The Other Side of Me

Chapter Nine: The Other Side of Me

As Clare and I sit on the library director's couch, I keep looking at her with amazement. She pours herself some water at her desk and the sits on the dark wooded table.

"I was expecting someone a little older to be honest." She begins.

"I was expecting someone older too, Ms. Saidavo." I respond.

She waves her hand. "Please, call me Madeline." She takes a sip of her water. "When Benjamin said you were young, I was hoping that you would be at least fourteen."

I shake my head. "I heard that they wanted to start the Project when I was only eight."

"And I completely rejected the idea. So did about half of The Society and your mother. I didn't know how old you were but he said at the vote that you were a Minor."

I look at my hands. "So Michael is part of The Society, but Corinne isn't."

Madeline nods. She gets off her desk and slowly walks to the couch. "Your mother didn't know about your father until after the vote." She sighs and points at me. "I thought that two years later you would at least have been in the seventh Level."

"And I'm still in the fifth." I say.

"Yes, and I'm sorry about that." Madeline sits in a chair across from me and crosses her legs, resting her glass on top of her knee. She gestures to the door. "You can go now Clare. Thank you."

Clare nods and leaves the room, closing the door quietly behind her and I hear the click of the door lock. When the door locked, I saw Madeline's shoulders relax slightly. She puts her glass on the table in between us and folds her hands.

"Sorry about that." She starts. "I love Clare but there are some things that I know that no one else in The Society knows."

I nod. "I understand that." I look around the room from my chair. "So how long have you been on Darkani?"

She pushes her glasses up her nose. "I've been here for almost two cycles." She shakes her head. "Though it feels like it's been so much more."

"But you are no older than eighteen."

"That is correct." Madeline sits up in her seat. "I have just turned sixteen."

I am shocked by her answer. "Sixteen?"

She nods. "Yes. I was killed on Earth in a car accident like your sister Madison. I was about her age as well when I died." She turns to me. "The Director did explain to you the process, correct?"

I swallow. "Yes. And I'm sorry if you went through any pain." I sigh. "But you wouldn't remember much of your death. Most of the SPC doesn't remember most of the details."

She smiles and then, for the first time, looks into my eyes and to my surprise, I gasp.

Her eyes are not black.

Or brown.

"Hazel. Pure hazel." She says to me as she leans back in her chair. "It kind of looks brown unless someone looks right into them like you just did."

I shake my head. "I thought they were brown." I look into her eyes, still shocked. "Is that the color you had back on Earth?"

"No. My eyes used to be hazel, yes, but they weren't pure hazel. They were many colors. Blue, green, brown." She shakes her head. "Now they are just one color, but I rather have black or dark brown like everyone else." She chuckles. "I really shouldn't be talking about being normal in your presence."

As she sits back down, I look at her eyes closer. "They look normal from here."

Madeline smiles. "Because there is a glamour on them. There is also a glamour on these glasses." She laughs as she waves her glasses. "I don't even need them. It is very rare that a Kavophero would do something like this for a Dark Angel, but the SPC pulled some strings for my safety."