Emmy and Angie. Mattie, you take the girls.

Emmy and I took Jason’s outstretched hands. A little squeak of surprise emitted from Kayla as she watched us vanish right before her eyes. She didn’t seem all too pleased to accept Mattie’s hand, but hesitantly followed Sarah in doing so, and released another small squeak when her own invisibility brought us back into view.

“Whoa,” Sarah breathed, a grin pulling at the corner of her mouth.

We clambered up through the crack of the door, wobbling unsteadily for a moment as our eyes adjusted to the darkness. Al was the last one through the door, and somehow managed not to bump into any of us as we began our journey back to the Eden. Mattie took the lead, and seemed surprisingly familiar with the path. I wondered how often she actually left the Eden. I had been assuming most of the Elementums lived out their entire lives under the water, stuck in a timeless paradise of sorts, but I realized that seemed pretty unlikely.

‘What happened down there? On the bottom floor?’
Mattie’s voice echoed in my head.

I glanced back at Al, even though he couldn’t see me. His
icy eyes nearly glowed in the moonlight, as they continuously scanned our surroundings. His expression offered me no help in answering Mattie’s question.

‘Nothing. I couldn’t save him.’

‘You’re lying,’
her voice accused, through the snapping of twigs beneath our feet.
‘I won’t say anything to the others, you can trust me. But I would like to—’

Mattie’s voice cut off from my mind before she could finish her thought.

‘Hello?’
My thought lacked any sort of echo, suggesting that Al was no longer relaying our messages.

Jason nearly toppled over himself
, as my abrupt stop almost yanked his arm out of its socket. The sounds of cracking branches beneath Al’s feet should have come from behind us… but they didn’t. I was afraid to turn around. I was afraid of what I knew I wouldn’t see.

“Al!” I shrieked, finally gathering the courage to shift my eyes toward the nothingness behind us.

Al, who had been there just moments before, was gone. We all stood completely still, waiting for his response, or the sounds of footsteps. I closed my eyes tightly, desperately hoping that when I opened them, he would pop out from behind a bush and say that he only stopped off for a wee. But he didn’t. My eyes only opened to the same emptiness of the forest.

I was about to call out for him again, when Jason slipped his palm over my mouth, stifling my scream. He shook his head as I eyed him angrily, and he yanked us after Mattie and the girls. Our footsteps were louder and less careful as
we rushed toward the waterfall.

We remained hidden until the stone had fully closed us into the pitch-black tunnel. Mattie waved her hand over the rock, creating the same translucence Al had earlier. Our range of view was limited, but our eyes scouted what we could see for any sign of followers. Nothing.

“What the hell?!” I shouted, backing myself against a side of the tunnel and sliding down to the ground. I dropped my face into my hands. “What happened?”

“Obviously, we weren’t a
lone,” Mattie said, seeming much more mature than her age. “Come on. We have to get back to the others.”

“What about Al?” I asked, anger flooding my voice.

Mattie looked at me with commanding eyes, illuminated by the flame hovering in her palm. Instead of responding, she simply turned and started walking toward the Eden.
Coward
. Jason bent down to help me to my feet, but I shoved his hand away and stood on my own.

It took a bit of coaxing to get Kayla to leave the tunnel. She dug her heels into the dirt as Sarah tried to drag her toward the under-water town in front of us. Finally, we resorted to leaving her behind, which seemed to make the decision quite easy for her. Within the first ten feet, she had latched herself back onto Sarah’s arm, and they followed closely behind us, staring in awe at the water above.

I stomped toward Lily’s house, the small windows glowing with lantern-light. All the feelings of anger seemed to drain away for a moment, as my eyes landed on Lakin, who was sitting on the top step outside the door. He had changed into the clothes someone had given him at the gathering, and no longer looked like a stick-figure huddled inside a circus tent. As I grew closer, I could see that his face was strained, focusing very intently on a blob of water that was swirling above his palm. He didn’t even notice as I leaned against the wall next to him.

“You learn quickly, young grasshopper.
”

The water splashed down, drenching his jeans as he jumped. He pushed himself to his feet, suffocating me in a warm, slightly damp, hug. He backed away just enough to put his hands on either side of my face and kiss me. In that instant, I forgot about all the terrible things the day had led to. The death and destruction and darkness faded from my memory, if only for a second.

“I missed you too,” I whispered as our lips parted.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Emmy’s gaze shift to anything that was not us. My heart sank. What must she have thought of me? Was I so quick to dismiss her son’s feelings that I could run off and meet another guy in the same week? If only she knew. If only I could explain in a way that would not confuse her to the point of insanity. In seeing her whisper something to the urn she clutched so tightly, perhaps insanity was something she was already familiar with.

“Angie?” Lily’s voice wavered from the door behind us. Her face was stiff, and her cheeks were shiny as she choked, “I can’t hear him.”