A Beast with a Smile {Book 1}

Chapter 29 (Clark): Family Reunion

"Scarlett? How did you do that?" Archy asked with an unhinged jaw.

We all sat and watched the indestructible door open. The metal cried as it rubbed together and an annoying alarm rang like an unwanted door bell.

"I had a vision. How sick that they would use the date that they killed him as the door code. It wasn't enough that they took his family away was it?" she tensed with her fists held tight in a ball.

"Salt in a deep wound," she muttered silently.

"How lucky are we to have your repressed memories to guide us?" Archy said.

"So my sister's in here?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Scarlett turned and faced me.

"I think so," she smiled at me.

It was a comforting smile; one so bright and beautiful had never looked at me in such a loving way. She barely knew me, yet she risked her life to protect me from danger.

She still owes me one for saving her from the fall and from, well I think his name was Ore, but I knew him as my friend Darla's dad. She didn't look right, but she was still nice to me like when she used to visit me and Elizabeth when we lived here.

"Be careful to not touch the door, Clark. It's meant to keep our kind out," Archy warned as he stepped through the doorway, followed by Scarlett.

Both moved slowly like they were playing operation with the frame and the vault door. The sound of a frying pan banging on concrete was what woke me up and Scarlett's hand sliding back into place made sure I'd never want to sleep again.

I took a running start and leaped through the doorway, making sure I wouldn't touch the door and have my hand end up like Scarlett's. I somersaulted on my landing and crashed into a dark room much farther than where I intended to land. I smacked into a cart of some sorts and knocked over a bunch of trays that echoed through the hall.

"Clark! I told you to be careful! We have to be quiet in here," Archy shouted in a whisper.

"Are you okay, Clark?" Scarlett asked, running over to me and clearing the mess off of my back.

I looked up into her emerald green eyes and saw a flicker of blue light flash in them.

"Archy, shield your eyes. She's glowing again!" I yelled, trying to find a stick to smack him with.

Scarlett had no reaction. While her eyes didn't drift into the glowing blue like they had been when we fell from the plane, she looked around not blinking like there were others with us in the room.

Her face was conflicted with a mixture of anger, confusion, and pain. Each emotion took turns quivering her lips, raising her eyebrows, or clenching her fists. Her eyes focused on me again and finally she was allowed to blink again.

She smiled at me and I noticed something rolling down her cheek. When it fell, it planted itself onto my forehead. Where it touched, I felt a soothing sensation that I had never felt before. The pain I felt from the crash faded away and I sensed only a warm glow in my tummy.

"Did you spit on me?" I asked, confused about the liquid on my head.

She wiped her cheeks free of any more rain drops and turned on the light before sitting in the hospital bed.

"What are you two doing? You're going to get us caught," Archy demanded, trying to look around the corner to the next room.

"I need a moment," Scarlett answered, still wiping away tears and staring at me.