We train a lot over the next three days. My mom has stepped up everyone's training schedule and now we are working not only with our individual partners but also in group settings. I'm getting better at hand to hand combat. I'm not trying to gloat, but I'm a pretty rocking shot now with the pistol too. I don't hit the target perfectly each time but nearly every round hits it at least. That to me equals rock start shooter status.
Tony and I don't have too many awkward moments thankfully. I can see that he's doing his best to separate his feelings for me from our training. He still hasn't gotten to the point though that he volunteers to hang out with us in our free time. I don't bug him about it. Plus I'm sure he's busy doing whatever he usually did before I came around…whatever that is.
Having finished a long day of training, I head to my room to shower. I've been hearing about an impromptu meeting my mom is going to hold at dinner, but I'm not sure what it's about. Either way, I'm sure that everyone will appreciate it if I don't come drenched in sweat and smelling like teen spirit.
After a quick shower, I meet up with Alec and we head down to the dining hall. When we reach the entrance, we find that the tables have been put away and instead there are just rows and rows of chairs.
Alec and I scoot down a row and take a seat next to Connor and Claire. Even though Claire is sitting between us, I can hear Connor's stomach growl. Mine growls too.
"So, what does this mean about dinner?" Connor asks me.
I shrug my shoulders. "I'm not sure. This is the first meeting like this I've been to."
"Great." He complains.
My mom walks in and the room grows quiet. "Thank you all for coming here." My mom says in a strong voice. I notice Mr. Leroy standing to the side watching her. I haven't seen him in a few days. This hotel is pretty big though, so I guess that's not uncommon.
My mom continues. "We've gathered you all here to talk about plans for the future. We've sent out some scouts over the past two days and some of the reports we've received have been concerning. The Reapers seem to be furthering their mission to gain access to the shelters. There's been a lot of activity around the base of the mountain. We have reason to believe that they may have gotten their hands on some demolition devices. We don't know their plans for such things, but we believe they may be planning to rig some explosions. We can only assume that they think that these explosions will help them get inside. I'm sure that you understand what this means. We must make a decision now on how to proceed." The crowd starts mumbling.
Mr. Leroy takes a step forward to add. "This has given us leaders a lot to talk about. Unfortunately we have been unable to come to a unanimous decision on how to proceed. Therefore we’ve come to a fork in the road. Some of us want to move on and leave this area quickly. There are some deserted towns that we believe may be a good place to set up shop only a few days travel down the road." This sends the crowd into another roar.
Tony steps out from the background and makes a high pitch whistling noise that grabs the crowd's attention.
My mom steps forward again. "We have decided that we will give everyone the choice. You may leave with Lee tomorrow or you can stay with me and fight."
Hollering and chaos breaks out with that. My mom does her best to gain the attention of the crowd again. Tony tries the whistling again and that gives my mom a second to add, "You will need to make your personal decisions by tomorrow morning. Anyone wishing to leave will need to be ready at sunrise." Then the crowd dissolves again into its chaotic state.
Not sure what to do or what to think, we make our way out of the dining hall to find my mom. I run into Tony in the hall. Without discussing with Alec or my friends I raise my chin proudly and say, "I will fight with you."
Everyone agrees with me except for Candy. Jake has told her that he wants to leave so she's planning on joining him. Not because they are inseparable in such a short period of time, but because she doesn't want to go anywhere near the shelter again. She can't handle it.
Honestly, I've watched Candy try to train, so I think it's probably in her best interest as well as our own, that she not join us. We let her know that we understand and then part ways to follow Tony who is taking us to my mom.
Tony leads us to a room I hadn't seen before. When we enter, my mom is in there with my father and a few of my mom's other main soldiers. "I'm fighting with you." I demand the second I walk in. Alec, Connor and Claire stand quietly near the entry to the room as I walk to my mom's side.
My mom looks up from some maps that she was going over with my dad. Pride flashes on her face and then regret. She stands up and puts her hands on my shoulders. My dad joins her a second later. "I think you need to go with Mr. Leroy." She tells me.
