Labyrinth of White - The Moon Trilogy - Book #1

Chapter seven:

Clarity sat down on the bed, shaking. Rachel sat on the floor. They had just finished tying the strange man up. He was dressed in a long black overcoat with the hood up and black shoes. If he was wearing anything else, it was covered by the overcoat that, when he was standing, reached the floor.

Clarity was starting to calm down.

Why is all of this happening to me? She silently despaired. It hadn't even been two days before when she had been worried about school. Now, she was fighting strange men, and her newest friend was a vampire.

They sat like that for a while. She looked over at the man. He was lying face down on the floor, his hands tied behind his back. She could faintly make out a wet stain of blood on the back of his hooded head.

He groaned and tried to get up. Rachel jumped up to get the bat. He moved again, weakly struggling against the ropes. After a while of this, he grunted and stopped moving. He lay there for a while. Clarity hoped that they hadn't killed him.

After several minutes, he groaned again and rolled over, all of his movements slow and painful. Most of his face was obscured by the hood but Clarity could see his mouth. His teeth were clenched and his face was deathly pale. He tried to sit up but only succeeded in making himself weaker. He collapsed and lay there, breathing heavily, for some time.

It was starting to get light out. Clarity could just make out the faint gray light of dawn coming through the window. The man stopped breathing. At first, she thought he was dead, but she looked closer and saw that he had only slowed in his breathing, not stopped it. He opened his mouth. He had a split lip that was getting swollen and turning a nasty shade of purple. He coughed. The movement must have hurt him because he grimaced in pain.

A few seconds passed. He relaxed and opened his mouth again. "Where am I?" he asked weakly. Clarity was confused. Why didn't he know where he was? He had come here, hadn't he?

He grunted and sat up. "Please tell me." He said. Clarity heard real fear, or maybe desperation, in his voice. Or was it all an act to get them to untie him? She just fixed him with a cold glare and stayed silent.

He looked over at her bedside table, where they had put all of his strange gadgets. He groaned again. Clarity couldn't tell if it was from pain or not. He twisted around and leaned up against her bed. He let out a shaky breath. "I'm not gonna hurt you." He said, voice shaking.

Clarity scoffed. "Yeah right, like we're going to believe that." She said in disgust. How stupid did he think they were?

"I'm not lying. Please untie me. Please." His voice was shaking more violently now. He sounded very sincere.

"You just tried to kill us. Why would we untie you?" Clarity said, annoyed that he would think her dumb enough to fall for such an obvious lie. She hadn't been sure at first, but now, she knew it was a trick.

"I know you think I'm lying, but I'm not. Honestly. I might have been trying to hurt you before, but now I'm not. It's complicated. I don't even understand it. I can't remember anything." His voice was getting shakier by the second. The words were said in a rush, making them hard to understand and Clarity thought he sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"And besides, how could I hurt you now? If I tried to, you would hit me with that baseball bat." He said, his voice was still shaky but it had stopped getting worse. Clarity could only see the back of his head, but she could tell that he was eyeing the bat.

Clarity looked over at Rachel. Rachel raised her eyebrows. Clarity shrugged in reply. Rachel walked over and pulled a pocket knife out of the pocket on the front of her hoodie. She flicked it open and cut through the ropes that were binding his feet. She stood up and grabbed him by the shoulder. She made him lean forward. He grunted. She cut the other ropes and let go of his shoulder. He fell back against the bedframe and grunted again. He brought his hands out from behind him slowly and placed them in his lap.

"See? I'm not going to hurt you." He said, a little breathlessly. A hint of pain laced his voice.

He reached up with his right hand and pulled his hood off. His hair was dark brown, speckled with black. Clarity got off the bed and walked around to face him. His eyes were closed. His skin was still very pale, although it looked like he had regained some color. He opened his eyes. They were shockingly bright yellow and his pupils were slits. Like a cat's eyes.

Clarity wondered if he was an alien too. He looked up at her. A chill went up her spine. His eyes were even stranger then Rachel's. He reached up a hand and gingerly felt the wound on the back of his head. His fingers came away bloody. After all, Rachel was very strong, and Clarity had a feeling that she had been swinging with all of her strength. Maybe that was the reason he didn't remember anything. Did he have a concussion? Clarity wouldn't be surprised if he did.

He leaned forward slightly and brought his hand up to the back of his neck. There was a large metal disk there.

Who is this person?

Rachel was sitting again. "Who sent you?" she asked, obviously thinking along the same lines as Clarity.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know." He said with a sigh. "I told you, I don't remember anything."

"You seriously can't remember anything?" Clarity asked, full of doubt.

"Some things I can remember. Like my name, but I can't remember anything important." He said hopelessly.

"What is your name?" Clarity asked.

"Alex. Alex price." He said, sounding slightly flustered. "But that's all I remember."

"Are you absolutely positive that you can't remember anything?" Clarity asked, frustrated that they were making no progress. The sun had come over the horizon and the room was filled with dazzling, golden light.

"I'm sure." He said with finality. "But maybe we can figure something out in the stuff you found." He gestured to the nightstand full of items. At this he heaved himself up and groaned as he did. He walked around the bed and looked at the stuff on the bedside table. Rachel was on alert, not wanting him to get hold of a weapon, she picked up her baseball bat and walked around the bed to where he was standing.

He picked up each item in turn and looked at it. He kept this up until the last item. It was a little portable holo-screen. He turned it on and the screen flashed an eerie translucent blue. The screen had an emblem on it. The emblem was pale grey and had a hawk on the bottom and a snake on the top. In the middle was one word in bold capital letters. ORGANIZATION.

"Maybe this is from the people that sent me." He said, sounding unsure.

"It could be, but what is the Organization?" Rachel asked. "I've never heard of it."

"I don't know. I can't remember, but if there is any clue as to where I came from, this is it." He said. Clarity couldn't imagine not knowing who you were or where you came from. It must have been so frustrating.

There was suddenly a loud snap and a small flash from the metal plate on the back of his head. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed into a heap on the floor. Clarity immediately bent down and checked his pulse. He was still alive but the pulse that she felt was faint and unsteady.

"What was that?" she asked from her seat on the floor.

"I have no idea." Rachel replied, scratching the back of her neck. "But whatever it was, I'm pretty sure it wasn't good."

"I agree." Said Clarity. "Who do you think this guy is?" she asked with her eyebrows raised.

"I don't know. Maybe he's an assassin, sent by this weird Organization thing." Rachel said, sighing as she plopped onto the floor. "Or maybe he was sent to capture one of us?"

Clarity sighed. "I really don't know." She said, feeling quite helpless.

They both reached an agreement that they should get him on the bed. It didn't take long because of Rachel's strength but the limp body was awkward and heavy and by the time they were done, the sun had risen completely over the horizon.

After getting him on the bed, Clarity sat down on a chair. "I think, we shouldn't tell my mom." She said with a tired smile.

"I don't think we should tell her either." Rachel said. Clarity thought she could see the hint of a smile playing across her lips but still, she didn't smile. Clarity wondered for a moment if she even could smile.