Gifteds: And Then There Were None

Chapter 17. V

Nico was in shock. They had all thought that she was gone. Dead. But here she was standing right there in front of him.

And she looked terrible.

There were prominent dark circles under her red rimmed eyes and her skin was pale. Her dark hair was visibly disheveled in the torch light, and there were long red scratches down the side of her face. It had only been a few weeks since she disappeared, but she had changed drastically.

"Maira?" He repeated her name again. She rushed forward into his arms and Nico was taken aback. Maira definitely wasn't the affectionate one. He held her, fearing that if he let go, she would collapse onto the floor and shatter into a million pieces. She was weak. She needed food.

Ironic isn't it? thought Nico. The thing I set out for is the same thing I'm going back for. As he climbed up the stairs, he wondered if Maira had found something. Something she wasn't supposed to see. Something that could help them. All these things can wait. She can't speak if she dies of malnutrition.

They went into her room only to see it completely covered in white cloth.

No one had ever been in the room of a lost gifted before and Nico was hit with a sudden reality check. They had wiped out her entire existence. It now looked like a guest room.

They don't care about us. At all. They don't care if we die. He had known this the whole time but he had had hope that maybe just maybe they felt sorry. They obviously didn't.

He pulled of the sheets and then seated Maira on her bed. He then went to his room to get his emergency stash of food. It was only a bunch of melted granola bars, but they'd have to do. Running out of the door, he ran right into Angela's room.

"Food. Now."

"Nico, wha-" she started.

"No Angela, I don't have time for this. I need food. It's an emergency." His tone was one she had never heard before. The longer they stayed on the island the more shades of Nico she got to see.

"Well, okay." She went into her room and came back with a few cans of soup. "I was stocking up on this in case..." She didn't want to admit that she was worried about him; she didn't know how he would react. "In case I got hungry." She realised how stupid that sounded after she said it.

"Sure. Whatever." He grabbed the cans and ran back to Maira's room. She hadn't moved from the bed and was staring blankly at the wall.

"Hey, are you cold? I'm pretty sure there's a draft here." The silence in the room made Nico feel uncomfortable. He picked up a blanket and put it around her shoulders.