Arcadia : The Hidden Child

Chapter 7

I slowly opened my eyes not knowing what to expect.  I was lying in a bed in the middle of the room and quickly realized I was not at the hub, or at least not in the same room I had been staying in.  This room was similar but held subtle differences, the placement of the bed in the middle of the room instead of the corner, a chair in the corner of the room and a small window on the far wall. 
I stood up and walked over to the wall, dragging my hand across it until I found the drawers that held a set of clothes, grabbed some out and changed.
Changed?  It just dawned on me that I was not in the same clothes I had been wearing last night. My stomach tightened at the thought of Tristan undressing me.
How did I not wake up?
I walked over to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, splashed some water on my face and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.  My stomach gurgled, reminding me I needed to get something to eat.
I made my way out into the hall and looked left and then right and realized this was not the same hub and I had no idea where to go.  I saw Cash walking into one of the rooms so I ran down the hall to try to catch up with him, but stopped short of the door because I heard him talking to someone.
"You asked to see me brother?" There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Brother?
Another voice started saying something but it sounded like Tristan.  Are Tristan and Cash brothers?  I would address that later.  They were speaking back in forth in Arcadian which made it impossible to understand what they were saying and then I heard Cash raise his voice.  "Are you kidding me?! I probably saved her life! No, correction, I did."
Were they talking about me?
"Have you spent so much time on that planet that you forgot how to speak your own language."  Tristan seethed.  It was clear he did not like Earth, or the people on it, which if that was the case, then why not let the Nevi take me?
Cash responded, yelling back in Arcadian.
Tristan answered back and then stopped. 
A moment later he was face to face with me, I didn't know what to do or say. 
"Listening in?" Any kindness he had shown last night was gone.
"It's not like I can understand what you are saying." I snapped back.  "I don't speak Arcadian."  I walked past him and stood beside Cash. 
I gently grabbed Cash's arm, "Thank you for last night, I had a lot of fun." 
Cash smiled at me and wrapped his hand around my shoulders.
I turned back to Tristan and saw he was watching us intently with a strange look on his face, a look I couldn't place.
"Where is the dining hall? I'm hungry."
"I can tell."  He paused for a second and then looked at Cash.  "We are done here."
Cash stared at Tristan for a long second, had he also noticed the way Tristan was looking at us?  He removed his hand from my shoulder and slipped it around my waist, picking me up.  "I will be back in a little bit, we need to talk," he whispered quickly in my ear.
He put me back down and watched Tristan as he walked out of the room, was he trying to make him jealous?  Is that why Cash had given him the stare down before he picked up me?  I found it hard to hold back my laugh, I couldn't believe that Cash would think Tristan was jealous over me.  I quickly regained my composure and straightened my shirt out and looked at Tristan, "Food." I don't know why I was so irritated with him right now, maybe because of the way he treated Cash, or maybe the way he was short with me.  Who knows?
"Follow me."
I waited until we were out in the hall before I asked, "Do you want to tell me where I am?  It is obvious I am not at the hub."
"The hub?"
"Yes, where I have been staying."
"It is not called the hub."
"Then what is it called?"
"Station house 13B."
"I think hub sounds better, it's shorter."
He didn't say anything. 
"Again, do you want to tell me where we are?"
"Station house 2H."
"Why are we here?"
"Because you can't go back to Station House 13B."
"Why can't I go back to the hub?"
"Turn here."  A door opened.
"Where is everyone?"
"They will arrive later."
"Why aren't they here now?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
"Because you aren't really answering me."
He laughed out loud.  "You humans, all you do is demand more and more and more."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No, I don't kid."
"That much is obvious."
He looked at me like I had hurt his feelings, "Sit down...I will be back soon."
"Where are you going?"
"I will be back soon," he said walking away slightly agitated.
I sat down and waited, looking around the room to try to learn my surroundings, but it was hard to do since lights were off in over half of the room.  There wasn't much here from what I could tell except some tables and chairs piled up along the back side of the room, unlike the old hub where the dining hall was the heart of the place with its climbing trees and observation rooms...No, this place was just a room.
Tristan walked back into the room with a plate of food, "Here," he said placing it on the table.
I didn't want to say thank you, but my manners got the better of me.  "Thank you."
I looked down at the plate and saw eggs, sausage and toast and it smelled delicious.  I picked up my fork and began eating it and was pleasantly surprised, "These are real?"
He nodded.
"I haven't had real eggs and sausage in years."
He didn't say anything.
I was eating the last bite minutes later.
"You eat fast."
