Oppression (15 page)

“Sure.” I slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom. My heart felt lighter, like it was easier to breath now that I had Sam’s forgiveness. “Thanks,” I said, looking back at him, “for not blaming me.”

“No prob, bob,” he answered with closed eyes.

The warm water turned pink as I scooped it up into my face. It was soothing against my sore cheeks, and I dreaded seeing what they must look like. After my skin was rinsed clean, I faced the mirror. There was already a purple bruise forming below my left eye, and the right side of my face was noticeably bigger than the other.

I’d never been beaten up before, but it made me feel stronger, tough even. I survived, and maybe next time, I would know what was coming. Having felt the pain, maybe my instincts would kick in, and I would be able to fight back.

I moved my face closer to the mirror, examining my war wounds. I couldn’t believe he hit me. A heavy feeling settled into the pit of my stomach as I thought of Anna. I hated the fact that Ryder knew about her, but if he hadn’t taken me, punished me like Sam, being flagged must mean we were safe.

“What do you think he meant when he said I was flagged?” I asked William as he came to the bathroom door.

“I don’t know,” he answered, taking the wash cloth and dabbing the spots I missed, “but it might have saved your life.”

His touch felt good, and I stayed quiet as he examined my face.

“You think he would have killed me?” I asked when he was finished.

“Depends on what you did,” he said with a look of interest. “Feel like telling me?”

I thought of Anna. All my life I’d been her secret. Now she was mine.

I shook my head. “No.”

The rest of the day was spent watching movies with everyone on my new TV. It felt like the only thing we could do to distance ourselves from what had happened. Sam and I got the recliner sides of the couch while the others sprawled out on the floor. It was nice to be with everyone, with friends, but I couldn’t take my mind off of Anna.

“Just be careful, okay?” I said, sneaking a phone call to her in my room.

“It was never a problem before, Elyse,” she answered. “I’m sure nothing will happen.”

“Anna. Promise me,” I demanded.

She sighed into the phone. “I promise.”

When everybody left, William insisted on staying. I didn’t protest. He’d been sleeping in my living room every night since Kara’s break-in anyway.

“William, how is it that I ended up living above Cearno’s?” I asked when we were alone.

“What do you mean?”

“Of all the places? All the cities?” I mused while snuggling against him in my bed. “I think Betsy knew.”

“She did,” he confessed.

I looked at him in shock. “How?”

“We’ve known Betsy ever since the crash. My dad and I were the ones who took you to her house after it happened.”

The memory came rushing back, the pain of it suddenly fresh in my mind. I remembered the image of the crumpled car I’d tried to erase thousands of times, those first days with Betsy, the hollow aching that consumed me then. But for the first time, something about the memory was different.

“You were the boy,” I said, making the connection. I didn’t need to ask. I knew it was him. He had those same sad eyes as he looked at me now.

He nodded. “We were on our way to visit you for the first time since your parents left. My dad said the blizzard would be good cover. When we saw the crash, we stopped. We didn’t know it was your car. There was nothing we could do about your parents, but you were still alive.”

I didn’t wipe the tears as they streamed freely down my cheeks, but this time they weren’t solely tears of grief. There was another feeling that accompanied the sadness. William had been there all along. The thought was comforting.

“I had no idea,” I said.

“I sat with you in the back seat on the way. You were out cold, but it was the first time I felt my skin burn against yours.”

I noticed the warmth of his arm against mine and smiled. I was getting used to it.

“We came to visit you a lot after that. My dad would always say, ‘Time to go see the girl you’re going to marry.’”

“I never saw you,” I said, too shy to respond to the last part of his sentence.

“You weren’t supposed to.”

I couldn’t believe Betsy had kept that kind of a secret from me, but I knew she felt it was for my own good, my protection. What would she think now, knowing I was smack dab in the center of it all? I felt sleep beckoning me as I thought of her. At least she came to visit in my dreams.

