Flight of Life (Essence Series #1) (22 page)

“
That’s because I’m trying
to protect you, Easton. I don’t want you to get killed.”

Easton glanced at the two cloaks.
“Well, we seem to be doing just fine.”

“
Now look who’s being
arrogant,” she spat. “You kill two of them and now you think you’re
going to save humanity?”

“
We’re going to
try.”

Weston shook her head. “What are you
trying to achieve? You think the three of you can make a
difference?”

“
No,” Calloway said. “And
it would be nice to have help. Let us join you.”

Weston looked at him. “We got it—but
thanks.” She looked at Easton. “I can’t believe you kept this from
me.” Her eyes turned soft in sadness. Calloway recognized the pain
in her eyes even though she was trying to hide it. She just didn’t
want her sister to get hurt—it was obvious.

“
I knew you would never
approve,” Easton said.

“
That’s because you aren’t
strong enough,” Weston said. “You haven’t been trained properly—you
don’t know what you’re doing. I want you to
stop—
now
.”

Easton shook her head. “No.”

Calloway stepped forward. “We’re just
trying to help—that’s all.”

“
We don’t need any help,”
Weston said. “You’re just wasting your time.”

“
Who is
we
?” Breccan
asked.

Weston shook her head. “None of your
business,” she said. She turned to Easton. “This stops today.
You’re just getting in the way.”

“
Let us help,” Calloway
said. “You’re getting three extra people to aid in your cause. Why
would you turn us away? If you’re uncomfortable with Easton
directly fighting the Hara-Kirs she can help in some other
way—perhaps research or tactics.” Weston listened to him without
any interruption, and Calloway knew he was making an impression.
“You can use Breccan and I whatever way you wish—just let us help.
This is our Life and After-Life, too.”

Weston sighed. “It’s too
dangerous—you’re just in high school.”

“
For only a few months,”
Breccan said. “We’re going to be adults soon.”

“
And you’re only a year
older than us, Weston,” Easton said. “You try to act like we’re
different but we really aren’t. Give us a chance.”

Weston crossed her arms over her chest.
Calloway could tell the anger behind her eyes had abated in light
of their determination. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do but
we already have plenty of help. Let me show you.”

Calloway stared at her. “What do you
mean?”

“
I’m going to take you to
the White Wing,” she said. “Grab your stuff. We are
leaving.”

They walked back to the table and
gathered their belongings. Easton shoved the book into her backpack
and hid it from view.

“
We aren’t going to tell
her,” Easton whispered to Calloway. He knew she was referring to
the book.

He nodded then walked to Weston and
followed her out the doors. Weston got into her Honda Civic and
they followed her down the road, unsure where she was
headed.

“
Where are we going?”
Breccan asked. “What’s she going to show us?”

“
I don’t know,” Easton
said. “But I hope she reveals what she’s been doing in
secret.”

“
Are we telling her about
the book?” Breccan asked.

“
No,” Calloway said
quickly. “Let’s wait and see what we find out. I have a feeling
that she would take it from us if she knew.”

Breccan nodded. “I would have a hard
time resisting her.”

Easton rolled her eyes. “My sister
isn’t that pretty,” she said. “You just like her because she’s
older—in college.”

Breccan laughed. “No, that isn’t why.
She’s pretty—young or old.”

Calloway wasn’t interested in this
topic. “Are we going to continue fighting on our own?”

“
I don’t see why not,”
Easton said as she followed Weston down the street. “This doesn’t
change anything. I can already tell she isn’t going to let us join
her.”

“
You still want to even
after she explicitly forbade you?” Calloway asked.

Easton rolled her eyes. “Why does she
get to have all the fun?”

Calloway looked at her. “You can bow
out,” he said. “We wouldn’t judge you if you decided
to.”

“
We’re in this together,
Calloway,” she said. “To the end.”

Fighting the Hara-Kirs was something
Calloway didn’t want to do alone and he was thankful she was
committed to the task. Since she was the only one who could
decipher the text she was irreplaceable—he couldn’t lose her.
Calloway nodded. “Okay.”

Easton turned on the main street and
followed Weston to Fresno University. “Where’s she going?” she
asked. They followed Weston down the road past the classroom
building until they came to a deserted street obscured by the large
trees of the forest. They stopped the Mustang for a moment, looking
into the darkness and the red lights on the back of Weston’s car,
and then continued to tail her. As they followed her down the path,
they felt themselves pull away from modern society as they entered
the isolation in the surrounding trees of the backlands. There were
no streetlights along the dirt road and the gravel crunched under
the tires, making their progress to the White Wing slow. The
landscape was difficult to see, and Calloway stared into the
blackness and wondered what he was looking at—there could be a wolf
out there.

“
Are we still on campus?”
Breccan asked.

They finally emerged from the trees and
found a large white building in the center of the open glade that
was surrounded by other white structures, which were smaller and
covered in windows. There were streetlights around the building,
and it highlighted the pure colors of the painted walls.

“
Maybe these are the
dorms?” Calloway asked.

“
Well, that’s one long
walk to class,” Breccan said sarcastically.

Easton followed her sister to the rear
of the glade and she parked her vehicle next to Weston’s. They
stepped out of the car and stared at the building in the center of
the formation. It was three stories high and covered with tinted
windows. The paint was so bright it shined in the light of the
streetlamps. The building looked forsaken and deserted.

“
What is this place?”
Easton asked her sister.

“
The White Wing,” Weston
said as she walked toward the entrance.

“
The
what
?” Breccan asked.

