Claire shooed everyone back a little, so I could have space, “You’re lucky Luke was there, he caught you’re head. You would’ve hit the ground hard and definitely ended up with a minor case of comatasis.”
“Is my leg okay?” I coughed out, that was all I cared about.
“You’ll be fine. You just have to stay home for the next raid.”
“Ugh, fine,” I mumbled, “Can I walk?”
“Your healing rate is already faster than a normal Light’s. You’ll only need crutches for the next two hours or so.”
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and smirked at Claire, “Okay.”
She didn’t even attempt to hand me crutches, just gave me a ‘Really?’ look. I unfurled my wings and pushed off the bed, careful of my leg. Everyone except for Claire had a faint look of surprise on their faces. I flew out quickly, so they would stop staring.
I heard Claire snap, “You knew she would do it. Get back to your jobs.”
I reached my room, assuming there would be many people to see me. I needed to talk to Cece first; she could lead the next raid and tell everyone that we would include a Care Team in all of the raids.
I searched through the minds in the building until I found Cece’s, Cece.
Yes? she thought.
You have to take my place in the next raid.
So I assumed.
And tell everyone we need a Care Team. Claire can be in charge of it. Come get the sheet and put it up when you can.
I set my magic pen to work. It would make the sign up sheet for the Care Team and start working on the other teams for the next raids. I was careful about switching people around, so if they were hurt, they wouldn’t be needed in the next raid. The only people who stayed the same were the leaders of the teams. It made an extra list that I would keep for the replacements of the leaders, should they get hurt.
I left my pen to its work and went to find Luke. I needed to add whoever we’d rescued to my laptop, which I used to keep up with everything. Everything my pen did was transferred to it.
I wandered around the halls looking for him and found him talking to a girl I didn’t recognize. She had mean, cold eyes and black hair cut in a bob around her face. Everything about her screamed that something was wrong with her to me.
“Oh, hey Leigha,” Luke said when he saw me, “This is...”
I cut him off with an ‘I-don’t-care-who-this-person-is’ look.
“I need you,” I told him, “Now.”
I gestured towards an empty room. He followed me down the hall, into the room. I sat down and he sat down across from me. I snapped my fingers and my laptop appeared in my hands.
“The prisoners were mostly guys, only four girls,” he said, pulling out a list.
One of them was her, I was positive of it. I knew I’d never seen her before.
“Okay.”
He called out their names, set ages, if they had reached them yet, their gender, and their talents. I added them to the registry Claire had started. I noticed they were all different ages except for the four girls. They were all twenty.
I finished typing and sat back against my chair, “I’ve never seen her before,” I said, accusation seeping into my voice.
“She’s Ellie, one of the girls from the raid.”
I had been right, she was one of them. It confused me why they were all the same age.
All of the sudden Luke went rigid, as if he’d heard something. Then, I heard it, too: someone was screaming. They weren’t just screaming, though, they were sending me thoughts, too. Alex was in trouble.
“That’s Alex,” I cried, jumping from my seat into the air, wings unfurled.
Luke jumped up and flew after me as I tore down the hall.
I found Alex in a corner. Ellie stood over her, pinning her against the wall. Alex’s face was red on one side where Ellie had obviously slapped her. Three girls stood behind Ellie and I assumed they were the other girls from the raid.
“Look, little girl, I can tell you what to do, ‘cause I’m older,” Ellie was saying.
“Yeah, she’s in charge,” said one of the other girls.
“Listen to Ellie,” said another.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” Alex growled, she looked pretty menacing, too, “Leigha’s in charge here!”
“Not while I’m here,” Ellie went to move a hand towards Alex’s throat, but Alex was faster.
She snapped her other arm out of Ellie’s hand and slid between her legs. She prepared to fight Ellie’s friends.
“Enough!” I cried, as Ellie whirled around to grab Alex.
Alex ran over to me, burying her face in my side. I wrapped a comforting arm around her shaking body.
“Why do you get to make the rules? I bet we could take you, too,” Ellie said, laughing.