“Thanks,” I said, closing my tired eyes.

“For what?” he asked.

“Saving me.”

We hadn’t planned on sleeping together in my bed, but that’s where we ended up.
Why not?
I told myself as I drifted off, using his chest as a pillow.

14.

WAKING UP NEXT to William was both a thrilling realization and a horrifyingly embarrassing experience. I opened my eyes in the dim light of the morning to find him gazing gently back at me. I couldn’t dredge up a more pleasing image to grace the first moments of my day, but how long had he been watching me? I smiled back at him warily, taking note of my sprawled out legs and cowlicked hair. Smiling made my cheeks hurt, and I remembered my face. I must look like a train wreck.

“Hi,” I managed as I sat up pulling my knees into my chest.

“Hi,” he chuckled back. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” I answered, feeling the sore spots with my hands. “Does it look bad?”

He shrugged. “Purple’s not a bad color on you.”

I laughed. “Great.”

“The good news is the rest of your body seems to be working perfectly.” I gave him a strange look. “Bit of a bed hog, huh?”

“Really?” I moaned. How humiliating. What was I thinking having him sleep in my bed?

“Actually, it’s fine. You’re a lot less shy in your sleep.” He sat up as he spoke, propping himself against the headboard.

“How so?” I shot out anxiously.

“‘Snuggly’ might be a bit of an understatement,” he said with an overly-satisfied grin.

I laughed uneasily as I tried to hide my bruised and battered face behind my still untamed hair. The thought of my body quickly succumbing to William’s innate allure as soon as my conscious mind was out of the picture was unnerving. Who knew what deeply buried subconscious desires would make themselves known in the night. He was lucky I didn’t suffocate him. Suddenly, the image of a child squeezing its beloved new pet beyond its capacity accompanied my thoughts.

“You should have moved to the couch.” I hoped I hadn’t kept him up all night.

“Are you kidding? The more Elyse the better.”

“But what if I snuggle you to death or something?” I asked half teasing, half considering the possibility of such a thing.

“Well,
if
that were to happen, I couldn’t think of a better way to go. ‘Come, death, and welcome. Elyse wills it so.’”

“All right, Romeo,” I smiled at his witty reference, “but you do realize he dies at the end right?”

“A risk I’m willing to take.”

I glanced at the clock with regret. 11:26. “I guess we should get up,” I said without enthusiasm.

“Yeah, we have class soon.”

As soon as William headed for the bathroom, I let myself sprawl out again, burying my face into the gathered bed-sheets which had captured his lingering scent.

Then, out of nowhere, there was a knock at the door. I hopped down the stairs in my pajamas, expecting Rachel or Nics.

“Let me in,” Kara demanded, pushing me aside as I answered the door.

“Wow,” I said as she charged past me up the stairs.

“Who is it?” William asked.

“Me,” she answered.

I found the two of them in the living room and kept my distance.

“What are you doing here?” he said without welcome.

“Nice to see you, too.”

“What’s going on?” I asked with an angry voice. I hadn’t exactly forgiven her for standing back and watching while Sam and I got beaten to a pulp.

“Nice face,” Kara snickered.

“That’s it,” William said, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her toward the door. “Get out of here.”

She yanked her arm free. “This is the thanks I get for saving your little girlfriend from torment?”

William looked at me, then back at her. “Explain,” he demanded.

“Elyse is the one who needs to explain. Do you want to tell him your little secret or should I?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to tell William about Anna.

“Elyse, what is it?” he asked urgently. His eyes were fixed on me as if I were holding a grenade about to explode.

“My best friend is human,” I admitted. “She lives in Oakland.”

“She stayed the night there,” Kara added.

He brushed his fingers through his hair, pinning it back and out of his face. “So that’s where you went when you didn’t come home?”

I nodded. “I didn’t know about any of this when I met her. I’ve known her for half of my life. She and her daughter are as good as family.”

“What does she know?” William asked.

“Everything,” Kara answered for me.

