Page 28 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire (Order #4)

Chapter twenty-seven

Forest- Years Ago

T ime moves slowly down here.

Every day drags on, the only thing I get to look forward to the brief conversations I share with my wall and whomever remains on the other side.

For six years, Xavier has remained down here, his face something I have yearned to see.

This year, I am supposed to turn 14, or so that's what Melanie says.

Everything about the way I age is a wonder.

Spending every day being prodded and tested, the idea of celebrating anything down here seems useless.

"You're not focusing," Melanie scolds, trying to get me to crush the neck of the rabbit in the cage before me without touching it.

"I don't see the point in stealing an innocent life," I hiss, delivering her defiance she will only see as a biological result of my spike in hormones for my age.

"You will have to see a point. I won't bring live humans in here for you to test your Hold on," she warns, tapping my fingers with her pen.

"I want to go outside this room," I yell, standing up with anger, my chair skidding across the room, slamming into the nearby wall.

"I'm so tired of all of you gawking at me, watching me like I am as caged as this damn rabbit-"

"Watch your mouth, Thirty-"

"Forest!" I yell, getting in the woman face. "I have a fucking name-"

"No, you do not," she snaps, grabbing my cheeks between her fingers. "Whatever association you think you have to the woman who gave birth to you, you are wrong," she warns, looking me up and down. "You have one purpose in this life. One goal. To end the Marked's existence once and for all. You know how vital that ideology is to save the human race, correct?" she questions, my head slowly nodding.

Is there no way to stop the evil they fear so much and keep my kind safe?

"End Marked, like the boy on the other side of the wall?" I question, Melanie's eyebrows raising.

"You both have the opportunity to save the world. Why not take it?" she questions, my face pulling away from her hand.

"It's easy to save the world when you have no idea what you're missing out on," I snap. "If I am to live and die fighting for a cause forced onto me, the least you can do is let me leave this room and go outside, even for a moment," I whisper. "What do you think happens if I run? If I don't come back? I have no idea how the world works. This is all I know. I promise I will kill as many damn bunnies as you want, and let you poke me for hours on end, but please, Melanie," I whisper. "Let me, and whoever is on the other side of that wall get some fresh air," I beg, her foot tapping as she debates the proposal.

"If I do that, Thirt-Forest, do you promise to work harder than you have been?" she questions, crossing her arms.

"I swear," I plea, glancing back at my sorry excuse for a bedroom.

"Fluorescent lights and glass windows would make anyone go mad. Just give me a second to not feel like one of those animals stuck behind the cage."

Fixing her lab coat, she shakes her head.

"Thirty minutes outside," she hisses. "Only thirty minutes. Wearing a blindfold. If either of you try and take it off, you're both done."

Nodding my head graciously, I grab her hands.

"I promise, Katiana," I whisper, her eyes growing wide.

"W-Why did you just call me that?"

Racking my brain for an excuse, I touch my temple, trying to formulate where that name came from.

"I-I have no idea," I admit, the lie detector scanner still strapped to my brain, reading nothing but green. "It just felt... right."

Looking at me with wide eyes, she slowly backs away, leaving the room, coming for me only an hour later.

"You only get thirty minutes," Melanie's husband whispers, the thick blindfold over my eyes as he guides us both down a narrow hallway. Feeling the ropes around my wrist, a sedative lingers near my neck, ready to be used at any moment.

"Why isn't Melanie the one taking me out?" I question, the look of fear plastered on her face when I said the name still solidified in my mind.

"She was not feeling well," he lies, gritting his teeth as he speaks.

Doing the one thing I am not supposed to, I creep into the man's mind with my Call, the bright eyes of Melanie touching my mind.

"It's a girl!" she whispers, holding her husband's hands with joy.

"I thought you were infertile-"

"I suppose we have been graced by the miracles of science," she whispers, rolling her hands over her bump.

"We can call her... Katiana," she whispers, my Call ripping free from his mind.

An unborn child.

One settled in Melanie's stomach.

No wonder she looked so fearful of my knowledge.

Even I had wondered why that name had decided to touch my mind.

"Thirty minutes," he reiterates, a cold wind brushing over me, my nose filling with the most intoxicating smell I have ever experienced.

Fresh air.

Taking a step outside, the dirt collides with my bare feet, my smile growing at the energy coursing through the Earth.

"I will wait behind the door," he snaps, slamming the heavy metal door with little to no care.

Hearing nothing but the wind rattle what I can only assume are tree branches, I take another deep breath.

So, this is what the outside world smells like-

"Forest?" Xavier's voice whispers, all of my focus pulling away from the sweet smell of freedom.

Only a little bit ahead of me, I scramble forward, tripping over something large and warm, my body nearly slamming into the ground. Feeling his bound hands grab my body before I can hit anything, his energy floods his veins, his warmth something I have never felt before.

"I'm sorry," he whispers. "I was sitting down-"

"Xavier?" I say with utter shock, reaching my bound hand toward his face, feeling until I have found his mask strapped to his face.

"Who else would it be?" he jokes, keeping his hands on my arms.

"He's still watching us," Xavier whispers, keeping his voice down. "I can sense it."

Wanting nothing more than to see his face, I regrettably slip into Melanie's husband's mind once more.