“’Cause I’m older,” I mocked, “Doesn’t matter. I’m in charge.”
“Oh, so you’re Leigha,” Ellie spat.
She reared back to punch me, but I was much faster. I ducked out of the way, leaving Alex behind, and grabbed Ellie’s arm. My hold on her arm made it easy to twist her around and I held both of her hands behind her back.
I whispered sarcastically, “Actually, I’m going by the Hall Monitor, right now,” in her ear and let her go.
“Go to your room and take your friends with you. Don’t let me find you beating up on anyone else here or I’ll give you a new room in the dungeon.”
I watched Ellie walk away. She threw a glare over her shoulder at me and kept walking.
Once I couldn’t see her I kneeled down in front of Alex. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, stroking her hair.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” I whispered, then, I stood to face Luke.
He walked over to me and said, “She didn’t mean it. She’s having trouble here.”
I shook my head, “That’s no excuse. Don’t try to defend what she did, Luke, or you’ll be on my bad side, too.”
Chapter Eleven
I spent the rest of the day with a headache, struggling to figure out what Ellie was up to. I didn’t like or trust her at all. I wanted her gone, but I couldn’t make her leave yet.
Early the next morning, Cece and Alex stopped by my room.
“Leigha, we have something we really need to talk to you about,” Cece was almost whispering. She was staring at the ground, her whole body shaking slightly and making me nervous.
I sighed as I tried to mentally prepare myself for what she was going to say.
“I’m sorry, Leigha, but if Ellie doesn’t leave we are. She scares me, Leigha; I don’t want her to hurt me again.” Alex said in a voice that got quieter as she talked.
I sighed again, “You both know I can’t do that. This place is a haven. Any Light that wants to be here can unless they do something against the Lights as a whole. I’ve warned her that if she slips up one more time she’ll be forced to leave.”
“I’m sorry, Leigha, she worries me too much. Until that slip up we’re gone, but the second she leaves we’ll be back,” Cece said.
“I promise we’ll be back,” Alex said.
I walked over to one of my window-walls and placed my hand against it, making the glass dissapear. Alex and Cece folded out their wings slowly. They stepped to the edge and jumped, leaving me in shock that they actually left. I watched them flying away and I saw Alex glance back.
I promise, Leigha, I promise, I heard her thoughts as she looked back. It brought me back into the world, and the shock left, leaving behind the horrible realization that they were gone.
They were really gone. For the first time since we’d come together my family was separated. I started shaking and sunk into an arm chair. I closed my eyes tightly trying to make it all go away: Ellie, them leaving, the Darks. I swallowed hard, holding back tears. I couldn’t cry, I’d only cried once in my three hundred eighty-three years. Allie, Alex’s twin had gone into comatasis, forever. I’d cried then. But I didn’t cry, not Leigha, I wa
s too strong.
I heard someone knock, but they didn’t wait for an answer. Luke, Claire, and Marie walked in. I swallowed again, I especially wouldn’t cry in front of them.
I looked up at them and as Luke opened his mouth I saw a look on his face that scared me. “You might as well go ahead and leave me, too,” I grumbled.
Claire gasped and her eyes filled up as she sunk into a chair, “They actually left.”
“Apparently, you already knew,” I said, burying my face in my hands, so they couldn’t tell I was on the verge of tears.
“They told me they didn’t like Ellie and they didn’t know how to deal with her, so they might leave. I didn’t believe them; I was sure you could change their minds. You usually can.” Her words filled me with guilt. I could have changed their minds, if I’d tried harder.
I attempted to shake it off and looked over at Marie, she’d been absolutely silent. It was unusual for her. Her face was a mask. Her mouth was an O and she was staring off into space. It took me a moment to realize she was in complete shock. As I watched her, comprehension began to dawn and her statue-like daze disappeared. She opened her mouth to speak, but, instead, started sobbing, her head in her hands.
I stood and picked her up, then carried her back to my chair and stroked her hair.
