Ascension (2 page)

Since taking blood, neither Laura nor Logan could fall asleep, and so neither could access the dream realm.  It was another roadblock they had to overcome: to make use of the angels’ help, they had to fight the elders in the dream realm.  But unless Madison could figure out how to use the herbs to help Laura and Logan fall asleep, without sapping either of them of their powers, there was no telling
when
the effects of taking blood would fade away.  Moreover, Laura’s first feeding had been on
Vassiz
blood, which was much stronger, and much more potent, than regular human blood.  So it was expected that it would take much longer for the effects of her feeding to wear off compared to the effects of Logan’s. 

“Well?” Laura asked.  “What is it?”  In the past week, Madison frequently suggested to have made some vague sort of progress.  Twice she had thought that she had perfected the formula, and twice, upon taking it, Laura discovered she had not.  The first time, the thick syrup made all of Laura’s
Vassiz
senses fade away, but, unlike when Serkhol and Borrak administered it, it did not make her pass out.  Instead, a wave of paranoia gripped her, and she spent the better part of two days convinced every shadow moving in the distance was the elders coming for her.  The second time, Laura’s senses did not fade away, but she fell instantly into a deep and troubled sleep.  Nightmares haunted her mind, more vivid than she could believe, but the dream realm remained inaccessible.  At least that time, she had only lost a few hours when she was asleep.

“I think,” Madison said slowly, “that I know what went wrong last time.”

“That’s it?” Laura snapped.  “That’s all you have for your progress?” 

“Do not be so quick to dismiss it,” Madison said with an icy calm.  “Without subjects to test it on, it takes days to figure out even the simplest thing.”

“You’re right,” Laura sighed.  “I’m sorry.  I know you’ve been working hard.”

“We all have,” Alexander noted.

“I know.  It’s just we’ve been here so long, and we haven’t actually accomplished anything…”

“Getting here was an accomplishment by itself,” Madison said.

“I know.  But now that we have, I just… I don’t know, I would have thought the search for the repository would have gone smoother, that’s all.”

“Even if we found it earlier, Laura,” Logan put in gently, “it wouldn’t have mattered before Madison formulated the potion.”

“I know,” Laura sighed.  “It just feels like we’re sitting ducks here, waiting for the elders to strike.”

“They’ll have a hard time finding us in this desert,” Alexander said.  “We’ve all been careful not to give ourselves away when going to town.”

“But is that enough?  What if somebody recognizes one of us?”

“Out here?” Alexander barked a cruel laugh.  “That’d be quite a feat.  There are
Vassiz
worldwide, yes, but none that we would know.  And besides, the disguises…”

“Right.”  The
disguises
.  They weren’t much, but they made quite a difference.  Her own hair was now a streaked blond, rather than the dark brown she was used to.  Every time she caught a look of herself in a mirror, or some other reflective surface, she was startled at how much different she looked.  Couple that with the physical changes that came about following her transformation, and almost nobody else would pin her as the same girl the elders had shown to the other
Vassiz
.  “So, Madison, what was it that went wrong?”

“Too strong a mixture,” Madison answered.  “Contaminated with impure ingredients.  Only the purest will work, I fear.”

“Will you be able to find them here?”

 “I think I’ll be able to,” she said coyly.  “And once I do, the formula will be ready.”

“That’s good,” Laura said.  “If it works, that means we’ll be ready as soon as we find the repository.”

“It’ll work,” Madison confirmed.  “I’m sure of it.”

“Good.  Now then, has anyone heard from Jacob?”  He had left that morning without a word, presumably to go look for the repository on his own. 

“No,” Logan shook his head.  Alexander made the same gesture.  Even Madison shrugged. 

Laura dug her nails into the palm of her hand.  She was always the last one to get back to the tent after a day of searching.  That was what they agreed upon, because if the elders found the tent it afforded her the best chance of getting away.  But now that Jacob had arrived, he had taken to staying out all day and nearly all night before returning to report his progress.  None of them knew exactly where he went, either.  It put Laura on edge. 

“Well, nothing we can do but wait, then,” Laura said in a tight voice.  They had all agreed to come back to the tent twice in every twenty-four hour period, once at dawn and once at dusk, to report whatever progress they’d made.  And none of them ventured out again before seeing the others. 

“He’ll be here,” Madison promised.  “Soon.”

Chapter Two

~Progress~

They waited for Jacob in the tent.  After an hour had passed, Laura had had enough.  They could not just waste time like that, while the elders were still out there looking for them.  Every minute spend still was a minute wasted.  And yet, she knew that she couldn’t go out again before seeing Jacob.  They had to coordinate their efforts before and after every search. 

The small tent was stifling.  Madison and Alexander were talking off to the side in low tones, but nothing they said concerned her.  Logan had tried speaking to her a few times, but she just wasn’t in a talkative mood.  Nothing was going right, and it was all her fault.  An inkling of a plan began to form in her mind, and she was sure it was one the others would not like.  Still, they were all her responsibility, and she had to ensure they stayed safe.

After the fifth or sixth time Laura brushed Logan aside, he got up and stalked out into the night.  She hadn’t meant to upset him, but she really had too much on her mind at the moment.  What would happen if she failed?  She didn’t want to even begin thinking of the consequences, but she could not avoid it.  Every day that went by without so much as a
hint
to the whereabouts of the repository brought her closer and closer to failure. 

