Edge of the Sky

Chapter 10

Zahra's P.O.V

The doorbell rang about a half hour later.

I woke up, textbook plastered to my cheek. The fever was subsiding but and pain was getting better, but a rusty nail shoved up a numb foot is still a nail up your foot.

With a groan I slid out of bed and went to answer the door. By miracle and miracle alone I made it down the stairs without falling. The muscles in my whole upper body felt as though they had been flash-burned with acid from the inside making each sudden movement ignite another blast of dull agony.

I limply checked the peephole to find Dean waiting there impatiently, a small rose colored notebook in his hands. Unable to muster the strength to pull the heavy front door open I called out to tell him to let himself in. As he swung the door open I almost fell through.

"Well somebody looks like shit," he muttered as he grabbed my arms and steadied me.

"I feel like it too," I mumbled as he guided me to the living room.

"Don't you think you should go to the doctor? It seems bad," suggested Dean, peeling off a sticky note from my forehead.

"My dad IS the doctor. And when he was here it wasn't that bad so I let him go. Now I'm dying!" I cried, flopping onto the sofa.

"You'll be okay," he said, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly.

Before sitting down next to me, Dean checked the window suspiciously.

"What are you doing?" I asked, slightly uncomfortable.

Dean pursed his lips briefly and closed the curtains. I raised a brow at him.

He sat down next to me, legs crossed.

"Okay, I know you want to tell me something. Out with it," I demanded as I massaged my temple. I was not in the mood for games.

He bounced his knee at lightning speed before turning to me abruptly. I frowned.

"I don't know how to tell you this but I think you're being hunted," he blurted out quickly.

My eyebrows knitted involuntarily.

"What?" I asked, inching closer on the sofa as gently as I could.

He rubbed both hands over his face and groaned, flopping back onto the sofa sprawled out.

"Enigma has hunters, Zahra. Very well-trained hunters. They are mainly dispatched to eliminate members who left the Tribe or are accused of crimes against the Tribe like treason," he said, peaking at me through one eye from under his hands.

But I didn't even belong to Enigma. What could they possibly want with me?

"You can tell there's a hunter around by their aura. Last I felt one was when my parents left Enigma but when I came to check on you I could feel two hunters there. That's why I told you to go home and...I think one of them was Mrs Hirsch," he explained, watching my face carefully.

"I know it's a lot to take in-" started Dean.

"Why the fuck would they want me? How do you know that the hunters aren't here for you and your family? You just got here after escaping them after all." I cut him off, asking softly.

 Why would I be hunted? I had no affiliation with Enigma and I had been doing an excellent job at hiding my abilities. And if I was being hunted then Ezra could very well be on their list too.

As if he was unsure of how to go about speaking, Dean began flipping the pages of the notebook in his hands, fingers trembling and head down. Avoiding my gaze, he handed the opened book for me to read.

Eyes still swimming I skimmed over the page only for one paragraph to catch my eye. Dean, noticing my visible shock, spoke up.

"Iman, that was your mother's name, yes?" he asked softly.

Shakily I nodded, now skimming over the newspaper article pasted on the adjacent page. 

September 1st 2007

The day my mother Iman Korir, was confirmed dead.

I threw the notebook down as if it were burning me and jumped off the couch, nearly falling off in the process. Dean stood up and approached me cautiously, hands up in surrender.

"Your mom, she started a rebellion against Enigma and they sent hunters to kill her for it. Enigma made it look like an accident and published a fake story. The accident was staged," he said slowly, as if talking to a child.

"No," I muttered repeatedly, my body now quivering.

My mother died doing what she loved most. She was working in the labs with two small kids at home and a husband at the hospital nearby and there was a machine failure. 

She wasn't brutally murdered.

"Enigma wants your mother's immediate blood line erased as soon as possible and that means you and Ezra. They're afraid you'll grow up to challenge them and revive your mother's initiative and there being two of you makes them even more afraid." He said quickly, rushing to get everything out.

"I- I don't believe you," I mumbled in disbelief. How could I?

He shook his head and continued, "Look, Enigma has a system for tracking prey. If we were to break in and destroy it then they'd have nothing to-"

In a frenzy I screamed, grabbing my hair in a feral manner and collapsing to my knees. My brain felt like liquid sloshing around in my head. There was no way to process this. The sound reverberated in my ears as I quivered, eyes flooded with tears.

The world went silent. I could hear Dean's breathing as if I was right next to him.

"I refuse to play along with this," I choked out, "No, no, no thank you," I shook my head. "Go away!"

"Enigma killed your mom! Don't you want to know why?! Don't you want to protect both Ezra and yourself?!"

"If you invited yourself into my father's house for anything other than giving me the notes I missed out on then get the fuck out," I stated, trying my best to remain calm as I shakily stood back up.

"Zahra..."

"No! Do you even know what you've just said! What you're asking me to do?! You're asking me to risk not only my life but the lives of the only family I have left all for the sake of your curiosity!"

"Zahra just...let's think rationally about this," he tried, stepping closer towards me.

"No!" I screamed, a rogue flare from my fingertips surging towards him. He ducked just in time, the shot hitting the wall behind him and making an impression. Dean looked at me, eyes wide with a mixture of shock, fear and hurt.

"Shit I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to I swear," I sobbed

I honestly didn't know what to feel, what to do. And on top of that my dad was definitely going to give me hell over the dent in the wall.

Suddenly I was engulfed in a tight hug, pressed tightly against Dean's body. Gingerly, he stroked my back and allowed me to cry into his shirt. He was muttering something into my hair which i couldn't make out, as we stood in the middle of my dad's living room. When I stopped sobbing cupped my face, the same way he did earlier on in the afternoon, and tenderly wiped away my tears.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "I shouldn't have come here and dumped this all on you and expected you to be okay with it. You had every right to lash out."

I pulled away from him, wiping my face with the back of my hand whilst holding myself.

"I think you should leave. Um, I'd appreciate some alone time. I need to process all this," I said softly.

"Okay" he replied, with no hesitation, "I'm around if you need anything."