The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (3 page)

“Of course,” my father said. My mother mumbled something but it was so incoherent I figured it was because of the alcohol. My father shot her a look and she pressed her lips together. Looking back over to Aileen, my father faked a smile. “Mia, show Aileen around.”

“Yes, Father,” I said. “Would you like to see the Great Room?

  Aileen smiled. “I’d love that.” She let go of my hands, and before I had a chance to move, she looped her arm with mine. I smiled dutifully at my father and dropped the smile the moment we were out of sight. 

Aileen walked slowly as she murmured her approval of all of the decorations.
One. Two. Three. Stop. One. Two. Three. Stop. One. Two. Three. Stop.
Aileen kept stopping us after three steps. At this rate, we would get to the Great Room by midnight. Of course, Aileen never noticed my irritation. That or she didn’t care. When the Great Room came into view, I almost jumped up and down but I didn’t get the chance, as Aileen kept walking past it. I looked back toward the Great Room as we walked farther from it.

“Umm…we passed the Great Room,” I said.

Aileen smiled down at me.
Thank you, height, for making me so short
. “I figured when you slowed your steps as we walked past.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I thought you wanted to see the Great Room?”

Aileen waved me off with her free hand. “I’ve been here plenty of times before. I know how to get around.” 

That was news to me. I’d never seen her before, and I had lived here for almost eighteen years. “Okay. So where are we going?” There were only two more rooms down this hall: the kitchen and the library. 

“I was thinking the library would do just fine.” We moved our way around guests and into the library. Only a few people were mingling in the room. Aileen kept moving toward the back of the library, dragging me along with her. Unease tickled at the pit of my stomach.

Aileen let go of my arm the moment we were out of earshot. She walked toward the last bookcase, gliding her fingers across the books. “It has been so long since the last time I was in here.”

I stood there awkwardly. Scratching the back of my neck, I wondered if I could sneak out before she noticed.

“But I remember it just like it was yesterday,” she whispered. I started to tiptoe backward until the next words stopped my progress. “Your mother and I were in here looking for a book on magic. Of course, we don’t believe in magic. We just wanted to see if others believed in it. Anyway, we were all the way back here, searching through books endlessly. Your mother had to eat and pee a lot.” Aileen smiled over at me. “She was pregnant with you. And your sister kept running up and down the aisle, giggling.”

My heart throbbed at the mention of my sister. “You knew my sister?” I tried to keep my voice neutral, but it ended up coming out wobbly. 

Aileen nodded her head. “I did. She was a wonderful child. She was always happy. Of course, this was years ago, way before the incident.”

I flinched at the word incident. Slight tremors started to swim up my body. “I don’t remember you.” It was true. 

Aileen kept her attention on the books. “That’s because the last time I saw you, you were only four.”

“Oh.” I walked over to the only empty wall in the room and leaned up against it. “Why’d you stop coming over?” 

“Your mother and I had a falling out.” Aileen shrugged her shoulders. “But that was years ago.” She pulled out a book and started flipping through pages. “So, Mia, how’s school going?” Closing the book, she put it back and pulled out another one.

I shrugged my shoulders. “School is school.”

“Do you like school?” Aileen flipped through the book slowly, making sure she went through each individual page before she closed it, returned it, and took down another one.

I nodded my head. “It’s okay, I guess.”

“Why would you guess? I bet you’re a bright student.” Aileen closed that book and started another. I furrowed my brows as I watched her.
What the hell is she doing
? I watched as Aileen did her routine on the next book, and then the next one. “Well?” 

I shook my head out of the daze of watching her. “Huh?” I asked. I could hear other voices, but they were all the way down at the other side of the room. The library was enormous. It was a two-story library accessible from three entrances and was approximately twenty-nine feet by twenty-seven feet. One way to enter was the way we came in, from the Grand Hallway. Another entry point was on the second floor, which enters into the upstairs landing. The third entryway was through a hidden bookcase in the middle of the library. At least that’s what I’d read about. Of course I’d never actually been able to find that last entry point. The central part of the room had a seven-foot fireplace with a mirror sitting above it; reflecting the staircase. The entire room was surrounded by bookcases on both floors. 

