The Haven

Chapter 21

Aaliyah, wake up.

The voice whispers in my mind, like a ghost.

They're waiting for you.

My eyes flutter open. The numbness flowing through my body starts to fade and I sit up to rub my tired eyes.

"Aaliyah?"

I turn my gaze to the right and see River. A rush of joy and passion flows inside and I pull him into my arms. I remember. I remember everything, every touch, every moment, every word said, every ounce of love I felt for him I remember. I feel it inside, so intensely strong and powerful.

But I still remember Raven and my heart drops. I was a fool to leave him behind.

"Aaliyah! Your awake!" Willow cheers as he leaps beside me and wraps his arms around my waist.

"Willow." A tear slips from my eye. I couldn't be more happy.

Illia runs in and squeezes in with us. Ok, I lied; I'm even more happy. My dad walks in and laughs at our group hug before joining in.

"Come on Rose, come join our group hug!" I smile at Rose and she shakes her head in disapproval, then walks over to join in.

A little girl peers around the door. It's the drone!

"This is Avery, believe it or not right, after you passed out this little miracle started breathing." Rose wraps her arm around the girl.

Avery clings to Rose's back, shyly peering around at us. I smile at her and introduce myself, "Hello, I'm Aaliyah."

She nods and I turn to face everyone else. We need to stop messing around, we have serious work to do.

First things first, we have to assemble an army.

"Dad, how do you think we should approach people about the war?" He ponders this question for a moment.

"We tell the President."

***

I can't help but feel completely powerless as my father and I walk towards the white house. Giant guards approach us, and I feel my heart drop. I don't know why being here scares me this much.

"You do know it is illegal to pass that gate, right?" The guard asks and my father steps forward.

"Yes I do, but this is an emergency. We have come from the Haven base, sir, and have information of a progression of an attack and must inform the President."

We follow the guard down the halls, endlessly walking past beautiful paintings. We turn into a room to see the president sitting at his desk.

"Mr. President, sir, we have very important news to inform you about." My father says, stepping forward.

"Let me guess, the Haven and the Blaze and the Directors plan, correct?" We look at the president stunned. How did he already know all this?

"It appears you don't know as much about the Haven as you presumably thought." He says as the entrance doors to the office shut and guards step closer to us.

"Thank you for stopping by, but we've already chosen sides. The Director offered 50% rule when we take over this planet. An offer hard to reject, no?" Stunned and furious, I grab hold of my dad and shoot my wings out.

"You chose wrong." I say with an intense glare before bolting through the window.

A harsh chopping sound slices through the air. I look behind me to see a black helicopter darting after us, gaining speed. My muscles ache, carrying my dad with the force of the wind adding more weight as I try to flu as fast as I can. I can't hold on much longer.

The helicopter continues to come closer and closer, gaining on us. My father looks up and sees my flushed face and how I'm slowing down. I can already tell what he is thinking.

"Your going to have to drop me." He says and I rapidly shake my head.

"No. No, I am not going to just drop you! We'll make it, we'll be fine."

"Aaliyah, if you don't drop me we will both be captured." I look back once more and see the chopper only a few yards away, still coming closer. He's right. I look down and see a small lake below. Quickly, I dart down towards the lake and once in close enough, I loosen my grip.

"I'll come back for you." I say in all seriousness, and he smiles. My arms release him, sending his body plunging into the cool water.

The sun begins to sink beyond the horizon, and I bolt straight towards it. To my luck, I reach the ocean and immediately dive downward until I am completely submerged and chopper can no longer follow. My lungs fill with the salty air I filter from the ocean and I use my remaining strength to swim towards the bottom. I hope my father is okay, and since the president is with the director, our job just became a lot more difficult. Mission Recruit is still underway, but law enforcement won't be on our side.