Cardinal

Chapter 3

Keenan drives us out of a small town in Montana and to a small runway where I spot a black jet. 

I keep a tamper down on my emotions as we exit the Escalade. I don't need to escalate my situation now if I suddenly reveal all of my cards. 

I follow Steel out with William exiting the other door. Keenan and Damian are already headed to the sleek private jet. 

I look up in astonishment and glance at the black jet, wondering who owns this and how the hell they're able to afford this. 

As if he read my mind, Steel announces, "We own it."

He provides no further explanation to this statement and just leads me to where the entrance was located. 

Two beefy men who were as almost as wide as sequoia trees and a build of a defensive linebacker stood near the steps to the entrance of the jet. Both regard each of my links and ignore me. Good. I don't need to be noticed anyways. The fewer people see me, the safer it was for everyone. 

Steel guides me to a very comfortable leather chair and straps me in, pulling the buckle tightly. 

He winks at me and says, "Wouldn't want you to escape again now do we?" 

He takes the seat in front of me while the others are already seated further back in the jet. I look at William who is engrossed in a conversation with a blonde bombshell who looks to be our flight attendant. She blinks ferociously at him and bites her lip every 10 seconds. I roll my eyes and huff at the scene in front of me. Steel looks back to see this play out, an entertained and curious grin on his face. 

William sees my reaction and starts to touch the flight attendant's hair, and closing the proximity between them. 

For some reason, this tests my control and I start the feel a stretching sensation on my chest which I assume had something to do with my links and the scene that was unfolding before me. This is rejection, flat out. He was consciously doing it to hurt me, knowing that it WILL hurt me.

Rejection with links and their cardinal was not unheard of albeit in rare cases. Our society regarded cardinal links with admiration and commendation. All of the stories and legends of our origins relayed that this was a gift from the higher power that was connected with our abilities. It was frowned upon to reject your cardinal and vice versa and most people wouldn't want to. Out of the several thousands of us in society, only about 20-30% find their links or cardinals. Usually, only the obnoxiously wealthy and the magistrates' families have access to the technology and the resources to employ people who could find their links and cardinals for them at an early age. Therefore, links and cardinals were everyone's envy and desire in life. Not to mention, it was painful to consciously reject your fated, but especially for the cardinal. Cardinals were the center that balanced out the unit. The strength of the unit was defined by the strength of the relationships between the links and their cardinal. Abilities multiply AND amplify in parallel with the bonds. 

When I left and ran, I didn't quite reject them in my head and in my heart. To me, they were always end game. I never looked in any other person's direction nor was I attracted to anyone else. I thought about them every single day. Every. Single. Day. They occupied my mind when I was going through the hardest times, motivating me to live and not succumb to the darkness. There were a lot of things they were not aware of in the 5 years that we weren't together that I will continue to keep in the dark about or so help me. 

I open my eyes again when I feel the stretching sensation lighten up on my chest to a dull familiar ache. The blonde bimbo flight attendant taps my shoulder and asks if I wanted anything to drink. I shake my head and look out of the circular window, ignoring everyone again.