Aileen chuckled. She closed the book and repeated her system with the next one. “Why wouldn’t you like school?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it. I love to learn. I just don’t really have many friends, and a lot of the kids don’t like me.” I rubbed my hands over my arms. “Lunch can be lonely.”

“That’s great that you love to learn. And don’t worry about having friends. Once you run Lorburn, you will have many friends.”

I gritted my teeth.
Because having friends only because you run something is so cool.
“I don’t really see people sucking up to me as friends. If I did, then I would have friends now.”

Aileen cursed as she put the book away and grabbed another. “You’ll find having followers will come in handy one day.” 

I bit my lip to stop myself from commenting on that. I watched, as though I were mesmerized, as she went through three more books. Getting more frustrated, I finally asked, “What are you doing?” 

“I’m looking for something I hid a very long time ago.” She fumbled through two more when she let out a disgruntled sigh. “It’s not here. How is it not here?” She walked back and forth, scratching her head.

“What was it?” I asked. 

Aileen stopped suddenly and looked at me. She looked like she had aged ten years just by flipping through books. She shook her head. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Walking over to the two armchairs that faced the back bookcase, Aileen sat down. She patted the seat next to her and I reluctantly took it.

“Have you been mated?” she asked.

Worry seeped in and out on her pale face, and I tried very hard to not think much into it. “No, not yet.” Or at least I didn’t think so.

“I’m surprised,” she said. “You turn eighteen in just a few months, don’t you?”

“February fourteenth.” 

“Three months away, and you don’t have anyone to mate with?” She tried to act surprised, but I didn’t believe it. 

“My father hasn’t told me if I’ve been mated yet or not.” I wasn’t looking forward to that talk. I didn’t think it was right that my parents had free rein over whom I was to marry. My father had passed a bill the day I turned thirteen: parents of any child born into the council determined whom the child married. The child had no say in it at all. It was a way for my father to make sure I didn’t marry someone he didn't approve of. I was seventeen and in three months, I would be eighteen and would have to present the person I was mated with to the people of Lorburn. Of course, we'd wait to get married until I was twenty, and in the meantime I would learn everything there was to learn about Lorburn and its regions—it wasn’t like I didn’t already know most of it. I would never have a day to myself again. So I was looking for these next three months to go as slowly as possible.  

“That’s a pity,” she said, except she didn’t sound like she thought it was a pity at all.

“What were you looking for?” I blurted out. Aileen kept glancing from bookcase to bookcase, tapping her finger against her lips.

Instead of answering my question, she leaned into me and lowered her voice, “You need to be very careful.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“There is a movement happening. Terrible people are trying to take over. They will come after you. I promise you that. And there will be nothing you can do to stop them. Trust no one. Rely on no one. Be vigilant. And whatever you do, listen to your gut. If it is telling you to run, you run.”

Goosebumps trailed up my spine. The uneasiness was back swimming in the pit of my stomach. “What movement?” I tried to keep the skepticism out of my voice.

A small, sad smile formed on her lips. “I can’t tell you. I wish I could. I wish I could have helped both you and your sister long ago.”

My body stiffened. “How could you have helped? You don’t even know what happened.”

She continued on like I hadn’t said anything. “Thankfully your sister is at peace and is happy. But you—” she reached up and cupped my face “—things are about to happen, and you’re going to experience more pain than you ever have felt before.”

I cleared my throat. Anger bubbled up in my chest, and I wanted to shove her hand off of me. “You’re crazy.” I moved my head away from her soft hand and stood up from the chair. Rushing out of the library, I could hear my name being called, but I didn't stop until I had made it through the kitchen and out onto the back patio. I hurried down the stairs and made my way to the back alley, slamming the metal gate closed and sliding down it. Blood pounded in my ears while black dots danced in my vision.

I buried my head into my hands and tried to breathe in and out, but my breath kept catching. I willed the tears away. I was not going to cry over something that had happened in the past, no matter how much it pained me. I knew better than to cry. If I showed weakness in front of my father, he would make it that much more painful.

