Page 90 of Cerulean Truth (Sapere #1)

FIFTY

EMMA

"What do you mean, 'he's gone'?" I gasped, breathless and increasingly aggravated.

"He had some kind of mission," Matthew vaguely responded.

"Without telling me? Why?" My frustration surged.

"I'm not sure, Emma. Sorry, I just thought you should know."

"Well, glad somebody thought so." I gritted my teeth. Where did James get off leaving me, leaving Cyclos like that, without warning? Without a goodbye?

"How long will he be gone for?"

Matthew shrugged, as if that wasn't important. Really? I was about to explode .

"Might be a few days, weeks... I don't really know."

I gasped. A few weeks? Since my “blood-theft,” I hadn't gone more than four days without him! Now I had to miss him for weeks ? What the damn hell?

"He'll be back before you know it!" Jackson tried to cheer me up, nudging his friend with his elbow.

"Whatever," I mumbled and turned away angrily, seriously disappointed in all male human beings.

My entire body was shaking with emotion. After all we'd been through, after all the fights, the makeups, the kisses (and more), the feelings, the talks, he thought he could just leave and say nothing? Is that all we were to him? All I was to him?

I felt tears prickling behind my eyes, and though he wasn't worth shedding even one, I couldn't keep them from spilling over. Two minutes later, I found myself sitting on a bench in the Atrium, full-on crying.

"Emma?" a concerned voice penetrated my cloud of emotional drainage. Julian. Of course. I wiped my face with my sleeve and looked up at him as he stared down at me.

"What's wrong?" I could see the worry on his face, but I couldn't find the words to soothe him. Hell, I couldn't soothe myself.

"James is being an asshole," I muttered through my tears.

Julian nodded and sat down next to me. "He's reacting badly to my presence, Emma. I think he cares about you too much to share you with anyone, even with me. If you think about it, it's actually quite romantic."

I scoffed. "If that's what romance is all about, then thanks but no thanks."

Julian chuckled. "It'll get easier. I'm not staying for long, and I'll bet you anything he'll go back to normal once I'm gone."

I shrugged, little good did that do me now. Besides, I didn’t even know what “normal” was for us.

"He seems to think you have an agenda," I confessed, tired of not talking about it. "He’s still upset about Alliance. Plus, he thinks it's too coincidental that we know each other from before and you coming here now, only moments after I was found."

Julian stayed silent.

"He's not completely wrong." He sighed. "But trust me, Emma, when I say that any motive I have is solely for your benefit."

I frowned; that was rather cryptic. "What do you mean?"

"I can't get into it now, but... can you just trust me on it?"

"I don't understand. What are you saying? That he's been right all along?" I rose to my feet, unable to shake the unnerving feeling creeping its way into my core. For weeks, I had been defending him to James, and now Julian was suggesting I might have been wrong this entire time in doing so?

Julian stood up slowly as well. "I wish I could tell you more, my dear friend, but for now, trust me when I say I have no desire to cause you or anyone you hold dear any harm."

Well, that was reassuring. I wanted to yell at Julian, to direct all my anger onto him. But I was still too upset with James for leaving without a word, and now I was frustrated with myself for not believing him and essentially chasing him away.

I just didn't have it in me to be angry at yet another person. Plus, I really needed a friend. I sat back down and took Julian's hand, pulling him down next to me. "You know what, friend? You'll tell me when you're ready. Whatever the true reason you're here, I'm just happy you are."

He smiled and squeezed my hand. "So am I."

That night, upon returning to my dorm, I checked my Nexus for the hundredth time, yet still no message from James.

I almost nexed him myself... ten times even.

.. but could muster just enough pride to keep myself from doing so.

After all, he was the one who left; he should be the one to reach out first.

I slept horribly that night. And the night after.

Soon, it was three days without any news from James, and I felt like I was going crazy.

My insecurities, fears of losing him, struggles with translation (that I couldn't talk to anyone about), and, most significantly, just missing him were driving me insane.

On the third day after James left Cyclos, I channeled all my frustration into Offensive training, a responsibility Julian had taken upon himself to oversee. While Julian proved to be a competent trainer, he couldn't quite match James's intense training skills.

