Innocence Forsaken

Ch 5. Hidden

"That was stupid and reckless," Susanna yelled, her face red from anger and disappointment. She softly hit her hand against the table.
Eve-Anne slid further into the chair and hung her head a little.
"It wasn't really." She moved her hand over her shoulder a little, toward the back of her neck.
"Don't try that on me." Susanna went to say something but her phone started ringing. She picked it up and Eve-Anne caught a glance of an unfamiliar name. It read 'Javier'.
For a second, Eve-Anne flashed a confused look over her facade of despair.
"Aye," Susanna answered as she stepped away a little.
"I'm in the middle of--" She stopped speaking for a bit, "Aye, I'll be right there."
She hung up the phone and frowned even more than before.
"You stay right here and we'll continue this conversation later." She grumbled angrily, as she stormed away.
Eve-Anne looked at Jessica, a slight glance of enragement in her eyes.
She got up, and shot her sister an angry glance as she went over to Elena who was watching the TV. On it was a common-looking man, who Elena's eyes were glued to.
"Go to bed." She said as she shook Elena lightly.
"Not yet please." She whined, "I want to watch this."
"It's just an interview," Eve-Anne said, ducking down to see the TV better.
"It's Evan Bright. He made my tablet." She said as she signaled over to the white slab on the table.
"That guy in charge of Arko?" Eve-Anne questioned.
"Yeah."
"Five more minutes, okay?" Eve-Anne patted Elena on the back and went back to sit down.
"Evie, I didn't tell her." Jessica said, then paused, "You don't care, do you?"
"Not really." She shrugged and then went to look at her phone.
"I know, I'm going to bed, and you better get Rowan to stop crying when he starts." Jessica death stared Eve-Anne, slightly confused for a second at Eve-Anne's lack of care, but then remembered she couldn't care less the whole town fell down.
As if on cue, Rowan started balling.
"Go on." Jessica half mocked as she went to get a drink.
She did as asked, and took Rowan out of his cot. She rocked him a little, pouting and thinking why she had to do this task.
Although, under the layers of emptiness and hate, she felt sadness for the little one. All of his life he had been plagued with illness and conditions that no one could do anything about.
Eve-Anne took him to the living room and sat down, still holding the crying child.
He was freezing, and Eve-Anne took a blanket to cover him.
"Are you hungry or something?" Eve-Anne asked, obviously getting no response.
"What do you want?" She groaned as she laid her hand over Rowan's head, he was still cold but getting warmer.
He stopped crying and gurgled happily.
"Mama." He said, in a slightly broken way.
"I'm not your Mama, but well done." She smiled, for once not fake. Rowan was a late talker, he couldn't say anything, and it was the first time that Eve-Anne had heard him speak.
"You're very clever." She muttered.
He didn't deserve it, he didn't deserve to potentially die.
Eve-Anne sniffled a little, the waves of her sadness overwhelming her rational emotions, more potent presumably due to the few years spent pushing it away.
Her eyes watered a little, and Eve-Anne wiped her eyes.
"I don't know why I feel like this." She said, pausing slightly. Rowan reached for Eve-Anne's hair and pulled at it a little.
"I've done stuff, you know, that Mum wouldn't like. You won't do that will you?" She sighed.
"Mama." He said again, as he pulled her hair.
She pulled his little hand away from pulling her hair.
"Yeah, Mum wouldn't be happy if she found out."
She kept rocking Rowan, as he drifted to sleep again and for a while she just sat there looking out of the window.
It was 8:30 by the time Susanna was back. She walked through into the living room.
She was more pale than usual, and her hands were finely shaking.
"What is he doing up?" Susanna asked. She wasn't angry anymore, she was scared and Eve-Anne didn't have to read her mind to know that.
"He was crying so Jessica told me to calm him down." There was a moment’s silence.
She sighed, “Alright then.”
Eve-Anne raised an eyebrow, she still had their previous conversation on her mind, but something was bothering her more now.
“Rowan said his first words,” Eve-Anne said, partly to break the awkward silence that was forming, although she wanted Susanna to believe that he talked to her first. She had to figure this out, without using her abilities as that could provoke her.
That unnerving feeling Susanna had vanished behind a wall of joy.
“What did he say?” She asked as she took Rowan out of Eve-Anne’s arms. She laughed a little.
“He said mama.”
Her thoughts were clearer now, perhaps she could investigate without being caught?
“I’m going to put him back in the cot,” Susanna said as she left the room to do so.
For a second, everything was clearer, before she felt that presence again. Eve-Anne tapped her fingers on the arm of the sofa as she waited for her to initiate the conversation. There was an awkward silence, as both waited for the other to speak.
“What do you want?” Eve-Anne finally said, as the Esier, Hadariel, stepped out of the shadows. Her wings were much more visible now. They were white and feathery, with a gradient of pink at the bottom. Hadariel’s hair remained the same as the last time they met, but her dress was now a darker shade of blue. It reached to just above her knees and there was a slight flare to her dress.
“You’re not heeding my warnings, so I came to give you some advice before one of the others is sent after you.” The last part of her sentence was particularly bitter.
“What do you mean?” Eve-Anne questioned, she stood up and fully faced the Esier. She straightened out the green school blazer that she hadn’t bothered to take off that day.
“Look for the Mark. It will help later.” She smiled a little, and a bit awkwardly. Eve-Anne didn’t have to voice her confusion.
“A mark is a necklace of sorts. Your little fast friend should have the one you need.” Hadariel stepped back. “Your greed for power has made you turn to things many consider to be dark, but this could help turn you around.”
Eve-Anne stayed silent for a little bit, the question of ‘How do you know that?” at the tip of her tongue.
She looked away for a second as her Mother went back to the living room, as she looked back, she found the Esier was gone.
“Who’re you talking to?” Susanna asked as she looked around the nearly empty room.
“No-one,” Eve-Anne responded and shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay then, go to bed.”