In Shadows We Rise

Chaper 57

Xander

Just when I thought Reia would finally have the long-overdue talk with us, something else entirely happens. I watch in horror as the girl crumbles on the floor, her head hitting the moldy wood before anyone can react. Someone curses while Atticus moves to get to her side. Before he can even reach her, she wakes back up with a gasp.

"Reia, are you okay?" Naiara asks slowly while I watch a sinister smile spreading over the other girl's face.

"Why, of course." I feel a chill wash over me when the whispers like nails against a blackboard reach my ears.

"Reia?" Atticus asks carefully.

"Not quite," reply the whispers. Meanwhile, I'm wondering what kind of shit show I ended up in.

"What do you mean, not quite?" I ask as I start pulling my friends further away from the girl. Reia's usually really pleasing appearance seems to be just as off as her voice. Like something doesn't fit though I can't quite figure out what's different.

"Well, it's a little complicated right now. You really did a number on the poor girl. Thank you for that, by the way." Rei's smile widens but her eyes aren't in it. That's what's wrong, I realize. While the girl's face and voice sound cocky creepiness, her eyes seem normal. Or not so much normal but a much more desperate, panicked version.

"Though you don't deserve all the credit for that, do you," the whispers go on. "There were the raiders. Yes, they were the root of it all. That's when it started going downhills." Now I'm lost. Raiders? What raiders? No one around me seems to understand any better, not even Atticus though his jaw is clenched tightly.

"Shut up," he grits out. Reia, or whatever I should call it, ignores him.

"Then her father. Oh, how he fed us!" they squealed giddily but the sound hurts my eardrums like a dozen needles.

"I said stop it!" Atticus yells. I'd tell him not to anger the whispers while they're in control would I not agree with him. Whatever Reia hasn't told us about her past is her information to entrust us with on her own time, if ever. The girl's eyes seem to grow impossibly sadder.

"I'd tell you more but you've seen the scars for yourself. Horrifying, aren't they? Did you know that she still- oh." With that, the girl goes limp again. This time, Atticus is quick enough to catch her before she hits the ground. He sits down with her upper body in his arms and looks at the rest of us helplessly.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't think there's anything I can do," Layla says miserably. I know she hates not being able to help.

"I think there's nothing we can do until she wakes up," I chime in uselessly.

"We can pray it's really her the next time," Sorin mutters.

"What about-" Naiara starts quietly but Atticus and I cut her off at the same time.

"Nothing." It's not our place to try to figure out what happened in her past. Just when I am about to say that Reia's arm twitches. Then her head, which makes it look like she's trying to shake something off. Finally, her legs jerk slightly before she opens her eyes. Guarded eyes, not tormented ones. I wonder if we got an insight into what Reia was feeling for once.

"Something interesting?" she snaps while sitting up and crawling away from Atticus. I can't help but laugh out in relief to hear her actual voice. That causes her to look at me funny but I feel no need to explain. I'm tired and this emotional rollercoaster was just too much. If I want to laugh, I'm going to laugh.

"Sleep. It's time for us to fucking sleep," Layla breathes out. She curls up on one end of the couch while Sorin takes the others. I tell Naiara and Calista to take one bed which leaves A, Rei, and me. The bed's too small for my friend and me to fit together but I know better than to suggest the two of them share the bed. Right when I'm about to do the gentleman thing and offer Rei the bed, she heads for the corner furthest away from the rest of us and lies down facing the wall. Deciding not to fight her on it I convince Atticus to take the bed and quickly slip out of the room, intending to get the promised blankets.

I find Gary where he was an hour ago. He doesn't seem to remember me at first but when I mention the blankets, he's quick to grab them. "You were the group of seven, right? I just lost a customer, decided to move back in with his husband. If you're still interested in the room, it's yours," he tells me before I reach the staircase leading to the rooms. I beam at the news. Something about Gary is really lifting my spirits. Maybe it's his dementia or maybe life in Durgoda simply has that effect. However, I'm glad.

I pay for the second room before heading back to our original one. I must say I was tempted to take advantage of my situation by sleeping in the other room by myself. I love my family but I miss privacy. In the end, it was the image of Reia's body on the hard, cool, and dirty ground that convinced me to go back.

I do my best not to disturb the quiet as I step into the room but the creaking floorboards are not helping me. I slowly step towards Reia, aware of how bad an idea it is to sneak up on her, and crouch down a few feet away.

"Rei," I whisper. I'm pretty sure she's not asleep, call it intuition. Still, the girl doesn't turn around. "I was able to get another room." That got her attention. Her plan to ignore me abandoned, she turns around, sits up, and studies me before sticking her hand. "I'll send Layla after you so wait up."

She nods and walks past me before hesitating. "Thanks," she says so quietly I barely miss it. Then she storms out as quietly as a ghost while I go to wake Layla.

She puts up more of a fight, saying it'd be unfair of her to take it and that I or Atticus deserve it more. After I tell her that Reia would be less than happy to share a room with either of us she accepts her defeat and goes out the same door the other girl did. Not before I get a kiss on the cheek though. Yeah, I'm a smooth dude. I build myself a nest of blankets and fall asleep with a smile on my face.