“It’s okay, sweetie, it’ll be okay,” I whispered, my voice slightly choked.
I knew it wasn’t going to be okay, not until they came back. I felt something in me seize up and it became harder to hold the tears in.
I heard Claire say quietly, “I’m gonna go after them.”
As she walked past me I grabbed her arm and said in my strained voice, “They said they’ll come back, and they will. I’m not letting you leave, too.”
She fell back into her seat, “I know it’s just...”
“It feels like you’re missing an arm,” I set Marie in Claire’s lap, choking back sobs.
“I guess we’ll have to arrange job replacements,” Claire said, attempting at a change of subject.
“Could you do that for me, please?” I couldn’t see myself making their absence that official.
She nodded and helped Marie to her feet.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
I watched as the walked out of the room. It was silent for a few minutes until Luke walked over to me. He crouched down in front of me and cupped my cheek in his hand
“I’m so sorry, Leigha,” he said.
I nodded, not meeting his eyes.
He tilted my face up. “They’ll be back, Leigha.”
I took a deep breath that turned in to a sob. He pulled me down into his lap and I leaned into him. He held me there stroking my hair as I had done for Marie.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I said forcing a weak laugh.
“What, cry?” Luke asked, holding me out from him, so he could see me.
“Yeah,” I said, wiping my eyes and laughing a little bit.
“Everyone has to cry.”
“I don’t.” I smiled slightly.
“I’m sure you’ve cried before, though,” Luke said seriously.
I quietly said, “Yeah.”
“When?” he asked.
I sighed, “Alex had an identical twin, Allie. We got them confused constantly, so I decided to get them Light Stone necklaces to tell them apart.
“These necklaces, like all gifted Light Stones, were powerful. If the Queen of the Light were to do a certain ritual with them it could bring us out of comatasis. Of course, only with our personal necklaces, if you tried to use a replacement, it wouldn’t work.
“My mother got me one, too, but mine’s different. It tells me things and I can bring anyone that doesn’t already have a Light Stone back from comatasis.
“Anyway, I think whoever tried to kill her took her necklace. It was missing when we found her.”
“Wait, tried? I thought you said she died.”
“Sorry, to me it feels that way; she’s been under for so long. She’s still here. There’s a special room for people in comatasis. She’s there, but she’ll never wake up without that necklace. Comatasis can be painful and I’d hate for her to be stuck that way forever.”
He grimaced, “I’m sorry, I know it doesn’t help, but... when,” he paused, searching for the right words. “When I was in comatasis it didn’t hurt.”
“You were in comatasis?”
“Yeah, but, you should just know she might not be hurting.
I tried to smile as fresh tears flowed. “Thanks.”
We sat on the floor for a while, both of us lost in our thoughts. I had to make Alex and Cece come back, then find Allie’s necklace and bring her back. I hadn’t realized how much I missed her until now. Now, since both Allie and Alex were gone. I wished they were all back with me: Cece, Alex, and Allie.
Finally, Luke broke the silence with a sigh, “We both have work to do.”
“I guess,” I mumbled, but neither of us moved.
He wiped under my eyes with his thumgs, but didn’t let go of my face. He leaned in and kissed me softly. “Work,” Luke said, smiling.
I kissed him again, relishing the way his lips felt against mine before moving out of his lap and saying, “Work.”
He took my hand and squeezed it before getting up and starting toward the door. I stood behind him.
“Luke-,” I began, but cut off.
He turned around, “Yes?”
I shook my head and sifted through his thoughts. He knew what I’d been about to say.
I watched him walk out and the feeling of loneliness that had made me say his name came back. I didn’t want him to leave my side because I needed the comfort he brought me. What I really needed, though, was my whole family, not just the half I had.
I spent the rest of the day thinking those thoughts. My dreams were about Cece, Alex, and Allie, too.
Chapter Twelve
“Guys, where’d Allie go?” The sixteen year-old girl asked.
“Oh, Leigha, I don’t know. She disappears easily. It is her power, you know.” Her fourteen year-old sister laughed.
