Half Black Soul (17 page)

Ms. Baker came around the room to check on our progress. How is it going, ladies? she asked us.

Good, Bethany said. She jerked her head toward me. She's got some incredible walls in place.

I cursed in my head, but smiled modestly up at Ms. Baker, who was studying me in a way that made me shift a little in my seat. Not really, I said.

By the grace of God, the bell signifying the end of the class sounded, saving me from further torture. I didn't miss the fact that Ms. Baker continued studying me for a bit, but students were already zipping their backpacks and arranging the desks back into their original places. I pretended I didn't notice her assessment, and she returned to the front of the room, telling everyone not to forget to read chapter six for next class.

I collected my belongings and scooted out of the room as quickly as I could without shoving people out of the way. Bethany waved goodbye to me in the hallway. Let me know when you have time, she said.

I told her I would and headed to my next class. Unfortunately, I spent a good portion of it thinking about Bethany. She had her issues, just like everyone else, but overall, she was a decent person. I wished I could make good on my promise to help her with her Searching, but I had enough on my plate as it was. Still, I couldn't get the excited look on her pretty face after I'd told her I'd help out of my head, which was throbbing like a swollen thumb at the moment. I was freaking starving.

In fact, I couldn't help but stare at the pulsing necks of all those around me. I can eat regular food, but it is mostly for the taste rather than the nutrients. Blood is what I needed to survive, but I couldn't trust the blood they served here at Two Rivers. So, it was understandable that while I sat in my last class of the day, I was all but daydreaming about sinking my fangs into the students who sat around me. Every one of them was appealing enough in appearance that taking their blood would be enjoyable.

And, that's when it hit me. Yesterday I had been trying so hard to remember everything Alexa had done and told me before she left, but oddly, much of it had been out of the reach of recall. Today, although my headache grew worse and worse with every passing hour, information seemed to be coming back to me. I glanced around at the students in the class with me. All of them were in pretty good physical shape and good-looking in different ways. Alexa had mentioned this to me. Everyone I'd met here was relatively young and attractive. I'd told Alexa that it was just her nerves making her paranoid. Right now, that excuse seemed flimsy and, well, stupid. She'd been right about the food. A society of only beautiful people was & unnatural. It amazed me that I couldn't see that before.

I considered trying to Search my classmates again, but decided against it. I'd had enough for the day. I would research the whereabouts of the undesirable people later, if any of them existed. After that was decided, I just sat through class rubbing my temples and trying my best not to think about anything at all. What seemed like a lifetime later, the last bell of the day rang.

My feet were dragging a little, and I wanted nothing more than to go throw myself in bed and sleep the rest of the day away. But, I had some very important plans tonight, and one of them I was going to take care of right now.

Daniel usually meets up with me outside of the Searcher school building at the end of the day, so I took a different route and used the exit on the opposite side of the building. I felt bad about this, because I knew that even though I'd told him that I had to work on an assignment, he would still be waiting out there to walk me to my destination. I haven't known Daniel long enough to feel like I loved him, but I liked him a lot, and purposely avoiding him seemed to me like a very crappy thing to do. But, I had a meeting to attend tonight, and I wasn't going back to my dorm room or the library before that. I was going into the woods, and for whatever reason, I didn't think that was someplace I should let anyone see me go. Especially because of what I planned to do there.

Alexa

The address that Olivia had given me to find the man who might be able to tell me how to get to Dangeon had us heading back in the same direction we'd come. I'd called Olivia earlier to ask her how she and Akira were doing, and she assured me that they were just fine. Since we'd left so late, Kayden and I wouldn't reach our destination until after dark. Not that it made any difference; the day was almost as dark as it had been yesterday.

Kayden and I sat in comfortable silence for most of the time. I knew there were some things we should talk about, like say, the kiss we'd shared, or the man I'd killed, or my breakdown in the bathroom, but none of these were appealing subjects, and if I was being honest, I didn't really want to talk about them at all. Kayden didn't bring them up, so neither did I.

But, while we were just sitting here, watching the trees and grass and land speed past the windows, there were plenty of other subjects I could use some information on. If I was going to fight and possibly die for the people of this new world I'd found myself in, I may as well know what exactly I was fighting for.

I picked a question that had been bothering me for a while to ask first. I looked over at Kayden, who was driving again today. How did I get to be a Sun Warrior? I asked.

He took his eyes from the road for a moment and raised an eyebrow at me. What do you mean?

I thought about it for a minute. I mean, Nelly is a Searcher, our Mother, who I guess is actually my aunt, is a Brocken vampire, so I would assume that my biological mother was a Brocken as well, so & how did I get to be a Sun Warrior?

Kayden's eyebrows drew together and he stared back out at the road. The look on his face seemed to me to be uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. It's sort of like a double a recessive trait, he began. Both of your parents, no matter what race they were, must have carried the recessive trait, and the odds that you would be a Warrior would have been one in four.

Kayden looked back over at me, and continued when it was obvious that he was losing me. It's very rare for a Warrior to be born this way. Two Warrior parents are guaranteed to produce a Warrior offspring. One Warrior parent and a parent of a different race will only produce a Warrior child if the other parent carries the trait as well, and even then there is only a fifty/fifty chance of having a Warrior offspring. When all the Warriors died out about a hundred years ago, and no more were seen or heard of, everyone assumed that the recessive trait necessary to produce a Warrior had died out. He smiled over at me, and my cheeks flooded with heat. That is, until you came along, he continued. You're very special, Alexa.