"I was hungry."  I looked at him for a minute.  His face was soft, well maybe not soft, but he didn't seem irritated with me anymore.  His emotions changed so fast it was hard to keep up.
"Can you please tell me what is going on?"
He studied my face for a moment.  "Last night, there was an attack on the hub."
He said hub, I tried not to smile.  Why was he being so nice right now?
"Twenty-seven were killed and another thirty-eight were injured.  We killed thirteen of their men and would have killed them all but they escaped.  I figure that is when they found out you were at the club, I assume someone tipped them off."
"How did you know where we were?"
"All of our pods are linked and are able to be tracked.  When I realized you and Cash weren't here, I figured you were together." 
There was something off in the way he said together.  Was he jealous?  No, that definitely couldn't be it, maybe he was still mad at Cash.
"I tracked him down and that is when I found you."
I had a flashback of the moment Tristan walked into the hallway and the determination and anger he had on his face, and the speed with which he killed the guy trying to take me.  "Where are Cash and Ty? What did you have them do last night?"
"I wanted them to make sure there was no one else."
"And did they find someone else?"
"Yes." 
I looked at him and raised my brows.
"They found another person just as he was leaving the building."
"Where is he now?"
"That is of no concern to you."
"It is."
"It isn't.  You knowing his location will do nothing for you."  He was standing up now, "You are too nosy."
I was finally starting to get answers out of him and didn't want him to shut me out again.  "Thank you," I spoke the words calmly.
He stopped and turned around, looking a little confused.
"Thank you for saving me last night.  I am fairly certain I could have handled him, but I am glad you were there."
He laughed, and it seemed more genuine than mocking.  "You definitely did not have it handled last night, although, I will admit you did better than some of the people I train, but you were outmatched."
"Outmatched?" I said trying to keep the irritation from seeping out.
"Yes.  Don't misunderstand, you fight well."
"Cash taught me." In my mind I threw my fist in the air. It seemed I had found a way to get under his skin, even more than just being in my presence.
He looked at me and stopped smiling.  "Are you done?"  His voice was cold again.
Maybe I went too far and then I reconsidered, no, I didn't.  He was being demeaning and I wanted to put him in his place.
"I can clean up after myself, just tell me where I need to go." I purposefully kept my tone short.
He studied me and then pointed at the door.  "Down the hall to the left, you will see it."
I picked up my plate and walked down the hall and hadn't noticed my heart pounding before.  I shouldn't let him get to me, I chuckled, easier said than done, I thought.  There was something about him that seemed to bother me.  Maybe the fact he couldn't seem to be around me for more than two seconds at a time or maybe it was the blame for still being alive.  Was that it?  Was he mad at me for following him into the portal all of those years ago?  He really should get over it.
I put my dishes on the counter and two metal hands from the wall came out and grabbed them and a robotic voice from the wall said 'thank you'.
Maybe Tristan was right, was I out of my league last night?  My legs were a little sore today and I had only managed to get one session in with Mars, though he said I was doing very well.
I decided to walk around and find a workout room.  I could build my strength back up and blow off some steam.  I had a strong urge to challenge Tristan to a duel, but knew I would not win it, I think it just boiled down to the fact I really wanted to hit him.
I managed to find the workout room a few minutes and a few empty rooms later.  This was a much smaller room, which was nice, it felt like my own private space.  The lights turned on once I entered the room and it revealed a wall of floor to ceiling glass that looked on an outdoor garden.  There were colorful trees and bushes all around and small furry little animals walking around, some I had never seen before.  They looked like like brown puffs of hair floating along in a line.
"Welcome." A voice said, catching me off guard.
"Hello?"  I looked around but could not see anyone.
"Up here."
I looked up in the corner of the room and there was a computerized face looking down at me.  "Oh, hello."
"What can I help you with today?"
I felt a little strange talking to a robot.  "I need strength training?"
"Arms or legs?"
"Legs mostly."
"Coming right up."
"Thank you." 
The wall separated and a strange looking contraption emerged that looked like a large circle standing on its side.  "What is this?"
"It is the Albus 2000."
"Interesting."
"I named it after myself."
"Your name is Albus?"
"Yes.  What is your name?"
"Araleigh."
"Araleigh.  That is a unique name.  I have never met an Araleigh before."
"I am not from around here."
"Oh?"
"How do you use this Albus 2000?"
"Step into it and walk."
"Seems easy enough."  I climbed in.  "But how does it help build strength?"
"Are you ready?"
"I guess." I was unsure of what was going to happen, but I started walking.  "I don't feel-" I stopped.  "Nevermind, I feel it.  What's happening?"  I felt like I was walking with hundred- pound weights on my legs.
