Revealed

Chapter Nine

We stopped sometime early in the morning. Zander was tired and said that he needed to rest for a few hours before continuing. I hadn't really noticed the way that his eyes were slowly getting framed by deep purples and blues. You didn't notice change when it happened slowly.

I stayed awake, feeling too on edge to sleep. I didn't think it was such a good idea with the both of us sleeping at the same time, I felt like someone should keep an eye out and I'd already slept earlier. We stayed in the car, we were driving out in the middle of nowhere and the trees shielded us rather nicely.

Apparently Zander knew where he was going now. He had a plan, but as usual he was keeping me firmly in the dark. This time, I wasn't quite as pushy for answers, I'd get them when they were important. I just sat silently, unsure of what to say that wouldn't cause friction between us. Neither one of us wanted to talk about what had happened, but I always wanted to know more. Who were they really and what had Zander done, what had I done? Something that I could no longer remember?

I knew that it was likely to have some sort of long winded explanation, laden with details about Eternals and their lifestyles and the inner workings of their society. It was easy to see that they worked slightly differently than we did. For one thing, they all made a habit of carrying a gun around with them. Something that I was not all too pleased about. Just because they used one, didn't mean that we had to do the same.

The hours were boring and passing slowly and I felt like I should have been doing something to help other than keeping my eyes open and looking out onto an empty road. Not one car had come past since we pulled up a few hours ago. The only other things that showed any signs of life were the occasional fox, darting out into the middle of the road, across the other side and retreating back.

I'd have liked to have found the silence comforting and peaceful, but in fact it had the opposite effect. It wasn't so bad as the sky got lighter and I could actually see, but I still didn't like the thoughts of being so alone. Yes, it meant that we hadn't been caught, but it also meant that if they did turn up, there was no one else around, no one else to whiteness or help.

Zander was confident that I'd be safer when we arrived at his top secret destination. It was something that he hadn't planned, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. He was holding back from me again and I knew that it shouldn't have bothered me as much as it was, but it was grating on my mind the entire time.

Our relationship wasn't as smooth and steady as it used to be. Back when I thought I knew everything about him. I didn't like the whole half in half out thing that we had going on. But I found that I just didn't want to ask questions anymore, mainly because I was really afraid of the answers I would get. I don't know what I'm looking for, anything sounded better than nothing, but ignorance can really turn out to be bliss. I longed for things to go back to how they were before, but we were so far gone that I just simply couldn't see that happening any more.

"Staring is rude." I jumped, hardly realising that I had been looking at him for so long, eyes trailing over his face, wishing that I could smooth out the worry lines that were ever present – even when he was sleeping.

"I didn't realise you were awake."

He took my hand, weaving our fingers together. "How are you?"

"Good. How are you?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "How's your," he gestured with our jointed hand to my side.

"Oh yeah, it's fine."

"Painful?"

I nodded. "But fine." It didn't hurt if I didn't let myself think about it. It was sore and it pulled if I moved too far or too quickly, but it was bearable and I could deal with it. I had to.