Page 55

Malia

After eating a piece of stale bread and washing it down with some smelly water, I am currently being led out of my cell and toward the armory.

I hate the thought of going to that camp again, nothing good has ever happened to me there, but it’s the right thing to do.

I choose a compound bow and two daggers for good measure. I won’t use them if all goes according to plan, but the familiarity of having them strapped to my waist is reassuring.

I’ll be safe after this.

Sure, that sounds good by itself, but the reason I’m doing this is because of him.

Maybe if I do this, even if he doesn’t know, I can make up for the things I said. I know I hurt him, and it’s nagging at my reactivated conscience.

As for the actual ‘killing my parents’ part.

I’ll try to catch them alone and kill my father first from a distance.

My mother might be crueler when it comes to torture, but my father is the better fighter. I have the bow and a quiver full of arrows strapped to my back since he could stop any attack by my element and guns make too much noise.

Once he is dead, I’ll find my mother and kill her as well.

It’s not much of a plan, and it’s nothing like the fantasies I came up with in my year in their torture chamber, but it’s what I could come up with on such short notice.

The thing I’m most worried about is that the Dark Fraction might have moved their camp. They obviously know I’m with Arcane, so staying where the enemy can find them seems unlikely. I just hope too much has been going on and they haven’t had time to leave yet.

I sneak through the forest until I’m close enough to the ruins to hear quiet voices.

So, they’re still here, good.

I climb a tree, using the crumbled wall of a ruin to reach the high branches where I’m sure no one would see me. There, I start searching for my parents in the chaotic camp below. The Shadow Handlers seem almost panicky as they’re getting ready to leave. I consider trying to find out where they’ll stay next but quickly dismiss that thought.

I’m here to kill my parents, nothing more and nothing less.

Like I promised Flint.

It takes about twenty minutes until I finally catch a glimpse of a familiar silhouette.

Broad shoulders and black curly hair, I’d recognize this monster everywhere.

Right now, my father’s surrounded by two people, so I order myself to be patient.

I’m satisfied to see his usual smug grin is missing from his features.

Oh, how I’d love to get payback on him. I could never even begin to return what agony he’s brought me in the years of being my captor, but I’d love to try.

He broke me on every level, dug deeper than I ever could with him since he doesn’t have the same hopes and dreams and naivety as I did at the beginning of our reunion.

He took away my childhood, amongst other things.

That’s something I can never return. I absently run a finger over my clad hip, feeling the raised skin of my most prominent scar. I’d give about anything to make sure he dies slowly and painfully.

But this isn’t about me, and it would only be a useless risk to take.

I need to stay professional.

I wait for what feels like an eternity until his ways part from the others’ and he heads through a small alley between two houses.

Perfect.

I swiftly jump onto a branch of the tree beside me and line up my shot.

My father’s not too far away, but the alley is narrow and he is moving.

If I miss once, he’ll know I’m here, and I’ll be stuck in a confrontation I don’t want to find myself in.

I take a deep breath to distance myself from my emotions and get my hands to stop shaking. Whether anger or fear evoked the tremble in my limbs, I’m not sure. All I know is that I need it gone.

Finally, I release the bowstring and watch the arrow silently cut through the air until it lands exactly where I wanted it to.

Right through the back of my father’s head.

He falls limp almost instantly, a puddle of blood forming around his head.

I watch as the liquid spreads wider and wider in a nearly perfect circle on the even ground, disgusted and yet unable to look away.

I don’t think I could tear my eyes off his dead body even if I wanted to.

I should feel terrible.

That’s my father lying down there, and yet I feel nothing.

Just a strong urge to keep watching the blood leaking from the wound I caused. It feels like a dream, a trick. I keep expecting him to stand up and bring me back to that dark room to punish me. He can’t be gone. Not so easily. It can’t have been so easy. And yet, I know no one could survive an arrow through the head. Not even a monster like my father.

An earsplitting scream pulls me back to reality and I see my mother standing only a few feet away from my father’s body.

