Trigger Warning

Three

Three (7 Years Earlier)

                By the time Amara resurfaced from the bottom of the river, the sun that had been setting when she’d been in the bank had disappeared beyond the horizon. She’d known this when she was still under the water, travelling in the air bubble she’d formed herself, because she’d stubbed her toe on a rock in the pitch blackness of it all.

                Amara sat by the shore and tried to get her bearings. She’d been walking down stream for about an hour and half, meaning, she’d probably only gotten about two miles from the scene of the crime. 

What she needed most at that point was to get back to her temporary lodging and sleep for the next three years.

Her luck was never that good, though, because when she stood up and turned to walk through the woods, a figure slammed down to the ground in front of her, seemingly having dropped straight out of the sky.

Yet, she still staggered back, eyes wide and yelped.

“D-did you just—“ Amara stuttered, falling backwards, landing unmercifully hard on her behind.

He frowned at her. “Do you know just how stupid that was? We’ve spent years, years covering ourselves up and you decide to go off and show off that ‘Ohh, look what I can do with this water. Isn’t it cool?’ God dammit, girl, do you know what you could’ve done had I not been there to make the call to cover it up?”

“Excuse me,” her lower lip trembled, “Are you—are you like me?”

Scowling, he responded, “If you’re asking if I’m an idiot, the answer if no.”

Amara seemed to be getting her wits back. “Who are you?” she demanded, her grip on her backpack tightening unctuously.

“My name’s Ezekiel Young. What’s your name?” he inquired, no less irately than before.

“Amara Withers.”

He studied her for a second in the dark lighting. He could tell just from the small amount of time he’d been watching her that she didn’t know about the world she’d been born into. Ezekiel thought of his family and his training. Memories of his laughter and knowledge of his place in society and life surfaced.

Ezekiel pitied her, the girl who probably had never fit in anywhere she went. Thinking she was the only person like her.

So he sighed. “Meet me here tomorrow, if you’ve got the guts. Adrian’s going to want to meet you. There’s more people. Like us, I mean. I figured you’d want to meet them.”

“You flew, didn’t you?” Amara asked, her eyes wide. “That’s why you fell out of the sky.”

The man smiled at her for the first time. It changed his face, stripping away the anger and contempt, leaving a kind and gentle expression. “There’s more where that came from. Tomorrow night, ten on the dot, be here and I can show you.”

“But I thought I was an idiot.” Amara pointed out, languidly.

He considered her. “Yes, but you’re an untrained idiot. I think the two cancel each other out, don’t you?”

“I am trained.” She said indignantly.

With a quick flick of her wrist, a knife appeared in Amara’s hand, moonlight glinting off of the blade. She meant for the movement to be intimidating and to have knocked Ezekiel off his high horse, but he simply laughed.

“You may be trained with blades, but not with your abilities. Here, tomorrow night. If you’re late we’ll consider that your declination of my kind offer.” He nodded towards her. “It would be in your best interest if you do not to decline.”

Amara recoiled. “Was that a threat?”

He rose an eyebrow in the darkness of the night. “No. It was a promise. I would like to have you on our side, Amara. I hope to see you soon.”

And just like that, he was gone, his body ascended in less than a second and was missing before Amara could even turn around to see which direction he’d gone off in. She stared at the sky for a long time, her lips pressed together in frustration and her jaw clenched.

Then she spun and headed off into the woods, waiting at least fifteen minutes before pulling out her cell phone and dialing the only number she knew by heart.

She let it ring three times, then hung up and dialed it up again. She answered after the first ring.

“Hey, Jayden, what’s up?” Jia asked. In the back ground, she could hear water running and a tv. She must’ve caught her mother in the middle of doing the dishes.

 

She was careful to keep her voice steady. Any inflection of happiness would be seen as a sign of weakness to her mother and would warrant a scolding. So, she kept her tone even as she said, “I’m in.”