Inferni

Chapter 8

I moved a hand through my hair and watched as they closed the books and passed them around to someone else. I stayed silent and watched them, not knowing what they were thinking.

Declan was silent as well and glanced at me before looking at them. "Well?" he asked. "Is there anything that can be done?"

Jason nodded his head and looked at Declan. He had this hard look in his eyes, and I shifted in my seat, feeling uncomfortable with the fact that he was glaring at my best friend like that. "I wished you had told me sooner," he said, and Declan looked down, not able to hold this powerful male's gaze. His voice was hard. "Why didn't you?"

Declan licked his lips and cleared his throat. "I didn't have the proof," he said, hesitantly, "not as good as that, and... I had never heard back from her."

"You never heard back from her," Jason said. He looked at me. "Explain."

I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat. "Well, apparently, Declan had left me a note after he had run away, but... she had taken it and burnt it as well as the letters that he had sent me."

"So, you didn't receive anything from him?" Jason asked, and I shook my head, not knowing how to answer him. He pursed his lips and nodded his head slowly. "How were you able to survive?" he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders because I didn't know. He nodded his head, accepting my shrug as an answer. "You must be one strong female," he praised, and this... feeling of warmth spread throughout my body, and I kinda liked it.

"She is," Declan said. "She is a very strong female." He offered me a small smile, and I gave him a forced one back. He frowned and furrowed his brows, knowing my fake smiles better than anyone, but he didn't ask, not yet at least. However, he was going to; we both knew that he was going to ask.

"Do you have someone taking your place?" Jason asked, and I nodded because I did. He placed the book back in the middle, and someone else grabbed it to see what secrets it held. His gaze was on me, and I felt a little uncomfortable underneath it. He was trying to catch something, trying to see what I was hiding and if I would open up to him about my past, about everything that had happened there, and explain all the scars that I had received.

I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat. "Her name is Skylar Rodriguez. She's counted as one of the "adoptable," but her sister had been under my care for as long as they both had been living at the house. Her sister is really sick, but... they don't take care of her, take care of her needs."

"What does she have?" Jason asked, and I shrugged my shoulders because I didn't know.

"Don't know. All I know is that she has medication, but there are times when she can't take it at all because Mrs. Garnes sometimes has it locked up somewhere."

"Have you stolen it?" Justin asked, and I nodded. He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, studying me. "Why?" he asked after a moment's pause.

"She needed it," I replied. "She would have died if I hadn't."

"Are you sure that she would have died?" Jason asked, and I nodded in confirmation because I knew that she would die. "Has she been close to dying before?"

"Yes, Sir," I replied. I nodded to the notebook that Jill was holding and looking through. "Her... information is in there. I... tried to make sure I had everything down."

"Why didn't you go to the police?" Jill asked. She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. Pain was etched all over her face while she looked at me, and I could tell that she was upset. "With this information?"

"I did," I replied. "They didn't listen." I moved a hand through my hair and pursed my lips. I was doubting that they would listen to the pain that we had faced and couldn't help but wonder if they would actually help.

I had no idea what they could do, what power they held, but I was hoping for a miracle where they would be able to save them before anyone else got hurt.

"Who is Theodore?" Caroline asked, and I tensed and took in a deep, shuddering breath because I hadn't wanted them to see that yet. She flicked through the book before she looked at me, and there was a look of pain in her eyes. "Theodore Yerve."

"He... uh... he was one of the "unadoptables," the "Others,"" I said, clearing my throat because it had cracked before I shifted in my seat. I licked my lips and looked away before I looked at her. "He was actually the reason as to why I had started to steal the medication for Alina, Skylar's sister."

"Why was he considered an "Other?"" Jason asked. He took the book that his wife had given him and looked at what was written on the page. His face was blank before I could see this rage in his eyes. He lifted his lip like a dog and snarled, probably seeing why I had done what I had done. "Is this true?" he asked, his cold eyes looking at me dead on.

I hesitated but nodded my head. "Yes, Sir," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. "Theodore had died because he didn't have the medication he needed. He had died in my arms two years ago."

Declan tensed beside me. His face was a mask, but I could tell that he was angry and maybe feeling a little guilty. He knew what it was like to live in a place where we weren't accepted and left to die. He must have known how guilty I felt because I had lived while he had died.

"I had tried to save him, tried to get the medication for him, but..." I shrugged my shoulders and grimaced. "I wasn't able to. I have no idea what was wrong with him. I wasn't able to view the autopsy reports, and I have no idea if Mrs. Garnes knows either."

"Does he have the same thing as Alina?" he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders because I didn't know.

"I don't know," I replied, honestly. "All I know is that she needed the medication. If she didn't receive it in a timely fashion..."

"In a timely fashion..?" Jill asked softly. She placed her hand on her husband's leg and stared at me. Deep emotion filled her eyes, and I could tell that she was hurting for me. She probably had no idea what I went through, but she didn't care. She was trying to empathize with me, with how I was feeling.

"She dies," I replied. I took a deep breath in and looked at Jason. "They all die unless something is done, so..." I shifted in my seat, still staring him down. I could feel Declan warning me not to look at him like I was, but I didn't care. I wanted, no needed, to see the honesty in his eyes. I needed to see if he would help me, help them.

Jason raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. He was a little stiff, as if he didn't like me "challenging" him, but he didn't do anything to me. "So..?" he inquired after I hadn't said a word.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to help me to rescue them, or are you going to leave them to their fate?"

"Rescue them," he replied. He stood up and cleared his throat, closing the notebook. "If you will excuse me, I have to make some phone calls." He held the book out and gestured to the others. "May I take them?"

I hesitated but nodded my head. "You may," I said, "as long as you use them to help everyone."

"I will," he promised. He collected the notebooks from everyone and looked at Declan.

They had this silent conversation thing that made it so that Caroline, Jill, and Justin could hear it before Declan nodded his head.

"I will get on this. I will let you know what I have tomorrow," Jason said, pulling himself from the "conversation." "Excuse me." And with that, he left, leaving me confused as to what he was going to do for them.

All in all, I just hoped that it would help them have a better future. If not... then I had no idea what I was going to do next. All I knew was that I had to get them out and get them out fast before I had another death on my hands.