Shit, I didn’t even notice her approach.

Keep it together. She looks horrified as she kneels down beside him und turns him on his back, cradling his bleeding head in her lap. It’s pretty dramatic for a heartless being such as herself.

I curse to myself for getting distracted as people start gathering around my mother, obscuring my aim.

I lift my bow again, but my hands are shaking uncontrollably now.

I try to get my breathing in check before anyone sees me up here, only to realize that my nose is clogged because I’ve been crying.

Tears are streaming down my cheeks, and I start to wipe them away angrily.

This is not the right place or time to cry.

Especially since I have no idea what these tears are for. Not for my father, that much is for sure.

I push the rising images of my past aside until my mind is empty and focused before aiming for my mother’s head again, with steady hands this time.

I am aware that once I let that arrow fly the other Shadow Handlers will know where I am, but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do, right? This ends now.

I let go of the bowstring and watch as my second arrow today lands precisely where it should.

Right between my mother’s eyes.

Her body falls backward, and people start screaming and running away hysterically as she crumbles on the ground, dead before she could experience a second of fear.

I wonder if the Shadow Handlers are thinking they are outnumbered again.

That Arcane is here to finish them off.

That would explain their unusual behavior.

I don’t give them time to gather their bearings and try to discover me but jump off the tree instead.

I start sprinting back the way I came and just allow myself to breathe as I knock on the big gates of the academy.

A tall woman opens it, lets me inside, and leads me right back to my cell. It only takes a moment for Flint to visit me and ask about my mission. By then, at least my heart has stopped beating so erratically and I’ve had the chance to calm down.

"It worked according to plan.

My parents are dead." I decide that the information of the Dark Fraction leaving their camp is something to keep to myself until I know its value.

"Is there something you’re not telling me?" he asks with narrowed eyes, and for a moment, I’m scared he knows about the move.

"No," I answer calmly.

"So, you cried over your parents?" Oh.

There must be streaks of dried tears on my cheeks.

I lift my chin slightly before simply answering, "no", again. I’m not going to explain to him what I can’t even understand myself.

Flint looks stricken, probably weighing his option to be a dick and push me for answers or laying off.

Finally, though, he leaves my cell without another word.

Once I hear the turn of the key that tells me I’m locked in once more, I lie back on my bed.

I try to keep my mind blank and my memories at bay.

I might have to face my past at some point, but I refuse to let that be in a cell while I’m all alone.

It’ll always be like this, I remind myself. After all, I don’t have any family left, I don’t have friends, and I don’t have Keahi either, whatever we were. I actually catch myself longing to be held by someone Like Keahi held me the other night. Pathetic, I know.

And to think I told Keahi he’s the one desperately running after me- If only he knew that’s just what I’ve been thinking about myself rather than him.

There’s no clock in this cell but I assume it’s been hours since Flint’s sudden exit.

My stomach has been protesting for a while since all I’ve eaten so far was that piece of bread, so I start banging on my cell door.

"What?" the tall woman who has led me here earlier snaps at me after about a minute.

"I’m hungry.

What time is it?" I ask.

"Tough, and a little after six pm," she answers after giving me a nasty look.

I decide to ignore her and move on.

"I’d like to speak to Flint then."

"And I’d like a better job." The woman makes an effort to close the door, but I block it with my foot.

"Just so we are clear, I could kill you right here and get what I want myself.

You’re lucky I’m in a charitable mood, but that will change if I don’t get food and a talk with Flint soon." I smile sweetly at her wide eyes and pull my foot back.

She closes the door with a silent click, and I can hear her steps retreat the next second.

Even though I’m a prisoner now, the guard probably saw me fighting against the Dark Fraction or at least heard about it.

She knows what I’m capable of.

I patiently sit on my bed until my door opens again, revealing the woman with a tray of food and Flint behind her.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asks me curtly.

"I was wondering when I’m going to start teaching.

Being locked in here all day is incredibly dull," I say before taking my first bite out of the pizza.

