Discern (36 page)

Andrew eagerly reached for the book. I placed it in his hand. Carefully sliding his hand across the front, he examined the cover. He inhaled deeply before opening it.

His crystal irises swiftly scanned each page. He rapidly flipped through the pages. The book was thick, nearly four hundred pages long. His expression never wavered—very stern and focused.

He slammed the book shut. “I should’ve known,” he growled.

“What?”

“Alec needs to see this.” He hastily pulled my body into his. “Close your eyes.”

I obliged. I was surprised at how normal his way of traveling was beginning to feel. My feet hit the floor, and we were now in his kitchen. Alec sat impatiently tapping his finger on the dining room table. “You took long enough,” he fumed.

Andrew slammed the book down in front of him. “Read it,” he demanded.

Alec reached for the book. My eyes widened as fire blazed from the book. I screamed. Andrew immediately ripped it from Alec’s charred hand.

“W-what happened?” I asked stunned.

“It seems as if anything that you own or possess is protected by my blessing,” Andrew grinned widely. If he was attempting to hide his excitement, he was doing a poor job.

Alec’s hand began rapidly healing as it had before. “So strange,” he murmured. “I guess you’ll have to hold the book,” he said frustrated, glowering at Andrew.

Andrew agreed. He held it wide open. Alec began scanning through the pages with his eyes as Andrew turned them. Their swift ability to read was incredible. His expression was the same as Andrew’s had been—stern and focused.

“What do we do now?” Alec asked angrily.

“We must share this information with the others,” Andrew replied.

“That’ll surely cause more issues,” Alec said, shaking his head.

“We have no other choice.”

“Give me a few days to come up with something,” Alec suggested.

Andrew appeared irritated. “Come up with what exactly?”

“A plan. We can’t just show up with this book. The others would fight us or tell our parents—except possibly Holden and Dagan.” Alec stood from the table and began pacing.

“Did you not read it?” Andrew asked scathingly.

“Yes, but what if it’s just a trick?” Alec rebutted.

“A trick?” Andrew questioned.

“Yes, a scheme—conjured up by our parents—to get us to disagree and fight amongst ourselves, weakening our abilities,” Alec explained.

“What about Haley? Is she a trick? Or the fact that you can’t touch the book,” Andrew scoffed. “Was it not just an hour ago you were defending this exact same issue?” he questioned hastily.

“I don’t know, Andrew. It does seem a little anomalous that she possesses the book and it has the same powers as her. I need a few days to research this. We can’t go disrupting things right before the war. They’ll be watching us very carefully in the next few months, this I can guarantee,” Alec warned.

“That’s exactly why we must strike now,” Andrew demanded.

“You’re so hot tempered and irrational,” Alec stopped pacing and glared at Andrew.

“I have a lot riding on this new information. It could free us from their control.” Andrew glanced down at me.

“I know. We will be free one day,” Alec said with resolve. “I must go and figure this out. Whatever you do, please do not show anyone else this book until we agree upon its authenticity.”

“Okay,” Andrew agreed reluctantly.

“Haley?” Alec said softly. “It was nice meeting you. I’d shake your hand, but I’ve endured enough pain for one night,” he grinned.

“It was nice meeting you, too,” I smiled uncomfortably.

Alec nodded and disappeared.

Andrew closed his eyes for a second and then quickly came to my side. “Are you okay?”

“Earlier while I was in your closet, I was worried about things like missing a class or never graduating college, but those are insignificant concerns compared to the fact that the world is scheduled to end.” I stood motionless as I spoke. “How could you do this?” I began sobbing.

He embraced me. “It isn’t me,” he whispered. “I’ll stop it from happening, even if it means I no longer exist.”

“How?”

“The book,” he replied.

“What did it say?” I asked, wiping the tears from my face.

“That my whole existence is basically a lie.”

“How so?” I asked, watching his eye color darken from green to black.

“As I told you before, there were other immortals and half-immortals once living along side of us. We all coexisted with one another, and even though there were many battles amongst our kind, we never went against the order of things. It was simple. The creator was just that—the creator—the strongest of our kind, and the parents were our creators. Our parents never had any other immortal children, besides us. But the frivolous reproduction of some of our kind was beginning to anger the creator.”

“The book says otherwise?”

“Yes. It was our parents that wanted every immortal besides themselves destroyed, not the creator. He eventually agreed to it, and the slaughter began. With only the eight of us left, we were told that our lives were spared because we hadn’t disobeyed. The other immortals had broken rules, and we were to be on our best behavior or else this would be our fate, too.” His voice cracked as he closed his eyes, recalling that memory.

“That’s why it’s so crucial for you to obey now?”

“Yes, even with your disappointment in this revelation of our plan, I would still obey these orders so I could be with you,” he said softly, gazing into my eyes.

“I see.”

“I’ve had suspicions over the past thousand years or so that we’d been lied to, but the others, besides Alec recently, had always disagreed with me. They swore I was just blood thirsty and wanted revenge for
Alexandria
’s death. While it was true that I wished nothing more than my father to die for what he had done, I knew something wasn’t right. It always felt as if they despised us, but at the same time could do no harm to us.”

“Why was that?”

“It was just a feeling,” he shrugged.

“Why were your lives spared?”

“Because they couldn’t destroy us, not even the creator could. The book, of course, doesn’t explain the reasoning behind this phenomenon because it’s unknown. Apparently they’ve tried several other times as well.”

