Arise

Chapter 3

We arrive back at school and Chelsea and Ella greet us. "Hey guys where you been??" Ella asks. Since Jace was too awestruck that she even looked in his direction, I answer.

"Just popped over to Greggs for something to eat, what have you guys been up to?"

"We've been revising. We have an exam in like ten minutes and we are freaking out!" Chelsea says quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a flood.

"Calm down Chels, you will be perfectly fine. Both of you will be. You're really smart and I know you'll do well." They calm down considerably. "Have either of you seen Jay?"

"Last time I saw him he was in the locker corridor with Penny." Ella says.

"Thanks, I'll see you guys later. Good luck." I say with an easy smile before going back inside to search for my brother. We walk down the blue corridor and see him leaning against his locker with Penny under his arm. 'We need to talk..'  I send him the message telepathically and he immediately starts to walk towards us.

"What is it?" He asks, ever the concerned brother.

"I had another flashback, it had a house and a woman."

"What did she look like?" I consider this question before bringing the memory back and sending it over to him.

"She looks just like him doesn't she?" I ask my voice full of emotion.

"We need to find him and soon." He replies breathlessly.

"Who are you talking about? Valem?" Jace asks we shake our heads simultaneously. "Who then?"

"We used to know this boy, he might as well have been our brother. We were separated from him awhile ago. His name was Brandon Lane." Jamie replies softly.

"Why were you separated?"

"Valem didn't like the amount of power when we were together, he sent Brandon to a different country; Jay to an orphanage and he took me with him." I mumble, close to tears.

"Oh." That one word held so much emotion. We sigh collectively just as the bell rings, "Meet me outside school later Bry and we can talk more about a certain someone." I nod.

"I'll meet you at the house later on tonight." Jay says to me before taking Penny's hand and heading to class. The next three hours pass quickly and I was finally ready to pack up and go home.

Brian walks over to me with a nervous smile, I swear this kid is always smiling. I smile back politely, which I instantly regret as it encourages him to come forward and talk to me. "Hey." He utters.

"Hi." I say easily.

"I'm Brian." He says, whilst fiddling with the sleeve of his hoody.

"I know."

"You do?" He looks so excited, he was almost cute.

"Yes, what can I do for you? I'm sorry for rushing you but I have to meet a friend."

"It's okay, I-I-I was hoping that you might want to get some coffee or something sometime..." He stammers.

"Sure, I can do tomorrow - before school - we can get some coffee. Sound good?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you there and we can walk to school together."

"Okay, umm I'll see you tomorrow." I practically sprint from the room before I agreed to something else. I spot Jace leaning on my car, he glares at me as I approach him.

"Where have you been?" he demands.

"Sorry Brian was talking to me. Anyway let's get moving things to do." I start the car as he slides into the passenger seat. "So what do you like about Ella?"

"Everything... Her personality, her hair and her freckles are so damn adorable." Speaking about her put him in a strange kind of trance almost - blissed out.

"You're cute." I say with a small giggle.

As we head towards the first stop on the road map I have planned in my head, I look up through the windshield towards the sky, the clouds have begun to turn grey and are swirling around one fixed point, the apartment. As soon as I realise I slam on the brakes, the tires squealing in protest.

"What's going on Bryony?" Jace demands as I swerve the car to avoid a collision. He knows something was wrong; he never used my full name, but it wasn't exactly rocket science to see how stressed out I am.

"Look at the sky Jace! They're coming and the vortex is pointing at the apartment, where Jay is, I can't lose him, I can't."