Escape (Solaris Cane: Book One)

Escape - Chapter 6

So, here I am, in the middle of the Nevada desert.

Yes, the Nevada desert.

Claudius walks next to me, in his crisp, grey suit that went with his eyes. I walked ahead, staring transfixed to the ground, wearing a simple white dress.

How did I get here?

Simple.

I came along.

Shifting from my position beside him, I take a step to the side.

“Keep close,” Claudius says. “We don’t want you to get lost, do we?”

Upon taking one more step, he grabs my wrist and tugs on it lightly. The Compulsion seeps through, tingles my skin and ripples through my body.

“Keep close,” he commands and I nod automatically.

As if I had any choice in the matter.

He lets me go, but not before gripping it tighter, enough to make it hurt. I cradle my wrist for a moment, and then I step away.

As I walk through the desert, following Claudius, I keep thinking of how stupid my decision was to stay in the café with Blake. I should’ve just kept running, even if I was barefoot.

The morning of my eighteenth birthday was definitely not what I had expected it to be. Definitely not.

I was expecting a breakfast in bed, maybe a day off school – which was highly unlikely – then maybe a little talk on being a responsible adult.

But, hell no.

I woke up in a café, and instead of a breakfast in bed, I had the smell of coffee wafting up my nose, and while that was a ‘yes’ on the day off school, the talk on responsibility was definitely not my cup of tea.

The silver eyed man was sitting very casually across me, like he wasn’t some magical being at all.

I didn’t reply to his greeting, and that broadened his scary smile.

Finding my throat suddenly parched, I swallowed and asked the first question that came to mind. “Where’s Markus?”

“He should be around here, somewhere.” He looked outside and sighed. “There’s not much to see in this town.”

I sat still, thinking of how I would get away.

“Do you know, Solaris, why we, the Highest Society, don’t want humans to find out about Ovia?” He said, fixing his gaze on me. “Do you know why you can’t seem to be able to say anything about Ovia to other people?”

I shook my head, trying to buy myself time. It seemed like he already knew of my attempt to tell Blake last night.

“Because they aren’t ready.”

He seemed to be in his early to mid twenties, which in Ovian standards must mean that he’s around fifty. I hadn’t noticed the English accent he had – not like I could really notice with him trying to kill me the previous night, plus, my ears were slightly off in doing their job, so no one could blame me.

“What?” He asked when I didn’t respond. “You aren’t going to ask me for what?”

I knitted my eyebrows and gritted my teeth. “For what?”

“For magic.” His expression lit up in fake amazement and then turned back into a broad smile. “Look at them, Solaris.” Looking out the window, I followed his gaze to the two women outside, picking out flowers at the shop next door. “Just think what they’d do when they find out about magic and the beings that can use it.”