“No, I have a bad feeling about it this time. I can’t feel her mind. We need to look for her,” Leigha said.
“I have a bad feeling, too. I am her twin you know,” a tall eight-year old said.
Leigha’s sister, Claire stood, “All right, let’s go.”
She turned and helped the girl, Cece, who had been sitting next to her, Cece, from her seat while the eight year old helped up another girl, Marie.
The group flew out of the Light Shrine in search for the young girl, Allie. Leigha searched for her mind as they flew and finally encountered a cold, similar one. There was a problem, though; the coldness meant she was in comatasis.
Leigha used the mind to find the girl. She was crumpled beneath a tree in the middle of the woods.
Leigha touched the other girls’ minds, “I’ve found her.”
The other girls arrived quickly. Claire immediately assessed that she was in comatasis, but her necklace wasn’t there to heal her. Leigha and Allie’s twin, Alex began to cry.
I woke in a cold sweat from my dream to my necklace. It seared my skin and was brightly glowing. I knew immediately what it meant: someone was using Dark magic in my mother’s shrine. The necklace’s odd connection to my mind let me know.
I had to go to the shrine. I pulled on some clothes and took off into the air. When I threw open the door to The Light Place I found Ellie sitting on the floor next to the stream. Her short crop of hair fell around her face. Tears made streams on her cheeks as she banged a palm sized black disk on the floor.
“Work,” she growled at it.
I knew what the device was. It was a Dark Transmitter. It was black, unlike a Light’s, which would have been made of Light Stone.
“You do realize no Dark-made device will work within a five mile radius of this property. I leaned forward. “Plus, you’re in the Light Shrine itself.”
Ellie jumped qu
ickly to her feet and raced towards me. She swung at me and got contact with my jaw. I didn’t even flinch, grabbing her arm on the back swing. I used my other hand to punch her nose, the weakest bone in the face. It was sickening to feel and hear her nose break, but it would heal quickly.
She jerked her arm away and used her leg to pull mine out from under me. As I went down I unfurled my wings slightly to get balance and stand back up. Ellie grabbed my leg, though and shoved it back against the floor. My knee bent awkwardly and I heard a sickening snap.
I used my wings to suspend me in a sort of sitting position barely an inch above the ground. Ellie noticed that I wasn’t sitting. She grabbed the leg she’d broken and pulled me towards her and I screamed at the sudden pain.
As soon as the cry had left my mouth I heard footsteps and slamming doors. Before anyone could arrive I flew into the air, grinding my teeth. Ellie slashed at me with a knife and my broken leg recieved a deep gash.
I fell from the air, but grabbed tightly to Ellie’s wrists. People began to flood the hallway. They shouted things and I thought I heard Luke’s voice. He was trying to find me, to get me to fix the cause of the screaming. Too bad I was the one crumpled on the floor. I looked back at Ellie, she would not get away.
Luke’s voice was closer now, “Leigha! Where are you? We’re gonna-,” Luke saw me, “Oh my Light. What happened?”
“Her,” I growled, gesturing with my head.
“Someone get rid of her!” Luke called, “Take her to the prison, in the basement! Make sure you check her for weapons.”
Two Lights came up and took her away from me. I collapsed completely then. Luke scooped me up and I winced when my leg moved.
“Claire!” He called.
“Coming,” I heard her call back.
I struggled against him. I didn’t want his help.
“I can fly,” I growled.
“Doesn’t matter,” Claire said, “We won’t let you.”
I sighed in frustration. We were almost to the Care Rooms. When we arrive I was placed on a gurney. Claire touched my leg tenderly, closing her eyes in focus.
When she opened them she said, “It’s broken in five places. Give it eight days, and then you can walk.”
“What about raids?” I asked.
“Twelve days.”
I sighed again. I’d be going without a raid for twelve more days. Why did I have to keep hurting myself?
“You should go get some sleep. Sorry I woke you in the middle of the night. I shouldn’t have screamed. I would’ve been fine until morning,” I said to Claire.