"What? No!" I yell. "Absolutely not! I can fight!" I tell her. "I'm not bad at it either." I turn and look to Tony who looks like he already knew my mom would try to send me away. "Tell her Tony! Tell her that I can hold my own."
His expression softens. "You can definitely hold your own Willow."
My father interrupts him, helping him dodge the bullet. "We don't doubt that you can fight. Your gift is too precious and too dangerous to fall into the hands of a Reaper. You know this." He tells me.
I look at him and angry tears start to make their unwelcome way into my eyes. I blink rapidly, not wanting to seem weak. "Yes I know that and frankly, I'm sick of hearing it. I am capable. My gifts if anything give me an edge not a hindrance. I am not going to tuck tail and run away with Mr. Grumps-a-lot!"
"This isn't up for discussion. You will be leaving here tomorrow morning." My mom tells me.
"No, I can be useful!" I stomp my foot. I know it's not giving me maturity points, but who gives a crock! My family is on the brink of splitting apart, yet again.
"You will be useful Willow. We are asking you to take care of Sebastian." My dad tells me.
Sebastian? They are going to send him away too? I guess he can't very well fight, but still... Another revelation comes to me: "So you’re fighting dad? They are going to let you? You have a gift too. You are just as much of a liability!"
My dad stands firm. "First, you need to watch your tone young lady. Second, I left your mom once, I will not leave her again."
I can’t take any more of this, so I stomp away from my parents ignoring anything that anyone says to me. I push past my friends in an angry tirade. Fury and anger are about to reveal themselves and I don’t want anyone around when they do, out of fear for what I might say.
I run up the stairs utilizing my full speed knowing good and well I will beat any of my friends. I lock my door and lean a chair against the handle for extra protection. I grab a pillow from my bed and rip it in half with one motion. Feathers come flying out of the pillow, coating the room in a snow like haze. I grab feathers out of the air trying to slap them down.
My anger is still pulsating through my veins as I grab the sheet off my bed and begin ripping it into shreds, screaming and crying in fury. I rip it into smaller and smaller pieces until there is nothing left to rip.
My energy is spent and I collapse on the floor. My mind is finally calming down and I take deep breathes as I feel my blood pressure return to a somewhat normal level. My face is stained with wet tears and my nose is running. I get up off the floor and go to the bathroom, turning on the sink to splash water on my face. I blow my nose a few times and focus some more on breathing.
Grabbing the sink with both hands, I look in the mirror and my heart stops as I view my reflection. Those are not my eyes, no! I look in horror at the image of myself that can't be real. No, I must be having a nightmare. My eyes are red, the color of a reapers. I don’t know how long I stare. It could be a minute, an hour, a day…all I know is that I am in serious trouble.
Am I a Reaper now? I don't understand. Nothing in me feels different. I only let the rage overtake me, that's all. I can't be a Reaper. If anyone finds out about this I will be locked up or killed. I have to hide this secret at all costs. No one, not my family, not Alec, not any of my friends can know about this.
I place my back against the cabinet and slide to the floor. Cupping my head in my hands, I cry some more. Even when the tears stop coming I heave and choke on my sorrow, desperate to make it all go away.
I’m so scared because I don't know what any of this means. I don't know if I can handle being in charge of Sebastian. What if I lose my temper at him? I look around the room at the huge mess I’ve made. If I can do this to objects, who’s to say I won’t do it to people? When my anger was at its highest point it was like something else out of my power took over my body. Rage seeped from every pore of my skin until I took out the anger on any object in my path.
I run water over my face once more before going back in my room. Fists pound against the door calling my name. They don’t sound mad, they sound worried. Lord knows how long I’ve been raging, they’ve probably heard my screams. I work with quick speed to brush all the aftermath of my frenzy under my bed. I use my speed ability to get it done even though I feel more than spent. By the time it’s finished I’m out of breath.
