India White

Chapter 20

I took a large gasp of air and started coughing unconditionally. Then I repeated. I wiped the water off my eye lids and the world quickly came into focus.

I saw Jaspen there. His eyes were huge. Before I had time to take another breath, he immediately took me into his arms, nestling his face in my wet hair.

Actually, I wasn't wet. I was really only barely damp. As soon as he let me go me, I started to become aware of my surroundings. I was in "the current room" right next to the pool.

"Jaspen," I spoke quietly, my voice filled with a mixture of fear and relief, unsure what was going on.

"How did you-"

Before I could finish my sentence, he very gently sushed me, pointing to a small microphone hidden in the corner.

"We need to leave." He whispered to me.

Before I could react to what he had said, he took me by the arm, running out of the room and guiding me through the building.

Before I knew it, we were at the exit. Jaspen tried to push the door open, only to be filled with a look of frustration. I looked at him wearily, knowing fully well that the door was locked.

Jaspen looked at me, then starred at the door and sighed. Then he started making a pattern with his hand and the exit door immediately opened. My confusion at his skill was immediately drowned out by the burst of fresh air that I was filled we. We walked outside onto the hard ground. I took a sharp deep breath of the cool night. Freedom felt amazing.

I didn't get get to salvage the feeling though. Under the cover of darkness, we snuck around the building until we were far out of sight from the jail camp.

Once we figured we were completely safe, we took a break.

We sat there for a moment in silence.

Then Jaspen took of his Jacket, bundling it to form a small pillow, then laying it on the ground.

"Sleep." He spoke, looking at me, his hand near the makeshift pillow.

I sighed, but took him up on his offer. I was exhausted.

The jacket was hard to sleep on, but eventually, my eyes shut and didn't wake up until early dawn. When I sat up, Jaspen was still sitting next to me.

"You ready?" He asked sweetly.

I nodded and got up, handing him his jacket.

We started walking back toward the academy. We'd be walking for miles.