Never Really Gone

Chapter 31

Nora's POV

I hate every second of this.

Stupid Demetrius

Stupid Overworld

Stupid Watchers

Why can't they just leave the poor boys be?! What's so possibly threatening about four 18 year olds?! Well... aside from the fact one has incredibly powerful magic and that they could expose all the Watchers secrets easily. Maybe Demetrius does have a reason to want them back.

I hope I don't find them. The last thing I want is for them to end back up in that hellhole. Especially Grian, seeing as his powers would be taken advantage of and manipulated for their doing. I have to look though. Unless I want to die. Maybe I can just do a really shitty job on purpose and never find them. No... Demetrius would just send more Watchers out to get them.

I'm making progress, but VERY slowly, hoping I can delay things as much as I can. I'm doing enough as to not get Demetrius impatient, but so little that at this rate they'll be in a safe place by the time I find them, at least I hope they will. Unfortunately, this has all led to me having to find my sister. That bastard of a Watcher figured she might know something, not really caring how emotionally difficult this is gonna be on my part.

Biting my lip, I look at the house in front of me. It's quite small, and the garden is tiny. There's a hole in the garden wall, probably a result of Grian. Looking at the old, wooden '5' to the right of the faded red door, I can't help but think about how sad this place looks. Loosing a child must do a lot to parents. I feel a stabbing pang of guilt, now hesitant to knock on the door.

I do it anyway, three times in the one spot. My hands are sore with the cold of January, and it hurts to knock on the wood, but that's the least of my concerns right now. The woman who opens the door is. Rae certainly isn't the 14 year old I remember, not the woman i could barely look at 6 years ago. She seems older, a sadness hanging around her.

A sadness I caused.

There's a small spark of recognition in her eyes, which fades as I avoid looking directly at her.

"Hi Rae" I mumble, my greyish-purple eyes meeting her cloudy blue ones.

She tilts her head a little

"... Nora?"

I smile halfheartedly, not expecting her to immediately hug me. I wince in pain, the large slash across my back from a few weeks ago still not fully healed, as well as the many small cuts and bruises on my wings. My sister notices I'm in pain, quickly backing away.

"Are you alright? Do you know if Grian's ok? Do you even know Grian?!"

"Yeah, I know Grian... I don't know if he's ok or not though. I've been sent to get him back, and I'm trying to stall. I can't for too long, or I'll get myself killed. I'm so sorry... I don't want to drag him back there... not again"

"Again? Did he get away before?"

I stop dead, not truly thinking about what I was saying.

"Um... no. I was the one who took him"

Rae's eyes widen, and I'm not surprised if she hates me now.

"That's why you let him say goodbye"

I look up, slightly confused for a moment before I remember how I'd already loved Grian the second I saw him, feeling immense sympathy for him.

"Yeah... I'm so sorry"

"You didn't have a choice Nora, you'd never do it on purpose. Come in, you're clearly hurt."

I quietly follow her inside the house, where despair and depression seems to hang off the walls like a bat in a cave. She leads me inside a small living room, where she has me sit down. She then motions to my shirt and jumper.

"Would you mind..."

I nod, pursing my lips as I pull them off. I feel an intense flood of relief. I haven't been able to use any magic, therefore having to resort to stuffing my injured wings beneath my jumper. With a backpack on, you can't see them, but it hurts like hell.

"Oh god" Rae mumbles, tracing a gentle finger along the many scars on my body. "I thought Grian looked bad..."

"Grian was here?!"

"Oh... he was. He's gone off now to-"

"Stop. The less I know the less I'll be forced to report"

"That's fair... sorry."

She begins to gently clean the blood from wings, before pouring small drops of healing potion on the open wounds. I'm a little surprised by this. As easy as potions are to obtain on separate worlds, rules here on the Main World are strict, and only few had access to the ingredients needed. Healing Potions were only given to medics and nurses, to be used in bad circumstances.

"Are you a nurse?" I ask quietly, as my sister brushes the loose feathers from my black wings. "You seem to know a lot more about taking care of wings then I do... and you have Healing Potions."

"I am." She responds "It's important to know how to care for any patient, and I'm given some emergency supplies I can grab if I'm heading somewhere from home, to avoid heading to the hospital and using up precious time"

She smiles as she brushes out the last couple feathers, admiring my wings.

"They're beautiful... much bigger then Grian's"

"Grian's are still growing... they will be until he's about 20." I respond "How is he anyway?"

"Well... he had a cut on his arm, and a fractured ring finger on his left hand. Otherwise he was physically ok. Mentally though... not well. He's going to have to deal with the trauma for the rest of his life though... and you will too. But he's safe now. It's good to see you care about him."

"More then anyone" I reply "I promise you, he's going to stay safe. I'd give my life for that kid"

Rae merely smiles, hugging me again. This time I hug back, my soft wings wrapping around the two of us. After a while, I pull away, putting my top and jumper back on.

"Were there others with Grian?"

"No. He said he got separated from his friends when he came through into the Overworld."

"Great, I don't even know if the others are ok or not" I grumble

"He said he misses them... especially his boyfriend"

"Boyfriend?" I repeat

"Ezra was it not? Together for nearly three years?"

Boyfriends? Ezra and Grian? This is news to me. Rae seems to get by my expression that I wasn't aware of their relationship.

"Oh... you didn't know?"

"No... kinda disappointed they didn't tell me..." I mumble "Not that they had to but... three years?"

Rae awkwardly pats my back, before the two of us burst out laughing. I haven't laughed like this in years. It feels nice. After a moment, I push my short, messy hair, identical to Grian's, out of my eyes. I look at her sadly.

"I... I'm going to have to go now. I don't want to put you in danger"

"I get it... promise me you'll keep him safe

"Promise."

Hugging my sister, I try to figure out what to do next. I mumble one last goodbye, before leaving.

Now comes the tricky bit.