I felt myself being thrown against a tree. The bark bit into my cheek and I felt the warmth of blood trickling down it. At least it wasn’t my arm this time, I guess my mental notes weren’t working. I pushed myself off and whirled around to face the Exiled.
“I do have a name you know, I’m not just an Exiled, as you so kindly refer to me,” he smirked at the sight of my eyes widening. “Close your mouth, you might catch flies.”
I snapped my mouth shut and just stared at him. He was handsome, most Entia were. Sculpted face, lean, lithe looking body, soft, chocolate looking hair, and soft warm brown eyes that held a glint of mischief. The reason my mouth had been hanging open was because he could read my thoughts, with my shield being pulled down.
“Think I’m just handsome, don’t you?” he asked while making his way to a small gathering of flowers near a river’s edge. River, we were close by my house, that’s the only River I knew that existed in the county. Wait, what did he say?
He plucked a red tulip from the patch, without looking up he said, “I would have thought something else would have crossed your mind, I’ve heard girls find me quite sexy.”
He was sexy, in a good boy kind of way. He looked up immediately and stared at me, a curious smile played on his lips. “I have never been thought of as a good boy.” My cheeks instantly heated up when I remembered he read minds. I pulled down a stronger mental shield around my head and pictured it covered in barbed wire, chicken wire, electrical wire, and any other kind of wire I could think of. It worked too, since his smile turned into a pout. “You’re no fun,” he brushed himself off and straightened from his crotched position in front of the flowers. He held the tulip in front of him, like a peace offering,”for you.”
I stared at it like it was a dead animal. "Excuse me?” I couldn’t have heard him right. He stalked me in the school, then almost choked me, cut me off from Synophi, threw me against a freaking tree, and then offered me a flower? This dude was seriously deranged. Had he been human I would have called the mental hospital and asked them if they were missing a patient.
“I said, ‘for you,’” he made his way closer to me.
I let out a low growl and went into a defensive stance. “Don’t come any closer, what the hell do you want?”
He gestured to the flower he still held. “Obviously, I want to give you this flower,” He took another step, the next he went flying into a tree. I went back into my fighting stance and gave a small smile. I told him not to come any closer, next time he was going to be part of the tree.
The boy pulled himself up off the ground, shaking his head slightly and wiping the blood coming from his mouth. He looked down at his hand then at me, then back again. “You aren’t the sweet rose I’ve heard you be.” He straightened himself up once again with a smirk one his face.
I growled and took a step back, throwing my senses out to see if Synophi was anywhere near by.
I didn’t receive anything back. Synophi must have been going crazy looking for me. I looked back at the Exiled. “Evidently, whoever told you that must have been as crazy as you are.”
“Why would you assume I’m crazy?” He lifted a brow. I didn’t bother pointing out all the reasons why. There was a reason he took me and I wanted to know why.
“Who. Are. You. And. Why. Are. You. Here.” I enunciated slowly.
The Exiled looked around at the clearing. He spotted a rock jutting out from the ground and made his way towards it. After he took a seat he looked up at me. “Care to join me?”
I just looked at him. I wasn’t going to talk until he answered my question.
He sighed, “very well. My name is Santiago, and as to why I’m here; the answer is very simple. I’m here for you.”
I felt my eyes widen slightly but I quickly schooled my features. I straightened up from my defensive stance but didn’t make a move towards Santiago.
“Why are you here for me, are you going to kill me now?” I boldly asked.
“That is the million dollar question, sweet cheeks. One you don’t get the privy of knowing.” Santiago leaned back and rested on his forearms and tipped his head up to the skies. "As for the second part, no not exactly. Not all Exiled are malicious I'll have you know."
I don’t get the privy of knowing? Who the hell did this guy think he was? Did he just say he basically wasn't evil either? I was going slap that smirk right off his face. I took a menacing step forward and was prepared to summon earth to launch that rock he was sitting into the sky when I felt a presence behind me.
I pivoted around and was confronted with six foot three inches of burliness. I looked and saw a boy about my age with light brown hair and ice blue eyes. He wasn’t as handsome as Santiago, but he wasn’t bad looking either. He’s aura excluded menace with a touch of...softness. He didn't have the presence of being an Exiled either, this was starting to get freaky. The boy looked over my shoulder and spoke to Santiago.
“This is the girl we were sent to protect?” his deep baritone voice asked.
I was prepared to go back into my defensive stance until he asked that question. I turned around to face Santiago.
“Excuse me? This was the information I wasn’t privy to?” I asked indignantly while simultaneously placing my hands on my hips. What the hell was going on here?
Santiago sat up and let his head fall into his palms while muttering, “thanks, Jace.”
Jace looked back and force between Santiago and I. “What’d I do?”
“Thanks, Jace,” I echoed Santiago’s earlier remark. “You just made everything clearer while confusing me even more. On that note, I’ll be leaving now.” I had dealt with enough crazy. I like to think of myself as a chill person, I normally didn't atack unless i was provoked and this situation was starting to hurt my head. Having taken that math test hadn't heled at all. I’ll think about what happened here later. He wasn’t sent here to kill me so no need for bloodshed. I grabbed my leather jacket I had shrugged off earlier and made my way to the beaten path I was sure was nearby. If this was the river near my house I would find it.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it there missy. Where do you think you’re going,” Jace commented as he grabbed my arm.
I yanked my arm out of his grasp. “I’m going home and then walking all the way back to school, thanks to you,” I pointedly looked at Santiago. “Then, hopefully, going to Starbucks after school. So goodbye.” I started walking again and knocked right into Santiago who had teleported in front of me.
“Not so fast. We still have things to discuss,” Santiago murmured as he lowered his face towards mine. I backed away quickly and ended up knocking into Jace. I straightened up and looked Santiago directly in the eye.
“Yeah, we have loads to discuss. Like how you can severe telepathic connections. Why you severed mine. How the hell can you teleport. Who, forget that, what the hell are you. Why do you send off an outcast signature? Why did you take me in the first place, and who sent you to protect me?” I ticked off evert question and comment I made. “Yet, since I’m not up for discussing things right now in the middle of the woods like we're making a drug exchange, why don”t we all meet at Starbucks at let’s say,” I looked down at my non-existent watch. “Three o’clock? That sound good? We can discuss all this crazy then.” With that I walked ahead and made my way home, leaving those two boys confused and their mouths gaping as they watched me go.
