Truth and Light

Chapter 12

After getting some fruit and homemade chocolate chip granola bars from the kitchen we headed off to the teen dormitory to help the teachers. Everywhere we saw people rushing around trying to get their work done before their work could be signed off for the day. I also caught glimpses of things I shouldn't be seeing, more golden cords that attached people, although only couples, not groups of three like Callie and the twins.

Each cord was different, some were stretched thin because the two people were physically far from each other. Some of the cords had colors that flowed around them, like two young women whose cord was made of rainbows. A man and woman in their thirties had a cord with golden butterflies that danced around it. One older couple had a plain golden cord that didn't look like a cord but a braid that connected the two. Each cord was as different and unique as the people they connected. The closer the couple were the easier it was to see their cord. I noticed once the twins left with Gabe, I couldn't see mine and Gabe's cord or Callie and the twin's cord.

When we walked past the kitchen garden, I saw Sue digging in the soil. She was getting ready to plant the autumn crops, she basked in the sunlight. Translucent, ethereal vines not attached to the soil, coiled tightly around her legs and arms.

When I brushed my hand down her arm, she just smiled at me, "Do I have something on me? I was just in the compost bin and sometimes the worms get free. It used to creep me out so bad! Now I just put them back to work," she continued to babble. I wondered if she had a golden cord connecting her to Denny.

Could she not see the vines? This startled me. Were the vines hurting her? Were they sucking out something inside her that she needed? I brushed my hand over them again but all I felt was warmth.

"Sorry, you just had some dirt on your arm." I smiled not wanting to frighten her. If they were doing something bad it's not like I knew what to do to get rid of them.

Callie kept pulling me along towards the teen dormitory, not letting me get sidetracked. I was shocked to see more abnormalities as we walked though. A tiny Asian woman who had grown translucent wings that would flap as she talked to her buddy. A young woman from the teen ward sat quietly reading a book near Sue. Her sad face caught my eye, and I stopped to study her when she vanished. The more I stood there and watched, the more she kept flashing invisible, but no one else seemed to notice except me. When we were closer to her I brushed my hand over her shoulder to see if she was still there and felt her solid form under my hand.

I wanted to stay and figure it out, but Callie pulled me along.

I glimpsed a man in his early thirties who was using a cane for the blind and had on sunglasses. At first, I didn't see anything unusual, but then under closer inspection I noticed golden light emanating from his eyes under the glasses. When I walked by him, I couldn't help but stare, his face turned towards me and smiled. I looked at Callie to see if she had noticed but she wasn't paying attention because Sabine had started chatting with her and walking in the same direction as we were.

At one point, I saw a man whose long, white blonde hair shined teal when I looked at it, but then when he moved his hair turned back to the normal white blonde. I kept looking around for someone else to notice it but no one did, not even Callie who saw me looking at him. I couldn't stop staring.

"Why do you keep looking at Tristan like that?" she seemed to be a bit miffed I was looking at him at all. I shrugged. If I told her all the weird things I was seeing, she would either think I was crazy or call Gabe.

We continued to walk down the corridor. Just as we were about to reach the man she called Tristian, I tripped and becoming a tangled mess of three sets of legs; Callie, myself, and the blonde/teal haired man. I had to be the clumsiest person I knew.

Strong hands came out to help me and Callie off the floor.

"Sorry about that," I said as I kept my eyes on the ground not wanting to see his hair continue to change colors back and forth. Instead, I saw something else, scales!

Tiny teal and purple scales rippled up and down his short and sandal-clad legs. My eyes swung to his face. Smokey grey eyes flashed to teal, and then back to grey. Callie gasped, but in an instance, he was back to normal.

"You two, okay?" the man asked us, he looked back and forth between our faces. We nodded in shock. "Well, make sure to be a bit more careful," he said as he hurried along.

Callie looked at me, shocked, she asked, "Did you see that?"

I gave her a look and shrugged. I let out a small breath though, at least I wasn't the only person seeing things! "What did you see?" I asked nonchalantly. If she hadn't seen his hair change color or the scales on his legs, I wasn't going to be the person to bring it up first.

"Never mind, it must have been a trick of the light or something. We really need to get going," there was no more time for conversation because she grabbed my hand and we started jogging at a fast clip.

The more people we passed, the more I saw. The more I saw, the more I became overwhelmed with everything. I needed to get out of here, away from these people to just take a break and think.

Gabe was right though; it was too dangerous. Even if I didn't believe him, which I totally did now, I knew I couldn't leave him. We were tied together in a way I couldn't even explain.

"Callie, I need to go outside. I need to go outside and walk, and be by myself," I pleaded with her.

Callie looked at me like she was going to cry, "You can't, Alina, if something happens to you, it's all over."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Callie just shook her head, "That's something you need to talk to Gabe about."

"Fine," I said like a pouty child having a temper tantrum. "I'm still going out, just give me some time, please Callie, I need this."

Callie agreed, "Fine, but if you aren't back by dinner, I'll have to tell Gabe."

I kissed her on the cheek and went to take my walk to clear my head.

"Try to at least stay on Illumination land!" Callie called from behind me.