The smallest of moans escapes my lips before I can stop it, flavors exploding in my greedy mouth, and I see red splotches appearing on Flint’s face. He clears his throat before answering.

"I can arrange it to be tomorrow if that’s what you want." The weirdest thing is, that he can’t seem to meet my eyes now as he talks.

Apparently, he’s undergoing the change from jerk to weirdo, and it’s not appreciated.

Sure, I guess he’s just a few years older than me, but he shouldn’t see me as a sexual being. Not while treating me like less than an unloved pet with rabies.

Since I am bored out of my mind though, I might as well have some fun with it.

After all, I have a track record of being attracted to jerks.

I nod before taking another bite of the pizza. This time, my silent moan is intentional, which leads to Flint readjusting the collar of his shirt.

"Are you hot?" I ask him.

"No, it’s fine.

I’ll get you tomorrow morning then.

I believe you can still be trusted not to mess with my people?"

"I think I’ve proven my trustworthiness when I came back here willingly.

Anyway, don’t leave yet, I’m so bored," I pout slightly.

At the small change in my composure, Flint seems to find his grumpiness anew as he glowers. Okay, maybe too much. I’ll make him suspicious if I lay it on too thick.

"How should I change that?"

"What are you doing this evening? I want to get out of this cell." Flint doesn’t turn me down immediately but doesn’t seem eager to take me with him either.

"Come on, I’ve been locked in here for hours," I try to reason.

I have a feeling that making a demand or threatening him wouldn’t work here.

Besides, if I can make him believe that I want to stay, he might stop using Keahi as leverage, so he’d be out of this mess once and for all.

It seems I did kind of ruin Keahi’s reputation, so the faster Flint forgets about that, the faster things can go back to normal for Keahi.

He should be fine without me too.

It’s not like he hasn’t lost me and moved on before. My heart tightens slightly at the thought. I didn’t. Move on, that is.

"I’ll eat dinner and go home.

Since you’ve already eaten and I won’t take you home with me, I guess you’ll just have to stay here." Flint rips me out of my thoughts.

"No!" I say a little too quickly.

Please don’t leave me alone with my thoughts.

I’d never tell Flint anything that intimate or revealing, of course, and I feel stupid for thinking it. Seriously though, I don’t know for how long I can distract myself in this silent room.

"No?" Flint asks with a raised eyebrow.

Keep it together, I tell myself before twisting my lips in a smile.

"Come on.

I did you a favor today," I say innocently.

He rolls his eyes.

“I’m not even considering this.” He turns to leave the room, but a familiar kind of desperation claws at my throat.

“Okay, hang on.

I think we got off on the wrong foot, but I showed you I could be trusted today, didn’t I? I waited years to get my perfect revenge on my parents for all the things they put me through, things you couldn’t imagine, and I put all that aside.

I went to that camp, killed them swiftly and surely, and came right back. Now it’s your turn to do something for me. Something to ease this strain between us and prove that it’s worth it for me to stay in check. That I’ll be reimbursed.

“I don’t have to be your prisoner.

I’ll stay here willingly and I’ll help your guards, but I want the damn key to this cell.

No more threats. You know that’s preferable for the both of us,” I try to reason, laying it all out there when I’d rather eat my toenails then show myself vulnerable to him. My pride isn’t worth all that, though. I don’t want to be stuck here all night feeling as wired and restless as I do. As for my problem with his future plans, I hope to solve that problem once our working relationship has changed for the better.

Flint seems to mull my words over.

Still looking unsure, he finally ends up motioning me to walk ahead out of my cell.

An olive branch. I happily do so and pass my guard with a satisfied grin on my face.

Various ways of how I could easily escape cross my mind; lock Flint in my cell and kill my guard so no one would know or simply kill them all.

But everything I could do would end with me being on the run.

Instead of doing something irrational, I keep walking down the hall while Flint catches up with me.

"Where are we going?" I ask in a fake-happy tone.

Just enough for him to be calm but not enough for it to seem unnatural.

He silently leads me through the guard’s facility and toward the door.