Savoirs

Lia

The knife was digging into my skin slowly and the tears ran down Jaclyn's face and the pain coursed through my body and the others were screaming in pain and the children were crying for their mother who tried to go to them but couldn't. Everyone was in pain but Jaclyn's wasn't inflicted by magic, it was caused by the fact that she couldn't do anything to help us. Then the man started taunting her. I saw the glow start in her eyes and slowly I noticed it was like the sun was rising behind her. Then a brilliant white light. I heard the man scream in my ear and then the light was gone and I stood facing Jaclyn. The man was gone and Jaclyn swayed slightly where she was standing. I reached out towards her and her knees buckled. She collapsed into me and I noticed that she wasn't moving.

"Jaclyn?" I exclaim, kneeling down next to her. She doesn't say anything, doesn't move, doesn't do anything. Panic rises in my throat until I see her chest rise and fall rhythmically. I heard Jason moan and looked up. The others were kneeling on the floor and then Joseph stood on shaking legs.

"Is she alright?" He asks, his voice thin and scratchy. I shrug.

"I don't know. She's not awake." I say and he nods.

"Are you alright?" I ask and he nods again.

"Yeah. I think its fair to say that the majority of us have been through worse." He says and I nod. I look over at Jason and see him holding his side. He leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes.

"Jason, you alright?" I ask and he looks over at me.

"I'm fine." He growls and Serena stands. She staggers over and practically falls down beside Jason and she shakes her head and starts to unwind the bandage.

"I need a clean bandage and wet rag." She says and I catch a glimpse of red on the bandage. His wound had reopened. Fern nods and gets to her feet only to sink back to the floor. Adam stands and goes outside to get what Serena had needed and when he returns he's carrying the items Serena needed. He hands them to her and he sits in front of Jason.

"What did he want?" Nickolas asks and I shake my head.

"He was trying to convince Jaclyn of something I'm sure. Why and how it could've benefited him I don't know." I say and he nods.

"Well whatever it is he sure caused everyone a great deal of pain." He says and I nod.

"What caused the light?" Fern asks weakly and I look at Jaclyn passed out on the floor.

"Jaclyn did." I say and her eyes grow wide.

"You mean her power is light?" She breathes and I nod.

"Yes." I say simply. Fern opens her mouth to say something more but Jaclyn stirs and I turn my attention to her. She looks up at the ceiling confused.

"Why am I on the floor?" She asks and I smile.

"You passed out." I say and she looks at me.

"Why are you smiling then?" She asks and I shrug.

"Because the first thing you worried about was the fact that you were on the floor." I reply and she sits up.

"What happened? I remember light filling the room and the man disappearing but everything after that is a blur." She says and I shrug.

"Something happened to him. I couldn't see anything. You passed out after the light went out." I tell her and she nods. She looks around and her eyes land on Serena cleaning Jason's wound. I notice her hands ball up into fists and she looks away quickly.

"I'm so sorry." She whispers and I shake my head.

"Don't be. None of this is your fault." I say confidently and she looks up at me, something in her eyes makes me flinch slightly and she shakes her head.

"Did you hear anything he said? What did you think he was telling? Lies?" She asks and I nod my head. Hadn't she said that he was lying? Did she refuse to acknowledge that at the time thinking it would save us?

"Jaclyn, you said it was lie." I say and she shakes her head.

"I did that because its what he wanted, for me to break down over the truth. I refused to believe him to keep you alive. He would have killed you if I had admitted the truth." She says and I blink.

"Jaclyn, we thought that-"

"You thought that my family was happy. You thought that my past was just that, a past. You thought that everything I do is a result of after my family was killed. It isn't. My father was a drunk who abused his wife and children and my mother was a whore but that does not mean they didn't love us. They moved us after a fire and my mother was pregnant with me. My father knew it wasn't his but he loved me as if I were. He gave up drinking and forgot her past. For their children. They loved us enough to change for the better." She says fiercely. Joseph looks up and sighs.

"Did they die by the enemy raiding your village?" He asks. It was a harsh question to ask but we all were thinking it. She nods.

"Every word of that was true. I never lied about anything besides who my parents were." She says and we nod. There was a certain hidden meaning in her words that made them ring with truth. We believed her and she knew it. Jason moans quietly and I look over. He's laying down again and Serena is done wrapping the bandage around his wounds. Jaclyn refuses to look at him but we all see the sudden tense shoulders and the slight movement of her head before she catches herself and stares at the wall instead of looking over her shoulder at him.

"We should stay here for a week at most. His wounds will have had a chance to heal and he'd be much stronger by then. We all would be." Serena says with a pointed look in Jaclyn's direction. Fern nods and again tries to stand. She manages to stay on her feet this time but she leans heavily on the wall.

"Of course. Just please, don't bring any more strange men in here that can bring all of you to your knees." She says and I smile a sour smile.

"That is something we can not promise. But we will try our best." I say and she nods curtly and then staggers back to her room with her husband to comfort their children.