Ultramarine | The Darkest Minds Fanfic

Chapter 27, Cole

"Cole! Wake up!" Someone was calling. "Wake up!"

　　Her voice was straining. My eyes fluttered open.

　　Ruby.

　　"Cole!" She let out a long relieved breath. "Are you okay?"

　　"Wh-What happened?" I asked, head still hazy. She...she was here...

　　She was here.

　　I shot up from the floor, almost knocked Ruby out with my head. I'm still in the Ranch, but in my office.

　　"Where is she?" I asked, voice shaking.

　　"Cole..." Ruby said, "She's gone."

　　"What? I saw her!" I cried, "Did I dream that? Was I hallucinating?"

　　Ruby shook, and her face twisted. "You didn't." She sighed, "But..."

　　"We don't think it's her anymore." Liam's voice came, and I finally noticed him, crouching opposite to the kneeling Ruby.

　　"What—?" I gasped. "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

　　Neither of them spoke. Harry came in with a stern expression on his face.

　　"What happened?" I asked as soon as the door closed behind him.

　　Ruby and Liam exchanged a look. "Had Sheena...ever told you about being...sick?" Liam asked, carefully.

　　"What? What are you talking about?" Why wouldn't they just answer my goddamn question? "Where is she?"

　　There was an uneasy silence in the room.

　　"She left—" Ruby said.

　　I bolted for the door immediately. I have to find her. I don't care how this happened but I know it's happening; she's alive and I need her back—

　　"—after she killed Lillian Gray and took Clancy with her." She finished.

　　I stopped where I was.

　　"You might want to take a seat." Harry said.

　　Too stunned to react, I allowed Liam to sat me down. Ruby came to stand by the desk beside Harry.

　　"After you went to get the door, I heard a thump, and went out to check." Harry started, leaning on the desk, "I saw you on the ground, and the girl just walk right past you. I asked her who she was, and she...snapped her fingers. The next thing I know, I was on the ground, waking up."

　　"No one else was hurt, but we think she wasn't trying to hurt anyone else in the first place." Ruby continued. "She seemed to only want the two of them."

　　"Did you saw her?" I asked, "How do you know it was her who got to them? How are you okay?"

　　"Security camera." Liam answered simply.

　　"Do you know anything about it? Do you think maybe Clancy gets into her head somehow?" Ruby pressed.

　　No, that's impossible... that doesn't make any sense... Clancy Gray can't get into her head, and killing someone just like that... That doesn't sound like her... She didn't sound like her...

　　That's because it wasn't her.

　　"I think..." I started, but didn't know how to phrase it. The notion seemed too ridiculous to be real. "Gem, do you remember the monsters we talked about?"

　　"Of course." Ruby frowned. "But this is—"

　　"—different." I finished. "Because her monster is different. Her monster is...real."