Weston sighed. “Just follow
me,”

They came to the red doors that marked
the entrance to the White Wing. The doorway was tall and wide,
allowing all of them to walk in at once. Calloway stared at the
walls of the building and understood why they titled the building
with such a name. Other than the doorway, everything was a pristine
white—unusual in its brightness.

Weston opened the door and walked
inside. They followed behind her and entered a large parlor that
housed three grand fireplaces on the three walls. There were
cushioned chairs dispersed in the room along with couches and
matching coffee tables. It reminded Calloway of a study room except
it was more relaxed, like a quiet social room. The tinted windows
limited the light that came into the room and the roaring hearths
eliminated the shadows in the corners. There was a large,
dark-wooden staircase in the rear that led to the upper floors.
Most of the furniture was white and it accentuated the dark color.
The inside of the building was completely opposite of the outside
and Calloway noticed the difference. The homey feel of the room was
evident to Calloway and he immediately felt comfortable. He wished
he could lounge in the chair by the fireplace and forget about the
winter chill outside. If this was what college life was like he
couldn’t wait to graduate high school.

Weston ascended the staircase and they
followed behind her. Calloway noticed the absence of people in the
lobby and he wondered where they were—it wasn’t late. When they got
to the second floor, Weston turned to the right and progressed down
a hallway that opened into two different rooms. One of these areas
was padded everywhere. The walls were covered in a brown mattress
and the floor had a light layer of cushion. The walls were covered
in swords and small hand blades and Calloway felt his spine
shiver—it looked like a slaughter house.

“
This is the training
room,” Weston said as she walked inside. There were two men
fighting in the center of the room with just their fists. The
taller one grabbed the arm of his opponent and pinned it behind his
back then he pulled a wooden stake from his pocket and hit him in
the back, exactly where his heart would be. “This is where all our
members prepare themselves for possible attacks—we take defense
very seriously.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at
her sister. “We don’t risk our lives unnecessarily.”

Easton ignored her sister’s comment.
“Why do you have swords and long knives?” she asked.

“
They are easier to wield
against a Hara-Kir,” she said. “If you can’t hit them in the heart
you can still wound them and slow their speed—more difficult to do
with a dagger.”

Calloway nodded his understanding,
intrigued by the tip.

“
Our fighters have a
vigorous training session before they are allowed to engage a
Hara-Kir. They are very powerful beings,” she said. “I’m surprised
that you were able to kill two of them, even if it was three
against one.”

“
We’re stronger than you
give us credit for,” Easton said.

“
Or just lucky,” Weston
snapped.

Calloway wondered if that was the
reason he were successful in killing the Hara-Kir—he was just
lucky. If the Hara-Kirs avoided killing Calloway it would explain
why he always survived. Maybe they weren’t as successful as they
thought.

Weston walked out of the room and
returned to the hallway. She advanced to the room directly across
the way and they trailed behind her.

“
This is the library,”
Weston said as she sat at a long wooden table in the center of the
room. There were bookcases on both ends of the room along with rows
of bookshelves. While the library was large, it was still miniscule
compared to the Headquarters. They didn’t house nearly as many
books. There were lamps at every table for supplemental light in
the dim room. Calloway stared at the large area and noted the
stacks of text books across the different counters. There was one
woman seated in the back of the library and she didn’t look up when
they walked inside, focused on the book she was reading. The three
of them sat across from Weston. “This room doesn’t house college
textbooks for subjects like sociology or physics—it details our
knowledge about the Hara-Kirs and the Anti-Life.”

“
So everything in this
library was written by humans?” Easton asked.

Weston stared at her for a moment.
“Yes,” Easton nodded. “Who else could have written them? We store
our information and guard it with our lives. Even though we have
more knowledge about them than ever before we still know very
seldom about them—we’re still learning.”

Calloway nodded. “What do you
know?”

Weston smiled at him. “That information
is classified. Since the three of you have decided to battle them
on your own, I’m not going to encourage you with further
knowledge.”

“
Or it might scare us
off,” Breccan said with a smile.

“
I highly doubt that,”
Weston said. She stared at Breccan for a moment before she moved
her gaze to her sister. “What is your fascination with the
Hara-Kirs?”

“
We want to destroy
them—annihilate them—I thought that was obvious.” Easton
said.

“
Why are you so intent on
killing them?” Weston asked.

“
They seek to destroy our
Life and the After-Life, combining this world with theirs until
there is neither in existence—we are sent to the void.”

Weston stared at her sister. “And how
did you know that?”

Calloway realized that Weston was
trying to determine what information they had—and more
importantly—where they got it.

Easton was quiet for a moment. “You
told me.”

“
No, I didn’t,” Weston
said as she shook her head. “And you’re going to tell
me.”

“
You’re the one that told
me to stay away from them,” Easton said.

“
And you didn’t listen to
me at all,” Weston snapped. “Now tell me how you knew
that.”

“
I already told you,”
Easton said. “I learned it from you.”

“
I’m not getting this
information out of you, am I?” Weston asked.

Easton leaned back in her chair and
didn’t respond.

Calloway didn’t like the direction of
this conversation. “So what is this place?” he asked. “A
cult?”

Weston laughed. “Of course not,” she
said. “By definition, a cult is an organization that practices
religious views that are against the overall opinion of the rest of
society—we deal with facts. The Hara-Kirs are real and they seek to
destroy us—it’s up to us to stop them.” She crossed her legs under
the table and looked at Calloway. “We refer to this place as the
White Wing—I’m sure you can figure out why. It’s the property of
the university but you’ll not find it on any school map, and the
college will deny owning this property. The campus is far enough
away that the student body won’t bother us, and our unusual
activities won’t bother them.”