A Spy's Home---Book 3: A Friend I've Never Met

Chapter 21

I put my hands up in a surrendering motion, and said, "Lilian, look, I'll explain everything to you, just let me get to my feet, alright?"

"Fine..." she answered through clenched teeth. I slowly stood up, not taking my eyes off of the barrel for a second. As I rose from the floor, the gun traced my every move, and a thought hit me.

"Where'd you get the pistol?" I asked; maybe now wasn't the best time to ask that question, but I was interested.

"Took it when Luke was resting." Lilian briefly answered; her voice was shaky, and I nodded in approvement of her stealth.

"Lilian, I need you to put the gun down, alright? I can't explain anything if I'm shot and bleeding." I tried to convince her, but she shook her head.

"After what happened, I can't trust that you won't attack me." she told me. Sighing, I knew I needed to find a different approach.

"If you wanted to shoot me you would have done it by-" I was cut off by Lilian cocking the pistol, and I flinched at the sudden action. She was serious!

"I lost enough family, Zylina. I am not going to lose anymore because of the Academy." she told me, choking out the words.

I understood right then and there that this was all about the loss of her family. I also realized she may have not had the time to grieve the loss of her parents due to her being pulled into this mess.

"Lilian, I know what it's like to lose family and friends because of the Academy." I admitted.

Lilian scoffed, and exclaimed, "How would you know? You didn't know your parents; how could you feel sadness that you lost them?"

I inhaled sharply as the words sunk in, and I choked out, "You really think that I don't feel sadness over my parents because I didn't know them? It's not just them either; I've watched people die while on missions. They may have been cadets, but most of them didn't know what they were doing was a bad thing."

There was a tense pause between us where the sound that was heard in the room was our breath. Lilian averted her eyes to the floor, and I saw a tear trail down her cheek. "Please Lilian, trust me. I'm not part of the Academy anymore, and I would never harm Luke." I said softly.

I heard Lilian inhale sharply, and watched as the gun lowered a little bit; I thought that was it, and I slowly moved towards her. She mumbled something under her breath and I asked, "What?"

"Lies!" she growled as she jerked her head, and I could see the pure anger in her blood-shot eyes, and tears staining her cheeks. Before I could react to the outburst, Lilian pinned me to the wall, and jammed the barrel of the gun into my chest.

I peeked over her shoulder, but saw the door was closed and locked; Rory was in his room packing, and Luke was downstairs resting. They had no idea what was going on; I averted my eyes back to Lilian.

Why wasn't I fighting back against her? If I could take down several cadets, I could easily fight back, so why wasn't I? The answer to my thoughts: If I fought back then she would be even more convinced that I double-crossed Luke.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luke's Point of View

I woke up with a bad feeling in my gut; no it wasn't a nausea feeling, but something didn't seem right. I sat up on the couch, and looked around; nothing seemed off, so why did I have this bad feeling that something wasn't right.

I then remember asking Lilian to make dinner, yet there was no noise in the kitchen. "Lilian!" I called; no answer.

I felt strong enough to rise from the sofa and peer into the kitchen; Lilian wasn't there, so I decided to check upstairs.

I knocked on Rory's door, and when he opened it, I asked, "Have you seen Lilian?"

I could see confusion coming over his face, before he shook his head and said, "I've been in here packing for the past 20 minutes, sorry."

"Alright, I'll go ask Zylina." I said, before walking away and hearing Rory close his door again.

"Lies!" I heard someone yell in Zylina's room. Confusion was the first emotion I felt when I heard the outburst, but as I thought about it more and realized that it had been Lilian that had yelled that, terror quickly took over.

I sprinted for the door, though it caused my side and head to hurt like heck, and tried twisting the doorknob; why is it locked?

I pounded on the door, and shouted, "Zylina!" I waited a couple of moments, before I finally got an answer, but it wasn't Zylina.

"Luke, I'm sorry, but after what she did, she needs to pay." I heard Lilian say; when those words hit my ears, I tried hitting the door open. If Lilian kills Zylina I'll never forgive myself. 

TBC.....