“So this is good news?” I asked unsure.

“If it’s true, and it seems to be authentic as the content inside would only be known by an immortal, then this would mean no harm could come to us.”

“So the plan can be stopped?”

“I’d like to believe that; however, the author of the book also states that they believe our creator didn’t really try to kill us, but spared our lives as a reminder that each choice we make has a consequence,” he sighed.

“I understand.”

“So, if we set out to kill our parents, then we’d just be destroyed by the creator in the end. In order to behold our true powers, the author also states that all eight of us would have to come together and be unified—and the possibility of that is slim.”

I gently stroked the back of his hand. “I don’t need to know anymore if this is too upsetting.”

“It’s disheartening, but the book gives hope that was once lost.”

“If the book is real, then wouldn’t your father have searched for it?”

“Yes. He has for centuries,” he said, pausing briefly. “Where did your mother get the book?”

“She acquired it the same day she found out she was pregnant with me.”

“Who gave it to her?” he asked with a concerned look.

“She ordered one book, but a different book, the journal, was delivered instead. She was irritated at first, but was quickly thrilled when she discovered its contents,” I smiled, recalling her account of that day.

“Hmm—,” he pondered for a second. “Did anyone ever contact her about the book?”

“Not that I know of, but then again, she never left the house with it, so no one besides my father and I knew about the book.”

“Why wouldn’t she leave the house with it?”

“She said it was a treasure and never wanted to lose it or have it stolen. She was a little eccentric,” I grinned.

“No, she was actually very wise,” he said, lost in thought.

“Why’s that?” I asked, confused by his remark.

“Alec couldn’t get into your house, so I bet
Darien
couldn’t either.”

“
Darien
?”

“That’s my father’s name.”

“Why would he try to get into my house?”

“The book, Haley. He wants the book. It has all his precious thoughts and plans,” he said darkly.

“So it’s real?” I asked.

“I’m almost positive it is, but there’s a small part of me that believes it could also be a trap.”

“Does this mean he would know about my existence?” I gulped.

“He might not be able to sense you, just as Abrielle could not. That would be ideal, but I honestly don’t have a clue,” Andrew responded, still perplexed.

“What’s going to happen to all the people?”

“Death,” he murmured.

“Everyone?!” I gasped.

“No, we still have to feed, but we only made enough room to shelter a certain amount of the population.”

“Why?”

“Because we allowed jealousy and hatred with one another to consume us, mortals no longer worshipped us and began to create a world in which we no longer had purpose. When we lost control, our creator forbade us from trying to regain dominance over mortals and forced us to watch the world he had created for us be destroyed as our punishment. He would only grant our ability to rule again once mortals had weakened themselves through their own greed and insatiable desire for power to the point that a higher authority was sought to restore faith and order—so we took it upon ourselves to accelerate the process,” he answered shamefully.

“Oh,” I murmured, clasping my hands together, pausing briefly. “Wouldn’t the creator know you were involved now?”

“No. He rarely checks in on us, so he has no idea of our involvement with mortal governments.”

“Do they know your plan?”

“Who?”

“The governments.”

“No, of course not. They believe Alec and I are gathering information for them to have the upper hand.”

“I see, so the other ten are in other countries doing the same thing?”

“Yes and no. The other six of us have the rest of the world, besides the eastern area of
Asia
. Our parents agreed they’d keep an eye on that part,” he explained.

“So the four of them just have one small part, while all of you take the rest?” I asked suspiciously.

“Yes, it was to ensure our obedience with the plan.”

“I’m sorry for your painful discoveries.”

“I’m not,” he smiled gently.

“Why not? I’d hate to find out my mother and father wanted me dead. That would be devastating.”

“We might be able to stop all of this from happening, and just knowing there’s a possibility that you can’t be harmed by my family is worth every ounce of hurt I might feel from these revelations. You don’t know how frustrated and worried I’ve been since being reunited with you,” he breathed.

My heart was telling me to reach out and comfort him, but my head was forcing me to continue to ask rational questions. I wasn’t sure if it was to prepare myself for survival when the time came for the plan to be enacted or to convince myself to run away now and warn humanity.

“How will you keep those who are to be spared safe during the war?”

“We built shelters.”

“Is that where I would go?”

He painfully exhaled. “Yes, I would place you in one of them the night before the destruction began.”

“My father, too?”

“Yes, but just speaking about this makes my whole body ache. The thought of causing you any worry is truly excruciating, but I’d do anything to keep you safe,” he said. His eyes lightened back to beautiful green emeralds, but only momentarily before blackness engulfed them once more.

“I’m still not safe,” I sighed.

“You will be. I’ll do everything in my power, no matter what Alec says, to reveal the truth.” His voice was determined.

“Andrew,” I hesitated. “You shouldn’t waste so much time on trying to save me, any accident or illness could kill me. So if you hastily go show the book to your other siblings, that could possibly get you killed, and then humanity would never stand a chance.”

 
“I can heal you as long as your soul doesn’t pass on.” The corner of his lip turned up ever so slightly. “It may sound cruel, but as far as other mortals are concerned, I really don’t care as long as you’re safe.”

“Do you not understand?” I asked.

“Understand what?”

“That your disregard for human life is upsetting to me. My kind is scheduled to be obliterated by yours, and I’m just supposed to be happy that at least I’m safe?”