I stared down at my hands. I would say I was very unlucky. So, how is Nelly a Searcher, then?

Kayden looked over at me once more, eyebrow cocked. Is Nelly just a Searcher? he asked.

I folded my arms over my chest. This was not something I wanted to talk about, but really, if I couldn't trust Kayden now, I was already more than screwed. I shook my head. No, but how did you know that? My heart skipped a beat. If Kayden knew that Nelly was different, who else knew?

Kayden noticed my distress. Relax, he told me. It was only a guess. The way you watch her, and protect her, it just seemed to me that there was something more going on there. But, to answer your question, if she is a Searcher &.

What? I asked.

He bit down on his lower lip. She's probably not related to you by blood at all.

I took a moment to digest that. I decided instantly that it didn't matter. I'd kind of figured that anyway. Nelly was my sister. Blood couldn't change that or make it any less true for me. I'd love her even if she'd turned out to be a demon. I'd love her no matter what. The question was, where the hell did she come from?

I moved on, and I could tell that Kayden was relieved with the way I'd taken this news. So, what about the other races? I know that Soraya is half Brocken and half Searcher, so does that happen when the two races mix?

He nodded. Exactly. It's looked down upon in our society, but just like with humans, two parents of different races produce a child that is half of each. Most just stick to their kind, though. Kayden's face became dark and serious. My insides tingled looking at him. You saw what happens to them when they mix. The King has a Hitler-like mentality, and has managed to spread his mindset across our world. Purebred is what is valued.

That's bullshit, I said.

Kayden smiled at me. People are stupid.

What do you know about this revolution I'm supposed to lead? I asked.

The smile fell from his face. It's an unreliable myth, was all he said.

I narrowed my eyes. What do you know about it?

Kayden released a heavy breath. The same things you know, he said. A prophecy was written a very long time ago. It said that someday, when it's needed, a savior will be born to liberate her people from the ruthless ruler of their time. He paused and looked over at me. And that she'll succeed, but pay for their freedom with her life.

I smirked. That's why you don't want me to do it. You don't want me to die.

He looked at me like I was being stupid. Of course I don't want you to die.

Something else donned on me. That's why my teacher made a point to tell me that one life is worth sacrifice when it's done to save countless others, I said.

What teacher told you that? he asked, and his tone was not happy.

My history teacher. They may not know what awaits them when they outgrow their use, but those people are scared, and they expect me to do something about it.

Doesn't mean you have to, he replied.

I thought about this. No, I didn't have to do anything about it, but how could I not? How could I walk away from Soraya, and all the others like her, and tell them they were on their own because I didn't have the stones to follow through with my supposed destiny? Maybe our fates are already written for us, and we fall into them either way. Maybe this was the only way I could have redemption from my past transgressions. Maybe, just, maybe, by saving my people, I could save my own soul as well.

Yes, I do, I told Kayden, and my voice was firm.

Nelly

I felt like Little Red Riding Hood. I couldn't explain why, but as soon as I stepped into the line of trees behind the Searcher school building, I felt like a mouse in a snake cage. It's not that I'm afraid of the woods, I've always liked being in the wilderness. It was that I was afraid of these woods.

It amazed me that both the city and the forest could both be so magnificent, and yet so entirely different. Two Rivers was a place that beauty falls short of describing. Everything there was so perfect, planned and pristine. The woods that encircled it so completely were beautiful also, but not in the way that the city was. Nothing out here in the trees seemed planned, it was simply natural. Out here, Mother Nature was Queen, and though it scared me to step into the enormous, looming pines, there was certainly magnificent beauty to behold here. I think perhaps that's because everything out here was exactly as it should be.

The ground was uneven, and a good majority of the wood was too dense to pass through. I held branches away from my body and stumbled in several places as I passed through, growing more and more uncomfortable with every footstep away from the city. But, I needed to go in deep enough to ensure that no one would see or find me. I looked down at my watch. It was only four thirty, so I had a few hours until nightfall. I walked on for fifteen more minutes until I found an area where I could sit down. It was perfect; I had enough space to stretch out and was concealed on three sides by a mixture of large and small plant life.

I tossed my backpack to the ground and sat down on top of it, stretching my legs out in front of me. I breathed in deeply, taking in the scent of the pine and earth. The only time I'd come into the trees was when I'd come in search of Two Rivers, but I'd been with both Jackson and Alexa. Sitting here, I was reminded of the deep silence of the place. It had intimidated me the first time I'd passed through, and now I was by myself. I had to keep telling myself that I was doing this for Alexa. She'd trained her whole life to protect me. It was time for me to train myself so that I could protect her.

I closed my eyes, trying to free my mind from the chains of the hungry-headache that was stabbing my temples. I stretched my arms out to the sides, rolled my shoulders, and rested my hands on the earth. Even through the pain in my head, I could feel the life around me; the energy of the plants and insects and creatures. But, I wouldn't really be able to concentrate unless I got some food in me, so first things first.

I have only forced my will on someone a handful of times in my life. Three times, to be exact. The first two had been when I was much younger, and like with Victoria, had been on accident. So, I knew I was capable of controlling someone's mind, but it had never seemed like an honorable thing to do, so I never tried to work on it. But, it could be argued that fighting and killing weren't honorable either, and my sister would never hesitate to do either for me. Not knowing her condition or whereabouts was making me sick, and maybe it meant that she needed me to step up to the plate for her this time. I should have helped her with whatever she was trying to discover when she was here at Two Rivers. What sucked about it was not only that should have, but that I could have. If there's one thing I'm great at, it's learning secrets.