I lifted my head and brought my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my knees and setting my chin on them. A cold breeze blew by, causing me to shiver; goose bumps covered my arms.
I should have brought out a coat.
My dress didn’t cover much of my upper body. I was wearing a long, silky denim-blue dress. It clung to my hips and breasts and dropped down to my feet. It was a halter dress, exposing my entire back and stopping at the top of my butt. The front covered from my neck down, so my breasts never showed. I loved it. I was wearing four-inch silver heels to help make up for my height. My hair was up, and a thousand curls cascaded down my back like a waterfall.

A pair of old boots appeared suddenly in my vision. I looked up, my eyes connecting with a pair of green ones. As gracefully as I could, I stood up, holding on to the metal gate for support as I teetered. Green eyes raked over my body, and my body shivered from the intensity of the stare. As his eyes reached mine, I could see the heat coming from them.

I cleared my throat. “Like what you see?” I tried to still my shaking hands. I didn’t want to show how nervous I was. Or cold.

An eyebrow rose. “What happened to the school uniform?”

I motioned toward the dark sky. “It’s nighttime. I don’t usually wear my school clothes at night.”

His eyes raked over my body again. “So you wear that instead?”

“Uh…I…uh, no,” I muttered. Another gust of cold wind brushed by and my body shivered in response.

“Why are you dressed like that? You do realize it’s freezing out, right?” he asked. “It’s supposed to snow tonight.”

I rolled my eyes.
Of course I know it’s freezing out,
I thought. I could feel it. “My family is throwing a party.”

His eyes narrowed at me. I might have been wearing shoes that helped my height tremendously, but he was still much, much taller than me. “That dress looks like it could pay my rent for the next year.”

Guilt rolled about in my stomach. “I doubt it.”

He rolled his eyes. “Right.” He raked his eyes over my body again, and this time, when he looked at me, disgust filled his eyes. Anger bubbled up in my chest.

“What?” I asked defensively.

“You look kind of sleazy.”

My jaw dropped. “No I don’t.” I looked down and smoothed out my dress. “This dress is elegant and makes me feel beautiful.”

“Keep believing that,” he said, “and you will never know what beauty really is.” He gave me one last glance before continuing down the alley. 

“You’re an ass!” I yelled after him. I pulled up my dress and ran after him, my feet screaming in protest. My heels kept slipping on the loose rock, and I had to lean my elbows out to balance myself. As I caught up next to him, I grabbed his arm. “You can’t just make comments like that to people you don’t know. It’s mean.” Like he didn’t already know that.

He shrugged off my hand as he kept walking. “I’m pretty sure I can damn well say anything want.”

I grabbed a hold of his arm again. “No, you can’t. Well, I mean, you can, but it gives you a bad image. Do you really want to have a bad image?”

“I honestly don’t care,” he said. He shrugged his arm away from me at the same time my shoe caught on a rock. My body dropped to the ground like a sack of flour, while my sad, pathetic arms flailed out as I tried to catch my balance. My knees and hands skidded on the rocks and dirt.
Twice in one day, how awesome.
The cuts on my hands from earlier broke open, and I could feel the one on my knee breaking open too. I gritted my teeth and looked back up. He didn’t even stop to see if I was okay. He just kept walking.

“Jackass,” I yelled after him. He lifted his hand and flipped me off.
The nerve of this guy.

Standing back up, I tried to dust the dirt off the front of my dress as best as I could before I carefully made my way back over to my house, making sure I didn’t slip on anything else. As I opened up the gate, I took my time walking up the patio stairs and peeked through the small window of the back door. After determining it was all clear, I quietly let myself back into the house and slipped through the back staircase and up into my room. Locking the door behind me, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding in. I turned on my bedroom light and walked over to my full-length mirror. A frown formed on my lips as I assessed the damage. My dress was ruined. There was a small hole in one of the knees and scratches in the other. It would be impossible to fix because of the silky material.