Eterna

Chapter Eight

I awoke in a chair. I was tied down. Darkness surrounded me but as my eyes adjusted I saw a one way mirror on one wall. Someone was watching me. I attempted to crane my neck around to see behind me but failed.

“Don’t try to struggle or use your gift, we’ve put a drainage bracelet on you. Meaning it sucks all your power out leaving you as defenceless as every other normal person in this world.” The voice came from behind the mirror. and I knew it was telling the truth because when I tried to conjure a wind hurricane something on my wrist lit up and my powers didn’t work.

“Where’s my sister? And August’s daughter? What do you want with me?” I peered at the window but couldn’t see through at all.

“My, my, aren’t you just full of questions. You’ll meet your sister and the other one soon enough. As for what we want with you, well, that’s simple. Power. There’s a war coming, Bailee, and to survive you have to kill the enemy. And that means the rest of the world. One day the human race will die out, but not us. We will continue to live lives of greatness, using our gifts to become better, faster, stronger. This is justice, and justice shall be fulfilled, whether you are for or against us.” A shiver went up my cold spine.

“You’re mad to think I would ever support your cause. Now take me to my sister.”

I waited for a response but got nothing. I waited. After what seemed like an age, light flooded the room from behind me and two men walked in. There must have been a door. One of the men held up a syringe and I realised what they were doing a little too late. It stung as it pierced my skin, but it was quickly over. Sleep took me.

“Bailee! Wake up! Bailee!” My sister’s voice. She lightly slapped my face and my eyelids fluttered open. My sister had long flowing hair, past her waist, and freckles on her cheeks. She looked just as I remembered except much much older. Her face relaxed into a smile when she met my eyes.

"Madison, you look so old."

"Twenty to be exact." She embraced me and I felt tears flow down my cheeks. At that moment nothing else mattered in the world except the fact that I had my sister by my side safe and sound. It was only then that I noticed the little girl peering awkwardly behind Madison.

"This is Grace. She came here a few years after me." I separated from my sister and stood up slowly to look at Grace. Her hair was short and dark, and her face was as pale as a ghost except her cheeks, which were a rosy red.

"Were you a baby when you came here?"

"Yes, around eight months." Her voice was like silk waving in the breeze.

"Do you remember anything before you came here?" I demanded of Grace.

"Only the image of my parents, but that's only because I have a picture of them." She went to the corner of the large room and reached into a small leather bag and pulled out a picture. It was of a younger August who was smiling cheerfully next to a woman who held a small baby in her delicate arms.

"I know your father. I know where he is! He's at Greenwards Academy."

"They got my message!" Madison exclaimed happily, and I understood what she meant. The anonymous message was from her!

“Really? What about my Mother? Are they looking for me? What’s my real name?” She giggled and skipped around the room like a happy duckling.

“Whoa there. Ummmm...your mother...I’m so sorry but she died during your kidnapping. But your father is looking for you. They never got to name you.” She stopped and sat down. Her tears were a waterfall of sadness tumbling down her face and onto the concrete floor. Maddy comforted her as I turned away, regret eating my stomach like a disease. There were two sets of bunk-beds side by side on the wall, and on the left a door led to a bathroom, and on the right was a closed door, probably locked to keep us in. It looked like Grace and Maddy had been living here for a long while.

“There used to be lots of us. Then they all got sold to the highest bidder. That’s what they do here. Take children with gifts, contain their powers with drainage bracelets and sell them as slaves.”

It all made sense. But why didn’t Grace and Maddy get sold after all this time?

“What about you and Grace? Why are you still here?” I wondered.

“They want to use our powers for their ‘war’. They believe our gifts are better than the average child’s. Some of the children we knew had powers like being able to jump really high or were really smart. Things that won’t help when you plan to kill the entire human race. Bailee, whether we like it or not, there is a war coming and they want to come out of it alive.”