heartbeat // zayn malik AU

chapter twelve

"If I told you what I was, would you turn your back on me?

And if I seemed dangerous, would you be scared?"

- Imagine Dragons [Monster]

Zayn's voice broke the tension-filled silence in the air. "Tasha Arrowan?" he asked in disbelief, as if her name had an infamous notoriety attached to it. Seconds later, I found out what it was, as he added, "Aren't you supposed to be in prison?"

Oh, just lovely. Not only was this cold-eyed angel my half-sister, she was a criminal. Bloody terrific.

Holy cow, I really tended to get sarcastic when I was in shock; what a bad habit.

"You're supposed to be in prison?" I blurted, almost condescendingly. Not exactly the most relevant thing to say, Valarie, upon meeting the sister you never knew you had, who's also an angel-

With a dismissive wave, Tasha said, "The locks on the Council's jail cells are awful; I'm surprised they don't have dozens of escapees everyday. You should tell them to fix that, angel-boy." This last sentence was directed to Zayn.

Clearly annoyed by her flippant attitude, he said, "And what makes you think I'm not about to call the Council down on your head? For all you know, I could just be stalling you right now; they could be entering the library as we speak, coming to recapture you and put you back in jail--the place where you belong, might I add."

Scoffingly, she said, "You don't fool me, Malik."

How does she know his name? A glance at Zayn's suspicious face told me he was wondering the same thing.

So far, I wasn't liking my new sister. Not one bit.

"I know that the Council wants you for murder, Malik. It's all that the guards talk about when they check up on us prisoners. If you so much as try to turn me in, they'll have you in chains in the blink of an eye--while I make an easy escape, might I add."

Folding my arms over my chest, I stepped forward a little, with the intention of intimidating her. From the unflinching, unwavering stare she gave me, I could tell I hadn't impressed her a bit. "Okay, so you escaped your cell, and we can't tell on you because we're not supposed to be here anyway," I paraphrased her and Zayn's conversation. "The question I have is, why did you unlock the door to the antechamber for us? Who told you I was even coming here? And why do you care if I know that we're sisters, if we've lived so long without even talking to each other?"

Considering everything that had happened, my voice was surprisingly steady, cracking only about three times--which was quite good, in my opinion. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. 

Tasha sized me up, her green eyes cold and shadowed. "I was under orders," was all she said.

"Whose orders?" I demanded.

And how had she known Zayn and I would even be coming here tonight?

My mind supplied the answer in a second; someone had ratted us out. Undoubtedly the same someone who'd given out our location to Shay Woodley and the other Enforcers, enabling them to burst in on the angel-club and come close to capturing us. My stomach twisted dangerously. Who could've done that? Very few people came to mind--Marge? Jack? Cyphus?--and each suggestion seemed more ridiculous than the last. So how had Tasha and the Enforcers found out where we were tonight?

Whatever. I could figure that out later.

"You want to know who ordered me to unlock the door? It'd be easier if I just took you guys to meet him."