There were so many others relying on her.  The angels, for one.  They had been wrongfully imprisoned by the elders long ago, and she swore to take revenge based on that.  Her family, as well.  They must still be wondering what happened to her since she just disappeared from school what seemed like so long ago.  Although she knew she could never see them again, she still wanted to make sure they were safe.  And of course, Madison, Alexander, and Logan, all relied on her to ensure they succeeded.

But it wasn’t just them.  She had been able to get a lot of thinking done these past few weeks, and come to a startling conclusion.  If the elders were taken down, not only would the other
Vassiz
stop chasing her, but they would also become, for the first time in their whole existence,
free
.  Free from answering to some higher council, and free from living in fear of the elders’ wrath.  Free to be who they wanted.  Despite what the packs did to her, chasing her from her home, and uprooting her from her simple life, she couldn’t believe that they were all bad.  Alexander and Madison, and even Jacob, proved otherwise.  Logan too, of course, but he was so different from the rest that it barely counted.  He was
of course
unlike any of the others.

But the other
Vassiz
had only chased after her on the orders of their superiors.  Because of that, she held no grudge against them.  It was not like any of them could have rejected the orders.  At least, not without consequence.  None of them really had a choice.  But if the elders were taken down, the
Vassiz
worldwide would become free to make choices of their own.  Laura only hoped that the kindness she saw from Alexander, Madison, Logan, Jacob, and Rafael would in the end supersede the manipulative, dark demeanor of
Vassiz
that she had been told to expect.

A hand on her shoulder startled her from her thoughts.  She looked over, and found Madison standing beside her.

“Logan’s been out for quite some time,” she said softly.  “Maybe you should go check on him.”

“He’s fine,” Laura said curtly.

Madison tsked.  “You may be intelligent, Laura, but you’re also young.”  She smiled to show she meant no harm.  “That’s your man out there, and you’ve been ignoring him all day.  I’d bet all I have he’s feeling pretty dejected right now.”

“What?”  Logan was strong, and he wasn’t one to be so prone to emotions. 
Was he
?  “He knows better than that.”

“So it might seem to you.  But inside, we’re all running on the same emotions.  Each one of us is frustrated, Laura, but these are the times we need to stick together the most.  Besides, I know you two haven’t had much time alone recently.”

“No,” Laura admitted.

“Well, now may be the best opportunity you get, while we’re waiting for Jacob to return.”  Madison smiled.  “There’s no harm in it, in either case.”

“No, I guess not,” Laura mumbled, and stood up.  Madison went back to Alexander, and Laura lifted the flap to go outside.  It was dark, but she could see through the night as well as if it were day.  However, she did not see Logan anywhere.

She looked down to the ground, and found his footsteps leading away into the desert.  The imprints were light, and barely visible.  But they were enough for Laura to figure out where Logan went.

She followed the trail away from the tent.  At night, the wind seemed to always subside, and the heat wasn’t so bad as during the day.  Here, nighttime was the only time Laura felt comfortable.

She followed Logan’s footsteps up toward a sand dune, at which point they disappeared.  She felt a small breeze against her skin.  It must have swept over the trail he made.  She walked on, topping the rise.  Then, on the other side, she found Logan, sitting on the ground and looking away from her.  She had been quiet following him, and didn’t think he knew she was there. 

Laura just watched him for a few moments.  His dark hair had grown out quite a bit since she first met him.  It looked almost like a mane, now.  He stared out into the distance, not moving.  While she couldn’t see his face, she could tell from the way his shoulders slumped down that he must be feeling just as discouraged with their current situation as she was. 

He turned his head back abruptly, right toward her.  His eyes caught the full glare of the moon, and shone like diamonds in the dark.  Laura nearly stumbled back in surprise. 

“How’d you know I was here?” she asked, picking her way down toward him.  She was sure she made no noise.

“You breathe as loudly as a cow,” he said plainly, and despite the insult, Laura smiled.  At least he could still joke around.

“And you walk heavy as an elephant,” she said.  “Even a human child could have followed you here from the tent.”

“Maybe I wanted to be followed.”

“That’s what Madison said.”  Laura knelt down behind him, and placed her hands on his shoulders.  His back was tense.  She started massaging it gently with her thumbs.  Logan let his head fall forward.

“I guess this isn’t quite what you expected when you made the choice to come out here, huh?” he asked gently.

“No,” Laura admitted.  “I did not think it would be this hard.”

“Things are always hard, Laura.  Nothing about what we’re doing is going to be easy.”

“But it’s not even that,” she said.  “It’s worse.  You know how I feel.  Every day that goes by without progress is a day lost.  We can’t expect to remain here forever.  And while we’re searching, the elders are getting stronger.  And closer to finding us.  We have to strike at them before they find us, but I’m afraid…”

“Yes?”

“I’m afraid we won’t find the repository in time.  I’m afraid the elders will find us, first, and we’ll be helpless against them.”

Logan turned around and caught her hands in his.  He looked at her deeply.  “You’ll never be helpless with me by your side.”

She smiled weakly.  “I know.  But what happens when we face all the elders?  What if they come at us, together?  All of us – me, you, Madison, Alexander – were nearly bested by
two
of their hunters.  And there are
eight
of them!  Unless we find the repository soon, and have the angels on our side, we’ll be outnumbered by the most powerful of the
Vassiz
.  And I don’t know how much our courage can do for us then.”

Logan frowned.  “When did you become so pensive?”

“I’ve just been thinking a lot recently,” Laura answered.  “About what we’re doing, about how we’re doing it.  About everything.”

“You’re not changing your mind about any of this, are you?” Logan said dangerously.

“What?  No!  But I sometimes wonder if we’re going about it the right way.”