Motega

Chapter 5

BAM! Chapter 5 is now up (:

The central cast has been chosen if you want to check it out :D However, I would still absolutely adore ~~PROMOTION~~!!!! This chapter should clear somethings up, and the following chapter should pretty much wrap up any direct questions.

A bit of interesting news, the names I chose for "Motega" actually mean something! Yup. Betcha you didn't think that :)

Motega- New Arrow

Umbra- darkest part of a shadow

Aleta-winged

Anya-loved by God

Fain-joyful

Destin-calm waters

Who knew?! Aha

Chapter 5

“So you’re sure she’s safe?”

“For the millionth time, yes, I’m sure she’s safe.” Fain was now using the silver mirror to examine his face, “We didn’t just leave her in a burning building. She’s back, safe and sound, at her place.”

I was a bit disappointed. I rarely hit people, but when I did, there had always been blood. And tears. Something Fain seemed to be lacking. I irritably kicked the nearest backpack, sending a few necklaces spinning from its depths. Each one glittered along with the moonbeams, and I found myself mesmerized as the spiraling shades of blues and purples joined each murky shadow in its dance.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Fain had dropped the mirror and was hastily picking up each pendant, examining each one before carefully returning it to the hiking bags. “You have no idea how important these are!”

“Exactly.” I stated. “I have no idea what anything is anymore. And I’m not moving until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Fain.” Anya placed a slender hand on his shoulder, “I think she has the right to know. She is one of us now.”

Fain exhaled and stood back up, slinging a backpack over his shoulder. For the longest time he didn’t speak.

“Fine. Colette, right?” I nodded, and he tossed me the remaining backpack, “Anya will scout ahead, and we’ll start our way down south. We’ll play a question game, understand? You ask, I ask.”

“I told you,” I set the bag down, bringing a cloud of dust up with it, “I’m not moving until I get the entire story.”

“Listen,” Fain signaled for Anya to go and turned back towards me, “I swear on my life we will do anything and everything to bring your parents back. But we need to move, now. Those people back there?” He gestured towards the direction of my old home, “There are more of them. And they won’t stop tracking us, not until we’ve reached a safe house.” He pulled the backpack onto his other shoulder, “The sun is coming up, and we really have to head out. I won’t force you to come if you don’t want to.”

“I-”

“Before you say anything,” he interrupted, “just realize that there are more people like you.” He shot me a knowing glance, “More people who can’t help but enjoy other people’s pain.”

I froze.

“Just think about it.” Fain was now speaking over his shoulder, and all ready approaching the first wall of conifers past the clearing.

I was torn. Aleta was somewhere back on the farm plots, but she was safe. Her father was out of town for the next three days, and she knew how to take care of herself. On the other hand, my entire life was unraveling. And if Fain was speaking the truth, he could help me.

I had made my decision. I was now south bound.

~~~

Fain handed me Anya’s spare pair of shoes. She was a size bigger than me but my aching feet didn’t seem to mind. The curly haired boy seemed completely at ease in the depths of the forest. I, on the other hand, couldn’t be more lost.

“So where are we heading?” My voice shattered the silence.

“San Francisco.” Fain bounded across a small creek.

“You do realize that’s over two hundred miles away right?” I took a tentative leap over the bubbling stream, “Do you expect us to walk there?”

Fain shot me an amused look.

“It’s a question game remember? That means it’s my turn to ask the question.”

I rolled my eyes, what kind of questions could he possibly have, that I could answer? Nevertheless I bobbed my head and complied with his ridiculous rules.

“Why are you so angry all the time?” He skirted a mass of growing thorns.

“Because I have the right to be.” I retorted, grinning at my vague answer, “My turn. Tell me everything there is to know about being, um, whatever you called it.”

“You mean being Psi.” He touched the subtle bump under his shirt where his pendant was hiding, “Well, it’s a bit complicated.”

“Really now? I never would have guessed.”

“Colette,” He bit his lip, “Earlier, when I told you there was more people out there that craved other’s misery? I was counting myself.” He waited, allowing that news to sink in, “The Psi isn’t just a cult, or a group of fanatics like you must think. They’re,” he tapped the pendant, and drew out an amazingly long pause, “they’re an entire other species.”

My feet stopped at the same time my heart did. Fain wasn’t facing me, but I could tell that there was an uneasy tension in the air. I knew the feeling. I felt the sensation each time I was about to spill my secret. Whenever I was so close, but could never bring myself to open up. As much as I wished Fain was lying, and as much as it all sounded like a great movie, I knew he was telling the truth. I could just tell.

“A species?” Goosebumps covered my bare arms and legs, “Like I’m not…human?”

“No, Colette.” Fain turned around, his hand enclosing the ornament around his neck and his eyes closed, “You’re something, well, something much different.”

“Well than what the damn am I?” I screeched, “A freaking poodle? A cockatoo? Some circus freak?”

“I’ve told you all ready. You’re Psi.” Fain’s voice remained calm, “We’re as old as the human race, and we come from the same common ancestor. The only difference is what we do to keep ourselves alive.”

“Is that the only difference?! Really?” I shook my head, “You’ve got the wrong girl. I’m sorry. There’s no way, no way at all, that I am who you say I am.”

“Oh no? Why do you always feel better after somebody’s pain?” He furrowed his eyebrows, “Why did you stop my Reach into your memories?”

“I-I dunno.” I mumbled, not wanting to believe the obvious truth.

“Colette.” Fain was now inches away from me. I had not noticed his slow steps towards me, “In order to live,” he whispered, “you need a human’s life source.”

I wanted to run back home. I never wanted to see Fain, or Anya, or Destin ever again. Everything in my life had once been so steady; so completely reliable. Now I was a scarecrow in a field of crows. Tangled, unraveling straw where no one wanted it.

“I need blood.” My hands were shaking.

“No,” Fain chuckled, “There’s no such thing as vampires. Believe me, that would be much easier than our task.” He sobered, “A human’s real life source isn’t something physical. It’s their passions, their sorrows, and their darkest secrets.” I could feel his heart beat pounding in his chest, “It’s their memories.”