"Simple.  It uses your weight against you, amplifying it.  That way it affects each person differently and you only get the amount of weight you can handle."
"I need one of these back home."
"Home?"
"Earth."
"You are from Earth?  I have always wanted to visit."
"Can you visit?"
"Why not?"
"You are a computer."
"Or something." He paused. "I can be moved around, in fact, Tristan brought me here  this morning.
"Why?"
"My guess would be for you."
"For me?"
"Yes."  He stopped talking.  "Would you like some music?"
"Are you done talking to me?"
"For now, you need to concentrate." 
"Sure, music would be great.  I don't care what kind, just loud."  I needed it loud enough to drown out my thoughts.
I walked until my legs felt weak, close to a hour later, and then stepped out of the circle and laid on the ground with my eyes closed.  I was sweating and my heart was beating hard.
"Here, drink up."  I reluctantly opened my eyes and saw Tristan standing in front of me holding a glass of water.  I closed my eyes again for a second and then sat up and grabbed the glass from him.  I took a big gulp of water and then spit it out.  "What is this?"  It was not water.
"It's my special cocktail."
"Of what?"
"I could tell you what is in it, but you wouldn't know what I was talking about.  It is a combination of different fruit juices and vitamins, it helps with muscle soreness and increases energy."
I held it to my lips again, this time taking a much smaller sip.  It wasn't bad, it just caught me completely off-guard before.
"Thanks."  It was refreshing and within minutes I felt like I had more energy.  "This is kind of good."
"No problem."  He sat down beside me and we both looked out of the window in silence.  I looked over at him and couldn't help this was the boy that I dreamed about for years, he was sitting beside me now, I could reach out and touch him.  Touch him, the thought made my stomach tingle and made my body hyper aware of how close he was to me.
I don't know how much time had passed, but the prolonged silence between us was starting to make me uncomfortable.  "Is Franz ok?"
He looked at me.  "Yes he is ok, he will be here later." He spoke the words softly.
"Tonight?"
"No, not tonight.  Most people will start showing up in a day or two."
"A day or two?"
He nodded.  "We need to be careful and make sure they are not followed.  We also need to figure out who betrayed us."
"Why do they want me so badly?"
"I can't answer for them because I don't know."
"I feel like this is more than blowing up a food warehouse.  The way Damian looked at me," a shiver ran down my spine at the thought, "I don't know, there was something else there."
He didn't really say anything and we just sat there again in silence.  After another couple of minutes he stood up.  "Are you ready for some lunch?" 
"Already?"
"You have been in here for quite some time.  I can fix you a small snack if you are not really hungry."
"I can fix my own food."
"I know you can, but I want to."
"Want to? Are you starting to feel guilty for being so rude to me?"
"I am not rude to you."
"You aren't nice to me."
"I am trying to protect you and you make it difficult."
"Don't protect me then."
He laughed.  "You can't protect yourself," and then turned to walk away.
I will show him.  I ran up and grabbed him from behind, flipping him over my back and pinning him on the ground.  He quickly got out of the hold and flipped me around, holding me to the ground.  "Stop this, I don't want to hurt you," he said calmly.
I hooked my leg around his, thrust my hips into the air rolling him over. "Don't worry, you won't." I said looking him in the eyes.
He smiled and flipped me over and pinned my arm behind my back with my face on the floor and bent down and spoke softly in my ear, "You are too predictable and too emotional.  You fight with your heart not your head and that makes you weak and is also why you will never beat me."  I pulled my arm free and he stood up and continued walking like nothing had happened. 
I stood up and rubbed my wrist watching him.
"See," he said not even looking back.
"What?" I snapped back.
"You are so angry right now, contemplating in your mind whether to attack me again or not and if you do, how you will do it differently this time.  I am going to tell you, nothing you do will beat me."
I wanted to slap the smugness out of him.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Do whatever it is you are thinking about doing."
I let out a sigh and followed him into the dining hall.
I sat down at a table and he brought over some fries and a drink. 
"A peace offering. These are your favorite, aren't they?" He said with a small smile.
I grabbed a fry and put it in my mouth, they were hot, salty, and delicious.  I wanted to grab the whole plate and shove it in my mouth.  "Yes."  The food here was amazing, it was like every flavor was infinitely more intense and flavorful than what I was used to on Earth.
I ate a few more and then looked at Tristan.  "Teach me."
"Excuse me?" He said putting a fry casually into his mouth.
"Teach me to fight."
"But I thought Cash taught you," he said snidely.
"He did and he was great," I retorted.  "But it is obvious I need more training and I am not the kind of girl that wants someone to protect her.  I want to fight my own battles."