I run to the bathroom and look at my eyes breathing a sigh of relief when they’ve changed to a nuclear yellow. I hurry to my door and remove the chair from under it. I unlock it and find six furious people staring back at me. I’m not sure what to do. I can’t cry, I don’t want to get mad, for the life of me I can’t smile, so I just stand there not doing or saying anything. My eyes drop to the ground as I go to move past them. I’m not sure where I’m going but I can’t stay here with judgmental stares.
Someone grabs my arm and whips me around. “Young lady, explain yourself.” My dad says through clenched teeth.
“I have nothing to say. Apparently my entire future has already been decided for me.”
You can see the anger and hurt that wells up in my dad’s eyes. “For your information, your mother and I thought long and hard about how we can best keep you safe. It is for your own good that you are being sent away and not staying to fight. If you go, you will not only endanger yourself but everyone around you. Would you feel comfortable putting your family and friends at risk for your own personal gain?”
A horrible dose of pride that I didn’t know I had, wells up inside of me not allowing me to really see or take in what my dad is saying. I grit my teeth trying to control my rage. I look at the floor completely unsure what color my eyes are. "I need some air." I don't wait for anyone to respond. I grab a lantern from the hallway and leave with my gaze to the ground the whole way.
Outside, the night air is crisp. I can feel that same small dose of chill in the air. I take several deep breaths trying to calm my brain. I have got to control these emotions that are bubbling within me. Anger, fear, anxiety and a whole lot more are overflowing in abundance. Don't let it control you. I tell myself.
When I hear the inevitable door open up from behind me I focus everything on going invisible. I step to the side and turn around to see Alec looking for me. I watch his worried expression as he darts this way and that way looking for me. Just seeing his concern strips away some of the layers of anger. I walk toward him and with every step I take it eases more and more. When I am next to him I let go of my invisibility.
“Willow!” He pulls me into his arms. My tears are spent so I just hold on keeping my head close to his chest.
"It's going to be okay Willow, everything is going to be okay." He sooths while brushing my hair over and over with his hand.
I tell myself I believe him. I know I'm lying, but I say it anyway. I know that my world, which only seemed right for a total of three days, is about to be turned upside down once again. I can feel it in my bones, my life will be different tomorrow. I hold onto Alec tighter and when I hear him grunt, I loosen my grip. "Sorry." I whisper into his chest.
"It's fine. I love you and I will never leave you." He tells me. "If you want to stay, I will stay. If you want to go, I will go. I will help you with Sebastian, I will do anything for you."
He lifts my head up to meet my eyes. My heart stops for a moment as I worry what he will see there. He looks into my eyes and then pulls me into a kiss. Relief pours out of me as I get caught up in the kiss. I pull him closer and kiss him harder, releasing all of my emotion on him. Allowing him to be an outlet for my roller coaster of feelings. When we part I feel the last layers of my anger wither away into nothingness.
"I love you." I tell him.
"I love you too." He says.
With that we walk back into the hotel. Not feeling like discussing anymore tonight, I allow Alec to walk me to my room. I know I should discuss more of this with my parents but I can't, not tonight. We will have to speak of it tomorrow.
When I close the door to my room, I'm surprised to see my bed fully made with new sheets and a new pillow. "Thank you." I tell Claire who is doing a horrible job of acting like she's sleeping.
She cracks one eye open and smiles. "Anytime." She waits till I get settled under the covers to continue. "I will stay with you Willow. If you don't want to go tomorrow, we will all stay with you. Connor, Alec and me are all with you till the end."
I peak at her from under the covers. "Thank you Claire."
"Do you know what you want to do?" She asks.
I shake my head. "No." I whisper.
"Maybe you will know in the morning." She says with a yawn. "Just remember, we got your back either way."
"Thanks." With that I turn over and flip off the lantern, which plunges the room into darkness. With all of the crying and emotions, I fall into a heavy deep sleep instantly.