He shook his head. “What about the daughter? What does she know?”

Kara watched me out of the corner of her eye as she spoke. “Not as much.”

His face was pained and full of furious concern as he thought about what to say. He sat on the couch, eyes dropped to the floor. “Why hasn’t Ryder killed them?” he asked perplexed.

Kara shrugged. “They’re flagged.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, moving closer now that I could see she wasn’t a threat.

“It means they’ve been granted amnesty. They’re untouchable. I don’t get it. I’ve never heard of a human being flagged before. It doesn’t happen.”

“Untouchable? According to your pal Ryder, Elyse is flagged. Didn’t seem to matter much to him.”

“It was the best I could do, okay?” Kara spat.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, getting frustrated with her.

“He was going to kill Elyse,” she shouted. “I didn’t have any other option.”

He stood quickly, nervous. “Kara, what did you do?”

Her eyes were apologetic. “I had to tell them, William.”

“What?” I begged. “Tell who what?”

“We’ve got to go,” William insisted. “Now.” He grabbed my coat off of the hanger and threw it at me.

“Why?” I asked confused.

“She told them who you are, Elyse,” William yelled.

“I had to,” she fought back. “I knew they wouldn’t touch her if they knew she was the new mother, but that’s it. That’s all I told them.”

“You know they’ll be investigating her now. What happens when they make the connection to the prophecy?” William asked with an edge to his voice.

“I don’t know,” she answered with remorse.

William grabbed my shoulder bag and nearly dragged me out the door, leaving Kara standing alone in my living room.

“I can’t believe it,” William murmured to himself as he drove like a maniac in the direction of The Institute. “After all these years of keeping you a secret, she goes and blabs.”

“She had to,” I defended her. “Would you rather he killed me?”

His face stayed hard and angry as we drove, but I could tell he was just as grateful for Kara as I was. “No.”

“I can’t believe he was just going to kill me,” I thought out loud.

“I can’t believe he
hasn’t
killed your friends.”

The thought was paralyzing. Anna and Chloe were in danger because of me. The idea that they would be killed simply for knowing me seemed too insane to be true.

“How do they get away with it, killing so many innocent people?”

“They say it’s for the greater good,” he answered honestly.

I sat dumbfounded for a few moments, gazing out the car window at the passing streets. The silence prompted him to speak.

“It’s completely backwards, I know,” he admitted, “but they get away with it because they claim it’s for our protection, that there is no other way.”

“Doesn’t everyone see the injustice?” It made me sick to think about it.

“We know it’s wrong, but what can anyone do about it?”

Only one answer seemed the appropriate response.

“Fight back,” I returned, but he shook his head.

“We tried fighting back. It didn’t work,” he answered, pulling into a parking spot. “And according to the prophecy, it won’t work without you.”

I heaved a sigh and shot out of the car slamming the door behind me. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know,” he said to me over the roof of the car, “and I don’t want it to be true any more than you, but that’s the reason nobody has stood up to them. That’s the truth.”

We walked in silence for a few minutes, but I was too frustrated to keep quiet. I felt William’s eyes fall on me, watching and waiting for me to say something.

“Well, that’s crazy,” I retaliated. “Isn’t it?”

How long had things been like this? It was one thing to withhold abilities for the safety of the communities, but to kill off innocent people? And what did everyone expect me to do about it? He stopped me in the middle of the maze of parked cars to answer me straight to my face.

“No, crazy is putting the ones you love at risk to challenge a force that will undoubtedly come raining down on you with an iron fist to destroy the very memory of your existence. That’s crazy. Why would anyone risk that when they know about the prophecy?”

“What if the prophecy isn’t even real? What if Christoph just made it up to keep people waiting for someone who will never come?”

“The prophecy is true, Elyse. My dad heard it from the oracle herself.”

“If it’s true, why doesn’t Christoph just kill me and get it over with? Why not take out the enemy before it all starts?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”