"How has that worked out for you?"
"I am here, aren't I?"
"Fair enough."
I grabbed another fry, the plate was almost empty. 
He looked in my eyes, studying them.  Was he trying to read my mind?  Could he read my mind?  Oh, I had never thought about that before.  Why hadn't I thought of that before?  Can you read my mind?
"Yes."
"Yes?" I almost choked on my fry.
"Yes, I will teach you to fight, only to give you perspective, something Cash should have done.  Instead, he coddled you and gave you false expectations and let you believe you were better than you are."
I snatched the last fry off the plate.
"You are too easy, as I said earlier, you wear your emotions on your sleeve.  You need to learn how to manage that and I only said those things to prove a point, that you are too emotional."
"Better to be too emotional than to be emotionless like you."
He looked at me but did not say anything.  Had I hurt him a little?  I felt a little guilty.
He stood up and pushed the seat in.  "I expect you want to start now?"
Do I give him the satisfaction of being right?  How was it that he appeared to know me so well, but yet I knew nothing about him?
"If you want to,"  I said as nonchalantly as possible.
"We can wait then." He smirked.
"I." I didn't know what to say.
He laughed, "You're too easy, let's go," he said walking out of the room.
I stood up and followed him.  I expected to go back towards the work out room, but we turned right instead. 
"Where are we going?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
"You don't give me any answers."  I was walking beside him now.
Something felt different, with every step I took, my stomach grew tighter.  Was this anxiety? Excitement?  I was shocked he had agreed to work with me, which led me to believe he had to be getting something out of it... I just didn't know what that was yet.
He punched in a series of symbols on the keypad and the door slid open. 
"If you would learn to wait sometimes, your questions would be answered." He had a hint of a smile that briefly stretched across his lips.
"Or you could be less controlling and just answer a simple question."
"Not going to happen." He patted my back briefly.
"Me either." We continued to walk, but my back was still pulsing from where he touched it.  "So where are we going?" 
He glanced at me for a second and then continued walking.  For a moment I didn't think he was going to answer me, but then he pointed, "We are going to an open field, I figured you could get out of there for a little while." He nodded back towards the building.
"I could or you could?  I know it must suck for you to be trapped in a building with a human."
He looked at me and I found it hard to turn away from him, it was something about his eyes that drew me in.
"You are different."
My head snapped back in shock.  What was going on?
"How?"
"I am not answering that."
"Why?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?  Why can't you just be happy with the answers that I have given you?"
I didn't say anything for the rest of the walk. 
We arrived at an open field, where trees lined both our left and right and off in the short distance in front of us was a small lake.
"Is this safe?"
"Yes."
"The Nevi can't get us?"
"Very unlikely."
I wanted to ask more questions, but I figured I better not.  Not now anyways, there was always this evening.
The sun, if you could call it that, was shining on us and it felt nice to be outside.
"So where do we start?" I asked.
He walked over and stood in front of me.  "Grab me."
"What?"
"Grab me."
Unsure of what to do I grabbed his arms and immediately felt the muscles bulging under my grasp, making it difficult to get a good grip on his arms. 
He quickly pulled out.  "No, like you mean to do me harm."
I nodded, that should be easy, after all the frustration he has caused me, I wanted to do him harm. I lunged forward and grabbed his arm, but he quickly got out of it.  I tried a roundhouse kick but he stepped back out of it batting my leg down.  We exchanged spars for a few more minutes.
"Grab me." He urged me on.
I crouched down and grabbed his arm, swinging my body around and flipping him on the ground, still holding his arm.
His face was on the ground, "Is this what Cash taught you?"
Before I could answer he twisted his arm and swung his legs around sweeping me off my feet.  I landed hard on my back and he was on top of me in a second, pinning my arms to the ground.  "Get out of this."
I wiggled but his grip tightened. 
"Think," he said straddling me, his legs pressing on the outside of both of mine.
I tried to wriggle my hands free again, but his grip only tightened more.  I picked up my foot and wrapped it around the outside of his leg and used my other leg and hips to thrust him over.  We rolled over but he still had my wrists and I was now laying on top of him, our faces inches apart, my arms stretched out over his head and are chests touching.  My heart practically beating out of my chest and it wasn't because of our sparing.  There was no denying how attractive he was and being this close sent my head into a frenzy.
His eyes softened for a split second.
"I," was all I managed to get out before he let go of my wrists. 
"What are you two doing out here?" I heard a voice mockingly yell off in the distance.
Cash.
I quickly pushed myself off of Tristan and stood up, wiping my pants off.  I gave myself a moment because my heart was still racing.
