The Five Dimensions Part 1: Shadow World

Chapter 24

Before she could come up with another question Ash coughed and stood up. He looked intently at Hailey waiting for her to react but when she didn't, he took her wrist and pulled her up.

"I'll bring you to your room. You need to rest before we leave tomorrow," he said, his lips awfully close to touching her ear. Without protest she followed him out of the room. Hailey suddenly wondered what the time was. It was still light, but it was a bit dim, so maybe it was afternoon. Had she been unconscious for a whole night and most of a day? What had they drugged her with?

"Are we in a hurry to leave?" Hailey asked when the door behind them closed. She had to admit that she wasn't sure she was ready to leave the human world behind just yet. She needed time to process. And time to figure out how to leave. Hailey understood the Soul Hunters' cause, and its necessity, even if she wouldn't truly believe it all, until she saw it with her own eyes. Still, a part of her kept telling her to run. That something was wrong.

"You saw what happened at the party. You are in danger here." Ash wasn't looking at her. His voice was different now that they had left the room; he was being less arrogant. Hailey didn't know who he was really; he kept putting on different masks and it completely threw her off, confusing her.

"I'm not sure what happened at the party. Are you? Why am I in danger? Who were those people?" There was so much on her mind ever since waking up, but these questions had been circling to the forefront, becoming more burning every time. It felt good to finally ask them out loud. Although she was still mad at Ash, she still wanted – no, needed – to talk to him.

"All you need to know is that we will leave this Dimension as soon as possible." His voice became colder, the way it always did when they reached a topic Ash didn't want to talk about. Hailey should've known better than to hope Ash would finally tell her the whole truth.

"Then explain," she insisted.

"Nah," he replied dryly, Hailey turned away from him.

"What? Not feeling like telling me?" she tried to copy his dry tone. But she didn't quite manage the same callousness.

"Not really, no," he said, and she didn't reply, just shook her head. He stayed silent for a little while, but then turned to Hailey, making her stop in front of a staircase. His face was contracted in serious lines, making him look older, just like it did with Leo.

Funny. Hailey thought about the resemblance.

Ash looked like he was going to say something but then he decided not to and continued walking. They went up the staircase and passed several doors before Ash opened one, it was the very last of the row.

"Do you want me to stay outside?" he asked sarcastically. There was no sharp edge or seriousness in his voice, as if he'd left those downstairs. Hailey looked at him for a moment and then shook her head again. There was a part of her that really wanted to forgive him but despite her relatively friendly response, she was still angry at him.

"No, you can come in if you like to," she said. A spark of hope seemed to appear on Ash's face, but it disappeared just as quickly.

"Trusting me again?" he asked, while following her into the room. It was many times more luxurious than the room where she had woken up. Apparently, they were capable of properly furnishing a room.

There was a big double poster bed, a high closet, a little bench at the foot of the bed, and two bedside tables. On each table was a lamp and in the middle of the room there was another lamp hanging from the ceiling, each having matching flowery lamp shades. At the other side of the room there was also a window with thick curtains hanging at its sides. Everything was a shade of white or gray, making the whole room a bit lifeless but at least it looked very clean. The soft sound of dripping water from the window ledge could be heard in the silence while Hailey examined the room before answering.

"No, but you kicked Jayson in the face for me, that's worth something," Hailey answered.

"I've seen the way he looks at you sometimes. Even if he wasn't himself when he attacked you, I hated him for looking at you like he owned you," he said, his voice rough.

Hailey thought about a time, long before she met Ash, Jayson said something nasty to her ― she couldn't remember what ― she went to practice in the woods afterwards, and she thought that the dark figure was there. They shared a moment being in each other's presence, somehow it was very intimate. Then Hailey continued practicing but she wasn't feeling angry anymore. Hailey looked at Ash for a moment, she almost asked if he really had been there in the woods that day but didn't. She didn't want to bring it up in case he hadn't. And she didn't want to bring the intimacy of that moment into the conversation if he had.

"Can I ask you something? I don't know if it's personal..." he suddenly began.

"What?" Hailey said. It sounded like he was about to make things very awkward, and she didn't want to reach that point. Especially not because it would possibly cloud her anger at him, and she needed that to stay focused.

"Why do you hate your second name?" he asked, attempting to be careful.

"It's my mother's name," she said as if that explained everything. Hailey's wall built itself up automatically in response to the mention of her mother, and she felt her mind completely hardened. She hated to admit that the subject was more emotional than she wanted it to be. She always tried to be more open while talking about her mom. It never worked.

"That's another question ― why do you hate your mother?" Of course, Ash didn't mean any harm with the question. He was just being interested ― or curious, what's the difference? ― but it didn't keep Hailey from snorting.

"Like I said before, I can't love or hate or miss someone I never met. I don't like to get emotional over something I can't get emotional over. And everything that connects me to her, I don't know, it just irritates me," Hailey explained, trying to lessen the hardness of her wall. It was not Ash's fault ― even though she was still irritated at him for kidnapping her, if he needed her for the upholding of the existence of these Dimensions or not ― and she didn't want to become some emotionless monster.

"I just can't imagine―"

"Then don't try to," Hailey interrupted him, biting her lips in frustration.

"I'm sorry to ask about it," he said, but Hailey waved it away, not wanting to show it affected her in any way.

A question lingered in Hailey's mind. She looked up at Ash, keeping her mouth shut. Would it be weird to change the subject like that?

"Just ask it," he said to Hailey's surprise. Apparently, he didn't mind changing the subject either, he might've even been glad.

"Ask what?" she replied innocently, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Seriously, Hailey? It's written all over your face," he said. She knew that she just had to ask the stupid question. Even if the chances of him answering it were pretty slim.

"What's the story about you and Leo? You don't share the same surname, so who divorced who?" she asked.

"It's a long story," he answered. Even though he'd told her about his family before, she was surprised that he was willing to tell her even more.

"Feeling like telling me this time?" Hailey asked, already knowing the answer. Just like him, she could see that he wanted to tell her more, it was written all over his face.

"Yeah, I think I am," he answered. He took a deep breath and started his story.