Colorless

Chapter 6

We pull up to the house and Elijah jumps off the bike, leaving me to bare all the weight.

"Elijah, a little help here." He turns around and shakes his head. He lifts the bike and I move out from under it as he puts down the kick stand.

"Stay down and stay quiet," he says low and dangerously. I nod and follow him into the house. The outside seems fine, but the front door has been kicked in. "Damn it," he says, voice tight with worry.

We walk in and everything has been torn apart; tables thrown, mirrors broken, and couches flipped. 

"They've already been here." Elijah is speaking so quietly I can hardly hear him. I look around and I grow more and more anxious. Someone came for Cal and Simon. It's all my fault.

"I hope they are okay." Elijah nods and keeps walking. We go into the kitchen and there is glass all over the floor. It looks like someone was tossed around in here honestly and I just get more scared. We check the whole down stairs, then go upstairs.

"Cal?" Elijah calls out softly. "Cal, it's me," but no answer. No one is here.

"Elijah, what happened? Where are they?"

"They were attacked. Probably taken because of what they knew." He runs his hand through his hair. He is shaky, and in an instant, he turns and throws his fist into the wall. "Damn it!" I jump back, surprised by his outburst, and he slides down the wall. "Fuck!"

"We'll get them back," I say, trying to help.

"Of course we will Tyler! We have no choice. They are my damn family and now they're gone!" He stands and walks right up to me. "They had the directions to make the potion, shit. They had the books about the trials. They are the only ones who know even where to begin looking for the other First. They had everything." 

"Elijah-"

"Shut up Tyler." He walked into the room they put me in last night and slammed the door. What am I supposed to do now? Cal and Simon are gone. Elijah is never going to forgive me if they are hurt. "They are my damn family." His words replay over and over in my head, hurting more every time. "Tyler!"

"Elijah, I said I'm sorry." I open the door and he is facing me. "I don't know what else to-"

"Shut up Tyler and close the door." He says dismissing me.

"Look, I get you're mad, but you have got to stop telling me to shut up." I place my hands on my hips and he rolls his eyes.

"Tyler. Close the damn door and come over here." I'm obviously puzzled by this, but I do as he says. When I take my place next to him, I gasp.

"What is that?" In bold  spray paint, 1 4 26  is written.

"Code," he says smiling, then runs out of the room.

"Elijah!" I chase him down stairs and into the living room/library.

"1. First wall," he says and he shuts the double doors to get to the bookshelf behind them. "4, fourth row." He gets a chair and pushes it against the wall. "26, twenty sixth book." He counts quickly, then his finger hovers above one. He pulls it out and I immediately recognize the cover.

"Snow White?" I ask, unsure how Snow White could really help us here.

"Yeah. The Brothers Grimm." Elijah steps down from the chair and sets it down on the desk. "Calliah loves Snow White. She says it's because she is the first princess and loves the originality of it all, but I think its just because they share a similar look." Cal does share the same dark hair-light skin features, so that makes sense.

"Okay, but Snow White? Why?" Elijah opens the book, but skips to the end.

"Her favorite part is when Snow White and the prince get married." As he flips through pages, and I become more confused, but then he stops and a folded piece of paper is hidden in between the book's pages. He takes the paper out and drops the book down.

"What does it say?" I take a step towards him, and he looks at me and smiles.

"We have work to do." He walks pass me and hands me the paper on his way out. I look down and I can't believe it. She wrote a name, Demos, but the rest was instructions. Instructions to the potion or whatever. Elijah came back into the room, arms filled with bags. He cleared the desk and began setting up.

"Hand me the Phoenix Ash." I take it out of the bag and hand it to him. He began mixing things and digging through all the bags, but after a while he stops.

"Missing something?" I look down at the paper to check, but he speaks up.

"I'm done." He pours this thick gray-blackish liquid into a cup and hands it to me. "Bottoms up," he says with a smile.

"No way. I'm not drinking that."

"You are the one who wanted to make sure you were a Loris right? So drink up." He shoves the cup at me one more time and I snatch it from him.

"Oh god," I say to myself as I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I take a large gulp of the mixture and it is thick and disgusting. I finish the rest and look at Elijah, expecting to feel different. "Okay, nothing happened."

"Not yet," he says as he pulls a knife from his shoe.

"Elijah!"

"Calm down! I'm not going to kill you." He laughs and I smile awkwardly. "Now give me your hand."

"No. You are just going to cut me." I say putting my hands behind my back. "No way."

"The first blood must be put through fire, coated in raven and phoenix ash. When the fire burns brighter, only then is the blood proven true." Elijah smiles and takes a step towards me, then grabs my hand. "So I'm going to need some of your blood." He cuts into my hand and I hiss in pain.

Focus on something else.

I close my eyes and think how cold Elijah's gloves feel on my hand. I think about my mom and Ryan; even Marcus. I think about how even though it's only been two days, it felt like a month. I missed Izzy, school, and home. Life was simple then. No breaking curses, no lies. I just want to go back.

"I'm done, you can open your eyes now." I open my eyes and Elijah is at the table, a bowl in front of him. He strikes a match and throws it in the bowl, and the contents are engulfed in flames. "Well, here goes nothing." He pours the blood on the flame and little by little the flames dim until they are completely out. "Shit!" He throws a book from the desk and turns around.

"I'm sorry," I say quietly. I wanted to do this, and it was all for no reason. Cal and Simon were taken for nothing.

"Here," he said walking up to me, "let me help you with that." He grabs a piece of cloth and wraps it around my palm. "I spent months looking for you, dragged you here, forced you to stay and for what? It's not even you." I look up at him but he is so focused on my hand.

I hear a sizzle of some sort, then I look behind him and I can't believe my eyes.

"Elijah-"

"Cal and Simon-" he continues.

"Elijah."

"I can't believe this shit."

"Elijah, shut up and turn around." I say as I push his shoulder. He turns around and we both stare at the bowl, which is now full of enormous flames.

"Tyler," he says quietly.

"It's me." I say disbelievingly. "I'm the Loris descendant."