I looked at Tristan and he was brushing off his pants too. 
Pretend like nothing happened.
Because nothing did happen, I tried to convince myself.
I looked at Cash, "Tristan was teaching me some moves."
"Yea that's what it looked like," he said jokingly.
"Enough Cash." Tristan growled.  Any softening I had seen was gone and he was back to his usual hardness.  "I have to go in and do some work." He turned to me, "We will work more later."
"When? Tonight?"  Cash couldn't stop. 
Tristan shot him a glance that told Cash to back off.
I was a bit relieved when Tristan started to walk away, but found I couldn't help but watch him, watch his muscles tense through his shirt, flexing and moving with each step he took and his fists clenched at his side.
"Want to take a dip?" Cash said pointing to the lake.
"Sure, I could use it."
"I bet." Cash said. 
I playfully punched him in the arm. 
"I know," he held his hands up in the air, "You aren't his type anyways."
"Oh."  Unexpectedly, I felt hurt. "What is his type?" I tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible. 
Cash cut his eyes at me.
"I am just curious." I smiled.
"Mmhmm."  He took off his shirt and pants.  "I actually don't know what his type is, he hasn't been with many girls and he doesn't really talk about anyone."
I let out a low hum and took off my shirt and pants.  I am glad I wore my sports bra and boy shorts today, I had planned on working out so these have come in very useful.
Cash ran and jumped in.
"How deep is it?"
"Pretty deep, you won't be able to touch."
I jumped in, as close to Cash as I could.  I had the overwhelming urge to splash him.
We splashed back and forth for a minute and then calmed down.
"What's going on out there?" I asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about," he splashed me in the face.
"Are you kidding me?"
"What?"  Cash was surprised.
"That is what Tristan said.  You two are just alike."
"Don't let him hear you say that."
"No?"
"He has tried to be different from me in every way possible since we were little."
I looked at him.
"We are brothers, well kind of."
"I figured that out this morning when I heard you walk in and mention something about it.  I didn't know if you were being literal though."
"No.  My family took him in after his parents died, he was very young.  I don't know all the details, but I believe they went on a mission to Earth and something happened.  My mother, feeling guilty, took him in, so he is pretty much like a brother to me in every way."
"Interesting."  I found I didn't want to think about Tristan as being helpless little boy who had lost his family, I couldn't, I needed to change the topic. "It's nice here."
"Yea it's ok.  It is very similar to Earth, which helped when I was sent there."
I didn't say anything, but leaned in closer.
"I was a sort of wild child and as punishment I was basically banished to Earth to watch after you."
"Why did you have to watch over me?"
"The Nevi's were upset with the Queen, they felt she was endangering us by letting you live."
"What does your dad say about this?"
"He died a while ago, about a year before you fell through the portal."
"Oh, I am sorry."
"Thanks.  I think on some level Tristan blames himself for the incident."
"Why is that?"
"He had wanted to visit Earth to see where his parents had died, but wouldn't go through the portal.  I had ran off and jumped to Earth knowing he would follow me to bring me back. I came back and he stayed to look around.  Time had passed and he heard people coming and that is when he ran and created a portal to jump back and that's when you fell in behind him.  He thinks he should have done something differently, been quicker.  Who knows."
It was so weird to hear Cash talk openly about his family, Tristan, his mom, and his dad, he had always done such a good job deflecting before.
"What do you think Damian wants with me?"
"I don't know, I have seen that look on his face many times before, he is always scheming and whatever he wants with you I can promise it won't be good."  He changed the topic.  "Are you about ready to get out?"
"Sure."  It was obvious he was done talking.
"It will be time for dinner soon, plus I need to head back out."
I climbed out of the lake and used my shirt to dry my face off.  I looked towards the hub and saw Tristan standing in one of the windows looking at us.  When he saw me looking he turned and walked away.
"Where are you going? And where is Ty?  Is he ok?"
"He is fine.  He's helping out, getting things ready for the move."
"You guys will be here tomorrow?"
"Looks like it may be two days from now." He picked up his shirt and pants.  "The Nevi's are expecting us to move, so they are watching the place."
"How are you getting here without them seeing you?"
"I have my ways." He winked.
I could tell he was not going to go into any more detail than that.
"If you all are so worried about them following you here why don't you go somewhere else?"
"Why?  Do you want some more alone time with Tristan?  Araleigh. Araleigh. Araleigh," he said in a tsk tsk tsk tone.  He laughed and then changed topics.  "Sorry, old habits.  That would make sense wouldn't it?  I don't know, Tristan is in charge of this whole thing and I am sure he has his reasons."
"Interesting."