"Turn away," I urge, confident he has looked away.

Tearing off Xavier's mask, he lets out a gasp, clearly shocked by the adjusting it takes to be outside after so much isolation.

"You're beautiful," he whispers, my hands pausing their actions, my cheeks flooding with red.

What did he say?

Confused by the emotions coming over me, I take a seat on the ground before him, now nervous to take off my mask.

"I'm sorry if that was too straight forward-"

"I have an idea of you in my head," I smile, cutting the boy off. "Over the past few years, I have formulated this grand picture of you, one that has brought me comfort, even on my worst days," I sigh, reaching for the bottom of my mask. "It was not that you were too straightforward," I admit. "It's that I fear you might be better than what I could have imagined."

Pulling up the bottom of the mask, I keep my eyes closed, nervous to pry them open.

Slowly prying open my eyes, I blink back the haze, startled to see his pair of golden blue eyes watching me, the face before me one even the loveliest dream could not have conjured up.

Light gray curls and a warm smile that is far from unnerving, he has a perfect set of teeth, the kindness in his eyes filling me with a warmth I can now, never shake.

Staring at him in disbelief, I lower my hands down, clinging onto his own as we both stare at one another in utter disbelief.

"See," he whispers. "I'm not scary," he admits, both of us cracking a smile.

Reaching my hands forward, I touch his face, rolling my thumbs over his cheeks.

"You're real?" I question, a relief I never knew I needed to feel washing over me.

"As real as you, Forest," he whispers, gathering my hands in his own.

Taking a look around, we are surrounded by a metal cage, a thick forest crowding the space beyond the fence.

Completely closed in, I look behind me at the metal door Melanie's husband's back turned toward us, the Call effective in every way it needed to be.

Looking toward the ground, grass and dirt welcome us, wildflowers sprouting out of the earth.

"You've never seen the outside, have you?" Xavier questions, watching me as I take in everything around me.

"Never, I whisper in disbelief. "It's beautiful," I smile.

"Yeah," he grins, looking at nothing but me. "It is."

Feeling my cheeks flood with warmth once again, I pull my focus back to the boy.

"So, Xavier," I smile, giddy by the fact I can finally say his name to his face.

"Tell me something about yourself," I joke, pretending as if we aren't both bound and in isolation.

"Let's see," he smiles. "What could I have possibly not told you in the last six years," he grins, taking a look around.

Grabbing one of the numerous flowers around us, he plucks one free from the earth, reaching out toward me, his fingers tucking the flower behind my ear.

"I spent most of my earlier years jumping compound to compound," he sighs, my eyebrows raising with confusion.

"Don't worry, you're not missing out. My mom and dad died during the pandemics. A mass sickness that swept through the lands. The compounds subdivisions away from Sanctum's grasp-"

"Sanctum," I whisper, one of Melanie's least favorite words. "The government I am supposed to take down," I mock, shaking my head.

"I thought you were supposed to-"

"Take down the one in silver. AKA, the one pulling the strings, government included," I sigh, trying to focus on something else.

"I've heard of them. The one in silver. A real asshole if you ask me," he snaps, trying to make light of the situation.

"Has Melanie told you of the hubs Sanctum created?" he questions.

"Enough to make me wish I never step foot in one."

Brainwashed societies, divided into two groups.

The Unfortunates and the Untouchables, all while executing the Marked behind closed doors.

I suppose mankind will always have a need to want violence.

"Enough about that," Xavier smiles. "Tell me about you. Tell me what you want if you ever make it out of here."

Laughing at the insinuation I will lead anything close to a normal life, I nudge him playfully.

"Really?" I laugh, his shoulders shrugging.

"Hit me with it, Forest Flower," he smiles, the nickname bringing joy to my heart.

"In an ideal world," I mutter, leaning a tad closer to the boy. "I find a plot of land far away from all of this, with one of those log cabins, like the one from the picture books Melanie made us read when we were younger. I'd spend all my day painting in its warm confinement, and spend the mornings on my deck, taking in the fresh air as I am now," I smile, Xavier's grin growing.

"How about I make you a deal, Forest Flower?" he questions, leaning a tad closer, our foreheads touching.

"We both find a way to live a life beyond this confinement, and when we do, we both find that cabin, and live a life away from all of this," he grins, pure excitement coming over me.

This is why Melanie chose to keep us isolated.

This is why she never wanted us to meet.

Xavier was not a distraction.

He is hope.

Hope I make it out of here.

Hope I live a life.

Hope he is in it.

"What do you think-"

Not knowing what I am doing, or if it is the right thing to do, I lean closer to the boy, planting a peck on his lips, both of us startled by the human interaction.

Quickly pulling away, both of our cheeks are flooded with red, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"I'm sorry-"

Leaning closer to me this time, he initiates the kiss, equally as confused on how the touch works.

Kissing me a little longer, we both let it linger, our foreheads touching, our smiles staying plastered on our faces well after the touch has ended.

"So, Forest," he grins. "A cabin?" he questions.

"A cabin," I clarify. "A cabin with you."

Maybe this is wrong.

Maybe it is selfish.

All I know is, for the first time in my life, I hope for something other than my own demise.

And its name is Xavier.