Athena

Chapter 15

Amaya and I waited near the building Rowan told us to meet her at. It wasn't long before we saw her running towards us, looking around while she did so.

"So-"

She put a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet. We walked to the front doors and she quickly put a code in, stepping inside the building with us in tow.

"Okay, now you can talk. I would put the lights on, but that's too risky. We'll have to use our enhancements for now."

Though we all adjusted to the dark, it's still dim. We all settled in what looked to be some kind of lobby area before we got serious about our endeavors. Amaya kept giving me weird looks and I knew she wanted me to tell Rowan what we think we know.

"What?" Rowan's tone was laced with suspicion.

I heaved a sigh and ran a hand through my thick and messy curls, "Well, there is something we need to tell you. Something, strange."

"Alright?"

After we explained the best we could, to say Rowan was irritated was an understatement. She looked pretty upset.

"So you mean to tell me that all the events that have happened so far may or may not have happened for a legitimate reason including that human you've brought with you?"

Her mentioning Elias is unnecessary. Sure the RA's showed up at Graelind looking for Elias, but he has nothing to do with all the craziness.

"Elias was a victim. The RA's took him and tortured him for years." I said in a hard tone.

"And?" She waved her hand dismissively. "What about you? You said he was your mentor. He took you as well. What, your years of fighting and pain are overlooked because the poor human got what was coming?"

I grew angry, "He was nice to me, a passionate and caring mentor unlike many. He didn't want to take me, he was young and manipulated like the rest of us."

"He's untrustworthy."

"He's hurting." I snap.

"That's karma," She shrugged. I glared at her in anger and she did the same. "Athena, think. RA's were after him, why?"

"Because they thought he knew something about the aeteri's escapes and where to find them. They knew he cared for us, so they targeted him."

"Is that what he told you?"

I nodded.

She shook her head in disbelief, "I'm not buying that. RA's have no issue tracking and killing aeteri. Just take Ronno for example, I hear he was one of their leaders and he just so happened to lose Elias and then spend all this time tracking him down because he was nice to the aeteri? I don't think so. The RA's must have been after him for some other reason. There is something missing here."

"Enough!" I yelled, startling both Rowan and Amaya. "We came here to complete the message, not to come up with random theories regarding someone from my team."

Rowan scoffed softly, clenching her fists. "Why did you bring him?"

"What is with you? Why can't you just-"

"Why did you bring him?" She asked again. Her tone was softer, more curious, her feelings the same. She wasn't patronizing, she just wanted to know.

"Because, we. . . we need. . . we can use his," I stopped talking, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. When I told my team why we needed him, the answer came right out with ease and now, it's as if that I was dazed when I told them that. What the hell. . .?