Oppression (16 page)

15.

OUR CONVERSATION HAD generated a whole world of emotions I wasn’t ready for. There was no way of knowing what to expect. If I was truly in danger, what would happen if they did come for me? All I could control were my own actions, my own choices, and right now, I needed to figure out what to do about Anna before it was too late.

Sympathy shined through William’s soft expression as we stepped into the elevator. Only one man joined us, and when I looked at him I immediately began to smell lavender. The floral fragrance made me instantly relax, and for a moment, I let go of my worries. I felt like I was getting an ambush aromatherapy treatment. When the man stepped out, he winked a blue eye at me and took the scent with him.

“Thanks, Henry,” William said as the door closed.

“What was that about?” I asked as we rode the elevator to the top floor.

“I don’t know. Normally he makes it smell like chocolate. I guess he thought you looked stressed.”

“I am,” I said, as we stepped into the flowing mass of Descendant students. Those who passed stared at my swollen face. “I need to find Iosif.”

“Okay, let’s go,” William said decidedly. Obviously he assumed I needed advice on how to deal with The Council’s new knowledge, and maybe I would ask about that, but my main concern was Anna.

“I think I should go alone,” I said, stopping him in his tracks.

He looked at me, and I could tell he thought I was upset with him about our conversation.

“Sure,” he answered, and he let go of my hand.

I thought about explaining, but there was nothing I could say. He couldn’t know about my plans for Anna. I knew he would try and stop me, so I let him think I was mad and turned to find the door to Iosif’s office without a word.

The professor answered before I knocked.

“Please, come in,” he welcomed me with a mangled toothy smile.

“Hi,” I said, as he closed the door behind me.

“I thought you might be back.” He seemed pleased with himself, and took a seat behind his desk leaning forward with interest. “You must have more against The Council than you’d originally thought.” His eyes strayed away from mine as he took notice of the bruises on my face. “How can I help you, my dear?”

Although the answer to his question popped into my head immediately, I thought carefully about how to word it.

“Well, I thought maybe you could tell me more about my ability,” I explained, sitting down to face him. He didn’t need to know more than that.

His expression became curious. “Ahh, but there is another reason. A specific goal you seek to accomplish, and this is why you hope to learn of your ability. Am I right?”

He was more than right. He was dead on. My heart began to thud. Did he know what I was planning? Was it a crime to even
think
of healing a human? I should have expected this. I was in a school for people with special abilities, and here I was trying to pry information out of one of the eldest professors. I felt stupid for not considering the fact that he might be able to decipher my plan. I bit the inside of my upper lip. This was a bad idea.

“I assure you I am on your side, child,” he continued. “Destiny has chosen you to do its bidding and appointed me to assist you in the process. Whatever it is you don’t want me to know is safe with me.”

I didn’t like that he could come so close to my thoughts of Anna. Even if he was trying to help me, it was best for him to do so in the dark.

“So what is
your
ability?” I asked changing the subject.

“Intuition.” The source of the deep lines in his face became clear as he smiled widely. “My bloodline is of Metis. I do not know your thoughts, but I can sense the essence of them. Do not let this frighten you. I am here to help.”

His face still held a kind smile, making it hard to not trust him, but as soon as he spoke again, the lightheartedness fell from his expression.

“This goal, I am supposed to ensure you accomplish it. Whatever it is you need to know, I am here to provide the answers.” The sincerity of his tone was nothing to be questioned.

“Why would you do that? You don’t even know what it is.”

“My wife told me to.” He seemed to find humor in these words as well. “But as you know, my wife is no ordinary woman.”

Although he spoke of the oracle lightly, I picked up on the reference instantly. She was still meddling, still pulling strings, trying to control the outcome of my future.

“She is here to help you and is putting herself at great risk to aid in the success of your destiny.”

“My destiny.” The idea of someone plotting out my future for me was unsettling, especially when I had my own plans. To think this woman had seen something in my future worth risking her safety for didn’t help either. “I wanted to talk to you about that actually.”

“I know you struggle with the truth, but it will unfold before you.”

“Even if I have other plans?”

“I imagine so. No matter what path you take, it will lead you where you need to be.”

“What if the path I take involves breaking Descendant law?”

He scratched his chin, and his lips pulled together in a tight apprehensive line. “Your choices will dictate the course, but in the end, it will play out as foretold.”

“I know how my ability works if I apply my blood directly to a wound,” I said getting to the point.

“Yes. Obviously, the larger the wound, the more blood you’ll be forced to sacrifice.”

I knew that in order to heal I would have to inflict pain upon myself, but thinking about it still made my stomach churn. I dreaded the answer to my next question.

“What if what I want to heal is not a wound but a body?”

