Cataclysm

2.1

I immediately whirled around and nearly fell backwards down the stairs. "Anna!" I yelped. "Um, I'm just - I ... sorry, but - I have to go. Now. Yeah. Sorry."

She took my hand and frowned, her face so concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know what's going on, but I think you have something to do with it. I have to go, I'm sorry." I pulled my hand back and reached for the handrail.

She just sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I knew those Unnaturals would cause more trouble than they're worth."

"You led them here, didn't you?" I asked softly. She didn't answer. "They told you where I was hiding. They tracked us back here. You're working with them, aren't you?"

"I'm doing it to save you, Joel," she murmured, stepping closer and wrapping her hand around my waist. "Why don't you just leave them? Stay with me. They said they'd leave you alone if I gave them the other two. We could live here together, perfectly safe, and you wouldn't have to worry anymore."

"Anna ..." I didn't know whether to be angry or sad or afraid. She cared about me a little too much, it seemed. She was willing to hurt others to save me.

"Please, I can't lose you again," she begged, looking up at me, and when I met her eyes, I was caught in a stare I couldn't break.

There was something so familiar about them, though I couldn't figure out what it was. They were definitely the eyes of a killer. I could see that clearly, but behind that, there was caring, and even a little love. And yet ... I couldn't trust her. Even though I'd known her for years, I couldn't trust her. I never could, not really. I pretended I did, but it wasn't the same.

"Joel, what's going on?" she asked, her voice rising in pitch and volume. "You've got this look in your eyes."

I was close to the truth. I could feel it. She wouldn't tell me. Braken wouldn't tell me. And I wasn't smart enough to figure it out. I stayed locked in her gaze for a long moment, and then suddenly, it clicked. It wasn't just her eyes. It was her whole face. Yes, I could see it now. There was this glint in her deep blue eyes, the same glint I'd seen in Braken's - a permanent one. And her face shape, her nose and her chin, the way her cheek bones lifted when she smiled; it was all so familiar, because I'd seen it before in another person.

She must've seen the recognition in my face, because she stepped back and frowned. "What's going on? You're scaring me."

"I'm scaring you?" I said, resisting the urge to laugh. I knew I needed to leave and catch up with Leo and Braken, but I had to know the truth. I knew Braken didn't know the whole story. Anna did. "You're related to Braken, aren't you? Somehow, I don't know, but you're family."

Instantly, her shoulders tensed up and she switched from concerned to suspicious. "How did you know?" she asked, her voice low.

"You guys have similar facial features," I said, my hand tightening on the rail. "And you have the same eyes."

"You've spent too much time around them." She was starting to get angry now. I could hear it in her voice. She was angry and hurt.

"You're related," I repeated. "How?"

"My mother was taken away when I was six years old," she said softly. "I remember her almost perfectly, and Dad would tell me stories about her all the time. We heard she'd been taken to the games, and I couldn't understand why Dad was so worried until I learned what being pregnant actually meant. As a child, I hadn't really understood, especially since she was gone so often ... He said I was supposed to have a baby brother. When he ... when Braken survived and Mom didn't, Dad became angry. He said he'd never let any Unnatural hurt us ever again, even his own son. Even my own cursed brother."