Phoenix of Dawn

Skipping Stones

With heavy lids I watched the heart monitor rather than study the pale face of the woman laying in the bed. Never in my life had I ever walked away from a fight and yet the only thing on my mind as I walked away from the swinging doors of the gym was my aunt. What she'd been through in the wilderness to protect me. How she'd lost her mate because she had needed to protect me. There were a multitude of lesson's I had learned while training in Draco about killing first and asking questions later but in the last seven years I'd learned an equal amount of lessons from my aunt. 

Sometimes running saved more lives than staying to fight a pointless fight. 

Fighting the beastbane was pointless because there would always be more of them no matter what I did. If you didn't cut them off at the head, Ky, then they would never stop. Store your energy, bide your time, pick the right fights... those were the things she had taught me. For seven years I'd been molded in darkness' images and my aunt had done all she could for the following seven to mold me in the light's. 

It was a perfect divide in my life. The only thing that was missing were the earlier years of my childhood, back when I'd had a family. There were so many questions around those early years that I couldn't find the answers to. The only one I knew would have them was laying unconscious in a bed without the certainty of ever waking up.

Why hadn't I asked the more important questions when I'd had a chance? 

It was pretty obvious. I hadn't wanted to know. It was easier to not know about the people I'd been missing all my life. It was simpler to live in ignorance than to know what exactly had been stolen from me. The questions needed to be answered though. I needed answers and it might just be too late to get them.

The time was irrelevant to me. It could have been midnight or noon and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. I barely slept as it was. There was no normal sleep schedule for me. My normal was the abnormal. 

Ky would sometimes have us sit in an empty room for days and if we fell asleep he'd have interesting ways to keep us up. Ice water, electric shocks, sometimes even a knife to the arm if you were warned enough times. 

My mind drifted to Rieker. It had been seven years. If he was still alive then he would have moved up... he would have...

I sat up straight, the realization dawning on me. 

There was one more person who might have answers I needed. 

Placing a soft kiss on my aunt's forehead I headed back out of the room and up to find Axel. He surely wouldn't be in the gym any more and if my calculations were correct he very well could be in his room trying to get some sleep. 

Welp, that's too bad for him.

I knocked loudly on his door and heard soft voices on the other side along with the shuffling of feet. There was only a brief second of dread that maybe he'd been busy trying to get something else before the door swung back and Sam was there before me.

"Axel here," I asked as calmly as I could.

"Ax, you have a visitor," He swung the door wider to allow me entrance, "Join the party."

I frowned. Of course she'd be here but I was trying to put my best foot forward now. No more senseless hate. 

"Hi," I offered, looking between them all. 

Bex was thankfully against the wall opposite the bed where Axel was sitting. He had his legs stretched out before him but immediately he straightened up when I entered the room. 

"Kyra? Did something--"

"No, she's fine," I waved him off, "I actually came because I was hoping you could tell me something. I know you don't owe me anything but I need to know if you know if someone is alive over there. One of the six."