Picking up on the essence of my thought, Iosif gave me an understanding nod. “That is something that comes with great risk to you.” His eyes focused on me intently, gauging my reaction.

“All right,” I accepted, sitting up straight in my chair. I knew there would be consequences, but I was willing to pay the price.

“In the case of a sick body, the person would need to ingest the blood like medicine, but depending on the severity of the illness . . . the amount you would have to give could kill you.”

My heart nearly stopped.
Kill
me? I had to make sure.

“To cure a body of progressed cancer for instance . . .”

“Would be a sacrifice,” he finished.

I had assumed I would have to run away, hide, fight back against The Council, but I never expected the act alone to kill me. I needed a second to digest it. I looked down at my thumb which had nearly been picked raw and forced myself to stop. He couldn’t be right. My body was meant to heal. How could it be so weak? There had to be some other way, a loophole, a trick.

“Couldn’t I just draw a little at a time? Save it until I have enough?”

“As the blood is preserved outside of your body, it loses effect. The only way is to do an immediate transfer to the injured being.”

My one shred of hope was put out like a match on a windy day. My sacrifice, or more appropriately, my death, was the cost of healing Anna.

“I know that must be difficult to hear, not what you expected,” he sympathized.

“It’s not what I expected,” I admitted, “but if it’s the only way . . . Turns out I’m not your prophecy girl after all, Professor.”

“Prophecies are not to be interpreted or arranged. They unfold as they please, taking us all by surprise. Your sacrifice could be what causes the war that brings an end to The Council. There is no way to tell.”

If what he said was true, only one of two things would happen. Anna would die, or I would. The thought was devastating. I felt sick and numb and hollow, like my very being had been sucked dry from my still standing body.

“I think I just assisted you in something that will very possibly cause your own death.”

“Yes,” I answered decidedly. “I think you did.”

When Iosif excused me from our meeting, I found William waiting for me in the hall expecting answers. I was grateful in that moment that his eyes, which carried all the beauty of the earth and infinite sky, could not bear witness to the crumbled wreckage of my love-sick heart. If Iosif was right, and I chose to save Anna in place of my own life, it would break him, and as I thought of losing him, I felt my throat tighten. I couldn’t allow myself to cry.

Seeing him had me questioning a decision that I had considered already made. Suddenly, I didn’t know if I could go through with it. After all these years, I’d finally found love. It wasn’t fair that it should be taken away so soon. Before William, I would have died for Anna without a second thought, but as he looked at me, I could see the love in his eyes. He needed me, too. Maybe it was selfish, but there had to be another way.

“Well?” he asked.

Well what?
I wondered in my head. Had he heard something he wasn’t supposed to? I wasn’t ready to face him about my choice. He wouldn’t understand. I couldn’t look him in the eyes. How could I, knowing how deeply I would break his heart if I chose Anna over him? But a broken heart would heal, and Anna, if left untreated, would undoubtedly die. My chest felt heavy.

“What did he say?”

I tried to steady my voice, act myself, and smile back when he hit me with one of his intoxicating looks.

“He said things will play out the way they were foretold no matter what I do.”

He threw his hands up. “That’s it? What are we supposed to do? Run? Fight? I need to talk to him.”

“No,” I insisted, grabbing his hand before he could walk away. “William, come on. He just means what your dad said, ‘business as usual.’ Iosif said no matter what path I take, it will lead to the same place. We just have to wait and see what happens.”

He sighed heavily as the classroom doors began to open, and students poured out into the sterile hallway. “Wait and see?”

“Yeah,” I said, coaxing him along with a tug of my hand.

We walked to the car without a word. The more I thought about it, the more conflicted I felt. If it was really her or me, how could I live with myself knowing that I had the power to save her and didn’t, that I held the cure, but denied her of it? Tears began to well up in my eyes as we left the elevator. I casually dabbed the corners where they had started to pool, catching the drops before they could fall. I tried to tell myself that I had time, time to figure out what to do.

“They could be wrong about me, William,” I mused once we were in the privacy of my apartment. In truth, it didn’t matter whether they were right or wrong. My main focus was Anna, and whether or not healing her led to fulfilling the prophecy was of little concern to me.

“They’re not,” he said. I could read the uncertainty in his eyes. They were lukewarm, undecided, worried. Thoughts were happening behind them that I couldn’t decipher, but he was sorting through them more intently than listening to me.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

Our eyes met, both searching each other for different answers.

“Even if they don’t know about the prophecy, they know you’re the new mother. And who knows what Christoph has planned?”

“If they come for me, I’ll fight back. If I’m supposed to bring them down, maybe this is how it starts. I’ll do what I have to,” I said, my eyes pleading for him to understand the deeper meaning, but how could he?