The Last of the Old Ones

Colin

Chapter Nine

Out of nowhere there was a group of three Blank Faces, all cloaked in black and definitely on a mission. There was no coincidence, they knew who she was and that we were going to be here. Shit. I could see the panic that overtook all of us, including Amber. I made eye contact with my father, I had trained for situations like this but had not been in one as high stake as this, especially not involving someone as important as this; he gave me a look that said, "Make sure she makes it there safe," and in that look, I knew he was going to risk himself if need be. I nodded, and they began sprinting to the house. I nudged Amber to run and picked up speed to match hers. I kept pace enough that I could make sure she was able to keep up with the rest of us. We weren't far so it only took a matter of minutes, none of us stopped to breathe until we had the door shut behind us. I heard my father locking the two deadbolts in place while I saw Amber lean over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. I fought every urge to go to her side and rub her back. I felt bad that things had to happen this way. I had every hope that we could've found a way to have a meeting between her foster parents; her parents and us to fill Amber in but that option had been completely obliterated.

When Amber finally stood up you could see the shock in her face upon seeing the others in the protection program walking around with their iodine drips. Well, those were years of preparations out the window. Nothing has gone to plan... This is not good; my panic turned from Amber to the fact that the Blank Masks knew enough to intercept us. What else could they know? And how? Had I blown my cover somehow or said more than I should have to the wrong person? Did I not put on a convincing enough act at the school, or did someone recognize me as an Old One? All the bad thoughts swirled in my head.

I barely heard my mom introducing herself and explaining how Amber was one of us over the blood rushing behind my ears. One of "us", that was still such a foreign thing, that we were different from other humans. I had known my whole life, but it still felt strange to tell people that they were not normal. That we were not normal.

Amber was so scared I swore I could sense a change in her scent... That is not possible, is it? Over the past few months, I had grown fond of Amber at school. I wanted to protect her, and not just because that was my assigned task but because I liked her. A lot of struggles with that pull of a "soulmate" plagued my thoughts; but now was not the time to ask if she felt the same. I had hoped my presence in the school would let us ease her into the truth but obviously that was not how things had gone.

We were trying to avoid any sort of panic; we needed her to trust us. At least she followed us anyway, we had that going. I felt my heart race but kept my face calm. I put up a mask, I would not, could not let Amber see me panic. If I was going to lead one day, I would need to perfect hiding my emotions and playing them off when things got bad. My father wore the same calm expression I did across the entryway, perhaps that was the giveaway though, that the two of us were perfectly calm. I kept an eye on Amber from where I stood. I could see the color drain from her face as she regained her breath and stood up to take in her surroundings. My eyes honed in on her slight teetering and caught my father's eye to motion for him to spring in to help. The twitch in her thigh was our last warning sign before her legs went limp under her weight. We caught her, but not before her knees hit the floor with a thud. I gritted my teeth at the sound, as if I could feel the pain course through my knees as well.

I fought every instinct to pull her into my lap and hold her until she came to but that would just do more damage at this point. I kept a firm grip under her arm though. I tried to hide my surprise as a jolt of electricity tingled my skin at the touch. Interesting, I only ever felt that with her...

"Welcome back." I said as her eyes fluttered open. Such an idiotic thing to say, you couldn't have thought of something along the lines of "are you okay?" or something, I scalded myself internally.

After Amber made it safely back to her feet, my mother convinced her to follow to her new room. My mother employed me to follow behind in case she was to pass out again. Amber looked over at me and I gave her a smile of encouragement. I watched as my mother then led her away to her room. I followed a bit behind, looking for another telltale sign she was about to faint again- none came; my room was next to Amber's, but I didn't want to seem like I was listening in or expecting her to be incapable of walking on her own.

Once I was sure Amber was safely in her room with my mother, I went to my room and sat at my computer desk and pulled up the files on the Blank Faces. I didn't understand how they found out about us or how long we would be safe here (despite the fact that we had a force field around us, it would be a matter of time until they figured out how to get to us). I put my head in my hands, my elbows propped on the desk. I felt an all-new level of anger at the fear they had caused in Amber. And an all-new level of anger that I had failed and hadn't seen any of this coming, at the fact that I almost let Amber get captured or hurt... What they would do to Amber if they got their hands on her was unthinkable. I could not, would not let anything happen to her. I would protect her at all costs.

DING DING DING. "Attention everyone, supper is ready in the dining room." Marabeth's voice came over the intercom, interrupting me from my thoughts, so I closed the files on my computer and headed out of my room. I figured I'd better help Amber find her way, so I stopped in front of her door just in time to have her run into me. Her soft cheekbones turned red as she looked up at me and apologized. I smiled as her sweet scent filled my nose again. I reassured her that it was okay and that I was just coming to show her the way to the dining hall.

"After you," she said waving her hand for me to lead the way. "So how many people are here?" She asked me curiously.

"Well, now with you and including the staff, I believe there are 14 of us." I said, counting heads in my mind.

"So... Are we trapped here?" Amber asked, gears obviously turning in her mind, trying to make sense of everything.

"Not at all, you can come and go as you please. As long as you aren't disrespectful about it of course, most of us just choose to stay here because it's more comfortable that way. Less prying eyes, and many of those here have endured a lot before they came to our little safe heaven. They feel safe here." I explained how this was our home and where we could be what we really are and how many of the people here had left dangerous situations, so they felt safer within the walls of the house. "My parents created a safe haven for our people, this is just the newest institution." I explained.

"So... what are we then?" She asked me the one question I was avoiding because I didn't have the best answer for her.

"I'll leave that one to my parents." I said as we got to the dining room and sat down, I knew my parents were going to try to start explaining things after dinner. My mother had the staff create a grand feast in Amber's honor and they began setting out the food for us to serve ourselves. Amber looked over at me, asking if we always ate feasts like this.

"Oh no, but tonight is a celebration of you joining us, we have been anticipating your arrival, so tonight is a celebration.

I said, explaining that her being the last of the old ones and joining us finally was a huge relief. The room was filled with chatter and excitement, a nice break from the anxious energy of the house lately.