The same morning, I had opened up to Julian about my struggles with translation, though not divulging everything.

I refrained from sharing the fact that my translation was untraceable; James would've been furious if I revealed that detail.

However, I did confide in Julian I could only translate when I felt my life was in danger.

He had been surprisingly supportive of it and had offered to help me with my training whenever I wanted.

Every thought of James sent a pang through my heart, followed by a torrent of curses for leaving me.

By the end of the day, I was utterly exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Dragging my feet up to my dorm, I heard a click on my Nexus. Glancing at it with disinterest, I almost stumbled down the stairs when I saw Eliot Campbell's face in the blue drops of the Nexus.

James’s friend and Councilmember? What on earth did he want? Despite my reservations, I pressed down on the red drops, accepting his connection, and an Eliot-form materialized in 4D.

"Thank you for nexing with me, Emma. I know we don't know each other well," he began.

I nodded. "I know you and James are good friends, so you're okay in my book," I reassured him.

He smirked, clearly pleased with my assessment. "I'm calling you on behalf of James, actually."

My heart started pounding. "Why?"

"Well, apparently he's rather busy right now but found out something about you that couldn't wait for his calendar to clear up."

Translation (in the non-magical sense): he didn't want to talk to me but felt I needed to know anyway. Coward.

I maintained my frown. "Okay… What is it?"

"Did you know, the night of the reception, when you were taken by the Radicals, some blood was extracted from you?" he queried.

I blinked, attempting to conceal my confusion regarding his knowledge of my abduction, or at least making an attempt to. Hadn't James kept that secret from the rest of the Council, apart from the Maumars? Oh well, what did I know.

"I did."

"Well, as you know, James kept a bit of the blood and had it tested by Stephen."

I fell silent. That's certainly not what James had told me...

"He... he did?" I asked, attempting to hide the tremor in my voice. James had assured me that he had destroyed every drop of the blood. Now I was discovering that he kept some and had it tested? Without my knowledge?

"Yeah... and they found something, Emma. Something James wanted to tell you in person, and I'm sure he would've done so himself, but under the circumstances, he asked me to convey that information."

I could feel the dread creeping up my spine. Whatever information James had was clearly significant enough for him to contact me through Eliot. Why did he...

"Why you?" I asked, my tone not intending to be rude, but the question was burning in my mind. "Not to be disrespectful, but I'm a lot closer to some other friends of James."

Eliot nodded and smiled understandingly. "So I've gathered, but I also learned they're not the most discreet of the bunch, and James seemed to think, me being on the Council and all, that I'd be the wiser option."

I nodded; that did make sense. "Okay, so tell me... What's this information you have on my blood?"

He paused for a second, clearly deciding how to tell me whatever it was he wanted to convey.

"Stephen tested your DNA and tried to tie it to one of the more 'known' families in our world for whom he had the DNA records on file.

He couldn't tie it to one specific family, but, Emma, the test did show that both your parents are magi… "

I chuckled in relief at his apparent mistake. "I'm sorry, Eliot, but you've got it wrong. Both my parents are undoubtedly human. They've even met Stephen, so there's really no question?—"

"I apologize; I should've been more precise," he interjected. "I meant to say your birth parents."

My heartbeat pounded relentlessly in my chest, drowning out any other sound. Blood rushed through my veins, a thunderous symphony in my ears, and my head felt dangerously light.

"What…" I whispered, my voice betraying my inner turmoil, trembling like a fragile leaf in the wind.

"Emma, James wanted me to tell you—you're adopted," Eliot disclosed with a weighty sigh. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this, but James felt it was something he couldn't keep from you, even if he couldn't tell you himself. He sincerely regrets not being here to reveal this in person."

What? My mind was a whirlwind of emotions. I struggled to grasp the meaning of his words. They couldn’t be true…

The rest of my conversation with Eliot was entirely lost on me. All that resonated was the maelstrom of emotions surging within me—anger toward James for lacking the courage to tell me himself and resentment toward my parents for never telling me the truth.

I closed myself off in my dorm, and spend what seemed like hours lying in bed, contemplating Eliot’s message.